=============================================================================== __ __ _ __ | \/ | | | / _| | \ / | __ _ ___| |_ ___ _ __ ___ | |_ | |\/| |/ _` / __| __/ _ \ '__| / _ \| _| | | | | (_| \__ \ || __/ | | (_) | | |_| |_|\__,_|___/\__\___|_| \___/|_| __ __ _ | \/ | | | | \ / | ___ _ __ ___| |_ ___ _ __ ___ | |\/| |/ _ \| '_ \/ __| __/ _ \ '__/ __| | | | | (_) | | | \__ \ || __/ | \__ \ |_| |_|\___/|_| |_|___/\__\___|_| |___/ =============================================================================== Master of Monsters (Genesis) FAQ / Walkthrough / Guide by Eduardo Almeida (PsychoBio) Version 1.0, last updated April 15th 2014 =============================================================================== TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: INTRO 1.1) What is Master of Monsters? 1.2) Legal info 1.3) Wait! Do you want to test your knowledge? 1.4) Storyline Chapter 2: GAMEPLAY 2.1) Basic gameplay 2.2) Starting the game 2.3) The game screen 2.4) Game controls 2.5) Terrain 2.5.1) Movement 2.5.2) Terrain protection 2.6) Monsters 2.7) Magic 2.7.1) Common spells 2.7.2) Unique spells 2.8) Strategy 2.8.1) Campaign tips 2.8.2) Single battle tips Chapter 3: CAMPAIGNS WALKTHROUGH 3.1) Campaign 1 3.1.A) Campaign 1 “trick” 3.1.B) Building your army 3.1.1) Mission 1: CAMP-1 3.1.2) Mission 2: CIRCLE 3.1.3) Mission 3: MOONLAND 3.1.4) Mission 4: ISLAND 3.1.5) Mission 5: DESERT 3.1.6) Mission 6: HALF 3.1.7) Mission 7: FIRELAND 3.1.8) Mission 8: ICECROSS 3.2) Campaign 2 3.2.A) Campaign 2 “trick” 3.2.B) Building your army 3.2.1) Mission 1: CAMP-2 3.2.2) Mission 2: NEAR 3.2.3) Mission 3: DOUBLE 3.2.4) Mission 4: AROUND 3.2.5) Mission 5: FOURWAR 3.2.6) Mission 6: GREATAXE 3.2.7) Mission 7: DEATHWAR 3.2.8) Mission 8: BIGARROW Chapter 4: SINGLE BATTLES - MASTERS 4.1) Daimyou 4.1.1) Monsters 4.1.2) Magic and Force 4.1.3) Conclusion 4.2) Wizard 4.2.1) Monsters 4.2.2) Magic and Force 4.2.3) Conclusion 4.3) Sorcerer 4.3.1) Monsters 4.3.2) Magic and Force 4.3.3) Conclusion 4.4) DarkLord 4.4.1) Monsters 4.4.2) Magic and Force 4.4.3) Conclusion 4.5) Summoner 4.5.1) Monsters 4.5.2) Magic and Force 4.5.3) Conclusion Chapter 5: MORE 5.1) FAQ – Frequently asked questions 5.2) Answers for the test (1.3) 5.2.1) Your knowledge level 5.3) Try my army, share your army 5.4) Contact: help improving this guide 5.5) Acknowledgments ==============================/ Chapter 1: INTRO /============================= ------------------ 1.1) What is Master of Monsters? Master of Monsters (aka MoM) is a turn based strategy game. Previously launched for MSX (1989), Master of Monsters also had versions for other old platforms, like PC98 and TurboGrafx CD. The Sega Genesis version was launched in 1991. After getting some success on Genesis, the game also got versions for Sega Saturn and PlayStation. This FAQ / walkthrough / guide only refer to the Genesis version. ------------------ 1.2) Legal info Copyright 2014 Eduardo Almeida All rights reserved. Only the sites listed below have permission to display this guide: gamefaqs.com ign.com neoseeker.com gamespot.com mycheats.1up.com Previous written permission is required to its exhibition on any other site. If you see this guide on any site that is not listed above, please e-mail me (psico.ufmg@gmail.com). This guide must always be shown in full form, and with credit given to the author. It’s strictly prohibited to alter any part of this guide. It can’t be used for any profitable purposes. This guide may not be reproduced under any circumstances, except for personal, private use. ------------------ 1.3) Wait! Do you want to test your knowledge? Before we proceed, you now just have the chance to show how much you know about this game. It’s just some fun for those that consider themselves experts at this game. If you aren’t an expert, you may advance to the next section. Anyway, answers to these questions can be found at section 5.2, so take note of your own answers. Q-1: Which of these monsters can’t be seen at the title screen? A) Angel B) Minotaur C) Unicorn D) Warrior Q-2: Which elemental Force is a female? A) Fire B) Water C) Air D) Earth Q-3: How many weapons a Great Demon uses, according to its picture? A) One B) Two C) Three D) Four Q-4: A Taitan’s icon at the map is a lot alike to the icon of which other monster? A) Colossus B) Crasher C) Caeser D) Crusader Q-5: If you are playing a campaign and never changed the music, during a Sorcerer’s turn which music will you hear? A) BGM02 B) BGM03 C) BGM04 D) BGM05 Q-6: Which map, if played as a single battle, will have the blue castle on a different place, instead of the coordinates it used to be during Campaign 1? A) CIRCLE B) ISLAND C) HALF D) FIRELAND Q-7: Which map, if played as a single battle, will have the yellow master sitting on a rocky hex instead of the yellow castle? A) ISLAND B) DESERT C) NEAR D) AROUND Q-8: (Highest number of turns on a campaign mission) + (Lowest number of turns on a campaign mission) = ? A) 55 B) 53 C) 60 D) 58 Q-9: How many level 01 monsters you have available for summoning in both campaigns? A) Four B) Five C) Six D) Seven Q-10: How many monsters AI can summon during campaigns, and are never available on single battles? A) Five B) Six C) Seven D) Ten or more Q-11: After playing through both campaigns, how many masters of your own type you have defeated? A) Two B) Three C) Four D) Six Q-12: Which monster uses a different attack for long range fights? A) Gorgon B) Crasher C) Sphinx D) Mage Q-13: If you sum all four damage resistances (in %), which monster will get a higher number? A) Iron Golem B) Black Wraith C) Sirene D) Cocoon Q-14: How many monsters have their HP decreased after leveling up? A) One B) Two C) Three D) Four Q-15: A Colossus may cause the highest damage possible for a single hit. How much damage is it? A) 38 B) 47 C) 51 D) 55 Q-16: If you summoned a Cyclops, a Demon and a Minotaur, how much MP you just spent? A) 59 B) 63 C) 66 D) 70 Q-17: Which monster requires the most XP to reach level 03? A) Arch Demon B) Frost Dragon C) Flame Dragon D) Giant Q-18: Which ones are the unique spells of the Wizard? A) Quick and Refresh B) Quick and First C) Refresh and Typhoon D) Stone and First Q-19: Which magic has a different MP cost? A) Again B) Reverse C) Shield D) Typhoon Q-20: If all masters decide to create a 1-on-1 league to fight each other without using monsters, who would be the league winner? A) Daimyou B) Wizard C) Sorcerer D) DarkLord ------------------ 1.4) Storyline This is what can be found in the back of the cartridge cover box: Gaya, king of the Dark World, summoned five of his loyal subjects – a fierce warlock, a sorcerer with healing powers, an evil wizard, Nechromensa the master of chaos and confusion, and Samona, who possesses power over all good and evil subjects. Gaya looked over his five masters of magic and spoke: “The time has come to choose a new king, but only one of you will reign. You will use your magical powers to create fighting monsters and ultimately you will live or die. Whoever remains will conquer and inherit my kingdom. Though you may win or lose, each of you must fight to the end to be worthy of ruling my kingdom.” After Gaya spoke, he pointed to a door behind the five masters of magic. “On the other side of the door, I have created a world of the Master of Monsters,” roared King Gaya. “Go and fight to your victory!” ============================/ Chapter 2: GAMEPLAY /============================ ------------------ 2.1) Basic gameplay You play as a master, a superior being that has the power to summon and command a variety of other creatures, from now called monsters. In your standard turn, you will summon monsters, move your previously existent monsters and have them to fight enemy monsters, cast a spell (Magic), and invoke a Force of a natural element (Fire, Water, Air or Earth) to attack an enemy monster. Masters can’t leave their castles and are immune to Magic and Force, so you need to use your monsters to attack enemy masters. You win by defeating all enemy masters (reducing their HP to 0) in the allotted amount of turns. You lose by having your own master defeated or if you aren’t able to win in the allotted turns. It’s worthy mention that this game has NO luck involved. Although some things look random (like which blows will hit or miss during a fight, or the HP amount a monster will regain if you use a healing magic), there is no real randomness, just pseudo-randomness. I mean, for two identical situations, the game will produce identical results. Do you want a proof? Start any single battle with all masters being AI controlled. For same conditions (map, masters, etc.), the game will get same results every time you restart the battle: same summons, same moves, same attacks hitting and missing during fights. Of course, I don’t know how the game engine calculates these pseudo-random factors, and the randomness while playing LOOKS real. ------------------ 2.2) Starting the game Once you press the start button on the title screen, there is a menu with the following options (choose using button C): - CONTINUE : this will allow you to continue a game saved on your cartridge memory. If you are using an emulator, I strongly suggest you to ignore this and use emulator save state instead. - CAMP-1 ; CAMP-2 : these options are used to start the two single player campaigns. Each campaign has eight missions, and one of the highest points in the game is that you can use the monsters that finished a mission in the following one. The two campaigns use different settings for master and monsters you control, different maps, etc. In general lines, you can assume that Campaign 1 is easier than Campaign 2. - CIRCLE ; MOONLAND ; ISLAND ; DESERT ; HALF ; FIRELAND ; ICECROSS ; NEAR ; DOUBLE ; AROUND ; FOURWAR ; GREATAXE ; DEATHWAR ; BIGARROW : these 14 options are used to start single battles. Each of these maps can be played to up four players, human or AI, in battles that last up to 90 turns. The first seven are also played in Campaign 1, together with CAMP-1 map, while the last seven are played in Campaign 2, together with CAMP-2 map. However, note that most of these maps, when played in a campaign, are slightly different from their single battle version: they will usually have fewer castles (there are less masters) and the terrain can impose attack restrictions, especially to the human player (less attack routes). Once you choose your map / campaign, there is another menu (press button C to select and button B to cancel): - MASTER : will let you assign a different master for each castle. There are five possible masters: Daimyou, Wizard, Sorcerer, DarkLord and Summoner. There is no restriction about a master type being used more than once, so you can create a single battle of four DarkLords without any problem. NOTE: this option is not available for campaigns. - PLAYER : used to choose which masters will be controlled by human players or by AI. Sadly, there is no way to remove masters, so if you want a single battle with less than four masters, choose “player” to the master you don’t want and just finish its turn without playing (it can still be attacked by AI controlled monsters, though). NOTE: this option is not available for campaigns. - MAGIC : used to adjust the amount of magic points regenerated for each master in the end of his / her turn. Possible values are 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100. NOTE: for campaigns, you can adjust only the magic of your own master. - MUSIC : allows you to choose one of six background music for each master. You can change music anytime, even during a campaign mission / single battle. If you don’t change anything, during campaigns the six music will appear as this: BGM01 – theme for enemy Daimyou ; BGM02 – theme for enemy Wizard ; BGM03 – theme for enemy Sorcerer ; BGM04 – theme for enemy DarkLord ; BGM05 – theme for enemy Summoner ; BGM06 – theme for human player. - START : as you can possibly predict, this will start your game. ------------------ 2.3) The game screen When the game starts, a zoomed in area of map occupies the biggest part of your screen. This is where the game is actually played. The map is formed by a 64x64 grid of hexes, each one containing one and only one terrain type. In the map, your monsters will move and fight to reach and defeat enemy masters. (More about terrain types in the Terrain section.) At the right side, there are 3 squares: - The upper one shows the entire map where the battle is played. A white square marks the area zoomed in. If you move your cursor to another area, the white square will also move accordingly to show the current position. - The middle one shows information about the game. The info displayed here are: which master is currently taking its turn and if its player or AI (computer) controlled, current turn and total turns allotted, period of the day (sun rising, sun, moon rising or moon) and current coordinates of the cursor (0,0 being the upper left corner, and 63,63 being the lower right corner). If you select a monster, information about the monster is also showed here. (More about monsters in the Monsters section.) - The lower one just shows the monster picture when a monster is selected. Also, there is a black area with game info under the zoomed in area. Here, you can quickly check the amount of magic points (MP), towers (T) and monsters (M) owned by each army: Blue, Red, Green and Yellow. NOTE: masters count as monsters. ------------------ 2.4) Game controls Directional button is used to move the cursor in the zoomed in area of the map (you can hold button B for fast scrolling), and among options of a menu. Button C is used to confirm a selection, while button B is used to cancel / return to previous menu. Button A calls a main menu with the following options: SUMMON : used to summon a new monster for your army. This is a valid option only if the menu is called from a controlled tower / fortress / main fortress hex adjacent to your master. You also need to meet the tower requirement: your total number of monsters is, at max, your number of towers plus 2. If you meet the criteria, another menu will open, showing your monster options and respective MP cost. The summon succeeds if you have enough MP to pay for your monster. NOTE: there is also a limit of 30 monsters an army can have, and 56 monsters at max counting all armies. CALL : not used in single battles, but more used than the summon command in campaigns. At any campaign mission beyond the first, you can call the monsters that finished the previous mission. Monsters will be showed at the status they had at the end of the previous mission, but once called their HP will be replenished. Calling monsters doesn’t spend MP, but the rest is like the summon command: the menu needs to be called from a controlled tower / fortress / main fortress hex adjacent to your master, and you need to meet the tower requirement. NOTE: monsters yet not called count for both 30 / army and 56 / total limits. MAGIC : this opens a menu of spells which your master can use once per turn. These cost MP and produce immediate effects (if you have enough MP to pay). Some magic affect the entire map or a restrict area around a hex. Some, however, affect a single monster, ally or enemy. If the menu is called from a hex that doesn’t have one monster of the proper type on it, these magic simply won’t appear in the list. Masters are never affected by magic. (More about magic in the Magic section.) FORCE : this is used to invoke an elemental to attack an enemy monster, and like magic, can be used once per turn. The menu needs to be called from a hex with an enemy monster (the one you want to target). Using the Force costs 40 MP. Once used, the elemental fights the target monster like if it was a normal monster itself: it can kill and be killed. Elementals start with 100 HP, which looks great initially, but in late campaigns, they can be destroyed in just a few fights, so choose wisely your targets. They can’t recover any HP during a mission, but will replenish before the next one if you are playing a campaign. Each master controls always the same force during any campaign or single battle: Daimyou controls Fire, Wizard controls Water, Sorcerer controls Air, DarkLord controls Earth, Summoner controls all four elementals. TABLE : opens an information table about your army. Here you can check: name, type (monster characteristic that interferes in movement and terrain protection – more about this in the Terrain section), coordinates, and if the monster has been moved this turn (there will be a