Tower Units

The tower creatures start off weak but increasingly grow in power. You will have a tough time climbing up the tech tree, though, because of the high cost of buildings and upgrades. However, if you can survive to the late game and have a lot of mines, you will be rewarded with some very powerful units. This town has three ranged units and two fliers, and can be bolstered with strong magic. The weakness of this town is speed; no unit in this town exceeds 11 speed, so you need to be liberal with that haste spell.

Gremlin/Master Gremlin
Attack: 3/4
Defense: 3/4
Hit Points: 4/4
Damage: 1-2/1-2
Speed: 4/5
Movement: ground
Shots: None/8
Cost: 30/40
Special Abilities: None/None

The gremlin has to be the weakest creature in the game (or maybe the imp, but at that pathetic level, it doesn't really matter). It will die in droves and the wizard and alchemist don't have the defense or attack skills to keep them alive. However, you might want to upgrade them when you have the chance because the master gremlins actually have a ranged attack, in addition to better attack, defense, and speed. This gives the tower hero the game's only first-level ranged unit, and for a dirt-cheap price. Otherwise, in the early game, don't expect to win a lot of battles with this creature. Move up the tech tree and scramble for nagas and golems.

Stone Gargoyle/Obsidian Gargoyle
Attack: 6/7
Defense: 6/7
Hit Points: 16/16
Damage: 2-3/2-3
Speed: 6/9
Movement: flight
Cost: 130/160
Special Abilities: None

The stone gargoyle is a durable unit with good attack and defense, although as with all the tower creatures, the lack of strong heroes means they aren't as durable when pitted up against castle or stronghold creatures of the same level. Still, the upgraded obsidian gargoyle is fast. The sculptor's wing, which increases gargoyle production, is pretty cheap, so buy it early and boost your gargoyle numbers. Getting 13 to 22 gargoyles by week two can be very useful. They also aren't too expensive, and the money you save because of the cheap gremlin price means you have enough gold to buy all your gargoyles.

However, against ranged units or the strength of such towns as the rampart, castle, or stronghold, the gargoyle might not be able to give you victory. So you'll still need to climb up the tech tree to sturdier units. Use the gargoyle in the early game to achieve initiative and pester ranged units, a role at which it excels. Running this kind of interference also gives your golems the luxury of walking up to the front lines to do battle with the enemy troops. The gargoyles are good for such situations, but make sure you cast a stone skin and haste on them to toughen them up for the inevitable swarm of troops that will try to shake the gargoyle off the ranged units. The gargoyle and the golems are good against vampire lords because they aren't living, and thus don't have lifeforce to give over to resurrect dead vampire lords. Keep that in mind when fighting the necropolis towns.

Tower units, continued