Which castle is advantageous against the Stronghold? Auto-translated

If you're planning an attack, Haven, Sylvan, and Inferno are the best choices. If you prefer to play defensively, Necropolis, Academy, and Dungeon are good options (just make sure you haven't upgraded the Slow spell, otherwise you'll easily defeat them).

I hate playing as Orcs and against them. First, their development strategy is too simplistic: Attack, Leadership first, or Luck at most, and that's it, run and clear everything with Centaurs. The only thing that might help them at the start is Machines, but it seems like it will only burden them. Just played as the Dwarf Ingvar against Garuna... it was a nightmare. We met on week 3 on XL RMG. I had 88 Harpoons, 90 Warriors with 15 HP, Surprise Attack, and Endurance. He had 90 Centaurs and 30 Goblins. I was level 8, he was level 13. My stats were 0/3/6/3, his were 12/6/2/6. It's hard to level up a Dwarf, and Garuna was already swinging her saber... So you think, how can I manage to learn Runes and have someone cast Celestial Shield... P.S. I got my least favorite matchup, by the way: I'm a Dwarf, the opponent is an Orc... :// boo.

I think that the Academy and Humans are better. But my opinion isn't very authoritative since I've only played against Orcs in single-player mode.

Necropolis can compete (on a large map, it can basically defeat everyone, not just Orcs). You can also choose Dwarves and Humans. In general, you need powerful races, IMO.

Tell that to the Terminator.

Necromancers are not all-powerful; there are Mages and Elves who can stand against them.

If you know what you're doing, any faction can be incredibly powerful. I personally prefer playing as Humans against the Stronghold, focusing on developing a "Darkness" build, and if I'm lucky with the guild, I can really dominate. Vampirism, a horde of Isabella, and other minor "Darkness" spells to manage mana – that's the key.

I agree about the hands. By the way, if you're interested, check out my mod on VK; it can add some variety to the gameplay.