Sieges

Sieges inevitably become a big part of Heroes III games because it all comes down to taking over someone's castle. Of course, if you are a weak town hero, such as fortress hero or inferno hero, you almost need to conquer enemy castles to gain better troops. Here, then, are a few tips on siege offense and defense.

On the Attack
· Go into sieges with fast units. A force of dwarves and golems is incredibly ineffectual in town sieges because they'll take too long to get to the town walls, even if your catapult manages to knock them down.

· Bring in ranged units. You need to be able to strike at the enemy behind their castle walls, so you need ranged units. At least several stacks will be good. However, know that if the enemy town has upgraded to a castle (the highest fort upgrade, not to be confused with the castle town type), he will be able to fire at you with three archery towers. Your ranged units will not escape unscathed, but they are still necessary for winning sieges.

· Bring in flying units. Flying units can fly over walls, so they are a great asset in sieges. They still have to obey their normal movement ranges, though.

· Better your chances by having siege-friendly skills. Ballistics is the obvious skill here. Have at least one hero who has expert ballistics and designate him as siege master. Your catapult will fire twice and be almost assured of knocking down walls. You might also want to have the archery skill so you archers can be more effective from long range.

· Have magic that can negate the walls and moat. Teleport is the perfect spell for bypassing the moat and town walls. However, you must have expert water magic skill before you can teleport behind walls. Earthquake is also a good spell for destroying sections of wall immediately. Expert earth magic obviously offers better results.

On the Defense
· Upgrade your fort. The fort determines what kind of defenses you have. No fort means the battle occurs in the open plains (or snow, depending on terrain). A fort gives the town a castle wall and a moat. A citadel grants a central archery tower. The castle adds two secondary archery towers and doubles the strength of your walls.

· Upgrade your town. The strength of your archery towers is dependent on the strength of your town. The damage and attack strength is higher if you have the maximum mage guild level for your town and have more town buildings. Having no mage guild and only one or two buildings will make even three towers less effective. The two secondary towers attack with the same skill as the central tower, but only do half damage. Each tower makes its own targeting decision, and can attack the same unit as the previous tower or a new one.

· Bring in ranged units. Because walls protect you, you will be able to attack from afar while the enemy has to wait for his catapult to do its job, which could take several turns. Your towers will do some good damage, but having a few marksmen or wood elves will make the killing even more disheartening for your enemy. While your ranged units cut down his advancing troops, you can laugh with impunity.

· Have tough units for defense. Now is the time to buy those dendroids and iron golems, because the enemy has to go to you. You also have the benefit of three ranged units in the form of your towers. The longer you can survive, the better your chances, so enlist those high hit point, high defense creatures for garrison duty.

· Have magic that will help in siege defense. Slow is an obvious boon for you, as you could and should slow down his flying units. You could also cast destructive spells on his units, although you can't target the catapult.

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