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Heroes Community > Library of Enlightenment > Thread: Heroes 3 Town Rating -FORTRESS-
Thread: Heroes 3 Town Rating -FORTRESS-
angelito
angelito


Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
proud father of a princess
posted March 03, 2006 08:29 PM

Heroes 3 Town Rating -FORTRESS-

Everyone is invited to share his own opinion about every town in Heroes 3. Try to use these topics as order for your postings:

- Advantages, Disadvantages
- Best creature(s), with explanation why, e.g tactical usefullness
- Worst creature(s), with explanation why, e.g too low stats..
- Special buildings
- Building order (good, too slow....etc..)
- Hero classes (donīt refer these classes ONLY to this specific town, but perhaps they are more usefull with other towns)
- Good / Bad on what kind of maps
- OWN subjective rank in a townranking, from 1st (best) to 9th (worst)

Letīs collect as much opinions as possible, to finally find the best possible "review" of every town.
____________
Better judged by 12 than carried by 6.

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TNT_Addict
TNT_Addict


Honorable
Supreme Hero
Beautiful Liar
posted March 03, 2006 09:21 PM bonus applied.
Edited by angelito on 6 Mar 2006

I will take on Fortress cause it is my favourite and I rock with it.

Advantages

Heroes - Fortress got as much usefull heroes as Stronghold like Tazar, Alkin, Wystan, Cobrac, Bron and Andra. Most of them start with armorer and as beastmasters tend to get deffence more than all other heroes they become really tough to beat.

Scouts and movement - If you get lucky and start with a hero that gets a few serpent flies with him you can be sure you will explore the map in no time. Your main will move faster too with speed 9 creature at end of turn.

Buildings - Fortress buildings are easy to build and does not require many different resources but only sulfur and some mercury. You can have wyvern dwelling first day and begin your treasure hunt right away. It is easy and practical to build all 7 dwellings and castle in the first week which will allow you hive hunting with your newly raised hydras (if allowed) on the way to total domination.

Special buildings
Nothing "special" in the special buildings department , only some stuff that will make your defending hero a little better at siege fights.

Castle Defending
It is REALLY REALLY hard to take a Frotress castle if your enemy is defending it unless you got some powerfull damage spells. Such tough creatures with high deffence will last centuries untill all your archers are long gone.

Usefull spells - As the Fortress lacks a really powerfull archer(s) they are required to initiate the melee combat as fast as possible, making mass haste a really important spell for them. If you can get your hands on mass stoneskin and mass shield your already tough units will become rockhard and almost unbeatable without damaging spells.

Units
As far as the units concerned, all fortress units are awesome and usefull.
Gnolls are usefull in high numbers and are good fodder.
Lizardmen are terrific and tough shooters.
Flies are great speed boosters and the towns fastest creature, great for blocking archers.
Basilisks are powerfull melee fighters which can petrify the enemy.
Gorgons, what more can you say about them? The gaze is the strongest attack in the game! Your opponent got more level 7 creatures? No problem one attack from your gorgons and you are equal.
Wyverns are available the 1st day and could become a real powerstack if hives are allowed.
Hydras, no retaliation and adjacent attack? You coudn't have asked for more! To catch you enemy offguard with haste and takeout all his archers is really sweeeet!

Good on maps
Fortress are good on poorer maps, when it is harder for other towns to build their 7th unit dwellings, that is where you can get your advantage.

Bad on maps
Rich maps such as jebus etc. when your opponent gets his 7th level dwell too and without a problem and begins the map cleanup.

Dissadvantage
Fortress fastest unit got speed of 13 which means that you are going to start second against most of the towns and will recieve some damage first turn .

Castle sieging
The worst thing about Fortress, ballistics skill is a must for your hero because of the lack in archers and powerfull spells because of the low level mage guild. Without ballistics you won't be able to take the advantage in melee combat that your units have.  

Overall it is a great town and if you know what you are doing your win is a sure one.

I rank fortress at 4th spot but only after the 3 big ones Flux, Necro and Castle.



Edit by angelito

Very nice and overall complete summary. Good work for a "rather new" member of HC.

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Evil_Warrior
Evil_Warrior


Famous Hero
Duke of Demon
posted March 08, 2006 05:06 PM

Advantages : cheap armies with effective skills and easy to build their dwellings.
Disadvantages : level 3 mage guild, only one low level shooter.
Best creature : Mighty Gorgon which with only 1 of them can kill 1 Crystal Dragon. The Chaos Hydra with Teleport will RAMPAGING the enemies.
Worst creature : The Lizard Warrior (the shooter usually be a target of the enemy's attack. and Lizard Warrior doesn't have twice shoots like Marksman or Fireball like Magog.)
Special buildings : Just some building that add defense and health. Not special.
Building order : FastEST to be built.
Hero classes : Most has speciality in First Aid supported with First Aid Tent and Blood Obelisk makes them good Regenerator.
Good : Shipyard and Navigation is very helpful in archipelago maps.
Bad : Full obstacle maps makes Chaos Hydra and Mighty Gorgon hard to reach the enemy.

1. Dungeon
2. Necropolis
3. Castle
4. Rampart
5. Conflux
6. Inferno
7. Tower
8. Fortrss
9. Stronghold
____________

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morgan_le_fey
morgan_le_fey


Famous Hero
posted March 12, 2006 10:17 AM

ok one to 10 fortress...this is probably my favorite town.

