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May 11, 2012
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  • Warlock 2: The Exiled
Behold, my preliminary guide to Resources in Warlock!
I figure this should be really helpful to a lot of people so here it is.
Forgive the awkward formatting, its because I plan on submitting this to GameFAQs eventually.
For now though I'd like to hear what everyone thinks of what I have. Feel free to offer insight and suggestions.
Corrections and comments on the Halberdhall stuff are welcome too as I have yet to play around much with them.


IRON
-This is probably the most common resource, and it is seemingly guaranteed
there will be one, sometimes several, in each player's starting vicinity.


Structure : Foundry - 1 Gold Production
Perk : Masterwork Armor - 25 Melee/25 Missile Resistance (50 Gold)
Units : Fighter, Creature, Ranged, Caster, Healer, Construct
-Not to be underestimated by any means. Everything can get this
perk, and it goes a long way to improving survivability. For most units,
that first 25 resistance equals 30% damage reduction!


SILVER
-This resource tends to be fairly common, and can even appear within your
capital's eventual borders.

Structure : Silver Mine - 6 Gold Production
-Decent, and Silver is common enough that you'll happily plop these down once
you have the perks for Humans and Monsters.

Structure : Silverwork Brewery[Monster] - 1 Gold Upkeep
Perk : Silver Brewery - 35 Death/Elemental Resistance (50 Gold)
Units : Creature, Healer
-Super awesome! This affects fewer units, but the reality is that
the best Monster units are Creatures so this is actually a cheap, common perk
that lets your Werewolves and Trolls go toe to toe with exotic damage types
much more easily. Eventually this stacks with Protection Amulets and other
perks, making your Werewolves and such extremely resilient.

Structure : Silver Forge[Human] - 1 Gold Upkeep
Perk : Silver Weapons - 20% Life/20% Spirit Damage (75 Gold)
Units : Fighter, Ranged
-Excellent upgrade for those that can benefit. The Life portion
is heavily resisted by almost everything except Undead, who take significant
extra damage. The Spirit portion, however, is very very rarely resisted by
anything before perks, contributing great damage against pretty much
everything.

Structure: Laboratorium[Undead] - 7 Mana Production, 2 Gold Upkeep
-Meh. Honestly Undead get screwed here, not that this is an awful
building. 7 mana is pretty decent after the Undead multipliers, but compared
to the Human and Monster perks this is underwhelming.


GOLD
-Still a relatively common resource

Structure : Gold Mine - 12 Gold Production
-Only one option here, but you won't complain. 12 Gold is a very
respectable amount, and a great basis for a Gold focused city.


GEMS
-A lot rarer than one would hope, which is a bit unfortunate. Sometimes there
may only be one or two outside of the alternate dimensions, and you may not be
the ones lucky enough to get them.

Structure : Jewelry Shop - 4 Gold and 1 Mana Upkeep
Perk : Protection Amulets - 35 Death/35 Elemental Resistance (100 Gold)
Units : Fighter, Creature, Ranged, Caster, Healer
-This is a great perk that will patch up those big Death and Elemental
Resistance holes your units may otherwise struggle to deal with. Fighter
and Ranged types in particular may find this being the only thing between
them and getting blasted to bits by Firestorm and other spells or vampires,
at least until you find the time and mana to bless them.

Structure : Gem mine - 20 Gold Production
-Its very rare you'll have extra gems, but when you do this is obviously
welcome. Do resist the temptation to build this over the Jewelry Shop for
your first gems however, as you'll likely regret it.

NEVRIL
-Primarily Nevril is found in alternate dimensions, where you'll see at least
one most of time. Occasionally however you'll find one in Ardania, usually
in out of the way areas. You should of course try to seize these whenever
possible, as you'll be at a significant disadvantage if the enemy gets this
way before you do. Or at least keep it out of the enemy's hands if you plan
on using many missile or elemental damage units.

