Ranks, a highly influential gameplay feature introduced by Stronghold 2, control which buildings a your Lord can place as well as which troops he can recruit in Kingmaker maps (including Multiplayer).  This tutorial provides a detailed breakdown of what each promotion will cost you (in terms of honor) as well as summarising the advantages, disadvantages, military status and map makers tips for each rank...

Submitted by LordBritian, WitchHazel, Brave_Sir_Robin, Lord_Nick and Aubergine

Ranks Overview

In Kingmaker maps, your access to buildings and military units is controlled by your rank.  As you gain promotions you will be given access to more and more buildings and military units - this is a decisive factor in your ability to overcome your enemies.

Your current rank is shown in the header bar at the top of the screen, next to the menu:

If your enemies progress in rank faster than you do, they will have a significant advantage in terms of building and troop availability.

Promotions

To get promoted to a better rank, click o­n the Rank button at the top of the screen.  A panel will be shown that indicates how much honor is required to gain the promotion.

The promotion order is as follows:

You will notice that the Freeman rank does not have an emblem - it was removed from the button to make the button look visually similar to the menu button, but there used to be an emblem for the Freeman rank and we found it:

Rank Benefits

The table below shows the additional buildings and units provided for each rank.

The honor required to gain promotion from the previous rank is also shown, eg. to gain promotion from a Squire to a Knight will cost 30 honor points whereas a promotion from a Freeman to a Knight would cost you 10+15+30 = 55 honor.

Emblem
Rank	Freeman	Yeoman	Squire	Knight	Knight Bachelor	Knight Errant	Royal Champion	Baron	Earl	Duke
Honor Required	n/a	10	15	30	50	100	150	200	250	300
Castle Structures	Wooden Walls, Wooden Platforms, Wooden Gate	-	-	Single, Double and Triple Wide Stone Wall, Stairwell, Small Gatehouse	Lookout Tower	Bastion, Main Gate	Square Tower, Square Tower with Hoarding	Round Tower, Round Tower with Hoarding	Large Gatehouse	Great Tower
Military	Barracks	-	-	Armoury, Mercenary Post, Siege Camp, Mounted Stone Tipper, Mounted Rock Buckets	Man Trap, Mangonels, Engineers' Guild	Brazier, Pitch Trap, Tunnel Entrance	Stables	War Hound Cage	Oil Smelter, Killing Pits, Moat, Rolling Logs	Tower Balistas
Civilian	Hovel, Treasury	-	Monastery, Musicians' Guild	Jousting, Ladys' Bedchambers	Church	Traveling Fairs	Statues	-	-	-
Food and Farms	Granary, Hunter's Post, Apple Farm, Dairy Farm	Lords' Kitchen, Wheat Farm, Mill, Bakery, Pig Farm	Vegetable Garden	Eel Pond	Vineyard, Vintners' Workshop	Tanners' Workshop	-	Hops Farm, Brewer, Inn	-	-
Industry	Stockpile, Saw Pit, Market	Stone Quarry, Ox Tether	Iron Mine	Sheep Farm, Poleturners' Workshop, Fletchers' Workshop, Bee Hives, Chandlers' Workshop, Weavers' Workshop	Armourers' Workshop	Pitch Rig	Blacksmiths' Workshop	Carters' Post	-	-
City Services	-	Gong Pit	Falconers' Post	Courthouse, Guard Post, Stocks*, Humiliation Mask*	Gibbet*, Torturers' Wheel*	Stretching Rack, Flogging Post, Torturers' Guild	-	Apothocary, Water Post, Well, Branding Chair	-	Burning Post, Executioners' Block, Gallows
Units in Barracks	Armed Peasants	-	-	Spearmen, Archers	Pikemen	Crossbowmen	Swordsmen	Macemen	-	Knights
Units in Mercenary Post	-	-	-	Outlaw, Light Cavalry	Axe Thrower	Pictish Boat Warrior	Berserkers	-	Horse Archers, Theives	Assassins
Units in Monastery	-	-	-	-	-	Monks	-	Warrior Monks	-	-
Units in Seige Tent	-	-	-	Laddermen	-	Mantlets, Burning Carts, Small Siege Towers	Battering Rams, Large Siege Towers	Catapults	Fire Balistas, Cats	Trebuchets

* Stocks, Himiliation Mask and Gibbet do not need a Torturers' Guild to operate.  However, the Torturers' Wheel does need a Torturers' Guild so if you place it at Knight Bachelor it will not get used!  We've asked Firefly to resolve this problem in a future patch.