letter “E” right of the coordinates). Info and picture about the current monster can be viewed in the squares to the right. Pressing C will close the table and move the cursor to the selected monster. HELP : if turned ON, the AI will suggest moves each time you select MOVE on a monster menu. The AI is not a good strategist, however, so I suggest you turn this OFF. SET UP : this calls another menu, with the following options: - SAVE : used to save your game on the cartridge memory. If you play the game on an emulator, I suggest you using its save state feature instead. - PLAYER : during a single battle, you can change which masters are player or AI controlled. - SPEED : you can use this to change the speed of battle animations to “slow”, “real” or “fast”. - MUSIC : allows you to change the background music of each master, including your enemies. END : ends the player turn, and starts the turn of the next master. All turns are taken in the same order: Blue > Red > Green > Yellow. In the zoomed in area, you can also put the cursor over a hex with one monster and use button C to select it. For enemy monsters and monsters you have already moved this turn, this will just show the monster status. For your monsters you haven’t yet moved this turn, this also calls the monster menu, with options MOVE and FIGHT. If you select FIGHT on the monster menu, the cursor will move to an enemy monster in an adjacent hex, and the fight conditions (damage per hit, number of attacks and hit chance) are showed. If there is more than one enemy monster in adjacent hexes, use directional button to navigate. Press C to select your target, and if your monster has long ranged attacks, you will choose among short range (S) and long range (L). At any point, you can press B and cancel the fight. You will still be able to move your monster or fight. If you select MOVE on the monster menu, hexes your monster can’t reach will be grayed, so choose among the normally colored (and unoccupied) hexes where you will move your monster. Press C and your monster goes to its destination. This opens another menu: OK is used to confirm your monster move, it won’t fight and will stay there until your next turn. FIGHT works like we have just explained above, however, if you decide to cancel the fight, it won’t cancel the move anymore and you need to wait your next turn to use your monster again. RETURN sends the monster back to its initial location, and allows you to choose another destination. Note that monsters have a zone of control. If a monster enters a hex that has an adjacent enemy monster, it needs to stop. The game already considers this when showing the possible new destinations a monster can be moved to. NOTE: sounds like a bug to me, but in single battles, and even during campaigns, the game allows you to summon / call your monsters to a hex adjacent to any enemy master of the same type. To do this, the menu needs to be called from a fortress hex or a controlled tower adjacent to the enemy master. I think this bug beats part of the game purpose: defeating the enemy army in your way to its master. AI, for example, never does this, so I never did it, too, and I suggest you do the same (unless, of course, you are playing a multiplayer game and opponents agree it’s a legal move). ------------------ 2.5) Terrain The interaction between monsters and terrains is very important, and needs to be considered when creating a good strategy. Before we talk about how terrains influence your monsters, let’s identify the terrain types. These examples are taken from DEATHWAR single battle map, one of a few that have all types. - Main Fortress: also called “Castle” in other tutorials you can find on the net. However, I prefer call castle the group of fortresses and towers a master lives in. The main fortress is the hex where the masters usually start a mission / battle. Example: 11, 18. - Fortress: usually found around a main fortress, can be used to summon / call monsters. Example: 12, 20. - Tower: easy to identify. You need these to increase your monster limit. Most towers start a mission / battle as neutral, having a white and light blue background. Towers can then be occupied by monsters, with its background changing accordingly. Towers can be used to summon / call monsters. Also, note that an injured monster that ends its master’s turn in a tower will have a small portion of HP healed before next opponent’s turn. Examples: 21, 41 (neutral); 46, 09 (blue); 17, 29 (red); 18, 50 (green); 45, 51 (yellow). - Grassland: main attack route for land based creatures. Example: 17, 40. - Forest. Example: 42, 38. - Dune. Example: 43, 53. - Mountain. Example: 47, 56. - Rocky Tracts. Example: 57, 27. - Swamp. Example: 26, 44. - Tundra. Example: 18, 29. - Volcano. Example: 43, 10. - River (shallow water). Example: 34, 42. - Ocean (deep water). Example: 34, 37. Terrains have 2 major influences over monsters: movement and terrain protection. --------- 2.5.1) Movement: Monsters have a movement allowance, a max number of hexes they can move per turn (check “MV” in the monster info). However, depending on the monster movement type, a hex containing a terrain can be harder to cross, and in this case it consumes more than 1 from the monster allowance. There is no cost for leaving a hex. The cost in movement allowance points is always to enter a hex. When you select MOVE on the monster menu, the game already considers optimal routes your monster can take, so its reach is accurate. Here are the movement types a monster can have (the code is how it appears in the in-game table), and respective monsters: - M (Master): Daimyou, DarkLord, Sorcerer, Summoner, Wizard, Cocoon, Guardian - SH (High Sky): Loc, Mono Pegasus - S (Sky): Crusader, Great Angel, Great Demon, Hippo Griffon, Mage, Pegasus, Sky Gorgon - SL (Low Sky): Angel, Arch Angel, Arch Demon, Black Wraith, Chimera, Dark Wraith, Demon, Fighter, Gorgon, Griffin, Valkyrie, Wraith - SF (Fire Sky): Air Dragon, Phoenix, Sky Dragon, Sphinx - OB (Big Ocean): Big Serpent, Kraken, Octopus, Serpent - OS (Small Ocean): Marmaid, Sirene - LB (Big Land): Colossus, Giant, Golem, Iron Golem, Stone Golem, Troll - LS (Small Land): Amazon, Attacker, Caeser, Carthago, Crasher, Minotaur, Musha, Roman, Soldier, Taitan, Tricorn, Unicorn, Warrior - LF (Fire Land): Dragon (Daimyou), Dragon (Summoner), Dragon (Wizard), Fire Dragon, Flame Dragon, Gold Dragon, King Dragon - I2 (Big Tundra): Cyclops, Firbolg, IceGiant - I1 (Small Tundra): Dark Dragon, Death Dragon, Dragon (DarkLord), Dragon (Sorcerer), Frost Dragon, Ice Dragon, Silver Dragon - LD (Dune): Hydra, Lizard, TwinHead This table shows how much from its movement allowance a monster uses to enter a hex. If marked “N”, it means a monster with that movement type can’t enter a hex of that terrain type (however, Storm magic can place a monster on a hex it couldn’t otherwise enter) ============================================================================== Hex \ Move type M | SH | S | SL | SF | OB | OS | LB | LS | LF | I2 | I1 | LD ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Main Fortress 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 Fortress 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 Tower 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 Dune N | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 Forest N | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 Grassland N | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 Mountain N | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | N | N | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 Ocean N | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | N | N | N | N | N | N River N | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | N | 4 | 3 | N | 3 | 2 Rocky Tracts N | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | N | N | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 Swamp N | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | N | 4 | 3 | N | 3 | 2 Tundra N | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 Volcano N | 2 | N | N | 1 | N | N | N | N | 1 | N | 3 | N ============================================================================== --------- 2.5.2) Terrain protection The terrain a monster is determines how well it can fight. It influences the hit chance of the opponent monster. This hit chance is 100% minus the protection the terrain offers to the monster. Here is the table of terrain protection, which varies for each monster movement type: =============================================================================== Hex \ Move type M | SH | S | SL | SF | OB | OS | LB | LS | LF | I2 | I1 | LD ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Main Fortress 60 | 30 | 30 | 40 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 40 | 60 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 60 Fortress 40 | 30 | 30 | 40 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 40 | 60 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 60 Tower 40 | 30 | 30 | 40 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 40 | 60 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 60 Dune 0 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 25 | 25 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 60 Forest 0 | 30 | 30 | 40 | 30 | 30 | 25 | 40 | 60 | 50 | 40 | 50 | 60 Grassland 0 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 25 | 25 | 20 | 40 | 30 | 20 | 30 | 40 Mountain 0 | 30 | 30 | 40 | 30 | 10 | 10 | 60 | 50 | 40 | 60 | 40 | 60 Ocean 0 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 80 | 60 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 River 0 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 60 | 80 | 10 | 20 | 20 | 10 | 20 | 40 Rocky Tracts 0 | 30 | 30 | 40 | 30 | 10 | 10 | 60 | 50 | 40 | 60 | 40 | 60 Swamp 0 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 60 | 80 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 40 Tundra 0 | 30 | 30 | 40 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 60 | 70 | 20 Volcano 0 | 60 | 10 | 10 | 70 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 70 | 10 | 20 | 10 =============================================================================== So, for example, if your monster attacks an enemy Warrior which is in a tundra hex, your monster will have an 80% hit chance. This because Warrior is a LS (Small Land) creature, and receives 20% of terrain protection from the tundra. If you attack an enemy Sirene on a swamp, your hit chance will be 20% (it gets 80% protection from the swamp, being a Small Ocean monster). NOTES: - There is an attack type, which I call “magical attacks” that can ignore terrain protection and have always a 65% hit chance. In fact, several monsters use magical attacks in long range fights. - Forces always have 30% protection, except when fighting monsters that use these magical attacks. ------------------ 2.6) Monsters Monsters have several characteristics. Some of them are written in the monster info, visible in the middle square of the right side when you select a monster. Some are not written at all. The visible information includes: - Name of the monster. For monsters beyond level 1, part of the name can be abbreviated (Fire-D instead of Fire Dragon, for example). - Alignment: showed as a letter right of the name, it can be L (lawful), C (chaotic) or N (neutral). This gives monsters damage bonuses or penalties according to the period of the day. Lawful monsters get a 25% damage bonus during high sun turns, and a 25% damage penalty during high moon turns. For chaotic monsters, it’s the inverse situation: they get the 25% penalty at high sun turns and the 25% bonus at high moon turns. Neutral monsters receive no bonus and no penalty. - Movement allowance (MV): max number of hexes a monster can move per turn. (For more info about movement, check the Terrain section.) - Monster level (LV): level of the monster. The level of the monsters involved in a fight determines how much experience each monster will receive if survives. Usually, you can assume that, the higher is the level, more powerful is the monster. It varies from 01 to 04. - Hit points (HP): the monster hit points, in “current HP” / “maximum HP” format. If a monster’s HP reaches 0, it is destroyed, and this always gives a good experience boost to the surviving monster, if it was killed during a fight. - Experience (XP): as the hit points, experience is showed in “current XP” / “maximum XP” format. Experience usually shows the path of a monster to get a new level. When the monster reaches its maximum XP, it will evolve to its next level, usually getting bonuses like improved movement, more attacks and higher damage, beyond new visual and name (there are some exceptions to this rule which will be mentioned later this section). However, keep in mind that, if the maximum XP of a monster is 255, it means the monster is already at its highest level. Also, each 30 XP adds 01 damage to each attack of a monster. - Fight conditions: there are two fight conditions, for short range fights (S) and long range fights (L). The format for both is the same: “damage per hit” – “number of attacks”. All monsters (except elemental forces, which are a mix between magic and monster) can fight short range. With very few exceptions, all monsters deal physical damage in short range fights. Some monsters (most of them level 01), however, don’t have a long range attack, and can’t counter-attack if attacked in long range. This is noted as “L 00-0”. In long range fights, each monster uses one of four attack types: physical, magical, cold or heat. But, there are also important characteristics you can’t simply check: - Movement type: as mentioned in the previous section, this is important to monster movement and terrain protection. You can check the movement type of a monster using the table you can access from main menu, but just for monsters in your own army and after summoning it. - Attack type: before using a monster, it’s hard to know which attack type it will use for long range fights. Also, the attack name can trick you: for example, Carthago’s Spear deals physical damage, while Sirene’s Spear deals magical damage. - Damage resistance: a monster can resist part of the damage caused by attacks of a given type. For example, a Roman has 20% resistance against physical attacks. This reduces part of the damage it would receive from a physical attack. Monsters have a separated resistance to each attack type. This varies from 0 (no resistance, monster receives full damage) to 100% (damage is reduced to 01 per hit), and is very important to consider while making decisions during a mission / battle. The following table presents you every relevant characteristic about all monsters: =============================================================================== Name A L MT MA HP XP Promotion MPC SR LR Ph Mg Ht Cd ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Air (F) N 1 - - 100 255 - 40 - 15-2 C 0 40 0 40 Air-D C 3 SF 8 96 255 - 160 9-4 8-4 F 10 20 10 0 Amazon C 2 LS 6 40 255 - 128 10-3 10-3 P 70 30 30 30 Angel L 1 SL 6 30 67 Arch-A 36 2-2 6-2 M 0 50 0 0 Arch-A L 2 SL 7 62 49 Great-A 70 4-2 12-2 M 10 70 20 20 Arch-D C 2 SL 8 44 57 Great-D 74 10-1 8-3 M 10 50 20 30 Attacker C 2 LS 5 48 40 Crasher 78 12-2 0-0 - 10 0 0 0 Big-S N 2 OB 8 83 255 - 152 12-3 0-0 - 0 0 20 0 Black-W C 3 SL 5 36 255 - 30 8-1 16-2 M 90 0 90 90 Caeser L 3 LS 6 62 255 - 140 11-3 18-2 P 40 40 10 10 Carthago L 2 LS 6 44 38 Caeser 78 7-3 10-2 P 30 20 0 0 Chimera N 1 SL 5 40 40 Sphinx 20 7-2 0-0 - 30 30 30 30 Cocoon N 1 M 0 50 1 Guardian (?) 15-2 40-1 M 80 80 80 80 Colossus L 3 LB 6 110 255 - 220 33-1 38-1 P 10 0 0 0 Crasher C 3 LS 6 63 250 Taitan 144 20-2 12-1 M 30 20 20 30 Crusader N 3 S 7 70 255 - 140 9-4 8-3 P 30 20 10 0 Cyclops C 1 I2 5 46 46 IceGiant 19 15-1 0-0 - 0 0 0 0 Daimyou L 3 M 3 100 255 - - 3-3 13-3 M 60 80 60 30 Dark-D C 2 I1 6 56 60 Death-D 72 15-2 5-3 C 20 20 10 20 Dark-W C 2 SL 4 24 18 Black-W 20 4-1 8-2 M 80 0 80 80 DarkLord C 3 M 3 100 255 - - 5-2 21-2 M 60 30 60 60 Death-D C 3 I1 6 90 255 - 180 20-2 7-4 C 30 20 20 30 Demon C 1 SL 7 30 55 Arch-D 34 5-1 4-3 M 0 30 0 0 Dragon-Dy L 1 LF 5 40 48 Flame-D 26 9-2 8-1 H 10 0 10 0 Dragon-DL C 1 I1 5 42 48 Dark-D 22 10-2 0-0 - 10 0 0 0 Dragon-So L 1 I1 5 40 48 Frost-D 26 9-2 8-1 C 10 0 0 10 Dragon-Su N 1 LF 5 46 78 Silver-D 24 9-2 8-1 H 10 0 10 10 Dragon-W C 1 LF 6 42 48 Sky-D 22 6-3 0-0 - 10 0 0 0 Earth (F) N 1 - - 100 255 - 40 - 10-3 M 0 50 50 0 Fighter N 2 SL 7 46 35 Crusader 78 5-4 6-3 P 20 10 0 0 Firbolg C 3 I2 6 86 255 - 190 30-1 16-2 C 0 0 30 50 Fire (F) N 1 - - 100 255 - 40 - 10-3 H 0 0 80 0 Fire-D L 3 LF 6 78 250 King-D 176 16-2 20-2 H 20 20 90 0 Flame-D L 2 LF 6 51 60 Fire-D (?) 