In Warlock: Master of the Arcane you could easily get off the wrong foot. You might construct the wrong buildings, train the wrong units, research the wrong spells. After a while you find that formula which suits you best, and which you will use over and over again. Later the situation might change, as you adjust your overall strategy and city/army building, but a good start is the most crucial part of any game.
In this guide I would want to talk about the beginning of any game you could have, in Warlock: Master of the Arcane. I will bring you attention to a number of priorities you should have, and what to pay attention to.
Your very first decisions might be the most important ones.
Aside from your difficulty choice, and world settings, the next important element of any game is your wizard. The choice of a race is related to your own play-style, though each race has its own strengths and weaknesses. The Undead at first need Mana. Your skeleton archers and warriors will need it in order to function properly. For this reason any starting Undead city will have one Mana Trap already built. In turn, any Human or Monster city will have a farm constructed at the start. Both the Monsters and Humans have more move points at first, allowing them to more quickly explore the surrounding areas. However, the Undead have the benefit of having resistance to Death Magic, as well as (in the case of skeletons) some resistance to ranged attacks.
The final decisions during the creation of your wizard are his perks/traits. You have a number of points to spend on either perks or spells, and it is a good idea to give some thought what you pick. Consider the following, you could buy yourself the Mana Vault Perk (100 bonus mana at the start of the game) and a few spells, or instead, invest in the Tutor Perk (units get +1 exp per turn) which would benefit you throughout the game. It is not a bad idea to ignore more expensive spells for the sake of more expensive perks, because you will research most of the starter spells very quickly.
When choosing your wizard’s perks, consider how will they benefit you in the future, if at all. It is better to buy something that will keep on giving, than taking a one-time start boost.
Your humble beginnings.
You wizard is set, the map is ready, let’s begin the game. You will always start in a similar fashion. Your capital, with (usually) a recruitment building, market, and either a farm or mana trap. On top of that, depending on your race of choice, a ranged unit and a close combat unit of some sort. First things first, explore. Your capital can defend itself for the time being, and keeping any units in it is simply not worth it. After your initial unit moves you have to build something in your capital.
As I mentioned in my Warlock Review, you often have to specialise a city in a specific task. Currently I can name four possible tasks for any city under your control: Mana, Gold or Food Production, or unit recruitment. Research points can be increased through the building of Mana related buildings (usually) or constructing special buildings on special resources, but it is impossible to make a town specialise purely in research. This is because certain buildings can only be constructed once per city. For example, you can have only one Library in a City, and not a city full of Libraries. Cities which focus on Mana, Gold or Food should construct appropriate buildings to increase the output of each farm, manufacturer district or mana trap. After a certain point building an extra good production building, as well as any other building producing a related good will also gain the bonus. So if you had a Gem Mine (+20 Gold) a Mint would double its output.
Meanwhile, making your capital focus on recruitment, and building recruitment related buildings in order to gain access to more advanced units, will give you an advantage in unit quality. At first you will not have a problem with quickly conquering small neutral cities or destroying creature lairs. Later on, you will need the stronger troops your capital will produce.
Threat? Not yet, but best not leave it for later.
Another reason for quickly dispatching local creature nests is that otherwise they will keep damaging your cities or units. This could slow down your progress or leave you vulnerable. Any stronger creatures should be noted down and dealt with later, when you have access to stronger units, spells or upgrades.
At first your starting army should be made up of 2 Close Combat Units and one ranged unit. You should try to produce “Warriors” (Goblin Spearmen, Skeleton Warriors, Human Fighters) rather than Rogues or Green Bats. Warriors, unlike the lighter Rogues or Green Bats, will have an easier time besieging cities. Meanwhile your ranged unit will provide aid from a distance. If you are lucky you should also focus your spells on quickly conquering neutral cities. You should note that Undead are resistant to Death Magic, making Shadow Bolt ineffective, but their cities do not have such a resistance. Shadow bolt is an expensive spell, Mana wise, but it is a mildly powerful non-element spell. A quick barrage could greatly weaken an Ogre or any City defense. Any living non-special units will also feel threatened by this spell.
Now that you began exploring, upgrading your city and planning your early sieges let’s talk about expansion.
Three cities. Looks nice, but you could fit at least three more in this area alone.
Around your starting city there should be a number of neutral cities. These come in two flavours. Poorly defended 1 Pop cities, and far better defended 5 pop cities with an advanced unit, a few optional basic units and an additional fort protecting the city. At first you should focus on conquering these cities, and once the dust settles look at the overall situation on the global map. As a city expands it will usually go as far as 3 Hexes in width, in terms of influence. Your influence benefits how quickly troops move through friendly territory, so it is useful for quicker transportation of troops. As such, you want to keep as few “neutral” spaces on the map as possible, since this will also decrease the chance of wild creatures appearing.
After you cannot find any more neutral cities send settlers to occupy empty land. Take into account how much a full-grown city (10 Pop) will need space, and whether there might be any danger on the way, for the settler. There is no limit as to how many cities you can have, and if you specialise each one in a specific task you will find your treasury, granary and mana pool full within moments.
If you focus on one direction, remember to keep a small garrison on the other flank. While you destroyed one half of the creature dens present, the other half might had created an army of dangerous beasts, moving to your undefended kingdom. Remember to make certain you destroy any creature den, since they will periodically spawn more creatures. Even if you do not want to attack them just yet make sure you keep their numbers in check using long-distance fire.
Here it should be noted that neutral cities can also be attacked by wild creatures. I have seen cities that even had creature dens within their influence zones, keeping the defenders occupied.
