Fortress (H3)

[Dread Knight]

Hello everyone.I want to ask someone who can play good Fortress which is the tactic in this town.I just cat`t assimilate it.

[Pol]

You may teach from Banedon. He collected already many hintips before on old RT.

[vhilhu]

get yourself wyverns and mageguild lvl1(slow&haste!) on week 1, and neutrals are no problem anymore for some time.

then get basilisks and MGorgons and maybe dragonflies and capture quickly some other town, preferrably tower, because it has library(you really need teleport and haste. fortress IS really weak without them.)

wyverns, gnolls and lizardmen wont be of much use from then on, concentrate on other troops.

---
seriously, i believe eg dungeon is worse than fortress. or its just me who fits better with fortress?

[Metathron]

Compared to other factions, fortress always seemed to me to be at a disadvantage (stronghold did as well, but to a much lesser extent). I enjoyed picking them despite that, and trying to prove that they are worth the effort all the same.

[mr.hackcrag]

A lot of people seem to think that fortress is weak, but they are my favorite and best faction for me. As far as tactics go, I don't really have a specific tactic for building because I always go for capitol first no matter which faction I choose unless it's a small map.

I don't want to get into in depth strategies, but I'll list some very basic and simple ones that I use. I'm going to assume that we're not taking WoG stack xp abilities in here.

-Dragon flies are a staple unit for this faction, so you'll want to stock up on them. If you have any open spaces, split your dragon flies into stacks of 1 to take up retaliation or block a powerful shooter. Then you can send in your wyverns for a follow up attack and hope that they poison. Ideal for facing level 7 units.

-Water magic works really well for this faction. Bless is useful anytime, but especially on flies, teleport works well for hydras, forgetfulness will make it easier on all the melee troops in fortress, prayer will give the slower units in the faction some more mobility.

-This goes without saying, but Gorgons have an overpowered ability that will send any level 6 and 7 units running in terror. Try to keep these units alive and healthy for the long haul. They will make all the difference in the late game when you have a horde of gorgons that can kill a pack of level 7 units in one shot.

-Hydras are my favorite level 7 unit in the game. Nobody ever really wants to attack them, so they have a lot of staying power. They have a lot of trouble with mobility which is their biggest downside, but that's why water magic comes in handy. Also for a change, you can try counterstrike or haste. If your playing with stack xp for WoG, then hydras, no matter how hard you try, cannot be killed and will win battles against thousands of troops all on their own.

-The biggest problem with fortress is siege battles because they lack a good ranged shooter and their flyers are vulnerable by themselves. Teleport combined with hydras will make things a LOT easier. If that fails, earthquake and ballistics will help topple the castle walls a lot faster.

-The other biggest problem for fortress is necropolis because the best abilities for fortress don't have any effect on the undead. There's not too much you can do about this though.

Basically, fortress is town with emphasis on creature abilities rather than stats. Just try to make the best of the abilities and they should be able to make all the differance in battle. There are a lot more things to consider, but I'm not really sure which area you're having a problem in. If there is any specific problem you have, then ask away.

[Banedon]

You may teach from Banedon. He collected already many hintips before on old RT.

Wow, you remembered! Yes, that brings back old memories...and it also sums up what I know about Fortress. My Fortress play may have stabilized a lot, but I personally still detest the alignment So don't ask me for any deep tips; I won't be able to provide them.

[Dread Knight]

Well i have problems with the recruiting.I must start with gold if i am going to build wyvern nest but if i dont have a gold mine its getting difficult.If i dont recruit Wyverns i will have problems the first mounth because of the weak basiliks,no powerfull shooters no nothing except some really useful Dragon Flyes and I cant afford a resource silo so-No Mighty Gorgons.So I think that Fortress is REALLY hard to play and if you can play experienced with it it means you are good,verry good. [/b]

[mr.hackcrag]

Well the downside is that there are no fortress heroes that produce resources as a special ability, so you should try and build a city hall and preferably capitol asap.

Choose Bron as your starting hero because he is the only hero who starts with level 4 units and he gets a decent amount of basilisks which should help you take some mines early on. Basilisks are actually one of the better melee fighters on their level as far as stats go.

Choose gold from all the treasure chests early on. (I'm assuming you're playing on impossible since you mentioned gold is a problem.) If you chose Bron as your starting hero, you don't really need to level him up right away because you might get a hero in the tavern with another ability that you'd prefer.

You don't need to build a resource silo for the gorgons right away. Just let them build up because a pack of m. gorgons death stare isn't useful in early on because you won't be fighting many high level units and it's not as effective in low numbers. Just let the un-upgraded ones build up until mid-game when they can really be put to use.

If you're still having trouble, let me know and I try posting some more tips. I don't have any time right now.

[Bonzer]

While I agree with Mr. HackCrag on Bless and other Water spells, has anyone ever considered hiring a non fortress hero?