Map makers creating custom scenarios should take the comparison chart above in to consideration within their scripting - if a player is promoted due to completion of a quest, then ideally they should be given the additional buildings and units associated with that rank.  This is however, non-compulsary and we leave it up to the discretion of map makers as to what buildings and units are available for various ranks.

Effect o­n Trading

As a Freeman, Yeoman, or Squire, you can't buy or sell Weapons and Royal Foods at the market.

When you achive the rank of Knight (or above) you will be able to buy and sell Royal Foods at the market.

When you achieve the rank of Knight Batchelor (or above) you will be able to buy and sell Weapons at the market.

Rank Analysis

We will now discuss the lifestyle of each rank and also provide map makers tips for designers of custom scenarios who wish to make ranks feature in their maps. It is assumed that map makers will enable and disable buildings and military units as applicable...

In most maps, you will start as a lowly Freeman - the minimum rank required to control an estate which, in your case, is a small farming village!

Definition:

A refined, independant man that enjoys the freedom and privileges of a city.

Advantages:

Ah, ignorance is bliss and life is simple!  As a Freeman you don't really need to worry about honor because your small village is primarily focussed o­n farming and a little bit of trade.

Military:

You can recruit armed peasants to ward off the occasional bandit or wolf but if anything more dangerous arrives you will have to send in your Lord as he is your o­nly strong unit!

Gaining Honor:

Your o­nly path to promotion is to feed your peasants multiple food types at the granary for a small monthly honor bonus.  To progress more quickly, generate enough food to allow your civilians to eat double rations!

Disadvantages:

With o­nly basic wooden walls to protect your estate and a handful of peasants armed with pitchforks, your estate is an easy target for enemies!

Map Makers Tips:

Place plenty of trees - wooden walls and buildings will use up a lot of wood! Also, make sure there is enough farmland to place at at least two types of food production buildings.  Avoid gong, rats and crime as the player can't do anything about them other than to gain popularity by providing extra rations at the Granary and bribes at the Treasury.  Be wary of allowing the player to simply buy food, other than bread, at the market and o­nly provide o­ne type of food in the starting goods.

For a measly expenditure of 10 honor, you can be start your path to greatness by getting promoted to a Yeoman and watching with pride as your farming community expands! But your growing settlement will bring with it some smelly new problems and you'll have to start entertaining guests...

Definition:

The owner of a small amount of land who farms his own fields.

Advantages:

Your increasing popularity has enabled your settlement to grow and you can now hold feasts to impress your peers and gain more honor.  The ability to produce bread makes it much easier to keep your workers fed.

Military:

You are still stuck with the lowly armed peasants.

Gaining Honor:

Your increased population makes it difficult to provide double rations at the granary so you should consider holding feasts to impress your piers!  Place a Pig Farm and a Lords' Kitchen and hold some small feasts to gain extra honor!

Disadvantages:

Your increased population is putting an increased burden o­n your food supplies and also creating some nasty byproducts as a result.  Large piles of gong start to accumulate at busy parts of your settlement and unless you do something about it the stench will reduce your popularity.  Your poorly defended settlement will attract the attention of more attacks and you will likely have to purchase nearby estates to expand your land ownership which in turn could icrease the danger of wolf and bear attacks.

Map Makers Tips:

Make sure there are stone supplies (or allow trade at the market) so that a Lords' Kitchen can be built. Turn o­n gong production (usually at a low rate). Possibly increase bandit production to force the player to look for further promotions.

For a measly expenditure of 15 honor, you find yourself promoted to a Squire! Your ever-growing population requires you to provide more entertainment and a spiritual retreat for monks.  You have stumbled o­n iron ore deposits and decide to start a mining operation to generate extra gold at the market but you notice small rodents running around your disease ridden streets.  You are also acutely aware that the military situation is becoming critical and are perhaps wondering why you took this job in the first place...

Definition:

A title of dignity that refers to a shield-bearer or armour-bearer who attends a knight.

Advantages:

A Musicians' Guild allows you to gain extra popularity and possibly raise taxes.  You can mine iron ore and sell it at the market to make additional gold.  Falconers' Posts allow you to deal with the recent rat infestations.

Military:

You're still stuck with armed peasants!

Gaining Honor:

Your jesters and troubadours generate a little extra honor at your feasts as does the arrival of vegetables o­n the menu!  Monks at the monestary will start work o­n religious manuscripts and help you gain honor for your next promotion.

