what is the difference between a fort and castle?

[Decepticron]

^

[Eldritch Gentleman]

A fort costs more to build and takes longer, but it has more siege supplies, gives more income and resources, and takes longer to siege.

[Gregstrom]

...but you may as well build the cheaper one, since the practical benefits of the more expensive option are minimal in most circumstances.

[Hawk]

except for the sieging purposes - where often one turn of summoning or research can make all the difference. I'd recommend building the fort on key provinces that you expect to be sieged (i.e. thrones, sites with school bonuses, bottlenecks and other key provinces) whilst building the cheaper variants on the places that you expect to be sieged less.

[meglobob1]

I would recommend trying to build your most strongest fort whereever you need one. Also add gatehouse, killing ground, towers and additional towers if you can.

The build the cheapest fort advice thats trotted out as gospel is and always as been bad advice.

[DasaKamov]

Originally posted by meglobob1:

The build the cheapest fort advice thats trotted out as gospel is and always as been bad advice.

Out of curiosity, why do you say that?

My understanding is that most players generally agree that, in MP games specifically your FIRST non-capitol fort should be constructed as quickly as possible, because you want to establish a base from which you can double the number of mages/researchers you recruit each turn.

After that, you build cheap-and-fast forts or expensive-and-defensive forts situationally as you see fit.

Basically, what Hawk said. ;)

(Also, I'll point out that the first reply has things a bit backwards - Forts are Cheaper and Weaker, Castles are More Expensive and Stronger).

[zest]

Really depends on the situation: dropping your second fort year 1? build the cheapest one: you'll finish construction 1 turn earlier, save precious gold for expansion forces or more forts, and will often have enough gold to start the fort 1 turn earlier(so often it will be online 2 turns earlier). Nations where your strength is directly proportional to how many forts you plop down(namely those with recruit anywhere sacred or particularly strong anywhere recruitable workhorse mages like Sauromancers) will almost always be using the cheap ones for their first 4-5 forts.

But a fort on a throne, key magic site, or strong neutral recruit province later on in the game when you have plenty of gold: go nuts and get the expensive one.

If your primary objective is a new recruitment hub, the cheaper one is obviously better- but if your primary objective is to fortify a key point, and you've got the gold to spare by the same token there's not much reason to use anything besides the most expensive one.

Anyone who tries to tell you it's always better to get one or the other is oversimplifying things.

[DragofLord]

Also, you will likely see people referring to "needing to build a fort by the end of year 1" or something along those lines. In this circumstance fort is referring to just the general category of the constructed, fortified, recruitment spots themselves. It isn't referring to a specific type. This unfortunately gets confusing when the broader idea of a fort can be divided into the many different kinds of fort, one of which is a castle. Some nations literally do not possess the capacity to build forts that are less expensive than castles (generally those in the late age).

[meglobob1]

I suppose that building your first additional fort as cheaply and quickly as possible is not that bad a idea to double your recruitment early game.

However, what I see in MP after MP game I play of Dom 4, is players doing that all through the game, cheap low defence forts everywhere.

Building low defence forts really bites you in the bum in the mid---end game when you reach it. Enemies invading you will reduce your forts defence to 0 in the 1st turn they march into the province and often take your fort next turn.

So what have you just done?

Given them a free Fort/lab + magic sites in the heart of your lands, so that they can continue to conquer you, fully re-supplied again.

On the other hand a 850+ defence fort with some 0 upkeep chaff / summons can slow your enemy for turns often allowing you to break the siege by a counter attack.

Also, that stronger fort often only costs you 1 additional turn of construction + a couple of 100 gold.