Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition News

[h3]Well met, Sire! Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition has charged into the breach and emerged from its launch victorious! The response of fans and critics to Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition has been nothing short of stellar. 
[/h3][p]Delighted and spurred on by the torrent of positive player reception and feedback, Firefly Studios is keeping this momentum going by revealing some of the details of new gameplay content that players can look forward to in the weeks to come.[/p][p][/p][p]The first major ‘Autumn’ update will arrive in two parts -  a free content update as well as an optional paid DLC. The free content will introduce The Crocodile, a brand new computer-controlled opponent with his own tactics, castle design, army and of course, snappy personality![/p][p][/p][h3]> Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition Tacticon Showcase [/p][p]The wizened lord of the marshes, The Crocodile is a bitter cruel fellow, driven beyond sanity by envy of his rival lords. Players will encounter The Crocodile across a new five mission economic campaign, in addition to being playable in skirmish mode (and in case you’re wondering - yes, the game has actual crocodiles, too.) [/p][p][/p][p]While there will be some degree of combat to contend with in the economic campaigns, the ultimate goal and thus victory will be decided by mastery of the game’s various economic industries and castle-life mechanics. The free component of the Autumn Update will be capped off by the inclusion of three new maps, one for Skirmish, Freebuild and Multiplayer.[/p][p]
The paid DLC will feature two new CPU commanders in the form of The Canary and The Trader, and a new 9 mission ‘Sands of Time’ skirmish trail - complete with target completion times and leaderboards. Players can expect military scenarios will test their strategic prowess and skills of siegecraft, as they wage war against these new tricky CPU characters. Fear not, more about these new adversaries and their attributes will be revealed in due time![/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][p]After Stronghold Crusader: DE’s fantastic launch, Firefly is highly determined to keep pushing further, through the likes of additional content updates and gameplay improvements, to truly make this definitive edition the completely elevated tribute of a strategy classic![/p][p][/p][h2]Play Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition on Steam now![/h2][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]
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[h2]Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition v1.03 Patch Notes[/h2][p][/p][p]Greetings Sire! Today we have a chunky patch for Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition. We've hit over 200k sales, and over 16k concurrent players, so that's a lot of Building, Battling and Besieging from our beloved community. We're diligently going through each and every bug report from you, so please continue to log them with us and it won't be long before we have more information coming on the Free Update pack and DLC 1 coming this Autumn.[/p][p][/p][p]- Update Size: 749MB + 700MB for any language with speech -[/p][p][/p][h3]Improvements To Multiplayer Lag: [/h3][p]We've adjusted the delay calculation, which should lead to a general improvement in the lag/delay. We hope this improves the multiplayer experience, and will continue to investigate further changes if needed. [/p][p][/p][h3]Additions[/h3]

• [p]You can now enter “-skipvid” in the steam launch options, and it will skip the intro animation[/p]
• [p]Well workers will now help Allies put out fires[/p]
• [p]Enabled food eaten/not eaten Marketplace toggles in Multiplayer[/p]
• [p]Various improvements to how Teams are displayed in Custom Skirmish and Multiplayer[/p]

• [p]The Skirmish Game Type will now be displayed in the Skirmish Briefing Screen[/p]
• [p]Added Classic Sorting option to Skirmish Map display (shift click the header to change sort modes!)[/p]
• [p]In the Co-Op Lobby, it will now display a pip to notify of a message received[/p]
• [p]Added prompt to show which Lord has a message for you[/p]
• [p]Added several missing Temple Guard voice lines[/p]
• [p]Richard’s ‘Afraid?’ voice line will now play when you click on the mission skip Chicken[/p]
• [p]Added updated skull visual in the Skirmish Masters screen[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Changes[/h3]

• [p]Adjusted the radius of healers, so they can now heal anyone on the same tower[/p]

• [p]You can now place undug moat over an enemies undug moat[/p]
• [p]In Multiplayer, non-hosts can now view the Team Setup panel (round table)[/p]
• [p]Increased range around enemy keep of blocked moat placement (15 tiles)[/p]
• [p]Improvements to speech & input delay when requesting resources from Multiple AI[/p]
• [p]Armour will now be counted towards the “Calm Down, Rambo!” Achievement [/p]

• [p]"Rotate Building" hotkey settings text, updated to say "Rotate Gatehouse"[/p]
• [p]Swapped a voice line for the Wolf when defeating an enemy[/p]
• [p]In the Map Editor, you can no longer place Arabian Horse Archers & Heavy Camels on top of walls[/p]
• [p]Decreased the Vegetation Cap in the Map Editor from 3999 to 3399, to allow count left for a player of the map to place apple farms[/p]
• [p]The Starting Goods display will now disappear when you die[/p]
• [p]Improvements to flattened Stockpile visual[/p]
• [p]Further small improvements to the Tutorial[/p]
• [p]Multiple French Localisation improvements[/p]
• [p]Multiple Simplified Chinese Localisation improvements[/p]
• [p]Multiple Arabic Localisation improvements[/p]
• [p]Multiple Polish Localisation improvements[/p]
• [p]Multiple German Localisation improvements[/p]