Structure : Nevril Smelter - 8 Gold and 2 Mana Upkeep
Perk : Nevril Armor - 40 Missile/50 Elemental Resistance (175 Gold)
Units : Fighter, Creature, Ranged, Caster, Healer
-Huge Missile and especially Elemental resistances are excellent, and this is,
very rarely, possible to have relatively early on. Most of the time though
this is available later on to help round out your defenses, or in many cases
enable obscenely high (200+) resistances that border on immunity.

ADAMANTIUM
-Possibly the rarest resource in the game, you'll usually find 1-2 per
alternate dimension, but even that is not guaranteed.

Structure : Adamantium Smelter - 10 Gold and 3 Mana Upkeep
Perk : Adamantium Armor - 45 Melee/45 Death/20 Spirit Resistance (250 Gold)
Units : Fighter, Ranged, Creature, Caster, Healer, Construct
-Obviously this offers a huge amount of resistances and goes a long way to
making your elite units that much hardier. The 250 Gold price tag is no
joke however, and your entire coffers may empty before you know it if you try
to buy this for your whole army. The rare Spirit resistance helps cover up
that otherwise omnipresent defense gap too. All units can use this perk,
so it in particular helps shore up Melee and Death resistances for unit types
that normally find it difficult to get these types of resistances.


MAGIC NODE

Structure : Enchanter's Workshop - 4 Gold and 1 Mana Upkeep
Perk : Enchanted Weapons - 25% Elemental Damage (100 Gold)
Units : Fighter, Ranged, Caster
-Not too shabby. This really helps your stronger units punch through tough
physical defenses and just overall adds some nice damage. However, 100 gold
to buy this perk can really add up if you try to get it for all your low
and mid tier units, and weak units like basic Warriors and Archers won't get
much bang for your buck especially if they end up dying quickly.

Structure : Mana Pump - 10 Mana Production, 4 Gold Upkeep
-Solid source of Mana that can be worth building around if you need it.

Structure : Cheese Caves[Monster] - 12 Food and 6 Mana Production, 4 Gold Upkeep
-You basically trade 4 mana for 12 Food, and thats worth it to me. Even if
that food is surplus you end up with 6 Gold and thats pretty nice.


MAGIC FIELDS

Structure : Magic Testing Area - 5 Mana and Research Production, 5 Gold Upkeep
-A solid little source of Mana and Research that doesn't break the bank.

Structure : Magic Garden[Human] - 10 Food and Mana Production, 4 Gold Upkeep
-This looks really awesome at first glance when compared to the Magic Test
Area, but Research is generally a lot harder to come by. Unless you're
totally happy with your Research already then I say stick with the Testing
Area in most cases.

Structure : Converter[Undead] - 5 Gold Upkeep
Perk : Magical Transformer - Unit Power +20%
Units : Caster, Healer, Construct
-Pretty great if you intend on relying heavily on Elder Vampires or Magisters.
The Upkeep cost is sort of outrageous, you should probably micromanage
turning this thing on and off unless you're pumping out casters constantly.


PUMPKIN PATCH
-These are fairly common and can appear within your capital's eventual
borders.

Structure : Pumpkin Farm - 4 Food and Mana Production
-Nice, but nothing special.

Structure : Shrine of the Rotten Pumpkin[Monster] - 1 Gold Upkeep
Perk : Blessing of Hill'o'Win - Regeneration +3 (75 Gold)
Units : Fighter, Creature, Ranged, Caster, Healer
-A very nice early game perk that can really turn the tides or make capturing
cities casualty free. That 3 HP may not sound like much but its a decent
chunk of HP for your early fighter and ranged units. Getting some HP back
constantly lets them maintain stronger attacks too. And of course the
downtime spent resting is greatly reduced with this, its all pretty solid to
have.

Structure : Field of Ghosts[Undead] - 1 Gold Upkeep
Perk : Ghost Armor - 25 Death/25 Spirit/25 Elemental Resistance (50 Gold)
Units : Creature, Caster
-This seems to be less valuable especially to actual Undead units early on,
as they're already immune to Death, Spirit is rare, and Vampries already have
stupid high Elemental resistance. Its still nice however, especially later
on, but it doesn't tend to be high priority. For Monsters however, this is
excellent to grab for your Werewolves and Trolls, stacking with Silver
Brewery to make them much more resilient to Death and Elemental than Fighter
and Ranged type units typically are.

