The Lord of the Rings - The War of the Ring
===============================================================================
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE WAR OF THE RING
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FAQ/Walkthrough
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Author: Barry Willemsen
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<< 1. TABLE OF CONTENTS >>
----------------------
<1> Table of Contents
<2> Legal Stuff & Contact Info
<3> Version History
<4> General Information
<5> The Interface
5.1) The Menus
5.2) The Game Interface
<6> Gameplay
6.1) Good... or Evil?
6.2) General Controls
6.3) Resource Management
6.4) General Hints'n Tips
6.5) Fate
6.6) Places of Power
<7> Playing the Free Peoples
7.1) Gameplay differences
7.2) Good Buildings
7.3) Good Technologies
7.4) Good Units
7.5) Good Heroes
7.6) Good Fate Powers
7.7) Good-Only Strategies
7.8) Good Campaign
<8> Playing the Minions of Sauron (NOT FINISHED)
8.1) Gameplay differences
8.2) Evil Buildings
8.3) Evil Technologies
8.4) Evil Units
8.5) Evil Heroes
8.6) Evil Fate Powers
8.7) Evil-Only Strategies
8.8) Evil Campaign
<9> Credits
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<< 2. LEGAL STUFF & CONTACT INFO >>
-------------------------------
Copyright 2004 Barry Willemsen
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Before you're reading anything of the FAQ, please read this and make sure you
agree with the terms and conditions included in the text below:
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders. This may not be reproduced under
any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on
any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written
permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any
public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.
In other words, just mail me for permission before placing this FAQ or pieces
of it on your site. You can find my e-mail adress in the Contact Info section
below.
Contact Info
- - - - - - -
If you discover a major error in this FAQ, would like to submit a strategy that
isn't included in here, or have a question about the game that isn't answered
in this FAQ, you can e-mail me at the following adress:
TheoW7@cs.com
Of course, there are some restrictions on e-mailing me:
- Don't send me SPAM
- Make sure the subject line is recognizable. Weird topics will not be read
and deleted immediately.
- E-mails with questions that are answered (or soon will be) in the FAQ will
not be replied to.
- Don't ask for cheats or any other strategies: all tactics I know are in
this FAQ
- If you have negative things to say about this FAQ you can always send them
to me, as long as the mails remain polite and have a normal topic. I'll
rewrite some parts of the FAQ if I have to, and credit the one who has
located the error in the Credits section.
If you have some original strategies to submit or you can tell me easier ways
to beat the campaign-scenarios, e-mails will be gladly accepted. I will put it
in a highlighted spot with your name above it in the following update. Just
remember that e-mails probably won't be replied to the first day afterwards. I
still have lots of things to do for myself and I won't be able to read my mail
every day.
By the way, my FAQ is authorized to be on the following sites:
- GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com)
- Cheat Code Central (www.cheatcc.com)
- Cheat Channel (www.cheatchannel.com)
- Cheatbook (www.cheatbook.de)
- Neoseeker (www.neoseeker.com)
- IGN Faqs (www.faqs.ign.com)
- DLH (www.dlh.net)
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<< 3. VERSION HISTORY >>
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Version 0.6 - Posted on March 5th, 2004
Got the main part of this FAQ up. The aspects of playing the good
side are entirely up.
Version 0.8 - Posted on March 6th, 2004
The first part of the Evil section is completed. I'm still
having some trouble thinking of strategies for the final levels
of the Evil campaign. Enhanced unit section a bit by typing up
population costs. Also corrected some minor errors.
Version 0.9 - Posted on March 23rd, 2004
This FAQ is just about completed. I only need to add walkthroughs
for the last four levels of the Evil Campaign. Might take a
while, though, my life's been pretty busy.
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<< 4. GENERAL INFORMATION >>
------------------------
First off, this is my very first FAQ, so don't think it will be wonderful. I'm
just trying to get gamers through the game with simple strategies, consisting
mostly of guerilla-attacks and Hit & Run tactics. It's supposed to get people
through the scenarios step-by-step. The game can be hard at some points, even
in Easy Mode. And since there were no FAQs contributed yet when I started
this, it semt that I had nothing to lose...
"The War of the Ring" was developed by Liquid Entertainment and published by
Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (Vivendi Universal Games). It is a game based on the
popular "The Lord of the Rings" series, waging war in Middle-Earth on either
side of the field. It is very entertaining, though a bit hard on some points.
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<< 5. THE INTERFACE >>
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5.1) THE MENUS
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Once you start the game, you have several things to choose from in the main
menu. These things are: Single Player; Multiplayer; Load; Options; and Quit.
Single Player
- - - - - - -
Starts a new, single-player game. When you select this option a new screen
appears with again several options to choose from:
GOOD CAMPAIGN: Command the Free Peoples of Middle-Earth and help them
destroying the One Ring in a series of scenarios.
EVIL CAMPAIGN: Command the Minions of Sauron and lead them to victory,
so Middle-Earth will forever be under Sauron's rule.
SKIRMISH: Start a quick single-player skirmish game against one or
more computer-controlled opponents.
TUTORIAL: Play through four tutorials teaching you the basics of this
game; three for the Free Peoples and one for the Minions.
BACK: Return to the Main Menu.
Multiplayer
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Starts a new multiplayer game. This will give you an opportunity to compete
with up to 8 other players in a LAN game over the Internet through GameSpy or
at a specific IP address. The following game types are available (this goes
for Single-Player skirmish games as well):
RAZING: Here you have to destroy all your enemy buildings (including
Towers and War Posts) to win. It doesn't matter how many
units your enemy has alive; razing the buildings will gain
you victory.
SURVIVAL: This mode forces you to totally destroy your enemy: all of
his buildings AND units must be crushed in order to be
victorious. If all buildings of a player are destroyed in
this mode, a timer appears. The player without buildings
has to construct a Stronghold (for the Free Peoples) or a
Goblin Hovel (for the Minions of Sauron) before this timer
runs out or his units will be revealed on the map. If he
succeeds, his units become shrouded in the Fog of War once
again.
FAMINE: Each player in this mode starts of with a set amount of
resources, and resource collecting is turned off. In order
to win you have to destroy ALL enemy buildings and units.
This is a Deathmatch-kind of game.
CONTROL: This is the only mode that is limited by time. Now, players
have to control Places of Power to be the winner. Each
Place of Power in possession gains the controlling player
an amount of points. When the timer ends, the player with
the most points wins. If all other players are eliminated,
you'll get an immediate win. This also applies to situations
where one player has more than 50% of the points that can be
collected.
CATAPULT: An Ancient Catapult is placed somewhere on the map. Players
must seek it out and try to control it by defending it
against enemies. The Catapult is a Place of Power in this
mode. In order for control to shift, all of a controlling
players units near the Ancient Catapult must be crushed.
The real objective remains to destroy all enemy buildings
and units, however. With the Ancient Catapult, this is very
easy, as long as YOU are in control...
Load
- - -
Using this, you can load a previously saved game. Pretty self-explanatory,
isn't it?
Options
- - - -
On these pages you can shift the game's options to your likings. You can set
audio, video, and game options here. It also gives you an ability to adjust
the game's playlist to your liking, as well turning the violence in the game
ON or OFF by checking the "Mature" box.
Quit
- - -
Quits the game :(
5.2) THE GAME INTERFACE
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Once you're in the game itself for the first time, the interface might seem a
bit overwhelming, but you'll get the hang of it soon enough. I'll take you
through available options here.
- The screen itself has been splitted into roughly 2 sections: the field of
battle and a lower part where you can select and order things to happen.
- In the lower left corner of the screen, you see a miniaturization of the
map. Most of it is probably shrouded by the Fog of War, which takes away
your sight on enemy units and buildings when there's nobody of your team
there to see them. If you left-click on the Mini-Map, your sight will
immediately focus on that spot.
- Above the Mini-Map, there are three buttons: Menu, Chat, and Objectives.
Menu will return you to the Main Menu. Chat enables you to speak with
other players while in multiplayer mode. Finally, Objectives will show
you the things you have to do to complete a scenario, and also keeps track
of the hints you have gotten throughout the level.
- On the right side of the Mini-Map there are six small buttons. From top to
bottom they resemble: Look Here; Fight Here; Walk/Run Toggle; Combat
Alert; Fire Alert; and Idle Worker. Look Here tells your ally to look to
the spot you fired the event in. Fight Here does about the same, only it
tells your ally to send military forces in to fight. With Walk/Run Toggle
you can decide what is the default for your units: walk (slow but units
can heal while walking) or run (faster, but you can't heal): Run is the
default setting. Combat Alert will take you the spot where your units are
battling enemies. Fire Alert will take you to a building that is set
ablaze. The last one, Idle Worker, automatically selects a Worker who has
nothing to do.
- The big box that comes next to the Mini-Map is called the Selection Panel:
when you select a Worker, the buildings he can construct are viewed here.
If you hold your mouse over certain buildings to get an overview of it.
- Above the Selection Panel, you might see small round circles with white
stars in it. These are further explained in the Fate paragraph in the
Gameplay section (6.5). The little orb above these Fate circles will be
explained in the Fate paragraph as well.
- To the right of the Selection Panel, you'll see the Action Panel. When
you select a certain unit, all abilities and upgrades that have been made
on this unit will be shown here. In training buildings, you can select
the units you want to create in the Action Panel. Note that some orders
in the action panel (like the hero Aragorn's Kingsfoil ability) have to
be activated by clicking on it. This is indicated by a gold line around
the ability's image.
- The last thing you should know is about the three little icons on top of
the Action Panel. From left to right, these are: Population; Food; and
Ore. All of these are explained in the Resource Management & Population
paragraph of the Gameplay section (6.3).
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<< 6. GAMEPLAY >>
-------------
People who are familiar with the gameplay of Battle Realms (also developed by
Liquid Entertainment) will have little trouble adjusting to gameplay. Other
RTS-players should follow some of the later tutorials that handle the more
advanced aspects of the game. For gamers who are totally new to this genre,
there is also a tutorial which handles the very basic of just about any RTS
game. The following section will roughly cover most of the game's aspects.
- - - - - - - - - - -
6.1) Good... or Evil?
- - - - - - - - - - -
In this game, you can help destroying the One Ring. Stride valiantly against
the ranks of Sauron and aid in the quest to destroy the One Ring. You will
command the brave armies of Gondor, seek out the help of Elves and Dwarves,
and command the greatest heroes of the Third Aera of the Sun on Middle-Earth
to finally free the Free Peoples of Middle-Earth of the dark threat from the
east.
Of course, you can also choose for the darker side of Middle-Earth. You shall
then command great hordes of Orcs and other evil beings and lead them to
victory in the thick of battle. If you fail, Sauron's wrath will be terrible,
so even the most sneakiest backstabbing attacks are allowed in this great war
game.
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6.2) General Controls
- - - - - - - - - - -
I recommend people who don't know much about the RTS-genre yet to play all of
the tutorials. There, a Dwarf and an Elf will teach you all the basics you
need to know to play the game. The general controls of the game are listed
here. If you are familiar with this genre, I suggest you skip this section
and move on with the FAQ.
- You can select units by LEFT-CLICKING on them. If you hold the LEFT MOUSE
BUTTON, you can also drag a lasso around multiple units to select them. All
units and buildings in the game are selected this way.
