Warcraft: Orcs and Humans Units breakdown By Lord Zero (dskzero@yahoo.com) Version 1.0 ***************************************************************************** Index: 1.- File History. 2.- Intro. 3.- About this guide. 4.- History. 5.- Basics of the game. 5.1.- Resources. 5.2.- Buildings. 5.3.- Differences between races. 5.4.- On the Battleground. 6.- The Races. 6.1.- The Units. 6.1.1.- Regular Units. 6.1.2.- Spellcasting Units. 6.1.3.- Summoned Units. 6.1.4.- Nonplayer Creatures. 6.2.- Buildings. 6.2.1.- Regular buildings. 6.2.2.- Special Buildings . 6.3.- Spells. 6.3.1.- Orcish Spells. 6.3.2.- Human Spells. 7.- Cheat codes. 8.- Credits. 9.- Legal Stuff. ***************************************************************************** 1.- File History. - 0.1 Start of the file (04/17/03, 09:05) - 1.0 File completed. (04/18/03, 09:10) Blasted five minutes! It would have been the first guide which takes me exactly 24 hours to write ^_^. ***************************************************************************** 2.-Introduction. While the dust raised by Warcraft III: The Reign of Chaos hasn't even settled down yet, I've suddenly struck by a nostalgic sting which has told me to go play the other games. This time is a look back to the first game of the series: Warcraft: Orcs and Humans. Warcraft: Orcs and Humans was a real-time award-winning strategy game released by the guys of Blizzard (as their third games released to the IBM/PC plataform) in 1994. It featured very good graphics, a good soundtrack and interesting sound effects, but most importantly, an incredible addictive and effective gameplay value. Warcraft: Orcs and Humans wasn't as revolutionary as Warcraft II: The Tides of Darkness, not out of quality but because the market was still shocked with the invasion of FPS games such as Doom, Heretic and Duken Nukem 3D, but it set the tides for the coming of titles such as Warcraft II, Warwind, C&C and about a hundred others which dominated 1996, nominated the year of RTS. THis guide is an insight to this wonderful game. ***************************************************************************** 3.- About this Guide. 800x600 is a very good resolution for reading this very good guide ~_^. Meh. I think my next guide won't have this info. I mean, it's 2003, who the hell is using this resolution except my cousin?. It's quite a surprise to see this game as one of the cornerstones of the gaming industry and only containing one FAQ which hasn't been updated in years. So I open up my wordpad... and began writing. To be frank, I really loved this game when I first played it, and loved the second one even more when I played it two years later. And now that the third is out, I can't believe how much has passed on so little time. Granted, is 8 years, but is very little time ^_^. I've decided to start with a basic unit breakdown and when I feel like I've dominated the single player game, i'll go for a full walkthru. On the other hand, following this guide will be guides for WC II, and very likely WC III, what i don't really know is that if the last one would be a general strategy guide and whatnot: there are plenty of guides out there already and i somehow feel like I've missed the train :S, and that i've spent my time playing Defense of the Ancients instead of the regular game ^_^. ***************************************************************************** 4.- History. Warcraft starts with the inminent invasion of the orcish hordes into the lands of Azeroth. No one knows where did this monsters came from or why are they invading the human nations, but the only way of taking care of this situation is by defending themselves, so the humans fight back these demoniac hordes. Led by the just and wise King Llane, the humans fight back the orcs, led by the bloodthirsty Blackhand. The battle for survival has just started... ***************************************************************************** 5.- The Basics of the Game. While learning to play Warcraft isn't actually that hard, mastering it is the challenge. Here's a quick and dirty guide to get you started. 5.1.