Update #63: Stronghold!

[Walsingham]

 

 Prisoners are kept in a cell in your prison, where you can visit them and talk to them,

 

 

Scene is prison in MST3K Space Mutiny

 

Calgon: Is this the man?

 

Krow (as goon-guard): Why no, sir. YOU THE MAN!

 

I demand this dialogue.

[LuccA]

Awesome features! but,

I might just be a little concerned about the companion who stays at the stronghold.

 

I woudn't like to see his/her personality lost in there. Like: "Oh, OK! You want me to stay at your stronghold? Of course! I'll sent you reports every week and make sure your reputation stays good! Bye!". I don't know, for an adventurer, to refuse to go along with you and stay at one place, as a housewife, doesn't seem believeble.

 

Also, is the stronghold going to be mandatory? What if the PC is a humble, poor guy, who despite any kind of royalty, ostentacious stuff? It would be cool if some (not all of them) stronghold features had a counter-option, like putting a guy in the local prison, instead of your own private jail.

 

Also, will the stronghold have an important role in the story? Or act more like a side-story rest house?

[Raithe]

From what's been said, everything about the stronghold is purely OPTIONAL. If you're only interested in the main story, you don't have to do anything related to the stronghold.

 

 

You will be offered the stronghold early in the game, before you finish Act 1. But the stronghold itself is old and dilapidated, and you will want to upgrade it as soon as you can. These upgrades will, in turn, open up new activities and events that can happen, which will make the stronghold a dynamic and fun place to own.

 

So you get offered the chance for it, but it's not something that's demanded of you, and you can breeze past without worrying one bit about any of all of these features.

If you do want to spend time exploring some of these sidelines, that's fine. If you do spend time, effort, and potential wealth you've gathered from your adventures on establishing a stronghold, you will get benefits. Both passive ones, and even more content that's available for you to explore and adventure with.

But again, that's if you choose to do so. You don't have to.

[fioause inas]

i would rather play Project Eternity than play Project Stronghold.

 

i know its been confirmed that its optional but how so? do i have the choice to refuse ownership entirely or will it still be in my possession but left neglected?

 

if it is somewhat mandatory will there be other options available to the building/land if the player chose not to partake in building a stronghold for themselves and managing taxes/attacks etc i.e sell the aquired land onto someone else (could be various buyers through out the land with different agendas), donate it to religion and see a church /temple developed? basically something that will have a visual impact on the area (leave it neglected and witness the land decay over time).

 

im guessing it will just be ''do or don't'' though.

 

also if not going down the stronghold path, what kind of house options will be available in the game? i think various small houses available in the main cities/towns would be nice, just somewhere to store loot within a reasonable distance and maybe a garden hear and there, nothing over the top.

 

just curious

 

thanks

[VladWorks]

Wow I'm impressed with this added level of strategy in this already impressive RPG game. Now my only wish is for combat to be as diverse as the other aspects of the game. I hope that there will be different animations for skills and abilities during combat as well.

[Tamerlane]

i would rather play Project Eternity than play Project Stronghold.

 

i know its been confirmed that its optional but how so? do i have the choice to refuse ownership entirely or will it still be in my possession but left neglected?

 

if it is somewhat mandatory will there be other options available to the building/land if the player chose not to partake in building a stronghold for themselves and managing taxes/attacks etc i.e sell the aquired land onto someone else (could be various buyers through out the land with different agendas), donate it to religion and see a church /temple developed? basically something that will have a visual impact on the area (leave it neglected and witness the land decay over time).

 

im guessing it will just be ''do or don't'' though.

 

also if not going down the stronghold path, what kind of house options will be available in the game? i think various small houses available in the main cities/towns would be nice, just somewhere to store loot within a reasonable distance and maybe a garden hear and there, nothing over the top.

 

just curious

 

thanks

As far as I know, the least involvement you can get is "owned but neglected". They've said that the player house will be a basic stronghold component, though.

Edited September 14, 2013 by Tamerlane

[Lephys]

As far as I know, the least involvement you can get is "owned but neglected". They've said that the player house will be a basic stronghold component, though.