- You can make a unit move to a certain spot by selecting it and RIGHT
CLICKING on the location on the map where you want him to go. If you do
this while a building is selected, you will set up a Rally Point, which
means that all troops trained in that building will immediately go there.
- To train a unit or make use of a special ability, you can left click the
corresponding button in the lower right corner of the screen (this will be
referred to as the Action Panel in the rest of the FAQ). If you click on a
unit multiple times, it will be queued up and will start to train as soon
as the one before it is completed. Note that you pay the unit once you
click the unit button, NOT when it actually starts its training.
- When the cursor changes into something different (a sword, for example) you
can RIGHT CLICK to make the selected unit make the action that the cursor
is viewing. A sword, for example, means an attack move.
For more on basic controls, play the first tutorial. You can access them from
the Single Player menu.
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6.3) Resource Management & Population
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Like every civilization, you'll need resources to thrive, as well as new
Population slots to expand your settlement. In Battle Realms, those resources
were Rice and Water. But here, you'll have to collect Food and Ore. This
section will show you how to collect resources (you could also learn it from
the tutorials, by the way):
Food
- - -
Everybody needs to eat, and the units in this game are no exception (only
the Slavemaster of the Minions requires just Ore). You'll need massive
amounts of food to keep a steady stream of soldiers going, as well as to
upgrade them and increase their abilities.
Food is always obtained from a Well. The Free Peoples have to build a Mill
over the well first to get food from it. The Minions of Sauron like flesh
better, and that's why their Workers have to build a Slaughterhouse on top
of a well to extract food from it. Food is dropped off at the Stronghold
(for the Free Peoples) or the Goblin Hovel (for the Minions).
Ore
- -
Ore is the other important resource. It is essential for weapons, armor,
and the construction of buildings. Unlike Food, Ore can be extracted from
an Ore Pile immediately, without a building on top of it. Assign Workers
on an ore pile to extract the valuable resource from it. Ore is, just like
Food, deposited in the Stronghold or the Goblin Hovel.
Ore gathering will speed up a little once you buld a special extraction
building on top of it. For the Free Peoples, this is the Forge. For the
Minions, this is the Smelter. These buildings work in the same way as the
Mill or the Slaughterhouse does.
Population
- - - - - -
Population isn't really a resource. But, since it is needed to train new
units as well, it's very important and deserves to be listed here. It's as
simple as this: if you've maxed out your population slots, you cannot train
any more units until you have population again. To build a big invasion
army, you'll have to keep an eye on your population all the time, so you
can create new population slots for the new soldiers to be trained.
Good players can expand the population of their settlements by building new
Camps (or upgrading them into War Camps later). Each Camp adds 11 new slots
to your current population, while each War Camp upgrade gives you another
four slots. Evil players, on the other hand, use a special unit to expand
their population. The Goblin Slavemasters know how to keep the Minions in
line, thus creating 12 new population slots per trained Slavemaster.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
6.4) General Hints'n Tips
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
A few tips are listed here on single-player skirmish games. There aren't a
lot of them, however, and additional tips would be very welcome. You'll be
credited for it.
- One golden rule of the skirmish games is that you should never stay put
in your base. This game is absolutely war-based, and that's why you
should always keep training a steady stream of soldiers.
- Circling around enemy bases to see there weaknesses is a great tactic
to inflict maximum damage with just a small raiding party. It will give
you the element of suprise, and you might be able to destroy a key
production building, giving yourself a big advantage.
- Keep a constant attack on. Think of it like this: as long as you are
attacking your enemy, he's not attacking you. Of course, you should watch
out for other players, who will find your base undefended during your
big invasion. Always keep a few units back to protect your base.
- One of the biggest threats for you are the "cloaked" units (like Elves or
Haradrim). They can't be seen on screen without a detector unit (Ranger
or a Wraith) and can inflict significant damage without you killing them
off. Make sure you have detector units, on the offensive as well as in
your defensive ranks. Detector units placed in Towers do well.
- You can do the same to your opponent. Little guerilla attacks with your
invisible units can actually destroy a whole invasion army. And as long
as you keep killing enemy detectors, you won't have any losses at all!
- Small things like Heroes or Fate Powers can decide the outcome of any
battle. Blinding your opponent at the right time will almost certainly
defeat him.
- That's why Fate is so important. It's another reason to keep attacking,
as you can only get it through battle. Fate is used to summon heroes and
to invoke Fate Powers.
- There are four types of weaponry in the game: crush, hack, and pierce
weapons. Crush is represented by a hammer icon, hack by a sword icon,
and pierce by a spear icon. The other type is hero, which can be seen by
the aura of light that hangs around a sword icon. Heroes have advantage
against all other types.
Remember, mail me if you know other good hints.
- - - - -
6.5) Fate
- - - - -
You can get Fate through three different activities: exploring, expanding
your camp, and through battle. The last one is the fastest at generating
Fate, but perhaps the most perilous as well. Fate is represented by the blue
circles with white stars in them on the top of the selection panel. The
more circles you get, the harder it is to get additional Fate. The Fate has
numerous purposes:
Heroes
- - - -
All heroes except for Frodo (Good Side) and Gollum (Evil Side) can only
be summoned by offering a certain amount of Fate. They don't cost any
Food or Ore, but the Fate itself is going to be hard to acquire if you
don't keep the battle going. The Free Peoples and the Minions both have
their own heroes. They can turn the tide of a battle with their special
abilities and are usually a lot stronger than normal militia.
Fate Powers
- - - - - -
The other things you can use Fate for are called Fate Powers. These can
give you an edge over your opponent and can be great when you're about to
lose an important battle. The good and the evil side both have their own
Fate Powers. The powers differ in costs from two to seven Fate Points.
I hope that I've made myself clear enough and you all agree that Fate is one
of the most important things in this game.
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6.6) Places of Power
- - - - - - - - - - -
On almost any map you can find a Place of Power. You'll immediately recognize
one when you see it, because it often looks like a majestic statue and light
will be glowing around it. To take control of one of these, you'll have to
move one of your units near it. The benefits of the monument will then shift
to you. If an enemy is controlling a Place of Power, you'll have to destroy
all enemy units around it to gain control for yourself. The Places of Power
are (some are from the campaign, not all from SP skirmishes):
- Orc Mask - Enchanting Willow
- Wretched Sentinel - Dark Orb of Energy
- Ancient Fountain - Steed of Rohan
- Claw of Power - Monument of Narsil
- Claw of Protection - Elven Temple
- Claw of Regeneration - Statue of Eorl
- Dragon Skull - Mallorn of Galadriel
- Dark Orb of Reforming - Radiant Monolith
- Sentinel Tree - Spires of Siege
- Silent Watcher - Orb of Hasty Summoning
- Radagast's Aviary - Globe of Mastery
===============================================================================
<< 7. PLAYING THE FREE PEOPLES >>
-----------------------------
Playing as the Free Peoples of Middle-Earth, you will take command over all
who withstand Sauron's rule. Your forces, ranging from Men, Elves and Dwarves
to the mighty Huorns, will stride with their hearts fulfilled of only one
purpose: the destruction of the One Ring and Sauron and his creations.
The military units of the Free Peoples aren't very numerous, but they are
the absolute elite and will fight without conceding an inch. IMO, the good
campaign is a little easier than the evil campaign (though you might think
differently about that).
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.1) Gameplay Differences
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Free Peoples have several unique characteristics in this game. All of
them are listed below:
- The Free Peoples use a Mill to collect Food and a Forge to obtain Ore.
- The Workers of the Free Peoples drop their resources at the Stronghold.
- Workers and Heroes are trained in the Stronghold.
- Because the numbers of the good guys are small, your buildings have to
be built close to each other. The area in which can be built is marked
by a green decal on the surface.
- Different technologies, units, and heroes than the Evil Side.
- They use Camps and War Camps to expand their Population
- Their Towers can be equipped with a powerful Ballista, adding one powerful
shot per round.
- They have different Fate Powers.
- - - - - - - - - -
7.2) Good Buildings
- - - - - - - - - -
Stronghold Level 1
-------------------
HIT POINTS: 750
BUILDING COST: 250 Food, 250 Ore
ARMOR CLASS: 1
UNITS TRAINED: - Worker
- Frodo
- Gimli
- Legolas
- Aragorn
- Gandalf
RESEARCH HERE: - Stronghold Level 2
- Stronghold Level 3
- Stronghold Level 4
- Stronghold Level 5
The Stronghold is the place where the Workers and Heroes of the Free Peoples
of Middle-Earth are trained. It is also a drop-off point for Workers that
have collected resources. The Stronghold is the base of any settlement, and
one of the most important buildings to protect. The Stronghold is Level 1
when you start with the game, but you can upgrade it up to Level 5. Some
buildings and units require a certain Stronghold level before they can be
purchased.
Camp
-----
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 1
HIT POINTS: 400
BUILDING COST: 80 Ore
ARMOR CLASS: 1
UNITS TRAINED: None
RESEARCH HERE: None
The Camp is a valuable building because it increases your maximum Population
by eleven. To set up a good army, you'll need lots of Camps, so plan your
placement of them carefully: they have to be well defended from the enemy, or
the foe's raiding parties will leave you crippled. The Camp can be further
upgraded to a War Camp.
War Camp
---------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 2
HIT POINTS: 500
UPGRADE COST: 55 Ore
ARMOR CLASS: 2
UNITS TRAINED: None
RESEARCH HERE: None
When a Camp is upgraded to a War Camp, your Population will be increased by
four. Other than that it functions just like a camp. Perfect when you run out
of space to put new Camps in.
Mill
-----
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 1
HIT POINTS: 570
BUILDING COST: 50 Ore
ARMOR CLASS: 3
UNITS TRAINED: None
RESEARCH HERE: None
A Mill must always be built on top of a well to function. This building is
used by your Workers to obtain Food and bring it back to a Stronghold. It is
one of the first structures to be built in any game. Food cannot be obtained
without use of a Mill.
Foundry
--------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 1
HIT POINTS: 750
BUILDING COST: 80 Ore
ARMOR CLASS: 3
UNITS TRAINED: None
RESEARCH HERE: None
Ore can be obtained from its deposit without any building on top of it, but
the use of a Foundry definitely speeds up its income rate. Workers make use
of it in the same way as the Mill: you'll want to build this building
immediately at the start of the game to ensure you have enough ore to train
your army.
Watchtower
-----------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 2
HIT POINTS: 400
BUILDING COST: 105 Food, 105 Ore
ATTACK POWER: 14
ARMOR CLASS: 2
UNITS TRAINED: None, but four can be garrisoned inside for more shots.
RESEARCH HERE: - Ballista Tower
The Watchtower is a basic defensive structure to ensure the safety of your
camp. It is advised to build a lot of them, especially around buildings
that are vital to win the game (Stronghold, Camps). At the borders of your
settlement, they can be used to spot incoming enemies so you won't be
surprised. To increase the shot rate of the Watchtower, garrison more units
inside. Note that these units have to be unmounted.
Ballista Tower
---------------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 4
HIT POINTS: 500
UPGRADE COST: 150 Food, 150 Ore
ATTACK POWER: Ballista=35; Normal=14
ARMOR CLASS: 2
UNITS TRAINED: None, but four can be garrisoned inside for more shots.
RESEARCH HERE: None
When the player researches this upgrade for the Watchtower, a powerful
ballista is placed on top of the tower, giving one additional shot per round.
