Fortress

Fully built Fortress, as seen on the adventure map Fully built Fortress, as seen on the adventure map. (HotA)	Towns
	Castle
	Rampart
	Tower
	Inferno
	Necropolis
	Dungeon
	Stronghold
	Fortress
	Conflux
	Cove
	Factory

The fortress town is a neutral alignment town type with beastmaster and witch hero classes. Fortress towns are built at the edge of swamps. Their armies are primarily made up of deadly creatures – born of the swamps, and then subdued and trained for warfare. While among them there is only one ranged attack creature, Fortress units are possessed of many special abilities to offset this deficiency. Fortress represent Tatalia.

Fortress' native terrain is swamp.

Structures

Fortress creature dwellings:

• Gnoll Hut
• Lizard Den
• Serpent Fly Hive
• Basilisk Pit
• Gorgon Lair
• Wyvern Nest
• Hydra Pond

Fortress-specific Buildings

• Blood Obelisk (+2 Attack to heroes defending against a siege)
• Cage of Warlords (+1 Defense to visiting hero)
• Captain's Quarters (Gnoll horde building, +6/week)
• Glyphs of Fear (+2 Defense to heroes defending against a siege)
• Shipyard (like in Castle, Necropolis and Conflux towns)
• Carnivorous Plant (Grail building, +10 Attack and Defense to heroes defending against a siege, as well as 5000 gold/day and +50% creature growth)

Halls		Fortifications		Miscellaneous		Mage Guilds		Banned spells
Village Hall	Village Hall (existing)	Fort	Fort 20 20 5000	Tavern	Tavern   5             500	Mage Guild level 1	Mage Guild level 1   5     5         2000
File:Town Hall large.gif	Town Hall 2500	Citadel	Citadel 5 2500	Marketplace	Marketplace   5             500	Mage Guild level 2	Mage Guild level 2   5   4   5   4   4   4   1000
City Hall	City Hall 5000	Castle	Castle 10 10 5000	Resource Silo	Resource Silo ()       5         5000	Mage Guild level 3	Mage Guild level 3   5   6   5   6   6   6   1000
Capitol	Capitol 10000			Blacksmith	Blacksmith 5 1000 link={{{smith}}} link={{{smith}}}	Mage Guild level 4	Mage Guild level 4   5   8   5   8   8   8   1000
						Mage Guild level 5	Mage Guild level 5   5   10   5   10   10   10   1000
Total Common Buildings:					45     40         37000	Total Mage Guild:	15   10   15   10   10   10   4000   20   18   20   18   18   18   5000   25   28   25   28   28   28   6000

Resource	Basic	Upgrades	All
	28900	25500	91400
	70	50	175
	45	20	105
	0	0	10
	0	0	10
	7	12	29
	17	22	49
Troop cost/week:		26660 + 2

Heroes

Name	Class			Specialty		Skill 1		Skill 2		Spell
Bron	Beastmaster			Basilisks		Basic Armorer		Basic Resistance
Bron	Beastmaster			Basilisks		Basic Armorer		Basic Interference
Drakon	Beastmaster			Gnolls		Basic Armorer		Basic Leadership
Wystan	Beastmaster			Lizardmen		Basic Armorer		Basic Archery
Tazar	Beastmaster			Armorer		Advanced Armorer
Alkin	Beastmaster			Gorgons		Basic Armorer		Basic Offense
Korbac	Beastmaster			Serpent Flies		Basic Armorer		Basic Pathfinding
Gerwulf	Beastmaster			Ballista		Basic Armorer		Basic Artillery
Broghild	Beastmaster			Wyverns		Basic Armorer		Basic Scouting
Mirlanda	Witch			Weakness		Advanced Wisdom				Weakness
Rosic	Witch			Mysticism		Basic Wisdom		Basic Mysticism		Magic Arrow
Voy	Witch			Navigation		Basic Wisdom		Basic Navigation		Slow
Kinkeria	Witch			Learning		Basic Wisdom		Basic Learning		Slow
Verdish	Witch			First Aid		Basic Wisdom		Basic First Aid		Protection from Fire
Merist	Witch			Stone Skin		Basic Wisdom		Basic Learning		Stone Skin
Styg	Witch			Sorcery		Basic Wisdom		Basic Sorcery		Shield
Andra	Witch			Intelligence		Basic Wisdom		Basic Intelligence		Dispel
Tiva	Witch			Eagle Eye		Basic Wisdom		Basic Eagle Eye		Stone Skin
Adrienne	Witch			Fire Magic		Basic Wisdom		Expert Fire Magic		Inferno