1. gnolls 7+ good defense average number off starting heroes..theyre ok
2. lizardmen  3- defensive shooters? yuck
3. serpent flies 9 speed baby, fastest scouts in the game, good special(weakness nullify magic)reaches shooters in 1 turn w/ upgrade and you get lots of em/ week. what more do ya want?
4. basiliks 6 decent in every respect..but when it freezes enemy 7th level or something you just love em.
5. mighty cows 9 death stare...easily one of 5 best specials highest 5th level hps and def i believe. i just love the damn things
6. wyverns 2 low hps lousy special vg speed speed. get chewed up by other 6th level generally.
7. hydras 8 this is a tough one to rate..strongest unit in the game initially best at clearing map w1(non shooters) ...weak in final fight...

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Meph
Meph


Adventuring Hero
Rampaging Rampart
posted March 16, 2006 11:36 PM

Hmyeah, let my first reply be on my favorite Heroes III town.


- Advantages, Disadvantages
The main advantages in my opinion to the fortress is the unique building tree. It's quite easy to get to the Hydras and Wyverns fast, allowing you to quickly swoop away the low-level guards around the castle. You'll also get a slight edge to the other castles due to the fact that you'll have more LV7 creatures. While the Hydra isn't the strongest of them all (Definitely not), it's power is still relatively high, if used correctly in battle.
On the downside, the main problem lies in the ranged area. The Lizard Warrior is a poor ranger, and it won't take down much. This gives the Fortress a BIG downside when it comes to siege battles. They also lack something to soften up the enemy, such as the Harpy Hag is for the Dungeon. Having not too tough fliers also makes the job harder for Fortress. However, while defending, the qualities of the Fortress excel.
- Best creature:
The Best Creature would be the Mighty Gorgon. While most creatures of the fortress are average for their level at best, the Mighty Gorgon excels. It isn't fast and it's a 2-hex creature (Which I am not very fond of), but it's strength and durability make it worth the effort. However, it's special ability is what it makes so great. 20 Mighty Gorgons attack 2 Archangels? Bye Bye glorified birdies. The death stare can cripple the best of the best, making the Mighty Gorgon one of the best units in the game.
While most people don't really seem to like him, I also want to name the Chaos Hydra. While it's stats are pretty lackluster, one Bless later and the Chaos Hydra is a real force to be reckoned with. With his No Enemy Retalliation and his Strike All Around abilities, the Chaos Hydra can turn out to be the biggest threat on the battlefield.
- Worst creature:
I already named him. The Lizard Warrior. If I want a ranged unit, it must have good attack skill. Which the Lizard Warrior kind of lacks. Then it grows equally fast as the Dragonfly, but it is more often enemy fodder. Being a LV2 ranged unit, it falls below everything else at level 2, in my humble opinion. Aside from the Zombie perhaps.
- Special buildings.
The Fortress doesn't excel in Special Buildings. It has the shipyard, which I consider to be a penalty. Most special buildings are Defense-increasing, which, combined with the Beastmaster's Defense-emphasis, is actually a good thing. The Mage guild reaches to Level 3, which doesn't bother me too much (though there is no Prayer, Town Portal or anything else awe-inspiring). Could've been better, but it makes the Fortress even harder to take down as it already is.
- Building order:
Only 1 thing about this town's building order which I don't like. The fact that one needs a Resource Silo to build the Upgraded Gorgon Lair. Aside from that, the building tree makes it easy to have a speedy supply of monsters for your army.
- Hero classes:
The Beastmaster is among my faves. Their incredibly defense allows them to become near-invulnerable. The Witch also has pretty OK skills, but I dont feel like choosing magic on a might-orientated castle.
- Good / Bad on what kind of maps:
A Fortress will most likely be the best where its hard to move. Since it has a way lower penalty on Swamp, it can easily outrun others on the Swamp terrain. On a small map, the quick Hydra-advantage will be able to make you win. On a medium map, it falls short. But on a huge map, due to the Beastmaster's high DEF, the Fortress will become near-invulnerable.
- OWN subjective rank in a townranking, from 1st (best) to 9th (worst)
While it is my favorite town to play with in H3, I acknowledge it isn't the strongest. That right is for the Necropolis, followed by the Inferno (I have a weird taste). So for me, the Fortress ranks Third.
____________
Some get a sexchange.
Mephala got a racechange

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ComradeX
ComradeX


Known Hero
Demands raising new Titan's HP
posted March 19, 2006 02:37 PM

A neutral, cheap town for good swarm attacks.

Advantages:
*Scouting - with a bit of luck you can get a hero with a few serpent flies. Thus, because of the serpentfly's speed you can explore the map quickly and clean it of low level neutral monsters. You will also get more movement that way.

*Defence:
This towns main strength is it's extra high defence. Most of the creatures have great defence for their level, and good HP. The nature of the Fortress is defensive, thus you will find it much easier to defend then to attack. Unless the enemy has powerfull direct damage spells or high level ranged units, you will find it not hard to defend your castle. When the enemy archers are down, you can just wait inside and let your towers weaken the enemy enough for you to finish it off. When defending, especialy inside the walls, your creatures can stand almost every attack your enemy can master.

Dissadvantage:
*Attack:
As defence is the towns strongest feature, attack is its weakest one. The towns creatures mostly have more defence than attack and the damage is not that high, meaning it is going to take your army some time to kill an enemy force. The worse thing about the lack of attack is sieging enemy towns. You only have  one 2nd level shooter  and it is easy to get it killed. Unless you have the Balistics skill, attacking enemy towns will be a hell on earth for you.