12-2 13-2 H 10 10 50 0 Frost-D L 2 I1 6 51 62 Ice-D 78 11-2 12-2 C 10 10 0 50 Giant L 2 LB 5 75 48 Colossus 92 11-2 16-1 P 10 0 0 0 Gold-D N 3 LF 7 70 30 Silver-D (?) 18-2 16-2 H 30 50 60 0 Golem N 1 LB 4 30 45 Stone-G 20 16-1 0-0 - 20 Im 20 10 Gorgon C 2 SL 6 45 34 Sky-G 56 11-2 7-3 M 30 0 0 0 Great-A L 3 S 8 60 255 - 100 9-2 18-2 M 20 90 30 30 Great-D C 3 S 8 66 255 - 108 15-1 12-3 M 20 70 30 40 Griffin C 1 SL 6 42 42 Hippo-G 22 8-2 0-0 - 10 0 0 0 Guardian N 1 M 3 50 2 Cocoon 48 6-4 6-5 M 0 0 0 0 Hippo-G C 2 S 8 65 255 - 64 8-3 8-2 H 30 0 10 0 Hydra N 3 LD 5 60 255 - 132 10-3 12-3 H 10 0 Im 0 Ice-D L 3 I1 6 88 250 King-D 176 10-3 19-2 C 20 20 0 90 IceGiant C 2 I2 5 68 48 Firbolg 80 23-1 16-1 P 0 0 0 0 Iron-G N 3 LB 5 40 255 - 130 38-1 0-0 - 80 Im 80 30 King-D N 4 LF 6 130 255 - 262 18-3 16-3 H 30 30 30 30 Kraken C 2 OB 7 75 255 - 142 8-4 0-0 - 0 0 20 0 Lizard N 1 LD 5 30 24 TwinHead 10 4-2 5-1 H 10 0 0 0 Loc L 1 SH 10 30 36 Phoenix 26 4-3 0-0 - 0 0 0 0 Mage C 2 S 6 40 255 - 32 3-2 20-2 M 30 80 30 30 Marmaid L 1 OS 5 26 39 Sirene 13 2-1 10-2 M 0 0 20 0 Minotaur C 1 LS 5 38 32 Gorgon 17 7-2 0-0 - 20 0 0 0 Mono-P N 2 SH 9 42 255 - 56 4-6 0-0 - 30 80 0 0 Musha L 2 LS 7 50 255 - 88 15-3 8-2 P 20 20 20 60 Octopus C 1 OB 6 65 86 Kraken 74 8-3 0-0 - 0 0 10 0 Pegasus N 1 S 7 30 36 Mono-P 18 4-3 0-0 - 20 60 0 0 Phoenix L 2 SF 9 24 1 Phoenix 74 4-4 8-3 H 0 0 Im 0 Roman L 1 LS 5 33 26 Carthago 12 4-3 0-0 - 20 0 0 0 Serpent N 1 OB 7 73 98 Big-S 81 12-2 0-0 - 0 0 10 0 Silver-D N 3 I1 7 70 30 Gold-D 176 12-3 16-2 C 30 50 0 60 Sirene L 2 OS 6 45 255 - 68 8-3 10-3 M 50 60 50 50 Sky-D C 2 SF 7 48 53 Air-D 62 7-3 6-3 H 10 0 10 0 Sky-G C 3 S 7 55 255 - 112 14-2 9-3 M 50 0 0 0 Soldier N 1 LS 6 34 24 Fighter 12 3-4 0-0 - 10 0 0 0 Sorcerer L 3 M 3 100 255 - - 3-3 13-3 M 30 60 60 60 Sphinx N 2 SF 6 60 255 - 70 11-2 6-2 M 40 40 40 40 Stone-G N 2 LB 5 35 45 Iron-G 70 26-1 0-0 - 50 Im 50 20 Summoner N 3 M 3 100 255 - - 12-1 7-5 M 50 50 50 50 Taitan N 4 LS 6 70 255 - (?) 15-3 10-4 M 30 30 20 30 Tricorn L 2 LS 7 48 255 - 54 7-3 9-2 M 0 60 20 20 Troll L 1 LB 4 40 46 Giant 18 7-2 0-0 - 10 0 0 0 TwinHead N 2 LD 5 48 48 Hydra 56 6-2 7-2 H 10 0 Im 0 Unicorn L 1 LS 6 33 32 Tricorn 20 7-2 0-0 - 0 40 0 0 Valkyrie C 1 SL 6 40 255 - 30 10-1 18-2 M 30 50 30 30 Warrior C 1 LS 5 34 30 Attacker 12 6-2 0-0 - 0 0 0 0 Water (F) N 1 - - 100 255 - 40 - 15-2 C 0 0 0 80 Wizard C 3 M 3 100 255 - - 5-2 21-2 M 60 60 30 60 Wraith C 1 SL 3 12 18 Dark-W 10 2-1 4-2 M 70 0 70 70 =========-=========-=========-=========-=========-=========-=========-========= NOTES: - Name is the monster name. Some names are abbreviated like they appear in game. (F) marks elemental forces. For level 01 Dragons, some letters are added to show the respective master: Dy (Daimyou), DL (DarkLord), So (Sorcerer), Su (Summoner) and W (Wizard). - There are some monsters that are never available to the human player, nor while playing campaigns, nor if playing single battles. These monsters can be used just by AI during campaigns, and include: Amazon, Cocoon, Guardian, Mage, Musha and Valkyrie. - A is the monster alignment. C is for chaotic, L for lawful and N for neutral. - L is the monster level. - MT is the movement type. Abbreviations are the same you can find at the previous section, about terrain. - MA is the monster movement allowance. - HP is the number of hit points a monster has at full health. - XP is the maximum XP a monster can accumulate. If this value is 255, the monster is at its highest level; otherwise it will level up once its XP reaches the maximum. There are three exceptions to this level up rule. The Phoenix has a 01 max XP and after each fight, it “evolves” to Phoenix again; in practice, it gets its HP replenished. The Guardian (an AI campaign monster) has a 02 max XP and after reaching it, the Guardian evolves to Cocoon (curiously, a level 01 monster like the Guardian); the Cocoon has 01 max XP, and after a fight, becomes a Guardian again. The Dragon (Summoner), level 01, evolves to a level 03 Silver Dragon, which has 30 max XP and “evolves” to Gold Dragon, another level 03 monster; the Gold Dragon, after reaching its 30 max XP, turns into a Silver Dragon again. - Promotion shows which monster a creature will become after reaching its maximum XP (in case its value is not 255). - MPC is the monster MP summoning cost. For elemental forces, it’s the cost for summoning it for one fight only. For those that aren’t level 01 monsters, the cost is how much MP AI spends for summoning them during campaigns. (?) means that the monster MP cost is currently unknown. - SR shows the fight conditions for short range. This appears in "damage per hit – number of attacks" format. All monsters deal physical damage at short range, except Cocoon and Valkyrie, these deal magical damage. - LR shows fight conditions for long range fights. Again it appears as "damage per hit – number of attacks". For those monsters that have ranged attacks, there is a letter that indicates which type of damage those attacks are going to cause: P for physical, M for magical, H for heat and C for cold damage. - Last four columns show the monster resistance to each of the damage types: physical (Ph), magical (Mg), heat (Ht) and cold (Cd). The values are percentages. “Im” means immunity, all damage from that type is reduced to 01 per hit. IMPORTANT: The fight conditions show the base damage. This is used to calculate the real damage per hit in a fight, this way: take the base damage and apply alignment bonus or penalty, if it’s the case, rounded down; add +1 for each 30 XP the monster has earned; subtract the % correspondent to the target resistance to that attack type, rounded down. Now you have the real damage per hit. When choosing a fight using the monster menu, this rule is automatically applied, and the real damage is displayed. Another relevant table, about XP gain. Format is “XP gained if target survives” / “XP gained if target is killed”. ============================================= | Unit \ Target | Lv01 | Lv02 | Lv03 | Lv04 | --------------------------------------------- | Level 01 | 1/16 | 2/32 | 1/64 | 2/32 | | Level 02 | 1/08 | 1/16 | 2/32 | 2/32 | | Level 03 | 1/04 | 1/08 | 1/16 | 2/32 | | Level 04 | 1/08 | 1/08 | 1/08 | 1/16 | ============================================= ------------------ 2.7) Magic Each master has 11 spells available in the MAGIC menu. There are nine spells which are common to all masters, and each master has 2 unique spells. Like said previously, some options affect a single monster (allied or enemy) and won’t be available if you don’t call the menu from a hex containing a viable target. --------- 2.7.1) Common spells: - Heal: costs 10 MP. Heals an allied monster for a medium amount of HP. - Heal All: costs 40 MP. Heals every allied monsters, but the HP healed is smaller. - Sleep: costs 20 MP. Targets an enemy monster, which won’t be able to move or fight at its master next turn. If attacked before its master turn, the affected monster (which receives an “S” mark) also won’t counter-attack (in fact, this is the best effect of this magic). The Sleep effect is countered by the Awaken magic. - Awaken: costs 30 MP. Counters the effect of the Sleep spell, allowing the affected monster to move and fight at its master turn. - Warp: costs 30 MP. Teleports an allied monster from a controlled tower to another controlled tower (the menu needs to be called in a hex containing an allied monster in a tower). Using Warp won’t change the monster status: it can move / fight from its new location if it could move / fight from the previous one, and can’t if it couldn’t from the previous one. It’s possible to “teleport” your monster to the same tower it already is, so be careful or you can waste the magic. - Again: costs 30 MP. Removes the “used” status from an allied monster, allowing the master to use the monster a second time this turn. - Mind: costs 30 MP. Causes a good amount of direct damage to an enemy monster. This is especially useful against monsters that have low HP, but high damage resistance or terrain protection. - Meteor: costs 60 MP. This spell causes a meteor shower (10 meteors) around the current master position. The same hex can be hit more than once. Any monster, allied or enemy (except masters), in these hexes will receive high damage and can be destroyed. - Stream: costs 80 MP. Causes a medium amount of damage for any monster (except masters) in the selected hex or adjacent hexes, including your allies. --------- 2.7.2) Unique spells Daimyou spells: - Shield: costs 20 MP. Protects an allied monster against enemy magic. The monster receives a “B” mark and can be targeted, but spells like Mind, Stream and Sleep won’t have effect. Also, magical attacks have their hit chance reduced from 65% to 10%. The monster protection lasts until its master next turn. - Storm: costs 30 MP. Any monster, allied or enemy (except masters), in the selected hex or adjacent hexes will be transported to a random location up to a 10 hexes radius. This is very useful to transport land creatures to water (where they won’t have a chance against aquatic creature), or to move Guardians to outside of the enemy castle in Campaign 1 (when not in fortress or tower hexes, non-magical attacks will have 100% hit chance, and they will be easily defeated). Wizard spells: - Stone: costs 30 MP. This magic works like Sleep spell. Affected enemy monster (which will receive a “R” mark) can’t move or fight during its master next turn, and if attacked before its master turn, it won’t counter-attack. The single difference is that Stone doesn’t have its effect cancelled by Awaken. - First: costs 50 MP. Increases the movement allowance of an allied monster to 12 this turn. Affected monster will get an “F” mark. Movement cost and zones of control don’t change. Sorcerer spells: - Quick: costs 20 MP. Adds +1 to the number of attacks an allied monster will do during its fight this turn (the monster will receive a “Q” mark). For example, a monster that usually attacks 2x in short range fights and 1x in long range fights, this turn will be able to attack 3x in short range and 2x in long range. In fact, this is a useless magic. The effect doesn’t even remain active until your next turn. For 10 MP more you can use Again, which is a better spell. - Refresh: costs 40 MP. Completely heals an allied monster. Good magic, it could be useful in campaigns if available. DarkLord spells: - Reverse: costs 30 MP. This magic reverses the flow of time. For example, if used during a sun rising turn, the next turn will be a moon turn instead of sun turn. The entire order will be changed: moon, moon rising, sun, sun rising. If used again, it returns to normal order. The DarkLord uses chaotic creatures, and this spell can be used to skip all sun turns (which would give a damage bonus for lawful monsters, and damage penalty for chaotic ones). - Confuse: costs 70 MP. Gives the user control over an enemy monster this turn. It will have its color changed, and can move and fight. When changing colors, a monster that is in a tower won’t capture it for the new master, unless you move the cursor and put it again over that hex (this will cause the game to check, and the tower will be captured). If the confused monster ends the turn in another tower (which it will capture normally), the same situation occurs after that turn: a monster occupying a tower of different color. Again, move the cursor over that hex and the tower will be captured. If a confused monster is killed, strange things happen. I don’t know if this was intended as a compensation for the monster owner, but looks like a bug to me. The killed monster will return at turn end, with color of its original master, 0 HP and 0 XP, to the hex it was when killed, even if this puts it over another monster. The monster with 0 XP will die if hit by any attack, but can be healed by its master. If a “monster pile” is created, just the superior monster (the confused monster reborn) can be selected, while the other monster can’t do anything. Each monster in the pile still has a zone of control, so the superior monster can move one hex at maximum. Summoner spells: - Typhoon: costs 30 MP. Deals a small amount of damage to all monsters (including allied monsters) which aren’t in a tower or fortress hex. - Heal Area: costs 40 MP. Heals all allied monsters that are in tower hexes for a medium amount of HP. ------------------ 2.8) Strategy --------- 2.8.1) Campaign tips - Know the monsters. You need to know the strengths and weaknesses of your monsters, otherwise, you can send your soldiers to death. Knowing the enemy monsters is also very helpful. It’s a sad experience the first time you send your Great Angel to attack an Iron Golem. - Mix your options. You will want some agile, flying monsters to attack the enemy towers and flank the enemy army. But flying monsters usually have low terrain protection and can be hit easily, so they will need support when fighting. Terrestrial monsters are not that agile, but can receive great terrain protection if positioned in the right hex. Aquatic monsters, although can be useless in some maps, are unbeatable in their environment. So have a good mix of “Air Force, Army and Navy”. If possible, also try to have more than one long range attack type: have, for example, monsters that deal magical damage combined with monsters that deal heat damage. Variety is good. - Go for the best. Don’t invest MP and XP from dead enemies in a monster that is weak at its maximum level, otherwise you will regret it later. You will have lots of unspent MP after some missions, and you can farm enemy monsters to get all XP you need, so choose the most powerful ones, because your real limit is the 30 / army. - Leveling up is a priority. Besides defeating the opponent Masters, your main goal should be creating a strong army. Keep your monsters evolving. To make it easier, combine monsters of different levels: the higher ones can reduce enemies’ HP so the lower ones can receive the kill XP bonus and level up. - Keep your army healthy. This is pretty obvious, but after investing MP and XP into creating a strong monster, you won’t want it dead. If possible keep your monsters over 50% of their maximum HP, and remember your opponents can use their forces against your monsters. Removing an injured monster from the front to have it resting in a tower for a few turns is usually a good idea (its HP slowly replenishes). Also, you should never send your monsters to fights they can’t win (except for some level 1 cannon fodder, of course). - Terrain matters a lot. Avoid attacking enemies in terrains they have high protection. Usually, you want to attack your enemy first, but sometimes it’s even worthy to be attacked first. You can lure a strong enemy monster to attack from a hex where it will have little terrain protection, so you can defeat it easily. “Why would I attack that enemy Hydra on a forest hex? Come and attack my monster from that grassland hex, Hydra, so I will crush you my next turn.” - Have mercy... for a while. If an enemy monster is destroyed, AI will summon another monster if it meets the tower and MP requirements. If the enemy army has already max number of monsters (because of towers, for example), don’t kill those heavily injured monsters immediately in case you need some turns to heal your army. AI won’t use them to attack, and can’t summon more monsters, so enjoy your time. - Look for minimal damage. This is also obvious, but, abuse of fights which will result in no damage (or very low damage) for your monsters. Attack creatures which can’t counter-attack in long range fights. Attack enemy monsters which will counter-attack with an attack type your monsters have high resistance. Attack from hexes that give your monsters high protection (60% or higher). - Use your MP wisely. Ideally you should use Force and Magic every turn. In the beginning of a campaig, however, most of your MP will be spent on summoning monsters. Sometimes you can need even to save MP for an expensive monster. Don’t waste your MP and plan ahead the best way to use it, and even more if you are in a MP shortage. At other hand, if you have plenty of MP, don’t forget about using your friend Force (just find a good fight for it, so it won’t receive high damage) and a good spell per turn. Some spells can really have a great impact on the battle. --------- 2.8.2) Single battle tips Most tips in the lines above are also useful for single battles, but for these, we