History of updates
v. 0.3 on June 26th, 2003
*Added riddles and the answers to them
*Strategies against Daemons
*Formatted the text to fit GameFAQs' formatting.
v. 0.2 on June 23rd, 2003
*Strategies against Barbarians, Humans and Dwarves, Undead
*Added some data, like ranges and some building costs
v. 0.1 on June 21st, 2003
*Original version. Lacks a lot of data, like ranges and view for units as well
as building prices
Table of contents
-----------------
1. Introduction
2. Character creation
3. Available classes
4. Buildings
5. Units
6. General tips & tricks
7. Strategies against each races
8. Answers to riddles
9. Outroduction and contact
_________________________
1. Introduction
Welcome to this guide to playing the Fey. Warlords Battlecry II's main point
is the balance between races. So, each race (including the Fey) as strong and
weak points. Strong points must obviously be exploited while weak points must
be compensated in some way.
I've been playing WB2 for some time now and I'm saddened to notice there
isn't much FAQs like this one around, except maybe for one on the Daemons,
maybe due in part because of the much excellent documentation of the game
(kudos to SSG!). So I'm doing my part and help you with the race I like the
most and have the most experience with. Enjoy.
_________________________
2. Character creation
You may be familiar or not with WB2. I'm assuming you're not.
After choosing to begin a campaign, press the New Character button, and
choose the Fey - they're among the last races available. That being done,
you'll need to find a suitable name for your Fey. Do yourself a favor and
choose a SUITABLE name : "k3wl d00d" is not suited for a magical creature,
sorry. You may also wish to put a password on your character. It's entirely
optionnal.
You must also choose which mode of playing you'll choose. There are 4.
Normal mode : well, it's... normal. You get some experience (XP for short) for
winning battles, but even if you lose you'll still get a few points.
Recommended for beginners or those with no experience with RTS.
Tinman mode : Feeling a little more self-confident ? Tinman gives you 25% more
XP per battle won, but the downside is that, in case of defeat, you get none.
Bronzeman mode : Recommended for advanced players, this mode will give you a
50% bonus per battle you win, but if you were to lose a battle, you lose as
much experience as to not lose a level. Example : Lovariel was a level 29 Fey,
with 4900 XP but lost the battle. Minimum XP for level 29 is 4600, so he loses
300 XP.
Ironman mode : RECOMMENDED FOR KAMIKAZES AND PROS ONLY. You get DOUBLE XP at
all times, but if you character were to die... it's permanent. Goodbye. No way
out. Use at your own risks.
----------------------------
There are 4 statistics. The statistics' only role is to determine your base
skills.
Strength (STR) : Your hero's physical strength and endurance.
Influences Health, Training and Conversion. Directly influences Combat.
Charisma : Appearance and leadership.
Influences Morale, Conversion and Merchant. Directly influences Command.
Here are the 10 skills and their effect on the game.
Combat : When to units engage in combat, their Combat skill is used to
calculate whether they'll perform a Death Blow (4x damage), a critical hit
(2x damage), a good hit, a marginal hit (half damage) or a miss (1 point of
damage). What really matters is the difference between the two skills, so two
units with Combat of 7 and 9 will have the exact same chance of hitting each
other than two others with 27 and 29. This applies to Heroes, too.
Health : your Hero's Hit Points are determined by its Health skill. The higher
it is, the more HP you get, and the higher your regeneration rate.
Speed : a unit's speed determines first of all its rate of movement but also
its rate of attacking. Needless to say, dealing high damage but having low
speed is useless.
Command : Command is a subtle but vital skill. First of all, all Heroes have
a Command Radius - which you can display by pressing R. All units inside the
Command Radius get bonuses depending on your Morale skill. The skills also
determines how long this bonus will affect the unit once it gets out of your
radius. Some spells will only affect your troops or enemies within your Command
Radius. Also, you get a bonus to your retinue size.
Morale : units inside your command radius receive bonuses to Combat and Speed.
Theses bonuses greatly increase with your Morale skill. Also, a skill of 13 or
more will give some limited bonuses to units outside the radius (i.e. all over
the map).
Magery : Heroes with magic need Magery. Magery determines first and foremost
the amount of Mana you have. It also determines how fast that mana is
replenished and finally gives bonus to spell casting. If you're a fighter or
any other class with no spells at all, you will obviously not want to invest
even a single point in this skill.