*Speed:
The fortress is a slow town. The fastest creature has only 13 speed, which means you will mostly start after your foe and get hit first.

Mage guild & spells:
This town has only one weak ranged u,creature  so it is vital to initiate melee combat as fast as you can. For that purpose, a spell like haste is crucial. This town is also not that strong at attack, so spells that boost that stat (directly or indirectly) like bless are MUSTS. The Magic guild of the town is only 3 levels high, so low level spells are the only ones you can relay on. If you use spells like shield and stone skin you will make your already "defence blessed" creatures as solid as rocks, so those 2 spells are also recomended.

Buildings:
The building order of the Fortress is very comfortable and easy to use. There isn't much dependance, and you can build most of the dwellings in the 1st week, as they are not only accesible but also not that expensive and mostly require wood & ore. There are no special buildings accept the "cage of warlords" (which has a cool recomendation in the tavern) that boosts the hero's defence by 1. As the town is all about defence, this is only natural and usefull.

Heroes:
Fortress is weak in magic but strong in might, so don't even think of making a witch hero your main. Always take the beastmaster, as they have great defence and get good secondary skills. There are many good might heroes in this town like Tazar, Alkin, Bron and Gerwolf (has balista specialty which can be usefull).

Creatures:
Gnols - Good 1st level creatures with decent stats, speed and HP.
Lizardmen - Only ranged creature, so guard them well. Weak at attack but strong at defence (not good for a ranged creature I think).
Dragonflys - Very fast creatures, but wahe little HP and low stats. Good for scouting, and have usefull disspell and cast weakness with melee attack abilities.
Basilisks - Slow but solid 4th level creatures. Very well balanced mid game creatures with usefull stone gaze like petrefier ability (paralyze for 3 turns).
Gorgons - The best creature of the town! Very sturdy and tough due to it's high defence, and has very usefull death stare ability that may kill a few of the enemy stack automaticaly.
Wyvern - (As for the upgrade, since when do these creatures have a monarchy?!) Fat creatures for the 1st wave of attack. Have usefull poison ability, but aren't that strong.
Hydras - One of the worse 7th level creatures, are slow, have low skills (18 20), do not do enough damage. The only good things about the Hydras are their good HP, and their many headed attack.

Final Rank: 8th favorite. Not impressed at all by this town.









____________
The frozen land of red Titans wishes you luck in your journeys

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Zsa
Zsa


Famous Hero
posted March 19, 2006 07:29 PM

Advantages:
- Easy to build town, lvl 7 dwell + castle possible week 1
- The creatures are sturdy, and they have good special abilities
- Hydras and a good beastmaster allows you to clean the map fast and take some tough fights early on
- Having wyverns day 1-2 allows for a good start

Disadvantages:
- only one weak shooter
- fighting against fast shooters can sometimes present problems
- Almost always, you will have to come to your opponent in battle

Best Creatures:
- Hydras have good synergy with the beastmaster hero. This is because the hydra has low speed, and as such, a lot of the times you will get hit first by other units you are fighting against. The beastmaster allows the hydra to take the pain and makes the all adjacent no retal attack do its work.
- Wyverns can become your powerstack with some hives from the map.
- Mighty Moos - Death Stare - need i say more?
- Flies - makes your scouts speedy and gives them the edge in scout wars. Furthermore, in many games, dragon flies will make sure you get the first move in a battle.

Worst Creatures:
- Lizards - for ranged units, the lizard warriors don't make enough damage plus they have low speed

Special Buildings:
Sadly, glypths of fear and blood obelisk only boost your in-caslte defense and attack so they aren't very useful.
Cage of Warlords is a decent building (+1 defense) but it doesn't stand out in any way.

Building Order:
Go for Hydras + Castle week 1 most of the time. It is pretty cheap to build a fortress town, you just need lots of wood.
You unfortunatelly have to get the res silo for mighty gorgon upgrade, so that is 5000 down the drain, but it is almost always worth it.

Week 2, you can start cleaning cons, hives, hydra banks, medusa stores (depending on size), dwarven treasuries  with your hydras and wyverns. If the map is rich, the chaos hydra even allows you to take utopias early on (depending on size).

Hero Classes:

Beastmaster - Great might class, proeficient in defense.
Heroes worth mentioning are (from most strong downward)

Tazar - when this guy is high level, his units seem to be made of stone. It is very hard to kill them (save hack and probably gundula)

Alkin - Starts with armourer and offence , and gives your moos extra stats which is always good (since most of the time your mighty moos will be ganged upon by the enemy's units).

Bron - Provides a good basilik stack that is always helpful in the beggining

Wystan - with this guy, the lizards can become a powerful and important stack in your army

Witch - The magic class for this town is pretty weak, the witches start with sucky skills like eagle eye, misticistm, navigation...
Only witches worth mentioning are andra (intel spec) and styg (sorcery). However, if you are playing fortress, getting a magic hero as main (save 1-2 battlemages) is a REALLY bad idea, no matter the circumstances.

Good: On poor maps, they can still develop fairly well

Bad: on richer maps, mostly because other castles fare much better on those maps

Own subjective ranking: This town goes from #3 - #8 depending on map settings and template.
____________
"You sound like zsa who only plays the game on forums" - Russ

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maretti
maretti


Responsible
Supreme Hero
posted March 19, 2006 10:06 PM

Imo Korbac and Broghild are better heroes with fortress than Wystan. Wystans archery is not very usefull at any point and niether is his specialty.