can do some extra considerations. Something you should realize about single battles is that enemy masters, as you, can only summon level 01 creatures. So a bunch of level 02 monsters is usually enough to control the fight against an enemy master. In this context, having some level 02 creatures quickly may be more helpful than to create a powerful level 03. The XP amount needed to level up is something to consider while summoning your monsters in a single battle. As always, you shouldn’t try to save all your monsters. Your priority is have your monsters leveling up AND prevents your enemies from leveling their monsters up. If you have to sacrifice a monster, it’s ok, but do it using a low XP monster, and then have the enemy that got the kill as a target to be eliminated (a lot of level 01 monsters level up after getting two kills, so better be careful about it). Removing injured monsters from the front is also a good strategy (too bad for the AI it doesn’t use it, and just abandons the injured monsters near yours). As you will deal with level 01 monsters most times, and these usually don’t have ranged attacks available, monsters that have long range attacks are useful for weaken the enemies, while also getting free XP. Magical attacks are usually better than others: they ignore terrain protection, and level 01 monsters usually have low resistances anyway. About resistances, realize that physical resistance is the most important, because your creatures will be attacked in short range most times. You will also need to kill the enemy masters, and usually this is not a job for level 02 monsters. Be patient and have some monsters leveling up to level 03 before attacking the masters, if possible monsters that have good resistance to magical damage. Other options to weaken an master are to use Again magic to remove your monster (so it won’t be attacked during enemy turn), or, in case your own castle is near the enemy castle, send a bunch of cannon fodder monsters, and don’t care about some casualties. ======================/ Chapter 3: CAMPAIGNS WALKTHROUGH /===================== NOTES: - Some guides around the net mention that, if you load the game from its cartridge battery, hit chance for the very first fight will be 100%. Well, I think that some pseudo-randomness about blows hitting or missing is part of the game. I have accepted all fight results while playing these campaigns. If a fight result may put your strategy on risk, you probably should choose not to fight. - The single thing that forced me to load a saved state and try something different is the Meteor spell. Do you know why? Because it’s insanely over powered in the campaign context. The damage a meteor causes looks like something around 10 to 50. So yeah, a lot of level 02 monsters (like Fighters or Gorgons) can be destroyed by a single meteor, even if at full HP. Also, more than one meteor can hit the same hex. I don’t know exactly the magic mechanics, I don’t know, for example, if a second hit causes increased damage, but it looks so, because the single monster I saw to survive two meteors at same turn was a Colossus, and it had around 15 HP remaining. Now, the campaigns are already hard, you need to build a powerful army from a few MP and a lot of strategy, and you need to deal with this? You will lose your Fire Dragon that is almost turning to a King Dragon, and just because your opponent got lucky at the meteor lottery? No way. In my opinion, this magic is very unbalanced. I could tolerate it if could cause a max damage, let’s say, 35, and couldn’t hit the same hex more than once per use. The way it is, yeah, I load the state if I get a monster killed by being hit more than once, or if a single meteor kills a monster by causing more than 40 damage. But simply loading the state using your emulator won’t change the meteors targets. What to do? This usually happens at turns I already have enemies under control, so I save my magic, and if something like this happens, I just use Again spell and move a monster. Cheating? Maybe, but I feel cheated when a single spell kills a powerful level 03 monster of my army. - Talking about cheating, I still have no evidence that AI can use any magic other than Heal All and Meteor. Wouldn’t be unfair to use your other spells? When playing single battles, well, it’s not unfair, but it decreases the challenge a lot, so I can think about playing at same conditions of my opponents. When playing the campaigns, I think it’s completely fair. First, I consider Meteor as their unique spell (seriously, if you are cornered at your castle at any given moment of a campaign, believe me, you can concede and restart the game). AI masters also have the option to summon monsters of levels 02, 03 or even 04. They have unique monsters we can’t use. They have incredibly high initial MP (of course, I admit their monsters are expensive), and usually they start a mission in great tower / terrain advantage. Oh, and I won’t forget to mention that you need beat them, while you are defeated if they just survive all turns. So, I can take it as a challenge for single battles, but not the campaigns. - Both campaigns I played while writing this walkthrough had MP regeneration rate = 80 / turn. It’s enough to use a Force and a magic most turns, so more than this is not really necessary. Less than 70 / turn, however, can be really harsh, and even more on initial missions, when you also spend MP summoning monsters. ------------------ 3.1) Campaign 1 Campaign 1 is the easiest single player campaign. It includes missions on these maps: CAMP-1, CIRCLE, MOONLAND, ISLAND, DESERT, HALF, FIRELAND, ICECROSS. The human player plays as a blue Daimyou. He uses the same spells and Force (Fire) the Daimyou uses for single battles. However, the monsters are not the same. As a Daimyou, you can summon the following level 01 monsters during a single battle: Dragon (Daimyou), Roman, Loc, Troll, Marmaid, Serpent and Chimera. But in Campaign 1, these are your options: Dragon (Daimyou), Angel, Roman, Troll, Pegasus, Chimera, Lizard, Minotaur, Serpent and Marmaid. --------- 3.1.A) Campaign 1 “trick” Each campaign has a “trick”, an extremely difficult situation for the Player army. Knowing the “trick” previously is very helpful. In Campaign 1, the “trick” is the 7th level, FIRELAND. At this level you will face an enemy master (Wizard) which has its castle completely surrounded by volcanoes. You can use your monsters that are able to pass through volcanoes to defeat the enemy, and the rest of your army will be almost useless. Your creatures that can pass through the volcanoes barrier are: Mono Pegasus (with reduced mobility, because entering a volcano hex costs two from movement allowance), Sphinx and Dragons (all of them, from level 01 to the mighty King Dragon). As Mono Pegasus and Sphinx are weak monsters, to counter the “trick” I suggest having a good amount of Dragons in your army, at least six, but possibly more Fire Dragons or King Dragons. As Dragons are powerful monsters, investing on some can even be considered something natural, but knowing about this “trick” should convince you to have a few more. I recommend eight. NOTE: you can also consider level 4 as a “mini-trick”, because you will have little use for land based monsters. You will need your flying and aquatic monsters to beat the Summoner in the ISLAND map. As a suggested counter, have good amounts of Great Angels and Big Serpents in your army (should also be something normal, these monsters are great). --------- 3.1.B) Building your army Let’s start analyzing your options. As you shouldn’t choose a monster based on what its level 01 is, but on what its maximum level is (remember, in later missions you will fight up to three enemy masters with lots of powerful monsters), comments just consider max level monsters. I’m also not considering MP cost for summoning, or XP necessary for evolving the monsters. Believe me, these resources are abundant enough. - Fire Dragon (Fire-D): I know, it can evolve to the level 04 King Dragon, but considering you will need to use the level 03 a lot (and some of your Fire Dragons probably won’t get there), I will comment about this one. Movement is 06, normal for land based monsters. Type is Fire Land, so volcanoes are not only easy, but give a high protection. Damage is good: 16-2 for short range, 20-2 (heat) for long range. Medium to high HP (78), with very high resistance (90%) against heat, and some (20%) against physical and magical damage. Very solid monster and your answer against the “trick”. VEREDICT: good monster, and can still evolve to level 04. You will need some of these for mission 7. RECOMMENDED: 7-9. - King Dragon (King-D): 130 HP, the highest HP in the game, plus 30% resistance against all damage. The highest damage, too: 18-3 for short range, 16-3 (heat) for long range. Movement allowance 06, and Fire Land move type, it can pass through volcanoes. Needed to say something else? VEREDICT: most powerful monster of the game. Evolve to this all your Fire Dragons if you can. RECOMMENDED: the more, the better. - Hydra: the Hydra has good advantages, but some heavy disadvantages. First, its movement type is Dune. It can easily go through Dunes, Rocky Tracts and Forests, while receiving high protection. Interesting, like an “all-terrain- vehicle”. But, the movement allowance is 05, which eliminates part of the gain from the movement type. Ok damage for short range (10-3) and good for long range (12-3, heat). Medium HP (60), and oh, it’s immune to heat. But, it has little resistance to physical (10%) and NO resistance against magical or cold. It needs to take advantage from terrain protection, otherwise it can die. VEREDICT: sorry, Hydra, but the Fire Dragon is less unstable, less conditional. RECOMMENDED: 0-2. - Colossus: 110 HP, highest in the game after the King Dragon. The high HP compensates for almost no resistances (it has just 10% to physical) and the Big Land move type, which makes it easy to hit. Movement allowance is 06, ok. Its damage is high: 33-1 for short range, and 38-1 (physical) for long range. Note that the “all-or-nothing” damage can be used to your advantage: attack creatures that don’t have high terrain protection to increase your hit chance. The Colossus is also very good against enemy Forces, sometimes you can call just some Colossus at turn 01, to let enemy Forces to target them. VEREDICT: Colossus is your tank, have some of them leading your land troops. RECOMMENDED: 3-5. - Caeser: Small Land monster (harder to hit than the Colossus), move allowance 06. Good damage: 11-3 for short range, 18-2 (physical) for long range. Medium HP (62), with 40% resistance to physical and magical and 10% to heat and cold. A solid monster. VEREDICT: Caeser is a useful monster, but relies a bit on terrain protection. I prefer the Colossus. RECOMMENDED: 0-2. - Great Angel (Great-A): by far, your best flying monster (and my favorite level 03 monster). It causes low short range damage (09-2), and has medium HP (60). But is very agile, having 08 movement allowance, Sky type (can enter all hexes for cost one, except volcanoes). The better part: causes high damage in long range (18-2, magical) AND has 90% resistance vs. magical attacks (most common damage type for long range). Also, it has some resistance against the rest: 20% (physical), or 30% (heat and cold). Great Angels own a lot of monsters, including enemy masters. A must have. VEREDICT: you will want a lot of these. RECOMMENDED: 10-12. - Sky Gorgon (Sky-G): its damage is not so good for both short range (14-2) and long range (09-3, magical). Low HP (55). 50% physical resistance and NO resistance to other attack types (this makes it a good target for enemy Forces, for example). 07 movement, Sky type is good, but the Great Angel is faster. VEREDICT: adds nothing to your army, except for a nice picture. Want to support your Angels for short range fights? Have a Colossus or a Big Serpent instead of the Gorgon. RECOMMENDED: 0. - Mono Pegasus (Mono-P): Low short range damage (04-6), and NO long range attacks. Very low HP (42). It has a great magical resistance (80%) and some physical resistance (30%), but no resistance to heat or cold, and it’s another juicy target for enemy Forces. Its advantage is its movement: allowance 09, High Sky type. It can even pass through volcanoes. Surely, this monster purpose is to work as a tower taker. Ok, if you invest a lot of XP on a Mono Pegasus, it will have an incredibly high damage, but still low HP, so it’s not that great even then. VEREDICT: seriously, 01 move more than the Great Angel? Use your Angels to take the damn towers. RECOMMENDED: 0, but you can have 2-3 in your army during the early Campaign, it means, while you evolve your Angels. Later, send them to their death. - Sphinx: yeah, the Sphinx can fly, did you know? It can pass through volcanoes because its movement type is Fire Sky. But the allowance is 06, not so agile. It has 40% resistance to all damage types, and 60 HP, just ok. Ready to know the worst part? It causes a negligible damage, considering it’s a max level creature: 11-2 for short range, and even worse, 06-2 (magical) for long range. VEREDICT: man, this monsters sucks. Its damage is too low. RECOMMENDED: 0. - Big Serpent (Big-S): usually, monsters that have level 02 as their cap are weak. But the Big Serpent is a nice exception, it’s tough like a level 03. Its main problem is the lack of long range attacks. For short range its damage is good: 12-3. Little protection to heat (20%), nothing to the rest, but this is compensated by high HP (83), and very high terrain protection in Swamp, River and Ocean hexes. Beyond that, having a movement allowance of 08 (type Big Ocean) will let the Big Serpent attack first most times. VEREDICT: very useful. Combine with Great Angels for fantastic results. RECOMMENDED: 6-8. - Sirene: Small Ocean monster, it fights better in Swamps and Rivers than in Ocean. Its HP is very low (45), but, beyond good protection when fighting from a good terrain, it has 60% resistance against magical damage, and 50% vs. other types. Short range damage is low (08-3), and the long range damage is ok (10-3, magical). Movement allowance is 06, its biggest problem. Big Serpent and Great Angel have more mobility, and cause more damage, respectively, in short and long range fights. VEREDICT: sadly, the Sirene, although it’s not a bad monster, adds nothing to your army. Other monsters are better. RECOMMENDED: 0. CONCLUSION: Use Great Angels to take towers, and to deal magical damage while flanking the enemy army, or attacking enemy Masters. Colossus are your tanks, use them to attract enemies to the position you want, and to weaken them with high “all-or- nothing” physical damage. Fire Dragons cause heat damage and evolve to powerful King Dragons. Dragons also beat the Campaign 1 “trick”. Big Serpents support your Angels in their environment. Hydra and Caeser are viable, but not necessary. Forget about the others. I would suggest as balanced army: 1x Daimyou (necessary, of course), 7x Big Serpents, 4x Colossus, 8x Fire Dragons / King Dragons; 10x Great Angels. In the Campaign I played while writing this guide, my army was: 1x Daimyou, 8x Big Serpent, 5x Colossus, 6x Fire Dragons / King Dragons and 10x Great Angel. --------- 3.1.1) Mission 1: CAMP-1 Battleground: a medium island, with some small islands (some of them with towers) around it. The eastern area of the main island has some hard terrain, mainly forests and mountains, and some rocky tracts in the coast. The western side has forests, but also grasslands to serve as attack route, and some dunes and rocky tracts in the coast. The Player castle lies on a southwest peninsula, while the red DarkLord’s castle is in the northeast area of the island. Max number of turns: 30. Player (blue Daimyou): Coordinates: 19, 40 Starting towers: 3 MP: 200 (initial) + x / turn Red DarkLord Coordinates: 39,16 Starting towers: 6 MP: 400 (initial) + 70 / turn Monsters: Demon (rare), Dragon (Wizard), Griffon, Loc, Minotaur, Octopus, Unicorn, Warrior Create 2x Pegasus, one to take towers near the grassland attack route, including the towers on that small northwest island, and another one to take towers in the eastern area. Also create your main force, especially Angels, Trolls and Dragons, and put it marching against the enemy. Create more Dragons than Angels and Trolls, because the Dragon is your best level 01 monster, and you can use some of them as cannon fodder. Advance the maximum you can before the first fights, which will occur around turn 05 or 06. Fight