Resistance : Resistance affects your armor, but also your units' armor, as
well as resistance to psychological effects (e.g. fear), assasination and
poisoning.
Training : this very important skill affects the amount of XP you get from a
battle and increases your units' XP at creation.
Conversion : WB2 is about resource gathering, and the speed at which your
convert mines depends entirely on that skill. Low Conversion makes it VERY
long to convert.
Merchant : affects prices you pay for buildings, units and upgrades.
--------------------------
The Fey get the following starting statistics and skills :
STR 2, DEX 6, INT 6, CHA 6
Combat 4, Health 8, Speed 12, Command 12, Morale 12, Magery 12,
Resistance 12, Training 8, Conversion 8, Merchant 12
Obviously, the Fey will not make great fighters. Still, with 12 Speed, you
should able to flee from most situation easily. ;)
After your first battle, you'll have enough XP to gain a level.
Congratulations ! Now you must choose a profession. There are 4 professions
available in WB2 :
Warrior : a man of arms. +1 bonus in STR
Rogue : cunning men. +1 to DEX
Priest : bringers of faith. +1 to CHA
Wizard : devoted to magic. +1 to INT
Due to their low STR, Fey cannot choose the Warrior profession. You would do
well to choose your Specialty right now, so as to orient yourself in the right
direction, and to not regret your choice of profession. The available
specialties are the following :
ROGUES
Thief
Bonus : +1 DEX
You're... well, a thief. Need I say more ?
Pros : -Have varied abilities. You get a little of everything : some magic
(Illusion), Merchant bonus, a little Assination and bonuses to Gold
income.
-All statistics are considered secondary, meaning that buying STR, INT
or CHA costs less.
Cons : -These varied abilities can't be compared to more "focused" classes.
Bard
Bonus : +2 CHA
Malus : -1 STR
Your singing inspires your troops. But you lost your shape.
Pros : -Abilities are good, varied skill bonus. Will give you an edge in
Morale, Command, Conversion and Resistance.
Cons : -No magic at all.
PRIESTS
Healer
Bonus : +1 DEX
Your troops get hurt ; that's a fatality. Healers have pity for their troops
and strive to aid them.
Pros: - Great Healing bonuses in regeneration.
- Healing mastery and grandmastery.
Cons: - Except from Healing, Healers are pretty limited when it comes to
combat.
MAGES
Archmage
Bonus : +2 INT
Malus : -1 STR
You have a vast magical knowledge, so instead of specializing yourself with
one type of magic, you chose the jack of all trades way.
Pros : -Later in the game, Archmages are pretty much invincible. They have
access to ALL spell Spheres.
-Ability to gain +10 Training, so that levelling up is less of a chore.
-Can get immunity to magic damage.
Cons : -In the first levels, Archmages are a pain : they lack good spells, and
their Casting skills are very low (3 for each Sphere). You'll need to
get them to level 15, maybe 20, to begin to really appreciate this
class, as well as tons of Casting bonuses from items or Magery score.
-No mastery or grandmastery of any Sphere.
Alchemist
Bonus : +1 INT
You've always been a tinkerer of sorts... and you've transformed that into
magic !
Pros : -The Alchemy Sphere is full of useful spells, like Golem summoning or
instant conversion.
-Mastery and grandmastery of Alchemy.
Cons : -Spells are expensive in mana. Example : Create Artifact costs 70 mana !
Illusionist
Bonus : +1 CHA
Illusions are powerful, and carefully created illusions are as good as real.
Pros : -The Illusion sphere create decepting images for your enemies. Enemies
might think you have a 100 men army while you only have a handful of
units.
Cons : -Illusions are useless against heroes with very high Resistance.
Ice Mage
Bonus : +2 INT
Malus : -1 STR
You have mastery the power of ice.
Pros : -Ice Magic is a powerful sphere, with lost of offensive spells.
-Ability to get immunity to fire and +1 to all other armor.
________________________
4. Buildings
Fey buildings are quite fragile, generally speaking. Let's cover them up one
by one.