- Resources: Warcraft, as well as an other "craft" game ever made, is first and foremost a game of production. The game requires, to a certain point, to be proficient on your economic roots before being an adept general. WC manages three kinds of resources: gold, lumber and food. Gold is mined from gold mines. Well, duh. Wether orcs Peons or human Peasants they simply enter the mine and get out with bags of gold. Gold is your primary resource in the sense that you need money for anything. Is important that you keep tab of the Gold Mines' reserves of gold, and is always better to have more than one working to get more money. Lumber is obviously gotten from trees. Again, Peons and Peasants go there, chop the tree, and bring it back. It's quite slower than getting gold, so ussually is recommended to keep a rather big team getting lumber. Food is provided by Farms. It's used to regulate the ammount of units you are using. If you want more units, you will need more farms. 5.2.- Buildings: Buildings are your bases on the battlegrounds. With buildings, you train units, upgrade them, provide food and the such. Both races, technically, build identical stuff. They differ with their magic buildings as their upgrades are different. 5.3.- Differences between races: Both races are, as been told a hundred times before, almost exactly identical. The only difference is the magic each side can wield and certain range and damage differences. They will be noted on their respective section (sixth section: The Races). Orcs have prime advantage in the offensive side as their powerful spells make their units more difficult to kill, and more effective in battle, and their ultimate summoning spells summons the most powerful unit in the game, the Daemons. They also can raise units from the dead bodies as skeletons. Humans have a tactical advantage in the sense of more subtle strategies with their invisibility spells as well as their healing power making unit last longer in battle. Their ultimate summoning spell is the heavy ranged unit, the Water Elemental, which uses its ranged attacks to get free hits at enemies. In the end, it doesn't really matters which side you choose: Both are equally powerful and can win over each other. The skill of the player is much more important. 5.4.- On the Battleground: Obviously, the battle is won or lost on the battleground. Is certainly rare to have an all out battle in some no man's land (it does happens in other games, though), but ussually battles are ran on someone's town. Combat should be managed in units: I ussually run a number of groups of four creatures separated from other kinds, such as two units of four archers, two units of grunts, and the such. Order archers and ranged fighters to focus fire on the bigger problems and the rest to cover them. A special note should be made about Elementals or Daemons: They are simply too powerful to be managed by regular units. If you spot Daemons or Elementals on the vincinity, make sure you wear them down with a catapult (Elementals go down with a direct hit, Daemons can survive it but are damaged dearly), or you're bound to take a few casualties dealing with these monstrosities. Attacking towns, is best using siege engines to deal damage at the distance while keeping melee units nearby to deal with the defenders. Placing ranged units on the flanks allow for maximun firepower (archers have slightly longer range than spearmen). As for spellcasters: They are ussually best left on the back, or on the base. As for defense, siege engines are again the best bet behind a group of walls. While very unnacurate, catapults ussually kill with one shot or at least do a lot of damage. Using Knights or Wolf Raiders to mop up what's left of the enemies, and a group of grunts or footmen as last line of defense is the way to go for me and is a good way. You're free to think up your own strategies, these are basic ideas to start off. ***************************************************************************** 6.- The Races. I will list both races' units and buildings together but what few differences are will be noted. Both sides are, and I repeat equally powerful: Is your choice whether you enjoy one side over the other. 6.1.