Editing Necropolis (section)

==Town names==
Unless specified by the mapmaker, towns will generate with a random name. Necropolis towns will use one of these following names:

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="white-space:nowrap; text-align: left;"
|-
| width=85px | Agony || width=85px | Blackquarter || width=85px | Blight || width=85px | Cessacioun
|-
| Coldreign || Coldsoul || Death's Gate || Dark Cloud
|-
| Dark Eternal || Ghostwind || Grave Raven || Haunt's Wind
|-
| Sanctum || Shadow Keep || Terminus || Worm Warren
|-
|}

If there are more Necropolis towns on the map than possible names, they will use names taken from other towns.

{{user commentary|
* Necropolis armies have many units with abilities to weaken their opponents. This may give them an advantage over an equal or even a stronger opponent.

* All Necropolis' creatures are [[undead]], which means that they are unaffected by [[morale]]. They are also immune to all [[mind spell]]s as well as [[Curse]], [[Bless]], [[Resurrection]] and [[Death Ripple]].

* Necropolis is one of the most powerful towns. It has very strong 4th and 6th level creatures, as well as mighty shooters. [[Vampire Lord]]s and [[Dread Knight]]s are among the strongest in their respective levels, and while having [[Power Lich]]es in an army consisting of living creatures may have problematic because of the [[death cloud]] attack, in the army of undead it is an advantage. Skeletons are around average rank of 1st level creatures, but due to [[Necromancy]] secondary skill, their numbers can be signifcantly greater than other 1st level creatures. The downside is, that [[Walking Dead]]s, [[Wight]]s, and [[Bone Dragon]]s are all among the weakest creatures of their respective levels. In fact, [[Bone Dragon]] is perhaps the weakest 7th level creature.

* Bone Dragons and Ghost Dragons are underrated. Their -1 to enemy morale means that neutral mobs except for Minotaurs will never get an extra turn in battle, which gives the Necromancer greater control of the battlefield, reducing losses over time, and eventually resulting in a larger, stronger army. When upgraded to Ghost Dragons, they become faster than all units below level 7, allowing the Necromancer to cast the first spell unless the opponent has a Firebird/Phoenix or an upgraded Black Dragon, Gold Dragon, Arch Angel, or Arch Devil. The Ghost Dragon's aging attack is useless in small battles, but is terrifying in huge battles when split into 3 stacks and used to age the opponent's best stacks.

* Necropolis has excellent magic capabilities. It can build level 5th [[Mage Guild]] and has few special spells like [[Animate Dead]] and [[Death Ripple]] to support the armies. Also, undead hordes are immune to [[mind spell]]s, which greatest advantage is that they cannot be [[blind]]ed or "[[berserk]]ed". In addition, undead do not suffer from negative [[morale]] (nor do they benefit from positive). This makes the [[Spirit of Oppression]] a useful tool for Necropolis armies.

* Perhaps the most outstanding feature closely related to Necropolis is [[Necromancy]] [[secondary skill]]. It enables heroes with the skill to "harvest" [[Skeleton]]s (or [[Skeleton Warrior]]s) from enemy armies as well as allied creatures. It is possible for a hero with Necromancy skill to come out from a battle with more troops than he went to it.

* An advantageous tactics with Necropolis is "harvesting" skeletons with the [[Necromancy]] [[secondary skill]]. At expert level Necromancy allows 30% (15% in {{hota}}) of the creatures killed in combat to be brought back from the dead as skeletons. The percentage points can be increased with two structures: [[Necromancy Amplifier]](s) and [[Soul Prison]]. Amplifiers can typicallly be constructed in necropolis towns, while Soul Prison is the [[grail building]] of Necropolis. Each amplifier increases the percentage points by +10% (5% in {{hota}}). 

* There are also artifacts that can increase the skill: [[Amulet of the Undertaker]] increases the percentage points by +5% (2.5% in {{hota}}), [[Vampire's Cowl]] by +10% (5% in {{hota}}) and [[Dead Man's Boots]] by +15% (7.5% in {{hota}}). The artifacts combine to the [[Cloak of the Undead King]] which gives another +30% (15% in {{hota}}) to the [[Necromancy]] skill. With these artifacts and one amplifier, the Necromancy secondary skill can be increased to 100% (50% in {{hota}}). Additionally, two heroes specialize in Necromancy, [[Isra]] and [[Vidomina]]. Combining either of them with one amplifier and all three artifacts, it is possible in {{hota}} to reach 100% skill level in necromancy at level 67, which means that possibly all the creatures killed in combat will be brought back as skeletons.