Dreamhold
Upgradable up to level 5
Cost: -Level 1: 100 Stone, 100 Crystal
-Level 2: 100 Stone, 150 Crystal
-Level 3: 100 Stone, 200 Crystal
-Level 4: 100 Stone, 500 Crystal
-Level 5: 400 of all resources except 1500 Crystal
HP: -Level 1 :
-Level 2 :
-Level 3 :
-Level 4 :
-Level 5 :
Can produce : Oakman, Spriggan (Level 1), Fairy (Level 2), Sprite (Level 3),
Pixie (Level 4), Banshee (Level 5)
Specifics : While some races barely need their main base (like, say, the Dark
Dwarves who only use it for upgrades), the Dreamhold is vital to the Fey
player. As a matter of fact, most Fey units originate from the Dreamhold. This
is a good and a bad thing : on one hand, you get a very tough unit-producing
building ; on the other hand, if you want several unit-producing Dreamholds,
you'll have to upgrade each of them seperately, making it quite costly. In the
long run this isn't much of a problem, but in the beginning of the game this
can be quite a drawback.
Available with Dreamhold level 1:
Orb of Wonder
Not upgradable
50 Stone, 100 Crystal
HP : 100
The Orb of Wonder's sole purpose is to bring you XP upgrades for your units.
So, after determining their starting XP from your Training skill, they receive
another bonus on top of that. With the Orb of Wonder, you'll get units level 3+
in no time. Can upgrade up to +100 XP, but this is quite expensive in Gold and
Crystal.
Fairy Ring
Not upgradable
25 Stone, 100 Crystal
HP :
Varied and very useful upgrades comes from it.
- Kinght of Fairie : +2 Combat for Faerie units
- +5 damage for Spriggan and Fairies
- Zephyr : +1,+2,+3 Speed for units
- Panoply : +1,+2 to Armor for units
- +5 damage for Pixies + change damage type to fire
- +2 to viewing ranges
Tower
Not upgradable
HP : 150
Combat: 12
Speed: 1
Damage: 30 Magic
Each race has towers. Some are stronger, others have more HP. The Fey's towers
are the weakest of all races and if you do not defend them well, they'll
crumble to pieces in no time - I've nicknamed them "toothpicks". But they do
have a great use : any unit killed by a Fey tower transforms into 100 Crystal
that goes right into your pockets. Since most AI players will send Rampant
low-cost infantry units like Pikemen, Goblins or Firebombs galore, they'll end
up as a free meal for your towers, and thus a bonus for your crystal-fed units.
Also, as for all towers, putting a infantry unit (i.e. Spriggan or Fairy)
inside will give the tower +3 combat and +1 Speed, while putting an archery
unit (i.e. Pixie) will give it +1 Range and +10 damage. Up to 4 units can fit
inside : choose your infantry-archery ratio depending on your needs and
opponents.
E.g: playing against Barbarians, whom have weak units, put more infantry so as
to shoot more often, while with stronger armies like the Undead, more power is
needed so you'll want more ranged units.
Note: Banshees count as two infantries, while the Hero counts as two
infantries AND two archers.
Wall
Not upgrabable
HP:
Walls are... well, walls. Fortifications to keep enemies out of your base.
After mid-game, you would do well to pay for an Oakman to build Walls. Just
press your mouse button over the area where you'd like the first section built,
and drag your mouse to "draw" the wall.
Walls without protection are, again, useless. Fey are advantaged : most of
their units are flying and/or have ranged attacks, so walls will only impede
them so much. Be sure to leave a single opening, though. ;)
Available with Dreamhold level 2:
Rainbow
Not upgradable
100 of each, 200 Crystal
HP :
Income upgrades. The Fey being expensive in crystal, paying for upgrades may
not be a bad idea. Plus the first ones are relatively inexpensive.
Magic Pool
Not upgradable
200 Stone, 100 Crystal
HP :
The Magic Pool first produces Fairy Dragons (see units' descriptions). It also
has viewing range bonuses, as well as another which allows you to reveal all the
map and dissipate fog of war. Very useful, but you'll mainly use it to produce
Fairy Dragons anyway.
Available with level 3 Dreamhold:
Eyrie
Upgradle up to level 3
-Level 1:
-Level 2:
-Level 3:
HP :
All races have an Eyrie, but the Fey are special : the first units available
are the Lightning Hawks, which are unique to the race. On second level, you'll
be able to create Pegasi and on third, the nearly universal Dragon.