The speed of the ballista is NOT measured by the number of units that are
inside the Ballista Tower.
Barracks
---------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 1
HIT POINTS: 700
BUILDING COST: 60 Food, 105 Ore
ARMOR CLASS: 1
UNITS TRAINED: - Gondor Swordsman
- Rider of Rohan
RESEARCH HERE: None
In this hall, newly recruited warriors of Gondor and Rohan train endlessly
to perfect their weapon skills. At the Barracks, players can train the
basic fighting units of the Free Peoples of Middle-Earth.
Dwarf Hall
-----------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 1
HIT POINTS: 750
BUILDING COST: 80 Food, 100 Ore
ARMOR CLASS: 2
UNITS TRAINED: - Dwarf Axethrower
- Dwarf Shieldbreaker
RESEARCH HERE: None
This rough fighting area was designed specially for the Dwarves, sturdy
fighters that are enthousiastic when it comes to battle. Here, a ranged unit,
the Dwarf Axethrower, is trained, as well as the Dwarf Shieldbreaker, which
is a powerful melee unit.
Forge
------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 2
HIT POINTS: 590
BUILDING COST: 75 Food, 100 Ore
ARMOR CLASS: 1
UNITS TRAINED: None
RESEARCH HERE: - Iron Blades; Steel Blades; Dwarf Forged Blades
- Iron Plating; Steel Plating; Dwarf Forged Plating
- Razor Edge
- Flaming Axe
- Shield Break
- Dwarf Engineering
- Lookout Tower
In this forge, the best metallurgy experts are assembled to aid the Free
Peoples in their battle against Sauron. With the experience of the Dwarven
forges, these will prove to be the best of the best. They make wondrous
inventions for the Barracks units, the Dwarf Hall units, and for buildings.
Ranger Post
------------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 2
HIT POINTS: 675
BUILDING COST: 95 Food, 110 Ore
ARMOR CLASS: 1
UNITS TRAINED: - Ranger
RESEARCH HERE: None
The northern wanderers known as Rangers prefer to live at these small posts
to scout out the area around them. In the wilderness, they test their superb
detection skills before using them on the battlefield.
Wilderness Outpost
-------------------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 2
HIT POINTS: 600
BUILDING COST: 85 Food, 110 Ore
ARMOR CLASS: 1
UNITS TRAINED: None
RESEARCH HERE: - Etched Blades; Mystic Blades; Runic Blades
- Improved Leather; Hard Leather; Studded Leather
- Camouflage
- Eagle Eye
- Elven Cloaks
- Eagle Fletching
In this building, ingenious Rangers and Elves gather to exchange tactics
and new weapon plans. Sometimes, this results in a great improvement for the
Rangers and Elven Archers. With some of the Wilderniss Outpost's upgrades,
they truly become fearsome opponents.
Elven Sanctuary
----------------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 3
HIT POINTS: 650
BUILDING COST: 135 Food, 135 Ore
ARMOR CLASS: 2
UNITS TRAINED: - Elven Archer
- Elven Lightbearer
RESEARCH HERE: None
This place was created as a resting point for the Elves. Here, they could
enjoy the silence of nature and practice their arts with the bow or aim
their projectiles at fast-moving targets. It is the place where all the
Elven warriors are recruited.
Nature's Haven
---------------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 3
HIT POINTS: 680
BUILDING COST: 130 Food, 135 Ore
ARMOR CLASS: 1
UNITS TRAINED: - Beorning
- Huorn
RESEARCH HERE: None
The mysterious home of the Beorning, the Nature's Havens can also call forth
the deadly Huorns from deep in the forests. They are fearsome to behold,
and most deadly on the battlefield.
House of Lore
--------------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 3
HIT POINTS: 625
BUILDING COST: 95 Food, 100 Ore
ARMOR CLASS: 1
UNITS TRAINED: None
RESEARCH HERE: - Strength of Nature; Strength of the Claw; Strength of
the Wild
- Natures Protection; Natures Defense; Natures Shield
- Bear Form
- Savage Blow
- Dispel
- Light of Lothlorien
- Tree Form
The House of Lore is a building where those who practice magic can further
increase their abilities. The old scrolls lying in the library of this
building hold secrets beyond imagination, and using them will give great
powers to Elven Lightbearers, Beornings, and Huorns.
- - - - - - - - - -
7.3) Good Upgrades
- - - - - - - - - -
First, I shall list the Forge technologies here. After that, there are the
Wilderness Outpost and the House of Lore technologies.
Iron Blades
------------
UPGRADE AT: Forge
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 2
UPGRADE COST: 75 Food, 75 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: +1 Attack for Gondor Swordsmen, Riders of Rohan, Dwarf
Axethrowers, and Dwarf Shieldbreakers.
RATING: 2/5 - This doesn't make a lot of difference... yet. It
needed for the later upgrades (which DO matter), so
buy it. Offense over defense!
Steel Blades
-------------
UPGRADE AT: Forge
REQUIRED: Iron Blades, Stronghold Level 3
UPGRADE COST: 125 Food, 125 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: +1 Attack for Gondor Swordsmen, Riders of Rohan, Dwarf
Axethrowers, and Dwarf Shieldbreakers.
RATING: 3/5 - You might notice that battles go a little faster
once you've researched this upgrade. And believe me,
it gets better.
Dwarf Forged Blades
--------------------
UPGRADE AT: Forge
REQUIRED: Steel Blades, Stronghold Level 5
UPGRADE COST: 175 Food, 175 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: +1 Attack for Gondor Swordsmen, Riders of Rohan, Dwarf
Axethrowers, and Dwarf Shieldbreakers.
RATING: 5/5 - Now we're talking. Build up a nice force of Men
and Dwarves and go crush the enemy! You should have
bought at least one armor upgrade, however, or you
won't be able to enjoy of your overwhelming attack for
a long time.
Iron Plating
-------------
UPGRADE AT: Forge
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 2
UPGRADE COST: 75 Food, 75 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: +1 Armor for Gondor Swordsmen, Riders of Rohan, Dwarf
Axethrowers, and Dwarf Shieldbreakers.
RATING: 1/5 - Buy an attack upgrade before this. This, again,
is one of the things you'll have to buy to get the
better upgrades.
Steel Plating
--------------
UPGRADE AT: Forge
REQUIRED: Iron Plating, Stronghold Level 3
UPGRADE COST: 125 Food, 125 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: +1 Armor for Gondor Swordsmen, Riders of Rohan, Dwarf
Axethrowers, and Dwarf Shieldbreakers.
RATING: 3/5 - This is much better than the last one, since you
might have noticed your units last longer in battle.
Dwarf Forged Plating
---------------------
UPGRADE AT: Forge
REQUIRED: Steel Plating, Stronghold Level 5
UPGRADE COST: 175 Food, 175 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: +1 Armor for Gondor Swordsmen, Riders of Rohan, Dwarf
Axethrowers, and Dwarf Shieldbreakers.
RATING: 4/5 - Mix this up with Dwarf Forged Blades and some
missile units for back-up and there you have one
unstoppable force!
Razor Edge
-----------
UPGRADE AT: Forge
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 2
UPGRADE COST: 100 Food, 100 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: Makes the Dwarf Axethrower's axes pass through the
initial target, hitting any enemies beyond.
RATING: 3/5 - If you're fond of the Dwarves and use them
a lot, this is a must-buy. Throw your axes and watch
an enemy army getting killed within a minute.
Flaming Axe
------------
UPGRADE AT: Forge
REQUIRED: Razor Edge, Stronghold Level 4
UPGRADE COST: 125 Food, 125 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: Makes the Dwarf Axethrower's axes burn, giving them
the ability to destroy and ignite buildings fast.
RATING: 3/5 - Again, it's a matter of using them or not. If
you do, buy this upgrade and send some raiding parties
consisting of Axethrowers to set a whole enemy war camp
ablaze.
Shield Break
-------------
UPGRADE AT: Forge
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 2
UPGRADE COST: 100 Food, 100 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: Gives the Dwarf Shieldbreaker an ability to smash foes
with such strength that it permanently decreases their
armor class.
RATING: 3/5 - With a lot of Shieldbreakers, mixed up with
missile units and some melees, you can crush just about
any force, unless you're hopelessly outnumbered. This
rocks!
Dwarf Masonry
--------------
UPGRADE AT: Forge
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 2
UPGRADE COST: 75 Food, 175 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: Gives buildings more hit points.
RATING: 1/5 - Isn't really needed, in my opinion. Is useful only
if you're under siege, but since you should be attacking
and not defending, you don't really need it. Save your
resources for better upgrades.
Lookout Tower
--------------
UPGRADE AT: Forge
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 2
UPGRADE COST: 100 Food, 100 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: Gives towers a greater lign of sight.
RATING: 2/5 - Not something you should get immediately, but still
useful for spotting those enemy raiding parties early.
Ballista Tower
---------------
UPGRADE AT: Watchtower
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 4
UPGRADE COST: 150 Food, 150 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: Equips the researching Watchtower with a powerful ballista.
RATING 3/5 - Can help you withstand a big attack when you place
it at key positions. Don't buy this for all Towers, though.
War Camp
---------
UPGRADE AT: Camp
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 2
UPGRADE COST: 55 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: Creates a bigger camp, adding 4 Population slots.
RATING 4/5 - Use this to get additional population when you run
out of space to build your camps in. Gets an armor class
bonus as well.
Etched Blades
--------------
UPGRADE AT: Wilderness Outpost
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 2
UPGRADE COST: 75 Food, 75 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: +1 Attack for Rangers and Elven Archers.
RATING: 3/5 - If you like to do raiding with invisible Elves, you
need to buy this as soon as possible. Even if you don't,
this upgrade pays off by giving your prominent missile
users an extra power boost.
Mystic Blades
--------------
UPGRADE AT: Wilderness Outpost
REQUIRED: Etched Blades, Stronghold Level 3
UPGRADE COST: 125 Food, 125 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: +1 Attack for Rangers and Elven Archers.
RATING 4/5 - You should be noticing the attack power by now: a
great upgrade. One more attack bonus to go.
Runic Blades
-------------
UPGRADE AT: Wilderness Outpost
REQUIRED: Mystic Blades, Stronghold Level 5
UPGRADE COST: 175 Food, 175 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: +1 Attack for Rangers and Elven Archers.
RATING: 5/5 - Expensive, but well worth it. With an armor upgrade,
several Elven Archers can now wipe out an entire base, as
long as they keep killing detector units.
Improved Leather
-----------------
UPGRADE AT: Wilderness Outpost
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 2
UPGRADE COST: 75 Food, 75 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: +1 Armor for Rangers and Elven Archers.
RATING: 2/5 - Buy the offensive upgrades before purchasing this.
It is offensive over defense, especially with archers.
Hard Leather
-------------
UPGRADE AT: Wilderness Outpost
REQUIRED: Improved Leather, Stronghold Level 3
UPGRADE COST: 125 Food, 125 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: +1 Armor for Rangers and Elven Archers.
RATING: 3/5 - They last longer, look at Improved Leather for
additional comment.
Studded Leather
----------------
UPGRADE AT: Wilderness Outpost
REQUIRED: Hard Leather, Stronghold Level 5
UPGRADE COST: 175 Food, 175 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: +1 Armor for Rangers and Elven Archers
RATING: 4/5 - Mix it up with Runic Blades: now they last long and
do a lot of damage. Combine it with their Elven Cloaks to
get the ultimate raiding unit!
