00:00Your peasants are leaving the castle,
00:02the granary is completely bare
00:03and somehow there's a bakery on fire for the third time today.
00:08Welcome to the wonderful medieval world of Stronghold 4.
00:14You start our game with kingly ambitions,
00:17a handful of villagers and a dream of building a mighty castle.
00:21But before you place your stockpile, you need to plan.
00:24Bad planning can lead to a domino effect.
00:27Forget to build enough woodcutters?
00:29Your construction stalls.
00:31No flour?
00:32The bakery shuts down.
00:33Minimal iron?
00:34Well, where are your swordsmen going to get those swords?
00:37My patience dwindles.
00:40Today we're going to run through what makes a thriving medieval economy in Stronghold 4.
00:45What we think makes a truly fun and rewarding strategy experience,
00:49where an optimal tactical layout can make you the greatest lord or lady in the land.
00:54We'll dive into ideal build orders,
00:56master intricate production chains,
00:59and give you a few tips on how to best handle your peasants.
01:02All while taxing the ever-living f*** out of them.
01:06Scrimping and scraping away to pay taxes.
01:10What a life!
01:11Now, before we dive into the granular details of your future bustling medieval economy,
01:17we have a few big announcements.
01:18We are excited to announce that our second Stronghold 4 playable demo is out now on Steam.
01:24Demo 2 brings with it a free build scenario, which is actually a record holder.
01:29Highland Coast is the biggest map we've created ever at Firefly Studios,
01:33which will allow you to create the castle of your dreams.
01:36And it's not even the largest map type we will have in the final game.
01:39Leave only dust!
01:42On October 19th, to kick off Steam Next Fest,
01:45we are also going to be adding Skirmish mode to the demo,
01:48in which you'll be able to face up against the Snake,
01:51Solong'Arm and Penryn in 1v1 and 1v3 matches.
01:55Strike now, men, while the iron is hot!
01:58Now, there was something else we wanted to mention.
02:01What was it? Hmm.
02:02Oh yeah. Release date.
02:05Stronghold 4 will be launching into Steam Early Access on December 7th, 2026.
02:10Everyone at the studio is thrilled to bring you our most ambitious castle builder yet.
02:15And to help us out, please make sure you wish this to the game on Steam.
02:18You'll be alerted as soon as it comes out.
02:20Now, that's out of the way.
02:21Let's get back to earning our part-time degree in medieval economics.
02:26You can forget all about hosting any extravagant banquets until you've mastered the basics.
02:31That means wood production.
02:33Say the line, Scribe.
02:35Wood needed.
02:36Every resource you collect flows straight into your stockpile,
02:39which can now be expanded up to six times.
02:42To speed things up for faster-paced players,
02:44we have also added a neat quality of life feature,
02:47meaning that now you can simply click on the same tile
02:50to place additional stockpiles adjacent to it.
02:54This quality of life feature also applies to most other industry and farm buildings.
02:59The stockpile holds everything from your materials like wood, iron, stone and pitch,
03:04to industry goods such as wool, wheat, flour, hops, ale and candles.
03:10Our burly woodcutters are the vital heartbeat of your starting economy.
03:14If you fail to prepare your wood inflow, then prepare to fail.
03:18Use our new in-game build area indicator tool to see the edges of your build area,
03:24and then make sure you place those woodcutters close to the trees for maximum efficiency.
03:31Once you've got a steady stream of timber, it's time to look towards stone.
03:36Stone quarries must be placed on stone deposits,
03:38and served by one or more oxen, which transports stone directly into your stockpile.
03:43This is your key to proper verticality, providing the raw materials for those massive towers and defensive walls.
03:51Our walls are well defended.
03:54Finally, we have iron, the foundation behind your advanced weapon production,
03:59which we'll talk about more in a future video.
04:01So make sure you like this video so that it gets pushed to you once it's available by the almighty
04:06YouTube algorithm.
04:08Like the stone quarry, iron mines must be placed on iron deposits.
04:12Once those are down, you just sit back and watch your workers do their thing.