Available with level 4 Dreamhold:
Unicorn Grove
150 Metal, 150 Stone
Not upgradable
HP :
Will allow you to summon Unicorns, which are useful for healing your troops.
Has an upgrade for Unicorns, the Alicorn, that gives +10 damage to Unicorns.
Also, it is the building responsible for the creation of the Fey Titan,
the Forestmaster.
Tome
50 Stone, 100 Crystal
Not upgradable
HP :
Contains two kinds of upgrades : Mana regeneration (150% and 200%,
respectively) and +2 or +4 to Casting skills. If you're not much of a
spellcaster, the latter may be more or less interesting, but the former however
will affect your Unicorns as well as your Hero, so it is still worth the
expense.
____________________________
5. Units
Please note that all armor ratings, costs and statistics are basic
characteristics. Scores higher or lower than 10 in Resistance, Merchant and
Morale WILL modify those values. Also note that all Fey units take 1 Army Point
except for Unicorns who need 2 and the Titan who needs 4.
Units available with level 1 Dreamhold:
Oakman - strong builder
Cost : 40 Stone
Production time : 25 s
Building skill : 12
Combat: 2
Speed: 4
HP: 70
Damage : 15 C
Armor: P 4, S 2, C 2, F 0, M 2
View:
The Oakmen are the builders of the Fey, and what builders ! They are
agonizingly slow, that's for sure, but try finding another race with builders
that can actually raze an entire base. NO, Treants don't count, bleh. They
suffer from low armor versus fire, though, so be careful what you're attacking.
Anyhow, at low levels their speed is so low that they won't be of much use
offensively - except if you're very patient AND have paid for Zephyr upgrades.
Quote:"Ah! Sunshine on my leaves."
Spriggan - basic infantry
Cost: 40 Gold, 30 Metal
Production time : 20 s
Combat: 4
Speed: 14
HP: 20
Damage: 9 P
Armor: P 3, S 2, C 2, F 2, M 3
View:
The Spriggans are the Fey's basic infantry. What they lack in power, armor or
HP, they compensate for in speed. They are quite good for level one units.
Alone, they are pretty helpless though. Mainly used as fodder and/or to be put
into towers. With some experience, put them into groups : computer AI seems to
aim at ground units first for some reason so while your Spriggan get maimed,
your other units can blow something else.
Quote:"Whatcha wanta ?"
Units available with level 2 Dreamhold:
Sylph - basic air/ground infantry
Cost: 25 Crystal
Production time: 15 s
Combat: 1
Speed: 17
HP: 5
Armor: 0 to all except Magic 5
Damage: 6 P
View:
If anybody has any use for Sylphs except to be put into towers, please e-mail
me immediately. After months of playing, I still can't find a use for them. At
least, they're cute. Don't waste your crystal on them. Oh, yeah, they can
attack flying enemies. So ?
Quote: "Buttercups and rainbows!"
Fairie Dragon - ranged fire flier
Cost: 90 Gold, 40 Metal, 20 Crystal
Production time: 55 s
Combat: 3
Speed: 11
HP: 35
Armor: P 2, S 2, C 2, F 3, M 3
Damage: 6 F
Range:
View:
With good speed and range, the Fairie Dragon is a useful unit. Team them up
with Sprites for variety, though. Also, they're great for hunting Trolls or
pretty much any Wood Elf unit. Beware though : in the beginning of the game,
you might run short of Gold if you buy too many.
Quote: *swooshing sound*
Units available with level 3 Dreamhold:
Sprite - flying archer
Cost: 80 Crystal
Production time: 30
Combat: 2
Speed: 14
HP: 25
Armor: P 1, S 1, C 0, F 2, M 3
Damage: 10 P
Range:
View:
Again, weak units, but inexpensive - as pretty much all Fey units. You'll need
a horde to get any serious business done, but it's no real problem. Team them
up with Fairy Dragons and Lightning Hawks.
Quote:"Wooooooooooooooooooooo!"
Lightning Hawk - flying ground attacker
Cost: 40 Gold, 80 Metal, 20 Crystal
Production time: 45 s
Combat: 6
Speed: 11
HP: 30
Armor: P 0, S 1, C 1, F 1, M 2
Damage: 10 M
Range: 8 (?)
