Moat

Moat is a defensive structure in front of the walls in towns with Citadel or Castle. The moat has different effects in siege combat. Both attacking and defending creatures:

• are not able to move across the moat during combat round, but are forced to stop on the moat for the rest of the round
• have their defense reduced by 3.
• take damage from entering the moat and for each round they stay in this moat.

Moats in Restoration of Erathia and Armageddon's Blade versions did not cause any damage (except Tower's land mines). That effect was introduced in Shadow of Death expansion.

Damage of the moat

Moats cause damage to creatures when they enter the moat, or end a turn into one. The amount of damage depends on the town type as follows:

• Castle, Conflux, and Cove have water as a moat that causes 70 points of damage
• Rampart has brambles as a moat that cause 70 points of damage
• Stronghold has wooden spikes as a moat that cause 70 points of damage
• Necropolis has a boneyard as a moat that causes 70 points of damage
• Dungeon has boiling oil as a moat that causes 90 points of damage
• Inferno has lava as a moat that causes 90 points of damage
• Fortress has boiling tar as a moat that is 2 hexes wide and causes 90 points of damage
• Tower does not have a moat per se, but has landmines in front of the wall (minim 150 points of damage, see below).

There are few cases when creatures do not suffer damage from the moat:

• Teleported creatures teleported into moat
• Spellcasters ending their turn in moat when they have cast spell that turn
• The stack receives bad morale while in moat
• The stack is blinded in moat
• The stack is paralyzed by a Scorpicore in moat

Tower's Land Mines

Tower's land mines are a special case as they are not a moat per se. The mines work in very similar way as the spell Land Mine. The damage is calculated with the formula:

10 × P + L

where P is the value of power skill, and L is a constant based on the level of expertise in Fire Magic the defending hero has (25 for Basic, 50 for Advanced, and 100 for Expert). A minimum damage for the mines of 150 was introduced in Shadow of Death. To exceed the minimum damage in Shadow of Death version, a defending hero must be present and the hero must have:

• at least 13 spell power without Fire Magic, or with Basic Fire Magic,
• at least 11 spell power with Advanced Fire Magic, or
• at least 6 spell power with Expert Fire Magic.

In Restoration of Erathia and Armageddon's Blade versions, there is a base damage of 55, which is only used when no defending hero is present. To exceed this a defending hero must have:

• at least 4 power skill without Fire Magic or with Basic Fire Magic; or
• Advanced or Expert Fire Magic

Other noteworthy facts:

• Protection from Fire will reduce the damage of the land mines.
• The Orb of Tempestuous Fire will increase the damage of the mines by 50%.
• The mines can be removed with expert level Dispel spell.
• Creatures that are unaffected by the mines (they will not explode):
  • All defending creatures
  • Creatures with fire magic immunity (e.g. Fire Elementals).
  • Creatures with spell immunity (e.g. Black Dragons).
  • If either of the heroes has the Recanter's Cloak equipped, all creatures will be immune to the mines.