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EaglePrince

Stronghold 3 - current state: performance and multiplayer

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Hi, I have found out that I can get Stronghold 3 in my town - it would be a boxed version, and it's on an action, so it would be somewhat cheaper as well.

 

I did try Stronghold 3 before, but I haven't owned my own copy yet, so I haven't tried the game after some later patches. I meant to ask you - did they improve the performance of the game by those later patches? Is the game better optimized than it was when it was released? I do realize it's been a while since the game came out, but I hope some of you guys remember. :)

 

Also, the game doesn't have a skirmish, and people were making very little custom maps I think, and custom scenarios? For this reason I also meant to ask - are there some people that would play this game in multiplayer?

 

I would need to know these stuff before buying, because if it isn't any better optimized, it could lag on my PC, and if no one would play it in multiplayer - there would be nothing I could do with it. :) I have noticed that there was no Stronghold 3 gaming event at Stronghold Nation.

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You can tell that it's been rushed, but everything I have played in the game seems to work fine. I haven't had any crashes, but I haven't really played it much.

 

I've mainly played in the sandbox mode. In my eyes, SH3 is a peace game really - which is fairly good because you get a good chance to build up villages in different environments, take screenshots.etc.

 

Because there is no skirmish mode, there is no way for you to battle opponents but if you occasionally want to just build a settlement, then it's the game to play. As I've mentioned, I've never really played it, but I'm sure I could fit a game of MP in at some point.

Edited by Lord_Chris

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⁠— Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales: The Knight's Tale

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That's nice to hear!

 

Well, considering some features of the game, such as building walls in any direction, etc... it could be just the right game for those who want to build their village only.

 

Can you tell anything about optimizing the game? Have they been doing anything about that? I admit, it's been several years now since the game was released, but maybe someone remembers if some later version was working smoother than the first release?

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Stronghold 3 has been officially abandoned, so no more updates will be added. But I think the "gold" version of the game is the final update, which is what I have.


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The fields have eyes, and the woods have ears.

⁠— Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales: The Knight's Tale

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Yes, I do realize that.

 

I'll see about it, and if I get it, I would like to play a Stronghold 3 multiplayer game if the game wouldn't lag to me. Also, there is another thing - these days I have very little time, but now and then I could find some free time for that.

 

Thanks for your help, Chris! If anyone else can tell something more, it would be more than welcome. :)

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I bought the game when it first came out, and had to buy a new PC to play it:-(, after several attempts by FireFly to fix their mess I gave up on it, the editor is the same as the new C2 editor, I did make a reasonably good map for it, but only the one map, as far as the later patches go I have no idea, but people did say it was stable after the patches.

 

Some things I did not like about it were, the size of the building foot print and that the buildings had to be placed on flat ground, that's to boring. I do believe if you were to take the time to really learn the game then it might be OK.

 

You would more than likely be on your own if you wanted to play it though.

 

I would suggest trying the new SHC2 while everyone else is trying it out, SH3 will still be there and will more than likely get even cheaper.

 

Now back to that new C2 map I am making!

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Well, you are right about that, right now everyone is more into Crusader 2 right now, and it is less likely to find some players to play Stronghold 3 with.

 

I did notice that - the game was released on October 25, 2011, while the latest patch was released on May 11, 2012. That's a lot of time, and even if they did the good job with those patches, many of them had already lost their patience for the game, I guess. Still, I did read some comments about that latest patch - how Firefly gave the game up, while there were still some stuff to fix.

 

"I would suggest trying the new SHC2 while everyone else is trying it out, SH3 will still be there and will more than likely get even cheaper."

Wise words from Lord Vetka. :) Now when you say it like that, you are right, and I should get Crusader 2 first. Speaking of Stronghold 3 and my question about it - now I think it would be worth buying, only I should prepare myself for not being able to find some players for online game. On the other hand, I do have you guys - I believe I could persuade some of you to play it with me. :)

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Well you would have to persuade me to install it first, then we will see if I even want to play it, and lets see if there would be some time to play online, I would rather play more of the Extreme maps we played.

 

If it came down to it, I could even send you guys thew new SHC2 map I made for the Two Cities project I'm working on with Nigel, it's just a 4 player test map but it does work, and looks pretty good to!

 

If it were me, I would put the money towards getting SHC2 now, SH3 will be around later.

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"Well you would have to persuade me to install it first, then we will see if I even want to play it, and lets see if there would be some time to play online, I would rather play more of the Extreme maps we played."

So it would be harder than I thought... :) Just kidding now, but I do admit that I don't expect Stronghold 3 to be as much interesting as it is the case with Crusader, or Crusader Extreme, games. :) Right now, I was thinking about Stronghold 3 only because I saw a chance to get a boxed version of Stronghold 3 for less than 10 euro in my town, and because I realized my newer PC should be able to handle Stronghold 3 and Stronghold Crusader as well. One is sure - I wouldn't be giving more than 10 euro for Stronghold 3 in any moment.

 

Thanks for your advice, I will listen to you. I mean, at this moment I did become a little impatient about this, and at such moments it is a nice thing to have someone to slow you down a little.