Concealment
------------
UPGRADE AT: Wilderness Outpost
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 2
UPGRADE COST: 75 Food, 75 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: Rangers can remain unseen as long as they do not move.
RATING: 2/5 - Not really needed, scouts will eventually be killed
anyway. I don't use Rangers a lot anyway.
Eagle Eye
----------
UPGRADE AT: Wilderness Outpost
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 2
UPGRADE COST: 75 Food, 75 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: Gives Rangers an LOS upgrade, increasing detection ability.
RATING: 3/5 - Actually, it's pretty nice. Will help spotting that
annoying invisible enemies earlier. Weapon and armor go
first, however.
Elven Cloaks
-------------
UPGRADE AT: Wilderness Outpost
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 3
UPGRADE COST: 165 Food, 165 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: Makes Elven Archers invisible, so they can only be spotted
by detector units.
RATING: 5/5 - THE raiding weapon. Keep killing those detectors and
you might find yourself wiping out a base with only some
Elven Archers!
Eagle Fletching
----------------
UPGRADE AT: Wilderness Outpost
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 3
UPGRADE COST: 150 Food, 150 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: Elven Archers have a greater range.
RATING: 4/5 - Very good upgrade. Can keep them out of Tower range
while they shoot it to the ground. Very annoying for the
enemy as well because they cannot see you through the Fog
of War. Combine with Elven Cloaks.
Strength of Nature
-------------------
UPGRADE AT: House of Lore
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 3
UPGRADE COST: 75 Food, 75 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: +1 Attack for Beornings and Huorns.
RATING: 2/5 - If you like those Huorns (I don't) then you should
buy this. Expensive, but needed for weak Beornings anyway.
Strength of the Claw
---------------------
UPGRADE AT: House of Lore
REQUIRED: Strength of Nature, Stronghold Level 4
UPGRADE COST: 125 Food, 125 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: +1 Attack for Beornings and Huorns.
RATING: 3/5 - Another attack upgrade to aid the Beornings and the
Huorns. If you use them a lot, buy it, or else leave it.
Strength of the Wild
---------------------
UPGRADE AT: House of Lore
REQUIRED: Strength of the Claw, Stronghold Level 5
UPGRADE COST: 175 Food, 175 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: +1 Attack for Beornings and Huorns.
RATING: 3/5 - See Strength of the Claw for comments.
Natures Protection
-------------------
UPGRADE AT: House of Lore
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 3
UPGRADE COST: 75 Food, 75 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: +1 Armor for Beornings and Huorns.
RATING: 2/5 - The same as attack, only this is slightly more
needed to keep the Beornings alive to mend wounds.
Natures Defense
----------------
UPGRADE AT: House of Lore
REQUIRED: Natures Protection, Stronghold Level 4
UPGRADE COST: 125 Food, 125 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: +1 Armor for Beornings and Huorns.
RATING: 3/5 - Again, this is needed to keep Beornings alive.
Natures Shield
---------------
UPGRADE AT: House of Lore
REQUIRED: Natures Defense, Stronghold Level 5
UPGRADE COST: 175 Food, 175 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: +1 Armor for Beornings and Huorns.
RATING: 3/5 - See Natures Defense for comments.
Bear Form
----------
UPGRADE AT: House of Lore
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 3
UPGRADE COST: 125 Food, 125 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: Gives the Beorning the ability to change into a Bear.
RATING: 3/5 - Bears are much better at fighting than Beornings, but
they lose their healing ability in this form.
Savage Blow
------------
UPGRADE AT: House of Lore
REQUIRED: Bear Form, Stronghold Level 4
UPGRADE COST: 125 Food, 125 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: While in Bear Form, the Beorning can give a devastating
blow that knocks back all enemies in front of him.
RATING: 3/5 - Useful to fight your way out of crowds, and does
damage all units in front of him. Nice if you have lots
of Beornings with Bear Form.
Dispel
-------
UPGRADE AT: House of Lore
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 4
UPGRADE COST: 75 Food, 75 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: The Elven Lightbearer gains the ability to heal units
from enemy spells.
RATING: 3/5 - Units do not get hit by special magic a lot, but
this comes in handy once they do. Reasonable buy.
Light of Lothlorien
--------------------
UPGRADE AT: House of Lore
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 4
UPGRADE COST: 125 Food, 125 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: This spell can be cast by the Elven Lightbearer to sear the
flesh of all enemies in the selected area with a blinding
light.
RATING: 4/5 - Can damage large invasion armies in its tracks,
weakening it so you can defend your settlement without too
much losses. Good at the offensive as well.
Tree Form
----------
UPGRADE AT: House of Lore
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 4
UPGRADE COST: 100 Food, 100 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: The Huorn gains the ability to plant itself into the ground
so he can entangle foes with its roots. In this form, its
regeneration rate is also substantially increased.
RATING: 3/5 - Very good for defending small passes and such places.
While the planted Huorn stops its enemies in its tracks,
so some missile units behind him can finish off the foes.
Stronghold Level 2
-------------------
UPGRADE AT: Stronghold
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 1
UPGRADE COST: 115 Food, 105 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: +1 Armor and +250 HP for Stronghold. Is needed for some
buildings to be built.
RATING: 5/5 - All Stronghold upgrades have high priority, because
without them you cannot use the better units and upgrades.
Stronghold Level 3
-------------------
UPGRADE AT: Stronghold
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 2
UPGRADE COST: 120 Food, 120 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: +1 Armor and +250 HP for Stronghold. Is needed for some
buildings to be built.
RATING: 5/5 - All Stronghold upgrades have high priority, because
without them you cannot use the better units and upgrades.
Stronghold Level 4
-------------------
UPGRADE AT: Stronghold
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 3
UPGRADE COST: 125 Food, 135 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: +1 Armor and +250 HP for Stronghold. Is needed for some
buildings to be built.
RATING: 5/5 - All Stronghold upgrades have high priority, because
without them you cannot use the better units and upgrades.
Stronghold Level 5
-------------------
UPGRADE AT: Stronghold
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 4
UPGRADE COST: 130 Food, 150 Ore
UPGRADE EFFECT: +1 Armor and +250 HP for Stronghold. Is needed for some
upgrades to be researched.
RATING: 5/5 - All Stronghold upgrades have high priority, because
without them you cannot use the better units and upgrades.
- - - - - - - -
7.4) Good Units
- - - - - - - -
Here, all units of the Free Peoples of Middle-Earth are listed. They all
have their own little history and comments with them. There are no heroes,
however. They can be found in the next paragraph.
Worker
-------
HIT POINTS: None given
ATTACK POWER: None given
ARMOR CLASS: None given
ATTACK TYPE: None given
TRAINED AT: Stronghold
COST: 35 Food; 1 Pop
UPGRADE AT: None
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Workers don't have any special abilities.
UNIT HISTORY:
All honour is given to the soldiers on the battlefield, but who are the real
heroes in war? The Workers, because they are keeping the soldiers fed and
they make sure that new recruits can be trained. They are naturally
overlooked, but they don't care about that and work with pleasure for their
lord.
UNIT COMMENTS:
Workers are naturally the backbone of any settlement. Without them, no
resources. Without resources, no army. Without an army, you lose. So make
sure you keep them safe from the enemy and they'll collect Food and Ore
from you from the Mill and the Foundry.
Gondor Swordsman
-----------------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 1
HIT POINTS: 155
ATTACK POWER: Minimum=10; Maximum=13
ARMOR CLASS: Minimum=0; Maximum=3
ATTACK TYPE: Hack
TRAINED AT: Barracks
COST: 50 Food; 2 Pop
UPGRADE AT: Forge
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Gondor Swordsmen don't have any special abilities.
UNIT HISTORY:
The people of Gondor were counted among the most heroic of all existing races
of Men on Middle-Earth. The soldiers of Gondor, born in the green hills of
Lossarnach or Dol Amroth, were the absolute elite when it came to warfare. In
the war of the ring, however, they were so heavily outnumbered that they
could not stop the armies of Mordor from conquering their capital, Osgiliath.
UNIT COMMENTS:
The very basic melee unit for the Free Peoples. It's cheap and has the same
stats as an Evil Orc Slasher. They can be disposed of quickly if there are no
other support units around them, though. Send in these guys to back-up your
armies with their numbers.
Dwarf Axethrower
-----------------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 1
HIT POINTS: 140
ATTACK POWER: Minimum=9; Maximum=12
ARMOR CLASS: Minimum=0; Maximum=3
ATTACK TYPE: Hack
TRAINED AT: Dwarf Hall
COST: 60 Food; 10 Ore; 2 Pop
UPGRADE AT: Forge
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Razor Edge - Makes the Axethrowers axes go through the first target, making
it a very effective units against groups of enemies.
(Always on)
Flaming Axe - Axethrowers get flaming axes to throw with, doing significant
damage to buildings and setting them on fire.
(Always on)
UNIT HISTORY:
The axe has been the traditional weapon of the Dwarves for ages. They even
prefer it as a missile weapon; resulting in the special troop called a Dwarf
Axethrower. Although they don't have the range of archers, they are very
effective at close range. With razor-edges on their axes, they become an
important army-destroyer, especially when the foes are close to each other.
UNIT COMMENTS:
The Axethrower is probably your main missile unit until you can train those
Elven Archers. Even then, Dwarf Axethrowers can be valuable. With upgrades
to their axes, they can easily wipe out an invasion army. On the offensive,
you can go around an enemy city and ignite buildings to cause trouble.
Dwarf Shieldbreaker
--------------------
REQUIRED: Forge, Stronghold Level 2
HIT POINTS: 305
ATTACK POWER: Minimum=10; Maximum=13
ARMOR CLASS: Minimum=1; Maximum=4
ATTACK TYPE: Crush
TRAINED AT: Dwarf Hall
COST: 95 Food; 60 Ore; 3 Pop
UPGRADE AT: Forge
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Shield Break - With this upgrade, Shieldbreakers learn to strike with such
force and accuracy that it will permanently damage a foe's
armor, decreasing its Armor Class.
(Always on)
UNIT HISTORY:
Occasionally having their underground empires invaded by heavily armored
Orcs and beasts from the Misty Mountains, the dwarves decided to develop a
new kind of soldier: one that could use its weapon to severely damage an
opponent's armor, but was protected against attacks as well. Finally, they
decided that the weapon they sought was a great hammer of special, harder-
than-rock metal. Having the purpose of this soldier in mind, they called it
a Shieldbreaker.
UNIT COMMENTS:
Very good for decreasing the armor of heavy enemies with Shield Break, then
use other units to finish the job. Has a standard 1 Armor Class to, so it
will last longer than most units, since it has enormous hit points as well.
This might not be a good unit for raiding parties, since it's to slow to
cause enormous damage (except to foe's armor, of course).
Rider of Rohan
---------------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 2
HIT POINTS: 235
ATTACK POWER: Minimum=13; Maximum=16
ARMOR CLASS: Minimum=1; Maximum=4
ATTACK TYPE: Crush
TRAINED AT: Barracks
COST: 85 Food; 30 Ore; 3 Pop
UPGRADE AT: Forge
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Immune to Knockback - Riders of Rohan cannot be knocked back.
