Fortress

Fully built Fortress as seen on the adventure map in Shadow of Death  Fully built Fortress as seen on the adventure map in Horn of the Abyss	Towns
	Castle
	Rampart
	Tower
	Inferno
	Necropolis
	Dungeon
	Stronghold
	Fortress
	Conflux
	Cove
	Factory

Fortress is a neutral alignment town with the beastmaster and witch hero classes. Fortress represents Tatalia.

"Fortress towns are built at the edge of swamps and are often used as bases by the Beastmaster and Witch hero classes. 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." ^{RoE manual}

Fortress' native terrain is swamp.

Fortress creature dwellings

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

Fortress specific buildings

• Blood Obelisk - (+2 Defense 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 Attack to heroes defending against a siege)
• Shipyard - (allows to buy boats)
• Carnivorous Plant - (Grail building, +10 Attack and Defense to heroes defending against a siege, as well as 5000 gold/day and +50% creature growth)

Fortress building tree

Fully upgraded Fortress

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

Common buildings

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

Heroes

[Switch to Horn of the Abyss][Switch to Shadow of Death]

Fortress heroes (Shadow of Death)
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

Fortress heroes (Horn of the Abyss)
Name	Class			Specialty		Skill 1		Skill 2		Spell

Banned secondary skills

Some skills are not available for certain hero classes, which means they can only acquire them from Scholars, Witch Huts (except for Necromancy and Leadership, if not allowed by a map-maker), Seer's Huts, Events or Pandora's Boxes.

Necromancy and Fire Magic are not available for beastmasters.

Necromancy, Resistance and Interference  are not available for witches.

Creatures

+ colspan = 14 style="background-color:#Template:Blue 0; font-size: 120%; color:white; height:28px;" | Fortress 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

Town names

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

Backwater	Coolmire	Deadfall	Deadwood
Drakenmoor	Edgewater	Hermit Cove	Lostmoor
Marshank	Marshchoke	Marshwall	Mossden
Mosswood	Mudshire	Silt	Stillbog

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

User Commentary

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• While among them there is only one ranged-attack creature, Fortress units possess many special abilities to offset this deficiency.

• Strategy Guide for Fortress from Jolly Joker on Celestial Heavens

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.
• Hand-to-hand troops with excellent specials (Dispel, Death Stare, Petrify, Poison).
• Dragon Flies are extremely fast. They share 8th place by speed among town units with Efreet Sultans (not including 7 level creatures, these two are fastest in the game), being faster than all creatures in Tower and Stronghold - and it's on level 3! For early development, it rocks, since the hero may simply rush through the map having Dragon Flies only (even basic Serpent Flies are ok, as their speed 9 is decent); and in a big battle, they are a major problem since they remove positive spells casted on enemy units and cast Weakness, making them less effective.
• 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. (Except Illor in HotA.)

Cons

• Fortress creatures have the lowest attack ratings of all towns.
• 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, as well as Restoration of Erathia patch 1.3 and Armageddon's Blade patch 2.1, some stats for Lizardman/Lizard Warrior and Serpent Fly/Dragon Fly were increased, but overall they are still relatively weak).
• Very slow 7 level creature, especially the basic version (with speed 5, Hydra is slower than six lvl 1 creatures, and there is no upgraded lvl 1 creature slower than Hydra; among lvl 2 melee units, only Dwarf, Walking Dead, and Zombie are slower). Moreover, Chaos Hydras are more expensive than Ancient Behemoths who are stronger, faster and more resilient.
• Wyverns are on the bottom of the 6th level, have low HP, and are too expensive for their strength (Monarchs cost as much as Efreet Sultans, and more than War Unicorns).
• With two fragile fliers (lvl 3 with 20 hp, lvl 6 with 70 hp) and one low-level shooter, the Fortress has a very hard time invading other towns properly. So Expert Ballistics, Expert Teleport and/or Expert Earthquake are a must.

The fortress is a "Defense" themed town. It's evident all throughout the design of this faction. The castle itself has a double-thickness moat, and many tough, resilient creatures such as Basilisks, Gorgons, and the immovable Hydra which can make fortress hypothetically the hardest town to siege. Even the native terrain of swamp plays into this theme because many opposing heroes will be severely hindered in the area around your town.

Unfortunately, having a tough defense is usually not ideal strategy in Heroes III as it is a game that favors aggression and outward expansion. Most players rank the fortress as among the weakest towns, and typically if you don't expand to other towns in the first few weeks, you'll most likely be outpaced by other players or NPCs. Pick a strong beastmaster as your hero and begin pounding on wandering creatures as early as possible (you'll suffer losses, but fortress creatures are hard to wipe out).

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See also

• List of creatures
• List of creatures (HotA)
• List of heroes
• List of heroes (HotA)