Editing Fortress

{{towns}}
'''Fortress''' is a [[alignment|neutral alignment]] [[town]] with the [[beastmaster]] and [[witch]] [[hero class]]es. Fortress represents [[Tatalia]].

''"Fortress towns are built at the edge of swamps and are often used as bases by the Beastmaster and Witch hero classes. Their armies are primarily made up of deadly creatures — born of the swamps, and then subdued and trained for warfare. While among them there is only one ranged attack creature, Fortress units are possessed of many special abilities to offset this deficiency."{{-}}<sup>[[Restoration of Erathia Manual Page 92|RoE manual]]''</sup>

Fortress' [[native terrain]] is [[swamp]].

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==Fortress building tree==
{| style="margin-right:20px; float:left"
|[[File:FortressBuildingTree.png|left|600px]]
|}

[[file:Fortress-in.png|thumb|none|Fully upgraded Fortress|500px]]

{{Town cost summary|
|common   = {{Building cost|{{W}}<br>45||{{O}}<br>40||||{{G}}<br>37000}}
|mage     = {{Building cost|{{W}}<br>15|{{M}}<br>10|{{O}}<br>15|{{S}}<br>10|{{C}}<br>10|{{Gem}}<br>10|{{G}}<br>4000}}
|dwelling = {{Building cost|{{W}}<br>105|{{M}}<br>19|{{O}}<br>50|{{S}}<br>39|||{{G}}<br>45400}}
|unique   = {{Building cost|{{W}}<br>20||||||{{G}}<br>6000}}
|total    = {{Building cost|{{W}}<br>185|{{M}}<br>29|{{O}}<br>105|{{S}}<br>49|{{C}}<br>10|{{Gem}}<br>10|{{G}}<br>92400}}
|troop    = 26660 {{G}}, 2 {{S}}
}}
{{clear|left}}
===Common Buildings and Mage Guild===
{{Fortress common buildings}}

===Creature Dwellings===
{{Fortress creature dwellings}}

===Unique Buildings===
{{Fortress unique buildings}}

{{clear|left}}
==Heroes==
{{switch|tag1=sod|tag2=hota|switch1=[Switch to Horn of the Abyss]|switch2=[Switch to Shadow of Death]|style1=color:blue;|style2=color:blue;}}

{{switch_content|tag1=sod|tag2=hota|content1=		{{hero table|bgc=#{{Green 1b}}|head=!+ colspan = 14 style="background-color:#{{Green 1}}; font-size: 120%; color:white; height:28px; text-align:center;" {{!}} Fortress heroes (Shadow of Death)}}
		{{Fortress hero table}}
{{T!}}|content2=		{{hero table|bgc=#{{Green 1b}}|head=!+ colspan = 14 style="background-color:#{{Green 1}}; font-size: 120%; color:white; height:28px; text-align:center;" {{!}} Fortress heroes (Horn of the Abyss)}}
		{{Fortress hero table (HotA)}}
{{T!}}
Notes:
* [[Kinkeria]] replaces [[Voy]] on maps without water.}}


'''Banned secondary skills:'''

Some skills are not available for certain hero classes, which means they can only acquire them from [[Scholar (Adventure Map)|Scholar]]s, [[Witch Hut]]s (except for [[Necromancy]] and [[Leadership]], if not allowed by a map-maker), [[Seer's Hut]]s, [[Event]]s or [[Pandora's Box]]es.

{{ss|Necromancy}} and {{ss|Fire Magic}} are not available for [[beastmaster]]s.

{{ss|Necromancy}}, {{ss|Resistance}} and {{ss|Interference}}{{-wh}} are not available for [[witch]]es.

==Creatures==
{{creature table|bgc=#{{Blue 1b}}|head=!+ colspan = 14 style="background-color:#{{Blue 1}}; font-size: 120%; color:white; height:28px;" {{!}} Fortress creatures}}
{{Fortress creature table}}
|}

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

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="white-space:nowrap; text-align: left;"
|-
| width=80px | Backwater || width=80px | Coolmire || width=80px | Deadfall || width=80px | Deadwood
|-
| Drakenmoor || Edgewater || Hermit Cove || Lostmoor
|-
| Marshank || Marshchoke || Marshwall || Mossden
|-
| Mosswood || Mudshire || Silt || Stillbog
|-
|}

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

{{user commentary|
* While among them there is only one ranged-attack creature, Fortress units possess many special abilities to offset this deficiency.

