|
|genre = MMORTS |modes = Multiplayer online |platforms = Microsoft Windows, OS X }} ''Stronghold Kingdoms'' (SHK) is a massively multi-player online real time strategy game (MMORTS) with a Medieval castle building theme. It was developed by ''Firefly Studios'' and based upon their commercially successful and popular Stronghold series of games. ''Firefly Studios'' started development of ''Stronghold Kingdoms'' in 2007 as their first entry into the MMO genre. The first Alpha test began in 2009 and was open to 150 players. These were drawn from previous testers of ''Firefly Studios'' games, and volunteers of other prominent fansites. Afterwards, an open Beta was run for just under 2 years before the games official release on 17 October 2012. In addition to the central theme of castle. construction and design, ''Stronghold Kingdoms'' incorporates a variety of architectural, economic, military, agricultural, mercantile, industrial and political elements which challenge players ability to prioritize, direct work-flow and resources and administrate their holdings in the manner of a medieval land holder or noble. An individual player's success is not entirely predicated upon the ability to defeat computer-generated enemies, but also upon teamwork with fellow players. The player begins relatively alone, one village amongst others in a single parish. From this beginning, strategic decisions are made and dialogue established with fellow parish members which introduces the social aspect of ''Stronghold Kingdoms''. All players can vie for stewardship of the parish, dependent on rank. When two or more players wish to be Steward they can negotiate to decide who will take control of the parish, or take it by force, razing out the opposing players village from that parish. If Theology is researched, then monks can be deployed to infiltrate the parish and influence the vote. This is usually referred to as a monk war in the game vernacular. When the successful candidate becomes steward they gain control of the parish army along with the ability to set taxes (tithe), and build the necessary guilds to improve life for all in the parish. ==Gameplay Elements== Communication with one's neighbors is vital to a player's advancement and enjoyment of all that Stronghold Kingdoms offers. Players are greeted by a tutorial after placement of their village. Starting resources are given to each new player and from that beginning how the village is managed, is essential to building a strong foundation to defend against all enemies. Juggle research to unlock what the castle needs, food, weapons, or basic resources like stone and wood, used to build everything in the castle or village. Use research points to unlock different aspects of the game. Obtain honour peacefully by banqueting or choose an aggressive means by attacking wolf lairs, bandit camps and AI castles. Defend your castle in turn from an attacking enemy AI Siege Camp or enemy players. As the game progresses, honour is accumulated and used to rank higher, but honour can be gained, or lost. If you opt to attack another player, this will cost honour thereby making every decision influence the next. ''Paladin's Castles'', is a new AI to arrive in ''Stronghold Kingdoms'' in the shape of a green castle icon. Implemented in client version 2.0.11.3, it brings with it "good will" rather than the usual negative popularity and constant attacks. When the Paladin lands it will give a +10 or +15 popularity increase to all villages within that parish. Players can attack and clear it but will gain no honour from doing so. The castle will vanish within 7 – 14 days. ''Treasure Castles'', like the Paladin's Castle, does not send out attacks. This appropriately coloured "gold castle" will sit there waiting for its puzzles to be solved and will yield to the savvy player, prizes according to the level of castle and tier given. The castle, like the Paladin, will arrive and stay between 7 – 14 days before it will vanish. Players, when attacking the Treasure Castle, need to cover as much ground as possible to uncover the puzzles/treasure. If a player fails to achieve a prize the first time then he will have to wait to attack again as there is a 24-hour cooldown period on Treasure Castles. This new AI arrived in the May update. ''Proclamations'', arrived to ''Stronghold Kingdoms'' in client update 2.0.1.1 This gave Stewards, Sheriffs, Governors and Kings the ability to send messages. Proclamations, cannot be responded to by players that receive the notice. ''Captains'', are an elite unit used to capture or raze an enemy village. In peaceful mode they are used to purchase a village charter. In order to unlock captains, a player needs to first unlock leadership research. This becomes available at rank 12 when a player is able to start his second village. Up to 25 villages are allowed per player, per game world. Captains, once unlocked, have a delay ability. This is useful when capturing a village as a player will put the captain on a delay of up to 200 seconds. If the captain dies then the capture or raze fails. Captains have other unique abilities called Tactics〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.gamasutra.com/view/pressreleases/190682/New_Game_World_for_Stronghold_Kingdoms_Features_CaptainPowers_Proclamations_Player_News.php )〕 but these were weak until client update 2.0.4.2. The powers were buffed and are now worth researching, considering a player can use up to 5 captains in one attack. * ''Rallying Cry'', is a shout that gives a health boost. This has changed from one single boost to smaller health boosts which take effect over a longer period. A green plus sign will appear when the power is active and show above the troops affected. * ''Arrow Volley'', this is a volley that does more damage than regular arrows and begins as the captain moves forward. This has been updated to use multiple volleys as opposed to the original one. * ''Battle Cry'', increases the damage done to walls, moats and buildings. A red exclamation mark appears over the captain and troops affected when the shout is active. * ''Catapult Volley'', now gives multiple volley's over a period of seconds. The captain will only advance after the volley begins. ''Attack Formations'', found under Advanced Options, this gives players the ability to save their favourite attack formation and removes the need to set up each attack manually. This was a community idea which Firefly implemented in May's update. Initially limited to five formations, the newest update of 1 August 2013 removes that five limit and gives players the added ability to custom name each attack formation.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://forum.strongholdkingdoms.com/viewtopic.php?f=88&t=25358&p=133115#p133115 )〕 A further improvement to the formation screen was implemented with the Community Gameplay Update released on 7 November 2013. A player can now see how many troops make up each saved formation and gives the ability to the player to clear a formation when setting up an attack. ''Domination World Rule Set'' New Rules for Domination World 2: * World will be limited to 60 days, after which the world will end. * No Quests will give Glory Points as a reward. * Monk Influence cost is increased to 100 Faith Points. * Village Charters spawned on the map will reduce by day 15 and stop completely by day 30. * Maximum tax rate has been increased from 9 to 50 and the gold from taxes is doubled. * Flags in capitals spawn three times faster. * Treasure Castles spawn rate has been doubled and the attack cooldown reduced from 24 hours to 12. Rules retained from Previous Domination World: * No Vacation Mode * Interdiction cannot be researched or used. * Building speed quadrupled for castles, villages and parish. * Monks can be used to influence County Elections * Research times reduced by half. * More resource stashes per parish * Map based on the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon era British Isles, with more Kingship's available. * The world will close to new players in the last 30 days of its existence. * Houses will be limited to 3 factions. First faction to apply is automatically accepted others need to be voted in. * Factions require a minimum of 10 members to join or remain in a House. * More villages per research level. * Banquets give double the honour compared to the normal worlds. * Rank required to start a faction reduced to Alderman (12). * Peacetime on initial village reduced from 5 to 3 days. * Players that lose all villages will re-spawn with more resources than normal. * Players no longer incur an honour penalty for Pillage, Ransack, Vandalise or Capture attacks on players of the same rank or higher. Razing players of any rank incurs the normal honour penalty. * Faction members can now attack each other. * More vassals for each rank attained. To qualify for the prize at the end of the world, a player must be in the top ten of the Leaderboard or part of a winning house. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Stronghold Kingdoms」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|