View:
They might seem expensive at 80 Metal but remember that Fey players have not
much use for Metal. You'll be surprised how powerful some level 1 Eyrie units
can be. A group of Lightning Hawks will get rid of Towers in no time. Be
careful not to send them alone, though, since they can't defend against flying
units.
Quote: *like an hawk*
Units available with level 4 Dreamhold:
Pixie - fast ranged unit
Cost: 100 Crystal
Production time: 30 s
Combat: 3
Speed: 16
HP: 20
Armor: 1 in all except Magic 4
Damage: 7 M
Range:
View :
Their incredible speed give the Pixie an edge you'll love. Most low- to medium-
end units won't even approach a small Pixie group - what they lack in power,
they surely compensate in speed! Getting Pixies to 20+ Speed is fairly easy.
The only problem you'll have with these lovely creatures is that, teamed with
Fairie Dragons and Sprites, they'll be the ones who get attacked since most
enemy units can't attack flying units, so they're a lot more vulnerable. Be
sure to have some infantry and/or cavalry around.
Quote:"Say PLEASE!"
Unicorn - healing cavalry
Cost: 150 Crystal
Production time: 90 s
Combat: 14
Speed: 16
HP: 110
Armor: P 1, S 1, C 1, F 2, M 4
Damage: 25 P
View:
Unicorns are weak, let's face it : while their HP supply is honest, their armor
clearly isn't up to par, except maybe against those armies with lots of magic
attacks. Best used as backup units, not as regular cavalry. You may also get a
bunch of them to destroy building when towers have been shot down, since their
damage is pretty high - by Fey standards, that is. However, they can Awe enemy
units, which halves their speed and removes their use of ranged attacks. Be
sure to pay for their Alicorn upgrade so they deal extra damage.
Hint : put their AI on "Magic Defender" so they cast Healing or Cure spells
when your units need them... and when they have the mana for it. In that case,
make sure you paid for mana regeneration upgrades.
Quote: *like a horse*
Pegasus - flying cavalry
Cost:
Production time:
Combat:
Speed:
HP:
Armor:
Damage:
View:
Now here's some meat for ya. The Pegasi, even though they might look like
flying Unicorns, are definitely not related to them. With lots of HP and
Combat, decent speed and good damage (crushing damage - your only unit, except
for Oakmen, that deal crushing damage), the Pegasi are worth your money.
Quote: *horse*
Units available with level 5 Dreamhold:
Banshee - floating general
Cost: 100 Gold, 200 Crystal
Production time : 90 s
Combat: 13
Speed: 10
HP: 140
Armor: P 3, S 3, C 3, F 3, M 4
Damage: 30 M
The Banshee is... disappointing. While generals of other armies are powerful
units, Banshees do not stand out of the crowd, really - but their price is
function of that. They do have some interesting properties. First, they're
considered "floating", which means that while they're not flying units, they
can hover over water, which gives them more mobility on some occasions. Use
that to your advantage. Also, they do splash damage, meaning that upon hitting
an enemy, all enemies in a certain area get hit too. Also, they can cast Scare
spells. Like Unicorns, put them on Magic Defender so they use their spells from
time to time. Be warned, though : they'll use it at the first opportunity,
whether the unit is affectable or not, or whether it's a single unit or a large
group of them. Don't forget that, as generals, they can convert buildings -
slowly, but it's still better than nothing.
Quote:"The Moon is my mistress."
Dragon - powerful flame-thrower
Cost: 1000 Gold, 1000 Crystal
Production time: 6 min
Combat: 20
Speed: 14
HP: 400
Armor: P 3, S 4, C 4, F 4, M 4
Damage: 50 F
Range:
This almost standard unit is a powerhouse. Sure, it's not as powerful as a
Titan ; however, you can build as many as you can manage to pay for and they
take 40% of the production time of the former. Also, they have HIGH Combat and
Hits for Fey standards. Produce 'em. They also cause Terror and deal splash
damage.
