New Unit and Race Listings For Age Of Wonders: Shadow Magic
Copyright 2003 By: Aspect Of Shadows
For use on GameFAQs (other site uses by request to Author)
Version History:
Version 1.0: Initial Posting and Documentation. (7/30/03)
Version 1.1: Worked on Neutral Unit Section and Info (8/5/03)
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Table Of Contents
1. Introduction
2. New Races
a.) Race Introductions - Nomads
b.) City Info - Nomads
c.) Unit Tree And Details - Nomads
d.) Race Introductions - Shadow Demons
e.) City Info - Shadow Demons
f.) Unit Tree And Details - Shadow Demons
g.) Race Introductions - Syrons
h.) City Info - Syrons
i.) Unit Tree And Details - Syrons
3. New Units And City Addendum For Old Races
a.) Elves
b.) Dwarves
c.) Halflings
d.) Archons
e.) Humans
f.) Frostlings
g.) Tigians
h.) Draconians
i.) Dark Elves
j.) Orcs
k.) Goblins
l.) Undead
4. Neutral Units (Non-Aligned) Information
5. Contributions And Closing
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1.) Introductions
Hello and welcome to my first FAQ. I am hopeful that this
will be useful to everyone for identifying some of the new units
available in this edition of Age of Wonders (called AoW from here on).
I was amazed to find out that there was a general lack of info out
there on the new units and special features of the different races in
this game. Indeed, it is safe to assume that many strategies have now
changed due to some of the new abilities and changes to the units and
cities. This has allowed for creating a fresh new feel to an already
wonderful game.
This faq does not cover the changes to preexisting units. Nor does it
cover what the new abilities do. That will be covered in another FAQ
(By me or, more likely, by someone else). What this does cover is all
of the new units that were not in the last AoW (although some may have
occurred in the first AoW). This will also cover the new city options
that are available. Finally this FAQ will go into great detail about
the 3 new races including some thoughts and strategies by me and/or
by contributors. Note that ships are not listed in the unit sections,
as they are common to all races and haven't changed from the last AoW.
Now this FAQ is being posted on GameFAQs with express permission from
me. This is not allowed for posting on any other site. If you want it
on your site, just post on this message board and ask me and let me
know. No part of this may be posted with out my permission. If it is
posted elsewhere (by permission of course), it must be in unaltered form
(i.e. no cut and paste jobs). GameFAQs is copyright by their parent
company (which I forget what it is called at the moment). This FAQ is
copyrighted by me, Aspect Of Shadows. Age Of Wonders and all names
associated are copyrighted by Gathering Of Developers (GoD) and under
license by Triumph Studios corporation. Contributions will be listed
at the end of this document. All right reserved. I am in no way
associated with GameFAQs, Triumph, or GoD.
Please be respectful. Thanks ^___^
Alright, now on to the good stuff
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2. New Races
One point of note is that what I term a "Level 0" basically means
that it is a unit that is available for recruitment without needing
any other buildings to make available. This is the terminology that
the prima guide used for the strategy guide they did on the last AoW
and is used here as well. As far as the game is concerned, for the
purposes of certain spells, all "Level 0" units are considered to be
"Level 1" (except where noted).
---------------- (a. thru c.) The Nomads
a.) Introduction
The way the game describes Nomads are as follows:
"Forsaken by their god Yaka, and driven from a realm of riches and
power, the Nomads dream of conquest while drifting like the blowing
sands of their forlorn desert home. These people are a mix of the
once great Azrac Empire and their Human conquerors, who fled brutal
conflicts of their own. Their culture is rich with stories of strong
family tribes, fortunate wanderers, revenge and slavery. Perhaps it
is because they have no set boundaries and claim no fixed kingdoms that
they have embraced the decadent practice of enslaving outsiders. Every
Nomad family has a tent of differing size, which determines their
status in society. They are quick and able on horseback or camel, and
despite the size of their dwellings, they lash their canvas and wooden
structures to the backs of their slaves, camels, and their greatest
beast of burden, the elephant, rendering the whole city mobile."
Basically Nomads have a great deal of speed and mobility going for them.
Their early units might not have the speed that the rest of their units
have, so they tend to get left behind and ignored by most players (At
least I do). However, once you get started up with them, they can
really move on open terrain. With most of their units being mounted
cavalry types in some way or aerial movement types (floating or flying),
there is really just about nothing they cant catch up to. Fortunately,
they are also very strong in combat abilities and are able to capitalize
on this speed advantage and while at the same time run away from what
few units they might have a problem with. It is interesting to note
that it is also very easy to get a city up and running quickly
(literally in fact sometimes, see below for details). There are a
couple of weaknesses that exist but for the most part this is a very
solid race to play thru the game with and can even be played thru
without the need of another race's units and still be effective.
b.) City Info.
The most important point to stress about the Nomads is that their
cities are MOVEABLE. This allows for many different strategies that are
unique to only them. The process of moving a city is not a super quick
process, but with some pre-planning and forethought, you can really
dominate a battlefield thru sheer logistics.
Some ideas to potentially consider with this ability:
---Move a wizard tower closer to the front lines in order to extend your
magic relay aura over a regular combat area.
---Move a "unit factory" (i.e. a city solely dedicated to making combat
units) closer to the front lines to cut down on transit time between
the front for units created.
---Move a newly captured city away from an area you might otherwise have
a problem defending. Especially important if its an opponent
wizard's city.
---Keeping cities mobile to prevent pinpointing by human opponents (Not
effective with the computer opponents as far as I've seen)
In order to move a city, you have to transform it into a "caravan" unit,
which is located in the 3rd city tab (the tab that normally allows for
Razing, Looting, and Migrating a city) at the top under the heading
"Create Caravan". There is a one time fee of 50 gold to do this and
usually takes 1 turn to complete. On the next turn, your city will
disappear and be replaced by a caravan unit (will be discussed later).
It has roughly the same movement speed and type as a normal pioneer
unit, but has it's own unit animation and appearance. When moving a
city to a new location, you still have to obey the minimum city
distance requirement (unless you have that rule turned off in the
editor). When you find the location that you want, just order the
caravan to "Build <insert city name here>" and the caravan unit will
disappear and be replaced with the city ruin location. Clicking on this
will confirm that the city is under construction and will take one turn
to do. The next turn after that, you'll have your original city back
just the way it was, complete with the same population and buildings
intact. There is no cost to rebuild your original city. Note that you
dont receive any income from caravans until they become cities again.
Another important aspect of Nomad cities are the Slave Pits. Besides
providing you with a new unit (Pit Guards), Slave Pits also cut the
production costs for rushing the current item in the production queue
in half (both gold cost and population costs). This wont be too
helpful at the beginning (as gold income will be a problem). However,
especially in the middle parts of the game and even later, it will
allow you to really get cities built up from scratch in half the time
that it would normally take or to produce key units in a fraction of
the time it would take. This can give you the edge you'd need to
push thru your opponent's front line (as you would be able to pump
out units faster then he could so long as your gold reserves and
upkeep could hold out) or to establish a strong economic and
military foundation. This fits in well with the Nomad's fast mobility
tactics.
A couple of minor points to note. First, Nomad's maintain a city
terrain bonus on desert tiles and a city terrain penalty on snow.
Also, Nomads are Neutral in alignment, so most any other race will
be able to use them (may or may not require Peace Keeper skill or
magical means...depending on your starting race). Interestingly,
one weakness they do have is that a Nomad population produces none
of the normal bonuses that all of the other races do (like the
Frostlings and mana or dwarves and production points). So your
overall initial intake of resources are lower at the beginning if
you choose to start as them. However, these are minor points (at
least I feel so) in comparison to what is gained.
c.) Unit Tree And Details
Here is the general outline of the Nomad unit tree:
Level 0 - Spearman --- Caravan
Level 1 - Horse Archer --- Barbarian --- Pioneer --- Ballista
Level 2 - Djinn --- Elephant Rider --- Catapult --- Monk
Level 3 - Pit Guard --- Chieftain --- Slaver --- Balloon
Level 4 - Roc
Remember to play up on the high mobility and high attack
power of this race and you should do fine. :)
Below are the listings for this race's units:
LEVEL 0
Spearman: Nomad Humanoid (Male) Upkeep:6 Cost:20
Att:5 Dam:4 Def:4 Res:5 Hits:10 Move:28
Walking, Strike, First Strike, Throw Spear
Silver: Marksmanship I
Gold: Marksmanship II
Requires: Nothing
Notes: Great one hit archers, as Throw Spear has a better
chance of hitting its target and does more damage
then the average archery skill. However, has only
one shot. After that, the lifespan of a spearman
is very short. First Strike does help after this
but expect to lose a few spearmen after you use up
their ammo.
Caravan: Nomad Machine Upkeep:7 Cost 50
Def:5 Res:5 Hits:14 Move:38
Erect City, Fire Weakness, Poison Immunity, Walking
Silver: n/a
Gold: n/a
Requires: Nothing
Notes: Outside of the great move score and the fact that it
costs nothing to do its Erect skill but 1 game turn,
you can treat these as any other Pioneer Unit.
*IMPORTANT NOTE*
I just found out thru the editor program that as far
as the game is concerned, these are considered
"Level 2" units (for the purposes of spells). But
they are placed in "Level 0" on this FAQ due to the
fact that its available at any point in the existence
of the city (without the need of buildings).
