WARCRAFT 2 Unoffical strategy guide
===================================

Author: EZRhino

Tools: Warcraft II
Blizzard Entertainment, Copyright (c) 1995

Contents:

1. Building your base
1.1 Building costs
1.2 Unit costs
1.3 Suggested build order

2. Upgrading
2.1 Upgrade table
2.2 Halls
2.3 Lumber Mill
2.4 Blacksmith
2.5 Foundry
2.6 Oil Refinery
2.7 Church/Altar of Storms
2.8 Mage Tower/Temple of the Damned

3. Using magic
3.1 Paladins/Ogre Mages
3.2 Mages/Death Knights
3.3 Suggested spells to use

4. Land campaigns
4.1 Defense
4.2 Offense

5. Sea campaigns
5.1 Defense
5.2 Offense

6. Playing against the CPU

7. Playing against friends

1. Building your base
=====================

1.1 Building costs
------------------

Listed is a quick reference table of the various costs of buildings.

HUMAN Building ORC Building Gold Lumber Oil

Town Hall Great Hall 1200 800 0
Keep Stronghold 2000 1000 200
Castle Fortress 2500 1200 500
Farm Pig Farm 500 250 0
Elven Lumber Mill Troll Lumber Mill 600 450 0
Barracks Barracks 700 450 0
Blacksmith Blacksmith 800 450 100
Scout Tower Watch Tower 550 200 0
Guard Tower Guard Tower 500 150 0
Cannon Tower Cannon Tower 1000 300 0
Shipyard Shipyard 800 450 0
Oil Platform Oil Platform 700 450 0
Foundary Foundary 700 400 400
Refinery Refinery 800 350 200
Stables Ogre Mound 1000 300 0
Gnomish Inventor Goblin Alchemist 1000 400 0
Church Altar of Storms 900 500 0
Mage Tower Temple of the Damned 1000 400 0
Gryphon Aviary Dragon Roost 1000 400 0

1.2 Unit costs
--------------

Listed is a quick reference table of the various costs of units.

HUMAN Unit ORC Unit Gold Lumber Oil

Peasant Peon 400 0 0
Footman Grunt 600 0 0
Elven Archer Troll Axethrower 500 50 0
Elven Ranger Troll Beserker 500 50 0
Balista Catapult 900 300 0
Knight Ogre 800 100 0
Paladin Ogre-Mage 800 100 0
Mage Death Knight 1200 0 0
Dwarven Demo Squad Goblin Sappers 700 250 0
Oil Tanker Oil Tanker 400 200 0
Transport Transport 600 200 500
Destroyer Destroyer 700 350 700
Battleship Juggernaught 1000 500 1000
Gnomish Submarine Giant Turtle 800 150 900
Gnomish Flying Ma Goblin Zeppelin 500 100 0
Gryphon Rider Dragon 2500 0 0

1.3 Suggested build order
-------------------------

In most games you start with only one Peasant/Peon. You
obviously need to first build a Town Hall/Great Hall.
Follow this by a farm. Once your Peasant/Peon (Pe) finishes
building the farm, click on your Hall and produce a second
(Pe). Make the first (Pe) build a second farm. Get your second
(Pe) to build a barracks. Produce your 3rd, 4th, 5th (Pe).

Below is a summary of the order I would build items:

*** Note: This assumes your initial resources are normal or
set to high. For low resource settings you need to
build Hall, Farm, harvest gold, produce Pe 2, harvest
more gold, produce Pe 3, harvest gold, build farm 2.

(Pe 1) Build Hall
Hall [produce Pe 2]
(Pe 1) Build Farm
Hall [produce Pe 3]
(Pe 2) Build Farm2
(Pe 1) Build Barracks
(Pe 3) Build Blacksmith
Hall [produce Pe 4]
(Pe 2) Harvest Gold
(Pe 4) Build Lumber Mill
Hall [produce Pe 5]
Barracks [produce Grunt 1]
Blacksmith [upgrade Shield Strength]
(Pe 1) Harvest Lumber
(Pe 3) Harvest Lumber
(Pe 4) Harvest Gold
(Pe 5) Harvest Gold

This order should get your war-machine up and running smoothly.
Keep producing (Pe) to harvest gold and lumber so that these
resources are coming in very quickly. Spend as soon as you can
on upgrades for your troops. Also build 2-4 more farms as your
number of people grow. As soon as you can afford to, upgrade
your Hall for the gold bonus and new buildings that become
available.
Your choice of buildings now largely depends on your overall
strategy as you should by now have a steady flow of incoming
resources. Again upgrade your Hall for the third time to gain
the bonuses plus gain access to the most advanced buildings and
units.

