How to play Stronghold online
- Fly your attack ship (eight directions): arrow keys
- Fire: Space bar â shots go in the direction you last moved
- Start a new game: F12 (the consoleâs Reset switch)
- Choose one of 16 game variations: F11 (the consoleâs Select switch); the number appears at the top right
- Choose your starting asteroid: F4 and F9 (the two difficulty switches, see below)
Gameplay
Each round is an attack on one asteroid. As it starts, defence drones launch from the surface. Patrollers hover just above the asteroidâs force shields, and heat-seeking interceptors come after your ship. Below the shields sits the command crawler. When the shields close, you have to shoot your way through them and then destroy the crawler to neutralise the asteroid. Once you have opened a gap, though, the crawler can fire its bolts up through it at you.
Meanwhile the mega-field, a dull red zone your ship cannot enter, moves steadily down towards the surface. The longer you take, the less room you have, until you are pushed down among the patrollers. Destroy the crawler and a new, better-defended asteroid follows. There is one important limit: your gun can never fire straight to the left or right.
| Target | Points |
|---|---|
| Shield section | 10 |
| Drone, patroller or interceptor | 20 |
| Command crawler | 90 |
You start with one ship in play and four in reserve, shown at the top right. Every asteroid you neutralise earns another reserve ship, and you can hold up to six.
Variations and switches
The 16 variations include versions with rapid fire, where holding the button keeps shooting, and versions where you must press and release for every shot. The difficulty switches set which asteroid you attack first:
| Left difficulty (F4) | Right difficulty (F9) | First asteroid |
|---|---|---|
| B (novice) | B (novice) | 1 |
| A (expert) | B (novice) | 9 |
| B (novice) | A (expert) | 17 |
| A (expert) | A (expert) | 25 |
Tips
- Work around the blind spot. Since you cannot shoot sideways, attack enemies diagonally or from above and below.
- Move before you shoot. Your shot follows your last direction, so tap the joystick towards a target first.
- Donât dawdle. The mega-field keeps coming down. Clear the drones quickly and get to the shields while you still have space.
- Stay out of the gap. Once the shield is breached, avoid hovering directly above the hole, where the crawlerâs bolts come through.
History
CommaVid was founded in 1981 by Irwin Gaines, John Bronstein and Joseph Biel, and made only a handful of 2600 games, including Cosmic Swarm, Room of Doom, Mines of Minos and Cakewalk, before the video game crash put it out of business in 1983. Reviewers have generally credited its games with fresh ideas. Today the collectorsâ site AtariAge rates the Stronghold cartridge as extremely rare.