LEVEL 1
Barbarian: Nomad Humanoid (Male) Upkeep:6 Cost:30
Att:9 Dam:7 Def:6 Res:7 Hits:13 Move:28
Walking, Round Attack, Strike
Silver: n/a
Gold: *Under Construction*
Requires: Barracks
Notes: Round Attack is a good skill to have when you get
surrounded or on the off chance of moving into a
cluster of enemies. However, with the low def
skill of this unit, the occurrence of surviving
multiple units attacking it is small.
Horse Archer: Nomad Humanoid (Male) Upkeep:6 Cost:50
Def:6 Res:6 Hits:14 Move:36
Walking, Mounted, Archery, Marksmanship I
Silver: Marksmanship II
Gold: Marksmanship III
Requires: Barracks
Notes: This is easily one of the best low-level archers
in the game. It doesnt have "extra-long" range,
but it starts with Marksmanship and it has the
best move score of any of archer unit in the game
Move scores are important as it allows you to move
1 extra space closer without losing an arrow shot
or to move further away from an advancing unit that
it cant kill in one shot before going into melee
range. 1 extra space might not seem like much, but
wait till you start fighting ballistae or some of
the special damage types of missile attacks (like
doom gaze) and you'll come to love that extra space.
Easily in the top 5 for best low-level units IMO.
Ballista: Machine Upkeep:9 Cost:100
Def:5 Res:5 Hits:14 Move:20
Walking, Shoot Javelin, Poison Immunity, Fire Weakness
Silver: Marksmanship I
Gold: Marksmanship II
Requires: Builder Hall
Notes: Ballistae are standard to all races, so in this faq
you will find that other references to this unit
will refer back to this first listing of it (except
for notes on it in relation to the race itself).
Basically, this is an "extra-long" range missile
unit. Great for defense, but given that nothing
in the Nomad army (specific units, not generic)
has a move score lower then 28, this is really going
to be more of a hindrance to someone rather then
helpful. Unless you need the strong missile damage
badly, skip these if you can.
Pioneer: Machine Upkeep:9 Cost:150
Def:5 Res:5 Hits:14 Move:28
Walking, Build Outpost, Rebuild Structure, Build Roads,
Poison Immunity, Fire Weakness
Silver: n/a
Gold: n/a
Requires: Builder Hall
Notes: If you've played the last AoW then you know what
these do. If you havent, then their abilities
list speak for themselves. Highly valuable units
but always in need of escort protection or to be
kept away from the front lines. All pioneers are
standard with the exception of what race they
create with their new outposts. So, other listings
in this faq will refer back to this first listing
of it.
LEVEL 2
Monk: Humanoid (Male) Upkeep:9 Cost:65
Att:5 Dam:5 Def:6 Res:10 Hits:12 Move:24
Walking, Strike, Magic Bolts, Magic Strike, Healing I
Death Protection, Holy Protection, Turn Undead
Silver: Marksmanship I
Gold: Marksmanship II
Requires: Monastery
Notes: Monks are standard to all Neutral races (those
with a Neutral alignment in their description)
As only one of the new races is Neutral, this
race, it wont be mentioned again in this faq.
But, basically, all of the older races that
have it will have the same stats. In
particular note, it should be pointed out that
the monk is slower then the rest of the Nomad
units. So, only use if you have need for their
unique skills and only if you feel it warrants
the decrease of the overall party movement score.
Catapult: Machine Upkeep:9 Cost:120
Def:6 Res:6 Hits:16 Move:20
Walking, Hurl Boulder, Hurl Firebomb, Fire Weakness,
Poison Immunity
Silver: Marksmanship I
Gold: Marksmanship II
Requires: Siege Workshop
Notes: Catapults are standard to all races. So any
future references to them in other listings
will refer back to this listing here. (With
the exception of particular notes about how
it works with a certain race). Hurl Boulder
in general is wholly inaccurate, but when it
hit it does decent damage. Hurl Firebomb is
an area effect attack now in SM, but it still
does only a small amount of damage (unless the
target has fire weakness, of which there are
alot of units that do) but the burning effect
is a nice side effect to have. As far as its
uses with the Nomads....it really is just too
slow (8 points slower then the slowest Nomad
specific unit) for it to fit into the fast
strike mentality. Besides, with Elephant
Riders available and the fact that most of
its long range attacks are weak in one area or
another (even with "extra-long" range)....it
just doesnt make sense to make them unless you
are desperate for a fire type attack.
Djinn: Nomad Humanoid (Male) Upkeep:9 Cost:100
Att:8 Dam:10 Def:7 Res:9 Hits:14 Move:30
Strike, Floating, Lightning Strike, Lightning Immunity,
Poison Immunity, Whirlwind (3 shots)
Silver: Vision II
Gold: Vision III
Requires: War Hall
Notes: This is a good unit to have as it moves fast,
has float for low cost movement, and has a
non-physical attack. Whirlwind is also a good
special to have, as this being a melee unit there
will be those occasions that you'll get surrounded.
This seems to be more effective then Round attack
and is just cool to watch as well. It suffers from
a poor defense score, so try not to throw it against
superior numbers (without back-up) or large numbers
of heavy damage missile units (like Ballistae)
Elephant Rider: Nomad Humanoid (Male) Upkeep:9 Cost:80
Att:8 Dam:11 Def:8 Res:6 Hits:24 Move:30
Walking, Strike, Wall Crushing, Mounted, Charge
Silver: n/a
Gold: *Under Construction*
Requires: War Hall
Notes: Basically Elephant Calvary. Wall Crushing removes the
need to make catapults usually and it has a high move
score. It is a solid combat unit that can dish out
damage and take it too. The only weakness is its Res
score so avoid units that can effect the mount itself
(Druids for example) or can halt your movement (Black
Spiders for Examples).
LEVEL 3
Chieftain: Nomad Humanoid (Male) Upkeep:12 Cost:140
Att:14 Dam:8 Def:10 Res:12 Hits:20 Move:36
Charge, Strike, Mounted, Magical Mount, Walking, Magic Strike
Bard's Skills, Leadership I, Willpower
Silver: Leadership II
Gold: Leadership III
Requires: Champions Guild
Notes: Camel Calvary :). These units are AWESOME. Also easily
one of the best units of its level. Their damage is so-so,
but they have all of their other scores really high. Magical
Mount protects from having a feral mount, while willpower
prevents them from being taken over (without outside
effects like Drain Will which is very rare). It has a
non-physical attack, but it's greatest effects are its
Bard Skills and Leadership Abilities. Bard Skills allows you
to use some of those other race's units that might of otherwise
had a problem working with you and rebelled. It also allows
you to take better advantage of those units that you might
end up dominating thru Slavers (See Below). Leadership boosts
the stats of all of the other units in your party including
itself. So even those stats above are not accurate as you'd
receive the bonuses as well. So to give you a complete idea
of its total strength, assuming that there wasnt another unit
with a higher leadership skill and without magical effects,
your basic level Chieftain would have for stats
(Att/Dam/Def/Res/Hits) 15/8/10/12/20...Silver Chieftains would
be 16/9/11/12/21.....and Gold Chieftains would be
17/10/11/14/22......and thats not figuring your first attack
against something as Charge would kick in as well with another
+2 att. Simply Amazing!!!
Slavers: Nomad Humanoid (Male) Upkeep:12 Cost:130
Att:10 Dam:6 Def:10 Res:9 Hits:14 Move:36
Walking, Strike, Mounted, Trap (3 shots)
Silver: n/a
Gold: n/a
Requires: Champions Guild
Notes: Slavers allow you to recruit new units into your army thru its
Trap skill. Trap puts a net like web around a target (this
requires a res check for the target). The net will keep the
target from moving so that you can take free shots at it if
you choose to. After 2 turns, the target makes another res
check and if it fails that then it is considered to be
dominated and it joins your party (under the normal rules for
dominated units). As far as the domination goes, it has
always been one of my favorite skills to use and abuse in the
game....as you cant be the word free in "free units" :).
However, it seems to have a smaller chance of working as
opposed to a straight dominate attempt. The netting effect
itself does have some tactical advantages, but I'd prefer to
just leave the netted units behind and take a chance on the
dominate attempt rather then kill it, unless it was absolutely
too dangerous to take the chance of letting it live. It is a
touch attack and it doesnt allow for retaliation so its fairly
safe to use. As far as combat potential however, its really
lacking. Its def is good, but its kind of underpowered for
straight out slug fests...but it does have a really high move
so it can run away from anything tougher then it. I typically
like to make a party of 1 Chieftain and 2 Slavers and just go
around and make up my own party from all of the independents
or enemy units that are about :D. One more thing to point
out....Slavers get experience from every unit it successfully
dominates, so leveling it up even with weak stats shouldnt be
much of a problem. Just watch out for units of a Life Wizard
or someone with life spell spheres...as freedom will negate
trap effects (until after the dominate) and it is an easy
spell to get even with one life sphere.