04:16The production cycle is a beauty to behold.
04:20Each lowly worker hauls ore from the very earth underneath them,
04:24melts it down and then dunks the cast iron into water before loading it into a transport.
04:30Get these basic resources flowing and you'll have the economic engine required to turn your humble hamlet
04:37into a formidable fortress.
04:39The people love you, my lord.
04:42Once your raw materials are flowing, you need to turn your attention to the stomachs of your people,
04:47key to winning their hearts and minds.
04:50A single failed harvest can transform a prosperous estate into a steady stream of peasants
04:56leaving your castle and your buildings unmanned.
04:59Never in all my days have I been so miserable.
05:02You'll begin with the humble apple orchards and turnip patches.
05:06These are dependable staples for the early game that ensure your granary remains well stocked.
05:11However, these are cheap to build and thus they lack the bountiful yields
05:16that more advanced production food chains will grant you.
05:19Things soon evolve into a sophisticated agricultural symphony with the introduction of wheat production.
05:25And if you've been playing our last game Stronghold Crusade Definitive Edition,
05:28you will be intimately familiar with wheat production.
05:31First, the wheat farm.
05:33You can watch your farmers execute a precise five-stage cycle.
05:37From tilling the earth and sowing seeds to scything down the golden crops
05:41and hauling bundles to the stockpile.
05:44Fuah!
05:44Look at that woozle factor.
05:46Just as a quick heads up, if that field catches fire, your entire harvest vanishes in seconds.
05:52Oh!
05:53The fire is out of control!
05:55Next is the mill.
05:56An engine of industry where two young lads process your grain.
06:00One manages the heavy machinery while the other shuttles wheat from the stockpile
06:05and delivers fresh flour back to your stores.
06:07Finally, we have the bakery where the aptly named baker transforms that flour into bread.
06:13Warm to the touch and smelling delicious.
06:19This is a lot of fun.
06:20I'm enjoying this.
06:23Just wait for our scrumptious sensory update in early access.
06:27Which, sadly is a joke, we can't make the game smell like fresh bread.
06:31Sorry about that.
06:32Next up, we have the honor system.
06:34We've devised this feature to give a sense of progression and reward
06:37for tackling some of our more specialized castle supply chains.
06:41You earn honor in a number of ways.
06:44From simply having an intact keep to holding lavish, opulent banquets.
06:49But what does honor actually do?
06:51Well, jumping into the honor panel here, you can see that each rank provides you with unlocks
06:55for both the economy and military sides of the game.
06:58To give you one example of an in-depth honor earning feature we have in-game,
07:02look no further than the Lord's Kitchen.
07:05This is where all the food is prepared for the feasts that will take place in your keep.
07:09We'll have all types of meals prepared for your nobility here.
07:13From a simple sweet treat to a king's banquet.
07:17All require a different mix of ingredients.
07:20Be that wine, honey, boar or deer.
07:24All produced at buildings which we'll show on screen right now.
07:27But that isn't the only thing that will grant you respect and admiration in your kingdom.
07:32As honor will go hand in hand with our classic popularity system.
07:36Take housing for instance.
07:37Not having the adequate shelter for your peasants will bring your popularity down.
07:41But trying to save for higher quality housing will give you higher honor.
07:45So you'll need to find a balance between cost and quality.
07:49Our beekeeper stations are another good example.
07:51These are one of the buildings in Stronghold 4 which will have a dual purpose.
07:55Well, you'll have to choose between a couple of options for what that worker is producing.
07:59Here you will choose between honey for your honor boosting feasts.
08:03Or candles for your religious coverage in shrines or churches.
08:07Which will boost your popularity.
08:08Choices like this and others will make you think tactically about your worker's output.
08:13Key in developing your playstyle.
08:15Where you may have to choose between higher honor and unit unlocks.
08:18Or higher popularity and better taxes during a scenario.
08:21So when you finally get your hands on the game, please treat honor with the respect it deserves.