(Always on; not really an ability)
UNIT HISTORY:
With the arriving of Eorl the Young at the great river Anduin, the real
history of the Rohirrim - the "Horse-Lords" - began. It was Eorl who first
tamed one of the Mearas, the fastest and most royal of all horses. They
have mastered the supreme art of mounted warfare, giving them the advantage
of speed over their enemies. Rohan has always been allied to Gondor.
UNIT COMMENTS:
The fastest-moving units for the Free Peoples, the Riders of Rohan make
nice raiding units. They are cheaper than Dwarf Shieldbreakers, but they do
have lower HP and no special abilities (I don't count Immune to Knockback).
Upgrade them to give them some extra durability during raiding attempts.
Ranger
-------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 2
HIT POINTS: 200
ATTACK POWER: Minimum=8; Maximum=11
ARMOR CLASS: Minimum=0; Maximum=3
ATTACK TYPE: Hack
TRAINED AT: Ranger Post
COST: 50 Food; 40 Ore; 2 Pop
UPGRADE AT: Wilderness Outpost
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Detection - The Ranger is able to see hidden units, otherwise invisible.
(Always on)
Concealment - Allows a Ranger to hide as long as he doesn't move, only
being visible for Detector units.
(Recharge Time=3s)
Eagle Eye - Gives the Ranger an LOS upgrade, increasing detection range.
(Always on)
UNIT HISTORY:
Lots of ages in the Third Aera of the Sun, harsh and battle-hardened Men
walked over Middle-Earth. They were called Rangers by the people in Eriador
whenever they were in a town, and most people thought of them as unfriendly
warriors and thieves. But these Men were actually the last knights of the
Northern Kingdom of Arnor, that was destroyed long ago. Through living in
the woods and being able to survive under any condition, the Rangers have
developed uncanny skills at tracking and detecting enemies.
UNIT COMMENTS:
A Ranger is a must for every offensive or defensive force. Because they are
the only detection unit available for the Free People, there must be one in
every army you send out. Otherwise, you won't be able to see those hiding
soldiers that will slaughter your armies without you seeing them.
Elven Archer
-------------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 3
HIT POINTS: 180
ATTACK POWER: Minimum=14; Maximum=17
ARMOR CLASS: Minimum=0; Maximum=3
ATTACK TYPE: Pierce
TRAINED AT: Elven Sanctuary
COST: 80 Food; 75 Ore; 3 Pop
UPGRADE AT: Wilderness Outpost
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Elven Cloak - Elven Archers become invisible by wearing these cloaks, so
only Detectors can see them.
(Always on)
Eagle Fletching - Gives Elven Archers a greater range.
(Always on)
UNIT HISTORY:
The elves have always viewed heavy metal weapons like swords and axes with
scepticism, prefering the serene grace of the bow. As a result, every Elf
is gifted with exceptional archery skills. Combined with their race's
attributes of hearing and eyesight, they become a most deadly missile unit,
especially when used in ambushes with their Elven Cloaks.
UNIT COMMENTS:
Probably the best unit for the Free Peoples. It has a huge attack power, can
become invisible to normal foes and can upgrade their range. In groups, they
can slaughter whole armies when they get rid of those pesky detector units
first. Pretty expensive, especially when buying all upgrades for them, but
well worth your resources.
Elven Lightbearer
------------------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 4
HIT POINTS: 160
ATTACK POWER: Minimum=11; Maximum=11
ARMOR CLASS: Minimum=0; Maximum=0
ATTACK TYPE: Pierce
TRAINED AT: Elven Sanctuary
COST: 100 Food; 85 Ore; 3 Pop
UPGRADE AT: House of Lore
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Protection - Creates a shield around a selected unit which absorbs damage.
(Recharge Time=35s)
Dispel - Heals units of negative enemy spell effects.
(Recharge Time=10s)
Light of Lothlorien - Grants the Lightbearer the ability to sear the flesh
of enemies with the holy light of the Golden Forest.
(Recharge Time=45s)
UNIT HISTORY:
When the Elves of ancient times fought against the hordes of Orcs coming
from Mordor, they had one great weapon. As they originated from the Noldor,
who had seen the Light of Earendil, their eyes glowed with a magical light
that pierced the dark creatures. Even now, some Elves with magical powers
have achieved that state of living, bringing death to all creatures of the
dark lord with spells beyond imagination.
UNIT COMMENTS:
I don't like Elven Lightbearers very much. They are killed way too fast for
such a cost. But, I have to admit that their spells are very nice: Light of
Lothlorien helps weakening an enemy army before it gets to your own ranks.
Protection is best cast on the Lightbearer itself, as it won't last long in
battle without it.
Beorning
---------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 3
HIT POINTS: 235
HIT POINTS BF: 420
ATTACK POWER: Minimum=7; Maximum=10
ATTACK POWER BF: Minimum=17; Maximum=20
ARMOR CLASS: Minimum=0; Maximum=3
ARMOR CLASS BF: Minimum=2; Maximum=5
ATTACK TYPE: Hack
ATTACK TYPE BF: Hack
TRAINED AT: Nature's Haven
COST: 100 Food; 70 Ore; 3 Pop
UPGRADE AT: House of Lore
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Healing Herbs - Only available in human form, the Beorning can heal allied
units close to him with this ability.
(Recharge Time=7s)
Bear Form - Allows the Beorning to change himself into a Bear, increasing
his stats and his fighting ability.
(Recharge Time=20s)
Maul - Only available in bear form, the Beorning deals knock-back damage
with every swipe of a claw.
(Always on; not really an ability)
Savage Blow - The Beorning can, in bear form, give a blow with such force
that it knocks back all enemies in front of him.
(Recharge Time=15s)
UNIT HISTORY:
The Beornings originally were a race of the Northern Men. They changed
their name to Beornings after Beorn had become their leader. Beorn was a
shape-shifter: through a spell he could change his physical form into that
of a bear. Some warriors of this race seemed to have this ability as well
in later times. This was the only thing that kept the Orcs and Wargs from
the Misty Mountains from invading their homelands.
UNIT COMMENTS:
In human form, the Beorning isn't exactly a good fighting unit, but they
are able to mend the wounds of nearby allies. The best strategy to use
with these guys is to heal as much as you can when no enemies are around,
then quickly change into bear form when the battle starts.
Huorn
------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 4
HIT POINTS: 235
ATTACK POWER: Minimum=14; Maximum=17
ARMOR CLASS: Minimum=4; Maximum=7
ATTACK TYPE: Crush
TRAINED AT: Nature's Haven
COST: 235 Food; 200 Ore; 5 Pop
UPGRADE AT: House of Lore
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Tree Form - Allows a Huorn to plant itself into the ground, entangling
enemy units and increasing their regeneration rate.
(Recharge Time=
UNIT HISTORY:
From the depths of Fangorn Forest, Treebeard has at last summoned the
ancient Huorn to aid in the battle against Sauron. The Huorns are Ents
that have become almost like trees, but they still move in the shadows
of deep forests. They crush and entangle with their roots, making them
invaluable, though a bit slow allies.
UNIT COMMENTS:
I think these Huorns are too expensive. It is always good to have some
of them with you. On the attack for quickly taking care of buildings,
and on the defense to block key positions with Tree Form. They have a
good amount of Hit Points and a decent starting Armor Class, but that
still doesn't completely erase the huge cost.
- - - - - - - - -
7.5) Good Heroes
- - - - - - - - -
The Heroes are the special units with unique abilities that can lead your
troops into battle. Whenever you train a hero, a picture of him appears
in the right edge of the screen. Clicking on it will select that hero,
while double-clicking immediately focuses on it. All heroes are immune to
knockback.
Frodo Baggins
--------------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 1
HIT POINTS: 305 (Increases as Frodo levels up
ATTACK POWER: Minimum=15 (Increases as Frodo levels up)
ARMOR CLASS: Minimum=1 (Increases as Frodo levels up)
ATTACK TYPE: Heroic
TRAINED AT: Stronghold
COST: 150 Food; 100 Ore
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Heroic Aura - Will give allied heroes near Frodo a reduction in their
respective ability recharge times.
(Always on)
Mighty Sting - Gives Frodo the ability to do extra damage against all Orc
units with his Elven sword Sting.
(Always on; Cost=1 Fate)
The One Ring - Makes Frodo completely invisible to all units except for
the Lord of the Nazgul and the Black Riders, but slowly
eats his health away.
(Recharge Time=0s ;Cost= 1 Fate)
HERO COMMENTS:
Frodo is the only hero for the Free Peoples that doesn't cost any Fate. He
is a great scout with his The One Ring ability, but make sure he doesn't
die by using it. Mighty Sting will give him some fighting ability as well,
but only against Orcs. Since Frodo is a scout and shouldn't be fighting
with the other heroes in the battlefield, it would be better to save the
Heroic Aura ability for later on (maybe camp defense).
Gimli, son of Gloin
--------------------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 1
HIT POINTS: 460 (Increases as Gimli levels up)
ATTACK POWER: Minimum=20 (Increases as Gimli levels up)
ARMOR CLASS: Minimum=3 (Increases as Gimli levels up)
ATTACK TYPE: Heroic
TRAINED AT: Stronghold
COST: 3 Fate Points
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Capture - Allows Gimli to capture an enemy Tower, ejecting any units who
were inside. Gimli himself mans the tower afterwards.
(Recharge Time=30s ;Cost= 3 Fate)
Sunder - Inspires the mighty warrior to slam the ground with his axe,
creating a shockwave that stuns all enemies nearby him.
(Recharge Time=15s ;Cost=2 Fate)
Siege Aura - Makes all units close to Gimli more effective at destroying
buildings and towers.
(Always on)
HERO COMMENTS:
Gimli has pretty good abilities, plus he is a great melee warrior. The
Capture ability is very good because it can use the enemy's Tower against
him. When Gimli is surrounded, Sunder can help killing his foes more
easily. Finally, Siege Aura (which is standard for him) is good when
invading enemy camps where you have to burn down everything quickly.
Legolas
--------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 1
HIT POINTS: 450 (Increases as Legolas levels up)
ATTACK POWER: Minimum=20 (Increases as Legolas levels up)
ARMOR CLASS: Minimum=2 (Increases as Legolas levels up)
ATTACK TYPE: Heroic
TRAINED AT: Stronghold
COST: 3 Fate Points
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Trueshot - Gives Legolas the ability to fire an arrow with such force that
it causes knock-back damage, disabling foes for a short time.
(Recharge Time=12s ;Cost=2 Fate)
Guardian Wind - When used by Legolas, this gives all allied units close to
him a temporary defensive bonus against all missiles.
(Recharge Time=30s)
Elven Speed - Allows Legolas to drastically speed up any units near him,
including himself.
(Recharge Time=35s ;Cost=2 Fate)
HERO COMMENTS:
Legolas is the ultimate ranged weapon for the Free Peoples. Trueshot looks
cool and allows Legolas to drive attacking enemies away from each other.
The Guardian Wind ability is nice when facing someone who loves missile
units, but otherwise completely useless. Elven Speed is great because it
also increases the attack rate of all units near him, dealing more damage
in a shorter time.
Aragorn
--------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 1
HIT POINTS: 485 (Increases as Aragorn levels up)
ATTACK POWER: Minimum=20 (Increases as Aragorn levels up)
ARMOR CLASS: Minimum=3 (Increases as Aragorn levels up)
ATTACK TYPE: Heroic
TRAINED AT: Stronghold
COST: 3 Fate Points
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Kingsfoil - Aragorn can mend serious wounds of a selected unit.