2. Upgrading
============

2.1 Upgrade table
-----------------

HUMAN Building ORC Building Requires

Town Hall Great Hall -
Keep Stronghold Town Hall/Great Hall + Barracks
Castle Fortress Keep/Stronghold + Blacksmith + Stables/Ogre Mound
Farm Pig Farm -
Elven Lumber Mill Troll Lumber Mill -
Barracks Barracks -
Blacksmith Blacksmith -
Scout Tower Watch Tower -
Guard Tower Guard Tower Lumber Mill
Cannon Tower Cannon Tower Blacksmith
Shipyard Shipyard Lumber Mill
Oil Platform Oil Platform Shipyard (Oil Tanker)
Foundary Foundary Shipyard
Refinery Refinery Shipyard
Stables Ogre Mound Keep/Stronghold
Gnomish Inventor Goblin Alchemist Keep/Stronghold
Church Altar of Storms Castle/Fortress
Mage Tower Temple of the Damned Castle/Fortress
Gryphon Aviary Dragon Roost Castle/Fortress

HUMAN Unit ORC Unit Requires

Peasant Peon Town Hall/Great Hall
Footman Grunt Barracks
Elven Archer Troll Axethrower Lumber Mill
Elven Ranger Troll Beserker Keep/Stronghold (upgrade troop)
Balista Catapult Blacksmith
Knight Ogre Stables/Ogre Mound
Paladin Ogre-Mage Church/Altar of Storms (upgrade troop)
Mage Death Knight Mage Tower/Temple of the Damned
Dwarven Demo Squad Goblin Sappers Gnomish Inventor/Goblin Alchemist
Oil Tanker Oil Tanker Shipyard
Transport Transport Shipyard + Foundry
Destroyer Destroyer Shipyard
Battleship Juggernaught Shipyard + Foundry
Gnomish Submarine Giant Turtle Shipyard + Gnomish Inventor/Goblin Alchemist
Gnomish Flying Ma Goblin Zeppelin Gnomish Inventor/Goblin Alchemist
Gryphon Rider Dragon Gryphon Aviary/Dragon Roost

2.2 Halls
---------

Building a Keep/Stronghold yields a gold bonus of +10.
Building a Castle/Fortress yields a gold bonus of +20.

2.3 Lumber Mill
---------------

Building a Lumber Mill yields a lumber bonus of +25.
It also allows you to upgrade your Archers/Axethrowers:

Upgrade Effect Gold Lumber Oil

Arrow/Spear Strength 1 Damage +1 300 300 0
Arrow/Spear Strength 2 Damage +1 900 500 0

Once you have a Keep (human) you can conduct
Elven Ranger Training Rangers 1500 0 0
Research Longbow Range +1 2000 0 0
Ranger Scouting Sight: 9 1500 0 0
Ranger Marksmanship Damage +3 2500 0 0

Once you have a Stronghold (orc) you can conduct
Troll Berserker Training Berserkers 1500 0 0
Research Lighter Axes Range +1 2000 0 0
Beserker Scouting Sight: 9 1500 0 0
Beserker Regeneration Recovery 3000 0 0

2.4 Blacksmith
--------------

Building a Blacksmith allows you to upgrade your troop attack and
defence values:

Upgrade Effect Gold Lumber Oil

(human)
Sword Strength 1 Damage +2 800 0 0
Sword Strength 2 Damage +2 2400 0 0
Shield Strength 1 Armor +2 300 300 0
Shield Strength 2 Armor +2 900 500 0
Upgrade Ballista 1 Damage +15 1500 0 0
Upgrade Ballista 2 Damage +15 4000 0 0

(orc)
Axe Strength 1 Damage +2 500 100 0
Axe Strength 2 Damage +2 1500 300 0
Shield Strength 1 Armor +2 300 300 0
Shield Strength 2 Armor +2 900 500 0
Upgrade Catapult 1 Damage +15 1500 0 0
Upgrade Catapult 2 Damage +15 4000 0 0

2.5 Foundry
-----------

Building a foundry allows you to upgrade your fleet of ships:

Upgrade Effect Gold Lumber Oil

Ship Attack 1 Damage +5 700 100 1000
Ship Attack 2 Damage +5 2000 250 3000
Ship Armor 1 Armor +5 500 500 0
Ship Armor 2 Armor +5 1500 900 0

2.6 Oil Refinery
----------------

Building an oil refinery yields an oil bonus of +25.