'''Pros:'''
*High defense (Defense themed town)
*With a two-hex [[moat]] and several buildings which increase the stats of the defending hero, a Fortress castle is a real pain to attack. So the Fortress moat is considered as the best moat in the game due to usefulness thanks to two-hex wide that make harder to attack a Fortress castle without support of shooters, flyers and spells.
*Hand-to-hand troops with excellent specials ([[Dispel]], [[Death Stare]], [[Petrify]], [[Poison]]).
*[[Serpent Fly and Dragon Fly|Dragon Flies]] are extremely fast. They share 8th place by speed among town units with [[Efreet and Efreet Sultan|Efreet Sultans]] (not including 7 level creatures, these two are fastest in the game), being faster than ''all'' creatures in [[Tower]] and [[Stronghold]] - and it's on level 3! For early development, it rocks, since the hero may simply rush through the map having Dragon Flies only (even basic Serpent Flies are ok, as their speed 9 is decent); and in a big battle, they are a major problem since they [[Dispel|remove]] positive spells casted on enemy units and cast [[Weakness]], making them less effective. They are also good creatures in terms of speed per cost ratio for scouting heroes at early game and/or towns with slow armies.
*Their swamp native terrain makes them move much faster than any hero (without [[pathfinding]]) in the swamp.
*The [[Wyvern Nest]] is very cheap and has very low requirements compared to the other level 6 dwellings, allowing the Fortress town to get level 6 units in their army early even on impossible difficulty.
*[[Bron]] is the only hero in the game to bring level 4 units - [[Basilisks]] - with him at the start of the game. (Except [[Illor]] and [[Todd]] in HotA.) {{withhota}}

'''Cons:'''
*Fortress creatures have the lowest attack ratings of all towns.
*The heavy focus on Defense can be disadvantageous in many cases, as a hero with high attack can kill their enemies before they have a chance to attack back. Attack can therefore be used as a type of defense, while defense cannot be used as offense.
**The heavy focus on Defense combined with the fact that fortress only have got one shooter makes it more difficult for fortress to win battles without casualities than the other factions.
*Magic, [[Mage Guild]] is limited to level 3.
*Some creatures have poor stats (in {{sod}}, as well as {{roe}} patch 1.3 and {{ab}} patch 2.1, some stats for [[Lizardman]]/[[Lizard Warrior]] and [[Serpent Fly]]/[[Dragon Fly]] were increased, but overall they are still relatively weak).
*Very slow 7 level creature, especially the basic version (with speed 5, [[Hydra]] is slower than six lvl 1 creatures, and there is no upgraded lvl 1 creature slower than Hydra; among lvl 2 melee units, only [[Dwarf]], [[Walking Dead]], and [[Zombie]] are slower). Moreover, Chaos Hydras are more expensive than [[Behemoth and Ancient Behemoth|Ancient Behemoths]] who are stronger, faster and more resilient.
*[[Wyvern and Wyvern Monarch|Wyverns]] are on the bottom of the 6th level, have low HP, and are too expensive for their strength (Monarchs cost as much as [[Efreeti and Efreet Sultan|Efreet Sultans]], and more than [[Unicorn and War Unicorn|War Unicorns]]).
*With two fragile fliers (lvl 3 with 20 hp, lvl 6 with 70 hp) and one low-level shooter, the Fortress has a very hard time invading other towns properly. So Expert [[Ballistics]], Expert [[Teleport]] and/or Expert [[Earthquake]] are a must.

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

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

== See also ==
* [[Town Comparison]]
* [[List of creatures]]
* [[List of creatures (HotA)]]
* [[List of heroes]]
* [[List of heroes (HotA)]]

[[Category: Fortress]]
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