Korbacs pathfinding is very usefull on many temps and his specialty is decent since your topspeed unit will be 14 which can make a big diffrence.

Broghilds scouting isnt as bad as most people feel. All I can say is try making a scouting hero your main in some games and you will see that it really makes you faster. Besides only 7 skills are vital so if you get them having scouting wont hurt you.
Broghilds specialty is very usefull too (1 speed and 3 att and def at lvl 20) since wyverns normally is your powerstack unless you for some strange reson bann hives.
____________
Crag rules, Orrin and Ivor suck

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Xarfax111
Xarfax111


Bad-mannered
Supreme Hero
The last hero standing
posted March 20, 2006 12:28 AM

- Advantages

A complete lineup with hard hitters in the endfight, the best level5 creature with death stare a thread to all Level7 creatures, Additional Wyvern from dragon fly hives, nice map cleaning with the hydra trick on 100%, fastest and strongest start of all towns with flies and Wyvern, cheap if enough wood is available, very good game decisive creature specials.

- Disadvantages

Very slow line up in endfight, all valuable creatures are ground based. Allows only a small variety of endfight strategy, if the game goes to long you are dumped.No resistances or immunities. Cant do siege fights..neither attack nor defend.

- Best creature(s), with explanation why, e.g tactical usefullness

Mighty Gorgons are hard hitter, durable fighters and do have the nasty death stare...undoubtable the best level5 creature of the game.

Basiliks have a good growth, good hit and last long in the endfight. If their special comes the fun begins.

Flies are ok as a lvl3 creature, nice specials.

- Worst creature(s), with explanation why, e.g too low stats..

Chaoshydras are toooo dammed slow and dont have enough healtpoints, the massstrike just cant balance that.

The shooters last long in the fight, but who cares? Their damage sucks.

Gnolls are average but again to slow.

Wyvern are the worst lvl6 creature by far, poisoning can be fun, but doesnt balance the sucky stats. Can be a real Power Stacks if Hives are around.

- Special buildings

Nothing worse to built. Double moat is the H3 joke, if you hide in your fortress town, you trap yourself to death.

- Building order (good, too slow....etc..)

Fast and cheap if enough wood is around. Gives a complete lineup.

- Hero classes (donīt refer these classes ONLY to this specific town, but perhaps they are more usefull with other towns)

Beastmaster are ok heroes. They have an ok primary skilling and a good secondary skilling. Personally i prefer not to take them, cause they dont cause enough damage in the beginning. Dont take them with fortress or stronghold, those towns are only succesful in the hands of Attackers that roll over the opponent before he can say "peep". Beastmaster just make fortress and stronghold vulnerable to magic. It is still a 7 out of 10 for me.

Tazar is of course to mention here, with his blacksmith speciality he IS surely one of the best 7 heroes of the game.

Witches = they all suck 1 out of 10..nough said.

- Good / Bad on what kind of maps

Playable on any map, best on "Meeting on week 2" maps.

- OWN subjective rank in a townranking, from 1st (best) to 9th (worst)

Fortress gives a cool lineup of good creatures in the endfight. Still those are overall to dammed slow...so they are strategical too one dimensional..means as soon as opponent has tactics, massslow + blind you may have lost already. So as the endfight strategy is limited its place 8 in the total. For me place 3 to 9 are overall balanced.


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Aculias
Aculias


Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
Pretty Boy Angel Sacraficer
posted March 20, 2006 02:35 PM

Every castle type has it's advantages & disadvantages.
If your good with fortress you can clear alot or all your areas in a week or 2.
Easy to have 2 armies day 2 minimum if  no Lizards prebuilt.
Once you have the hydras you should have enough money & descent stats to do more.

It's true lizards are not the best shooters but they are effective in the final battle.
With so many fortress creatures & the specialties, the Lizards are the least of your worries, which can come in handy in the later rounds.

I dont agree fully on fortress being more powerful on poorer then richer maps or randoms.
On poor maps it could be too poor to even build all your troops in week 1 & on richer maps it shouldnt be a problem.
Spend your 15 wood, so you can buy the wyverns & you can defeat lower enemies & with enough strategy, you wont even come close to losing them.
Poor maps I usually can build at least hydras or castle but extremely poor, is hard.
I usually play in a high % dif lv.
We should have a match sometime TNT.
I am not to bad with fortress myself .
Sure the creatures are slow but can you imagine how powerful Fortress would be if Hydras can reach the oponent without haste & gorgans.
Certain spells can work wonders with fortress.
Blessed K Hydras hitting multiple creatures in one hit & if your stats is = or better is a killer.
Teleport works.
I love Water skill more then any other with fortress.
I usually dont need earth if i cant get it because of the benefits I can get with water to beat borders etc.
Air or earth is important.
If you cant get Air or earth, your basically F because all your oponent has to do is mass slow you & it's done.
if only mass haste, you still have a chance to win.