Balloon: Machine Upkeep:12 Cost:120
Def:10 Res:10 Hits:20 Move:28
Transport VII, Flying, Vision II, Fire Weakness, Poison Immunity
Silver: Vision III
Gold: n/a (It can't gain experience outside of some building)
Requires: Master's Guild
Notes: Balloons are common to certain types of Races, so any
references to Balloons elsewhere in this faq will refer back
to this section (except race specific notes). Balloons are
transport units that have a somewhat reasonable move rate
(However, compared to other flying units, its slow). But
flying allows you to bypass mountains and oceans, which is
a good thing. They also make excellent observation posts
(just hover over a mountain and you'll be safe from most
aggressors) and fair to decent scouts. They have no combat
abilities, so avoid battles with them if you can. They can
take up to 7 units with them. Of course, you are taking up
a party slot with the balloon so keep that in mind in your
tactical deployment of units. Having said all of that, it
should be said that for Nomads, it will negate some of the
speed of cavalry units (but it in and of itself isnt totally
slower compared to other units) but for siege machines or as
I like to call them, "Medic Corps" (A group of monks), they
help out alot to keep them going at the same pace as the
other Nomads. It should also be said that Nomads can fix
that empty extra party slot for combat purposes by just
taking a Slaver or 2 with them and recruiting when you get
wherever you wanted to go. So Nomads can use Balloons
quite effectively.
Pit Guards: Nomad Humanoid (Male) Upkeep:12 Cost:120
Att:14 Dam:10 Def:10 Res:10 Hits:20 Move:30
Walking, Strike, Willpower, Strangle, Cause Fear
Silver: n/a
Gold: n/a
Requires: Slave Pit
Notes: Pit Guards are strong ground pounder types. They have an
above average att score but otherwise are really nicely
balanced. They can handle themselves in most occasions,
but try to avoid physical protected or immune units.
Strangle does damage and tries to paralyze a unit like
web or entangle or others like that. If you use
strangle to hold units for seduction or dominate
attempts, you'll find that it wont be effective for those
(as you may just end up killing the unit before the attempt).
But if you use it just to keep certain units from moving so
that you can move to other units and control the flow of
battle, then you cant beat strangle. Willpower protects
its from changing its allegiance from you to your enemies.
Cause Fear can allow you to set up for the "Free Strike"
rule with other units surrounding it, but now in SM, units
dont run till it's their turn. Just make sure to leave a
route for your enemy to run towards when its their turn.
LEVEL 4
Roc: Nomad Creature (See Below) Upkeep:15 Cost:300
Att:16 Dam:10 Def:11 Res:12 Hits:26 Move:40
Flying, Magic Strike, Vision II, Strike, Willpower, Grasp (3 shots)
Silver: Vision III
Gold: Vision IV
Requires: Champions Guild, Masters Guild, Sanctuary
Notes: I wasnt personally impressed with this unit....but that
doesnt mean that it isnt a good unit. It moves fast and
has a good attribute scores...not really excelling in
any one thing. It can handle just about anything that
attacks it and have above average odds of coming out on
top. It has willpower, but since all of those require
touch attempts, this doesnt get used too much without
some sort of enemy magic like double gravity or flight.
The one dangerous exception is the Succubus (A Lvl 3
Dark Elf unit that is discussed later in this faq). So
in that unique case its very helpful to have that skill.
Grasp is an attack that doesnt allow for retaliation.
Basically, your unit picks up a target and throws its
8 to 10 hexes away doing damage upon landing. As far
this skill is concerned, here is my crux. For a lvl 4
unit, this attack doesnt seem to do the type of damage
I'd expect. Also, I find it much more effective to
surround a target and do something like Cause Fear or
just use up its move points thru counterattacks. I
just dont see the practicality in tossing it further
away and making it harder for my other units to get to
it and giving it a chance to heal/shoot missiles/etc.
However, some people I've talked to like it cause it
looks funny having a big bird tossing some giant or
pioneer or knight all over the place.................
..........and well....I guess they would have a point
as it really is funny :P. One other thing, even
though there is a rider on it in the unit animation,
this is considered a creature (as its without the
mounted skill). This is for certain power issues.
-----------------(d. thru f.) The Shadow Demons
d.) Introduction
The way the game describes Shadow Demons is as follows:
"A mass of creatures that appeared upon the Blessed Continent
shortly after Merlin claimed the Wizard's Throne and rescued
Queen Julia of the elves from the rebellious wizards who sought
to unleash a different evil upon the world. As Merlin worked
to stabilize the lands, the Shadow Demons began appearing in the
nightmares of the innocent. Rumors spread of shadowy creatures
able to steal a man's soul and convert it into a squirming fetid
insect linked to a common hive mind. Wizards have attempted to
make deals with the Shadow Demons to use them for their own gain,
but all cases have ended in disaster. Even Merlin, who sought
to defeat the Shadow Demons, was instead trapped in the realm of
shadows. Now they spread across the land unchecked, hungrily
consuming the fear of those that inhabit the land."
Shadow Demons are melee monsters, with alot of tough striking
and good damage absorbing units. Most of their units are slow in
comparison to other races and all of their specific units have
either lightning weakness or holy weakness (meaning that races
normally utilizing those attacks have a better chance against
them). Nearly all of their units have magic strike, so they can
strike down just about anything. Alot of them also have death
based attacks, so you have to be careful with units that can
defend against that as well (Ex. Undead). But even in those
cases, they can usually win with sheer muscle if need be. All
Shadow Demons also have night vision and most have cave crawling.
So, they are very well suited to underground campaigns and battles
as well and stage themselves there quite effectively. Being that
they are also only one of two races that gain any benefit from
shadow land (the other being Syrons) and one of only three that can
fight in the shadow realm without fear of shadow sickness (the others
being the aforementioned Syrons and the Draconians), it goes without
saying that they can also stage themselves well for combat in the
shadow realm as well.
e.) City Info
As stated above, Shadow Demons can use shadow land to grow crops and
gain a terrain bonus from it. Terrain bonuses give city morale bonuses
to that city, which can help you if you're a non-evil race who wants
to keep a Shadow City around. Crops help out in the beginning alot
by providing gold to your economic base....as gold tends to be scarce
at the start, but as you develop a stronger economic base, starts to
mean less and less. Shadow Demon populations give a boost to
production in the city you're in. This can help to shave a few turns
off at the start when you're trying to get those first few wizard
towers going or near the end when you're pumping out units for the front
line. During the mid game, however, when you're usually skirmishing the
enemy rather then sending huge armies down upon them, this factor means
a little less. As stated above, their cities make great outposts to
help define your empire's borders in the shadow realm. A shadow city
can produce a building called a "Hall Of Darkness". Basically, this
gives your city an "Unholy Darkness" spell for sieges there. Unholy
Darkness grants all evil units a +2 Att and +1 Dam, while giving all
good units a -1 def and -1 res. This isnt that great if you find
yourself up against a non-good race (and if you're fighting an evil
opponent it's no help at all) but will be invaluable if your
fighting includes one of the good wizards.
f.) Unit Tree and Details
The Shadow Demon unit tree is as follows:
Lvl 0 - Larva
Lvl 1 - Ballista -- Pioneer -- Spawn -- Bombard
Lvl 2 - Black Priest -- Catapult -- Stag Mount -- Skimmer
Lvl 3 - Harvester -- Brain -- Flame Cannon -- Spirit
Lvl 4 - Lord
Shadow Demons are traditionally a slow race to move around, so using
siege machines shouldnt be too much of a problem for them. On the
other hand, it makes it a bit harder to get in your first strike
in a battle, but fortunately they usually possess strong defenses.
Watch out for units that have the attack types that your units
will be weak against.
Here are the Shadow Demon units in more detail:
LEVEL 0:
Larva: Shadow Demon Creature Upkeep:6 Cost:20
Att:5 Dam:5 Def:5 Res:6 Hits:10 Move:28
Shadow Walker, Walking, Metamorphosis, Strike,
Lightning Weakness, Night Vision, Death Protection,
Poison Strike, Venomous Spit, Poison Immunity, Cave Crawling
Silver: Death Immunity, Marksmanship I
Gold: Physical Transformation (See Below)
Requires: Nothing
Notes: These are pretty decent missile units that can also deal
with melee duty reasonably well. They are balanced for
a level 0 unit. They also make good underground scouts.
Larva can also transform into other Shadow Demon units
thru their metamorphosis ability at gold level. When they
reach that point, they will change into a random unit type
and return back to a non medal experience rank. Because it
is so random, I'd not bother going thru the effort to
actively trying to get one to change when you could just
produce them with less effort. Also, these units do poison
damage and are geared for underground duties. Well, most of
the underground races have some form of poison defense, so
dont expect a grand showing against them. Finally, another
unit (the Harvester, see below) can produce these for free
thru its devour ability followed by "Spawn Larva" command.
When you're paying nothing for them, then they make great
physical shields and screeners, but even with the cheap
cost, its not worth producing them outside of the Harvester.
LEVEL 1:
Ballista: (See Nomad Description)
Notes: Only point to be made is that most other Shadow Demon units
are slow anyways and that they lack a pure physical damage
missile unit. So, these may be a good buy for them.
Pioneer: (See Nomad Description)
Notes: Only thing to say thats different is that their unit
animation isnt the normal Pioneer one, but a unique (and
kind of cool looking IMO) one.