I'm honestly not trying to be nitpicky here, for what it's worth. But, just in case it matters to anyone, I believe it was said that you'll still go to/use the stronghold even if you don't "do the stronghold management," but you won't necessarily own and neglect it, I don't think. In other words, I don't think you're forced to take responsibility for the stronghold, and have your only "opt out" option be "I'll just neglect everyone after taking direct responsibility for the well-being of this place."

 

It seems relevant, since the reputation system would either have to factor that in (so your "no stronghold" option would really be "have everyone hate you for not-taking care of your stronghold that you can never not-own"), or very arbitrarily leave it out.

 

You may HAVE to own the house there... I'm not sure. But, I think the stronghold will simply be your party's sort of safehouse/base-of-operations, whether you own the whole thing or not. Almost like a home city. You live in and are a member of a community in your home city/town/whathaveyou, but that doesn't mean you own/rule the entire community.

 

So, I think maybe the only think you can't choose to do is to be un-welcome there. Who knows... maybe you CAN choose that somehow? *shrug*

[sirchet]

I love it!

 

Can I haz my Project Eternity NOWZ!!!!!

 

Heh heh

[fioause inas]

 

As far as I know, the least involvement you can get is "owned but neglected". They've said that the player house will be a basic stronghold component, though.

I'm honestly not trying to be nitpicky here, for what it's worth. But, just in case it matters to anyone, I believe it was said that you'll still go to/use the stronghold even if you don't "do the stronghold management," but you won't necessarily own and neglect it, I don't think. In other words, I don't think you're forced to take responsibility for the stronghold, and have your only "opt out" option be "I'll just neglect everyone after taking direct responsibility for the well-being of this place."

 

It seems relevant, since the reputation system would either have to factor that in (so your "no stronghold" option would really be "have everyone hate you for not-taking care of your stronghold that you can never not-own"), or very arbitrarily leave it out.

 

You may HAVE to own the house there... I'm not sure. But, I think the stronghold will simply be your party's sort of safehouse/base-of-operations, whether you own the whole thing or not. Almost like a home city. You live in and are a member of a community in your home city/town/whathaveyou, but that doesn't mean you own/rule the entire community.

 

So, I think maybe the only think you can't choose to do is to be un-welcome there. Who knows... maybe you CAN choose that somehow? *shrug*

 

 

why would there be a community surrounding an un occupied stronghold though? seems odd, they wouldn't have any taxes to pay/ any law to follow etc if no one rules over them. im wondering if the community starts if you chose to own the stronghold fulltime i.e you gain ownership, start doing it up then people start to inhibit the surrounding area. otherwise anyone living in that area before hand would just be squatting, maybe? 

 

also forcing the player to own something they may not want to is not giving us freedom of choice. im sure there will be suitible alternatives to this and not just "you have to own this, but if you dont want to you can piss off and neglect it, but its still yours". i was just curious as to what they may be, though as i said above will most likley be "do or don't", either own it or dont own it, your choice.

 

owning a stronghold does sound really indepth and fun, but not something i would want to spend time on first playthrough. fisrt play is for full exploration, second play the immersion of exploration will be dulled a bit (been there, seen that) and owning a stronghold will add new experience to the game. so its a great well thought out addition to the game, i was just curious as to what the alternative to owning it may be, because "its yours to neglect" is a bit dull.

[kgambit]

 

 

why would there be a community surrounding an un occupied stronghold though? seems odd, they wouldn't have any taxes to pay/ any law to follow etc if no one rules over them. im wondering if the community starts if you chose to own the stronghold fulltime i.e you gain ownership, start doing it up then people start to inhibit the surrounding area. otherwise anyone living in that area before hand would just be squatting, maybe? 