ANCIENT RUINS
-Very common. You can almost always find one of these close to your starting
area, and you should try to secure it if you don't want to fall behind in
Research.

Structure : Excavations - 10 Research, 8 Gold Upkeep
-Great. Research tends to be hard to come by so these are always welcome.
The 8 Gold upkeep sounds bad until you look at other Research buildings,
nevermind the fact that this is a single building with no requirements other
than the resource.

INFERNAL RIFT
-Generally these are pretty rare outside of alternate dimensions. If they do
appear in Ardania it usually is close to a Mystic Portal and may have high
tier enemies nearby.

Structure : Demonologist Workshop - 12 Research Production, 3 Gold, Food and Mana Upkeep
-Same deal as Excavations. You pretty much should jump on these at every
opportunity.

PIGS
-You usually see these everywhere. Too bad they're nothing special.

Structure : Pig Farm - 6 Food Production
-At just a mere 6 Food, these don't tend to be high priority. Not bad for a
Food focused town though.




DONKEYS
-Quite common and helpful sources of early game cash.

Structure : Trading Post - 10 Gold Production
-A good enough basis to get a nice Gold focused town around, these can really
help get the cash flow going even early game.

Structure : Butchery[Monster] - 8 Food Production, 2 Gold Upkeep
-Mmmm, donkey meat. Actually, no thanks. This is a horrible option over
the Trading Post in most cases, even when you just compare it to the Pub
and Fishing Village. Sometimes you'll build this when you really need a
Food focused town and have limited space, but generally the Trading Post is
much more useful.

Structure : Order of the Stubborn Knights - 2 Gold and 2 Food Upkeep
Unit : Stubborn Knights
-This is an average mid tier unit that is obviously geared towards defense.
Its pretty good at what you'd expect it to do, which is sit there and never
move from a defensive position. Its toughness makes it a respectable early
game fighter too due to its lack of building requirements and commonness.
However this is is a dead end unit with surprisingly prohibitive upkeep
costs, so its not something you really want to rely on in the long term.

HALBERDHALL
Structure : War University - 5 Gold Upkeep
Perk : Masters of War - +1 Exp/Turn
Units : Fighter, Creature, Ranged, Caster, Healer, Construct

Structure : Halberdier's Guild - 2 Gold and 1 Food Upkeep
Unit : Halberdier
-

Structure : Training Arena - 2 Gold Upkeep
Unit : Royal Guardsmen
-

MINOTAUR CAVES
-About average in rarity I'd say, and certainly a game changer in my mind.

Structure : Minotaur Labyrinth - 2 Gold Upkeep
Perk : Tried By Labyrinth - +30% Melee (100 Gold)
Units : Fighter, Creature
-30% Melee damage is huge if you plan on using melee units much, and can
really add up especially on elite units. I always try to get this if I can,
and recommend it over the Palace unless you have a speific hole you want the
minotaurs to fill.

Structure : Minotaur Palace - 2 Gold Upkeep
Unit : Minotaurs
-Compared to most similar tier units this is clearly a very offensive unit,
as it lacks the resistances that Veterans, Halberdiers, and Stubborn Knights
have. If you can get their resistances up with perks and blessings then you
may have something quite powerful, especially when you eventually upgrade
them...

Structure : Corrida Pen[Extension] - 4 Gold Upkeep
Units : Black Minotaurs
-This is an Extension structure, which means it requires the previous
Minotaur Palace to already be built. In addition, the town must also have
a population size of at least ?.
These guys are seriously destructive with their Cleave ability, but like the
regular minotaurs they really need some defensive help to not get murdered.
If you can get these guys and buff them all up though, the game is probably
in the bag.


ELVEN VILLAGE
-This is a pretty rare resource, and its value heavily depends on how early
you find it...

Structure : Elven Bungalow - 2 Gold Production
Unit : Elven Archers
-This is a decent mid tier ranged unit, but the upkeep on them is quite harsh.
They have no resistances so they're fragile as hell, unlike the Monster and
Undead ranged units. They're very mobile in comparison however, especially
in forests, much like Hunters/Rangers.