2.7 Church/Altar of Storms
--------------------------

Building a Church/Altar of Storms allows you to upgrade your
Knights to Paladins or your Ogres to Ogre-Mages. Furthermore you
can research magic spells for these upgraded troops:

Paladin Spell Effect Mana Gold Lumber Oil

Holy Vision Reveal portion of map 70 0 0 0
Healing Heals for 6 mana/HP 6 1000 0 0
Exorcism Attacks Death Knights 4 2000 0 0

Ogre-Mage Spell Effect Mana Gold Lumber Oil

Eye of Kilrogg Reveal portion of map 70 0 0 0
Bloodlust Increases hits 50 1000 0 0
Runes Invisible traps 200 1000 0 0

2.8 Mage Tower/Temple of the Damnned
------------------------------------

Mage Spell Effect Mana Gold Lumber Oil

Lightning Attack Normal attack 0 0 0 0
Fireball Ranged attack 100 0 0 0
Slow Slows target 50 500 0 0
Flame Shield Circle of flame 80 1000 0 0
Invisibility Unit invisible 200 2500 0 0
Polymorph Unit becomes a critter 200 2000 0 0
Blizzard Area destruction 25 2000 0 0

Death Knight Spell Effect Mana Gold Lumber Oil

Touch of Darkness Normal attack 0 0 0 0
Death Coil Life Drain 100 0 0 0
Haste Speeds target 50 500 0 0
Raise Dead Turn dead into skeletons 50 1500 0 0
Whirlwind Vortex of destruction 100 1500 0 0
Unholy Armor Invulnerabilty 100 2500 0 0
Death and Decay Area destruction 25 2000 0 0

3. Using magic
==============

3.1 Paladins/Ogre Mages
-----------------------

Playing as humans you should upgrade your Knights to Paladins
as soon as possible. The only useful spell is healing but it is
impossible to cast in the heat of battle. Much better when your
troops are recovering between attacks. Healing is mana expensive
so I don't really rate it highly. Exorcism at first glance appears
to be a totally useless spell. However, it should be used aggressively
against Death Knights since it will nearly kill them outright from
a long range.

Playing as orcs you should upgrade your Ogres to Ogre-Mages
as soon as possible. Bloodlust is a great spell to use before
you launch an attack. Ensure you have a group of ogre-mages
then bloodlust all your troops and send them on the offensive.
Runes are magical traps that once cast will explode anything that
walks into its path. Use them in narrow passes where you expect
the enemy to send its troops through. Alternatively you can take
advantage of the ogre-mage's long range of casting by sneeking up
to the enemy whilst keeping out of sight, then casting runes close
to the enemy horde. Move toward the enemy and lure them into the
trap.

3.2 Mages/Death Knights
-----------------------

Mages can use fireball on enemy's from long distance. It is mana
expensive and not very effective. Slow is a defensive spell which
you would use against fast moving troops such as ogres or against
catapults to limit their damage potential. Flame Shield is an
excellent spell to use against a group of enemy troops. Cast on
a central target who will burn its neighbours. This causes confusion
and a scattering of troops, damage or death is a bonus. Then send in
your troops to attack them. Invisibility works best when cast upon
other mages. Use it to move them close to an enemy base and cause some
devestation. Also cast it on a fast troop (Knight) to scout the enemy camp.
However, I would usually use a Flying Machine for that purpose. By far the
funniest spell is polymorph. Watch as a powerful troops gets transformed
into a critter. It is also a very sneaky attack as the enemy has no warning.
For pure devestation cast blizzard. Combine the mage's long range and
the blizzard damage you can reduce defences to ruins. Ensure that your
mage(s) are fully mana charged.

Death Knights who are low on mana should cast death coil on the enemy
to life drain their target. Cast haste on attacking troops to inflict
more hits. For fun caste haste on peons so they fetch gold or harvest
lumber in turbo mode. Raise dead is not a spell I find useful. You
simply don't have time to calmly ressurect a skeleton army during a
battle. Even the CPU never uses it. To cause confusion cast a few
whirlwinds in the midst of a packed defence or enemy base. Whirlwinds
also affect ships and flying creatures. Unholy armor halves the target's
hit points in exchange for temporary invulnerability. Not used that often
since it's effect is not long lasting. Use Death and Decay on enemy
buildings to reduce them to rubble. Just as for blizzard make sure
your Death Knights are fully mana charged.