 

 

Why are you assuming that the keep is unoccupied before you are offered it?  I can think of several scenarios for the stronghold before it becomes yours (feel free to flesh out any background info as you wish, these are only barebones ideas):

 

• the stronghold was recently governed by a heirless feudal lord who had died - you have been offered the keep (perhaps as a reward)
• the stronghold is occupied by a despot - a feudal lord who mistreats his populace - the populace pays taxes to the lord 
• the stronghold is occupied by a bandit lord who is extorting the local populace in return for "protection"
• the stronghold is occupied by a group of cultists who are demanding sacrifices and gold from the local populace
• the stronghold is occupied by a group of intelligent monsters who demand tribute from the local populace
• the stronghold is occupied by a group of unintelligent monsters who make occasional forays to the local village tor "food"
• the stronghold is un-occupied and ruled through benign neglect
• the stronghold resides in an ungoverned area - the richness of the land has made it attractive to people who chose to settle in an area free from feudal governance
• the stronghold lies in a disputed border zone between two realms - each has a claim on the area but neither wants to risk claiming the area outright due to risk of war

The first 5 scenarios would actually require clearing the keep of its current inhabitants before you take possession.  The choice to assume management of it would still be optional.

[Lephys]

What Kgambit said. I'm assuming the player character is not the only person in the world capable of occupying/doing anything whatsoever with a stronghold. Also, again, the stronghold is kind of like a little town. Or, at least... it's IN one. Whichever it is. Even if the keep proper goes unoccupied, I'm sure people will still live in the surrounding area. How else could there be a house available for your player that's part of the stronghold, but is just a house? And they talked about merchants and all that.

 

Just because someone's not controlling the ramparts and commanding the keep doesn't mean people won't already live and function there. If you decide to take over/manage the stronghold, you're probably not just starting a fresh game of Warcraft, with like bring-your-own-peons style buildup from 0 populous to an army.

 

I mean, someone else could easily assume responsibility for the stronghold, and simply allow you into the township area freely. But, even if no one actually owns the place, that doesn't mean no one's going to live there or use it.

[fioause inas]

 

 

 

why would there be a community surrounding an un occupied stronghold though? seems odd, they wouldn't have any taxes to pay/ any law to follow etc if no one rules over them. im wondering if the community starts if you chose to own the stronghold fulltime i.e you gain ownership, start doing it up then people start to inhibit the surrounding area. otherwise anyone living in that area before hand would just be squatting, maybe? 

 

 

Why are you assuming that the keep is unoccupied before you are offered it?  I can think of several scenarios for the stronghold before it becomes yours (feel free to flesh out any background info as you wish, these are only barebones ideas):

 

• the stronghold was recently governed by a heirless feudal lord who had died - you have been offered the keep (perhaps as a reward)
• the stronghold is occupied by a despot - a feudal lord who mistreats his populace - the populace pays taxes to the lord 
• the stronghold is occupied by a bandit lord who is extorting the local populace in return for "protection"
• the stronghold is occupied by a group of cultists who are demanding sacrifices and gold from the local populace
• the stronghold is occupied by a group of intelligent monsters who demand tribute from the local populace
• the stronghold is occupied by a group of unintelligent monsters who make occasional forays to the local village tor "food"
• the stronghold is un-occupied and ruled through benign neglect
• the stronghold resides in an ungoverned area - the richness of the land has made it attractive to people who chose to settle in an area free from feudal governance
• the stronghold lies in a disputed border zone between two realms - each has a claim on the area but neither wants to risk claiming the area outright due to risk of war

The first 5 scenarios would actually require clearing the keep of its current inhabitants before you take possession.  The choice to assume management of it would still be optional.

 

 

because the update stated "But the stronghold itself is old and dilapidated" , that is why. my immediate thought after reading that was that you would be offered a ruined and neglected stronghold that resides on land that has also been forgoten about. sure, maybe some rats or 'intelligent monsters' have moved in since its decay, but if that was the case id be asking "why is there a community surrounding a neglected stronghold housed by rodents, and why are they paying money to these rats to stay there?"

 

i was speculating, as many people here are. i was curious as to why there was a commmunity there in the first place, or wether they inhibit the surrounding lands after you take ownership. there was no need to throw a bag of terrible ideas at me.

 

also why do you assume there is a community there to begin with? do you know what "old and dilapidated" implies? i was speculating, you on the other hand are assuming.

