Welcome to the Stronghold Kingdoms™ Beginners' Guide. If you are completely new to the game, this is the best place to learn all the basic features.
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Getting Started[ | ]
Before you can play Stronghold Kingdoms™, you must first create an account at the Stronghold Kingdoms Login Site. Once you have completed the sign-up and logged in, you will be able to download the client from the link on the accounts page.
Launching the client and logging in[ | ]
After installing the game, double-click the desktop icon to run the launcher. The client will download any updates to ensure you have the latest version.
Once this is complete, you will then be able to log in using the email address and password you signed up with. You may now choose which world you would like to play in. Select a world and you will be presented with the Enter World screen.
Press the Random button to be randomly assigned a village anywhere on the World Map, or go to Manual to select where on the map you would like to spawn your village.
Have a look around the map, then select one of the squares. Once you are happy with the location, click Enter Game. You are now ready to begin playing Stronghold Kingdoms™!
Having trouble with the game? You can get support here http://support.strongholdkingdoms.com/
Tutorial[ | ]
Once in the game we strongly suggest completing the Stronghold Kingdoms tutorial. This will take you through some of the basics of the, game step-by step, to help get you started. While completing the tutorial, you will also be given rewards for doing so. Just follow the instructions on screen.
Please note: You can exit the tutorial at any time by clicking the 'X' in the top right corner of the tutorial screen. If you change your mind and wish to complete the tutorial, you can resume it from where you left off by clicking on Help and Resume Tutorial.
Locating your Village[ | ]
Once you have entered the game, the first screen you will see is the World Map - this is an overview of everything which is happening in the game world. The other villages around you are other players; the village with a yellow shield above it is yours. By default it will automatically be selected when you log in.
To navigate the world map, press down on the left mouse button and drag, use the arrow keys on your keyboard, or click and hold the left mouse/pad button and drag the map. To zoom in and out of the world, either click the right mouse/pad button to zoom out and the left button to zoom in, or simply use the mouse scroll wheel.
To quickly return to your village, select one of the arrows located on the grey toolbar at the top of the screen (please see image below), or click on the name of your village in the user interface on the right-hand side of the screen.
Peacetime[ | ]
When starting the game for the first time, you will this start with 5 days peacetime. This means no players can attack you during this peacetime, although the ai can attack you. Peacetime can be cancelled at anytime, to cancel peacetime, attack any player in the game. Peacetime for re-spawning/old players is 3 days.
Interface[ | ]
The main user interface (UI) bar for Stronghold Kingdoms allows access to all the main areas of the game as well as showing vital information.
Current amount of Honour | |
Current amount of Gold | |
Total number of points on the Leaderboard | |
Current amount of Faith Points | |
Clicking on this icon gives access to Strategy Cards and card options, such as Manage Cards, Get Crowns etc. | |
Gives access to in-game Mail, which can then be set as a pop-out window | |
Clicking on this icon gives access to the Chat. | |
Gives access to the Leaderboard | |
This is the village drop-down list: use the arrows to scroll between your villages, or click to view a list of all villages, parishes, counties, provinces and country capitals which you have access to |
Main UI Tabs[ | ]
Opens the World Map view | |
Opens the Village view | |
Opens the Parish view | |
Opens the Research view | |
Opens the Ranks view | |
Opens the Quests view | |
Opens the attacks view, with details of all incoming and outgoing attacks | |
Opens the Reports view | |
Opens the Factions screen |
Find out more about the User Interface
Village[ | ]
Selecting the village tab will take you to your village screen, one of the most important areas of Stronghold Kingdoms™. To move around the village, left-click-and-hold on an open piece of ground and drag the cursor.
To succeed in the game, you will need a well-built village. Your first village will already contain three buildings: |
The village hall sits at the centre of every village, and is the only building which cannot be moved. This is where banquet goods are stored. The hall also determines how effective decorative, entertainment and justice buildings are, as well as certain banqueting goods buildings; the closer they are to the hall, the more efficient they are. | |
The stockpile is where resources and weapons are stored. The capacity of the stockpile can be increased by researching Engineering and Stockpile Capacity, both found in the research tab. Stockpile capacity will only increase the space for resources, not weapons. Players must research Armoury Capacity to increase weapon space. | |
Food is stored in the granary. The capacity of the granary can be increased by researching Engineering and Granary Capacity, both found in the research tab. |
Village Sub-Tabs[ | ]
Takes you to the Village view | |
Takes you to the Castle view | |
Takes you to the Resources screen | |
Takes you to the Trading screen | |
Takes you to the Barracks screen | |
Takes you to the Units screen | |
Takes you to the Banqueting screen | |
Takes you to the Vassals & Liege Lords screen |
Placing Buildings[ | ]
The first things that your village needs are wood and stone, which are used to build buildings, and apples, which are used to feed your peasants. Most buildings in your village require a peasant for them to function.