(Recharge Time=8s)
Anduril's Fury - Greatly increases Aragorn's attack, and wields even more
damage against Heroes, Black Riders, and Wraiths.
(Always on; Cost= 2 Fate)
Immunity - Aragorn cannot be blinded, stunned, poisoned, or slowed with
this ability.
(Always on; Cost=1 Fate)
HERO COMMENTS:
Aragorn is arguably the best hero after Gandalf. His Kingsfoil ability
heals about half of the maximum HP of the target. Anduril's Fury will
make is attack rise to that of a Giant Ent or a Balrog, let alone those
poor Black Riders. Finally, Aragorn cannot be harmed by any status
changes with Immunity. Great!
Gandalf the Grey
-----------------
REQUIRED: Stronghold Level 5
HIT POINTS: 450 (Increases as Gandalf levels up)
ATTACK POWER: Minimum=20 (Increases as Gandalf levels up)
ARMOR CLASS: Minimum=3 (Increases as Gandalf levels up)
ATTACK TYPE: Heroic
TRAINED AT: Stronghold
COST: 4 Fate Points
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Flash - Blinds all enemies near Gandalf, making them easier to kill.
(Recharge Time=20s ;Cost=2 Fate)
Rain of Fire - Powerful ability that will invoke a rain of fire from
the skies on the location that is selected.
(Recharge Time=60s ;Cost=3 Fate)
Fire Shield - Gives an allied unit a shield of fire that will deflect
some damage back on an attacking unit.
(Recharge Time=15s ;Cost=1 Fate)
Negate Ability - Temporarily prevents enemies from using Special
Abilities.
(Recharge Time=30s)
HERO COMMENTS:
Gandalf is the strongest hero for the Free Peoples because of his neat
abilities. Rain of Fire is absolutely devastating when used on a group
of enemies. Flash is very good for ending a battle without many losses,
thus earning yourself more Fate. Fire Shield is best used on other heroes
since they are the most likely to be surrounded by foes. Negate Ability
is nice and absolutely annoying for the enemy when it affects one of his
heroes with good abilities.
- - - - - - - - - - -
7.6) Good Fate Powers
- - - - - - - - - - -
The Fate Powers of the good side are different than those of the evil
side, and they are all listed here:
Blind
------
COST: 2 Fate Points
EFFECT: A flash of light on the battlefield that blinds enemy
units, making them unable to see anything at a distance.
The Blind power is best used on large groups of enemies close to each
other, so you can slaughter them without losing a lot of valuable troops.
Can also buy you some time to train extra units when your camp is
being invaded.
Brambles
---------
COST: 3 Fate Points
EFFECT: A remnant Elven spell of ancient times that allows the
player to rapidly grow a thorny patch of dangerous
brambles on a chosen spot. The magical brambles will
tear the flesh of any enemy moving through the patch.
This power can be very annoying for you enemy when placed on a spot he
needs to pass to get to your camp. It isn't very cheap, however, and you
should place it with care. If there are no good spots, you'd better save
your Fate for something better.
Heroic Legacy
--------------
COST: 3 Fate Points
EFFECT: Transforms a player's Hero into a legend for all time
by sacrificing his ability to reform at the Stronghold.
This adds incredible battle power that is worthy of
song and tale throughout the lands.
There is only one level where this is very good, and that's the Helm's
Deep scenario of the Good Campaign. In skirmishes, this isn't a very good
idea, because your Hero will still die eventually and you won't be able
to recruit him at the Stronghold again. Only useful for desperate end-
game attacks where you need all the power you can get.
Blessed Wind
-------------
COST: 2 Fate Points
EFFECT: In rare moments of seemingly Fate-inspired intervention,
even an element as simple as wind can grant the
champions of a just cause a devastating force behind
their missile attacks. Adds Knockback to the attack of
ranged units.
Can be handy at times, but isn't at all necessary to beat back an enemy
army. If you have too much Fate Points (?) you can use this power in an
ambush to slow down an advancing enemy army.
Summon Giant Ent
-----------------
COST: 7 Fate Points
EFFECT: Summons a Giant Ent, protector of Fangorn forest to
fight for the player. Ancient and wise, yet powerful and
battle-hardened, this severed creature reluctantly uses
his natural gift of great strength against any would-be
foes. The Giant Ent has the following stats:
HIT POINTS:
ATTACK POWER:
ARMOR CLASS:
Although this creature is very strong and can take care of whole armies
by itself, the price of this power is very high and amassing an amount of
7 Fate Points at one time is hard. When you are invading the last enemy
on the map, and have accumulated enough points, you can use the power to
add the "finishing touch" to your campaign. Note that the Giant Ent only
lasts a set amount of time before being withdrewn again.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.7) Good-Only Strategies
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
A list of common strategies that are used by the Free Peoples. Credits to
all of you who mail me other working strategies:
Start-Game Rohirrim Rush
-------------------------
Works best on another Free Peoples player. You need to be very quick for
this. The point is to upgrade your Stronghold and building two Barracks
as quickly as possible. Then train some Riders of Rohan and rush to an
enemy camp. Circle around the camp until you find their resource spot,
then attack the workers around there. When fighting evil side, you can
go for Slavemasters to decrease their population capability.
Cloaked Elves Infiltration
---------------------------
This is the most used strategy for me. Groups of five upgraded, cloaked
elves go around a camp, first killing any detector units they can see,
afterwards destroying the enemy units and finally the buildings. It's
hard to do when the enemy has detector units in his Towers.
Nature's Defense
-----------------
This defensive strategy requires some Huorns with Tree Form and several
missile units. As soon as an enemy army approaches, spread your Huorns
and use Tree Form to entangle foes and stop them in their tracks. Use
the missile units to do significant damage while the opponents can't
move.
Tactical Offense
-----------------
You need some standing melee units like Swordsmen or Shieldbreakers
and the Riders of Rohan for this. Armor upgrades are needed here, as
the infantry has to last long for this tactic to work. Whenever you
encounter an enemy army, wait for the foe's infantry to attack your
own infantry. Keep your cavalry out of sight, though. Now ride around
the battle with your Rohirrim and attack the archers from the flank,
increasing your infantry's chance of winning, especially when you
have some missile units yourself. Doesn't work when facing Elven
Archers who are cloaked.
More strategies to come... (I hope)
- - - - - - - - - -
7.8) Good Campaign
- - - - - - - - - -
This is a walkthrough for the Free Peoples' campaign in the War of the
Ring. It contains story and gameplay spoilers, so if you want to figure
everything out yourself, skip this section.
---------------
The Grey Ledge
---------------
INTRO:
Third Age 3018
"The Iron Hills echo with the sounds of clashing steel, as the Dwarves defend
their homeland against a wicked Orc onslaught. With the help of Gimli, son of
Gloin, they prepare to rid the cliffs of the savage infestation. Gimli and
his warriors must gather their forces, climb the nearby peaks, and crush
their enemies under the weight of the mountain."
HEROES:
- Gimli ==> Abilities: - Sunder => 2 Fate
- Siege Aura => Available
BUILDINGS:
- Stronghold
- Mill
- Foundry
- Camp
- Watchtower
- Dwarf Hall
- Forge
UNITS:
- Dwarf Worker => Stronghold
- Dwarf Axethrower => Dwarf Hall
- Dwarf Shieldbreaker => Dwarf Hall
UPGRADES:
- Stronghold Level 2 => Stronghold
- War Camp => Camp
- Iron Blades => Forge
- Iron Plating => Forge
The first level of this Good Side Campaign isn't hard at all. When you
start off you see a little cinematic on how some Orcs demolish a Tower.
Gimli will hold a small speech, and after that it's your turn. The
screen will view your objectives as soon as you get control. The main
objectives are:
- Construct an encampment for reinforcements
=> Construct a Mill
=> Construct a Foundry
=> Construct a Dwarf Hall
=> Construct a Watchtower
=> Upgrade the Stronghold
=> Construct a Forge
- Destroy the main Orc encampment
- Kill the Orc Captain
- (OPTIONAL) Use the boulders on the cliffs to crush the enemy
Click away the objectives screen and view your camp. You start with three
Dwarf Workers, three Dwarf Axethrowers, two Dwarf Shieldbreakers, and the
hero Gimli. Note that your encampment will not be attacked in this scenario,
unlike the other levels. So just take it easy and try to get familiar with
these Dwarves a bit.
To start off, assign two Dwarf Workers to build a Foundry on top of the
nearby Ore deposit and use the other one to construct a Mill at the well. In
the meanwhile, train another four Dwarf Workers. In the end, make sure you
have three Workers on each resource. We will use the other one to build your
structures.
I suggest you start building a Dwarf Hall, and after that an additional camp,
bringing the total amount of camps to three and your population to 43. Start
training additional Dwarf Axethrowers, and upgrade the Stronghold to the next
level. Use your Worker to construct a Forge now. As soon as the Forge is
completed, you should research the two upgrades available there (Iron Blades
and Iron Plating).
With the Forge, you can start training Dwarf Shieldbreakers as well. While
you build your army, use the Worker to construct the Watchtower to complete
the first objective.
OBJECTIVE COMPLETED: Construct an encampment for reinforcements.
Although you could probably finish the scenario with less than the amount of
troops I describe here, it is still advised that you train an army of about
seven Axethrowers and seven Shieldbreakers. Together with Gimli, you can now
start your campaign to drive the Orcs from these hills. With your troops,
head down the hill to the west.
Keep going west and you should meet an enemy patrol consisting of a couple of
goblins and an orc archer. No threats here. Head futher west until you can't
continue, then north up the cliff path. There are some enemies here, but you
can dispose of them quite easily. Continue to follow the cliff path, killing
Orcs as you go.
At the end of the path, you should see some boulders on the edge of the cliff
where the Orc camp lies. Select a unit and right-click a boulder to push it
off the cliff, destroying everything beneath it. Do the same with the other
boulder here. Now head back to your camp and train reinforcements as you see
fit. Run down the hill again.
This time, go directly north. You should pass some water here, with an enemy
patrol somewhere. Kill them and head up north. You'll arrive at a little Orc
camp. Try to focus your army on destroying the Tower. It should come down
quickly because of Gimli's Siege Aura ability. Crush the remaining foes and
buildings. The Place of Power is yours now: it is a fountain that provides
your army with a regeneration bonus.
By now, you should have two Fate Points. You should use them to purchase
Gimli's Sunder ability, which will stun all enemies around him when used.
As soon as you destroy the Orc encampment go back south towards the pond, as
there are Orc archers on the top of the cliff. Get out of their range and
wait for your forces to heal. When your forces are healthy again, you can
run through the pass, negating the archers. Kill any enemies you encounter,
then move up the hill to the left. Enemies here as well, but their numbers
are small. Explore this cliff entirely to find the Orc Archers that were
firing arrows at you while you ran through the pass. Defeat them.
Now, you need to shove the boulders of the cliff again. Use all three of
them to weaken the Orc camp beneath. When you're ready and healed, head back
to the pond again. Train any reinforcements if you need to do so.
OBJECTIVE COMPLETED: Use the boulders on the cliffs to crush the enemy.
Use the small strip of land on the northern side of the water to get to
the second Orc encampment. There shouldn't be a lot of resistance here, just
crush them all with preferably no losses on your side. Cross the water and
head immediately south. Destroy any resistance here. Make sure your units
are healed before going on: the main Orc encampment is west of this point.