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Hey, guys, I just meant to let you know I did buy Stronghold 3. :)

 

So far I like it, after I would finish the campaigns, I would see other scenarios made for this game to play them as well, and I may play some multiplayer games. I have noticed that it is a lot like Crusader 2 - many stuff that were introduced in Crusader 2 were in fact introduced in Stronghold 3, so I can say that this way I will prepare myself for Crusader 2 as well.

 

I know many people dislike this game, so I cannot be disappointed, or something like that - I don't have high expectations. :) Also, I didn't pay it much.

 

Besides those, I hope I could play a multiplayer game now and then - I do have a feeling that it is possible to find some opponents.

 

Also, it is sad that they gave up this game, and that they had left some stuff unfinished... There are still some bugs, and the game can freeze now and than (so I heard, but it hasn't happened to me yet). Also, speaking about those bugs, such as troops being stuck - I agree this is pretty bad thing, but I could tell that we all know how Crusader 1 also has some similar bugs (an archer being stuck at crenelation wall). Still, it is the fact that Stronghold 3 has more bugs, but like I said - I got the game with no high expectations. Everything good I notice while playing this game is a bonus to me. :)

 

I shall get Crusader 2 as well, but right now it is too expensive for me. It's not that it means I should have spared some money for Crusader 2 - that is not my problem, I do have the money now (if that is what Vetka meant), it's just that anything above 20-30 euro is too much for Crusader 2 to me. I shall wait until some sale, or something. Also it would be the best if those guys in my town get the boxed version, so I could buy it there, just like I got Stronghold 3 there. :)

 

So, here it is! :cool:

66df4a43-e17f-466a-8393-13771f2c06a3.jpg

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So you got the game, good for you ! I will admit that I did not stay with the game for all of the patches, but I doubt that it would interest me to play it again, maybe after C2 wares out a bit, for now I have to many projects going on with C2 to start with SH3. The editors are almost the same, maybe you can talk me into a custom war scenario for you.

 

If you want to try a war scenario that is not to hard "Brukner" is posted in the downloads, the win condition is for popularity, so you can win right away but you will miss the fun! There are two versions normal and hard.

 

That is what I meant, save the money for C2, but your right, C2 is to much money and no hard copy to boot:-(

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Well, seeing Crusader 2, and Stronghold 3, I can only say that Crusader 2 is a better version of Stronghold 3 - just like Crusader 1 is a better version of Stronghold 1. I say "better", but by that I mean - it has more options, and one can see that Crusader 1 (2) has some options that were not put into Stronghold 1 (3), and of course - less bugs. I don't want to say Stronghold 1 is better than Crusader or vice versa - most of us have our own opinions, but I hope you all understand what I mean to say. Maybe it would be better if I said "enhanced version" or something like that.

 

For now I am finishing the campaigns - first I started the economic campaign, and I shall start military campaign later. After my Stronghold 3 skills improve I shall start with other custom missions - starting with the one you suggested. :)

 

Speaking of a war scenario - that does sound interesting. Only I should finish those campaigns first, and some other custom scenarios as well. Than it will be more interesting. :)

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Stronghold 3... from a fanatic of Stronghold 2's point of view.

I find it very annoying to play on my computer because even after cranking the resolution and the graphics way down - it still runs so slow that it's hard to move troops to useful positions when attacked (re bandits in Chapter 4 (or is it 3?) of the peace campaign. The lag between mouse movement and reaction time is too long to enjoy the game. I've tried several times to 'get into' the game but it just runs too slow *my video card is only a 2gb Nvidia 430 so that may be why.?

I think Firefly needs new leadership and more savvy programmers. Can we not crowdfund this directionless company before it's forgotten?

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I think your video card could well be the problem :(

 

We don't actually have an article for the minimum requirements for each game, but I think this could be a very useful addition to have. Adding it to the list, will let you know when I have completed it.


Quote

The fields have eyes, and the woods have ears.

⁠— Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales: The Knight's Tale

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Yeah, I don't know much about graphic cards, but for some reason the memory isn't the only thing that matters. Fortunately to us, I can say that I am amazed by how Stronghold 3 and Crusader 2 work with my new GeForce GT 730, which was, I must admit, one of the four cheapest options I had, after I decided to buy a 2GB graphic card.

 

I would love to try Stronghold 3 in multiplayer now, but I just can't manage to find some time. :(

 

Oh, and those walls and buildings that can be oriented in any direction are awesome, and the way how destroying walls work, it's just great, too bad Firefly abandoned that idea. Hopefully, they did it only to accomplish better optimization of Crusader 2. Truth to be told, I was one of those people here, and on several other forums which were saying "come on, we don't care about 3D and all that, just give us a 2D game with units collision" though I still think it would be awesome if we had that. That would make field battles way more interesting - especially considering that since Stronghold 2 fighting your enemies outside your castle is really really important part of the game.

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I've tried multiplayer before with @Nigel, it's really quite good actually - not lag or anything, fairly stable from what I've seen.

 

If you'd like a game sometime, you could try to create a Gaming Event and I'll join.


Quote

The fields have eyes, and the woods have ears.

⁠— Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales: The Knight's Tale

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