- The Units: Legend: ORCISH UNIT / HUMAN UNIT (I will most likely point a single unit when I speak about both, I.E: Everything I say about the Archer applies to the Spearman.) HP: How many hit points does the unit have. ATTACK DAMAGE: minimum and maximum values of damage the unit can inflict per blow. Expressed in hit points. Ranged units only have minimun values, meaning they always hit for the same ammount of damage. Siege Engines and Daemons only have maximun damage, meaning the can hit for anywhere from zero to the indicated ammount. ARMOR: How much armor does the unit have. If i'm not mistaken, the armor is substracted from the maximum damage the unit could receive, then is calculated the random value between the minimum and maximum value. RANGE: Distance the unit's attack can reach. Expressed in tiles: the space where any unit stands (Except daemons and elementals)is a tile. COST: Duh. REQUERIMENTS: What do they need to be trained. 6.1.1.- Regular Units. ORCISH PEON / HUMAN PEASANT HP: 40 ATTACK DAMAGE: N/A ARMOR: 0 RANGE: N/A. COST: 400 gold. REQUERIMENTS: Town Hall. The basic workhorse of your army. While they can't attack enemies, they can harvest gold and lumber and build and repair buildings. They are, as you can see, quite weak and vulnerable, and must be protected at all cost. Under attack, first make sure your peasants are safe, then everything else. Try to have a very open ground for your peasants to move. They seem to love to stay there doing nothing at all since units can move over each other. ORCISH GRUNT / HUMAN FOOTMAN HP: 60 ATTACK DAMAGE: 1 / 9 ARMOR: 2 RANGE: Melee. COST: 400 gold. REQUERIMENTS: Barrack. The backbone of any army, the grunts are the most basic attacking units you can build. While not very powerful or resistant, they are well prepared to take on any unit, and are cheap and don't require wood or any aditional buildings to train, making it both the first line of the armies and the last-ditch defensive units. Affordable cannon fodder to take on elementals or daemons if you don't have the choice. Place them as a line to protect your archers and spellcasters. ORCISH SPEARMAN / HUMAN ARCHER HP: 60 ATTACK DAMAGE: Archer: 4. Spearman: 5. ARMOR: 1 RANGE: Archer: 5. Spearman: 4. COST: 450 gold, 50 lumber. REQUERIMENTS: Barrack and Lumber Mill. An strictly defensive units ussually, archers are, while powerful enough to warrant inclusion in attacking units, the ideal companions for guarding your city. Placed behind walls they spell doom to any unit except catapults. Besides, their ranged attack makes them much more effective at drawning attention and saving peons or important structures. While they have the same ammout of HP as the grunts, archers go down noticeably easier due to their less generous armor. They are also much more vulnerable to Catapults. Finally, Archers are ussually eaten alive by groups of knights or wolf riders, and a single hit by a daemon can take one down. ORCISH AND HUMAN CATAPULT HP: 120 ATTACK DAMAGE: 255 ARMOR: 0 RANGE: 8 COST: 900 gold, 200 lumber. REQUERIMENTS: Barracks, Blacksmith. Catapults are a very powerful unit which can tear down thru any kind of thing with hit points in a matter of seconds. They are very slow and unnaccurate, but a single hit of a catapult kills any creature except for a daemon provided it's a direct hit. For maximum efficiency, place them from behind your main troops to provide both cover fire and extra firepower. While your other units keeps the enemies entertained, you can manually control your catapults to hit the most important buildings, such as towers and barracks. A group of three of four catapults behind walls is bassically stalling the game until those catapults are destroyed. ORCISH WOLF RIDER / HUMAN KNIGHT HP: 90 ATTACK DAMAGE: 1 / 13 ARMOR: 5 RANGE: Melee. COST: 850 gold. REQUERIMENTS: Barracks, Blacksmith, Kennel or Stable. The main attacking unit, the knights and riders are flawless fighters which can live to attack another day. They have 50% more HP than grunts and 3 more armor, and they are very fast, and can become even faster. While they are much more expensive (need to build another building as well as more gold invested), they ussually pay back what you've spent on them. Use them to kill catapults and to chase down spellcasters, as well as to stop that army of grunts or to keep that elemental or daemon entertained until your catapult take it down. 6.1.2.