Dungeon units, continued

Beholder/Evil Eye
Attack: 9/10
Defense: 7/8
Hit Points: 22/22
Damage: 3-5/3-5
Shots: 12/24
Speed: 5/7
Movement: ground
Cost: 250/280
Special Abilities: No melee penalty/No melee penalty

The beholder and evil eyes would be fairly powerful units even if they didn't have ranged fire. Yet they do have ranged fire and thus are among the game's best early units. The evil eye to beholder upgrade is fairly substantial, with better attack, defense, and speed. The beholder is very important because it is your first ranged troop. After building the troglodyte dwelling, you can build either a harpy dwelling or the beholder dwelling. Always go with the beholder dwelling first. Then upgrade these creatures at the first opportunity. And even if enemy creatures do engage your beholders or evil eyes, they don't suffer the ranged units' penalty and attack at full strength in hand-to-hand combat. They are expensive as third-level troops go, but are well worth the price.

Medusa/Medusa Queen
Attack: 9/10
Defense: 9/10
Hit Points: 25/30
Damage: 6-8/6-8
Shots: 4/8
Speed: 5/6
Movement: ground
Cost: 300/330
Special Abilities: Petrify enemies; no melee penalty/Petrify enemies; no melee penalty

The medusae and medusa queens are excellent ranged troops, but unfortunately you need to build the harpy loft before you can build the medusa dwelling, meaning you can't immediately field an army of beholders and medusae (a potent combination in the early game). In hand-to-hand combat, both are pretty weak, despite the fact that they don't suffer the ranged units' melee penalty. However, they do have a petrification ability that can turn an enemy stack to stone. The chance to do this is only 20 percent, but the effect lasts for three turns. When this happens, you don't want to attack the petrified stack again but instead use the three rounds to concentrate on other opponents before redirecting all your attacks on the petrified stack after three turns. Petrified stacks only take 50 percent damage from the first strike and become unfrozen after that attack. You want to upgrade medusae as soon as possible because they only have four shots, although with an ammo cart, the penalty is offset. Once you have medusae, you can form a formidable army with beholders and harpy hags to start conquering the countryside. Add the next-level minotaur and you have one of the most potent armies for that level of the game. Thankfully, medusae and medusa queens are cheap for fourth-level units.