To start building, click on one of the buttons on the building interface:
General - At the beginning of the game, you will only be able to build hovels; these are used to encourage peasants to come to your village, as well as housing the ones already there | |
Resources - At the beginning of the game, you will only have access to woodcutters' huts and stone quarries; these are needed to produce wood and stone | |
Food - At the beginning of the game, you will only have access to apple orchards; apples are an essential basic food for your peasants | |
Weapons - At the beginning of the game, this tab will be empty; once you have completed the relevant research, weapons workshops may be accessed here | |
Banqueting Goods - At the beginning of the game, this tab will be empty; once you have completed the relevant research, banqueting buildings may be accessed here |
For more information, please see Buildings.
Popularity[ | ]
Popularity is one of the determining factors in how fast peasants arrive/leave your village. It is also a major factor in how much honour a village will produce per day.
Popularity is displayed on the right of the screen in the village user interface. The number displayed at the top shows the overall popularity. This represents the total of the numbers listed below it. The higher the total, the faster peasants arrive, providing there is hovel space for them.
Depending on certain factors, the total popularity figure may increase or decrease. These factors are: |
The tax rate may be adjusted to give your peasants gold (a bribe), or take gold from them (taxation). In order to bribe your peasants, you must have the gold available. The amount of tax you are able to collect depends on the number of peasants working in your village; the more peasants, the more gold. The same is true for the amount paid for bribes. Bribing peasants improves the overall popularity of the village, while taxation decreases it. Taxing peasants too highly will result in them leaving, while a low tax rate will encourage them to arrive in your village. | |
Food rations may be increased to improve the village's overall popularity figure; this figure is also affected by number of different food types that are eaten - the more food types, the more popularity your village will gain. The amount of food needed depends on how many peasants you have in your village. Food is stored in the granary. | |
Ale rations are much like food rations; increasing the amount of ale drunk per day increases the popularity of the village. The more peasants you have in the village, the more ale is required to sustain ration levels. Ale is produced at the Brewery and stored in the Inn. You cannot produce Ale until you have both a Brewery and an Inn. | |
Housing capacity popularity is affected by the amount of free space you have in your hovels and your total population; the more space you have available, the higher the popularity bonus will generally be. Be aware however, that should you run out of space for your villagers, this will result in a negative popularity figure, so always ensure you have sufficient housing for your peasants. | |
The Popular Buildings modifier is determined by the amount of Popularity and Justice buildings in your village. | |
Events have big effect on your peasants' happiness, and may be either positive or negative (e.g. sunshine/storms). |
TIP: New players are given three (3) help events. Beginners' help provides: +10 popularity (lasts for 48 hours), Welcome Bonus (+10 popularity, lasts 24 hours), and New Player (+10 popularity, lasts 12 hours).
Honour[ | ]
Honour is one of the most important aspects of Stronghold Kingdoms™; it allows you to rank up, which in turn gives you research points, and also allows you to attack other players. The overall honour per day for your village is displayed to the right of the village screen, at the bottom of the village user interface. Honour can be affected by many factors, most importantly, popularity. Clicking on the crown icon in the village user interface, opens up the honour information panel. This section displays the Honour Multiplier, these are multiplied by your Popularity to give your overall total honour per day.
Determining factors are:
- Churches - Placing chapels/churches/cathedrals in your village will give varying levels of honour multiplier according to type. These may be researched in the Theology section of the research tree.
- Decorative - Completing the relevant research Decoration will allow you to place a number and variety of decorative buildings (statues, gardens etc.) in your village. The closer they are to the hall, the higher the honour multiplier they generate.
- Justice - Researching Justice allows justice buildings (stocks etc.) to be built. As with decorative buildings, the closer they are to the hall, the larger the honour multiplier you will receive.
- Arts Research - Researching Arts increases the honour multiplier.
- Parish Bonus - This honour multiplier is increased by a Town garden and statues placed within the parish capital by the Parish Steward, the parish Town Garden may be upgraded to increase this honour multiplier .
- Cards - When in play, certain cards, such as Basic Culture, increase your honour multiplier.