Spawn: Shadow Demon Humanoid (Male) Upkeep:6 Cost:30
Att:6 Dam:5 Def:8 Res:8 Hits:12 Move:28
Walking, Strike, Shadow Walker, Lightning Weakness, Night Vision
Death Protection, Magic Strike
Silver: Death Immunity
Gold: n/a
Requires: Barracks
Notes: These are as a whole above average grunt units. Magic
strike adds alot of value to them. Otherwise, use them
as you would any other melee grunt.
Bombard: Shadow Demon Creature Upkeep:6 Cost:50
Def:8 Res:8 Hits:12 Move:28
Walking, Shadow Walker, Bombard, Lightning Weakness, Night Vision
Death Immunity
Silver: Marksmanship I
Gold: Marksmanship II
Requires: Barracks
Notes: Bombard (the command) is an area effect missile projectile
that does death and physical damage. Unlike Lightning
Catchers (See Syrons below), Bombards (the unit) are not
completely immune to their own attacks due to that physical
component. So it becomes VERY important to screen them and
protect them actively. Also, again due to the two types of
damage, only one other unit in the Shadow Demon unit tree
(The Spirit, see below) has any sort of defense to both types
so you have to be very careful on where you're aiming the
attack.
LEVEL 2:
Catapult: (See Nomad Description)
Notes: Shadow Demons are slow in general. So, taking a siege unit
or two wont hurt them. Some of the higher level units have
some way or another to bypass walls, so as a wall crusher,
Catapults arent needed as much. As a combat unit, there
is only one other unit in the Shadow Demon's unit tree that
gives fire damage (the Flame Cannon, see below). Given the
"issues" with the Flame Cannon, it may or may not be in
your best interest to use Catapults over Flame Cannons.
This will be discussed in more depth in the Flame Cannon
description later.
Skimmer: Shadow Demon Creature Upkeep:9 Cost:120
Att:10 Dam:7 Def:8 Res:9 Hits:14 Move:40
Strike, Shadow Walker, Flying, Lightning Weakness, Night Vision,
Death Protection, Vision II, Magic Strike
Silver: Death Immunity, Vision III
Gold: *Under Construction*
Requires: War Hall
Notes: These make for very nice skirmisher units. They are able
to handle themselves reasonably well in straight out one
on one melees with many other flyers of comparable level.
They also make great scouts with vision and night vision.
Use these units to scout out any of those underground
rivers and waterways or to capture unguarded neutral sites.
Try to stay away from multiple missile units, if possible.
Stag Mount: Shadow Demon Humanoid (Male) Upkeep:9 Cost:70
Att:9 Dam:8 Def:8 Res:8 Hits:16 Move:36
Walking, Strike, Shadow Walker, Charge, Mounted, Lightning Weakness,
Night Vision, Death Protection, Magic Strike
Silver: Death Immunity
Gold: n/a
Requires: War Hall
Notes: These, otherwise, standard cavalry units are about average
in every other respect to any other cavalry type with the
exception of the fact that it has magic strike. This makes
for a unit with longer lifespan of service in your armies
and practical against some of the physical defenses.
Skimmers and Stag Mounts are pretty much comparable in
abilities and can be inter-mixed to form effective
parties. Of course, they are just as well in pure teams
as well.
Black Priest: Humanoid (Male) Upkeep:9 Cost:65
Att:5 Dam:5 Def:6 Res:10 Hits:12 Move:24
Walking, Strike, Black Bolts, Death Strike, Healing I,
Death Protection, Turn Undead
Silver: Death Immunity, Marksmanship I
Gold: Marksmanship II, Unholy Champion
Requires: Monastery
Notes: Black Priests are standard to all of the evil races. So
all are the same for stats on each of them. Black Priests
provide a much needed healing support for many of the evil
armies (as very few units for evil races are capable of
healing themselves). They are also capable of turning the
undead, should you find yourself fighting them. As melee
units, they are just too weak (but they do have a nice res
score), but as missile units they are effective. Their
projectile attacks are death based damage so they are
capable of bestowing cursed status on units. As far as the
Shadow Demons goes, they move slightly slower then the bulk
of their army, but as speed isnt a factor in a Shadow Demon
group, this shouldnt matter. They dont have shadow walker,
so they arent useful in the shadow realm like the rest of
the group and should be held off on till you intend to
make a move on the surface world.
LEVEL 3
Harvester: Shadow Demon Creature Upkeep:12 Cost:180
Att:12 Dam:10 Def:10 Res:10 Hits:26 Move:28
Strike, Night Vision, Walking, Devour, Shadow Walker,
Lightning Weakness, Death Protection, Magic Strike, Cave Crawling
Silver: Death Immunity
Gold: n/a
Requires: Champions Guild
Notes: Harvesters are armies unto themselves. The devour skill
has an excellent chance of killing an unit instantly. But
it doesnt stop there, on the next turn after a successful
devour, it becomes capable of producing a Larva unit (free)
. Not that Larvas are going to put the fear into your
opponent's eyes, but having a bunch of them swarming around
can provide you with alot of screening units or arrow shields
while you go around eating stuff and replacing your losses.
In and of themselves, Harvesters are also excellent combat
units and can also cave crawl so they can be used for
underground domination campaigns against any of the races
there. Much like the rest of the Shadow Demon army, they
are slow, so fast missile units will be a problem. But, as
Larvas are missile units as well, you can provide your own
missile units to take out those types. A very well balanced
and deadly unit, indeed.
Brain: Shadow Demon Creature Upkeep:12 Cost:200
Att:10 Dam:6 Def:10 Res:18 Hits:20 Move:28
Strike, Shadow Walker, Floating, Night Vision, Death Protection,
Magic Strike, Magic Relay, Leadership II, Steal Enchantment
Silver: n/a
Gold: *Under Construction*
Requires: Champions Guild
Notes: While they have decent physical defense and excellent res
scores, these units dont make good melee units. They have
magic strike and steal enchantment is good against opponent
wizards, but it is really too valuable to lose it in such a
manner. No, its value comes from being a support unit. It
has leadership II, which gives a big boost to your armies.
But the big call to fame is magic relay. With this, it can
extend a magic aura for you in 5 hexes in all directions
around the unit. This can be beyond huge for deep strikes
into enemy lands and can also be used to provide protection
to your towns till they can get their wizard towers up.
Actively protect these at all cost.
Flame Cannon: Machine Upkeep:12 Cost:130
Def:7 Res:7 Hits:18 Move:20
Walking, Poison Immunity, Flame Throwing, Fire Immunity
Silver: Marksmanship I
Gold: Marksmanship II
Requires: Masters Guild
Notes: A few other races have Flame Cannons outside of the Shadow
Demons. So any other references to Flame Cannons will
refer back to this description. One interesting point to
mention is that even though they are machines, they dont
share the usual fire weakness like all other machines.
This can be a real surprise for the opponent player who
might not be paying attention. Flame Cannons project a
cone of fire and are capable of hitting many units at once.
They can do decent damage and can bestow the burning status
on units. A very serious problem with them is that they are
SUPER slow. In fact, on the battlefield, they can only move
one hex before they are already in medium movement distance
(and thus unable to use their flame throwing skill). Now,
on the other hand, Catapults can do hurl firebomb and hit
up to 7 targets (as highly unlikely as that is) and do a
minor amount of damage and have a better chance to hit or
use this and hit around 13 or 15 targets maximum (again
unlikely) and do decent damage but be hardly able to move
and also have a very good chance of hitting your own units
cause of the wide angle of fire. So the choice is up to you.
As far as the Shadow Demons go, they dont really need either
unless you have to have a fire type of damage (as their dam
scores are typically hi for their specific units).
Personally, I like Frost Cannons better (see Syrons below)
as I feel that freezing a target is more useful then just
doing an extra hit of damage per turn on fire.
Spirit: Shadow Demon Creature Upkeep:12 Cost:120
Att:12 Dam:8 Def:10 Res:10 Hits:14 Move:36
Walking, Strike, Shadow Walker, Night Vision, Death Protection,
Magic Strike, Physical Protection, Floating, Concealment,
Holy Weakness, Pass Wall, Energy Drain, Lightning Immunity
Silver: Death Immunity
Gold: n/a
Requires: Hall Of Darkness
Notes: Here is another killer of a unit in the Shadow Demon's
arsenal. It's stats are average, but it has a great move
and it has physical protection. Physical protection reduces
any physical damage by 50%. This practically gives it alot
more staying power then it stats lead one on to. It can hide
in dense vegetation thru concealment and pop out to be a very
nasty surprise. Pass Wall will allow it to start tearing up
siege defenders as opposed to wasting time tearing down walls
or gates. Lightning Immunity gives it a very important role
against the Shadow Demon's arch nemesis, the Syrons (see below)
, though it now has to watch out for holy attacks (and makes it
weaker to a race like the Archons). Energy drain makes it
harder for units to make an effective counter attack against
you, as it lowers stats for the battle....so try hard to strike
first with this unit. To top it off, it gets death immunity at
silver (like just about all the other Shadow Demon units) so it
can even fend off units like the Undead effectively (using its
death and physical defenses). Concentrate on Harvesters at the
beginning of level 3 production, but move to Spirits in the mid
game and stick with them all the way thru the end game for your
premier level 3 units.