- Spellcasting Units. ORCISH NECROLYTE HP: 40 ATTACK DAMAGE: 6 ARMOR: 0 RANGE: 2 COST: 700 gold. REQUERIMENTS: Temple. Orcish support spellcaster, the Necrolyte's most powerful spell is the annoying Unholy Armor. They are quite weak and vulnerable (but they are quite damaging) so they must be protected. Their other two spells are Raise Dead and Dark Vision. The Necrolytes are best used for supporting your most powerful but harmed units by using Unholy Armor. If mana can be spared, Raise dead can provide a good ammount of skeletons to keep the enemies back while protecting your units or to slow them down on a hasty retreat. Unholy Armor on a Daemon is the sickest thing I've seen on this game. HUMAN CLERIC HP: 40 ATTACK DAMAGE: 6 ARMOR: 0 RANGE: 1 COST: 700 gold. REQUERIMENTS: Church. Human support spellcaster, the Cleric most powerful spell is the arguably most powerful spell in the game, Invisibility. They are quite weak and vulnerable (but they are quite damaging, but unlike Necrolytes they are almost melee units), so they must be protected. Their other two spells are Far Sight and Heal. The Clerics are best used for supporting your armies by healing them with the heal spell (gee, i'm a genius ^_^). Invisibility is best used for stealth strikes at critical points of the opponent base, ussually best done using an Elemental or two and casting invisibility on the base and sending it down to the heart of the opponents city. ORCISH WARLOCK HP: 40 ATTACK DAMAGE: 6 ARMOR: 0 RANGE: 2 COST: 900 gold. REQUERIMENTS: Tower. Orcish offensive spellcaster, the Warlock is a very powerful unit which can summon units and damage enemy units. They are quite weak and vulnerable (But they are quite damaging), so they must be protected. Their three spells are Minor summoning (Spiders), Poison Cloud and Major Summoning (Daemons). Warlocks are very expensive and easy to kill, so sometimes is better to leave them at the base and make them summon Daemons from there. Take one of them with you when attacking: The Poison Cloud is very powerful and can bring an opponent with the guard down to his or her knees. HUMAN CONJURER HP: 40 ATTACK DAMAGE: 6 ARMOR: 0 RANGE: 3 COST: 900 gold. REQUERIMENTS: Tower. Human offensive spellcaster, the Conjurer is a very powerful unit which can summon units and damage enemy units. They are quite weak and vulnerable (But they are quite damaging), so they must be protected. Conjurers have an slightly longer range than other spellcasting unit, making up for their weaker summons. Their three spells are Minor summoning (Scorpions), Rain of Fire and Major Summoning (Water Elemental). Conjurers are very expensive and easy to kill, so sometimes is better to leave them at the base and make them summon Water Elementals from there. Take one of them with you when attacking: The Rain of Fire is very powerful and can bring an opponent with the guard down to his or her knees. 6.1.3.- Summoned Units. SCORPION HP: 30 ATTACK DAMAGE: 3 (minumum) ARMOR: 0 RANGE: Melee. COST: A fully charged Conjurer can summon up to five scorpions. Scorpions are expendable fighting units best used for scouting. Pretty weak and useless in open combat. SPIDER HP: 30 ATTACK DAMAGE: 1 / 3 ARMOR: 0 RANGE: Melee. COST: A fully charged Warlock can summon up to five spiders. Spiders are expendable fighting units best used for scouting. Pretty weak and useless in open combat. SKELETON HP: 40 ATTACK DAMAGE: 1 / 4 ARMOR: 1 RANGE: Melee. COST: A fully charged Necrolyte can raise up to four skeletons. Skeletons are raised from dead bodies by the Necrolytes once commanded to use Raise Dead on them. Skeletons are best used to cover up your vulnerable units, to kill peasants going from the town hall to the mine, or to cover up a hasty retreat. They are rather weak, but by the force of numbers can put up a fight. WATER ELEMENTAL HP: 250 ATTACK DAMAGE: 40 ARMOR: 0 RANGE: 3 COST: A fully charged Conjurer can summon one Water Elemental. Water Elementals are, as you can see, very heavy ranged units which can form the main attacking body of your attacking forces. Better used in groups, and more effective doing so than Daemons, they can be used to send invisible strikes at critical points of the enemies home with wonderful results. Water Elementals are slightly weaker than Daemons, but their ranged attack is sometimes a huge asset. If you find yourself under attack by Water Elementals, let it attack a build and use a catapult to hit it: one shot