The new template that i played that it seems many play now Crisp Cross.
Easy with Fortress.
Low lv borders.
You dont need much to win, especially if you are lucky to only have walkers etc.
Even shooters.
Even if you dont have Mass slow.
All you need is spells that can freeze or slow then down a little.
Blind,slow etc.
Once you break, you can set traps for when your oponent breakes.
Last game I played I had only Throng Pit Lords.
I had no earth but i had blind & slow.
beggining week 3 only used my hydras,all my lizards.
4 slots full of 1 knoll each & 1 firefly.
I manuevered my knolls to seperate half the lords & my flies to be 1 step out of reach to lure other groups while I blind them 1 set at a time.
Shooting them whenever & my hydras waiting.
eventually I blinded all 5 groups & still had my fly.
SLowed the last set of lords.
I was lucky to have the knowledge & power.
8 power & the duration artifact helped me big time which i figured it would.
eventually I used last my magic to bless & Bloodlust.
while lizards knawled on them I ablemto beat them easily.
I was actually lucky because I got moraled.
Fly was able to lead one more stack towards it so I wouldnt lose a hydra & broke week 3 day 1.
Most players that play me know I am no rusher at all lol.
Was a great accomplishment at least for me lol.



____________
Dreaming of a Better World

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Zsa
Zsa


Famous Hero
posted March 21, 2006 12:36 AM

thanks for the play by play acu
____________
"You sound like zsa who only plays the game on forums" - Russ

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supersonic
supersonic


Famous Hero
being digested. E=mc^2, s=vt
posted March 21, 2006 06:33 PM
Edited by supersonic on 21 Mar 2006

Heroes
-Tazar - probably the best beer...uhm hero in the world. With his high defence adn advanced armourer, you can win battles with low looses, as long as you opponent doesn't cast high damage spells, which can really decimate the low-health units of fortress.
-Bron - one of the nicest heros, just because of his ability to boost your army with 15 basilisks. Good to make your main stronger, after giving basilisk becomes a scout. Nice overall. Bad to begin with. Hard to find in tavern.
-Alkin - nice hero. With his terrific offence and defence, you can win when you're outnumbered. Plus he makes your cows live longer(and better)
-Gerwulf - he's good. With the artillery skill boosted, you can lean back on your balista and let it do the job, sometimes maybe with help of more powerful guys.
-Korbac - this dude makes brilliant scout. He almost always starts with a serpent fly (instead of 1 gnoll he often has 1 fly) and has pathfinding, so that you don't need to be scared when scouting enemy territory.
-Wystan - for those of you who enjoy battering opponent before he gets to you, he's the joice. With archery skill and boost to lizardmen and lizardwomen (heroes 3 is sexist), this dude can ensure that opponent will get bruised before facing you guys.
-Andra - although most witches are quite bad, she can accumulate quite much spell points, so that you never run out when in need.
-Mirlanda - never pick that one. Why does she have to have adv. wisdom? Fortresses have only 3 guilds. Weakness spell? Cuthbert will do better...
-Styg - she's the hero! With her bonus to sorcery, you can be sure to pack a real punch with your spells. If you have any.
-Verdish - she can do. If you don't have Rion, you can use her to heal your creatures, but usually don't use her as your main.
-Voy - ?? Never pick that one, unless there's a lot of water. The navigation bonus is so small that you don't even see the difference. Wasted potential.

Dwellings
Cheap, but you need wood. The resource silo could provide 2 wood instead of 1 wood and 1 ore. Don't waste wood and sulfur on upgrades and misceallaneous building. Gorgon's although mighty, are hard to achieve on 130+. To deploy chaos hydras, you'll need boatloads of wood, bit of ore, cart of sulphur and fingernail of mercury. it is possible to have castle and chaos hydras week one. It is possible to deploy wyverns day one, but it requires boost of luck.

Buildings
Grail is wonderful. If you happen to gain carnivorous plant, than your castle will be hard to take, even with 1st level hero. Other buildings boost your defence and attack, some for siege and some permanently. Captains quarters could provide you with more than 6 gnolls, but even 6 can make a good fodder. Most of the buildings cost 1000 gold, you can spend that, can't you?

Creatures
Chaos hydras rock. If you manage to have teleport in you low magic guild, you can put hydra right into the middle of combat. Although it's weak, compared to other 3 levels, it attacks all adjacent units and with beastmaster's defence, they will survive. If you are lucky and gain mighty gorgons, split them up, so that you have a chance of killing them softly, with this stare... Anyway, try to cast mass haste, because dragon flies with their stunning speed of 13 will only make fodder, when flying alone to your opponents' barracks. Also, your main fodder, aka mainstay or gnolls, can prove to be good in great numbers (and with teleport or haste). Basilisks also need to be split up, to inleash their potential of stoning. Lizardpeople are good, but you need to upgrade them and cats precision.

Advantages
-Nice all around
-Fast
-Tactical advantage (without pathfinding I wish you luck on your journey through the swamp, my enemy)
-It is possible to win battles, when your enemy is 3 times bigger than you, by nice strategy and good defence (Tazar's description suits him)
-Mighty gorgons rule
-Wyverns can be built day one, so that you can clear mines quickly.
-Don't need much resources
-Siege will be tough for your opponent
-Noobs think it sucks

Disadvantages
-Well, many heroes are sucky (okay, who was drunk and created the witch?)
-If your opponent gets 7-level creatures first, pray...
-On rich maps, it is possible...
-Most of the time, you just tear your hair, as 7 level creatures don't get killed by mighty gorgons
-Don't bother with casting competition, focus on brute force.
-Sieges will be hard without ballistics and attack.

That will be all, folks. C'ya!