Quote:*dragon roar*
The Forestmaster - Fey Titan
Cost : 1200 of each resource
Production time : 10 min
Combat: 26
Speed: 18
HP: 750
Armor: 6 for all except Magic 7
Damage: 80 M
Range: 14
Wow. Titans are cool, and the Forestmaster clearly is, to me, amongst the
coolest. First, his range : with 14 range, you can hit Towers without taking a
single shot ! And with his damage, only a few shots should be enough. He's
relatively fast - compare it to Grond, just for fun - and has good HP and
armor. Hurray for Forestmaster ! And, as all Titans, he causes Terror, ignores
armor when hitting enemies and explodes on death. In last resort, send it right
in the middle of the enemy base and watch their building crumble down to
pieces when he's shot to death. Sweeeeeeeeeet.
Quote: "Beware mortals! The Forestmaster approaches."
______________________
6. General tips & tricks
That's probably the section you were waiting for. Here are some random but
useful stuff/thoughts/strategies to help you succeed in your quest to quench
your thirst of conquest. Experienced players will probably know of these
already ; still, you might learn a thing or two. If you think of others,
contact me.
- Never leave an empty tower. The BARE minimum you should allow yourself is an
infantry unit. To this end, use Spriggans in the beginning of the game since
they cost Gold and Metal, while Sylphs cost precious Crystal. Later on, put
Pixies in them : they're the only ranged units that can go into Towers.
- Convert. In the beginning, when your resource gathering is reduced to a
crawl, convert. In the end, when you've got already 3000 of each resource,
convert. It's that simple : a mine that's yours is not your enemy's. You
don't know what kind of trick they could try to pull on you. Also, mines
placed far across the map can serve as beacons of sorts, and if you're
careful enough for the minimap you can see partial enemy movement near your
mines.
- Fey units are weak, let's face it. You can't use strategies like Daemon or
Undead players use : make a handful of powerhouse units like Doom Knights or
Daemons and raze buildings. Even a group of Banshees would fail. You'll need
four times that amount of units to level the field. Good thing units are
cheap and fast to produce.
- Attacking enemy bases, in the beginning of the game, is a big no-no, unless
you're a uber-mage able to summon tons of units or use very powerful attack
spells. Make sure your defenses are solid, because they are few. Except for
Towers, you'll have to count on your units to guard your base ; no attacking
buildings like Voids for Dark Elves. So always leave a rather large group of
units there ; it's just common sense.
- Variety counts. Sure, a group of 20 Pixies is impressive and blazingly fast,
but a couple of powerful units with splash damage and high resistance to
magic/fire - like Orcs' Giants or Dragons - will rapidly thin their ranks.
Unless you have a particular strategy in mind, mix groups with as much
creatures as possible. That way, you get different attack types and armor
values, and your enemy cannot play on that.
- Know your enemy. Play for a while with all other races ; gaining a few levels
as Heroes of other races will give you insight on what are the different
races' weak and strong points. For example, reduce the amount of
magic-attacking units when attacking Dwarves, since Dwarven units are very
strong against magic attacks. And use Pixies with their Fire upgrade as well
as Fairie Dragons to attack Barbarians who have, as a rule it seems, little
armor against fire.
- Build Towers. As soon as you have a few Gold pieces, Rocks and some spare
Crystal, build Towers. There is *NO* such thing as a base with too many
Towers. Be careful not to put Towers next to each other, though, because lost
projectiles could hit them and splash damage attackers will quickly get them
down. If you have the resources to do it, too, build Walls. They're extra
easy to defend : put a layer of Walls, put Towers right behind. The Walls
will cause little problem since a lot of your units are flying and/or ranged.
Just be sure to leave an opening or two ;)
- NEVER, EVER build only one Dreamhold, and make sure every single one you have
is at the very least of level 3 (able to produce Sprites). Use your "main"
Dreamhold to build advanced units like Banshees and Pixies, and use others
for lower-level units, like Spriggans, Sprites and the occasional Oakman
- don't laugh, with a lot of XP and help from your Morale skill, they can get
over 10 speed, and they also have crushing attacks ; they are the only Fey
unit with crushing blows, except for Pegasi, which come later in the game.
Just be sure to set their AI to Defender instead of Stand Ground if you want
them to be useful. Upgrade Dreamholds as soon as you have the resources to do
it.
- As soon as your Hero gains his first few levels, get his Training skill to 19
as soon as possible ! Having more Training gives you more XP after battles,
which in turn makes you level up faster, thus giving you more AP to spend to
abilities, skills, etc. 19 is a good start, and will give good XP to your
units. It's also the minimum to get +2 AP per level. 25 gives +3.
