Castles and other such installations are large scale buildings generally built with defense in mind. Due to their massive size, however, they also serve as containment units, housing small to large residential areas and other functionable structures. They can also mount large scale ordinance. They might serve as cities in their own right, military installations, or imposing wards.
- Siege Warfare.
- Castles and other such installations, if they are large enough, could literally serve as the entire setting for a battle or story.
- Concerning Castles in particular: The keep is at the very heart of castle strategy. Usually situated at the back of or in the middle of the fortress, well away from structural weaknesses such as gates, drawbridges, large windows and doggie-doors. The keep is where the most important people in any kingdom will hide, generally while wishing that they had sprung for the more expensive castle with the hidden escape tunnels. The walls are what set a true castle apart from a stand-alone keep, or an unprotected garrison. they are strong, thick and generally monochromatic. Tactically, they provide an ideal defense against ground-based troops. Many castle walls are topped with a rampart and crenelations, the rampart being the pathway around the inside of the walls, provide the perfect place from which to insult invading armies, and/or fart in their general directions. And the crenelations being the intermittent blocks which partially obscure the ramparts, providing cover from most missiles. The Moat is the outermost of the perimeter defenses, it consists of a deep trough cut around the bottom of the castle, usually this is filled in with water, as it is a widely known fact that hordes cannot swim. This feature may be lacking in some castles, but others make up for it by having mega-awesome pits filled spikes and venomous creatures. These strategies may be adopted for other large scale defensive installations.