Hi,

are there any games around similar to any within the Stronghold series - specifically with regards to the building and castle management aspect? I recently played through the series and thoroughly enjoyed it, though significantly preferred the first games and especially Stronghold: Crusader.

Thanks in advance!

Sorry for kinda necroing your thread, but if you still want an answer I believe that Stronghold was heavily influenced by Lords of the Realm 2. It might be what you were looking for, although:

a) LotR2 is a much older game so maybe it's too old for you to properly enjoy; and

b) there also lots of differences, the main one being that most of the game isn't even in the same genre. LotR2 is turn-based all the time except when an army (yours or an enemy's) reaches a town, castle or an enemy's army. But check some gameplay videos and decide for yourself if it fits your tastes.

No worries about necroing my thread - I appreciate the answer!

I have not heard about Lords of the Realm 2 before, thank you!

I will most definitely be giving it a shot.

Thanks!

To me at least, there are similarities with the Anno series. You build colonies on islands instead of castles, but the management aspect I feel is similar: harvest raw resources, take care of food production, keep your citizens happy, build up and defensive force. If you have enough stone then you can turn your island into an impenetrable fortress if you really want.

And if you're masochistic then you can of course dive into the world of Dwarf Fortress :)
Or Rimworld for that matter.

I am having a blast with Stronghold and your description sounds like something I would rally enjoy.

Which of the Anno games would be best for as an entry point in the series? I don't mind old graphics but I prefer polished gameplay/interface.

Does the setting change between games? Do you get to play different factions?

I echo these questions!

Thanks for sharing.

Gladly :) Oh I'm almost a little afraid to say. I'm leaning towards 1503, but it's a bit more complex than either 1602 or 1701. If you don't mind the graphics then 1602 is a somewhat safer starting point to learn the core mechanics (basically: upgrade settlers into citizens asap). The anno 1602 demo is still floating around so that might be worth checking out. If you like the gameplay and 'get it' then I'd jump into 1503.
By the way 1440 is considered the best in the series, but the old 2D games have a certain inescapable charm :)

The setting doesn't really change between games no. It's always a bunch of islands in a non-descript part of world. All that changes is when it supposedly takes place: 1602, 1503 etc. which affects the kind of technology available - mostly ito military units.
The islands do have different climates however, which affects what kind of crops can be planted. E.g. you can only cultivate tobacco and grapes on the northern islands, whereas you need to go to the more tropical southern islands for things like spices and sugercane.
And the only difference between the factions are their banner colours. So it's also non-descript european nations.

In the campaign there are different factions, good and bad, but I only have limited gametime with the campaign since I usually just play a long sandbox game. The part of the campaign I played was a lot of fun though, so it's definitely worth checking out at least.

Glad to help :)