3.3 Suggested spells to use
---------------------------

Playing as humans use your Paladins to heal your strong offensive
troops usually other Paladins. Ballistas cannot be healed. The
hated Death Knights should be despatched with Exorcism. Mages should
be armed with Polymorph and Blizzard. Slow is worthless. Flame Shield
can be useful against groups of troops but otherwise not worth
researching. Invisibility is not very useful since mages have a long
range anyway so can attack and run off. Use you mages for sneak attacks
to occupy the enemy. Create six or more mages to set up a chain of
attack and allowing them to recharge their mana. Avoid getting your
mages too close to the enemy as they are defensively weak.

Playing as orcs use your Ogre-Mages to Bloodlust all troops before
launching an attack. Set runes where you expect the enemy to follow
you. For your Death Knights cast Haste on bloodlusted troops for
a fierce attack. Cast whirlwinds on ships or stacks of gryphons or
dragons. These slow moving units will probably die. For variation
cast Death Coil from long range to steal back hit points. Don't
bother researching Raise Dead or Unholy Armor. Use Death and Decay
on enemy towers and buildings.

4. Land campaigns
=================

These are maps which are landlocked or consist of rivers crossed
by bridges. These are maps in which no shipyards are built.

4.1 Defense
-----------

Always use your terrain to your advantage. For example use forest
around your base as a natural 'wall'. After initially building
base try to explore your immediate area with a few troops. Work out
possible entry points into your base. Use 'choke' points (constricted
areas) to your advantage by securing these areas with ground troops.
Above all try to locate a second and third goldmine and spread your
base out over many areas (if the map is large enough). it is harder
to target your base if it is in more than one place. You can also
launch attacks from different bases. Upgrade you ground troop levels.
Build towers and upgrade them to guard or cannon towers. Place these
towers near important buildings and around your base. Guard towers
are effective against ground troops (especially Bomb Squads and Sappers)
and against air attacks from Gryphons/Dragons. Upgrade to cannon towers
to kill the other ground troops. I don't worry too much about placement
of troops. Just build lots of them. It is sensible to place archers
or axethrowers behind stronger defensive units such as knights or ogres.
Protect your slow moving ballistas or catapults. Build archers or
axethrowers and upgrade them totally to fend off gryphon or dragon
attacks. Don't bunch your archers/axethrowers against an attacking
group of gryphons/dragons to avoid cumulative damage. Guard towers
are also highly effective against air attacks.

4.2 Offense
-----------

Once you have a decent defence you should seek out ways of destroying
the enemy. Often the enemy builds a Hall close to a second goldmine
and has peasants fetching gold from it. Quite often this second base is
undefended so attack these first to slow the enemy's gold production
and to gain easy kills.

To attack the main base use your flying maching/zeppelin to scout
out the base. If at all possible try to avoid being detected whilst
scouting (not easy) so as to not alert the enemy as to your plans.
Search for unguarded areas or weaknesses in the defence. Note where
the enemy is strong or troops are gathered. Use mages/death knights
to attack groups of troops or undefended buildings. Target towers
initially. Soften up the enemy base by constantly causing disruption
and forcing the enemy to repair structures. If there are few towers
and archers/axethrowers left, use gryphons/dragons to safely attack
the remaining ground troops. You will not suffer casualties. Otherwise
send in a horde of 16 or more strong ground troops to storm the base.
Target remaining ground troops and towers. Then once the base is
defenceless raze the barracks first. Then optionally mage tower or
temple of the damned. Hunt down all remaining peasants/peons (should
be plenty of these). Then concentrate on the Castle/Fortress.

5. Sea campaigns
================

These are maps with large expanses of water. Land is mostly
separated into islands.

5.1 Defense
-----------

Since you are on islands it is prudent to build away from the
shoreline to avoid getting bombarded from the sea vessels. However,
do build cannon towers on your shore to detect and attack incoming
ships. Also build 3-4 ballistas/catapults to deal with ships. Be
wary of enemy transports landing on your island. Therefore ensure
you have sufficient ground troops to repulse such attacks. Send your
flying machine/zeppelin on scouting missions. They also can see
submarines which will otherwise bombard your ships and sea buildings.
Your own submarines will detect enemy subs too. Protect your oil
platforms by stationing battleships/juggernauts with a flying machine
overhead to prevent submarine sneak attacks. Try to get off your island
and build a second base if at all possible. Gold again could be the key.