LEVEL 4
Lord: Shadow Demon Humanoid (Male) Upkeep:15 Cost:300
Att:15 Dam:13 Def:15 Res:13 Hits:30 Move:28
Walking, Strike, Shadow Walker, Shadow Shift, Night Vision,
Death Immunity, Magic Strike, Death Strike, Wall Crushing, Cause Fear
Willpower, Holy Weakness
Silver: Lightning Protection
Gold: Lightning Immunity, Unholy Champion
Requires: Masters Guild, Champions Guild, Sanctuary
Notes: Shadow Demon combat units keep getting better and better as you
go up the unit tree....and truly the Lord is an absolute terror
to be facing on the battlefield. It's almost disgustingly
powerful with its high stats (though res is kind of average)
and Physical/Magic/Death attack. It can crush walls and with a
high dam score, its a very good chance that you'll tear down a
wall on the first try. Cause Fear allows you to institute the
free strike rule for other units, but this almost seems like a
waste as the Lord can kill alot of things on the first try.
Willpower prevents your terror from becoming someone else's
terror against you. It doesnt start getting lightning defenses
till medal levels, but once it does it will do a number on many
Syron units. But the really evil thing about these units is the
shadow shift skill. Once you have a couple of Lords in a party,
all you have to do is move around the shadow realm and keep
poking holes thru to the surface world, crush everything you
see and can get your talons on, and pop back before an effective
counterattack can be mounted against you. It's a beautiful
thing indeed! :) The only weaknesses are that its slow on the
move (much like the rest of the Shadow Demons) and that it has
holy weakness, so watch out for Archons...but if you can get a
gold level Lord going, you'll find that unholy champion will
swing things back to you favor again. :D Have lots of fun with
this unit!
-----------------(g. thru i.) The Syrons
g.) Introduction
The way the game describes Syrons is as follows:
"The Syrons are the original inhabitants of the shadow realm, from
when that world was clean and filled with light. They explored the
cosmos, employing the powers of magic to perfect their world. Then
the Shadow Demons came. For thousands of years, the Syrons battled
the Shadow Demons, but over time their exhausted world was consumed
in darkness. For generations, the Syrons were enslaved, used as
food and forced to attend to their captors needs as the demons
slumbered and waited for a new world to consume. Every time they
attempted to break free, they were met with unfathomable horror and
torture. As a result, the Syrons live in a fog of hopelessness,
expecting nothing but a life of misery. Their once strong spirits
bear the weight of a thousand generations of doomed children. They
may possess the power to defeat the Shadow Demons, but lacking the
ability to dispel their dismal past, the Syrons will remain trapped
food to grow a new batch of hungry monsters eager to enslave another
world."
The Syrons seemed to be geared towards being an "anti-race"....by that
I mean that they are geared towards combat against Shadow Demon units
(or others who share their weaknesses). This is not to say that they
cant deal with other race's units, but really they shine against the
Shadow Demons. It's kind of like how the Archons are good units, but
have alot of them geared towards fighting Undead units. Same concept.
I've never been one for playing a race that is limited in effectiveness
on purpose, but that's not to say that they're not fun to play with.
You should be ok with fighting against any of the evil units, but if
you're going against one of the good or neutral races primarily, you're
in for quite a battle. There are some unique tactical advantages to
using them and they have a wide range of attack types. There are also
some unusual facts about their units that you're going to have to get
used to as well.
h.) City Info
Syron cities are one of two city types that can grow crops on Shadow
Lands and also gain a terrain bonus from it. (The other being the
Shadow Demons). Terrain bonus will help you if you're a non-good
race in possession of one and the crops can help you early on with
cash flow if you end up in the shadow realm early or at the very
start. Of course, over time, this advantage loses importance.
Syron populations produce mana and that can also give you a good
early on advantage that will lose importance over the course of
the game (but this will stay important longer then the other
factors). Of course given all that was said, its important to
note that they also happen to make preferred outposts to post
in the shadow realm to protect your empire's boundaries there,
as given that they gain those advantages plus the fact that all
Syrons can shadow walk can make for quite an effective barrier
against your enemies. Syrons can also build the "Hall Of
Stars", which grants a permanent "Holy Light" spell over your
city for the terms of sieges. Holy Light gives all good aligned
units +2 att and +1 dam while giving all evil units -1 def and
-1 res. This is great if you're attacked by an evil race, but
again, against a neutral or good or pure good opponent it wont
be as much help as normally (and against good or pure good it
wont help you at all as everyone those alignments would be
affected by it). One final point, Syrons seem to gain a great
advantage thru building war shrines as alot of the Syron's units
start out weak, but gain a ton of new and powerful abilities as
they gain medal levels. See the unit tree and details for more
info.
i.) Unit Tree and Details
The unit tree for Syrons is as follows:
Lvl 0 - Prospector
Lvl 1 - Lightning Catcher -- Spellbinder -- Ballista -- Pioneer
Lvl 2 - Rider -- Shadow Runner -- High Priest -- Catapult
Lvl 3 - Giant Warrior -- Changeling -- Frost Cannon -- Astral Sprite
Lvl 4 - Forceship
A very nice thing to note is that Syrons possess all attack types with
the exception of poison attacks. So, protections and immunities are
usually not an issue! Interestingly, while many units start out weak
from the Syrons, if you're patient with them, they start to gain all
sorts of special abilities as they gain medal ranks.
The details of the Syron's units are below:
LEVEL 0
Prospector: Syron Humanoid (Male) Upkeep:6 Cost:30
Att:4 Dam:4 Def:6 Res:8 Hits:7 Move:28
Walking, Strike, Shadow Walker, Vision I, Concealment, True Seeing
Silver: Vision II
Gold: Vision III
Requires: Nothing
Notes: These make great scouts or sentries on the shadow or surface
worlds. Concealment allows them to be invisible in dense
vegetation. True seeing allows you to see other races'
Concealed units. This is actually an effective combo. If
you try to use them in combat however....well lets just say
you dont want to. They have good def and res scores...but
their att and dam scores arent that good and they have a
piddly 7 hits so it wont take much to kill them. Given that
they are also expensive for a level 0 unit, they dont make
good cannon fodder either. So try to stick to using them for
non combat duties.
LEVEL 1
Lightning Catcher: Syron Humanoid (Male) Upkeep:6 Cost:55
Att:4 Dam:3 Def:6 Res:8 Hits:8 Move:24
Strike, Shadow Walker, Walking, Lightning Strike, Hurl Lightning,
Lightning Immunity
Silver: Marksmanship I
Gold: Marksmanship II
Requires: Barracks
Notes: Yeah they have crappy att and dam scores, but just be
grateful they have them at all! Lightning Catchers are the
missile unit of the race. They also happen to be able to
enter into melee (not that you'd ever want to). This can
be a good thing if enemy melee units should close in on you
(and it had better be as with a move of 24, you're not running
away from anything :P ). Lightning also carries the added side
effect of stunning a target for one turn should it take effect.
This can allow you to hold targets for your own melee units to
come in and clean up for you. But you have to remember that
these are missile units and not try to put them in harm's way
as they have some of the worst hit scores you'll ever see for
a Level 1 unit. They dont shoot normal arrows or projectiles
like other races' missile units, but rather shoot an area
effect projectile that affects the target hex and all hexes
surrounding it. This projectile also does lightning damage
and therefore carries the chance of stunning units. For the
unit as a whole there are plenty of cases where this can be a
good thing, but being that its only an area effect thing, you
have to be real careful where you aim it or you may hit your
own units and stun them as well. So its useful in only certain
situations and preferably if they can get the first shot in
before the enemies melee units reach your party's front line
(which is very hard to do in the shadow realm as everyone can
move farther there). It's important to note that Lightning
Catchers are immune to stunning from and damage from lightning,
which includes their own projectiles, so dont hesitate to put
your own catchers in the area effect if someone is on top of
you. All in all they make a better showing on the surface or
underground then in the shadow realm and are even better
suited for defense rather then offense.
Spellbinder: Syron Humanoid (Female) Upkeep:6 Cost:50
Att:7 Dam:6 Def:6 Res:9 Hits:12 Move:24
Walking, Strike, Shadow Walker, True Seeing, Steal Enchantment
Silver: Lightning Protection, Lightning Strike
Gold: *Under Construction*
Requires: Barracks
Notes: These are a very specific unit suited towards fighting an
opposing wizard's army (and only then if he/she/it has been
majorly enchanting their units) or a wizard's heroes (again
if its enchanted which is more likely). Steal Enchantment
has a high success rate so once you get into range you are
pretty much set...so long as you get the first shot in at
least. Once you steal an enchantment, it becomes an
enchantment for your Spellbinder free of charge (however,
you still have to pay for upkeep for the enchantment after
the battle for each turn its active). True seeing allows
you to see concealed units, but these dont make good scouts
when you have prospectors who have been more geared towards
that duty. Despite the abilities, unless you're fighting
something enchanted, they are very poor melee units with a
very low move score and a somewhat low hits score (but they
do have a nice res score). If your stuck in the low range of
units, stick with Lightning Catchers and try to push for
stronger melee units further up on the tree. Of course, if
you are forced to stick with this unit, try to level them
up as fast as you can, as they get Lightning Strike and
stronger defenses as they go up.