- Finish the campaign. The first obvious advantage is that you'll get many
levels before getting there, and you'll get the extra-powerful item called
"Orb of Etheria" if you never let your enemies surrender. The higher the
level of difficulty, the more powerful it gets.
- Every once in a while, play with the other race Fey heroes get bonuses with:
Wood Elves. No need to like them or not - I don't - but produce a lot of
Ancient Wisps, and put 1 or 2 in your retinue. Ancient Wisps count as level
2 Crystal mines, so you'll have access to Crystal right at the beginning of
the game, and they don't cost too many army points.
- Weather is not only of graphical interest. Fey units gets +1 to Combat on
Fine weather (i.e. not raining), whether it's day or night. Have the Weather
table at hand's reach to know of your enemies' and allies' bonuses and maluses
with weather, and play accordingly if you have some spells to influence it.
- Always have a builder on hand. To be sure it's available, hotkey it. Buildings
can be hotkeyed, too (a lot of people seem to be unaware of that).
- Learn keyboard shortcuts : they are presented on the same poster-like card
you got with the game, or in the Manual directory of the CD under the same
"Warlords Battlecry II Card1" and "Card2". It's faster to use keyboard, in
most players' sense. Example : Convert skill is Ctrl-C.
- Quests are important. They'll give you some interesting things, like
experienced units, items or resources, but you'll also get more XP at the end
of the battle : +2 XP/quest completed, up to a maximum of 10 XP.
- Another way to get more XP is to kill a lot of enemy units. Which mean people
will get a lot of XP from you, that's sad, but you can do the same to them.
You don't battle the Minotaurs like you'd battle the Undead ; each army has
different caracteristics you must use to your advantage. Here's a summary of
strategies against each race. Fey vs. Fey is not covered, for obvious reasons.
BARBARIANS
Barbarians can be described in two simple words : rushers and swarmers. Their
units are slightly more powerful than yours, and a horde of Barbarians can
quickly put swarms of Fairie Dragons and Sprites to the grave since their
javelins do not stop when they hit a unit (just like Ballistas), so they can
hit a lot of them.
They can produce the bulk of their units with a level 3 Keep, so their general
strategy is to make a lot of units and attack their enemies very early in the
game, and believe me it does work, especially against "weak" races, such as the
Fey, or races which require higher-level Keeps to have decent units. Be ready
for them : be sure to have your Towers full, to have lots of ranged units,
especially those with fire or magic attacks (i.e. Fairie Dragons, Lightning
Hawks and Pixies), since most of theirs are not ranged and lack armor against
fire and magic.
Barbarians lack defense against aerial attacks early in the game, too, so if
you can surprise them, you'll have won an important edge. Beware, though : when
they get their level 4 Keep, they'll be able to summon Pegasi, and fully
upgraded they'll receive +6 Combat AND Speed ! Be sure to target them first,
since they can kill most of your units in a single blow. They have Eagles, too,
but these are not much of a problem, except in large groups.
Reavers, Barbarian generals, are cheap to produce, and as such they'll
eventually infest the map, trying to convert buildings. A good idea is to have
a group of Lightning Hawks or, better, Pixies to run after them. Pixies are
faster, but you risk losing a few, while Lightning Hawks are safe from the
Reavers' hits.
HUMANS
Humans have a well-rounded armies. Their cavalry is absolutely unrivaled, so
ground attacks are not really an option - not much of a problem to us. However,
be sure not to bring too many ground units when attacking Humans.
One of the Humans' greatest weakness is their lack of flying or air-attacking
units. Large cavalry groups are powerful and will do a quick job of your base,
but if you intercept them in time your flying units will bring most of their
group down in no time, since they can't retaliate. So have a group or two as
"patrols" to spot and intercept them. Dispose of accompanying Archers or Mages
first, as always.
UNDEAD
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
The trick with the Undead is to dispose of them as quickly as possible. That is
because, with all upgrades and a lot of resources, they are invincible. A
single Doom Knight can bring down a whole group of yours quite fast before
going down. First, be sure to convert as many of their mines as you can manage
to do. Undead will need a lot of each resources at some point or the other in
the game : in the beginning, Stone and Gold, and later on Metal and Crystal. If
you have the choice, choose Metal, since they require a LOT to upgrade Skeletons
to Doom Knights. But don't count on that either : high-level Necromancers have
access to the Raise Champion spell which, with the Black Portal spell, could
create a 320 XP champion - like a Doom Knight, for instance. So no resources
does not necessarily no units. Ye hath been warned.