It would be wise to cast the Blind Fate Power on the enemy army before
engaging in battle, so you won't have to suffer many losses. After a majority
of the army is killed, go for the Tower. Destroy any remaining buildings and
fight your way to the middle of the camp. There, the Orc Captain is waiting
for you.
The Orc Captain is as strong as a normal hero, so just focus all your forces
on him and you'll be fine. You can use Gimli's Sunder to make it easier for
yourself. He should be dead quickly.
OBJECTIVE COMPLETED: Kill the Orc Captain.
The only thing you have to do now is raze the enemy camp. Destroy remaining
buildings and victory will be yours. Note that you don't have to destroy the
War Posts if you don't want to.
OBJECTIVE COMPLETED: Destroy the main Orc encampment.
MISSION COMPLETED
----------------------------
The Siege of the Iron Hills
----------------------------
INTRO:
Third Age 3018
"The Dwarves have spilled Orc blood for hundreds of years in many major wars,
and now another such battle is about to begin. The Orcs have come from the
west to besiege Thorin's Gate, the common entrance to the Iron Hills. The
King under the Mountain has sent his kindred from the mines to defend his
realm. Under the leadership of Gimli, son of Gloin, the Dwarf forces intend
to complete the construction of an ancient weapon to rid their home of the
Orcs."
HEROES:
- Gimli ==> Abilities: - Sunder => Available
- Capture => 3 Fate
- Siege Aura => Available
BUILDINGS:
- Stronghold
- Mill
- Foundry
- Camp
- Watchtower
- Dwarf Hall
- Forge
UNITS:
- Dwarf Worker => Stronghold
- Dwarf Axethrower => Dwarf Hall
- Dwarf Shieldbreaker => Dwarf Hall
UPGRADES:
- Stronghold Level 2 => Stronghold
- War Camp => Camp
- Iron Blades => Forge
- Iron Plating => Forge
- Shield Break => Forge
This level starts with a cinematic wherein Gimli explains what kind of
situation you're in. The Orcs seem to have taken over Thorin's Gate, and
the King under the Mountain has assigned you to drive the Orcs away. To
this end, Gimli seeks to complete the construction of an ancient weapon,
a relic from the Battle of the Five Armies. Your starting objectives are:
! Gimli must survive
- Establish an encampment
=> Destroy the Goblin Expansion
=> Construct a Stronghold
=> Construct a Dwarf Hall
You start off with Gimli and six Dwarf Axethrowers. Take them all to the
northeast and start demolishing the camp. Gimli's Sunder can prevent you
from losing a lot of units. After most of the enemy army is dead, go for
their Towers and destroy them. Now you just have to destroy the remaining
enemy buildings to conquer the area.
As soon as all enemy presence is eliminated, four Dwarf Workers run into
your new camp area. Use them to build a Stronghold close to the well and
the ore deposit. Then put three on building a Foundry and one on a well,
while you train another three Workers from your Stronghold. You probably
had to fend off a Warg attack by now. Raiding parties will be common in
this scenario, so be on your guard and use Sunder to its best. Let none
escape.
As soon as you have three Workers on ore and three on food, use the one
that is still idle to construct another Camp. Construct two Watchtowers
in the same spot as the enemy Towers were. In the meanwhile, upgrade your
Stronghold. After that, build a Dwarf Hall to complete an objective.
OBJECTIVE COMPLETED: Establish an encampment.
NEW OBJECTIVE: Ancient Catapult
=> Find the Ancient Catapult
=> Complete its Construction
Don't go exploring yet. You will need a big army to defend the Catapult
while you build it up. Build a Forge right away when your Stronghold reaches
the next level, so you can build Dwarf Shieldbreakers. Just keep collecting
resources and research all upgrades in the Forge (Iron Blades, Iron Plating,
Shield Break).
While you do all this research, it's time to gather your forces. Notice that
the raiding parties have changed: they consist of three Orc Slashers now. It
is necessary to kill them all before they get a chance to flee. Sunder can
help a lot here. To get the needed population for your army, build another
Camp and upgrade both Camps in your settlement to War Camps. Population
should be 62 by then.
You will need two armies in this level: one to explore the map with to find
the Catapult and defend it, and one to defend your main camp while you do
this. The exploring army should consist of Gimli, six Axethrowers, and seven
Shieldbreakers. The defending party doesn't have to be very big, three
Axethrowers and three Shieldbreakers will do (together with Watchtowers).
Once you have done all this, you need to take the exploring group to the
southwest portion of the map. It's very easy to find the Ancient Catapult,
just head up the hill in the west and there it is. While you explore, use a
Dwarf Worker to construct one additional Camp. Start pumping out Workers and
send them to the Ancient Catapult in groups. Make sure they don't run into
any Orcs or they'll be dead. Put as much Workers to work on the Catapult as
you can.
Now, for defending the Catapult. It won't be much of a problem if you have
assembled the force I have told you to. The Ancient Catapult is on a plateau
which has only one entrance: the hill. So, send your exploring party down
the hill and await any Orc raids from the north. These raids will consist of
more units than the ones on your camp, but with your units and Sunder it
shouldn't be too hard.
Once you have collected three Fate Points, you should purchase the Capture
ability for Gimli, for use in later levels.
The raids will get heavier each time. Keep defending and using Sunder. When
the Catapult is completed, a cinematic should begin, one that shows the
incredible power of the Ancient Catapult. An objective is completed.
OBJECTIVE COMPLETED: Ancient Catapult
NEW OBJECTIVE: Destroy the Orc encampment's buildings.
This is as easy as it can get. You just have to endure one more raiding party
while you use the Catapult. Two well-aimed projectiles will destroy the Orc
camp in whole. When all buildings are destroyed, you will be victorious.
OBJECTIVE COMPLETED: Destroy the Orc encampment's buildings.
MISSION COMPLETED
----------------------
The Pursuit of Gollum
----------------------
INTRO:
Third Age 3018
"Gollum, the wretched slave to The One Ring, has managed to slither through
the grasp of the Elven-king Thranduil and retreat deep into the forest of
Mirkwood. Thranduil has sent Legolas to recapture the pitiful, corrupted
creature."
HEROES:
- Legolas ==> Abilities: - Trueshot => 2 Fate
BUILDINGS:
- No buildings to be built
UNITS:
- No units to be trained
UPGRADES:
- No upgrades to be researched
In this level, you get to control an other hero than Gimli. Legolas, the Elf
who is a wonderful archer. This forest is a bit like a maze: in certain
situations you don't know whether you can pass somewhere or not. Once you
start you will see a cutscene about Gollum and Legolas, along with the
following objectives:
- Find and capture Gollum
! Legolas must survive
Before you do anything here, I must warn you that your starting units are
the only ones you have. Although it is possible to get a few reinforcements
by completing a side-quest, it is strongly recommended that you preserve
your units. You'll probably have to heal at several points in the level.
Direct your starting units, Legolas and four Elven Archers, to the north:
there are two paths here. Take the left one. Soon, you'll get another scene
with Gollum in it. Afterwards, you'll be attacked by some Giant Spiders.
These are very common throughout the level so you'd better get used to them
falling from trees and stuff.
Go west where you can and more spiders appear. Kill them quickly. Continue
going westward and you should eventually reach an area where you have to make
a choice again: will you go northwest, or southwest? The way to go is the
northern one, but I advise you to take the soutwest one first. This will give
you a side-quest, which will provide you with extra units if you succesfully
complete it. Southwest it is, then, and when you've walked for a while you
will be interrupted by a cutscene again. Some Rangers seem to be in trouble.
NEW OBJECTIVE: (OPTIONAL) Rescue the spiders' captives!
Now, don't you go running to those Rangers at once. They'll survive for a
while. First, go west and look at all those things that look like eggs. Those
things ARE eggs. So, destroy them all before helping the Rangers, plus any
Giant Spiders that hang out in the egg area. You don't want an enemy army on
your tail when you rescue the Rangers, do you?
You should have gotten 2 Fate Points by now. You can use these to purchase
the Trueshot ability for Legolas, an ability that will prove its worth in the
later levels.
Once all eggs are dead, run to the Rangers and kill all spiders first. Then,
select a unit and right click a captured Ranger. The unit will then free the
poor guy. A little cutscene is viewed and when this is over the Rangers seem
to have joined you.
OBJECTIVE COMPLETED: Rescue the spiders' captives!
Now, track all the way back to the big tree where you had to choose between
the northwest and southwest. Let your units heal. Afterwards, take the
northwest path. After a while you'll be ambushed by a group of spiders. It
shouldn't be too much of a problem with your extra forces. Head north until
you run into an enemy Wraith. Kill it, then go to the west. There, a little
spider ambush is waiting for you again. Continue your way west.
You'll get to an open area with some spiders and a Wraith. Kill them, then
attack the cave where the spiders are coming from. Once it is destroyed,
kill any remaining enemies and follow the path to the southwest. You will
be slowly lead south, but you should keep going west whenever you can. At
some point, there will be another cutscene about Gollum's tracks. You should
reach a Place of Power after going south a little more.
There are some spider eggs around this place again, so kill them before
they hatch. Crush any remaining opposition to take control of the Place of
Power. This is an Elven Shrine, a magical place that increases the maximum
amount of HP your units can have. Heal if your units need it, then continue
your way west.
More spiders here... dispose of them. This time, the forest leads you to
the north. Keep going west just like the last time to get to get to Gollum.
Once again, a cutscene takes place. There are Orcs in Mirkwood! Some of
them see you and attack. You'll get control again.
NEW OBJECTIVE: Kill the Orcs
Just kill the three Orc Slashers, that's all, really. Once they're gone
Legolas decides that Gollum will have to wait: Orcs in this part of
Mirkwood is bad news!
OBJECTIVE COMPLETED: Kill the Orcs
OBJECTIVE COMPLETED: Find and capture Gollum
MISSION COMPLETED
------------------------
The Bridge of Osgiliath
------------------------
INTRO:
Third Age 3018
"The army of Mordor has slowly pushed its way west to the ancient, abandoned
city of Osgiliath. Near the western bank of the river Anduin, the men of
Gondor and Rohan have gathered to prevent Sauron's forces from gaining a
foothold. Boromir, heir to the Steward of Gondor, leads the attack."
HEROES:
- Boromir ==> Abilities: - Horn of Gondor => Available
- Faramir ==> Abilities: - Trueshot => Available
BUILDINGS:
- Stronghold - Barracks
- Mill - Forge
- Foundry - Ranger Post
- Watchtower - Wilderness Outpost
- Camp
UNITS:
- Worker
- Gondor Swordsman
- Rider of Rohan
- Ranger
UPGRADES:
- Stronghold Level 2/3 => Stronghold
- War Camp => Camp
- Iron Blades/Steel Blades => Forge
- Iron Plating/Steel Plating => Forge
- Lookout Tower => Forge
- Etched Blades/Mystic Blades => Wilderness Outpost
- Improved Leather => Wilderness Outpost
- Concealment => Wilderness Outpost
- Eagle Eye => Wilderness Outpost
This level is a little harder than the last ones. In the cutscene, Boromir
will give a nice speech after hearing that there are enemy forces in the
city of Osgiliath. Your first objectives are:
- Prevent Sauron's forces from taking over Osgiliath
! Boromir must survive
! Destroy any barricades in your way
You start out with a decent army (3 Riders of Rohan, 4 Gondor Swordsmen, 4
Rangers, and 4 Rohan Archers), two heroes (Boromir and Faramir), and three
Workers. Assign two of these Workers to build a Foundry, and the other one
to build a Mill. Train four more Workers from your Stronghold. Make sure
there are three on ore, three on food, and one to build your structures.