Ballista: (See Nomad's Listing For Stats)
Notes: Outside of what is listed in the Nomad's listing of Ballista,
The only Syron specific info that can be given is that this
will be one of your few missile units that wont be an area
effect attack and that they are not much slower then your
earlier units and even some of the later units. So these will
be more important to a Syron army then to others. It's also
important to note that this is of course physical damage which
very useful to them as their race specific missile units shoot
Lightning and some units are lightning resistant or immune
(Ex.: Djinn, Northern Glows, some other Syron units, etc.)
Pioneer: (See Nomad's Listing For Stats)
Notes: (See Nomad's Listing For Info)
LEVEL 2
Catapult: (See Nomad's Listing For Stats)
Notes: Substitute Giant Warrior for Elephant Rider in the Nomad's
notes and you'll have the same thing for the Syrons. One
other point of note is that, it might be a bit more important
to have this unit for them for general combat, for many of the
stated reasons above for Ballistae for Syrons. This gives them
a fire damage unit and given that there are holes in the Syron
general unit strategy, can help them in some battles.
Rider: Syron Humanoid (Male) Upkeep:9 Cost:80
Att:9 Dam:8 Def:8 Res:6 Hits:16 Move:36
Walking, Strike, Shadow Walker, Mounted, Charge
Silver: Lightning Protection
Gold: Lightning Immunity, Magical Mount
Requires:War Hall
Notes: This is a very average cavalry unit. However, being a shadow
walker does give them certain advantages in the shadow realm.
Dont expect to be wowed by them, but they are geared towards
combat in the shadow realm against units suffering shadow
sickness and should primarily be used as such (or as general
scouts as they have a very good move score). They gain
stronger defenses as they level up.
Shadow Runner: Syron Humanoid (Male) Upkeep:9 Cost:120
Att:9 Dam:6 Def:8 Res:6 Hits:14 Move:28
Walking, Strike, Shadow Walker, Shadow Shift, Death Strike,
Death Protection, Lightning Protection, Double Strike
Silver: Vision I, Death Immunity, Lightning Immunity
Gold: Vision II *Under Construction*
Requires: War Hall
Notes: These are good first attack and harassment units. Their
stats are slightly underpowered in general, but they
make up for it in abilities. Death attacks can cause
curse which prevents healing (should they escape from
you or beat you) and reduce some abilities in your enemies.
They strike twice each attack turn which is always a good
thing and boast a couple of protections as well. But to
get the most out of them, you have to learn to effectively
abuse the shadow shift skill. Shadow shift allows a unit to
go back and forth from the surface world to the shadow world
at a whim. You can use this to do quick probes of an area or
to pop in to enemy territory and assassinate stragglers units
on the way to the front line. It wont do good against units
with strong def scores, but against most else it can be a very
nasty surprise for your opponent. Also, being that it does
death damage, it can be quite effective against good aligned
units which traditionally lack any form of death defense.
So if you find yourself up against those type of opponents,
make sure to have liberal use of these units to stop them.
At higher levels, they start to grow even tougher.
High Priest: Humanoid (Male) Upkeep:9 Cost:65
Att:5 Dam:5 Def:6 Res:10 Hits:12 Move:24
Walking, Holy Strike, Holy Protection, Strike, Holy Bolts, Healing I
Turn Undead
Silver: Marksmanship I
Gold: Marksmanship II, Holy Champion
Requires: Monastery
Notes: All good aligned races can produce High Priests. So this
description of them can apply to the other races High Priests
as well (though they wouldnt be in this faq anyways).
Basically, what can be said for High Priests can also be said
for Monks (See Nomads) and Black Priests (See Shadow Demons)
with the exception that they do holy damage and fire holy bolts.
As far as how they fit into Syron battle plans, they provide a
different type of projectile type for them which is always
helpful for them with their unusual missile attack types. For
that reason alone, it makes them useful. As far as melee is
concerned, however, dont bother as Astral Sprites also have
holy strike (see below) and better stats then High Priests. In
many cases, they move at the same speed as some of the Syron
units and therefore wouldnt hinder the troop movements of
your parties while providing their healing skills. So try to
include some in your mid game (or even late game sometimes)
strategies if you feel it warrants it. Of course, if you're
going up against the undead then it goes without saying
about their usefulness then as well. :)
LEVEL 3
Giant Warrior: Syron Humanoid (Male) Upkeep:12 Cost:180
Att:14 Dam:10 Def:11 Res:11 Hits:25 Move:28
Walking, Strike, Shadow Walker, Wall Crushing, Lightning Strike,
Lightning Immunity
Silver: Cold Protection, Fire Protection, Death Protection,
Poison Protection
Gold: Cold Immunity, Fire Immunity, Death Immunity, Poison Immunity
Requires: Champions Guild
Notes: Now here is a REAL combat unit.....up until this point, its
hard to find a solid attack unit. Lots of times, you have to
rely on guile and hit and run tactics with the Syron's lower
units in order to make up for their sometimes lacking stats.
Not so with this unit! This unit can wade into battle and just
beat the snot out of just about anything. An interesting
strategy you might like to try is that these units possess
Lightning Immunity (in addition to their own lightning strike)
and that means that those area effect lightning attacks from
your Lightning Catchers (See Above) and/or your Forceships
(See Below) will not matter if you should have to put them
in your target area. So try this.....Go in with a couple
of Lightning Catchers (say 2) and a Forceship...then fill
the rest of your party slots with Giant Warriors. Have the
Giants charge the front line of your opponent and force them
to stay tangled up with them instead of going for your front
line and your Catchers. Meanwhile start pelting stragglers
on your first turn of combat and try to stun them while your
Giants deal with the main bulk and stunning stuff themselves.
you'll find that you'll be able to handle greater numbers
this way and keep your opponent off balance and unable to
mount an counter offensive on you. Another strategy is to
have teams of Changelings (See Below) and Giants. Have the
Giants soften up targets and stun them and then gang up on
those targets with Changelings till they kill one, then
convert that changeling that scores the kill and follow up with
the rest be repeating the process. This is a great way of
getting your Changelings alot stronger thru higher level units
that they wouldnt normally be able to take on their own. If
you're lucky enough to get one to gold level, then you'll find
that alot of things wont be able to hurt it at all. :D All
in all, you cant go wrong with using Giant Warriors in your
overall combat strategies.
Changeling: Syron Humanoid (Male, At least I think its male :O )
*Please note that race, unit type
*(Humanoid/Creature/Machine) and even sexual
*types can be and may very well change over the
*course of the lifespan of this unit
Upkeep:12 Cost:150 Att:10 Dam:6 Def:12 Res:10 Hits:15 Move:24
Walking, Strike, Shadow Walker, Vision II, True Seeing, Changeling
Silver: Vision III *Note: Only applies to initial starting form
Gold: *Under Construction*
Requires: Champions Guild
Notes: General combat wise, they are not super great...with a crappy
dam score, low hits, and low move scores...they arent going
to score you major victories on their own.....at least in
their initial forms that is :P. Changeling's call to fame is
in taking on the forms of the last unit that it kills.
Complete with abilities, stats, movement types. So if you
were to kill a really strong monster (say a Orc Warlord for
example) with one, on your next term all you'd have to do is
select "Changeling(Warlord)" and *poof*, you're a Warlord all
of the sudden. This can therefore change this lackluster unit
into a real killer...but make sure not to change it into
something weaker (to follow the example some more, lets say
that now as this Orc Warlord, you kill an Impaler and by some
lapse in judgment you think that Impalers are better cause
they have a cooler name. :P :P :P :P so you click
"Changeling(Impaler)", well then *poof* now you're an Impaler
and knowing your luck then and/or karma you get killed by
some no name Halfling Peasant....well guess what? You're dead!
And you'll never make that mistake again, now will you? :P :P )
You can only change into the form of the last unit you've
killed and whatever option there was in the Changeling command
before is lost forever...however you'll always maintain the
form that you're in forever until you tell it otherwise, so
there is no risk in killing a bunch of little units with your
new form...for you'll always be that till you chose otherwise
(again with the example, till you kill that Orc Glutton with
your Warlord :).....assuming that you dont like your Warlord
better anyways, which is up for debate with lots of players
:D ). The only thing that will never change is the units
alignment...it will always stay good (Again with the example,
you may have a Orc Warlord, but it will be a GOOD Orc Warlord
:P ). This is good, as you may have the Hall of Stars going
at that point and wouldnt want it adversely affected by your
own city.
*VERY IMPORTANT INFO ON A GAME BUG*
There is a bug I've noticed with Changelings. While you always
keep your alignment, no matter what your form, you will not
always keep your race...if you change into something, you will
become that race. I once turned a changeling into a Goblin
Butcher.....It kept the alignment, but became a goblin, as
expected right? Well, being that I was starting as Syrons,
I naturally had bad relations with the Goblin race, for
obvious reasons. Well, all of the sudden my new Changeling
Goblin Butcher takes on the morale of the goblins as well and
gets a terrible morale rating and rebels against me the next
turn! It's still a good aligned unit and was a Syron at one
time, but now it gets treated as an evil unit and therefore
HATES me! I know that this was probably not the intentions
of the developers, but if you're unable to turn to anything
without risk of it turning against you due to race, then it
SEVERELY makes this unit mostly useless as you're very likely
to be fighting evil units due to the focus of this race. I
hope the right person reads this and it gets back to the
developers as the Syrons cant afford an useless unit given
the lack of a solid combat potential (no matter how strong
Giants are, if they run into a lightning protected or immune
unit, they become a little less capable of handling problems,
which makes a strong unit not needing lightning very important!)
