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Hello all,

Stronghold Crusader 2 is a very important game for us and our plan is to support it extensively going forwards. As a result we will be releasing regular updates to Stronghold Crusader 2 over the coming weeks and months. The first fixes will be essential stability fixes with gameplay and balance bugs being addressed after that. We also have a number of feature updates planned which we will announce nearer the time. 



23-4-15 - Version: 1.0.21103 - 270 MB: The Invasion Update was released for all players, introducing some new features as well as addressing various bugs.

FEATURES:

• Easy AI: Players can now choose an easier difficulty setting in both the Skirmish Trails and Custom Skirmish game modes. Each AI Lord's difficulty can be set individually in Custom Skirmish games. AI difficulty settings are not available in multiplayer games.
• Sandbox Invasions: Players can now launch an invasion at their own will, and test their castles against 19 different invasions of various sizes and difficulties. Invasions can be launched from the Sandbox panel in Sandbox mode.
• Faction selection: Players can now choose to play as Crusader or Arabic factions in the Skirmish trails and Sandbox in the Options/Profile screen.
• 3 new skirmish/multiplayer maps
  
  • Volcano (4)
  • The Forest (2)
  • Interlocked (6)
• 2 new Sandbox maps
  
  • The Beach
  • Empty Desert
• 1 bonus skirmish map
  
  • Middle East (6)

BUG FIXES:

• Fixed troops auto-attacking carter horses and peasants in unowned estates.
• Fixed a case where Assassins siege clans could get stuck due to an unclimbable wall.
• Fixed an issue where loading a save of a sandbox map could lead to a dead end after defeat.
• Fixed incorrect building, troop and trading availability in Learning Campaigns.
• Fixed an issue where Oil pot Thrower could sometimes throw with infinite range.
• Fixed rare crash caused by a Lord dying in a fire.
• Fixed rare crashed caused by troops attempting to follow a dead actor.
• Some mouse input optimisations.

Please note: We are aware of some reports of crashes on the forums. Often these are random crashes that are difficult for us to reproduce. If you have a save game that reproduces a crash soon after loading please submit a support ticket to support.fireflyworlds.com

Hello,

Stronghold Crusader 2 is a very important game for us and our plan is to support it extensively going forwards. As a result we will be releasing regular updates to Stronghold Crusader 2 over the coming weeks and months. The first fixes will be essential stability fixes with gameplay and balance bugs being addressed after that. We also have a number of feature updates planned which we will announce nearer the time. 




20-3-15 - Version: 1.0.20907 - 315 MB: Today we released a patch featuring a shedload of gameplay and balancing changes and cupboard full of bug fixes.

FEATURES:

-Four new skirmish/multiplayer maps
-River's Kiss (4)
-Surrounded (5)
-Island Peril (6)
-Armour Harbour (2)

GAMEPLAY CHANGES:

-Most AI castles have been reworked, so they build up more efficiently and intelligently
-Changes to AI build orders and building limits to account for the new AI building system in place
-The AI has a completely reworked system for dividing up its gold intelligently between troops, buildings and resources
-AIs will now capture villages according to their individual frequencies
-The Sultana now uses assassins to attack other players in skirmish games
-Up and down arrow keys can now be used to scroll through maps in the skirmish lobby
-Tower Mantlet, Tower Ballista, and Tower Haybale Launchers are now limited to 5 of each type per estate
-The number of goods carried in each CartHorse load is now set individually for each good type, instead of per storage building
-Man trap balance changes: 
- Duration reduced from 6 to 3 seconds
- Siege weapons no longer trigger the trap, but will receive damage if soldiers trigger it
- Passengers of vehicles (war wagons) no longer trigger or receive damage from man traps
-Whirling Dervish splash damage reduced by 25%
-Inns, Mosques, and Churches are now limited to one each per estate (Note that this does not apply to Sandbox mode)
-Capture points will no longer be contested by a capturing player's allies entering the capture radius. The player that first began capturing the flag will gain control of the estate or gatehouse normally unless contested by enemy troops.
-Allied AI lords now coordinate their capture of Village Estates more carefully, and can now call off or redirect the forces if appropriate.
-The Knights mounting horses system has been overhauled:
- Horses now appear directly at the knights' positions, rather than having to run in from long distances first
- Fixed a number of cases where mounting horses and knights could get stuck, including with legacy save games
- Improved the Speech and UI feedback from knights when mounting fails or succeeds
- Fixed knights not restoring their attack scans after mounting
-Added hotkey "V" to select the Market (double-tap to move the camera to it) (Existing hotkeys to go to individual market pages: SHIFT+G, SHIFT+H, SHIFT+J for the granary, stockpile, armoury market pages still functional)

FORMATIONS OVERHAUL:

