- 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 ^_^.
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.
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 ^_^.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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 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 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.
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.
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.
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).
- 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!
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.
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