We had a short maintenance break yesterday on the 17th of June 2019 and the game was down between 10 am and 11 am (UTC+0). During this time, players were shown a connection error message instead of a message informing them about the maintenance.

We realize that the in-game message which was sent out before the break was not sent early enough. This, unfortunately, caused many players to be unaware of the impending break. Please rest assured, we will learn from this and ensure clearer communication is provided in the future.

Please accept our apologies for the inconveniences and confusion caused by this.
This maintenance break allowed us to activate all of the new Version 22 features, such as the Stronghold 21 updates. To see more about these new features, I suggest checking our FAQ page here

We are really excited about these new features and hope that you are as well. We understand that not being able to access the game was frustrating and in the future, we will aim to make planned maintenance announcements well in advance.

Again, please accept our sincerest apologies for the confusion surrounding this issue. We do hope that you enjoy the new features that this version has to offer.