Frost Cannon: Machine Upkeep:12 Cost:130
Def:7 Res:7 Hits:18 Move:20
Walking, Poison Immunity, Fire Weakness, Frost Blowing, Cold Immunity
Silver: Marksmanship I
Gold: Marksmanship II
Requires: Masters Guild
Note: Some of the other races will have this unit as well. So any
other occurrences of this unit in this faq will refer back to
listing. (With the exception of Race specific notes)
Frost Cannons are basically short range "projectile" units
and that term is used loosely. Think of it like a ground
based and slow and not as maneuverable dragon......without the
melee ability. For a level 3 unit, they are very weak and
open to melee units so actively protect these if you
use them. One strategy that might be effective is to put
two guards one step in front and one step to the left and
right of the front of this unit in the direction that you
intend to fire. That way you can screen this unit from
melees and not get hit by the cone shaped attack area. In
particular this is also good for another reason specific to
Frost Cannons. Frost Cannons do cold damage and cold damage
can sometimes cause the "freeze" condition. Frozen units
are unable to move and are unable to retaliate against the
first attack that it takes (after that, the unit is no
longer frozen). So after freezing units, you can move in
with your screening units and mop up the survivors. As far
as the Syrons are concerned, it is the only unit they have
that has cold damage available to them and is a (somewhat)
missile unit as well. So these do have some significant
importance to the Syron general attack strategy. However,
as far as choosing between level 3 units to start building
first, this should usually be last on that list unless you
have a real need for a cold based attack (maybe you're
fighting Tigrians or Draconians with cold weakness)....
and even then you should probably go with sheer attack
power usually. But I will say that I prefer these to the
Flame Cannon units (see above).
Astral Sprite: Syron Creature Upkeep:12 Cost:120
Att:12 Dam:7 Def:12 Res:16 Hits:15 Move:36
Strike, Shadow Walker, Floating, Holy Strike, Resurgence
Silver: Lightning Protection
Gold: *Under Construction*
Requires: Hall Of Stars
Notes: With a high move score, these make good scouts to push back
the black unexplored darkness area. As far as combat goes,
they do have good stats in most areas, but they really get
nerfed in the dam stat, meaning that they'll have a hard
time scoring a kill because they'll be unable to get
significant damage going on their attacks. At least they
have a higher dam score then the initial Changeling form
however. :P But, with a low hits score as well (just like
the initial Changeling form), not being able to score a KO
blow fast enough makes it a liability. Resurgence is a
saving grace however. If you use them as fast first strike
units and throw them at the enemy with a reckless abandon
while you keep some missile units back behind them or some
other melee units to clean up, then it wont matter how many
of your sprites die...just so long as you win the battle,
they'll all come back. Never use a sprite solo in a battle,
because odds are against them of surviving. An important
note to mention is they also do holy damage and that is
key when you go up against lightning protected or immune
units or the undead. They also have a really high res score,
so try to take out units with dangerous special abilities
before they get to the rest of your army (Ex.: Slavers,
Nymphs, Spider Queens, etc.)
LEVEL 4
Forceship: Machine Upkeep:15 Cost:300
Def:10 Res:10 Hits:25 Move:40
Transport VII, Vision II, Fire Weakness, Poison Immunity, Magic Relay,
Floating, Hurl Lightning
Silver: Marksmanship I, Vision III
Gold: Marksmanship II, Vision IV
Requires: Masters Guild, Champions Guild, Sanctuary
Notes: The notes associated with the uses of hurl lightning with
Lightning Catchers (see above) also apply to Forceships with
a few changes. Forceships cant retaliate against attacks so
never let an enemy close to melee to you. Forceships also
dont have lightning immunity so, again, never let the enemy
close the distance to you. Forceships do have a VERY high
move score, so they can outrun any aggressor and they have
floating so they move with more efficient effort. Now I do
have to wonder why this unit doesnt have flying instead of
floating, but thats a debate for another time. Since they
have so much in common, its hard not to make a comparison to
the Human Air Galley, so I'll make it here and you (the
reader) can decide on what is better. Both are machines and
both have transport and vision abilities. The Air Galley
shoots javelins (like a ballista) and they do significant
damage to a single target (at "extra-long" range and being
a flying unit, traditionally without height/obstacle problems
usually). The Forceship shoots an area effect projectile
that can effect 7 hexes (the target and surrounding hexes)
and does lightning damage which means all hit have to do a
res check or be stunned. More units have lightning defenses
in the game then physical defenses, so less targets will
fall to the Forceship's main attack then the Air Galley's.
However, stunned targets cant fight back and your other units
will have an easier time cleaning up the mess with units that
cant fight back as opposed to just merely (hits wise) weakened
units from the Air Galley. Forceships doesnt fly so
obstacles/height are a factor but it is still an "extra-long"
range attack. Both move the same distance and have the same
basic stats and skills common to all machines. Air Galleys
now have the "ram" skill which is an AWESOME attack against
air units (only) that does damage and forces the unit to the
ground(and has no limit to its number of uses). The Forceship
extends a magic relay (and not just a small one like a hero
takes with it, but a fairly good size one that extends 2
hexes in all directions surrounding the Forceship) that
promises the ability to be able to use your magic anywhere
that forceship goes and all areas around its in its magic
sphere of influence. So, Air Galleys seem to be more
capable in combat itself while the Forceship provides more
tactical advantages on the main map screen both before and
during the start of the battle. Which is better is up for
debate and of course it would have to depend on the
circumstances at the time. Of course the easy answer is that
both are great and just have both with you :P.....but you
cant have what you always want.
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3. New Units And City Addendum For Old Races
*Under Construction*
************************************************************************
4. Neutral Units (Non-Aligned) Information
This section is for units that are not associated with any of the pre-
existing races, but are rather available to all in some sort of manner
or another. Neutrals dont conform to the normal conventions of the
rest of the units in the game for many reasons:
- They dont have the usual upkeep costs that you may see thru pattern
like the other units.
- They are harder to gage as to what level they are for partly the
reason given above.
- They may be purchased thru sites that are available on the map and
are available on a first come, first serve basis in this instance.
(In other words, there will usually be only 1 or a couple of a said
type of unit available and once all of them have been bought, there
will be none left).
- They may also need to be captured thru will type of attacks
(Ex. Domination, Control Animal, Seduce, etc.) and may, as far as
I seen so far at least, not be available for purchase. Thus this
recourse may be the only way to get them. Also, there may be a
special unconventional method to get one too.
- Most neutrals cant adjust their morale and will always be at
okay morale no matter what (much like machine units). There are
exceptions to this rule. Also, most neutrals are just that....
neutral......when it comes to their alignment and therefore can
be used by just about anyone. Again, there are exceptions to
that rule.
Some guessing and assumptions will be used therefore on certain
things, but for the most part should be wholly accurate from
practical experience. So this section will have a slightly altered
layout for units here and may take a little bit to complete as the
neutrals can be a little hard to find and can be even harder to get.
The methods listed for aquiring a unit are only those that I've
confirmed myself in getting one. So, there may be other methods that
I dont know about.
Again, this faq will cover all new units from SM and not anything
from the last AoW (#2), but there is going to be one exception to
this rule from the first unit description on this section and its
reasoning will be given in its note section.
--------The Neutrals
Wolf: Level 1 Creature
Upkeep:5 Cost:15 Alignment: Neutral
Acquired By:'Call Of The Wild' Spell, Domination type attacks,
Control Animal, Purchase thru sites (typically
Critter Dens, though rare)
Att:7 Dam:5 Def:5 Res:5 Hits:10 Moves:34
Strike, Animal, Forestry, Walking
Silver: n/a
Gold: *Under Construction*
Notes: I know that this unit was in the last AoW, but I wanted to
include this here as it was almost impossible to get one
in your army as they never appeared in the Campaigns and I
never saw one on any game I played on there. I knew of its
existence from the Prima strategy guide that I had that had
them listed. However, now there is a way to acquire one thru
the use of a spell called "Call of The Wild" (a high level
life spell that randomly gives you certain units each turn).
But, given its low level and that it requires such a high
level spell to get one, its pretty much a waste to get it.
Of course you can always just capture one now as it seems to
me that the computer will now randomly put some on maps that
it makes.
For all of this info and explanation, its sad to say that
it really isnt all that good. Seriously weak and unable to
reasonably handle anything by itself, these units are not
really suited to combat at all. It does have a good move,
however, and forestry allows for it to clear thru dense
vegetation in a hurry. So early exploration and scouting
are really more geared towards them. Use them as you would a
light cavalry unit and you should do fine.