around your own towers and use them to heal your monsters. Also, use forests for terrain protection. Use the Force or Mind spell to weak your enemies and eliminate them using your monsters. Abuse of the long range attacks from your Dragons and Angels, it’s free XP receiving no damage. Enemy monsters will be replaced by the DarkLord, but look at them as more XP for your army. If you have injured creatures, remove them from the front and have them resting on towers. Sacrifice some low XP Dragons if needed. If necessary, keep some heavily injured enemies (don’t kill them!), and just use your ranged attacks to keep their health low, so they won’t attack nor be replaced. If you play it well, soon you will have lots of level 02 creatures, and the fight will be under your control. Keep a safe distance from the enemy castle (so DarkLord won’t use his Meteor spell) up to turn 22-23, but have your Pegasus and Arch Angels positioned to take enemy towers to the north (don’t come to close, however, or they will attract the enemy creatures, instead of your main army). When time comes, take his towers and attack him with your Arch Angels (you should have 3 at least), which are very effective against the DarkLord, and even more during sun turns. Once he’s almost dead, remove injured monsters from the castle area (because of meteors), but use the others to kill more monsters he will summon and get XP. When, during the mission, you don’t need your spells or Force, save some MP. Before the mission end, use the accumulated MP to create your Serpents. This way, you won’t spend your MP to summon them next mission (a Serpent costs 81 MP, is the most expensive monster you have available, so believe me, this is a good thing). Kill the DarkLord at turn 30, giving his kill bonus to a monster that can use all the XP, like a fresh Angel. Real result: Casualties: Player: 2x Dragon DarkLord: 7x Dragon, 9x Griffon, 5x Loc, 8x Minotaur, 4x Octopus, 12x Unicorn, 12x Warrior My army after this battle: 1x Daimyou, 1x Angel (66 XP), 2x Dragon (XP: 47, 0), 2x Pegasus (both 2 XP), 8x Serpent (all 0 XP), 5x Arch Angel (XP: 22, 17, 11, 6, 4), 4x Flame Dragon (XP: 15, 9, 0, 0), 5x Giant (XP: 23, 16, 8, 4, 3) --------- 3.1.2) Mission 2: CIRCLE Battleground: this mission is played in a large island. Most of the island terrain is composed by forests and rocky tracts, with some towers, around grassland paths. Player castle can be found on the central area, among two lakes of deep waters and some grasslands and swamps. The red Sorcerer has his castle to the east, with tundra, mountains and forests around it. The castle of the green Summoner is to the west, in an area full of forests and rocky terrain. Max number of turns: 25. Player (blue Daimyou): Coordinates: 30, 31 Starting towers: 4 MP: 200 (initial) + x / turn Red Sorcerer Coordinates: 49, 28 Starting towers: 8 MP: 500 (initial) + 80 / turn Monsters: Cyclops, IceGiant, Loc, Musha (rare), Warrior Green Summoner Coordinates: 13, 32 Starting towers: 6 MP: 500 (initial) + 80 / turn Monsters: Giant, Hippo Griffon, Troll, Warrior The enemy masters start with a good 500 MP, but level 02 creatures are expensive, so they can’t summon too many of them, and soon your army will control the situation. Send a good troop against the Sorcerer, something like three Arch Angels, two Flame Dragons, two Giants, and maybe a few level 01 creatures. Don’t worry too much about towers, instead, have your army in a good defensive position while you eliminate level 02 creatures. Attract your enemies out of the castle, and have your dragons in forests to increase the chance of the IceGiant to miss its single attack, while your Angels wait for a good chance to attack at a safe distance. Use your Dragons and Giants in long range against the Cyclops, because these are easy to hit. Warriors have good terrain protection, except in grassland hexes, but the Arch Angels can kill them. Locs are too weak to be a threat. Be cautious and don’t risk your monsters while the Sorcerer’s Force of Air is alive! He will use it against a monster that is almost dead, so keep your creatures healthy. Ok, now let’s think about the Summoner. You got some towers while going to the east, but now we need some more. Use any Pegasus you have from Mission 1 (the sadistic Summoner probably will use her Force of Air against them, but its ok even if they die), and Arch Angels you still have available. Call some Serpents, move them to the lake west of your castle, and watch green monsters come like crazy. Hippo Griffons, solid level 02 monsters, will be the first ones to arrive. Hippo Griffons’ long range attack is a fireball. It does very low damage against your Flame Dragons, AND against your Force. Use them or have your Serpents, with terrain protection, fight them and reduce their HP, so your Angels, Giants and Dragons can level up (don’t worry about leveling Serpents on this mission). Now, the Giants will arrive. They have high HP, so be careful, because they can be attacked and still fight during their master turn. Best option seems to use Serpents, even if they need attack from river or swamp hexes. Serpents will still have decent protection, have high HP, and if one Serpent is lost, you will just need MP to replace it. When the Giants are weak, use other creatures to level up. At this point, you will have enough towers to call or summon more monsters, so send your troops to Summoner’s castle, defeating Warriors and Trolls. After initial MP of enemy masters is gone, they will create level 01 monsters which you can defeat easily. Sorcerer’s favorite is Cyclops, while the Summoner will summon many, many, MANY Warriors. Cyclops and Trolls are easy to hit, so use them for leveling up Dragons and Giants. Warriors have decent protection in the castle, so use Angels. Keep killing all enemy monsters, while decrease HP of enemy masters using your Angels. Kill Sorcerer and Summoner at turn 25. Real result: Casualties: Player: 1x Angel, 2x Pegasus Sorcerer: Force of Air, 11x Cyclops, 5x Loc, 6x IceGiant, 4x Warrior Summoner: 3x Giant, 6x Hippo Griffon, 1x Troll, 16x Warrior My army after this battle: 1x Daimyou, 1x Angel (66 XP), 8x Serpent (XP: 20, 14, 13, 4, 3, 0, 0, 0), 5x Arch Angel (XP: 43, 42, 11, 10, 6), 6x Flame Dragon (XP: 57, 54, 48, 36, 13, 0), 2x Giant (XP: 14, 3), 3x Colossus (XP: 6, 4, 1), 4x Great Angel (XP: 30, 10, 1, 0) --------- 3.1.3) Mission 3: MOONLAND Battleground: a coastal portion of a continent. Land areas occur to south, east, and part of the north. Some small islands with towers form a line from southwestern area to central north area, so the entire map remembers the aspect of a capital letter “D”. The map borders, when there is land, is formed by pure forests, with no towers. Then, there is a vast grassland area with towers which connects the three castles: Player’s castle, near a river in southwestern area, red Daimyou’s castle, north of the map, and green Sorcerer’s castle, in a peninsula near the map center. Beyond the grasslands is the coast, with dunes (beaches?) and shallow waters. Max number of turns: 34. Player (blue Daimyou): Coordinates: 16, 58 Starting towers: 2 MP: 200 (initial) + x / turn Red Daimyou Coordinates: 40, 01 Starting towers: 9 MP: 700 (initial) + 80 / turn Monsters: Arch Demon, Attacker, Dark Dragon, Dark Wraith, Hippo Griffon, Octopus, TwinHead Green Sorcerer Coordinates: 43, 43 Starting towers: 5 MP: 500 (initial) + 90 / turn Monsters: Arch Demon, Big Serpent, Hippo Griffon, Mage, Mono Pegasus (rare), Serpent, TwinHead This is a very good mission to level up your creatures. Enemies have level 02 monsters, which can’t stand against your level 03 creatures. Take immediately the towers near your castle and start advancing to the Sorcerer’s castle. Don’t send just level 03 monsters, send like a welcome Colossus, two Great Angels, and creatures that still need XP, like Arch Angels, Flame Dragons and Giants. Your troops will soon meet the Sorcerer’s fast creatures, like Hippo Griffons, Arch Demons and Mages. Demons and Mages cause good magical damage in long range fights, but have low HP and will be useless once you attack them in short range. Also, they can’t hurt your Angels. Against Hippo Griffons, use the long range attack of Flame Dragons, Fire Dragons and your Force. Remember, Griffons’ fireball will cause low damage to these. If he has Serpents or Big Serpents, don’t worry. He uses them to guard towers, so use an “Angel Blitzkrieg” and you can defeat them one-by-one. By turn 10 you probably called already your monsters that need XP. Now start calling your Serpents, and send the entire Serpent group, supported by Great Angels, to the island line (don’t use Arch Angels, because their move type is Low Sky, and ocean hexes will cost two to enter). This will attract Daimyou troops to the coast, where your Serpents will finally receive their XP. Your land army is at this time reaching the Sorcerer’s castle, and defeating monsters like Mages and TwinHeads. TwinHeads cause low damage, so they don’t cause many problems, but please note that they are immune to heat attacks (all damage from these attacks is reduce to 1 per hit). Anyway, its long range attack is also a fireball. If you have more MP than you need, and does not have a good target to your Force, use it against a TwinHead. Damage will be almost nothing, but your Force will receive 2 XP. Reduce the Sorcerer HP, but don’t kill him. Move some troops (including levels 02 and 03) to the road against the Daimyou, and let other monsters around the Sorcerer, to kill the monsters he will summon and receive XP. Worthy mention that, if in a group of monsters you have no more creatures to reach level 03 (or level 02 for the Serpents), start investing on a Fire Dragon, so later it can become a King Dragon. Land army you sent to north will fight against red monsters. Arch Demons and Hippo Griffons, which you already know, and probably Dark Dragons. Dark Dragons are dangerous, they cause a lot of damage in short range. Use Colossus to reduce their HP, or your Force (it’s not so effective as against Hippo Griffons, but still effective). Your Serpents group will also face some opponents. Octopus? Let it take a tower, and it can be easily hit by your Serpents, or use multiple Angels against it to reduce its HP. Arch Demons and Dark Wraiths can hit your Serpents, they have magical long range attacks. So, attack them first. In fact, you can also call Wraiths as “free XP to my Angels”. Oh, and there are Hippo Griffons. Trouble against them yet? I guess not. After defeating these flying monsters, your Serpents will arrive to those shallow waters south of Daimyou’s castle full of juicy creatures, like TwinHeads and Dark Dragons. Feed your Serpents, yum-yum! Now they will level up, and that’s very good because you will use them next mission. The troops you sent by land are also arriving to the Daimyou’s castle. Kill any remaining troops, reduce the master HP, and keep getting XP from both enemies until turn 34. Then, let them “rest”. Real result: Casualties: Player: - Daimyou: 3x Arch Demon, 1x Attacker, 6x Dark Dragon, 2x Dark Wraith, 6x Hippo Griffon, 5x Octopus, 8x TwinHead Sorcerer: 1x Arch Demon, 1x Big Serpent, 2x Hippo Griffon, 16x Mage, 2x Serpent, 12x TwinHead My army after this battle: 1x Daimyou, 3x Serpent (XP: 78, 22, 4), 5x Big Serpent (XP: 5, 0, 0, 0, 0), 5x Colossus (XP: 14, 4, 3, 3, 1), 6x Fire Dragon (XP: 82, 79, 13, 4, 4, 1), 10x Great Angel (XP: 71, 22, 17, 11, 9, 7, 4, 3, 1, 0) --------- 3.1.4) Mission 4: ISLAND Battleground: an archipelago. This map is formed by several small portions of land, some of them connected by shallow waters, like they were reefs. However, ocean hexes isolate some islands from the others, and there is no possible route for your land troops to reach the enemy castle (unless you use the Warp spell). It’s a battle for your aerial and aquatic monsters, in fact, the campaign “mini-trick”. Player’s castle can be found in the western portion of the archipelago, in an island with some forests and mountains, and a few towers. There are some towers in small islands to east and northeast of your initial position, but most of them are in the map central area, in two islands connected by shallow waters (the biggest one, to the north, has two twin volcanoes). To northeast of these islands, connected by “reefs”, there is a small island where you will find the red Summoner’s castle. Max number of turns: 22. Player (blue Daimyou): Coordinates: 13, 43 Starting towers: 1 MP: 200 (initial) + x / turn Red Summoner Coordinates: 46, 18 Starting towers: 6 MP: 1200 (initial) + 100 / turn Monsters: Arch Angel, Big Serpent, Kraken, Mage, Marmaid, Phoenix After Mission 1, for the first time you will face a single master. Obviously, you don’t need to split your army, but you will have a very limited use of your land based monsters. However, there is no need to worry: if you have a good amount of Great Angels and Big Serpents, this mission will be incredibly easy. In the beginning, you will need to take some towers. Call some Great Angels and use Again spell to make it faster. After some turns, you will have called all your aerial and aquatic monsters and, around turn 05 or 06, you will have to fight. Probably, first enemies to come are Phoenixes, because these ones are really fast. This is a tricky monster, if you don’t destroy it in one fight, its HP will be completely replenished after the fight. Note that it’s also immune to heat damage, so your Force can’t help you. The best way to eliminate them is using Big Serpents: 2 out of their 3 attacks are enough to kill a Phoenix. Great Angels can be used, but they usually need to hit twice, unless they have at least 60 XP and attack during a sun turn. Another option, but the worst one, is using the Mind spell (you can use your magic to waste the Phoenix XP, a very bad choice). About other enemy monsters, Arch Angel, Mage and Marmaid are completely useless against Great Angels, being inferior in both short range and long range fights. Your Big Serpents can also deal with them, just use Serpents high movement to attack first, and you will be ok. These monsters are really weak in short range fights. The enemy master will also summon some Big Serpents and Krakens, but these have reduced mobility in shallow waters, and usually are used to defend towers. As in the previous mission, you can use your Force, several Angels against the same target, or even your aquatic monsters attacking from a better terrain. During this mission, you should have all your remaining level 01 Serpents evolving to level 02. Also, you can start thinking about your first King Dragon. Take your Fire Dragon with higher XP, and use Warp to send it to the island with the twin volcanoes. With Angels support, it can easily kill any aquatic monsters guarding towers in that island. After reaching and surrounding Summoner’s castle, use your Great Angels to reduce her HP. She probably has used almost completely her MP, and will summon cheap monsters, especially Mage and Marmaid. Just more XP for your Angels, Serpents, and even your wanna-be King Dragon. Kill the Summoner at turn 22. Real result: Casualties: Player: - Summoner: 4x Arch Angel, 3x Big Serpent, 3x Kraken, 9x Mage, 13x Marmaid, 3x Phoenix My army after this battle: 1x Daimyou, 8x Big Serpent (XP: 12, 12, 6, 4, 2, 2, 1, 0), 5x Colossus (XP: 14, 4, 3, 3, 1), 6x Fire Dragon (XP: 196, 79, 13, 4, 4, 1), 10x Great Angel (XP: 105, 37, 35, 30, 25, 23, 18, 11, 7, 3) --------- 3.1.5) Mission 5: DESERT Battleground: this battle takes place in a very singular portion of a continent. Look at the mini map and, beyond the ocean (south), you will see three concentric “rings”. The outer ring is green, an area formed by grassland and forests. There, near the coast, you can find the Player’s castle. The inner ring is brown, and in fact, it’s formed by two smaller rings: the darker one, with rocky tracts, and the lighter one, with mountains. In this area full of mountains, in the central northern portion of the map, can be found the red DarkLord’s castle. Between the green and the brown rings, there is a yellow area, formed mostly by dunes: a desert, like said in the map name. A river (shallow waters) connects your enemy’s castle to the southern part of the map, and can be used as attack route for aquatic monsters. This river bifurcates, and your initial position is, in fact, in an island between two river arms. Your terrestrial troops, at other hand, need to use a grassland path to northwest of your initial position to reach the DarkLord’s castle. Note that almost