[sirchet]

I personally like the idea of a stronghold that is really no more than a medium size estate that has the potential to grow into a large community of it's own based on the player's actions.

 

If the player decides not to take much interest in the estate, it could decline into merely a large house with run down surroundings.

 

This way fame, fortune, or lack of these could open up endless possibilities and almost be a small game unto itself.

[fioause inas]

What Kgambit said. I'm assuming the player character is not the only person in the world capable of occupying/doing anything whatsoever with a stronghold. Also, again, the stronghold is kind of like a little town. Or, at least... it's IN one. Whichever it is. Even if the keep proper goes unoccupied, I'm sure people will still live in the surrounding area. How else could there be a house available for your player that's part of the stronghold, but is just a house? And they talked about merchants and all that.

 

Just because someone's not controlling the ramparts and commanding the keep doesn't mean people won't already live and function there. If you decide to take over/manage the stronghold, you're probably not just starting a fresh game of Warcraft, with like bring-your-own-peons style buildup from 0 populous to an army.

 

I mean, someone else could easily assume responsibility for the stronghold, and simply allow you into the township area freely. But, even if no one actually owns the place, that doesn't mean no one's going to live there or use it.

 

Ok, but where does it say your house will reside in this alleged town/village? also yes, theres obviously opportunities for anyone else to own the stronghold but it is "old and dilapidated", and also available to you...

 

"hi im the king around these parts. my strongholds in ruins you say? yes, i know. i would much rather spend all the taxes i collect on harlots. whats that? oh, so your the new owner... umm, well... ok , i quite liked it here myself though, but if thats the way it is so be it. i would like 10,000 gold coins in advance please."

 

its an old neglected stronghold, no one lives in it. its most likely empty and available to you to own, or not.

 

the second paragraph of your post is better. it kind of answers my curiosity as to wehter people where already living in the surrounding areas or not. i understand thats more than possible, but if you impose taxes on people who were possibly living tax free i dont think the reaction would be very good amongst them.

 

also if there was a functional system within the community before you take charge how would they react to you coming along and telling them now your in charge and all taxes go to you? why should they accept you? at the end of act 1 you most likely still a nobody, if i lived lord/kingless but within a functional society thats doing fine why should i pay taxes to you? maybe the community isnt quite functional and is in need of someone to take command. maybe it is no mans land and there is no community until you decide to settle in.

 

don't just tell me there is a functional community there to begin with just because there is. also im still curious as to why you think the house you can own instead of the keep is within this town you've just imagined.

[kgambit]

 

 

 

 

why would there be a community surrounding an un occupied stronghold though? seems odd, they wouldn't have any taxes to pay/ any law to follow etc if no one rules over them. im wondering if the community starts if you chose to own the stronghold fulltime i.e you gain ownership, start doing it up then people start to inhibit the surrounding area. otherwise anyone living in that area before hand would just be squatting, maybe? 

 

 

Why are you assuming that the keep is unoccupied before you are offered it?  I can think of several scenarios for the stronghold before it becomes yours (feel free to flesh out any background info as you wish, these are only barebones ideas):

 

• the stronghold was recently governed by a heirless feudal lord who had died - you have been offered the keep (perhaps as a reward)
• the stronghold is occupied by a despot - a feudal lord who mistreats his populace - the populace pays taxes to the lord 
• the stronghold is occupied by a bandit lord who is extorting the local populace in return for "protection"
• the stronghold is occupied by a group of cultists who are demanding sacrifices and gold from the local populace
• the stronghold is occupied by a group of intelligent monsters who demand tribute from the local populace
• the stronghold is occupied by a group of unintelligent monsters who make occasional forays to the local village tor "food"
• the stronghold is un-occupied and ruled through benign neglect
• the stronghold resides in an ungoverned area - the richness of the land has made it attractive to people who chose to settle in an area free from feudal governance
• the stronghold lies in a disputed border zone between two realms - each has a claim on the area but neither wants to risk claiming the area outright due to risk of war

The first 5 scenarios would actually require clearing the keep of its current inhabitants before you take possession.  The choice to assume management of it would still be optional.