Dire Penguin: Level 2 Creature
Upkeep:7 Cost:80 Alignment: Neutral
Acquired By: Domination type attacks, Control Animal,
Purchase thru sites (unknown what type typically)
Att:7 Dam:6 Def:7 Res:8 Hits:20 Move:34
Strike, Animal, Cold Immunity, Life Stealing, Swimming, Walking
Silver: n/a
Gold: *Under Construction*
Notes: Of all of the new units out there, this has to be my favorite
one of them all. Not only are they funny to watch, but they
have a very surprising death animation too. It's not just a
giant penguin anymore.....now its a giant, possessed,
man-eating, FAT penguin! :)
In combat, it has some weak stats. However, it does have a
good hits rating and really nice move rating. It can swim,
so it makes it useful to explore the larger water levels and
, with cold immunity, makes it a frostling's worst nightmare
(and makes one wonder why they got rid of it out of their
towns in the first place :P ). But the big bonus is life
stealing. With it, it can wade into battle and take out
many lower level units and can even ding up higher level
ones. With a little nurturing, these can make a very
effective amphibious corp. and/or fast strike group. Its
too bad that they are so hard to get and find (as I've yet
to see them for sale anywhere), as who wouldnt be afraid of
an army of penguins :D.
Dragon Hatchling: Level 2 Creature
Upkeep:7 Cost:100 Alignment: Neutral
Acquired By: Purchase thru sites (typically Dragon Roosts),
Will drained domination attempts
Att:13 Dam:8 Def:9 Res:14 Hits:10 Move:34
Fire Breath (3 Shots), Strike, Dragon, Dragon Growth, Fire Immunity
Flying, Magic Strike, Poison Immunity, Vision II, Willpower
Silver: n/a
Gold: Physical Metamorphosis (See Below)
Notes: Dragon Hatchlings are excellent combat units for a level 2
unit. Excellent att and res scores coupled with decent dam
and def scores (for a level 2 unit) make for a great lil unit
and the combo of magic strike and fire breath is a killer.
Flying gives it certain defense advantages typically
associated with flight as well as being able to go almost
anywhere. Vision II makes it a decent scout, too. Of
course its in your best interest to keep it in combat as much
as possible. This is because of its ability to become any
dragon at random upon reaching gold rank. There is no such
thing as a sucky dragon, so unlike other units with some
form of physical metamorphosis skill, it is usually in your
best interest to help it level as fast as you can and actively
defend them. This is especially true as it has a lackluster
move as opposed to most other flyers and a very low hits score.
Despite being a good unit, its usually not worth the effort to
capturing one in the wild (as it requires the Drain Will skill
and some way to deal with its flying status in addition to
trap or dominate). One final point is that what dragon you get
may or may not be compatible with your starting alignment.
Nothing is more stressful then playing a good race and getting
8 Dragon Hatchlings up to gold only to find that 7 of them turn
into Black Dragons. >.<
Oneron: Level:1 Humanoid (Female I think)
Upkeep:6 Cost:30 Alignment: Good
Acquired By: Domination type attacks, Purchase thru sites
(not normally occurring as far as I've seen),
Discovered (Special)
(See notes below for more details)
Att:5 Dam:6 Def:10 Res:8 Hits:20 Move:36
Walking, Strike, Shadow Walker
Silver: Vision II
Gold: *Under Construction*
Notes: *IMPORTANT NOTE*
There is one (maybe more but only a few if so) occurrence that
this unit occurs naturally in campaign mode. This unit is not
to be confused with the wizard "Oneron" that you can choose to
be at the start of a game. This unit has no item slots for
start and can therefore not use items like heroes and wizards.
Also you can (theoretically) have multiple "Onerons", but the
game would have to be manually edited to allow for so, as the
game never uses this unit in the creation of random maps.
Also, this one has an upkeep unlike the wizard "Oneron" and
doesnt carry an innate magic relay or cast spells like heroes
and wizards.
Having gotten all of that out of the way, the Oneron unit makes
for an excellent screening unit. It has an unheard of def
score for a level 1 unit and an excellent res score also. It
moves at the same pace as a cavalry unit (but without any of
the movement terrain bonuses some might have like forestry)
and has a high hits score. It has mediocre att and dam scores,
so it makes a better showing on defense then offence. One
unusual twist is that at silver it gets a vision skill rating,
so at that point they start to make excellent scouts and
exploration units. This is a top notch early unit, but its
too bad that the only way to get this normally is to make a
game yourself manually (having the computer make one for you
wont give you a chance to get one).
Black Dragon: Level:4 Creature
Upkeep:15 Cost:350 Alignment: Evil
Acquired By: Physical Metamorphosis from Dragon Hatchling,
Will drained domination attempts, Purchased thru sites
(typically thru Dragon Roosts, but VERY rare)
Att:16 Dam:12 Def:12 Res:16 Hits:35 Move:40
Flying, Cause Fear, Magic Strike, Vision II, Strike, Fire Immunity
Dragon, Magic Immunity, Willpower, Death Immunity, Poison Immunity
Black Breath (3 shots)
Silver: Marksmanship I, Vision III, True Seeing
Gold: *Under Construction*
Notes: These are one of the ultimate units for the side of evil. It's
not so much that they have insane stats in any one area
(though its att and res scores are very high) as they are just
very well balanced in abilities. They can fly around and just
breathe on enemies (thru black breath) and wipe them out. But
even if running out of ammo for its black breath, it is far
from helpless! Willpower and a host of immunities make for a
very tough nut to crack.....ESPECIALLY magic immunity! There
is only one other unit in the game that I know of (The Golden
Dragon, see below) that has this skill and the typical logic
for most players is that magic attacks are the veritable
"cure-all" to get by immunities and protections. But once you
have a Black Dragon (or a couple), you can really tear up your
opponents and take most of their dangerous "magic strikers" and
"magic missilers" so that your other units can move in. If you
find yourself on the unfortunate receiving end, the only way to
reasonably take one down is with very strong melee attackers
that fly (as their high res scores can prove a problem for
webbing and magic to bring them down to the ground) or strong
cold, holy, lightning, or physical missile attacks (so Archons,
Syrons, and Frostlings will have a SLIGHTLY easier time of it
as they traditionally use these attacks). Never fight these
unless you have large established groups of units and even
then expect to lose some of those units.
Golden Dragon: Level:4 Creature
Upkeep:15 Cost:350 Alignment: Good
Acquired By: Physical Metamorphosis from Dragon Hatchling,
Will drained domination attempts, Purchased thru sites
(typically thru Dragon Roosts, but VERY rare)
Att:16 Dam:12 Def:12 Res:16 Hits:35 Move:40
Flying, Cause Fear, Magic Strike, Vision II, Strike, Fire Immunity
Dragon, Magic Immunity, Willpower, Holy Immunity, Poison Immunity
Divine Breath (3 shots)
Silver: Marksmanship I, Vision III, True Seeing
Gold: *Under Construction*
Notes: This is one of the ultimate units for the side of good. Just
substitute in divine for black, death for holy, and Undead for
Archons in the Black Dragon description (see above) and you'll
have the description for the Golden dragon. One interesting
point about them that's different from the Black Dragons is
there is no other unit in the game with the skill divine breath
(except maybe thru magic items for heroes and wizards).
Parasite: Level:1 Creature
Upkeep:6 Cost:50 Alignment: Neutral
Acquired By: 'Infect' spell, Domination type attacks, Purchased thru
Sites (not normally occurring as far as I've seen)
Att:5 Dam:5 Def:5 Res:6 Hits:6 Move:28
Walking, Infect
Silver: Death Immunity
Gold: n/a (It cant gain experience outside of some building)
Notes: There are in reality two different varieties of Parasites in
the game. The ones that you summon thru the 'Infect' spell
will actually not appear unless you kill the target that was
infected and there are other units still left to kill. These
types will disappear after the end of a battle and do not stick
around in your army. The other type are the ones that you hire
from sites. These types do stick around and can go to silver
medal rank thru the use of an arena, but on their own, do not
gain experience and cant go to gold medal rank as such. I also
think that much like the Oneron unit (see above), they are not
naturally occurring units available in games, even in a
randomly generated game, but are rather units that occur only if
they are placed there in a manually created game by the user.
As far as it is as a unit, it is a very unique case, in that it
has a skill that no other unit has called 'infect'. Ignore the
att and dam scores for this unit as infect has its own att score
and does no damage. Rather, when successful, it cause the
Parasite to enter into the target unit and gives the physical
weakness skill to the infected target, thus making it easier to
kill by other units. Upon the death of the target, the Parasite
reappears in the hex the enemy unit was, unharmed and ready
to infect other targets. Remember, this unit cant do any damage
on its own, so don't use it without other units to escort it.
Infect is a rather low level death spell, so if you're playing
as a death wizard or multi classing with death magic, then you
may be seeing a lot of these. It's weak defensively, so try to
avoid fast moving or ranged units if you hire one. Of course, if
you used magic, then don't bother protecting them as there are
not going to be around anyways.
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5. Contributions And Closing
I'd like to thank the following people for their help on this pet
project of mine:
*No Contributions From Others Yet*
I'd also like to thank GoD and Triumph for this wonderful game and for
listening to its players on what they would of wanted in here. Thanks
should also go the site that has this posted for letting me get this
much needed guide out to the public (with my permission of course).
Thanks again and I hope to see you on the boards!
Aspect Of Shadows (8/4/03) ^v^
