Released in 2001, the original Stronghold was the first real-time strategy title that mixed traditional strategy and castle sim elements into one. As a somewhat new concept, the new developer was taking a risk, but it paid off in the long run, as a reported 1.5 million copies were sold worldwide. The success merited an add-on, Stronghold Crusader, and eventually the obvious Stronghold Warchest bundle, combining both into one package.
While Stronghold was a pure 2D RTS, Firefly wanted to break out of those restrictive confinements and decided to take it to the next level by building a completely new 3D engine (called "Dragonfly") especially for Stronghold 2. Needless to say, a fully 3D engine allows developers to do a lot more, but Firefly also wants to stay true to what made the original Stronghold a success, so maintaining the delicate balance between old and new is a rather high priority.
One of the restrictions of a 2D engine is the fact that you can't see inside any sort of building, and since the original Stronghold used bitmap resources, the game had limited capabilities both in that area and animation. By going 3D, it allowed the developers to use textures, which opens up an entire slew of possibilities to better depict life in the Middle Ages, set in a more lush English landscape with rolling hills, plateaus, forests, swaying grass, and so forth.
With Stronghold 2, Firefly wanted to better depict the everyday life of the medieval peasants and include more variety, units, and animations. From what we've seen, it's well on track to succeeding in that endeavor. You will still harvest familiar resources such as apples, construct a quarry to make stone, bread needs to be made, trees have to be chopped and so forth, as well as raising taxes to fatten up the good old warchest. Money and/or resources are needed to either construct certain buildings or specific units.
One of the sequel's main points is expanding the economic side by adding "chains," meaning that if a building or unit is constructed to address a social need, it will, in turn, lead to the need for yet another building or unit. For example, life in the Middle Ages was not really known for being clean, as waste was usually dumped out the window or front door, resulting in diseases, and sometimes, death. This is where some of the new units come in. Daily life will create waste, which not only makes your peasants sick but also attracts rats, which then spread disease even further by just rummaging around. Leaving this unattended will literally result in a swarm of waste, with rats systematically causing the death of all of your peasants, bringing your economy to a screeching halt.
To combat this, you can create a new unit, the gunk farmer, who will run back and forth with his wheelbarrow, disposing of the gunk. Of course, this does not effectively combat the rat infestation, which can be kept in check by constructing a falconer's post, who will send out his falcon to pick off rats. In case people do get sick and don't die immediately, there is yet another new unit to bring relief, the apothecary, who is not only capable of healing your sick peasants, but also wounded knights and you, his Lordship.