will do. DAEMONS HP: 300 ATTACK DAMAGE: 65 ARMOR: 0 RANGE: Melee. COST: A fully charged Warlock can summon one Daemon. Daemons are, as you can see, very heavy melee units which can form the main attacking body of your attacking forces. They are best spread around with your units, since they are very big, bulky and somewhat slow, they tend to cluster around when attacking making them not very effective in groups. Daemons are the only thing in the game which can survive a direct catapult shot (but not by much, eh?!) and are slightly more powerful than Water Elementals, though their lack of teamwork is something a big problem. If you find yourself under attack by Daemons, throw a Knight at them and use your catapults to hit them while they are busy kicking down the Knight. 6.1.4.- Nonplayer Creatures. These units are only found in dungeon stages. You can't use them. * these units are different than the orcish skeletons. BRIGAND HP: 40 ATTACK DAMAGE: 1 / 9 ARMOR: 4 RANGE: Melee. SKELETON* HP: 30 ATTACK DAMAGE: 1 / 9 ARMOR: 2 RANGE: Melee. SLIME HP: 150 ATTACK DAMAGE: 1 ARMOR: 10 RANGE: Melee. OGRE HP: 60 ATTACK DAMAGE: 1 / 13 ARMOR: 0 RANGE: Melee. FIRE ELEMENTAL HP: 200 ATTACK DAMAGE: 40 (maximum) ARMOR: 0 RANGE: Melee. 6.2.- Buildings. Buildings in Warcraft must be build next to a road tile. This makes for very nice looking bases but is certainly annoying. Placement of buildings is key to allow your peasants max mobility. 6.2.1.- REGULAR BUILDINGS. TOWN HALL HP: 2500 COST: 400 gold, 400 lumber. The Town hall is the center of your city: harvested lumber and mined gold is sent here for procesing and then prepared to be used. Other than that, this building trains Peons and Peasants and build Roads and Walls. FARM HP: 400 COST: 500 gold, 300 lumber. Farms provide food for your troops. Each Farm allows for four new units to be created. Anticipate the growth of your army and build as many Farms as possible. A very used tactic from Warcraft II was to block your city using Farms instead of walls. Judging by the prices, Town Halls seem to work much better. I haven't tried it though. BARRACKS: HP: 800 COST: 600 gold, 500 lumber Barracks are used to train most of your troops. Archers, Knights, Footmen and Catapults and their orcish counterparts are trained here. Build one and more as soon as resources allow: the more, the merrier. The bulk of your army will come out of this building, so protect them when under attack. LUMBERMILL: HP: 600 COST: 600 gold, 500 lumber. The lumbermill is used to upgrade the attack of your archers and spearmen. Furthermore, the construction of advanced structures is only available once the Lumbermill is up and running. Upgrades available: First Upgrade: 750 gold. Second Upgrade: 1500 gold. BLACKSMITH: HP: 800 COST: 900 gold, 400 lumber. The Blacksmith is used to upgrade the attack and armor of your melee units. Upgrades available: First upgrade (for armors and weapons): 750. Second Upgrade (for armors and weapons): 1500 gold. ORCISH KENNEL / HUMAN STABLE HP: 500 COST: 1000 gold, 400 lumber. The Kennel and the Stable allows you to train Wolf Riders and Knights. They also allow you to upgrade the speed of the units. Upgrades Availables: First upgrade: 750 gold. Second Upgrade: 1500 gold. ORCISH TEMPLE / HUMAN CHURCH HP: 700 COST: 800 gold, 500 lumber. The Temple and the Church are used to train Necrolytes and Clerics. They also allow you to research their spells. Spells available: Healing and Raise Dead: 750 gold. Far Sight and Dark Vision: 1500 gold. Invisibility and Unholy Armor: 3000 gold. TOWER HP: 900 COST: 1400 gold, 300 lumber. The Tower is used to train Orcish Warlocks and Human Conjurers. THey also allow you to research their spells. Spells available: Minor Summoning: 750 gold. Poison Cloud and Rain of Fire: 1500 gold. Major Summoning: 3000 gold. 6.2.2.- Special Buildings. CASTLE HP: 5000 The castle appears at the last mission of each race and is the last thing you need to destroy to finish the game. Don't stare, is not easy to take down. MINES have 25500 HPs. Wow. 6.3.- Spells. 6.3.1.