While you do all this, you are attacked by a group of Goblin Spearmen. It
doesn't pose any threat, just don't lose any men. Boromir's Horn of Gondor
can blast enemies around him away. Now upgrade your Stronghold.
Use your Worker to construct a Wilderness Outpost and research Concealment
there. You can now use your Rangers to scout without enemies seeing them.
Once your Stronghold is upgraded you should build a Forge and a Barracks,
then start training a lot of Riders of Rohan. Build an additional Camp and
upgrade it to a War Camp to get the needed population.
Keep training those Riders of Rohan: you'll need at least sixteen to have
any chance at recapturing Osgiliath. In the meanwhile, research each and
every upgrade. First those at the Forge, then those at the Wilderness
Outpost. There should be no trouble with resources in this level.
Once you have amassed an army of at least sixteen fully upgraded Riders of
Rohan, move this force south to destroy the first barricade. Leave your
heroes and all units on foot at your base: they aren't mobile enough for
your strategy.
Direct your cavalry further south once the first barricade is destroyed,
to a big open area. To the east, there is another barricade with enemies
behind it. First, kill the enemies in front of the construction, quickly
crush the barricade and crush the enemies behind it. Heal if you need to,
then head over the bridge.
Boromir says there is another bridge, at the other end of the city. You
can run all the way there, but I recommend killing each and every enemy in
the city: this will make the last part of the mission a lot easier. Track
down each enemy and heal when you can. When you get to the eastern part of
Osgiliath, you'll find an Orc camp. It's defended pretty good, so be on
your guard. Destroy the camp, but don't let a unit step on the bridge yet.
You can send in reinforcements from your camp now, if you lost too much
units in the chaotic battle. Note that you might have activated a side-
quest about Rohan Archers in the city, but I don't know exactly how to
trigger it. It is optional, so it doesn't matter a lot anyway. Make sure
there are some Workers among your reinforcements.
Direct your army to the eastern bridge, and make your units walk on it:
there will be a cutscene with Troll Stonehurlers decimating your forces
from somewhere you can't reach them. Boromir decides to destroy the
bridge, so the army of Mordor can't cross it. This is where you need those
Workers for.
NEW OBJECTIVE: Use Workers to destroy the supports of the bridge.
Select a Worker, and right-click one of the bridge supports. It'll be
easier when you use several Workers at once. When the last support is
destroyed, you'll be rewarded with victory. There will be a funny
cutscene with enemy forces falling in the water.
OBJECTIVE COMPLETED: Use Workers to destroy the supports of the bridge.
OBJECTIVE COMPLETED: Prevent Sauron's forces from taking over Osgiliath.
MISSION COMPLETED
-----------------
Orcs in Mirkwood
-----------------
INTRO:
Third Age 3018
"The effort to recapture Gollum was thwarted by the invasion of Orcs.
Alarmed by this evil presence so close to his father's kingdom, Legolas
pushes into the deeper, darker parts of Mirkwood to prevent the Orcs
from mounting an attack on his people."
HEROES:
- Legolas ==> Abilities: - Trueshot => Available
- Guardian Wind => Available
BUILDINGS:
- Stronghold - Camp
- Mill - Ranger Post
- Foundry - Wilderness Outpost
- Watchtower - Elven Sanctuary
UNITS:
- Ranger => Ranger Post
- Elven Archer => Elven Sanctuary
UPGRADES:
- War Camp => Camp
- Etched Blades/Mystic Blades => Wilderness Outpost
- Improved Leather/Hard Leather => Wilderness Outpost
- Concealment => Wilderness Outpost
- Eagle Eye => Wilderness Outpost
- Elven Cloaks => Wilderness Outpost
- Eagle Fletching => Wilderness Outpost
Now you're Legolas again. In the starting cutscene we see that the Orcs
have gained a stable foothold in Mirkwood. Legolas hastens towards his
camp and commands his workers to start expanding. Then you get control.
The main objectives for this level are:
- Construct an encampment
=> Build a Mill
=> Build a Foundry
=> Build a Ranger Post
=> Elven Sanctuary
- Destroy the Orc encampment
This isn't as easy as it looks. You start with 4 Elven Archers, 2 Elf
Workers, 3 Elf Wardens, and Legolas. Train five more Elf Workers and
command the two that are already there to construct a Foundry. Use the
first one that comes out of the Stronghold to start building a Mill.
Like in the previous levels, make sure you have three on ore, three on
food, and one to build. Note that you cannot upgrade your Stronghold
during this scenario.
In this level, your encampment will be attacked from two sides: most
common is via the plains north of your settlement. From there, raiding
parties consisting of mainly Warg Riders are organised. You will also
be attacked by Orc Archers from the southern cliffs. In order to defend
your camp, place all your units except for Legolas on the northern side.
Leave Legolas south to deal with the archers: Trueshot works well, here.
Now that you have your economy and defense set up, it's time to build
an army. The first thing you should build is a Ranger Post and a new
Camp, bringing your population level to 43. Afterwards, construct an
Elven Sanctuary and fill up your population with only Elven Archers.
OBJECTIVE COMPLETED: Construct an encampment.
While training those archers, use your Worker to build a Wilderness
Outpost. When it's completed, immediately start researching the Elven
Cloaks upgrade. This will allow your Elven Archers to turn completely
invisible, except when detector units like Wraiths are around. After
the cloaks, you should go for Eagle Fletching, upgrading range.
Research everything at the Wilderness Outpost that could help out your
Elven Archers; they will be your main attacking force during this
level. When ready, take six cloaked Elven Archers to the north until
you run into enemies. This is the little camp: the big one is located
in the far northeast. Make sure you kill all the Wraiths first, there
are four of them in this area.
Once you've killed the Wraiths, there's nothing to worry about. Since
the other enemies can't see you they are easily defeated. Destroy this
outpost in whole. You can train additional Elven Archers to replace
those that died in the battle. When it is destroyed you should wait for
your units to heal, and prepare to continue the path northeast.
If your elves run into an enemy patrol, just kill the Wraiths first. As
soon as all Wraiths in the vicinity are destroyed, you will turn invisible
to the others again. Heal whenever you want. Definitely heal before you
enter the main enemy encampment, or you'll be crushed in seconds.
Entering this camp from the west side, there are two towers: one in the
north, which doesn't pose any trouble as long as you're invisible. The one
in the south can be hazardous, however, as it contains a Wraith. Since you
can't kill this detector without destroying the Tower first, you'll have
a hard time deflecting the entire camp defense. Focus all of your missiles
on the Tower, destroy it, and kill the Wraith that comes out.
There are several other Wraiths in the area. Always kill them first, of
course. To get rid of them quickly search the northern part of the camp for
a Shadow Lair and destroy it: they will not be able to train any more
Wraiths that way.
With all the detectors gone, this scenario is basically over. Just destroy
all remaining buildings in the base to start the ending cutscene. Legolas
says something about Dol Guldur, the Dark Lord's stronghold. You're gonna
learn to hate that name, believe me.
OBJECTIVE COMPLETED: Destroy the Orc encampment.
MISSION COMPLETED
----------------------
Assault on Dol Guldur
----------------------
INTRO:
Third Age 3018
"Suspecting that Gollums escape and the Orc infestation of Mirkwood are no
coincedence, Legolas searches for the root of this evil. His search leads him
to Dol Guldur, the nearby stronghold of Sauron."
HEROES:
- Legolas ==> Abilities: - Trueshot => Available
- Elven Speed => 2 Fate
- Guardian Wind => Available
BUILDINGS:
- Stronghold - Camp
- Mill - Ranger Post
- Foundry - Wilderness Outpost
- Watchtower - Elven Sanctuary
UNITS:
- Elf Worker => Stronghold
- Ranger => Ranger Post
- Elven Archer => Elven Sanctuary
UPGRADES:
- Stronghold Level 4 => Stronghold
- War Camp => Camp
- Etched Blades/Mystic Blades => Wilderness Outpost
- Improved Leather/Hard Leather => Wilderness Outpost
- Eagle Eye => Wilderness Outpost
- Elven Cloaks => Wilderness Outpost
- Eagle Fletching => Wilderness Outpost
First of all, I HATE this level. I hate it, hate it, hate it... It's very
annoying, because you'll be under attack non-stop from two sides with
only a few units at your disposal. Then, you also have to invade a giant
fortress with an ambush around every corner, and finally drive a Nazgul
away. Hard... very hard.
In the opening cutscene you can see an army passing some Rangers. As you can
see, you'll have to handle Trolls and Haradrim in this scenario as well as
normal Orcs. As if that weren't enough, you see how Legolas scouts out the
area and views how the Nazgul releases his army from Dol Guldur. Your
objectives are:
- Banish the Nazgul atop Dol Guldur
! Defend your encampment
The last of these will prove to be the hardest. Be quick and assign Workers
to build the resource structures. Put three Workers on each resource and
use one or two to build structures. Build every structure you can as fast
as possible and start pumping out units for defense. Make sure you research
Concealment for your Rangers, so they can detect those cloaked Haradrim
Slayers while they stay hidden. Build Watchtowers to assist in defense.
Soon, the first wave of enemies will come, just as a signal of what's to
come. They should be disposed of rather easily by now. The real attacks are
about to start. From the southwest, dozens of Haradrim Slayers invade your
camp, while Trolls and Orcs terrorize the southeastern part. Use abilities
like Trueshot and defend your camp, while you build Elven Archers for your
counter-attack. Make sure they are cloaked and preferably upgraded to the
max. Let them sneak through the enemy ranks and head southeast.
After a while you should see the camp that was viewed in the cutscene at
the start of the mission. There are several Wraiths here so be sure to
take them out first. When all the Wraiths are gone, destroy the main Orc
encampment. This isn't hard if you've got all your Elves together. If not,
train more from your base. The attacks will come to a halt once you have
crushed the entire enemy camp. If you've gotten this far enjoy, because
the hardest part of this mission is over.
Heal your cloaked Elven Archers by letting them stand still. Train any
reinforcements as you see fit. When you think you're ready, advance to the
north, to Dol Guldur, where the Nazgul awaits your arrival. As you can see,
the massive structure is very well-defended: there are Orc Archers on each
ledge. Fortunately, they can't see you as long as there are no Wraiths.
That's the big problem you're dealing with here: the Wraiths seem to have
the Greater Perception upgrade, enabling them to see your elves while you
can't see them. All those walls and ledges don't help in spotting them
either. I hope you now know that you should be on your guard when you get
to these cursed walls.
As you get to the main gate, shoot the Wraith that is lurking inside the
walls. Deal with the archers on top of the main gate later. Walk to the
right, staying outside of the walls. Kill any Wraiths as soon as you see
them. There are a lot of Giant Spider ambushes here, so watch it! This
section still shouldn't be too hard. Direct your Elven Archers up the
outer wall.
From this wall, you can shoot the units in the courtyard as well as those
on the wall itself. You should know what to do with Wraiths by now. Follow
this wall to the west, while shooting any units you e 
Walkthroughs 