Creatures

Name	Town	Lvl	Att	Def	Dmg-	Dmg+	HP	Spd	Grw	AI Val	Cost		Special
Gnoll  Gnoll		1	3	5	2	3	6	4	12	56	50
Gnoll Marauder  Gnoll Marauder		1+	4	6	2	3	6	5	12	90	70
Lizardman  Lizardman		2	5	6	2	3	14	4	9	126	110		Ranged (12 shots)
Lizard Warrior  Lizard Warrior		2+	6	8	2	5	15	5	9	156	140		Ranged (24 shots)
Serpent Fly  Serpent Fly		3	7	9	2	5	20	9	8	268	220		Flying, Dispel
Dragon Fly  Dragon Fly		3+	8	10	2	5	20	13	8	312	240		Flying, Dispel, Weakness
Basilisk  Basilisk		4	11	11	6	10	35	5	4	552	325		Petrify
Greater Basilisk  Greater Basilisk		4+	12	12	6	10	40	7	4	714	400		Petrify
Gorgon  Gorgon		5	10	14	12	16	70	5	3	890	525
Mighty Gorgon  Mighty Gorgon		5+	11	16	12	16	70	6	3	1028	600		Death stare 10% chance/unit
Wyvern  Wyvern		6	14	14	14	18	70	7	2	1350	800		Flying
Wyvern Monarch  Wyvern Monarch		6+	14	14	18	22	70	11	2	1518	1100		Flying, Poison
Hydra  Hydra		7	16	18	25	45	175	5	1	4120	2200		No enemy retaliation, Attack all adjacent enemies
Chaos Hydra  Chaos Hydra		7+	18	20	25	45	250	7	1	5931	3500	1	No enemy retaliation, Attack all adjacent enemies

Strategy

Pros

• High defense (Defense themed town)
• With a two-hex moat and several buildings which increase the stats of the defending hero, a Fortress castle is a real pain to attack.
• Resilient hand-to-hand troops with excellent specials (Death Stare, Petrify, Poison)
• Their swamp native terrain makes them move much faster than any hero (without pathfinding) in the swamp.
• The Wyvern Nest is very cheap and has very low requirements compared to the other level 6 dwellings, allowing the Fortress town to get level 6 units in their army early even on impossible difficulty.
• Bron is the only hero in the game to bring level 4 units - Basilisks - with him at the start of the game.

Cons

• The heavy focus on Defense can be disadvantageous in many cases, as a hero with high attack can kill their enemies before they have a chance to attack back. Attack can therefore be used as a type of defense, while defense cannot be used as offense.
  • The heavy focus on Defense combined with the fact that fortress only have got one shooter makes it more difficult for fortress to win battles without casualities than the other factions.
• Magic, Mage Guild is limited to level 3.
• Some creatures have poor stats (in Shadow of Death some stats for Lizardman/Lizard Warrior and Serpent Fly/Dragon Fly were increased, but overall they are still relatively weak. In wake of gods, this can be fixed by use of some settings making Fortress creatures better)
• With two relatively weak fliers (lvl 3 with 20 hp, lvl 6 with 70 (!) hp) and one very weak shooter, the Fortress has a very hard time invading other towns properly. So Expert Ballistics, Expert Teleport and/or Expert Earthquake are a must.