Structure : Elven Shooting Grounds[Extension] - 4 Gold Upkeep
Unit : Elven Sharpshooters
-This is an Extension structure, which means it requires the previous
Elven Bungalow to already be built. In addition, the town must also have
a population size of at least 10.
While Elven Archers are nothing special, the upgraded Sharpshooters are
highly destructive. They are barely any more durable however, so care must
be taken when using them. Because of the population requirement this unit
can take a very long time to come online, too late oftentimes, so carefully
consider how late the game is and how long it may go before aiming to build
these. Blessing of Life and Prosperity will help.


Structure : Casino - Gold Production +50%
-This is nothing amazing unless you can get it alongside of something like a
Gold Mine or Trading Post. Otherwise this is just a consolation prize if
you find an Elven Village late game, as the Sharpshooters may come in too
late to have an impact.


DWARVEN SETTLEMENT
-This is a pretty rare resource, and one I'm always hoping to find.

Structure : Dwarven Forge - 10 Gold Production
Perk : Dwarven Steel - Unit Power +20% (100 Gold)
Units : Fighter, Creature, Construct
-This is a great perk, and the building is sexy too! If you're going to be
using melee units heavily then this is something you really want.

Structure : Dwarven Settlement - 2 Gold Upkeep
Unit : Dwarves
-Dwarves are tough little dudes, and the unit you get largely reflects that.
What you might not expect however is that this is actually a siege unit,
and very comparable to the Monster troll unit. Considering what you have
to give up and the rarity of the resource, however, its difficult for me
to recommend this building over the Forge.
Also, this is actually a defensive structure too. With 75 HP and a 12
missile attack its a little better than normal towers, but this is a bad
thing as well. Like all towers this building can be destroyed, and when
that happens the town loses population. Normally this isn't a huge deal,
but when you have a Dwarven Settlement you probably want to plan for the
Extension structure and it's unit, so losing population pushes you back from
that quite noticeably. Keep this building well protected!

Structure : Training Course[Extension] - 4 Gold Upkeep
Units : Dwarven Overcomers
-This is an Extension structure, which means it requires the previous
Dwarven Settlement to already be built. In addition, the town must also
have a population size of at least 10.


DRAGONS EGGS
-You can only find these in the alternate dimensions, there can be anywhere
from 1-4 of them.

Structure : Dragon Farm[Human] - 40 Gold Production
-Whats not to love? 40 Gold is ridiculous, especially once you get all the
Gold modifiers up.

Structure : Dragon Farm[Monster] - 40 Food Production, 10 Gold Upkeep
-Personally I'd have my Food issues under control by the time these are
possible, so this is pretty inferior to the Human version. If you throw up
all the Food multiplier structures though then the amount you get is quite
obscene, and certainly it at least pays for itself through the 50% surplus
conversion.

Structure : Dragon Conservatory[Undead] - 40 Mana Production, 10 Gold Upkeep
-Similarly, I always end up with enormous gobs of unspendable mana from
clearing out the pocket dimensions so this is difficult to justify over
the Human version. Unless you're aiming to cast the Spell of Unity, I'd
go for the Human Dragon Farm.

Structure : Red Dragons Nest - 10 gold Upkeep
Unit : Red Dragon
-This is not a bad unit by any means, but in my experience the problem is that
by the time you can get these you could just get a Gold Dragon instead, so
this resource is better served by the Gold/Food buildings.


GOLD DRAGONS EGGS
-There will be exactly 1 of these per pocket dimension, always guarded by a
Gold Dragon.

Structure : Gold Dragons Nest - 20 Gold Upkeep
Unit : Gold Dragon
-This is the most powerful and expensive unit in the game you can get. Not
much more to be said, is there?
 
Thanks for putting this up- should help a lot of people who don't find the wiki helpful. I didn't even know there was a Butchery building! Though it is pretty horrible, tbh. I would note that Magic Farms are extremely useful in the Human early game- the +10 food means you won't have to build any additional food structures for a good long while, allowing for mana traps and libraries galore in your other cities.
 