“Sure, have some of my spare change… Friend.”
It is inevitable, eventually you will meet the other Great Mages. At first you should not panic, Great Mages very rarely want to attack you outright. However, after some time, they will demand tribute. You might have to pay them a substantial sum of coin or mana, but if you lack knowledge of where the enemy cities are, or how numerous their army is, pay them. If your economy can produce coin and mana at a rapid rate you will not feel the difference. Instead you will be capable of focusing on one task at a time. You could prepare an invasion upon the enemy, as long as your economy can keep up with your demands.
In the event that your enemy is on another continent or island remember that any troops on boats automatically have their hp reduced to 10, untill they disembark again. If you are certain a continent belongs exclusively to you, one of your best defences is a fort system along the coast. A highly prized unit of Paladins could be sunk with a single fort salvo before they even reach your kingdom. This is also an excellent form of defence against invading wild creatures, especially Ogres. In any other case you would have to focus your land units on a defense, while they could be needed elsewhere.
Forts also block land movement, during a War. If there is a narrow passage forts could slow down the enemy or block his path entirely. This will not stop flying units, and a fleet could still get around the fort, but this will at least buy you some time.
A good sign that you should not be heading in this direction.
Another danger to your well-being are portals, assuming you set any additional worlds. Portals are two-way passages to another World. Sometimes it could be an exact copy of Ardania, other times a curious Elemental or magic world. The problem will often be that the intriguing new world will have numerous very dangerous foes. These foes could sometimes stumble through a portal, especially if you left it unprotected. You could be facing Green Bats, or dragons, but exploring another World calls for an invasion force, rather than a bunch of explorers. You should prefer a good mix of troops who can deal different types of damage. Elemental damage might be a poor choice, due to the fact that any Holy Sites, and the Portals themselves, are protected by elementals.
What is the benefit of conquering a world? A secluded base for you to operate from. You might have access to resources you did not find before, and even though defeating a world entirely is hard, it is well worth the effort, usually.
Quests are a useful part of Warlock: Master of the Arcane. At first they give you much-needed coin or mana boosts for tasks you would be performing anyway. Later on, as tasks become more demanding, you will have the option of refusing a quest. Once deities decide to hand out quests you could find yourself having to focus some of your elite troops hunting down the chosen of different gods.
An Ogre hunting quest. This time Baronfell did not fall.
Quests offer you bonuses, and when able they should be done. On the other hand you have to pay attention which deity are you angering or pleasing now. You do not want to summon an Avatar by mistake, but on the other hand you would want to use some of the spells a Deity offered you. Try to keep a balance between the sad and happy deities. If it gets to the worst, build a temple. Deities love temples, and they will open up new recruitment options for your army.
Sometimes you will continue to get “trash quests”, asking you to build a harbor, farm or something similar. You cannot shut them off completely, but if you ever need the bit of extra gold, you might as well build another farm.
As your empire (not kingdom anymore) increases, so too will your access to upgrades. What you might not know is that a unit produced in a city which also has a building producing a specific upgrade (Masterwork Armor from the Forge, for example) the unit will obtain it for free. In any other case you will have to buy these upgrades. It might not pose a big problem to a huge economy, but at the start you want to produce as highly upgraded troops as possible.
This might result that in the future you will have a number of recruitment centres, depending on access to local upgrades. Not every single upgrade type applies to every single unit. Some resources can be used for Upgrades or new units. here the dilemma is simple. If the city is focused on unit production, build the unit recruitment building. If not, focus on the upgrade building, or both.
Another important element about upgrades, perks and enchantments; if you have a unit, like a Dracolich, which causes only “Death” damage from its breath, the sharp tooth upgrade (+30% melee damage) will result in the Dracolich causing both Death and Melee damage (the additional 30% will be purely melee damage). By using upgrades, perks and specific enchantments you can make a unit cause a number of different damage types allowing it to be more versatile against a number of enemies.
As you research your spells pay attention to what types of damage or protection you have access to. It would be unfortunate if you lacked a spell to aid your army when attacking the undead, or if you forgot to research a strong enough healing spell to recover your elite swordsmen. Keep your research balanced. Do not focus on one damage type or spell type. You will need healing spells eventually. Undead need their own version of the healing spell. When faced with a foe who might have resistance to your spells right-click on him and check his stats. That way you will know what is the best option for you.
Certain spells you might find more useful than others. Hold in mind that there are cases of combo spells (as I unfortunately found out on my own army). Casting a lighting bolt on a group of knights (metal armour) will cause a huge spark to spread to their surroundings, harming friend and foe. You could greatly weaken an enemy by casting the right spell at the right foe. Experiment to discover what is most effective, and when.
I should had strengthened that eastern border.
At first, focus on your unit production and rapid expansion. Once you conquer or start new cities focus production on Mana, Food and Gold, in order to support you expanding army. As you “civilize” the surrounding lands prepare yourself for contact with enemy mages. Send your scouts to discover as much about their lands as possible. Pay them their demands, for as long as you think it is necessary, then lead the attack. When exploring other Worlds be mindful of the dangerous creatures that reside there.
Finally, have some fun. Even though Warlock: Master of the Arcane could be a demanding game, you can have your short moments of joy. Such as, when your horde of undead waits patiently for a Shadow Bolt to weaken a city, then to be stormed by zombies and skeletons. Or a Paladin crusade clashing against an army of monsters. Anything is possible in Warlock: Master of the Arcane, you just have to know the basics to learn how to do the more advanced tricks.
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