* Harvesting leads to a situation, where it is profitable for heroes with Necromancy (mainly Death Knights and Necromancers) to carry through combats with wandering creatures instead of letting them flee if they are substantially less creatures and want to quit the battlefield. So, special months (see [[growth]]) where some creature types population doubles is actually a boon for Necropolis skeleton harvesters. This is especially valid for low-level creatures that come in large numbers, like hobgoblins. Random units blocking pathways on the map thus become a motivational boost because those wandering creatures mean additional [[Skeleton]]s.

* Even without necromancy, you can turn any creature into [[Skeletons]]. This means that free level 1 map dwelling (like for [[Gremlins]] and [[Imps]]) will give you free skeletons indirectly, thanks to the [[Skeleton Transformer]]. That means you don't even need wandering enemies or the Necromancy secondary skill to raise huge hordes of skeletons as the Necropolis, and outnumber other towns.

'''Pros:'''
*A variety of good heroes to choose from.
*A variety of strategies available.
*Units are unaffected by negative [[Morale]] thus unaffected also by [[Sorrow]] or [[Spirit of Oppression]], mixing with other [[Town]] type units still has a penalty on units of other towns.
*Unaffected by [[Mind spells]] like [[Elemental]]s, even [[Blind]] does not function on [[Undead]] units.
*[[Necromancy]] is a powerful secondary skill that only Necropolis town heroes can utilize effectively and that every [[Necropolis]] hero typically has. Given affordable [[Necromancy amplifier]] buildings (10% point building bonus to [[Necromancy]], '''unique''' town [[secondary skill]] boost building feature for all own heroes on the map, safe the [[Navigation]] centric building [[Lighthouse]] the only [[secondary skill]] bonus enhancer building available in the game) in [[Necropolis]] towns and a range of artifacts that further enhance the skill percentage like [[Vampire%27s_Cowl|Vampire's Cowl]] it is rather easy to recruit a small but steady number of [[Undead]] from most other creatures after fights. Every successful fight will increase the number of level 1 units one has even to astronomical amounts of stack sizes for steady motivation boosts after each encounter. [[Undead]] generally are [[Animate Dead]] resurrectable during combat additionally and the [[Skeleton Transformer]] in a [[Necropolis]] town can change foreign units to [[Skeleton]]s so mixing foreign units with [[Necropolis]] town units does not make them suffer [[morale]] penalty when converting them to [[Skeleton]]s first, one can recruit units off fights with the opponent and they are rather hard to kill and easily replenished given enough mana or [[Necromancy]] skill bonus points which are readily available via buildings or artifacts or even hero specials.
*[[Vampire Lord]]s are by far the most cost-efficient level 4 unit (and arguably the most cost-efficient unit in the game), as they can beat armies of much greater size as long as they are not (like [[Undead]], [[Unliving|Construct]]s or [[Elemental]]s) immune to the Vampire Lords' [[Life drain]] ability and as long as the Vampire Lords are used properly (with [[Blind]] on extra enemy stacks for example or [[Counterstrike]] on the [[Vampire Lord]]s amidst low number/low hp enemy stacks, alternated with [[Animate Dead]] to help out if the [[Life Drain]] to damage inbound ratio is proving destructive to the [[Vampire Lord]] stack - perhaps also using [[Haste]] and the [[Flying]] feature of the [[Vampire Lord]]s to switch opponent melee stacks to feasible ones or to seek a safe point to replenish via [[Animate Dead]], [[Cure]] or [[First Aid]]).
* The level 3 spell [[Animate Dead]] (which the necromancer hero [[Thant]] has built in) can resurrect units in combat, and they '''stay''' resurrected after combat. So given a good balance of [[Thant]]s undead and repairable units compared to the opponent, enough mana for the resurrects and having [[Shackles of War]] for unlimited turns (a smaller version would be using [[Blind]] on all remaining enemy units and killing one [[blind]]ed stack each turn, keeping the enemy locked until  the enemy hero is lost to the opponent and the artifacts if any are transferred) he would not lose any units in combat but also often get additional [[Necromancy]] created skeletons (which would hamper movement on the adventure map a little, as [[Skeleton]]s are slow creatures (and even with [[Town Portal]] and [[Dimension Door]] there's an [[adventure map]] movement penalty to consider)).
*There are number of artifacts that are only useful to Necropolis (artifacts enhancing the created creature number of the unique secondary skill [[Necromancy]] like [[Cloak of the Undead King]], but also [[Pendant of Death]] which counters the mini, undead-only version of [[Armageddon]], damaging all undead on the battlefield, even those recruited in no Necropolis but on the adventure map).
*Both Necropolis hero types begin with a spell book.