all towers in this map concentrate around the river, in areas of hard locomotion for land based monsters. You will need aerial monsters to take your towers in this map. Max number of turns: 25. Player (blue Daimyou): Coordinates: 30, 49 Starting towers: 2 MP: 200 (initial) + x / turn Red DarkLord Coordinates: 28, 06 Starting towers: 16 MP: 1500 (initial) + 100 / turn Monsters: Amazon, Colossus, Crasher, Death Dragon, Giant, Guardian, Loc, Phoenix Another mission against a single master. And, this time, you will face the power of level 03 monsters. In fact, this mission could be a very difficult one. Look, Colossus, Giant and Death Dragon have high HP and deal physical or cold damage during long range fights (you don’t have monsters with high resistance against these attacks). Amazon also deals physical damage and, although it doesn’t have high HP, it has great terrain protection and resistance to physical damage. But, these monsters are very expensive in terms of MP, so after a strong wave of monsters, the DarkLord will only produce Guardians and Locs, making the mission end something simple. Start calling three Great Angels, use Again on one of them, take a tower and call another one. Four Great Angels: this is what you need to get your towers. Also, plan their moves carefully, because sometimes the nearest tower is not the best target for an Angel (it could let another Angel without a tower to take). Every turn, move your Daimyou to west. You can call four monsters at maximum each turn, two before and two after moving your master, but this is still better than calling all your monsters from your initial position. This way, your army will reach the grassland route in a more compact formation. When passing over the “bridge” (your own castle over the river), you can call your Serpents, but in fact, they have limited use this mission, and I recommend you to keep calling Angels and land monsters. DarkLord’s troops will concentrate near the river, to south of his castle. Except for the Locs, which like taking towers and troubling your Angels. Of course, your Great Angels can kill Locs easily, but they need use 1-2 turns doing that, which they could use taking more towers. In fact, I suggest you use your Force to kill some Locs. If your Fire Elemental has already more than 150 XP (mine had 169 XP at the start of this mission), just 2 hits are necessary to kill a Loc, so it’s the XP your Force still needs. It’s not necessary, but you can use your Angels to attract some enemies to the east side of the DarkLord’s castle, making your invasion easier. When facing the DarkLord’s main army, your goal is to reduce his monsters HP, so they won’t attack at their master’s turn. Use all you got, Colossus and Fire Dragons from the front, Angels attacking from the flanks (once they don’t come to a risky position), Force (while it has a safe amount of HP) and damage spells, like Mind and Stream (these are very useful against low HP monsters, like Amazons). To kill level 03 monsters, prefer your future King Dragon. It’s possible to complete your first King Dragon during this mission. If still there are red creatures at towers near the river, it’s probably something your Great Angels can deal with. Now, the DarkLord will create just two little level 01 pests: Locs (no trouble, I guess), and Guardians. As level 01 creatures, these can add 04 XP to a level 03 monster (future King Dragon?) or a good 08 XP to a level 04 monster. So, if you have already a mighty King Dragon, it’s not a bad idea feed him using these enemies. It’s up to you. The Guardian is worthy some words: it has 50 HP, no resistance, but it needs just 2 XP to turn into a Cocoon (this means, it will evolve after two fights against monsters levels 01 or 03, or one fight against monsters levels 02 or 04). The Cocoon, at other hand, has very high resistance to all damage, deals high magical damage, and once it gains 1 XP, it turns into a Guardian again. The Cocoon is almost indestructible, believe me: it can only be destroyed if damaged by magic (Mind, or DarkLord’s Meteor, for example). Needless to say, it’s a bad thing having your monsters to take damage from a Guardian, and from a Cocoon, just to have a refreshed Guardian in your path. How to deal with Guardians? Normally, you can kill them making them fight twice against level 03 monsters (don’t use level 02 monsters, or it will evolve in one fight!). I usually send a Great Angel and choose long range: Guardian’s long range attacks are magical, and won’t hurt the Angel. If the Angel hits twice, any level 03 monster will usually be able to kill it; if hits once, I send another Angel because, if it fails, Cocoon’s damage is also magical (for both ranges!), and there is no problem. There are other options, however. One of them is based at Cocoon’s lack of movement. If the Guardian evolves at DarkLord’s turn (or you use Again spell to remove your monster from the adjacent hex), the Cocoon will simply stand there, because its movement allowance is zero. Another option is use the Storm spell on Guardians. A Guardian has the Master movement type, and carried by this spell to an hex that is not tower or fortress (or have one of these in an adjacent hex), it simply can’t move anymore, and won’t get any terrain protection (all non-magical attacks will have 100% hit chance – showed as 00%), so use Colossus and Dragons to eliminate it. Well, once you crush the enemy army, your Great Angels can kill the DarkLord even in a single turn. As always, I recommend keeping it alive up to the last turn, so your monsters can get some free XP. Real result: Casualties: Player: - DarkLord: 1x Amazon, 1x Crasher, 4x Death Dragon, 3x Giant, 10x Guardian, 25x Loc, Earth Elemental My army after this battle: 1x Daimyou, 8x Big Serpent (XP: 14, 14, 8, 4, 2, 2, 1, 0), 5x Colossus (XP: 25, 10, 7, 7, 3), 5x Fire Dragon (XP: 154, 26, 10, 4, 1), 10x Great Angel (XP: 148, 55, 48, 41, 40, 37, 35, 17, 16, 8), 1x King Dragon (XP: 33) --------- 3.1.6) Mission 6: HALF Battleground: this mission is played at a coastal portion of a continent. The continent itself occupies the biggest part of the map, except for its central and northeastern areas. It has lots of mountains and forests in a sterile ground at the map edges. Player’s castle is located in an area like this, southwest of the map. From there, there are two grassland roads, to north, among dunes (beaches?), and to east, among forests. These roads concentrate most towers present in the continent body (beyond these, there are some at the coast), with two tower clusters in their ends. The green Wizard’s castle can be found in the northwestern area of the map, among mountains. In the central area of the map, and to northeast, there is a group of islands. In the biggest island, the one with lots of tundra hexes, you will find the red Summoner’s castle, and her 34 (!) towers. Max number of turns: 35. Player (blue Daimyou): Coordinates: 12, 52 Starting towers: 1 MP: 200 (initial) + x / turn Red Summoner Coordinates: 45, 26 Starting towers: 34 MP: 1500 (initial) + 100 / turn Monsters: Firbolg, Frost Dragon, Hippo Griffon, Kraken, Loc, Mage, Phoenix, Stone Golem Green Wizard Coordinates: 05, 03 Starting towers: 6 MP: 1400 (initial) + 100 / turn Monsters: Air Dragon, Crusader (rare), Fire Dragon, Great Demon, Hydra, Lizard, TwinHead In the beginning of this mission, you will have a very little amount of towers. Your initial position sucks so hard that, when playing this map as a single battle, the blue castle will be moved to a more reasonable position. If a Great Angel moves from a tower it just took your last turn, usually it won’t be able to take another tower. The Again spell may be used to help, but pay attention to your Angels’ health, especially while the Wizard’s Force is alive. Heal your Angel if its health goes under 40, or it can be lost. Call only Angels initially, and once you get a tower at the coast, and don’t need another magic this turn, call and Warp a Big Serpent. Repeat if possible. Ignore land monsters for now, because your first goal is to capture the small island with 6 neutral towers to southwest of Sumoner’s island. You will probably fight against Hippo Griffons and Phoenixes. We already did that in previous missions. Use a Big Serpent against a Phoenix (or a Great Angel with 60+ XP at a sun turn). It’s not recommended fight a Phoenix in need of hit all attacks, because, if one attack miss your monster will receive free damage and will be attacked during the opponent turn. Hippo Griffons are superb targets to your Force, and Serpents can fight against them too. Mages and Locs shouldn’t trouble you, either. Once you capture these towers, and 2 more towers from small islands to east and north, you can call some land monsters and invade the Summoner’s island. I recommend the tower at coordinates 35, 22 as a good disembark point for your troops, at least two Colossus and two Fire Dragons (one wanna-be King Dragon). Use Angel support to establish your troops there. From Summoner’s terrestrial monsters, the most dangerous is the Firbolg. If a Firbolg is at the coast, try use Serpents to attack, because he will probably receive damage and still miss its single short range attack. Otherwise, put your Colossus and Dragons in action, attacking from forests. Against Krakens guarding towers, use several Angels or long range attacks from other monsters. Against a Stone Golem, however, never send an Angel. Your land monsters and Force can deal with Golems. What more can the Summoner throw at you? Mages? Just attack them first in short range or use Angels. Maybe more Phoenixes? Your Colossus will kill them easily. Frost Dragons? Send Fire Dragons, if possible with terrain protection. Soon, the situation will be controlled. Oh, usually the Summoner sends some monsters to that tower cluster at central eastern area. Hippo Griffons, Phoenixes, maybe a Kraken. After taking the towers, they will return, so have some Serpents and Angels waiting for them. While you battle the Summoner, the Wizard sends his troops usually to east, to take towers at the north coast. Soon or later, these monsters will be attracted by the fight around Summoner’s castle. Air Dragons and Great Demons can fly so, if possible, have some Serpents prepared to fight. Great Demons can hit the Serpents using their magical attacks, so these are priority targets. Angels can also fight them, they are stronger than the Demons. But don’t let Air Dragons to attack your Angels. Air Dragons, however, are very good targets to your Force. Once you beat all flying creatures, there can be some Fire Dragons and Hydras. Attract these to the coast and kill them using Serpents. Once you take enough towers in the Summoner’s island, call the rest of your land army, and send King Dragons, Fire Dragons and Colossus (plus the Angels you don’t need to fight vs. the Summoner) against the Wizard. His initial troops are probably dead already, but the 56 / total monsters limit forced him to save some MP, so prepare yourself for another wave of level 03 creatures. It will intercept your army half way to Wizard’s castle. Air Dragons will be easy, they are easy to hit, and have great disadvantage against your Force or Fire Dragons in long range fights. Great Demons are also easy, they will be done once you attack them in short range. Most dangerous ones are Fire Dragons and Hydras. Try attracting them so they will fight from grassland hexes, especially the Hydras, which will have high terrain protection otherwise. Angels can help, but the Hydra damage is high enough to put an Angel in risk, in case it can be attacked by another powerful monster or Force. Usually it’s better to rely on land monsters, and move the injured ones away from the front. After you beat this Wizard’s wave of strong monsters, he will have little MP, and will produce lots of Lizards and TwinHeads. These have good mobility and terrain protection almost everywhere, but cause little damage, so your problems are over. You can even use your Angels, at least the healthy ones. Crush these pests (you can use almost anything you want, except for the Force and Fire Dragons in long range fights against TwinHeads, these are immune to heat damage), and, as always, try to feed your future King Dragons. Around turn 30, have your Angels surrounding the Wizard’s castle for a great attack. Reduce Wizard’s HP and the HP of any monster he may have. This will allow your land troops to quickly reach his castle (in case Lizards and TwinHeads are delaying them). At this point, the Summoner is also just feeding your troops with level 02 creatures, and using Meteor spell. Kill them at turn 35 and advance to Mission 7. Real result: Casualties: Player: - Summoner: 2x Firbolg, 5x Frost Dragon, 9x Hippo Griffon, 3x Kraken, 8x Mage, 4x Phoenix, 5x Stone Golem, Air Elemental Wizard: 3x Air Dragon, 4x Fire Dragon, 4x Great Demon, 1x Hydra, 27x Lizard, 12x TwinHead, Water Elemental My army after this battle: 1x Daimyou, 8x Big Serpent (XP: 77, 72, 72, 43, 38, 8, 1, 0), 5x Colossus (XP: 33, 32, 14, 14, 9), 4x Fire Dragon (XP: 161, 89, 22, 11), 10x Great Angel (XP: 196, 94, 90, 86, 80, 76, 53, 52, 43, 41), 2x King Dragon (XP: 134, 35) --------- 3.1.7) Mission 7: FIRELAND Battleground: a small volcanic island. There is a grassland path around the island, but no way to pass through a chain of volcanoes which occupy most of the island territory. Player’s castle is out of this volcanic area, southwest of the island. The red Wizard’s castle can be found to northeast, among some mountains, and protected by the volcanoes. At the center, there is a volcano surrounded by a ring of six towers, all belonging to your enemy. This map has only 15 towers. Max number of turns: 18. Player (blue Daimyou): Coordinates: 20, 40 Starting towers: 0 MP: 200 (initial) + x / turn Red Wizard Coordinates: 30, 27 Starting towers: 07 MP: 2000 (initial) + 100 / turn Monsters: Amazon, Colossus, Death Dragon, Fire Dragon, Guardian, Phoenix (rare) There are at least two distinct ways to win this mission. The “right” way is defeating the enemy army. To do this, you need a good number of monsters that are able to pass through the volcanic barrier. Remember, this mission is the campaign “trick”, and you need to be prepared. Your monsters that can reach the enemy castle are: Mono Pegasus, Sphinx, and all your Dragons, from level 01 to level 04 King Dragon. Of course, Mono Pegasus and Sphinx suck, so, rely on your Dragons. Your first two turns, use Again spell, and you will be able to call five Dragons. With some luck, your King Dragons will also soon eliminate the enemy’s Force. Move your Dragons to the ring of towers around that volcano. One of them can also attract enemies to that tower west of Wizard’s castle. As Amazons and Colossus can’t pass through volcanoes, you will possibly fight one monster at a time there. Important: try always attack from volcanoes, these will give superb protection to your dragons. Also, DO NOT invade the enemy’s castle before you manage to take his towers. For now, consider each Guardian as a creature unable to defend the towers. Main resistance will come from Fire Dragons (try have better terrain protection against them) and Amazons (Mind spell comes in... mind). Colossus won’t create much trouble, they will probably miss if your Dragons are in volcano hexes. Every time you kill an enemy creature, take a tower, and soon all that stands are the Wizard and his Guardians. Remember to fight the Guardians using Fire Dragons (if you use King Dragons, they can evolve after the first fight). Also, remember that Dragons are less effective than Angels against masters, so start damaging the Wizard some turns earlier (unless, of course, you Warp some Angels). According to the power of your available army, you may let him have a tower (so he can produce two monsters per turn to feed your Dragons), or no towers (he will summon just one monster each turn). Kill the Wizard to move to the last battle. By the way, I should mention the other way to win, the “wrong” one. Put your cursor over the Wizard at turns 02 and 03, and use the Storm spell. Done, now this mission is a cakewalk. Most of his monsters will be moved to ocean, and can’t move or fight anymore (the Wizard has no flying monsters in this mission). Call some Serpents and feed them, if you like. Guardians moved to out of the castle will also be easy targets. Yeah, some monsters can be lucky and land on hexes that still allow them to move and fight, but the resistance you find is like a quarter than you would find playing the “right” way. Real