Disadvantages:

All the extra rubbish has resulted in a growing problem with rat infestations.  Your ever-growing settlement is becoming almost impossible to defend and you experience regular bandit attacks o­n your villages.

Map Makers Tips:

Place some iron ore o­n the map to allow iron mining. Turn o­n rat production. Increase gong production. Increase bandit attacks and possibly have some small invasions to force the player to look for further promotions.

They say life begins at 30, but in your case it's an expenditure of 30 honor that finally allows you to achieve your childhood dream of becoming a Knight!  Your settlement has grown in to a bustling town and at long last you can start to command an army, build your very own castle and possibly even marry that fair maiden you've had your eye o­n for the past few years...  But beware, it seems that your growing cash reserves have attracted unwanted attention and your workers are turning to a life of crime!

Definition:

Address as: Sir or Sire

The word Knight is derived from the Saxon Cnyht, which signified a servant or attendant; and Knighthood is the most ancient title of honour known in the United Kingdom, its origin dating back to Saxon times.

A Knight is a man-at-arms serving o­n horseback and admitted to a military rank with special ceremonies, including an oath to protect the distressed, maintain the right, and live a stainless life.

Advantages:

You've proved yourself as a leader fending off all those attacks o­n your settlement and have been rewarded with some decent military units and authorisation to biuld your own castle!  You can finally make a permenant mark o­n the landscape and history itself by turning your simple farming settlement in to a town!

Military:

Finally you get the chance to recruit some decent troops - trained spearmen and your first ranged attacker, the archer.  You can now put your surplus stone to good use and build some sturdy castle walls to keep those irritating bandits and invading forces at bay. Devices such as stone tippers and rock buckets will surely make any would-be attackers think twice about heading your way?

Your increasing reserves of gold and honor allow you to recruit mercenaries such as outlaws and light cavalry - now you can finally start to get your own back o­n those enemy Lords that have been causing you so much trouble.  Your laddermen should allow you to gain access to lightly defended settlements of enemy Freemen, Yoemen and Squires nearby...

Gaining Honor:

The feasts have proved so popular that you've added fish and ducks to the menu but you realise that it's time to attract the attention of other Knights by holding jousting tournaments!

You marry a fine maiden and she contributes to your honor by making dresses for the annual dance, among other things...

Disadvantages:

Life as a Knight is hectic!  You've just started work o­n your castle walls o­nly to find that someone has laid siege to your castle!  After frantically biulding weapon production workshops, an Armoury and Barracks then recruiting troops to fend of the enemy armies and recapture your estates, you get orders from "her indoors" that cloth is needed.  Sheep Farms and Weavers' Workshops are placed but then you realise you are running out of gold due to recruiting your new army.  So, you place Beehives and Chandlers' Workshops to make candles that can be sold at the market for some extra cash!

You've finally found time to relax after a celebratory "end of siege" feast and have sat down in front of the fire thinking that nothing else can go wrong when a servant runs in to bring you more bad news - people are stealing from you! Looks like tomorrow's going to be another hard day as you'll have to place Guard Posts and build a Dungeon and Courthouse before you even get round to thinking of amusing ways to punishing people...

Map Makers Tips:

Turn o­n crime!  Possibly reduce granary or treasurey stocks and display a message that there has been a theft. Send in a siege or two!  Where will all the extra stone come from?

You're starting to find grey hairs sprouting from your head.  The last few years have been stressful but you have managed to expend another 50 honor to gain promotion to Knight Bachelor.  But wait, I thought batchelors were not married?  Anyway, you've had to gain the promotion just to enable you to defend your town against these increasingly persistant sieges...

Definition:

Address as: Sir or Sire

The designation Knight Bachelor was in existence as long ago as the reign of King Henry III. Although for many centuries none but the Sovereign, or some person specially designated by him, has been able to create a Knight, originally both ecclesiastical and lay persons could confer the honour.

Advantages:

You've noticed something odd about your castle - it's a bit flat!  Ah, yes, it's time to add some towers and your archers will certainly thank you for it!  It's time to add some additional troop types to your army and take your defences to the next level.  You are also growing increasingly tired of these theives that have the audacity to roam your city and decide to entertain yourself with some increasingly strange punishment devices.

Military:

Pikeman and Axe Throwers make a welcome addition to your armys' ranks and your mangonells and man traps are proving popular (or very unpopular depending which side of the the castle walls you find yourself) o­n the charred battlefield in front of your castle!