So, to sum it up : attack fast. Don't lose time and destroy as many buildings
as you can, as fast as possible.
DWARF
You have an enormous advantage over Dwarves : speed. As a rule, Dwarven units
are slow as hell. Sure, they have a bucketful of HP and armor, but without the
speed to use them, they're powerless.
They do have some weapons against you. First, their siege weapons, namely the
Ballista and the Catapult, will make a quick job of your units : use Fairie
Dragons to take them out - being made of wood, siege weapons have low armor
against fire. Ballistas attack like the Barbarian's javelins, while the
Catapult's rocks deal splash damage.
Dwarven Towers are extremely dangerous : first of all , a Dwarven Crossbow
counts a TWO Archers when placed in a Tower. So, in extreme situations, there
might be effectively 8 Archers in a single Tower. Also, when their Academy is
built (a level 4 building), they can pay for a bonus which gives +25% hit to
all their buildings, giving their Towers a whopping 437 HP. Ouch. Take those
down as an absolute priority.
MINOTAUR
(to come)
ORC
(to come)
HIGH ELF
(to come)
WOOD ELF
(to come)
DARK ELF
(to come)
DARK DWARF
(to come)
DAEMON
In the very beginning of the game, Daemon players lacking experience will be
having a difficult time : Deamons require a helluvalot of Crystal and Stone,
and just taking their Keep to level 3 is a real pain, and beyond that is even
worse. So your best option would be to strike fast with flying units. Don't
even think about a ground attack : their Nightmares are more than on par with
Pixies, Speed-wise ! They will only have Imps available, and low-level Imps
lack Combat.
However, as soon as their Keep gets to level 4, things will get a lot more
dangerous. They'll be able to summon Daemons, which are powerful and rather
inexpensive, and to buy and summon their units at 25% less of the cost and
time, meaning more units. If you're attacking them in that case, target their
Pits, which is pretty much their only unit-producing building, except for
Summoning Towers - which, surprisingly, can produce Summoners at level 3. Those
should be your second targets.
Don't be afraid of their Towers - or, well, less afraid. Most races can put
units inside Towers, but Daemons generally can't. Well, they COULD put Summoners
inside, but that would be a waste. So consider them empty, except maybe for Heroes.
___________________________
8. Answers to riddles
There are various quests available, and riddles may or may not be the easiest.
Because they'll quickly give you resources and XP, most of the time, here are the
answers to the riddles. Try finding out the answer by yourself first, of course.
It's called preserving the fun. :)
R:"In Summer I wear green, All day and all night. In fall I wear yellow, In winter I
wear white"
A: tree
R:"Red as blood, Sweet as wine, My heart is hard, But my flesh is fine."
a: cherry
R:"I run all day but cannot walk. I have a mouth but cannot talk. What am I?"
A: river
R:"I touch the earth, I touch the sky, But if I touch you, You'll surely die."
A: lightning
R:"I die without air, yet I have no lungs"
A: fire
R:"I live in the oceans, rivers & sea. When I'm cold, I float. When I'm hot,
I'm free."
A: water
R:"A sturdy back, legs four, once I lived, but no more"
A: chair
R:"White flesh above, brown gills below, I move not an inch, in the darkness
I grow"
A: mushroom
R:"I have an eye but I am blind, I'm cold and hard and never kind, Despite all
this you still should see, There always is a point to me."
A: needle
R:"My feet are warm, My head is cold, I never move, Since I'm so old".
A: mountain
R:"A head but no body, a heart but no blood, leaves but no branches, what am
I?"
A: lettuce
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9. Outroduction and contact
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Hope this FAQ has been of use to you. If you found any errors, typos, have
strategies you'd like to share or think that this FAQ lacks something, contact
me at solarbear at cgocable dot ca, specifying you're writing about this FAQ.
Only constructive criticism will be accepted. Flames, spam and hate mail will
not even be read. Mariage offers will be considered.
