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Fortress units, continued Gorgon/Mighty Gorgon
The gorgon is a strange unit. Its offensive capability is fairly good, but it is incredibly durable, with the toughest defense and hit points for its level. It is also fairly quick, so it doesn't have the weakness of the dendroids and ogres. The problem with the gorgon is that you don't need to build it in order to have wyverns and hydras. So often, it's better to just bypass it and go for the flying wyvern, which you can get by day two or three, and the hydra. However, later in the game, starting with week three or more, you'll need the mighty gorgon's (not the gorgon's) strength to bolster your otherwise weak army. You will want to upgrade your gorgons to mighty gorgons as soon as possible, but you'll need the expensive resource silo first. This is a stifling building dependency and usually means you can't upgrade your gorgons until later in the game. The mighty gorgon has a deadly special ability, with a chance of killing one enemy creature in a target stack outright for every 10 gorgons. So 30 gorgons have a chance to instantly kill three archangels or three imps, after regular damage is applied; obviously you want to save your gorgon's attack for higher level creatures. Cast haste and protective spells like stone skin and anti-magic on your mighty gorgons to further their lifespan.
Wyvern/Wyvern Monarch The wyvern's saving grace is that you can acquire it in two turns. Assuming you start with a gnoll hut, you build a lizard den, and then you can build the wyvern's nest the next day. However, the wyvern is the absolute weakest sixth-level creature and wyvern monarch is barely stronger than the minotaur king, thunderbird, and even the crusader. Both wyvern types can poison their enemies, but even that ability isn't terribly useful. The poison ability simply reduces the hit points of the top unit of the target stack by 50 percent for three rounds. It is useless against masses of mid to lower troops. Meanwhile, the upgrade to the wyvern isn't very significant, considering the huge leap in cost. While the extra damage helps, the speed boost is all but nullified because the dragon fly remains a faster unit. You are advised to climb up the building tree and get this unit in your first week, but don't count on it adding great muscle to your armies for too long. The mighty gorgon is more durable than this creature.
Hydra/Chaos Hydra The hydras and chaos hydras are in the bottom of the barrel when it comes to seventh-level troops. While their dwellings aren't too expensive compared to other seventh-level buildings, these two creatures cost much more than the behemoths and bone dragons, which are similar in statistics. Unupgraded, the hydra is a durable creature that can attack all opponents in adjacent hexes and cannot be retaliated against. However, it is slow. The upgrade isn't terribly significant, and really distances it further from the likes of dragons and archangels. However, because you will get the hydra fairly early compared to other towns, you will want to upgrade your hydras as soon as possible to increase your temporary advantage. To use this unit effectively, you want to teleport it between enemy troops and then have it attack, where it can unleash its attack on all surrounding enemies. If your hero has access to such spells as counterstrike and anti-magic, you can make the hydra and chaos hydra truly formidable opponents, but you have to find these spells in non-fortress towns. Because the two hydras and their dwellings are cheaper than those of the castle, tower, dungeon, and rampart towns, you can get hydras faster. Use them early to gain an advantage and try to capture those towns before they get to their high level troops. You also need to find powerful magic to really make these units effective.
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