08:26Or you might find yourself sending out a smattering of measly, unmotivated archers
08:31to defend your keeps from trebuchets and heavily armored troops.
08:35I'll skewer you, I will!
08:38Now that we have our workshops and workforce in place, let's look at how to encourage them
08:44to produce for their liege lord or lady.
08:47The people fear you, my lord.
08:49We are of course talking about Fear Factor.
08:52The series staple which adds another layer onto your popularity management
08:55whilst giving you other in-game benefits or disadvantages.
09:00Build gallows in Gibbets and you'll find your people will work much harder
09:04to avoid the gallows and gibbets.
09:07Oh, no more happy days around here.
09:10But be warned, this boost to productivity comes at a cost.
09:14Making your soldiers weaker in battle.
09:16Now moving to the good lord side of things,
09:18this is all about boosting your popularity via medieval community projects like benches.
09:24I mean, who doesn't love a good sit?
09:26I'm sitting right now, it's great.
09:27By placing buildings like statues, gardens and dovecotes,
09:31you keep your peasants both happy and loyal.
09:33It comes at a cost to production speed,
09:35but maintaining high popularity is vital for a stable kingdom.
09:39And the best part of keeping everyone happy?
09:41It creates a sweet financial buffer.
09:44You can crank up your tax rate to bring in some serious gold.
09:48And, because your popularity is high,
09:50your peasants will tolerate the extra burden without any grumbling,
09:54funding your next expansion.
09:56We're aiming to shake up the Stronghold experience with Stronghold 4,
10:00introducing gameplay events which alter the scenario regularly,
10:03forcing the player to react in the moment.
10:06Now, keeping your peasants happy is way less predictable.
10:09Instead of just nudging the slider every now and then,
10:12in-game events will regularly pop up in the top right corner of the screen,
10:15and risk severely hindering your popularity,
10:18or boosting it.
10:20So be it a holy turnip, nasty flu, ale drinking competition,
10:24or indeed a drunk priest,
10:26you and your peasants won't be short of gossip from the local goings-on in your castle.
10:31Our hope is that this keeps the gameplay experience engaging,
10:34especially for lifelong fans of the series.
10:38Finally, let's talk about the ultimate flourish,
10:41decorations and peasants.
10:43Now, to be upfront, these decorations will not change the gameplay at all.
10:46They are purely cosmetic, as requested by players like you, since, well, forever.
10:52That said, these decorations ensure that no two fortresses are ever the same.
10:56By mixing and matching your walls, banners, and gruesome trophies,
11:01you create a unique monument to your reign,
11:03ensuring every castle siege feels visually distinct.
11:06To complement these decorations,
11:08we'll also have woozle-based peasants and workers populating your castle.
11:12Tavern drunks will, as the name implies,
11:15have one too many at the local inn,
11:17and then terrorize locals by...
11:18Oh, Jesus, he's already started.
11:21Quick, blow that out!
11:23Jesters will be your entertainers,
11:25making sure that your men are nice and distracted
11:28before they are sent through the gatehouse into the clutches of the enemy.
11:32Thrilling!
11:33We'll also have families, children, and priests,
11:36and are intent on adding as many of these colorful characters
11:39to the warpwags of your castle as possible during early access.
11:46So there you have it.
11:47You've passed your very own crash course in castle customization and economics.
11:52Now, this isn't absolutely everything that will be available in your toolbox at launch
11:56for future castle building sessions.
11:58However, hopefully this video has given you a good overview
12:01for the intricacies of running a medieval estate in Stronghold 4.
12:05We'll also be covering the darker, more violent side of Stronghold
12:08in a future feature spotlight,
12:10which focuses on siegecraft, units, and defense.
12:13So for you bloodthirsty, despicable warlords out there,
12:17don't worry, we'll have you covered soon.
12:19As we mentioned near the start of the video,
12:22we have a brand new demo out now on Steam.
12:24Head to our link in the pinned comments to play both our new Stronghold 4 demo
12:28and please also wishlist the game while you're at it.
12:31Go on.
12:49off all the boltha constructs on the boat , you get