 

 

because the update stated "But the stronghold itself is old and dilapidated" , that is why. my immediate thought after reading that was that you would be offered a ruined and neglected stronghold that resides on land that has also been forgoten about. sure, maybe some rats or 'intelligent monsters' have moved in since its decay, but if that was the case id be asking "why is there a community surrounding a neglected stronghold housed by rodents, and why are they paying money to these rats to stay there?"

 

i was speculating, as many people here are. i was curious as to why there was a commmunity there in the first place, or wether they inhibit the surrounding lands after you take ownership. there was no need to throw a bag of terrible ideas at me.

 

also why do you assume there is a community there to begin with? do you know what "old and dilapidated" implies? i was speculating, you on the other hand are assuming.

 

 

 

 

I didn't assume that the community was there; you mentioned it and more importantly, Tim Cain stated that the populace was there.  Read the update again.  I'll make it easy for you:  look for the quote I've highlighted below.  It's in the third paragraph under the Activities heading in case you are having trouble finding it. 

 

 

 

 

From update 63:

 

You can begin collecting taxes from your populace as soon as you gain the stronghold.

 

That's not "after you do the first upgrade" but as soon as you gain the stronghold. So the populace is already in place.  If you have issues as to why the populace is already there, take it up with Tim, not me. 

Edited September 15, 2013 by kgambit

[Lephys]

Ok, but where does it say your house will reside in this alleged town/village?

Here:

 

Your player house is located within the boundaries of the stronghold, but it is its own building with its own upgrades/benefits.

also yes, theres obviously opportunities for anyone else to own the stronghold but it is "old and dilapidated", and also available to you...

 

"hi im the king around these parts. my strongholds in ruins you say? yes, i know. i would much rather spend all the taxes i collect on harlots. whats that? oh, so your the new owner... umm, well... ok , i quite liked it here myself though, but if thats the way it is so be it. i would like 10,000 gold coins in advance please."

There are plenty of things that are old and dilapidated. Doesn't mean they're not being currently "run" by someone. Just means things are bad. Local economy sucks, or there's a resource shortage, or the people running the show aren't really doing what they need to be doing, or some combination of the above.

 

The point isn't that we should all assume it's totally fully populated and owned by someone already. The point is merely that there's no reason to assume it's a completely unoccupied ruin, and you just move in, level it, build a strip mall, add in a house, and send out Facebook friend invites for people to come live there. That could be the case, and then problems could arise from that being the case. Or, maybe that's the case and Obsidian's clever enough to make it all make sense anyway. *shrug*. I trust them.

 

The assumptive responses in this thread seem to suggest they're some kind of imbeciles who don't really comprehend how to evaluate all this, or like they haven't spent about 5 months of pre-production thinking about all this before they even said anything about the details.

 

It's not that you're wrong, or somehow bringing up things that aren't possible at all. There's just no need to somehow make this a probability war of possibilities, or go off on the obviousness of a problem that stems from a mere possibility.

 

the second paragraph of your post is better. it kind of answers my curiosity as to wehter people where already living in the surrounding areas or not. i understand thats more than possible, but if you impose taxes on people who were possibly living tax free i dont think the reaction would be very good amongst them.

Unless they are SEVERELY lacking in any kind of infrastructure or resources, and you come set things up for them. You're arbitrarily oversimplifying the situation in the stronghold. If it's inhabited, and it's not fixed up nice, then obviously either they lack the ability to fix it up nice and maintain it, or they're deciding not to for whatever reasons. Regardless, it's clear that non-crumbling defensive walls and functional wells and food supplies and such are far better for everyone than the state things are in. So, EVEN IF you just waltz in there and declare yourself the lord-ruler of the place (which is only one possibility of so many methods by which you might come to be responsible for the entire stronghold as a land/property), as long as you do it properly, it would work just fine. If the current ruler had an army at his disposal and could afford to outfit them and feed them and keep them loyal, why would he let everything wear down to a dismal state around him? Even if certain people living there were oppressed, you'd think at the very least the stronghold itself would be maintained. And if they weren't paying any taxes, it's probably because the economy's so bad they don't have any money. Or, if they have money and resources, the current "leader" is so terrible that he thinks its nicer to let everything go to crap and let people keep all their money than to require some manner of progress/maintenance be made, at the cost of money and resources.