One of my favourites is Grindan (conflux). He is easy to develop along the magic side, and gives a useful 350 gp / day. Same with Aine (Tower) and Caitlin (Castle). I know you start these with non fortress troops, but their financial bonus (2450gp / week) more than makes up for it. There is no Morale penalty as long as all your troops are Fortress, so either leave their starting troops to guard a mine, or send someone to sea with them.

I also found Fortress difficult until I persevered, and tried different strategies and battle tactics. It is true that different town types need different methods to be successful.

Mr. HC is also spot on with MG's. No need to upgrade until later, but get the gorgons as soon as poss so their numbers grow. Just be careful of any plague week which will only fall on day 1 week 1 of a month. Once you have them there is only one word of advice - CLONE!

[BoardGuest808888]

Hello everyone.I want to ask someone who can play good Fortress which is the tactic in this town.I just cat`t assimilate it.

This is one of the easiest town to play with, and my favorite too.

Just wipe anything within the 1st week with gnolls and lizardmen (preferably with dragonflies too),

Built your town to get wyverns in the 2nd week (you can do that too in 1st week, but wood is an issue here, if you don't get too many of them, I won't recommend it), and don't forget the the capitol,

Wipe anything left with your basilisk/gorgon, wyvern, lizardmen and gnoll in the 3rd week (now, I don't believe you'd get many of them at this time, so you must choose a combo of either 3 of them),

Use your hydra later to defeat your enemies' army, don't forget to develop either Earth or Water magic, Earth is good for Shjeld & Earthquake while Water is good for Bless & Teleport.

Actually, against many other town I consider Fortress seem to has an advantage instead of disadvantage.

This is also my favorite town whenever I have to beat a Conflux

(This is for Fortress exclusively, if you play with a combo of other town like Tower, Rampart, etc, then you're not playing with Fortress).

[Dread Knight]

Well,from 1 Week I am playing ONLY with Fortress and... a ilike it.One thing is sure-Very Important is to build the Wyverns fast,because the other creatures in the begging(Lizardmens for example)are little bit weak.Aren`t they,but the Mighty Gorgons about 50 are doing WONDER.For they must be 6th level unit.The Teleport is very usefull magic for that Town,The Prayer and Bless too.Thanks To all who have opened my eyes.

[vhilhu]

note that fortress is number 2 town to have a high chance to get BLIND. (inferno is higher)

[BoardGuest808888]

Well,from 1 Week I am playing ONLY with Fortress and... a ilike it.One thing is sure-Very Important is to build the Wyverns fast,because the other creatures in the begging(Lizardmens for example)are little bit weak.Aren`t they,but the Mighty Gorgons about 50 are doing WONDER.For they must be 6th level unit.The Teleport is very usefull magic for that Town,The Prayer and Bless too.Thanks To all who have opened my eyes.

Hmm, what other creatures exactly that are little bit weak ? And, compared to what ?
If you've played Fortress long enough, eventually you'll find that it is the Wyvern that actually little bit weak compared to what other towns get.

[Jolly Joker]

You may find this here an interesting read:
https://www.celestialheavens.com/443

[Banedon]

Well given how much you need Teleport with Fortress and how Teleport places you flat in front of your opponent's Ranged units, I still think Fortress is slightly weaker than the rest of the others. Say I have Rampart, for example. I'd place my Gold Dragons and Grand Elves in the corner and barricade them up with the rest of my units. Now you'd have to approach me (or else I win the Ranged duel). Teleported Chaos Hydras would wreck all my creatures with their mass attack, but then they'd be smack in Range of my Grand Elves...and all my other creatures. After absorbing the retaliation with my Dwarves I could probably deal the Hydra stack severe damage (and eat a whole lot of retaliation damage, yes), perhaps even killing it. Once down the Mighty Gorgon stack wouldn't mean too much...

[Dread Knight]

For example Lizardmen with Marksmen or with Storm Elementals or Even with Maggogs .I`m telling one more time ,that the Mighty Gorgons are incredible.

[mr.hackcrag]

Well given how much you need Teleport with Fortress and how Teleport places you flat in front of your opponent's Ranged units, I still think Fortress is slightly weaker than the rest of the others. Say I have Rampart, for example. I'd place my Gold Dragons and Grand Elves in the corner and barricade them up with the rest of my units. Now you'd have to approach me (or else I win the Ranged duel). Teleported Chaos Hydras would wreck all my creatures with their mass attack, but then they'd be smack in Range of my Grand Elves...and all my other creatures. After absorbing the retaliation with my Dwarves I could probably deal the Hydra stack severe damage (and eat a whole lot of retaliation damage, yes), perhaps even killing it. Once down the Mighty Gorgon stack wouldn't mean too much...