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Damacon_Ace
Damacon_Ace


Famous Hero
Also known as Nobris Agni
posted April 13, 2006 06:55 AM

THE FORTRESS

Advantages:
- Mighty Gorgons are insanely killers of level 8 dragons and level 7 creatures - 10 can easily beat an Azure Dragon
- Hydras are good level 7 units with multi-attack and no retaliation
- Gnolls are decent level 1's
- Beastmasters are good heroes
- Cheap to build and maintain (except wood)

Disadvantages:
- Very slow units
- Wyverns are fragile and expensive
- Poor magic - only Level 3 mage guild. Yuck!
- Bad ranged ability - lizard warriors are not good shooters

Heroes:
- Beastmasters are my preferred choice, with Drakon, Alkin and Tazar as my preference. Witches are okay heroes though. Andra is my preferred choice

Best Unit:
MIGHTY GORGON - not even an Azure Dragon is safe from its death stare

Worst Unit:
WYVERN - pretty lame for its level

OVERALL RANKING: 6th
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Aculias
Aculias


Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
Pretty Boy Angel Sacraficer
posted April 13, 2006 01:18 PM

Funny no one ever mentions the Greater Baskalisks.
Solid creatures that can put a stop to strategic plan in a heartbeat.
Wyverns are strong enough to wear down a creature with high HP & thier retaliations are deadly.
If you play it right you can make the wyverns great units in the final battle, especially with high defense.

Lets see Knolls, I really dont consider them that strong.
Thier slow & easily decreased in #'s.
Thier good for first attack on say an AA then the other creatures can unload on it etc.

Lizards are not the best shooters but if they can get in range then can be underestimated & deadly.
So many other creatures to worry about for Fortress that Lizards can wear down creatures but if thier range is decreased 50% then they are not really a threat orless your attack power is unstanding compared to your oponents Defense.

Flies are the key to speed, they can help you to try 7 get good initiative with haste etc.
Plus you get a good amount of them that they can get in a few good hit & Weakness before thier hurting but theres more creatures to worry about so it's tough.

Baskalisks are solid all around creatures that has good retaliations & players sometimes are catious to attack them straight on not because of thier offense but because they can stone ya.
lv 4 units you get a good amount.

Moos I think we covered enough about them but with some water skill trick, they can be even more powerful then you may know .

Wyverns may be one of the weakest 6th lv but they still can put some hurt into an oponent because Fortress heroes (might) relies on defense, they can kill some of the powerful creatures & if used right they can be very dangerous.

Hydras as I said in the Moos section can be an added danger zone with good water skill tricks.
All I can say is dont put you creatures together even from far away .

Many times I put 7th lv creatures in final battle to rest early or defeat a good amount of them in 1-2 rounds with Hydras or moos alone with water skills.

Wyverns are also a good key also for week 1.
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AlHazin
AlHazin


Promising
Supreme Hero
النور
posted October 05, 2016 07:41 PM

Fortress

Advantages :

- Strong units with high defence, 3rd level very high speed, double moat, relatively cheap to build up. Nice building order. Quick start.


Disadventages :

- Units speed is slow (slowest town), beside 3rd and 6th levels, which are two rather weak flyers, making sieging other towns difficult. 1st level upgraded dwelling is wood-costly. 7th level dwelling is sulfur-costly while the ressource silo produces wood 'n' ore. Weak in the magic department. Very wood dependant.


Best creatures :

- Serpent flies : weak for a level 3 unit, but its speed especially when upgraded gives you a spell casting advatage (mass haste, mass prayer...) and is useful for scouting as it speeds up your heroes.

- Basilisk : A nice level 4 unit with a stoning ability as special (good for siege defense), good stats, good speed.

- Gorgon : when upgraded, its death stare makes him very dangerous especially to level 7 foes. Undeads and non living creature are immune to it.


Worst creatures :

- Wyvern : below average level 6 unit, very weak before the upgrade, it remains fragile after it but get a poisonous special to compensate.


Special buildings :

Mightish and defence-oriented, most of them cost only 1000 gold :

- Cage of warlords : +1 defence skill helping further boosting the already strong defence heroes stats.

- Glyphs of fear : +2 defence skills when defending against a siege.

- Blood obelisk : +2 attack skills when defending against a siege.

- Shipyard : If the town is near water, then you can build boats (rafters ones).

- Captain's quarters : increases gnolls production, which is good, as gnolls are relatively good level 1 units.

- The blacksmith produces the first aid tent war machine.


Building order :

Easy, although not as much as stronghold. With the two first dwellings you can build the 6th one right up assuming you have the wood needed, its upgrade demands quantities of wood and mercury too. Note that the great upgrade of the gorgons needs ressource silo to get done.


Hero classes :

- Beastmaster : the arch-nemesis of the barbarian, it ressembles it in the fact that it is purely might-oriented, and it defers in the fact that it is in the defence departement. Although it has, like any other might class hero, magic capabilities, the beastmaster's principal strength is its high defence stat making its units tough to get down, which happen to have a great defence already. Great specials are : armourer and many creatures specials.

- Witch : average spellcaster, good specials are intelligence, stone skin, weakness.

Other heroes might be :

- Mephala : armourer specialty.

- Calid : +1 Sulfur per day.

- Any hero with the logistics specialty : Kyrre, Dessa, Gunnar... from which fortress creatures can take benefit by increasing the heroes mobility.


Maps :

Fortress is good in poor/small maps and weaker in rich/large maps. Also fortress is partially dependant to magic, haste, prayer, bless are almost a must-have for a fortress army to be able to strike hard and handle the battlefield.