'''Cons:'''
* Necropolis produces the least amount of units per week. (Not counting Necromancy).
* [[Walking Dead]] and [[Zombie]]s slow armies down.
* Only one ranged attacker [[Lich]]/[[Power Lich]] which also has a [[Melee penalty]], no [[Double attack]] and cannot attack Siege Walls.
* Unaffected by [[Bless]].
* Unaffected by positive [[Morale]]. Mixing creatures of other town types without converting them to [[Skeleton]]s via [[Skeleton Transformer]] first will get them negative [[Morale]] of course, on the other hand [[Spirit of Oppression]] is a very nice thing to have for any Necropolis hero with only Necropolis units in the party as it does not do any harm to [[Necropolis]] units. The [[Dread Knight]]s' [[Death blow]] feature works largely (no [[Luck]] bonus for the second strike) like an attack only, no movement [[Morale]] bonus would, but at a higher probability of 20% (high [[Morale]] has 12.5% of activating a second action each creature) and it is a natural feature.
* Difficulties in the early game, where your slow level 1 and level 2 creatures are not the best to conquer mines and explore the map (and in the endgame a host of in-combat resurrectable skeletons might hamper adventure map transfers (to re-flag buildings for instance) safe for [[Town Portal]] which is a nice (and often ''banned'') spell to jump the adventure map)).
* Bone and [[Ghost Dragon]]s are near the bottom of the Level 7's in strength and usefulness.
* Necropolis heroes cannot learn first aid, even though their blacksmith produces first aid tents.
* [[Armageddon]] spell is in the Mage Guild, but is useless for Necropolis units since the undead don't have fire magic immunity. Moreover, a [[Rampart]], [[Inferno]], [[Dungeon]], or [[Conflux]] hero may capture a Necropolis and learn Armageddon, which will be used in a proper way via [[dragogeddon]].
* Dirt which is Necropolis's [[native terrain]] doesn't give any [[movement penalty]] to the enemy.
* This town is often considered too strong and thus is ''banned'' in many multiplayer games/tournaments. In {{hota}}, all percentages for [[Necromancy]] got halved in an attempt to balance this and also [[Galthran]] got replaced by [[Ranloo]].

'''Some thoughts'''
If you can upgrade your Estate early, you should do so. The Vampire Lords are one of the best 4th-level creatures in the game. Since they draw life from their enemy, and resurrect themselves, they can be used to single-handedly take out large numbers of low-level creatures. Combine with "counterstrike" to get even better effect. 

"The month of the Hobgoblin" and the like are [[Necromancers]]' wet dream. Just take your strongest hero and stockpile Skeletons. [[Necromancy]] adds a little bit of motivation on clearing maps - who needs experience and levelups, when there's [[Skeletons]] aplenty?

The Necropolis has only a few units they can rely on, the others can wait with being bought and, in time, even be ignored. The reliable units are: [[Skeleton Warrior]]s, [[Vampire Lord]]s, [[Power Lich]]es and [[Dread Knight]]s.

You get [[Skeleton Warrior]]s only if your ranks are full at the *end* of combat and if you have a stack of [[Skeleton Warrior]]s and no stack of [[Skeleton]]s. The downpart is that you get less than if you'd get normal [[Skeleton]]s (2/3rds as many). Therefore, if it is logistically managable, it would be better to try and get a horde of normal [[Skeleton]]s first, and then upgrade them at a Necropolis or Hill Fort for the last battle.

If there are any Level 1 dwellings nearby, recruit them and take them to the Necropolis. If you have a [[Skeleton Transformer]], you're practically getting free [[skeleton]]s, and even free [[Skeleton warrior]]s if there is a [[Hill Fort]] close by too.
}}{{end of user commentary}}

{{Town 'see also'}}

[[Category: Necropolis]]
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