5.2 Offense
-----------

Planning an effective attack is difficult as in my opinion islands
favour the defender. As in the land campaign use flying scouts to
work out the best method of attack. Use 3 or more transports to unload
18 (or more) tough ground troops simultaneously and go for mass
slaughter. You might just win. If the target island is big try to land
a mixture of troops and peasants/peons on it. Build a barracks or
any other buildings of your choice on the same island as your enemy!
Then build up a task force to send against the unsuspecting enemy.

Another method is to rule the seas. To do this you will need a good
size fleet of ships. Also build gryphons/dragons. Target destroyers
first as they are the only ships which can kill your air units. Then
you can sink the rest. Alternatively, sink all enemy submarines and
destroy all enemy flying machine/zeppelins. Send a lone submarine to
sink all the other hapless sea vessels. Once you control the waves
bombard the shipyard first and then any other coastal structures.
Beware of towers though. To despatch these concentrate en masse on
each tower in turn to minimise casualties. Finally land troops via
transports and do a combined ground and air attack.

6. Playing against the CPU
==========================

In multiplayer games against computer controlled opponents you
have to build adequate defences. The computer player builds up
its base very much quicker than you. However, it attacks as soon as
it has troops. One big attack would probably finish you but that
never happens ... Instead expect one lone soldier to attack your
base. The next attack consists of 3-5 soldiers. By now the CPU is
upgrading its troop levels too. Expect level 3 troops against your
level 1.

So how do you win? Try to copy the CPU tactics. Assume you both
start with one peasant/peon only. All build Hall, one farm.
The CPU player builds a second farm then a lumber mill (presume for
lumber prodiction bonus). Followed by a barracks and blacksmith.
Meantime it is churning out peasants/peons by the ton. Resources are
pouring in. Troops are built and sent towards you. All you have to do
is build a barracks and blacksmith after your initial hall and farm.
Build extra farms to support your peasants/peons and soldiers. Use
your barracks to exclusively produce footmen/grunts. Forget archers
or axethrowers as they die too quickly and waste time and money. Five
to six footmen/grunts should defned your base nicely. Upgrade them to
level 5 as soon as possible. Build 2 towers flanking your soldiers.
Upgrade them to cannon towers. The CPU hates towers and in a blind
frenzy attacks these first sustaining damage in the process. Your
footmen/grunts get first strike capability against the attackers
and suffer minimal damage.

This set up should defend against most CPU initial attacks. Upgrade
to stronger troops such as knights and ogres. Now build archers or
axethrowers to defend against air attacks. Try to stop the CPU
player from expanding. The sheer number of peasants/peons it produces
means that it exhausts its first goldmine before you do. It also
has spent most of it attacking you. If you can curb its search for
more mines then you have won. Build walls to block off goldmines, the
CPU never directly attacks walls. Don't be tempted to place towers
inside of the wall as it encourages the CPU to attack the towers
with ballistas/catapults or magic which can destroy your wall in the
process.

In summary the CPU attacks constantly at the beginning - so defend
well. Once you survive the initial onslaught you win by default.

7. Playing against friends
==========================

I use the word 'friends' in its loosest sense. Human players (non CPU)
show greater tactical ability. The best advice is to defend well using
the tactics described earlier. Then consider attacking options. Much
of your strategy will depend on several factors:

* Number of players
* Teamwork or deathplay (everyone for themselves)
* Skill of your opponents
* Favoured tactics of your opponents
* Your initial location
* Scenario selected

If you are feeling bold attack early with ground troops. Your base
would only consist of a Hall, some farms, barracks, blacksmith,
lumber mill. Your opponents won't be expecting such an attack and
(hopefully) be caught offguard. It is risky since you must win that
battle. If your attack is repulsed your base is now lightly defended
and prone to a counter attack.

Which race shall I play, Humans or Orcs? Personally I favour orcs
for their attack-orientated spells (Haste, Bloodlust). Axethrower
regeneration means that you can defend against air attacks
indefinitely without the logistic headache of healing each troop.
Also they burp and fart and have been given a bad press in the past.
Orcs rule!

Good luck with your campaigns and remember this: be WarCrafty.

WARCRAFT 2 Unoffical strategy guide ===================================