Firefly Studios has sent Strategy Informer a Developer Diary which contains information on the economy and resources that will be available in Stronghold Crusader Extreme.
Economy and Resources
Your in-game economy comprises three basic elements: food, resources, and weaponry. Each of these in their turn are essential to the growth of your colony. As your small settlement grows into a promising castle, your people’s demands for food will increase along with their need for other resources and protection. This feature will thoroughly discuss each of these elements in order to help you create and maintain a productive economy with little dependence on neither trade nor allies.
Economy
A growing community such as the one you are cultivating has constantly changing needs. Creating a stable source of income allows you to be prepared for any emergency, from food shortages to surprise enemy attacks. A fruitful economy allows you to provide more luxuries for your people, making your province an appealing home for travelers and assuring your population steadily increases.
By taxing your citizens you can start a money reserve that will allow you to fund a strong military among other institutions. Increasing taxes decreases your popularity with your citizens while decreasing taxes causes your citizens to adore you. However, without the financial means to continually provide your colony with its necessities, people will grow unhappy and begin to leave.
Trading in a marketplace is also a practical way to boost your economy. By selling some of your surplus of goods you can boost your gold. A marketplace is also a place where you can acquire emergency goods if you run out of a necessary resource. However, heavily relying on trade can cripple your economy. Buying most of your goods from the marketplace puts a strain on your income, which will lead you to increase taxes. This will make the resources available completely dependent on your population. If that population suddenly decreases you will no longer have the means to provide for your remaining populace and therefore will continue to lose citizens until the situation is remedied.
Food
Food is the most important resource in any community. Stored in the granary, you can provide your citizens with various crops such as apples and cheese. Some foods like bread, for example, require multiple processes, needing more buildings and workers to make. However once established, bread making can be the most efficient of all food types.
Apples are grown in apple farms and are carried to the granary directly after being picked. Meat is hunted from deer herds by your hunters. Cheese is made using processed milk from the cows kept in dairy farms. Bread is produced using wheat grown in wheat farms. The wheat is taken to a mill and processed into flour, which is then brought to a bakery and cooked into bread.
In Stronghold, food is given to your citizens in rations that can be changed through the Granary. Lowering food rations will decrease your popularity but can prevent your citizens from starving. Higher rations will appease people but will also increase the rate at which food is consumed, reducing your surplus. Also, providing your people with different types of food will not only make your castle more popular but will also protect you in case your reserve of one particular food is depleted.
Ale is another vital supply and supplying your peasants with a ready source of it at the Inn will boost yours castles popularity! Hops are grown in hop farms. The hops are then taken to a brewery where they are processed into ale and delivered to any Inns in and around your castle. As your population grows however, so your Inns will reach capacity and new ones will need to be built.
Resources
Stone, wood, pitch, and iron are used everywhere in your castle, from constructing your village buildings and your castle, to making weapons for your troops . These raw materials are stored on a stockpile which allows you to monitor the consumption of all of your goods. Each stockpile only holds four different goods at any given time so it is important to closely monitor valuable resources even if your stockpiles appear full. A full stockpile is a wasted opportunity and should be expanded at the earliest opportunity.
Wood is the most basic building resource available. Gathered by woodcutters, wood is essential to the construction of most buildings as well as the craftsmanship of simple weaponry. Stones are gathered in quarries built near stone boulders – large rocky terrain. Used in the construction of stone walls, stone is essential to your colony’s defenses against enemy attacks. Stone workings far from your castle can also be made more efficient by placing extra ox-tethers, to transport the cut stone back to your stockpile. Pitch is dug up in pitch rigs that are built over marshes. Diggers extract the pitch which is then used for boiling oil and pitch ditches, two of the castles builders biggest friends. Iron is extracted from mines built over reddish colored rocks found usually on the tops of hills. It is a high value item and is used to craft more sophisticated weaponry and armor.
When enemies attack they may burn or destroy your granaries, causing you to lose all of the food housed in it. Your stockpiles however cannot be destroyed and are safe place for your goods, even in times of siege.
Weaponry
In a land ravaged by constant warfare, weapons and armor are very important to the survival of your colony. The weapons available are bows, crossbows, spears, pikes, maces, and swords; your armor choices are leather or metal armor. These items directly affect the troops you can recruit in your barracks, so every weapon crafted is a precious tool that if wasted, can cause many of your people’s deaths.
Both bows and crossbows are crafted by Fletchers and you can decide which type of weapon each individual Fletcher will make. Bows require two planks of wood while crossbows need three. Similarly, Spears and Pikes are both made by a Poleturner. Spears are created using one plank of wood, pikes require two. Blacksmiths craft both maces and swords, crafted with one iron bar each. Tanners can create three leather armor suits by using the hide from only one cow. Armorers craft each piece of metal armor using one iron bar.
Your weapons are always delivered to your armory and with out one your barracks cannot recruit troops, as you have no weapons stored. This building will be a constant target of all your enemies. If it is destroyed, you not only lose the raw materials spent in crafting those weapons, but you are also unable to recruit more soldiers in your barracks if your colony is raided by enemy troops.