result: Casualties: Player: - Wizard: 6x Amazon, 1x Colossus, 1x Death Dragon, 6x Fire Dragon, 4x Guardian, Water Elemental My army after this battle: 1x Daimyou, 8x Big Serpent (XP: 77, 72, 72, 43, 38, 8, 1, 0), 5x Colossus (XP: 33, 32, 14, 14, 9), 3x Fire Dragon (XP: 149, 31, 19), 10x Great Angel (XP: 196, 94, 90, 86, 80, 76, 53, 52, 43, 41), 3x King Dragon (XP: 168, 68, 9) --------- 3.1.8) Mission 8: ICECROSS Battleground: a portion of a big continent. Player’s castle is in the map center, surrounded by lakes of both deep and shallow waters. From these lakes, we find four rivers, directed to all four map corners, in a shape alike to an “X” letter. To south and east of your castle, Tundra is the most frequent terrain. There is a grassland road with towers to east, connecting northeastern and southeastern areas, and a grassland cluster with towers to south, but other than those, almost entirely Tundra, and just a few towers. To west, there is a region with very rough terrain, mainly rocky tracts, mountains and volcanoes. This landscape continues to northern and northeastern areas, except for a grassland path with towers and forests near the north edge and to northwest. Red DarkLord’s castle can be found to west of your castle, among mountains and volcanoes. Green Sorcerer’s castle is at northeast area, surrounded by mountains. Finally, the yellow Summoner’s castle lies to southeast, between the abundant Tundra and the river. Max number of turns: 40. Player (blue Daimyou): Coordinates: 31, 32 Starting towers: 3 MP: 200 (initial) + x / turn Red DarkLord Coordinates: 02, 36 Starting towers: 13 MP: 3000 (initial) + 100 / turn Monsters: Colossus, Death Dragon, Guardian, Hydra, Phoenix (rare) Green Sorcerer Coordinates: 59, 04 Starting towers: 7 MP: 2200 (initial) + 100 / turn Monsters: Air Dragon, Big Serpent, Black Wraith, Crusader, Great Demon, Iron Golem, Valkyrie Yellow Summoner Coordinates: 59, 57 Starting towers: 12 MP: 2500 (initial) + 100 / turn Monsters: Big Serpent, Black Wraith, Firbolg, Ice Dragon, IceGiant, Kraken, Mage, Silver Dragon Ok, so this is the last mission of Campaign 1. You will fight three enemy masters and their level 03 monsters. The red army is a nightmare. The red castle is far from your other enemies, and although the DarkLord can send some monsters to fight against green monsters in the grassland area to north, most of his firepower will be directed against you. We are talking about monsters with high HP (Colossus and Death Dragons) or good terrain protection (Hydra), and that cause damage from types your Angels don’t have a strong resistance (physical, cold and heat). The green army is the weakest one. Not only the Sorcerer has less initial MP, it has some creatures that can’t stand a fight against your Great Angels, like Great Demons, Valkyries and Black Wraiths. Also, he usually begins the mission splitting his army, sending some monsters to west through the grassland path, and some to south. The yellow army has some creatures that won’t trouble you, like Mages and Krakens, but also lots of land creatures that cause cold damage and can be dangerous. The Summoner also has all four elemental forces. Surely, it’s a difficult mission, and the best thing you can do to make it easier is to eliminate one of your enemies quickly. Start calling your Angels, as always, to take towers. DarkLord’s Earth Elemental is useless against Angels, but other forces may cause heavy damage, so use Heal magic on your Angels if necessary, especially if the Sorcerer’s Air Elemental is still alive. You can soon call a King Dragon or a Colossus, because sometimes enemy masters look for something more “challenging” to fight their forces. Take the towers in the lakes, in the grassland small area to east of your castle, and send like two Angels to the tundra to south. You can try another strategy, but I recommend killing the Summoner first. Her army can be dangerous, but the 56 total monsters limit will probably let her have 5 or 6 minions at max. Also, when you kill one of her monsters, other masters will summon before she have a chance to replace it, so she is the easiest target. Usually, her land monsters start marching to north, like if they were going to fight Sorcerer’s troops, while her Serpents, Krakens and Mages stay around the river. You can kill these with your Angels before the land monsters come to help. After you reach the Summoner with 3 or 4 Great Angels, you will need just two turns to eliminate her. I managed to kill her at turn 10. So, when you have the chance to call more monsters, my advice is: call some land monsters, to start a defensive line against the red army, have like two or three Big Serpents and two Angels to defend against any green monsters, and send the rest, like four Serpents and four Angels against the Summoner. Angels kill Mages, Wraiths, and aquatic monsters that don’t counter-attack in long range. Serpents, if necessary, can fight against land troops using deep waters land protection. Soon, the Summoner will fall. About the green army, have some monsters to defend against Air Dragons and Great Demons which the Sorcerer may send against you. Your Force and Serpents with terrain protection can defeat the Dragons, while Angels, and if you can attack first, your Serpents, can kill Demons. The Sorcerer will possibly send some troops to the grassland path north of the map, but some of these can be attracted by this fight. Valkyries or Crusaders aren’t much of a problem. The worst monster the Sorcerer has is the Iron Golem, which has high resistance against all damage types, except cold (your army doesn’t have cold damage). Golems are immune to magical damage, so they are the worst match up possible for your Angels. You need some Serpents, combined with your Force (which will cause low damage anyway), or the Mind spell (as Golems have low HP) to eliminate each Golem. If you cause low damage, towers and Sorcerer’s magic will heal them, so you can just avoid the fight if you don’t have enough Serpents (soon the ones you sent against the Summoner will be back). The fight against the DarkLord’s army will cause high damage on your creatures. Try at all costs having your monsters fighting from good terrain, like mountains and rocky tracts. To this, don’t delay too much putting your land army to march west. Try attract enemies to attack your monsters from grassland hexes, and remove your injured monsters from the front when necessary, replacing them for healthy ones. Take even more care if enemy forces are alive. Angels can act (I had like three helping the land creatures), but under protection of your other monsters, and against enemies that have low HP and won’t attack at DarkLord’s turn. Once DarkLord’s initial MP is gone, he will create lots of Guardians, which can’t leave the castle, so take a breath and heal your monsters, while you take his towers. There can be over a dozen Guardians in the castle, so there is no need to attack immediately. If there is a fight of enemy armies in the grassland to north (in my game, a Colossus and a Hydra defeated an Air Dragon and a Valkyrie, but the Colossus were heavily damaged and I killed it using my Force), wait it to end and act fast to kill survivors and take towers there (I dispatched 3 Angels to kill the Hydra, it was secure because all enemy elementals were dead already). At this point, with the red army going weak, maybe the Sorcerer will be able to summons some more monsters (he possibly saved some MP due to the 56 total monsters limit). If you have your Angels and Serpents well positioned, only Iron Golems, like said, will be a problem. If several Golems come at a time, retreat for a moment, so Serpents fight from the water, or use Storm magic to split them (they are slow and shouldn’t return to the fight so quickly). Once Sorcerer’s MP are gone, he will produce Wraiths most times, and these are free XP for Angels. Soon, your enemies won’t invoke more monsters, because you will take their towers. As always, killing masters is easy when you have Angels against them. For the last attack against the DarkLord, you can use the Storm spell, so their Guardians will be carried to random positions and become useless. You can kill them easily, or just ignore them. I could kill the Sorcerer around turn 25 and the DarkLord around turn 30, but I couldn’t resist and had them at a free torture session until the last turn. Although it was unnecessary, I had my monsters gaining more XP, and even got another King Dragon, yay! Time for the game credits... Real result: Casualties: Player: - DarkLord: 5x Colossus, 9x Death Dragon, 16x Guardian, 8x Hydra, Earth Elemental Sorcerer: 8x Air Dragon, 4x Big Serpent, 13x Black Wraith, 1x Crusader, 3x Great Demon, 6x Iron Golem, 4x Valkyrie, Air Elemental Summoner: 2x Firbolg, 1x Kraken, 2x Mage, Water Elemental (died turn 10) My army after this battle: 1x Daimyou, 8x Big Serpent (XP: 198, 160, 143, 117, 108, 89, 83, 56), 5x Colossus (XP: 57, 37, 37, 27, 21), 2x Fire Dragon (XP: 84, 69), 10x Great Angel (XP: 243, 171, 168, 133, 131, 121, 104, 96, 95, 71), 4x King Dragon (XP: 209, 91, 34, 8) ------------------ 3.2) Campaign 2 Campaign 2 is the hardest single player campaign. It includes missions on these maps: CAMP-2, NEAR, DOUBLE, AROUND, FOURWAR, GREATAXE, DEATHWAR, BIGARROW. The human player plays as a red Summoner. She uses the same spells she has for single battles, and has all four elementals available. However, the monsters are not the same. As a Summoner, you can summon the following level 01 monsters during a single battle: Angel, Demon, Dragon (Summoner), Lizard, Pegasus, Golem and Serpent. In Campaign 2, these are your options: Dragon (Summoner), Dragon (DarkLord), Angel, Demon, Pegasus, Chimera, Soldier, Warrior, Troll, Minotaur, Marmaid and Wraith. --------- 3.2.A) Campaign 2 “trick” Remember, each campaign has a “trick”, an extremely difficult situation for the Player army. In Campaign 2, the “trick” is even worse than in Campaign 1. The trick this time is the 6th level, GREATAXE. At this level you will face an enemy master (Wizard) which has its castle not only completely surrounded by volcanoes, but also located in a small island separated from the main continent by deep waters. Luckily, you have a couple of towers there. You have two ways to beat that Wizard: with monsters that are able to pass through both deep water and volcanoes (Mono Pegasus and Sphinx being your only options), or using a “Warp-a-lot” strategy. When I played this game for the first time years ago (and at that time, I didn’t know how useful is the Warp magic), I had a little Sphinx army, like six of them. Each turn I moved a Sphinx to fight the Wizard, and after the fight, I used Again spell to remove it from the enemy castle. Still, a Sphinx would receive great damage if the fight was at long range, so I had it fighting at short range. The Sphinx can cause 05 damage per hit, and attacks twice each turn, with a 40% hit chance. Most turns it would cause no damage, or 5 damage, so near the battle end, I had to have all my Sphinxes attacking. Yeah, it works, but at which cost? Five or six precious slots in my army. At that time, I used to think that a Mono Pegasus was just an agile monster, not designed to fight. You know, it even doesn’t have long range attacks. Then I realized a Mono Pegasus can deal more damage than a Sphinx. Strange, but true. Look, during ten turns, a Sphinx would attack 20 times, and is supposed to hit eight times, causing 40 damage. A Mono Pegasus would attack 60 times, and is supposed to hit 24 times, causing 48 damage (02 per hit). But this is not all. You can increase the damage giving XP to your monster (01 per hit for each 30 XP). More hits, more damage. Considering the Wizard has 60% resistance against physical damage, 120 XP is enough to have your Mono Pegasus dealing 04 damage per hit (100% increase), while the same 120 XP would have your Sphinx dealing 06 damage per blow (20% increase). There is no doubt: a trained Mono Pegasus is way better than a Sphinx to kill that Wizard. Dealing 04 damage per hit, you will probably need attack him 11 turns (and may need a few more to heal your Mono Pegasus in case it can’t rest at a tower each turn end), so it is possible. This is what I suggest you in case you decide to use creatures that pass through the barrier: have a Pegasus leveling up to Mono Pegasus at mission 1 or 2. Then give it at least 120 XP during missions 4 and 5. Usually, a Mono Pegasus can be used to take towers, but this one has this specific mission, so better not risk it. Don’t have your Mono Pegasus out unless all Air, Fire and Water elementals are dead already. Once these are killed, you can have it together to your army, waiting for the chance to get the needed XP. At mission 6, put it to fight the Wizard as soon as possible (it means, call it once the Wizard’s Water elemental is dead, and warp it immediately to that tower at coordinates 26, 30 - which your other monsters should have been protecting already). Each turn, after attacking the Wizard, use Again spell to remove your Mono Pegasus and put it resting on that tower, if you can. Healing from towers is usually enough for the low damage the Wizard will cause, but, in case you can’t use a tower, attack until the Mono Pegasus is almost dead, then have it resting at a tower AND use Heal spell. Usually two turns are enough to have it at full HP again (you need skip attacking these turns, though), so you can attack. Or, you may opt for a “Warp-a-lot” strategy. Every turn at the mission beginning, use the Warp magic and send a monster to one of your towers in the Wizard’s island. You can’t do it without, at least, two Black Wraiths (monsters that have no resistance to magical damage, but 90% resistance against everything else). At turn 01, call a Black Wraith to your tower adjacent to your main fortress, warp it to the Wizard’s island, and call the second Wraith to the same tower. Call more monsters as you wish. At turn 02, move the first Wraith to that mountain hex at coordinates 24, 37. Warp the second Wraith. The trick is, at that position, your Black Wraith will be attacked by just one enemy per turn, and will receive little damage. When its HP is around 25, move it to a tower, and posit the second Wraith to block the enemies. A Colossus, for example, can’t do this job. It would receive high damage, and the tower wouldn’t be able to heal it in time to be used again. Each turn, have a new monster prepared to be warped. What your Wraiths are doing is getting you enough time to form an army there. When you have like ten monsters there, you may fight against the yellow army and make your path to the Wizard. Are the Wraiths in danger? Well, the DarkLord has an Earth elemental, very dangerous to Wraiths, but I didn’t had any problem about it being used against me. About the yellow army itself, the single creatures that cause magical damage (beyond the master, of course) are Wizard’s Black Wraiths. Pay attention during the enemy turn, to know which monster in attack range is the first Wizard controls (it’s the monster he probably will use to attack). If needed, you can also use your Earth force, or Mind spell to prevent enemy Wraiths from attacking. Except for the Wraiths and the DarkLord’s force, your Wraiths can take everything else easily, even those pesky Amazons. I wasn’t sure about myself having those towers in the island (I didn’t remember the map so well), and wasn’t sure about if the Warp strategy would work, too. I have tested and developed it while creating this guide. So, although I have used it, I had a trained Mono Pegasus also prepared to kill that Wizard. --------- 3.2.B) Building your army Let’s analyze your options. As said for Campaign 1, these comments don’t consider the monster power at level 01, MP cost for summoning, or XP necessary for leveling up. They consider the monster power at its maximum level. - Silver Dragon (Silver-D) / Gold Dragon (Gold-D): it’s worthy mention that Dragon (Summoner) does not follow the normal promotion rule. The level 01 Dragon evolves directly to a level 03 Silver Dragon. Then each 30 XP it will alternate between the Silver Dragon and the Gold Dragon forms. The Silver Dragon has medium HP (70), and is agile, with movement allowance 07, Small Tundra type. It causes good damage, 12-3 for short range, 16-2 (cold) for long range, and also has some resistances, 30% against physical damage, 50% against magical damage and 60% against cold damage. The Gold Dragon is similar in some aspects, but its movement type is Fire Land, its damage is a