- Orcish Spells. RAISE DEAD This spell raises a skeleton from a dead body. Skeletons aren't exacly very strong, but they are useful as canon fodder. The Necrolyte will raise as many skeletons as dead bodies and mana allows for him to do so. DARK VISION This spell reveals an small area of the map for you. Substantially useful when trying to locate an enemy stronghold or looking for new mines. UNHOLY ARMOR Unholy Armor makes the affected unit impervious to attacks at the cost of half its current HP. This spell is certainly powerful and nasty when cast on Daemons or to protect expensive creatures in the middle of a retreat. MINOR SUMMONING Summons as many spiders as mana allows. POISON CLOUD Creates a poisonous cloud on the selected area dealing 10 damage per second to the creatures on the area. Very powerful but very easy to avoid. Best used between town halls and gold mines. MAJOR SUMMONING Summons a Daemon to your ranks. 6.3.2.- Human Spells. HEALING This spell recover lost HP to your units. Extremely useful in the middle of battles, making your units last longer. Best used on Knights. FAR SIGHT This spell reveals an small area of the map for you. Substantially useful when trying to locate an enemy stronghold or looking for new mines. INVISIBILITY Renders a unit invisible as long as the unit does not attack or cast spell. Incredible effective with Water Elementals for stealth strikes on enemies bases. MINOR SUMMONING Summons as many scorpions as mana allows. RAIN OF FIRE Sents down a rain of fire on the selected area dealing 10 damage per second to the creatures on the area. Very powerful but very easy to avoid. Best used between town halls and gold mines. MAJOR SUMMONING Summons a Water Elementals to your ranks. ***************************************************************************** 7.- Cheats. To enter the cheat codes, first press enter, type the cheat, then press enter again. You will receive something a funny message confirming the cheat enabled. POT OF GOLD - Gives you 10000 gold and 5000 lumber. SALLY SHEARS - Reveals the whole map. HURRY UP GUYS - Makes training, building and researching almost instant. IRON FORGE - Upgrades your regular units to the max. EYE OF NEWT - Researchs all magic spells. The next codes require another code to work. To make these codes available, first enter CORWIN OF AMBER, press enter, then enter the next codes. ORCXX or HUMANXX - Level cheat. Enter the number of the level you want to visit (I.E.: orc04 or human10) THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE - Makes all of your units invincible and do an incredible ammount of damage per hit. Only way to kill them is to use Rain of Fire / Poison Cloud, or using a catapult. YOURS TRULY - Instant win. CRUSHING DEFEAT - Instant loss (bummer!). IDES OF MARCH - You win the game instantly. Most cheats work for both players (including the computer, but on its case it doesn't really does much). ***************************************************************************** 8.- Credits - To Blizzard, for starting the best series of games ever produced. These guys are the best game developers on the world. Period. - CjayC for publishing this guide. - Me. For not scaring myself when I look every morning in the mirror. - And you, for reading this guide. See ya later! ***************************************************************************** 12.- Legal Stuff. This file is owned by Lord Zero (dskzero@yahoo.com) You MAY distribute, print, read, show to your friends or enemies this guide freely, AS LONG as you credit Lord Zero as the author, keep the copyright on it, and is used for non-profit purposes. You MAY NOT change ANYTHING on this guide, adding or taking anything out of it, including banners, links, or anything else. You MAY NOT distribute this guide on any non-electronic media. All I ask from you if you wish to publish this guide on your site, is to keep it updated, and to notificate me of your URL. All Rights Reserved. Anything not mentioned on this text can be discussed via email to the address below. Copyright 2003 By Lord Zero (dskzero@yahoo.com). The last version can always be found in gamefaqs.com. __ / \ \||/ ______ ______ |||| <_____ \ <_____ \ |||| ____ __________________________\ \______\ \__||||______ / \ \ / Lord Zero (dskzero@yahoo.com) / |||| / / /| \ /\ < --------------------------------< ||||/ / / | < @ \__________________________ ______ \_||||_/_/__| / \/ _____/ / _____/ / |||| \_/__/ <______/ <______/ |||| |||| /||\ \__/ "End of File (You can stop reading now)"