-Troop control and formation movement have been overhauled to look and feel much better:
- A number of performance optimizations have been added to all troop movement and formation control
- Troops select form-up positions much more accurately
- Troops now hold their relative positions much better in all formations
- Formations turn more smoothly and adjust their heading while following moving targets
- When ordered to attack an enemy unit, all formations hold their shape better, and troops on the outskirts will engage other enemies as expected
- This greatly improves the interaction of large armies attacking each other in formations such as box & line
- This fixes an issue where nearby troops would wait idly by if the commanded attack target was already fully surrounded
- Box and line formation members will now stay together when ordered to attack enemy units, as expected
- An exception is made for units that have their sprint ability activated in this way-- they will sprint at full speed and leave the formation behind in this case
- Sprinting units include Macemen, Whirling Dervishes, and Sassanid Knights
- Rabble formation (default) 
- Responds more quickly and holds its shape much better. Troops turn on the spot and move right away after initial form-up.
- Note that in this formation troops move at their own pace and don't wait for one another.
- Box formation
- This formation keeps all members together at the slowest member units' pace
- Missile units now attempt to stay in the center for protection.
- Pikemen are placed on the very outside if possible
- Now forms up much more accurately, starting off slower and accelerating so troops can reach their positions
- Now allows the slowest units to keep pace much better in most cases
- Addressed a number of cases where faster units would get ahead and turn around
- Now attempts to make course adjustments and rotate without swapping formation position slots
- When units are leaving combat, this formation will attempt to retreat a bit before re-forming
- Line formation
- Has had the same enhancements as Box Formation, except that the formation is spread out in a wider shape

BALANCE CHANGES:

-Knights now mount horses instantly, rather than waiting for the horse to run from its stables to the knight’s position in order to mount.
-Knights cost 200 gold, from 150.
-Crusader Grand Towers cost 220 stone, from 180
-Whirling Dervish cost increased to 150 gold from 140, spin attack damage reduced to 15 from 20
-Catapult damage reduced to 850, from 950
-Warwolf damage reduced to 1600, from 1800
-Crossbowman damage reduced to 3600, from 4000
-A number of the original trails have been rebalanced to account for the improved AI

BUG FIXES:

-Fixed player Lord selection in Custom Skirmish and multiplayer lobbies to include all available Lord avatars.
-Fixed cost of diagonal walls being cheaper than those of straight walls
-Fixed an issue where ranged troops could sometimes shoot through diagonal walls
-Fixed village estate carter horses crossing bridges
-Fixed an issue where workers could not path through village estates during Peacetime.
-When patrolling, troops now reset formation form-up time to allow box/line to reform normally when reversing direction
-Fix for carter horses that were unable to deliver to a stockpile with one of it's entrance blocked off
-Fixed an issue where AI's mantlets would not leave the siege camp
-Small changes and fixes to several skirmish maps
-Fixed an issue where AI enemies would get stuck packing and unpacking trebuchets repeatedly
-Healers will no longer heal engine tower units
-Fixed an issue where players could place walls in captured village estates
-Fixed a bug where pitch ditches could linger and burn endlessly
-Fixed certain Lords entering a T-Pose occasionally when idling
-Fixed a crash that could occur in rare cases where AI attempted to place a workshop building off an estate
-Fixed Scribe settings for minimum interval on the emigrate speech
-Fixed multiple buildings being selectable when using shift+click or shift+marquee in certain ways
-Multiplayer lobby browser:
- The number of players x/y in a given game is now updated during gameplay to show "Alive Players" / "Starting Players" including AI
- Before the match, only humans and available human slots are shown, since the host can easily change the AI lords and they will not block humans from joining
-Fixed certain hotkeys functioning when the game was task switched in fullscreen modes
-Fixed the Apothecary unit using default unit rules instead of his own
-Fixed siege equipment requiring but not deducting multiple peasants when built
-Building and Unit build buttons no longer function if the game is paused, preventing issues with lingering building proxies and enqueued troops tying up peasants who have not yet arrived.
-Fixed the unit orders buttons' tooltips sometimes popping/sticking open if the button function was changed, even if the mouse had left the button
-Fixed an issue where the Lobby's Advanced Options menu would stay open if a prior game was started without closing it first
-Siege Equipment is now always in "Hold Ground" stance to match its behaviour
-Set VSync to always enable in the Map Editor to prevent excess rendering (Thanks to Marius Radich!)
-Fixed Greatest Lord screen being disabled upon loading a custom skirmish game from a story game
-Fixed area-of-effect indicator particles sometimes lingering in the world when their owner had died
-Fixed the building tooltip remaining open if cancelling a build via a hotkey
-Fixed potential crash problems with the invasion and siege controllers
-Various performance optimisations
-Added low water detail option
-Added a no shadows option

Please note: We are aware of some reports of crashes on the forums. Often these are random crashes that are difficult for us to reproduce. If you have a save game that reproduces a crash soon after loading please submit a support ticket to support.fireflyworlds.com

Thanks for your continuing feedback and support.

Stronghold Crusader 2 is a very important game for us and our plan is to support it extensively going forwards. As a result we will be releasing regular updates to Stronghold Crusader 2 over the coming weeks and months. The first fixes will be essential stability fixes with gameplay and balance bugs being addressed after that. We also have a number of feature updates planned which we will announce nearer the time.

We will keep this thread updated with all update notes as and when they are made available.