Your village's honour per day is calculated by multiplying the total of the above factors by your overall popularity figure. The current amount of honour already earned is displayed in the top-left corner of the screen.
You can also make honour by successfully defending your castle, Banquets, attacking AI, being the first to scout a stash and from some strategy cards.
TIP: Always make sure your castle is enclosed - if not, it will have a negative impact on your popularity and therefore your honour.
Research[ | ]
The research tab |
Research is a fundamental part of the Stronghold Kingdoms™ experience. When a new player starts, they are given eight (8) research points to use. Three (3) more research points are given each time the player ranks up. Alternatively, points may be purchased for gold; however, each time a point is bought using gold, the price of the next research point increases.
Points are spent on researching new skills, which are selected from the research tree. These open up new buildings, troop types, food types, features etc. Research takes a certain length of time, with this length increasing each time more research is completed. Certain researches require a player to be of a minimum rank before they can be started, this is shown by a number in a shield on the research. Once completed, certain branches of research open up new options.
You may carry out one level of research at a time, if you are playing a Premium Token, this allows you to queue up to five (5) levels of research.
There are two (2) views in the research screen - branch and tree view. The branch view shows all currently available research, as well as any buildings or branches these may unlock, while the tree view shows the entire research tree for the game.
Suggested researches for new players:
Forestry gives access to woodcutters, which are used to collect wood for the village stockpile. Further research increases the productivity of the woodcutters. This research may be started at Rank 1. | |
Stone Quarrying gives access to stone quarries, which are used to collect stone for the village stockpile. Further research increases the productivity of the stone quarries. This research may be started at Rank 1. | |
Fortification gives access to new castle structures. The structures can be used to build better defences surrounding your castle. These structures include wooden walls, gatehouses and platforms, and stone walls, towers and gatehouses. This research may be started at Rank 1. | |
Orchard Management gives access to apple orchards and increases their productivity. This research may be started at Rank 1. | |
Arts increases the amount of honour gained from having positive popularity within villages. This research may be started at Rank 1, although later research levels require increased rank. |
Ranks[ | ]
The ranks tab |
When first starting out, all players begin at the same rank, “Village Idiot”. There are 23 different rank titles - the later ones containing sub ranks within.
Increasing your rank requires honour, which can be gained in various ways. The cost, in honour, of promoting through the ranks increases at each new rank title. In addition to increasing the number of vassals you may have, certain ranks allow specific research, e.g. the ability to own more villages.
Each rank or sub rank promotion gives you three (3) research points to use for new technologies and skills.
Please see Ranks for more information.
Strategy Cards[ | ]
Strategy Cards are modifiers which can affect almost all areas of the game; they can enhance for example, a building's production rate, the strength of walls, or how quickly a building is completed, etc. The length of time which a card lasts differs on a card-by-card basis.
The strategy cards icon appears on the majority of screens - clicking on it will allow you to play, swap, or purchase cards. When you click on the cards icon, cards relating to the screen you are in will be shown. However, you may view all of your cards by selecting the grey All Your Cards button at the top of the cards interface or by clicking on the cards icon shown on the top centre of the screen.
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Premium Tokens[ | ]
Premium Tokens offer additional benefits (please see the table below), there two types of premium tokens which may be purchased; seven (7) day, which cost 30 Firefly crowns, and 30 day, costing 100 crowns. Tokens may be bought and played through the cards interface. The Auto Trading/Scouting/Attacking/Recruiting occur approximately once every two (2) to four (4) hours when you are logged out.
Building Queue | |
Allows up to five (5) buildings to be queued for construction in each of your villages. | |
Building Relocation | |
Allows you to relocate buildings within your village. | |
Research Queue | |
Allows up to five (5) researches to be queued in the research screen in addition to the one (1) being researched. | |
Auto Trading | |
Allows automatic trading of one type of goods to the parish capital's market while you are logged out. | |
Auto Scouting | |
While you are logged out, scouts are automatically sent out to stashes within your parish. | |
Auto Attack | |
While you are logged out, your troops can automatically attack specified AI targets. | |
Auto Recruit | |
While you are logged out this conscripts idle peasants into your army if weapons and space are available. |
Player Guide[ | ]
The Player Guide provides links to essential screens and areas of the game. It can be accessed from the world map at any time by clicking on the advisor icon in the bottom left corner, or from the Help menu at the top of the user interface.
Further Reading and Suggestions[ | ]
You now know the basics of Stronghold Kingdoms™; however, there is still a great deal to discover, so why not click on the links below to learn more?