Very nice work.

Only have one suggestion, for the Minotaur Labyrinth and the Dwarven Forge you mention they are good if you use melee units, but they effect a lot more than melee units. The +30% melee damage adds melee damage to all units that the perk effects, including ghosts, dragons, serpents, fire elementals, and a bunch of other creatures that have ranged attacks or use other damage types. The Dwarven Forge perk is the same with it's flat power increase, but also includes siege units like catapults and the flying undead ships. I'm just thinking maybe specifying they are good for "melee units" might be a little misleading if read by somebody unfamiliar with the game.

I haven't used or looked at the stats of the Halberdiers or their upgrades (haven't had any interest), but fighting against them they seem like pretty solid melee units, very hard to kill.
 
Only have one suggestion, for the Minotaur Labyrinth and the Dwarven Forge you mention they are good if you use melee units, but they effect a lot more than melee units. The +30% melee damage adds melee damage to all units that the perk effects, including ghosts, dragons, serpents, fire elementals, and a bunch of other creatures that have ranged attacks or use other damage types. The Dwarven Forge perk is the same with it's flat power increase, but also includes siege units like catapults and the flying undead ships. I'm just thinking maybe specifying they are good for "melee units" might be a little misleading if read by somebody unfamiliar with the game..

I've wondered about this. What happens if, say, a fire elemental gets a +30% melee damage perk? Does it still get 30% bonus damage even though it has no melee attack?
 
I've wondered about this. What happens if, say, a fire elemental gets a +30% melee damage perk? Does it still get 30% bonus damage even though it has no melee attack?

If it is anything like the purchased upgrades that add +melee (like Dwarven Steel), then the Fire Elemental will benefit. After reading Ast's post I summoned a Fire Elemental and bought the Melee Upgrades. Sure enough, the attack numbers for the unit went up. A Melee Damage icon appeared in the damage portion of the Unit Portrait, despite the whole "ranged Elemental attack" thing.
 
GOLD DRAGONS EGGS
-There will be exactly 1 of these per pocket dimension, always guarded by a
Gold Dragon.

Structure : Gold Dragons Nest - 20 Gold Upkeep
Unit : Gold Dragon
-This is the most powerful and expensive unit in the game you can get. Not
much more to be said, is there?

I got two of these in pocket dimension I conquered.
 
I would suggest putting this info into the wiki. Most people check the wiki before the forums.

That said thought, having all the options compiled here is really nice. Shame there aren't any alternate buildings for the ancient ruins or infernal rifts, I find research to be less of a priority than other things.
 
I would suggest putting this info into the wiki. Most people check the wiki before the forums.

That said thought, having all the options compiled here is really nice. Shame there aren't any alternate buildings for the ancient ruins or infernal rifts, I find research to be less of a priority than other things.

Is there an official Wiki? Could you post the link? Thx....
 
I've wondered about this. What happens if, say, a fire elemental gets a +30% melee damage perk? Does it still get 30% bonus damage even though it has no melee attack?

Any perk that says +% type damage takes the unit's base damage number, then adds a % of that as the new type of damage. This is regardless of if that unit already has that type of damage somewhere. So in the case of fire elementals and said perk, it takes it's elemental damage and adds 30% of that as melee damage, so the elemental now does two types of damage. On the other hand (just to cover it), the +% unit power perks directly modify the base damage of the unit which in turn modifies all +% damage types on it, so +20% unit power tends to be a much larger increase than +20% of a specific damage type because a typical buffed unit tends to have well over +100% of varying types already.

Keep in mind many units start with an innate perk already adding another damage type, like assassins have a +100% death damage perk, so adding any other +% damage perk to that unit is going to see much lower returns than you perhaps expected as it's base damage is a bit lower.
 
Yep it does! If you have a late game save handy, you can summon a fire elemental near an enemy, buy some perks for it, and check the attack description/damage before and after the upgrades.

(Mind, I last checked two patches ago, so there is always the chance something changed in the interim...)