Gaining Honor:

Although our awe-inspiring church greatly boosts your popularity and honor, it's the arrival of wine at your feasts that brings in the crowds!

Disadvantages:

Your punishments are getting so complex that you've had to create a Torturers' Guild. You're getting old and all these civil duties such as court, church services and jousting are becoming tiresome.  The sieges have started to break down your hard earned castle walls and as you send in your engineers to repair them you realise that you yearn for glory o­n the battlefield...

Map Makers Tips:

It's time to start battering down the walls - sieges and invasions should include cataputs, laddermen and other things that will give the player sleepless nights!

You've decided to take matters in to your own hands and turn the table o­n your enemies.  It's time to go to war!  You gladly expend 100 honor to gain the promotion to Knight Errant and after strengthening your castle defences and laying o­n some extra entertainment for your people, you rally your first respectable siege army!

Definition:

Address as: Sir or Sire

A wandering knight; a knight who traveled in search of adventures, for the purpose of exhibiting military skill, prowess, and generosity. More commonly referred to in modern times as a "Knight in Shining Armour".

Advantages:

Your castle gets some much needed improvements to its defences and your citizens get some much needed entertainment from the Travelling Fair.  You decide to subject criminals to some real pain with your new Stretching Rack and Flogging Post in the hope that you can stamp out crime.

Military:

Your military prepares to go o­n the offensive.  The castle walls are improved with Bastions and Main Gates and defences such as Pitch Ditches are added.  Crossbowmen now man your walls to deal with those annoying enemy swordsmen - it may not be honorable but it's survival of the fittest!

You recruit Pictish Boat Warriors to cross rivers in their little boats and wreck enemy farming estates.  Monks, Mantlets, Burning Carts and small Siege Towers join with your existing forces and march out of the impressive new gatehouse at the front of your castle!

Gaining Honor:

You're not interested in gaining any more honor just yet, it's time for battle!

Disadvantages:

With the increased strain o­n your Treasury, you have to raise taxes and offset the fall in popularity with Travelling Fairs, more food and longer Church services.  Your troops are being decimated by the defences o­n the enemy castle walls.  You do your best to set fire to their villages and climb o­n to their castle walls, but they continue to repel you.

Map Makers Tips:

Sieges need to contain metal clad units such as Swordsmen and Knights.  Pitch is required.  Be prepared to send in reinforcements to the enemy castles and estates.  Make sure the players' caslte walls take a ferrocious beating and if possible endanger their Lord!

While your troops were laying siege to the enemy castle, a ferrocious invasion force attacked your castle.  Many estates were lost, your castle walls were pounded and your aging body doesn't allow you to move around as much as it used to.  A few troops return from your siege o­n the enemy castle - covered in blood and close to death.  It's now or never - you must defeat these enemies!  You expend 150 honor that has slowly built up over the past few years to gain a promotion to Royal Champion.  Your heart is filled with anger against your foes and war is permenantly o­n your mind!

Definition:

As the winner of a jousting contest, the Royal Champion must defend and support the honor of royalty and will fight anyone who challenges them.

Advantages:

You finally get to add some major defensive structures to your castle wall - hopefully the new towers will make it harder for the enemies to attack you.  A stables is placed and you can now move around the castle faster and more safely than ever thanks to your trusty steed.

Military:

Strong Swordsmen, Beserkers and siege equipment join your ranks.  You gather a huge army and march towards the enemy!

Gaining Honor:

You make it clear who is boss in this castle and place Statues in high profile places within all of your estates.  Civilians and dignitaries alike deem you to be increasingly honorable.

Disadvantages:

Although you have found increasingly diverse ways to attack the enemy, you still don't have anything other than a slow moving Battering Ram to breach their walls. Your troops are still taking a pounding from the enemys' castle defences. You are running out of space inside your caslte walls for production buildings and desperately need more resources... Another promotion will surely be required...

Map Makers Tips:

Make sure the enemy have Crossbowmen to help fend off the players' Swordsmen.  The time for castle design and economic stragegy is over - this is all out war.

After countless years of battle, you wonder if you will ever break the resolve of the enemy.  Your civilians are growing restless and your castle continues to take a beating from the seemingly endless sieges and invasions.  You expend 200 honor to gian promotion to Baron...

Definition:

Address as: My Lord

Holder of the lowest rank of dignity, called a barony, in the peerage of the United Kingdom (but almost never in Scotland). A related term is the now obsolescent 'baronage', meaning either the collective noun for the order of barons or a reference dealing with them.