 

Either way, I'm not gonna sit here and try to come up with the specific story. Obsidian's on that already, I'm sure, and they're going to blow away anything I come up with. I'm aware of the possibilities available to them, though, at least in the basic structure of the situation. There are COUNTLESS suggestions listed throughout this thread for the plethora of specific existing states of the stronghold when you get to take it over, as well as the specific manner by which it may be taken over. These all seem to contradict the idea that. The validity of your deductions relies on the idea of your nonsensically walking in and taking over a dilapidated stronghold that had no reason to either be dilapidated OR be populated in the first place is the only possibility.

 

Which is odd, because you say you realize that other things are possible. But then you point out an extremely narrow-focus scenario, then act as if its improbability shoots down all possibilities but "It's clearly an unoccupied ruin that you can take over."

 

also if there was a functional system within the community before you take charge how would they react to you coming along and telling them now your in charge and all taxes go to you? why should they accept you? at the end of act 1 you most likely still a nobody, if i lived lord/kingless but within a functional society thats doing fine why should i pay taxes to you? maybe the community isnt quite functional and is in need of someone to take command. maybe it is no mans land and there is no community until you decide to settle in.

I dunno... Your grandfather used to be the liege of the place, and everyone loved him because the place rocked while he ruled, and he died, and since then it's been run by some rather crappy, selfish people, and/or gone to crap, and it is discovered that you're actually in his bloodline, and therefore hold a right to claim the place as your own. Thus, people attribute the memories of your grandfather's ultra-sweet lord-dom to your bloodline/family name, and feel that you're inherently going to do a better job of things than whoever's half-assedly running the show right now. *shrug*

 

Again, Obsidian will do a much better job than I can, but the possibility is easy to think up. Again, you're thinking of sheerly possible situations that don't even fit with the announced, intended design of the stronghold, as if the situation, itself isn't designed by the dev team. "What if it's inhabited by demon anarchists, and makes no sense for them to succumb to your command?" Well, then, either Obsidian's got some really clever way of designing our takeover of this place from them that makes sense, or that's probably not a scenario they're going to use, since they have no reason to implement stronghold circumstances that completely oppose their intended design of your sensical ability to take ownership of a stronghold in their game.

 

don't just tell me there is a functional community there to begin with just because there is. also im still curious as to why you think the house you can own instead of the keep is within this town you've just imagined.

See Josh Sawyer quote above.

 

There's also this, which was posted earlier in this thread. The source of it is apparently SomethingAwful:

 

Gaining access to the stronghold occurs on the critical path, but unlike NWN2, the stronghold is not an integral part of continuing the critical path. If you ignore the stronghold entirely, at worst you miss out on potential bonuses. It still becomes the common rally point for companions.

So, either your companions are all going to choose to live in/hang-out-in an uninhabited pile of rubble, in which you also decide to build and upgrade your very own player house (which is totally possible, by the way), OR, maybe more likely (maybe), there's actually existing stuff there that gives you a reason to meet up there and/or live there. As in more than just rubble.

 

I'll do you one further than that... if it IS an uninhabited pile of rubble, is it more likely that you go from that, to population, to taxed population? Than going from population that you weren't taxing to population that you're now taxing because of however you acquired ownership of this place? Is it really more likely that we're going to single-handedly rebuild an entire pile-of-rubble stronghold, then get a bunch of people all to move in there (all with just adventuring money, and no tax money or resources being generated by the stronghold as it exists, whatsoever, until it eventually gets built up and populated), and get them to start paying us taxes?

 

"Move-in special! Only 90% taxes! I have like no money, and all this place has is like, a 5-foot section of wall, and my dilapidated-yet-still-in-tact personal house! I can kill a lot of bandits and take their stolen money, but I can't kill THAT many! Who wants to move into a place and completely start from scratch, but also pay me enough money to get this place up-and-running?! 8D!"