Own personal ranking :

As it is a bit hard to play if you don't knnow what you are doing, I would rank it

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Maag
Maag


Adventuring Hero
posted October 07, 2016 12:02 AM
Edited by Maag at 10:46, 07 Oct 2016.

OK, here's my opinion.

Units

Gnoll Marauders - average unit in almost every way. Seems a bit more durable than attacker, but hey, that's Fortress. Nothing special to add more.

Lizard Warrior - worst unit in level 2, together with Zombie. Zombies are even slower, but at least as undead they have natural immunity to "Blind", "Berserk", etc. Lizard Warrior has almost nothing good, except health. Their attack is weak, have melee penalty and damage range is high, which is not very nice. How often have u real chance to use "Bless" in battle? Basically i think it is like Orc Chieftain, but even worse. At least these Orcs have decent attack, even if everything else suck about them. Only way i use Lizards practically is for killing level 1 troops, which close in.

Dragonflies - real specific unit. Imo some of the best from level 3. But tier 3 is one of the hardest to choose "winner". For there is no obvious choice. Every useful level 3 has different role - "best tank" role goes to Cerberi for sure. Fast, hit and run, even can hit multiple without retaliation and stats are high also. Griffin with fast speed, good stats, flying and "Unlimited retal" is also perfect fighter. Iron Golems imo are for their level some of the best "shooter defending" units in the game. 75% damage reststance from spells, as being mechanical, means no blind or other mind spells, like berserk for example, no vampire life drain etc. Grand Elves are some of the best shooters in the game for their level with shooting twice, high attack and decent damage. But Dragonfly serves different role - since it is fastest unit in Fortress as upgraded and since swamp has high penalty - it is really useful to upgrade them fast, give few to your scouts. Use one powerstack in main army and some 1-3 or 1-2 Dragonflies. To block shooters for example. Very efficient against map too - since their incredible speed can fool AI and so on. Against Tower can dispel all blessings Genies cast and weaken enemy. Also if your enemy casts some "mass blessing", it helpes to "turn things back into your favour". Pluss more roles, like hit and run. With "Bless magic" you can make them hit harder, since F. units have wide damage range, so it can be even hit and run unit against weaker units or weaker shooters or whatsoever. So real multifunctional and one of the Fortress's "key units".

Greater Basilisks - one of the most underrated level 4-s. Their Petrifying attack is working even against undeads! Even if Necro is Fortress'es nemesis, this little fella brings in some hope. This Basilisk's Petrif. is basically like blind. But better, as it even works on undead. Their stats are also good or at least ok. Speed is average, perhaps only minus. Imo they are second best tier 4 units after Vampire Lords.

Mighty Gorgon - best leve 5. Ofc. Thunderbirds are also nice as attacker, but Mooos take the cake. Even now, while in HD H3 games Death Stare effect is highly reduced, even now.
About their death stare - i remember well old time, while played Armageddon's Blade when it came out. At that time there was situation, when level 5 quantity, which is 6 per week vs level 7 which is 2 per week. So M. Gorgons were roughly 3 times more than level 7. They attacked level 7, didn't deal much any damage, then the death stare killed most of level 7 !!! At that time it was Anicent Behemoth. But they could have been aswell Black Dragons, or anything else. Incredible, too good. So i feel this effect has been really reduced. At the time felt Fortress was totally overpowered against anything else, except Necro.

Wyvern Monarchs - noone upgrades them, cuz u can get pleny from Hives. Something what i find unfair and stupid, therefore i would like to ban Hives. But that's another topic. Without Hives they are some of the worst level 6. Scorpicores are not much better, but at least their Paralyze is a lot more efficient than W's nearly useless "poisoning" imo.

Chaos Hydra - let Mighty Gorgons finish enemy level 7 and left Hydras against tier 6 or lower, anything. Attack and def. are very low, health also not the highest, but seems they actually with high defense and Armorer are VERY durable. Besides attacking everyone surrounding and without retaliation is awesome.
As i stated before - since Death Stare won't work against Ghost Dragons and Necro tends to start battle before Fortress, then must mention that Necro is Fortress'es worst nightmare.

I better don't add more details about buildup. Discussed enough here, i tend to agree mostly. Only thing that i would like to upgrade level 3 as fast as possible, if resources are plenty for this move.

Weaknesses are mass slow, like so many said before. Fortress units have to reach enemy - esp. if u fight against Tower which equip Golden Bow

Spells and magic Same old snow - earth and air. But water too! Fortress is town, which most from all fit to use water. They have high damage range, so mass bless works well, to shake your enemies down. Works against map. If u play against human, u don't have chance to cast it, must choose something more important instead. Teleport for Hydras or Gorgons could be one of the keys to win battle (on siege mostly, but even out from towns). Since only shooter is level 2 and that's also futile. Dragonflies are not meant to really kill down someone, then only flying hope goes for Wyvern. But if u don't upgrade them, then they also would be slow, therefore teleport is absolutely heavenly. Clone, if u can get it out of your town, from Pandora or book or scroll, is also nice addition. Clone Hydra and hit multiple targets without retaliation - just make sure your clone moves next turn, after u cast it.

If u have to choose between water and air, take air. If u can have both air and water with earth too, the better. Wisdom u don't need neccessarily.