Please note: We are aware of some reports of crashes on the forums. Often these are random crashes that are difficult for us to reproduce. If you have a save game that reproduces a crash soon after loading please submit a support ticket to support.fireflyworlds.com

Thanks for your continuing feedback and support.

9-12-14: We are happy to announce that the Winter Update for Stronghold Crusader 2 is now live on Steam! Today’s release (Version 1.0.19990) adds full Steam Workshop support, six new skirmish maps voted for by players and advanced multiplayer features including Strong Walls and Double Health Walls:

Version: 1.0.19990 - ~500MB

Steam Workshop:

-Upload and share maps through Steam.
-Download and play user-created maps and missions.
-Vote, subscribe and comment on maps.
-Publish direct to Steam Workshop from the Map Editor.

Classic Map Pack (Available on the Steam Workshop Page):

-The River
-North Vs South
-A Friend Indeed
-Great Euphrates
-Green Belt
-The Ford Across The River

Login and Download Now - http://steamcommunity.com/app/232890/workshop/

New Multiplayer Advanced Options:

-Strong Walls
-Double Strength Walls
-Trade Restrictions
-No Trebuchets
-No Assassins
-No Traps
-No Engine Towers
-No Fire

Additions:

-Waterfalls added to the Map Editor.
-Steam Group Chat button added to the Multiplayer lobby.
-Multithreaded pathfinding improvements.
-Optimisation for formation movement code.
-Increased range at which Siege Camps can be placed near enemy units and buildings.

As our first expansion-style update for Stronghold Crusader 2, we hope the Winter Update conveys our commitment to the game post-release and into 2015. Players can now log into Steam, automatically download the latest version and gain access to six new skirmish maps by visiting the Crusader 2 Steam Workshop page. In addition to Steam Workshop support and the Classic Map Pack, we have also added several advanced Multiplayer features requested by players. These Multiplayer options are designed to allow Crusader Lords and Ladies to tailor their experience of the game by turning off certain units, gameplay features and even change the way walls can be damaged by other players.

Please enjoy the new update and look forward to more content and DLC next year!

Multiplayer was disabled from these games, due to GameSpy that supplied the servers for multiplayer getting switched off. There is a workaround for this by using GameRanger to play Multiplayer. You can download this from here - http://www.gameranger.com/

When Playing over GameRanger you amy need to set your network speed to an higher parameter in GameRanger:
Edit -> Options -> Network -> Connection Speed (set higher parameter).

We have released a new update for Stronghold Crusader 2, introducing various balancing changes and a number of hotfixes aimed squarely at addressing player-reported issues:

Balancing Changes

• Wood Camp footprint reduced to 2x3 tiles.
• Wood Camp cost reduced to 10 wood.
• Updated starting troops for all AI Lords.
• Updated all AI Lords’ castles.
• AI Lords will now randomly select their castle size and rotation when starting Custom Skirmish or Multiplayer games.
• AI Lords will now try to build the largest castle size possible within the available free space in Custom Skirmish and Multiplayer games.
• Skirmish Trail missions rebalanced to curb rushing the AI Lords:

- Breath of the Infidel - Pit of Despair
- Desert Heat - Isolation
- Way of the Warrior - Lord of The Desert, The Two Brothers and Hope Springs
- A Trail of Tears - Mighty River, Predator and Sands of Time
- Hell’s Teeth - The Peninsula and To The Summit

Bug Fixes

• Fixed - Slowdown caused by no trees or wood being available on the map for Woodcutters.
• Fixed - Players receiving a popularity bonus for multiple food types when rations are set to 0.
• Fixed - players’ estates being changed on the mini-map when they were added or removed from a team.
• Fixed - Players that aren’t in a team in Skirmish and Multiplayer games not being kicked out on game start.
• Fixed - Multiplayer game lobby not showing correct values for clients when they first join the game.
• Fixed - Greatest Lord screen being available in non-skirmish missions.
• Fixed – Issues with Ranger’s animation and props.
• Fixed - Exploit where placing a free wood camp would refund half the cost in wood.
• Fixed - Village estates colour issues in the Map Editor.
• Fixed – Various crashes.

Misc Changes

• Added support for changing available keyboard layouts using ALT+SHIFT

Please Note - The above version number should now appear at the bottom of the main Crusader 2 title screen. If the version numbers do not match up please exit the game and restart your Steam client, until you force the new update to download.

As a small independent team of developers we really appreciate players taking the time to report bugs and even submit saved games, which is a huge help to us. Going the extra mile like this means we spend less time recreating bugs and more time fixing and testing them. If you are experiencing an issue not listed in the fixes above the fastest way to get a fix is by letting us know. Please do so by submitting a support ticket via this tech support site.

Thanks to everyone who supported our Gambitious crowdfunding campaign for Stronghold Crusader 2. Whether you donated, shared the news with friends or simply viewed one of our update videos we hugely appreciate you spreading the word. As you know our campaign did not fully fund, however rest assured all pledges have been cancelled and backers will not be charged any money.

If you have any further questions we can be easily reached on Twitter, Facebook or via our contact form.