A nobleman holding his title, land and rights directly from the King or Queen.  Often very wealthy, powerful and influential.

Advantages:

Round towers slowly replace the weaker square towers along your castle walls. Caged Dogs are placed in weak areas of your castle to help fend of enemy troops.  Ale is produced and the Inns prove to be an instant hit with your citizens resulting in a huge increase in popularity.  The extra popularity allows you to further increase taxes and that allows you to recruit more troops.

After years of protecting nearby villages and the recent expansion of your land resulting from villages captured from the enemy, you realise it's time to make them work for you.  Carters' Posts are placed and your citizens complain of near-death experiences due to close calls with horse-drawn carts shipping goods between your estates.

The newly appointed Apothecary tends to your wounds and water posts and wells help put out the increasing number of fires set by the enemy.  You take to branding criminals in the hope that this permenant scar will make others refrain from such activities.

Military:

Macemen and Warrior Monks join your ranks and at long last you have a device capable of pumelling the enemy castle walls from a distance - the Catapult!

Gaining Honor:

You already have a well established routine for gaining honor and continue to focus o­n the war.

Disadvantages:

The enemy have adopted the worrying trend of setting fire to your castle.  Fire after fire causes havoc with your economy and your attention is regularly drawn away from the war as you have to replace destroyed buildings.

Map Makers Tips:

Set fire to the players' castle by any means necessary.  Cause problems with food and resouce production.

As your sieges have got larger and more devastating, so have the enemies!  Your castle walls are crumbling all around you and your o­nce green pastures are charred from all the fires.  it's time to fight fire with fire so you determinedly expend another 250 honor to get promoted to an Earl!

Definition:

Address as: My Lord

The holder of the third highest rank of dignity in the peerage, called an earldom. The word derives from the Norse "jarl" or "earl" via the Anglo-Saxon "eorl".

Advantages:

Lots of additional castle defences including Burning Oil, Killing Pits, Moats and the devastating Burning Logs!

Military:

Horse Archers allow you to quickly send in ranged troops to take out enemy troops and workers.  Thieves cause havoc in the enemy castles and villages.  Mobile Fire Ballistas allow you to set fire to enemy villages and castles as well as being devastating towards slow moving troops and siege equipment. Cats protect your troops.

Gaining Honor:

Honor continues to accumulate but your ever-increasing army keeps soaking it up again.  You place more Statues and farms - anything that will lead to more honor.  You know that you are going to need more and more...

Disadvantages:

By now, you are so deep in to this war that cracks are starting to show in your economy.  You find it difficult to keep track of your resource production and problems such as food shortages lead to unexpected drops in popularity.

Map Makers Tips:

Cause general problems with production.  Make sieges and invasions truly brutal.  Try to capture estates.

From humble beginnings looking after a small farming village you have built up a mighty town, thriving with life.  Unfortunately, endless battles have left your land looking battered and worn. You are at the end of your tether with regards to crime and decide to start executing crimilans.  It's time for your last promotion - an expenditure of 300 honor guarantees your title of Duke!

Definition:

Address as: My Lord; My Lord duke; Your Grace

The holder of the highest rank of dignity in peerage, called a dukedom. The female equivalent is duchess.

The word derives from the Latin "dux", a military leader or general under the Roman Empire as early as the 2nd century AD who was usually appointed to command troops in a specific campaign.  All the Ai characters of Stronghold 1 were Dukes (often using the French word "Duc").

Advantages:

Killing criminals actually results in their workshops (or other buildings they were manning) becoming productive again much more quickly.  Tower Ballistas make short work of the enemy siege equipment that keeps showing up at your doorstep.

Military:

Knights, the o­nly unit that is almost as strong as your Lord, join the ranks.  The ability to horse mount them makes them a formidable force.  Assassins give you much needed stealth capability and you sneak them past enemy troops and get them to climb over enemy walls and cause unexpected havoc.  The mighty trebuchet finally bursts a hole in the enemy walls for all your troops to march through.

Gaining Honor:

Your honor generation scales to full capacity to accomodate production of Knights and Assassins.  Statues line the streets and your Granary and Lords' Kitchen are stocked with food from several estates.

Disadvantages:

Your resolve is put to the test!

Map Makers Tips:

Throw a few supprises in to the game.  Use your imagination!

King

Finally, victory is yours!  You have defeated every last enemy and taken control of the land.  All hail the King!

Definition:

Address as: Sire; My liege; May it please Your Majesty