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Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Editionbrings back the classic castle and seige gameplay from the original with updated visuals and quality of life improvements. Whether you’re reliving the nostalgia or jumping in for the first time, success in Crusader hinges on planning ahead, resource management, and efficient base design.
One of the most important early decisions is which buildings to construct first. Prioritizing the right ones can give you a powerful economic foundation, keep your population happy, and ensure your military is ready when conflict arises. Today, we’ll cover the most essential buildings to focus on and why they’re cornerstones for your endgame survival.
Best Buildings To Prioritise
When starting out in Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition, building the right structures early can set the tone for your entire campaign.Prioritizing food production, basic industry, and defenseensures your economy runs smoothly and your people stay fed and protected. Below arethe most essential buildingsto focus on first.
Granary
The Granary costs five wood and is one of thefirst buildings you must place. It stores up to 1,000 units of food and is critical for population happiness and growth. Afull Granary keeps your peasants loyaland productive. Without it, your economy collapses quickly.
Woodcutters
Wood is thebase currency of all early construction, and at only three wood per hut, you should build a handful of woodcutters. Prioritize placing two to three huts near forested areas to keep a constant flow of timber. You’ll need woodfor almost every building, from farms to defenses, so it’s smart to get ahead on supply.
Hovel
Each Hovel costs six wood and houses eight peasants. You’ll needmore workers to operate your farms, workshops, and military buildings as you progress further into each mission.
If you don’t have enough food to feed your peasants, considerlowering their rationsor destroying a hovel or two.
Add them graduallyto match your job growth. If you build too many without enough food to support them, your popularity will tank.
Food Farms
A food farm, like an Apple Orchard or Wheat Fields, determineshow popular you are, which, in turn, controls population growth and tax tolerance. Apples are thefastest and easiest early foodoption to get, costing only five wood per farm. Place them near your Granary and on a green, flat surface. You can diversify your peasants' meals later withDairy Farms, but Apples are an efficient starting point.
Quarry
Stone is essential forbuilding advanced defenseslike walls, towers, and keeps. Although the quarry is more expensive to build, taking twenty wood, it is youronly reliable long-term sourcefor stone.
If you’re running low on some items but overflowing with others,build a Marketplaceto buy and sell supplies.
Pair the quarry with anOx Tether(ten wood) to make sure stone gets delivered to your stockpile. Early investment ensures you may fortify quickly and expand your base.
Stockpile
Stockpiles cost nothing to build, andstore essential goodslike wood, stone, and iron. Expanding them early helps prevent resource bottlenecks. A cramped stockpile meansworkers can’t deposit goods, which chokes your economy.
Armory
The Armory is one of the most essential buildings toplace earlyin your economy. It stores all weapons produced by your workshops, from bows, crossbows, swords, maces, and more. Without it, your blacksmiths and fletchers willstop working entirely. Prioritizing the Armory ensures your military supply chain doesn’t bottleneck, especially during the early rush to arm troops. Place itclose to your weapon workshopsto minimize walking time and keep production flowing smoothly.
Barracks
Once your Armory is active and stocked, theBarracks becomes the heartof your military. This is where you recruit all basic soldiers using the weapons and gold you’ve gathered. It’s vital to get this building up quickly if you expect anyearly aggressionor want to pressure opponents with fast unit deployment.
The sooner your Barracks are placed, thesooner you’re able to create archers, spearmen, and macemen to defend your economy or lead early raids.
Bedouin Stockade
This newaddition to the Arabian buildingsunlocks access to hire powerful mercenary troops like Horse Archers and Sassanid Knights usinggold instead of weapons. The Bedouin Stockade lets you field unique units, likeHealers or Eunuchs, without needing to invest in long production chains for arms.
It’s especially useful on maps where time or space is tight, and you want a quick military edge.
Engineer’s Guild
The Engineer’s Guild is used forsiege warfareand castle defense. It lets you recruit Engineers, who build siege equipment like Ballistae, Catapults, and Trebuchets, andoperate defensive oil potsand other specialized gear.
Engineers are also required for buildingsiege towersand ladders.
Prioritizing this building is a must in endgame sieges or map scenarios with strongholds to break. Get it up early if you plan topressure enemy walls or defend your ownwith more than just troops.
