After the capture of the King abroad, enemy invasion, civil war and his father's ambush en route to negotiate a treaty with the snake, the boy was pushed back to a forest on an overlooked peninsula.

Disillusioned with the wolf's handling of the war, the jackal leaves for the east promising to come back with a new army at an unspecified time.

[citation needed] The game engine utilises Havok physics, which influences the effectiveness of burning log traps and causes buildings and castle walls to crumble realistically.

[citation needed] Buildings in Stronghold 3 are more dynamic than before, with the housing capacity and appearance of hovels changing the further they are built from the player's keep.

[citation needed] A new fog-of-war mechanic was introduced for night-time game play, during which all areas outside of the immediate vicinity of the player's castle are hidden in darkness.

[citation needed] The option for players to launch diseased cows from trebuchets has returned, in addition to smaller animals like pigs and sheep.

A Facebook competition was run to let fans vote on the final animal ammunition type, with a sack of diseased badgers eventually making the cut.

Firefly Studios had previously claimed in 2008 that they would be working on Stronghold 3 due to the high demand by fans, but only after the completion of Dungeon Hero.

[8] The Steam page for the game was later opened on 18 March 2011,[citation needed] which first stated the release date to be approximately 21 June 2011.

Reviewers almost unanimously agreed that Stronghold 3 felt unfinished at launch, although many highlighted the potential for the game to be improved via patches.

Whether it's the shallow, yet hard-to-manage economy or the fabulously broken pathfinding, the only difference between the systems is how poorly designed, infuriating, or merely boring they are.

As a gesture to fans, Firefly delivered these added features into already purchased copies of Stronghold 3 through Steam for free.