[p] [/p][h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

• [p]Fixed the auto-trade / food exploit (Good catch, Udwin!)[/p]

• [p]The Bedouin Outpost is no longer fireproof![/p]
• [p]Engineers will no longer vanish, or turn into enemy units[/p]
• [p]Placing Cesspits will no longer remove Farmland[/p]
• [p]Swordsmen will now properly attack Camel Lancers while in 'Aggressive' stance[/p]
• [p]Allied Walls no longer shrink when hit by allied mangonels[/p]
• [p]Added a missing Engineers guild to one of the Pig’s Castle Designs[/p]
• [p]You can no longer select or disband siege equipment while the game is paused[/p]
• [p]Incorrect images will no longer display in the Allies panel[/p]
• [p]“Calm Down, Rambo!” Achievement should now correctly trigger[/p]
• [p]“Mute Player” Button no longer covers the Team Shield in the Multiplayer Chat Menu[/p]
• [p]Allied Attack Orders will no longer persist once the AI is dead[/p]
• [p]Buying multiple Archers will no longer break the Tutorial[/p]
• [p]Updated UI visual for the Slave[/p]
• [p]Weasel Turd video is now playing correctly[/p]
• [p]Bessy will now leave a European gravestone on death[/p]
• [p]Mangonels will no longer automatically target the gravestones of dead Lords[/p]
• [p]The text of a Selected Stone Keep will no longer say Wooden Keep[/p]
• [p]When you kill a Lord, claimed goods are now called “Captured Goods”[/p]
• [p]Fixed uneven icon spacing on the Classic Trail menu screen[/p]
• [p]Save file names will no longer become lowercase[/p]
• [p]When playing as the Scribe, Churches no longer have text calling them Mosques[/p]
• [p]Report Screen now displays a neutral face for 0, rather than a happy face[/p]
• [p]Arab Swordsman text updated to say Arabian Swordsman[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Mission Fixes[/h3]

• [p]In Missions 39 & 40 of the Classic Trail, Richard the Lionheart will now build his Barracks[/p]
• [p]In Mission 15 of the Classic Trail, Richard the Lionheart will now build his Marketplace[/p]
• [p]In Co-Op Mission 7, farmland can now be built next to the northern player[/p]
• [p]In Co-Op Mission 3, the keep will now properly register as enclosed[/p]
• [p]When completing the Campaign The Baron's Crusade, the text now appears alongside the speech[/p]
• [p]The Merit Panel in Crusaders States Missions 4 & 5 now show the correct team shields[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Map Editor Fixes[/h3]

• [p]In the Map Editor, invisible, walkable Rocks will no longer appear[/p]
• [p]In the Map Editor, you can now place walls right next to ruins[/p]
• [p]In the Map Editor, deleting buildings will no longer attribute goods to the Keep[/p]
• [p]In the Map Editor, placing a rock directly on top of a wall will no longer cause a visual bug[/p]
• [p]In the Map Editor, multiple ruins icons are no longer cut off at the sides[/p]
• [p]Hiding the UI in map editor no longer deselects your current brush[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Map Specific Fixes[/h3]

• [p]Map ‘The Great River’ and ‘Crater Lake’ now have a lower amount of foliage, so no more mass death of trees, or disappearing apple farms[/p]
• [p]Map ‘Border Patrol’, removed tiles that were preventing farm placement[/p]
• [p]Map ‘Distant Encounters’, removed tiles that were preventing farm placement[/p]
• [p]Map ‘Armenia’, Iron Mines will now be built correctly[/p]
• [p]Map ‘Arrival’, Invisible Shrubs have been removed [/p]

[p][/p][h3]Localisation Fixes[/h3]

• [p]Corrupted Speech Files (which in some cases and languages were causing speech lines to “merge” into each other, or instances of garbled noise) have all been fixed[/p]

• [p]Incorrect mission names in Polish Localisation have been updated[/p]
• [p]The Seventh Crusade is no longer called the Sixth Crusade in Polish[/p]
• [p]The Help File links in Polish Localisation now all link to the correct place[/p]
• [p]The Slinger now has a helpfile description, which was missing across multiple Localisations[/p]
• [p]Fixed instances of Story Text being cut off, across multiple Localisations[/p]
• [p]Hungarian Localisation no longer has any English speech play[/p]
• [p]The Historical Campaign menu background, now correctly frames the screen in the Arabic Localisation[/p]
• [p]The sounds settings text is no longer cut off in the Arabic Localisation[/p][p][/p]