Fortress is not completely dependent on teleport. Fortress could try casting forgetfulness or air shield to nullify the elves, which could hold them off long enough for Fortress' units to get into killing range. Blind could also work. From there, all of Fortress' units can easily handle Ramparts in a melee exchange.

And assuming both heroes do or don't have tactics skill, Rampart couldn't really protect the elves anyway. Dragons would move first, but dragonflies would follow afterwards, which would give you a chance to teleport the hyrdas before anyone else can move. Rampart could then send all of its units to smash the hydras, but it's still going to hurt like hell before they finally go down. (And if it's WoG, hydras can't be killed by anything at higer levels, so then you're double doomed.)

Plus in WoG, lizardmen gain double-strike and poison ability after leveling them up, so they could almost match up with grand elves in ability, which would give fortress an even higher chance of winning.

[Banedon]

Fortress is not completely dependent on teleport. Fortress could try casting forgetfulness or air shield to nullify the elves, which could hold them off long enough for Fortress' units to get into killing range. Blind could also work. From there, all of Fortress' units can easily handle Ramparts in a melee exchange.

Forgetfulness and Air Shield are a little weak spells to cast in my opinion; Rampart could simply dispel them off with Mass Cure or Mass Dispel. You'd also have difficulty marching across the battlefield because of Fortress's relatively slow units. Rampart might even send the Dendroids to bind the Chaos Hydras to a spot, peppering them with arrows (or the Mighty Gorgons, whichever is within range).

And assuming both heroes do or don't have tactics skill, Rampart couldn't really protect the elves anyway. Dragons would move first, but dragonflies would follow afterwards, which would give you a chance to teleport the hyrdas before anyone else can move. Rampart could then send all of its units to smash the hydras, but it's still going to hurt like hell before they finally go down. (And if it's WoG, hydras can't be killed by anything at higer levels, so then you're double doomed.)

WoG sure brings about lots of changes, but if WoG buffs Hydras it's probably because Fortress pre-WoG was underpowered

Dragons move first. Rampart hero casts MASS SLOW. Then Rampart's units get to move and it's over...yes, the Hydras are going to hurt like hell, but if the main units (the Dragons and Elves) stay alive Rampart will still win the battle.

[mr.hackcrag]

Dragons move first. Rampart hero casts MASS SLOW. Then Rampart's units get to move and it's over...yes, the Hydras are going to hurt like hell, but if the main units (the Dragons and Elves) stay alive Rampart will still win the battle.

Not really. Even if Rampart starts with mass slow, dragon flies will still move before the elves, which would give Fortress the chance to cast forgetfulness/blind/etc. and that couldn't be cured until next round. All it means is that both players would be at a standoff as far as ranged combat goes. Actually, in this case, Fortress still has it's weak but useful lizardmen who can still shoot. Sooner or later, the hydras and gorgons would close in and then it's all over. Trying to get the dendroids to bind is a good idea, but because they move last, it might be too late.

Another alternative is to counter with mass haste. Ramparts high speed creatures would have used up their turns moving in to protect the elves. But then they'd be in a world of hurt from the hydras who could cross the field in one turn and the dragons would go down against the gorgons. Sure, the elves could then kill a lot of creatures after (unless you wait with all your creatures the first round and take half damage), but Rampart couldn't keep up against the sustained melee onslaught by Fortress. Eventually, Ramparts defense would fall apart. Also, grouping all your units in the corner leaves them vulnerable to spells like meteor shower and chain lighting if you happen to be fighting a magic hero. Luckily, the unicorns give some magic resistance, but it's still no gurantee.

WoG sure brings about lots of changes, but if WoG buffs Hydras it's probably because Fortress pre-WoG was underpowered

All creatures get buffs as they level up.

[BoardGuest808888]

Well given how much you need Teleport with Fortress and how Teleport places you flat in front of your opponent's Ranged units, I still think Fortress is slightly weaker than the rest of the others. Say I have Rampart, for example. I'd place my Gold Dragons and Grand Elves in the corner and barricade them up with the rest of my units. Now you'd have to approach me (or else I win the Ranged duel). Teleported Chaos Hydras would wreck all my creatures with their mass attack, but then they'd be smack in Range of my Grand Elves...and all my other creatures. After absorbing the retaliation with my Dwarves I could probably deal the Hydra stack severe damage (and eat a whole lot of retaliation damage, yes), perhaps even killing it. Once down the Mighty Gorgon stack wouldn't mean too much...

He he he....come to think of it, just how much elves, or anything else those are would you think you can muster together to brought down hydra so easily ?

Actually, Fortress is not that much dependent to any single spell such as Teleport. It is a good addition to say nonetheless, but it's not critically important. That's why Fortress play with less spell than anyone else. Otherwise, itsn't Fortress is it ?

Come to think of it, spells are also rather ineffective against Fortress. Except the hero level difference is quite significant. I actually like to play with that artifact that negate all spells (forget the name) around, it can be quite handy for Fortress.