 

That would be an awesome poster.

 

@Kgambit:

 

Nice work! Didn't even catch that verification in the update itself, of the stronghold's functionality/populace from the get-go. So much for all those paragraphs I just typed while you were posting that, in an effort to thoroughly evaluate the possibility when we had proof/verification this whole time. Heh... Silly me.

Edited September 15, 2013 by Lephys

[rjshae]

Well hopefully we won't find out the answer to these stronghold background questions until the game is actually released. Because frankly I want to find out by playing the game.

[Fearabbit]

 

From update 63:

 

You can begin collecting taxes from your populace as soon as you gain the stronghold.

 

That's not "after you do the first upgrade" but as soon as you gain the stronghold. So the populace is already in place.  If you have issues as to why the populace is already there, take it up with Tim, not me. 

 

 

I'm calling it now: You'll lead them there. Just like Moses led the Israelites into the Holy Land.

You'll not only be their lord, you'll be their holy savior as well. The event in the beginning of the game is the complete destruction of their hometown. (Obsidian have learned from their time with Bethesda that one town always needs to burn.)

 

Just saying, it's a possibility that's still out there.

Edited September 15, 2013 by Fearabbit

[kgambit]

 

 

From update 63:

 

You can begin collecting taxes from your populace as soon as you gain the stronghold.

 

That's not "after you do the first upgrade" but as soon as you gain the stronghold. So the populace is already in place.  If you have issues as to why the populace is already there, take it up with Tim, not me. 

 

 

I'm calling it now: You'll lead them there. Just like Moses led the Israelites into the Holy Land.

You'll not only be their lord, you'll be their holy savior as well. The event in the beginning of the game is the complete destruction of their hometown. (Obsidian have learned from their time with Bethesda that one town always needs to burn.)

 

Just saying, it's a possibility that's still out there.

 

 

 

Only if I get to part an inland sea.  Just think of the cinematics! 

 

Hmm on second thought, you won't be able to enter the keep for 40 years, and then you die when spot the stronghold .... that's really going to put a crimp in game play.   

 

 

 

I will just settle for being to able to conduct my own inquisition!   What good is a prison if you can not lock up Heretics!?

Edited September 15, 2013 by kgambit

[Fearabbit]

I just hope I'll be able to auto-adjust the rate of monthly executions to the birth rate, so that I don't suddenly wind up with no income. (Also, will heads on spikes along my walls count as a security system?)

Edited September 15, 2013 by Fearabbit

[kgambit]

Also, will heads on spikes along my walls count as a security system?

 

It will if you enchant the heads with Magic Mouth spells.  Intruders! Intruders!  Call out the guards! 

You will even get a discount on insurance premiums from Lloyds of Dyrwood or Mutual of Valian.

 

We now resume our regularly scheduled programming ..........

Edited September 16, 2013 by kgambit

[Messier-31]

 

Also, will heads on spikes along my walls count as a security system?

 

It will if you enchant the heads with Magic Mouth spells.  Intruders! Intruders!  Call out the guards!

 

No way... this is the only way to go:

 

[kgambit]

 

 

Also, will heads on spikes along my walls count as a security system?

 

It will if you enchant the heads with Magic Mouth spells.  Intruders! Intruders!  Call out the guards!

 

No way... this is the only way to go:

 

 

 

 

Loud yes, but the talking heads on the spikes is such a great image. 

[okkoko]

so i could behaves get a troll or even a dragon as prisoner ?

[Skie Nightfall]

When I read this update back when it came out I had more of a mixed feeling regarding it.

It all sounds cool and awesome but also like it's a toy to appeal the masses.

Is the stronghold forced on us? Since it's suppose to be a fun addition I'm mainly worried as how it's connected to the story and plot. Does it make sense in it?

Act 1 sounds so early. I'm not sure how our PC begins the game, but if s/he is a no one, getting a stronghold suddenly has a major effect on the story.