[p]Please note that you will only see Multiplayer lobbies of other players on the exact same version of the game as you. Make sure you're on the latest version if you'd like to play Multiplayer.[/p][p][/p][p]Also, we're aware with issues regarding loading saves in Co-Op. We are working on fixing it for a future patch.[/p][p][/p][h2]Thank you for playing Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition![/h2]

[p]Date: 22nd July 2025[/p][p]Update Size: 79.5 MB[/p][p][/p][p]Gird your loins, my liege! We sold over 100k units of Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition in 48 hours! A momentous achievement that wouldn't have been possible without the passion of the Stronghold community. We've been investigating every report you send us, and our first Patch is now live, with more updates and fixes to come.[/p][p][/p][h3]Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition v1.02 Patch Notes:[/h3][h3]ADDITIONS[/h3][p]- Extended the tutorial[/p][p]- Added an extra window to the Keep[/p][p]- Added idle animation for the archers/bows when on towers[/p][p]- Unlocking all missions in the cheat menu will now unlock all co-op missions also[/p][p]- Added the Delete Building cursor when Windows Cursor is selected[/p][p]- Added missing Arabic Swordsman attack speech[/p][p]- Added drag-drawing of rocks in the Map Editor[/p][p][/p][h3]CHANGES[/h3][p]- Updated many AI Castle Designs to place the appropriate number of hovels[/p][p]- Change Tunnelers guild default hotkey to alt-G[/p][p]- Changed visual of Stockpile Walkways to improve visibility[/p][p]- Changed Trail of the Falcon missions 2 & 8 target times[/p][p]- Improved Iron Mine Placement for Richard, and in the Classic Trail (Mission 14 & 15)[/p][p]- Stopped the music restarting when entering/leaving the briefing screen at mission start [/p][p]- Updated Enter-Your-Name Screen[/p][p]- Updated some French Localisation[/p][p]- Updated some German Localisation[/p][p][/p][h3]BUG FIXES[/h3][p]- No More Wood Needed Achievement should now trigger properly[/p][p]- Skirmishers and Tunnelers now make noise when attacking structures[/p][p]- Skirmishers no longer use Arrow SFX when attacking buildings[/p][p]- Monks & Temple Guards could get stuck at the campfire after being recruited, this is now fixed[/p][p]- Fixed "troop disbandment during pause to make infinite peasants" exploit[/p][p]- Leaderboard entries occasionally wouldn't display, this is now fixed[/p][p]- Fixed Leaderboard issue where Page Display wouldn't match the Rank[/p][p]- Stopped "Stockpile is Full" Prompt on Call to Arms Mission 1[/p][p]- Quitting the Warchest Trail no longer takes you to the main menu[/p][p]- Removed the extra signpost in Seventh Crusade Mission 1[/p][p]- When clicking on an enemy building, the healthbar couldn't be removed by clicking elsewhere. This is now fixed.[/p][p]- Invisible shrubs were causing untraversable terrain, this is now fixed (goodbye, shrubs!) [/p][p]- Fixed visual bug with Ravine Placement in Map Editor[/p][p]- Can no longer accidentally create terrain that cannot be edited ("dead tiles") in Map Editor[/p][p]- Fixed the trees on Inches Apart map - they will no longer appear and disappear when moving the camera[/p][p]- Fixed Keep Positions on the Distant Encounters Map[/p][p]- Fixed misplaced water tile on Crater Lake Map[/p][p]- Added missing Starting Resources to The Great River Map[/p][p]- Removed placeholder temple guard voiceline [/p][p]- For Spanish: Kāhinah's speech is now fixed, she is now speaking the correct Spanish lines at the proper volumes[/p][p]- For Spanish: Fixed the corrupted Assassin speech lines[/p][p]- For Dutch: Fixed auto trade text overrun[/p][p][/p][p]Please note that you will only see Multiplayer lobbies of other players on the exact same version of the game as you. People make sure you're on the latest version if you'd like to play Multiplayer.[/p][p][/p]

[p]Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition v1.01 Hotfix[/p][p]Date: 17 July 2025[/p][p]Update Size: 2.9 MB[/p][p][/p][p]Thank you to the thousands of you who have purchased Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition. It's been a whirlwind couple of days as you Build, Battle and Besiege, but we've been hard at work collating all your feedback and working on fixes and improvements. This initial hotfix aims to improve the multiplayer experience, by addressing some of the frequent resync messages players have been experiencing.[/p][p][/p][h3]Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition v1.01 Hotfix Notes:[/h3][h3]BUG FIXES & CHANGES[/h3][p]- Various Resync causes fixed[/p][p]- Resync Panel will now appear less frequently[/p][p]- Resync Panel is now smaller[/p][p][/p][p]We've noticed that playing Multiplayer games with the game speed significantly higher than default can cause instability if a players PC cannot sustain that speed. Please keep this in mind when setting multiplayer lobby speeds[/p][p][/p][p]We are also working hard on a full Update 1, and aim to have this with you next week.[/p][p][/p][h2]Thank you for playing Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition![/h2]