Secondary skills - you need for sure - armorer, offense, tactics, pathfinding, logistics, air, earth. For last 8-th secondary skill i recommend water. As i said, mass bless, mass prayer, teleport, clone, mass forgetfulness, mass cure, mass dispel could all be handy.
But if you don't think water's any use of, can pick resistnce or archery to make that lizard more competitive.
Or wisdom, to still get resurrection somewhere. But in another hand - if you don't have much spellpower, the resurrection isn't real use of and the same goes about all damage spells too.

Overall rate depends from maps. On poor maps perhaps best town (Necro and Flux banned). In a regular game, if u can bring in fast units, like Firebirds, Angels, Phoenixes etc, to start battle.

In native game it gets easily mass slowed. So at least try to get Tactics and move your units as close to enemy as can. Try to acquire as many "plus x speed in combat" artefacts as can. For this town it is perhaps most crucial.

Heroes - only choose Beastmasters. Tazar is the best, Alkin comes close, cuz + speed and stats to Mooos. Korbac too, because added speed to Dragon Flies. Perhaps Korbac is best Fortress's hero against Necropolis, because u get +1 speed, which make it 14, the same as Ghost Dragon and since F. is defensive town, due to it's nature - you probably aim to "conjure up" your enemy to your swamp to attack you, which gives your army another +1 speed. That way you perhaps could start before Necro and have chance to surprise them with mass haste or mass slow.

Fortress's strengths
Why Fortress is so comfortable to play - since units are tough and u have tent + units have amazing specialties, great heroes (Beastmasters) u are easier to attack against map all kind of places, from Crypts to Utopias. Ut. are particularly comfy, due to death stare.
So in matter of map cleanup it is a bit similar to Rampart, but you don't have to think all time, how to save 1 unit, like Rampart with it's Grand Elves.
Since your mage guild limits level 3 and wisdom isn't really so neccessary to Fortress, try to get Recanter's Cloak. If you don't have wisdom and plan to use mass haste and not catch mass prayer or not plan to use clone, or teleport, then perhaps that artefact would help. Particularly efficient against Dungeon warlock with immense spellpower. Try to get resistance too, instead water, if you face Dungeon or artefact for neck which protects against Lightning bolt.
I already typed so long post here, but about certain tactics from different situations with Fortress could type 50x longer and not enough F. is extremely tactical and full of different chances, ideas. Everything revolves around Mooos, Dragonflies, Basilisks (Petrifying) and Wyverns (if Hives are allowed), Hydras too. So you can plan and play battle, like real chess game - one battle whole day long


Fortress is my long time second favourite town after Tower.


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NimoStar
NimoStar


Responsible
Legendary Hero
Modding the Unmoddable
posted October 07, 2016 01:42 AM
Edited by NimoStar at 11:31, 07 Oct 2016.

My just quick thought:

Lore-wise this is a town that should have stayed.

However in Heroes 3 their "defense" special gets old fast.

Lizardmen are bad.
Gnolls... have horde building but still not enough of them to make a difference.

Other creatures OK, Wyverns are bad for late game but in normal difficulty you can rush them in second turn for a moderate early game advantage.

Bron is one of the best starting heroes because of his Basilisks, only hero that starts with level 4 creatures and the rest of his army is untouched.

However the general weaknesses are:
- Only level 3 mage guild. One would think an ancient civilization would have had more arcane knowledge.
- Special buildings weak, Glyphs of Fear and Blood Obelisk should have been more expensive and give at least +3.
- No good/exceptional town abilities like Artifact Merchants, Treasury, Mana Vortex, Summoning Portal, Escape Tunnel, Cover of Darkness, etc.
- Best speciality armorer, but even then not good enough.

Fortress armies are better with non-fortress heroes with extra attack and other abilites/spells (teleport, Frenzy) to make use of the exceptional potential attack of the Chaos Hydra, which although weak 1vs1, could decimate most enemy armies in the correct position because of attacking all around at once.
Cloning with Hydras, Gorgons, Basilisks and Serpent Flies can also be wither lethal or very tactical (Hydra clone attack with no retaliation all around, Gorgon clone kills with Death Stare, Basilisk clone still can Petrify, Serpent Fly clone casts Dispel and Weakness so it's three spells in one).

The real fortress strenght then lies on it's lineup, which is very hard to use (fliers are fragile, walkers are slow) but also has very tough creatures and with nice effects and specials.
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Never changing = never improving

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Maag
Maag


Adventuring Hero
posted October 07, 2016 11:22 AM
Edited by Maag at 11:23, 07 Oct 2016.

NimoStar said:

Chaos Hydra, which although weak 1vs1, could decimate most enemy armies in the correct position because of attacking all around at once.
Cloning with Hydras, Gorgons, Basilisks and Serpent Flies can also be wither lethal or very tactical (Hydra clone attack with no retaliation all around, Gorgon clone kills with Death Stare, Basilisk clone still can Petrify, Serpent Fly clone casts Dispel and Weakness so it's three spells in one).



Exactly, exactly. So i don't get it too, why some folks say Clone is not good. Ofc. you don't cast it in first round usually. Must get your troops close to enemy, mass haste will help or mass prayer. Tactics also compulsory. In regular game try to bring in Angels, if u can, then Firebirds, Azure, AA-s, anything very fast.
Next round cast Clone if you can. Best to cast it on Mighty Gorgon's for Death Stare or for Chaos Hydras. Depending on situation. Earlier game it could be great idea to clone Gr. Basilisks too or even Dragonflies.
Against map you don't need mass haste always, could use Clone at first round. Especially handy, if you fight against Behemoths, or Hydras or Giants.

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