bit different (18-2 for short range, 16-2 heat type damage for long range), and it has 60% resistance against heat damage, instead of cold. As you can see, it’s a versatile monster: the Silver-D form is better at icy terrain, is resistant to cold damage, and also uses a cold breath, while the Gold-D form fights well in volcanoes, is resistant to heat damage and uses a fire breath. This versatility has a price: it can’t have its damage increased by accumulating XP. VEREDICT: it is a solid monster, and versatility is a good thing, but sometimes it’s hard to control its XP to have it in the more useful form. Anyway, the Gold Dragon is your single monster able to deal heat damage, so there is no problem having some, but avoid giving these monsters XP bonuses from kills, unless you need it changing its form. Better to increase the damage of other monsters. RECOMMENDED: 2-5. - Death Dragon (Death-D): high HP (90), with some low resistances: 30% to physical and cold damage, 20% to magical and heat damage. Movement allowance is 06, normal for level 03 monsters, and its move type is Small Tundra. Its short range damage is very good, 20-2, but the long range damage is not that great, 07-4. Still, it’s a good thing having several attacks, because its damage can become superb in case you give it a lot of XP. VEREDICT: a very good monster. You will want invest lots of XP in some of these, creating beasts for long range fights. RECOMMENDED: 4-8. - Colossus: as described for Campaign 1, Colossus has 110 HP, highest in the game after the King Dragon. The high HP compensates for almost no resistances (it has just 10% to physical) and the Big Land move type, which makes it easy to hit. Movement allowance is 06. High damage (33-1 for short range, and 38-1 physical damage for long range), “all-or-nothing” style, very useful against some monsters, especially the flying ones and elementals. VEREDICT: Colossus is your tank, have some of them leading your land troops. RECOMMENDED: 3-5. - Crasher: the Crasher can reach the level 04 and become a Taitan, but as you would need use the level 03 a lot, I will comment about it. Its HP is just medium (63). Its movement allowance is 06, Small Land type. Short range damage is good, 20-2, but the long range damage is pathetic, 12-1, magical type. The Crasher has some low resistances: 30% against physical and cold damage, 20% against magical and heat damage. VEREDICT: a Death Dragon can cause the same damage in short range, and the resistances are also identical. Although the Crasher will have better protection in most terrain types, its HP is much smaller, and its long range damage is ridiculous for a level 03. Just have a Crasher if you intend to have a Taitan, but even then, investing XP on Death Dragons may be better. RECOMMENDED: 0-2. - Taitan: your level 04 weapon for Campaign 2. The Taitan also has medium HP, 70. Its movement allowance is 06, and its movement type is Small Land. Its damage is great (would you expect low damage from a level 04 monster?), 15-3 for short range, and 10-4 (magical) for long range. Curiously enough, a monster that has no long range attacks at level 02, and has a single weak attack at level 03, will cause a good amount of damage in long range fights at level 04. The Taitan has 20% resistance against heat damage, and 30% against all the rest. VEREDICT: of course it’s a powerful monster, but with medium HP and low resistances, it’s a bit less than what I would expect for level 04. If you invest XP on a Death Dragon, with 240 XP it will cause 15-4 for long range. RECOMMENDED: evolve to this all your Crashers if possible. - Black Wraith (Black-W): in fact, the Black Wraith can fly, its move type is Low Sky, but its allowance is 05. As a slow monster, and that has reduced mobility over ocean hexes, a Wraith will surely follow your land army. The Black Wraith’s HP is very low, 36. The good news, however, are its resistances, 90% against physical, heat and cold damage. Yeah, a Black Wraith can fight a King Dragon and will not be heavily injured. However, it has no resistance against magical damage, and will be easily destroyed by Angels, or other creatures with this type of damage. An Earth Elemental is also dangerous. Black Wraith’s damage is ridiculous for short range, 08-1, and ok for long range, 16-2, magical type. VEREDICT: this monster is useful to block heavy hitters of the enemy army, once they don’t cause magical damage. Its low HP also makes easy to heal it. Protect him from creatures that cause magical damage and masters, and be careful if an enemy has a live Earth Force. RECOMMENDED: 2-3. - Great Angel (Great-A): as in Campaign 1, your best flying monster (and my favorite level 03 monster). It causes low short range damage (09-2), and has medium HP (60). But is very agile, having 08 movement allowance, Sky type (can enter all hexes for cost one, except volcanoes). The better part: causes high damage in long range (18-2, magical) AND has 90% resistance vs. magical attacks (most common damage type for long range). Also, it has some resistance against the rest: 20% (physical), or 30% (heat or cold). Great Angels own a lot of monsters, including enemy masters. VEREDICT: You will want a lot of these. RECOMMENDED: 8-12. - Great Demon (Great-D): the Great Demon is a like a chaotic and slightly weaker version of the Great Angel. As the Angel, it has 08 movement allowance, Sky type. It’s a shame Demons are faster than Angels at levels 01 and 02, but have the same allowance at level 03. Great Demons also have medium HP (66), a bit more than Great Angels. Damage is similar: 15-1 for short range, 12-3 (magical) for long range. In fact, having three attacks is an advantage sometimes, like when fighting a Phoenix. The main difference, which makes the Demons weaker, is the magical damage resistance: 70%, while Angels have 90%. This means Demons will always take more damage. They also have 20% resistance to physical damage, 30% to heat, and 40% to cold damage (Angels have 30% to cold). VEREDICT: Great Demons are very good monsters to have, they are very strong. No problem about using some, but Angels are even stronger. RECOMMENDED: 0-4. - Mono Pegasus (Mono-P): Another monster you know from Campaign 1. Low short range damage (04-6), and no long range attacks. Very low HP (42). Great magical resistance (80%) and some physical resistance (30%), but no resistance to heat or cold, making this a juicy target for enemy forces. Its advantage is its movement: allowance 09, High Sky type. It can even pass through volcanoes. VEREDICT: you know, Great Angels or Great Demons can take towers with almost the same efficiency, and can also fight. But you may need a well-trained Mono Pegasus against the Campaign “trick”. RECOMMENDED: 1, to counter the “trick”, in case you opt for using it. During early missions, while you level your Angels and Demons up, you can have some more to attack enemy towers. - Sphinx: the Sphinx, with its Fire Sky movement type, is the other option against the Campaign “trick”. Its move allowance is 06, not so agile. It has 40% resistance to all damage types, and 60 HP, just ok. But it causes very low damage: 11-2 for short range, and even worse, 06-2 (magical) for long range. VEREDICT: have this just if you choose using it against the “trick” (a very bad idea, indeed). Otherwise, it’s not worthy. RECOMMENDED: 0. - Crusader: this monster has medium HP (70). It has a good mobility, its movement allowance is 07, Sky type. Crusader’s damage is low at long range (08-3, physical type), but is good at short range (09-4). A bad thing about the Crusader is its low resistance to damage: 30% to physical, 20% to magical, 10% to heat, no resistance to cold. This, considering it’s a flying monster, and so has low terrain protection, is a weak point. VEREDICT: if this Campaign had Big Serpents available like the first one, this monster would be completely unnecessary. But, as you don’t have Serpents to use, Crusaders can give Angels and Demons some support where your land creatures can’t go. RECOMMENDED: 0-3. - Sky Gorgon (Sky-G): its damage is not so good for both short range (14-2) and long range (09-3, magical). Low HP (55). 50% physical resistance and NO resistance to other attack types (this makes it a good target for enemy forces). 07 movement, Sky type is good, but the Great Angels and Demons are faster. VEREDICT: adds nothing to your army, except for a nice picture. Want to support Angels and Demons for short range fights? Even the Crusader is a better option. RECOMMENDED: 0. - Sirene: Small Ocean monster, it fights well in swamp, river and ocean hexes. Its HP is very low (45), but, beyond good protection when fighting from a good terrain, it has 60% resistance against magical damage, and 50% vs. other types. Short range damage is low (08-3), and the long range damage is ok (10-3, magical). Movement allowance is 06, not good for an aquatic monster. VEREDICT: the Sirene it’s not a bad monster, but Crusader and Great Angel are better options to fight at short range and long range, respectively. RECOMMENDED: 0. CONCLUSION: Use Great Angels and Great Demons, as in the first campaign, to take towers, and to deal magical damage while flanking the enemy army, or attacking enemy Masters. Crusaders also have good mobility and can take towers, or support Angels and Demons. Colossus are your tanks, use them to attract enemies to the position you want, and to weaken them with high “all-or-nothing” physical damage. Silver Dragons / Gold Dragons are versatile and can deal both heat and cold damage. Death Dragons are also good hitters and cause lots of cold damage after getting some XP. If protected from creatures that deal magical damage, Black Wraiths can block dangerous creatures from enemy armies. The Crasher is not that useful, but can evolve to the powerful Taitan. A Mono Pegasus can be used to counter to the Campaign “trick”. Forget about the other monsters. I would suggest as balanced army: 1x Summoner (necessary, of course), 2x Black Wraiths, 3x Colossus, 2x Crusaders, 7x Death Dragons, 9x Great Angels, 2x Great Demons, 1x Mono Pegasus and 3x Silver Dragons / Gold Dragons. In the Campaign I played while writing this guide, my army was: 1x Summoner, 2x Black Wraiths, 3x Colossus, 1x Crasher / Taitan, 2x Crusaders, 6x Death Dragons, 8x Great Angels, 2x Great Demons, 1x Mono Pegasus and 4x Silver Dragons / Gold Dragons. --------- 3.2.1) Mission 1: CAMP-2 Battleground: a medium sized island, which is shaped like a comma. Player’s castle is at island’s southwestern area. From there, there is a narrow path to northeast, but the terrain is very hard: beyond some grassland, forests, swamps, rocks, a lot of dunes and just a few towers. Following this path, your troops will reach a small area of grassland and forests, near the yellow DarkLord’s castle, in the map’s northern area. To southwest of the DarkLord’s castle, north of your initial position, there is another part of the island, like the “comma’s head”, with mountains, volcanoes, rocky tracts, and a few more towers. Your flying creatures can reach this area passing over some ocean hexes. This map has 22 towers only, and ten of them are concentrated around your enemy’s castle. Max number of turns: 25. Player (red Summoner): Coordinates: 20, 47 Starting towers: 2 MP: 200 (initial) + x / turn Yellow DarkLord Coordinates: 29, 24 Starting towers: 4 MP: 250 (initial) + 70 / turn Monsters: Demon, Dragon (Daimyou) (rare), Golem, Griffon, Minotaur, Octopus, Warrior, Wraith This mission is much more difficult than Mission 1 of Campaign 1. Not only because there are less towers and they are concentrated around the DarkLord’s castle, but also because of the hard terrain in the single land path available. Moving through Dunes costs three from movement allowance of monsters like Trolls (Big Land type) and your Dragons (Fire Land and Small Tundra types). Some turns they will be able to move a single hex. This makes hard to maneuver during the fights, and this is even worse having just a few towers to heal monsters. Towers, like said, are another problem. Normally, if you just advance through the land path, you will lose your tower near the volcanoes, and will secure just like seven towers before meeting the yellow army at the battlefield. So, I suggest you use your “attractive power”. At the first turn, create a Pegasus and send it immediately through the land path using Again magic. When it can take any of two towers, go for the furthest one. At turn 5, your Pegasus should reach that tower at coordinates 37, 26, the first one out of that rough terrain. It should attract all the enemy army, and with some luck, they will forget about your tower near the volcanoes. At turn 01, and when you have more towers (use the Summoner to take towers at turns 01 and 02), also create some agile creatures to follow your Pegasus, like some Angels and Soldiers. As soon as possible, summon a flying creature (I used an Angel) to sneak into that area with volcanoes, and take that tower to west (later, when your army is closer to the enemy castle, it will also take those twin towers to southeast). This way, you should have at least 11 towers, half of all towers in this map. Your Pegasus will soon be attacked by enemies, possibly Griffons first, then anything else. Remove it from the tower and warp a Dragon to it (if it was summoned on a previous turn, you can still attack using it). I prefer the Summoner’s Dragon, because it has a ranged attack. Ok, a Dragon is still not enough. Use your Force (I recommend Air, unless it’s a monster with high terrain protection, in this case I recommend Earth) to damage enemies, so they won’t attack during DarkLord’s turn. Next turn, remove the Dragon, and warp another one. Have at least 3-4 Dragons using Warp spell. Soon your other troops will arrive. If you lose that tower, warp monsters to the tower at 37, 31. Remember, your goal is not save all your monsters, nor defend that tower. Your goal is have your creatures leveling up. Once you have some level 02 creatures (like Arch Angels, or Fighters, which require low XP), or even 1-2 Silver Dragons, this battle is won. To achieve this, protect at all costs your creatures that are “hunting XP”, monsters that, if possible, should kill an enemy per turn until level up. Angels have very low HP, and require four enemy kills to reach level 02. Be patient and don’t expose them, especially to enemy Golems. Keep killing enemy monsters like hell. The Mind spell can also be used to weaken enemy monsters and get an easy kill, if you don’t have another use for your magic. Once you beat the enemy army, have your monsters positioned at grasslands and forests to east of enemy castle (flying creatures can wait for a chance at the dunes). As more monsters come, quickly serve them death. Try to have at least three Ach Angels, and more powerful monsters, before the final attack. Arch Angels can reduce DarkLord’s HP quickly. Around turn 19, start taking enemy towers while defeating his monsters. If there are Octopuses at the towers to east of DarkLord’s castle, have them weak already by using your Force. Soon, you will have your long ranged monsters attacking minions the DarkLord just summoned. Having these under control, use Arch Angels against the master. Important tip: because of Meteor spell, it’s not safe having monsters with low HP hunting XP during the last attack. A meteor will destroy a level 01 Angel or Demon most times. At least, have Dragons hunting XP, I have seen Dragons being destroyed by one hit, but it’s harder. If you need level 01 Angels just to attack unguarded towers, use ones without XP. Two little things you shouldn’t forget. First, at turns 24 and 25, use your remaining MP to summon more level 01 creatures to use next mission. Prefer the expensive ones, like Angels and Dragons, if possible. You know, calling monsters don’t use your MP, so you can save some. Second, use a fresh Angel (or something that will use all XP) to kill that DarkLord. Oh, by the way, I have tried to warp a Dragon to that tower to north at turn 01. This have an effect so attractive that enemy monsters will skip even to take those towers around the DarkLord. I used Warp spell some more times, and sent some Angels over the ocean. A Pegasus can easily take the towers at the land path. The enemy army, using this strategy, will have like six monsters, and the fight is a breeze. However, less monsters killed means less XP. My army was significantly weaker at the mission end playing this way. So, I guess I shouldn’t recommend it. Real result: Casualties: Player: 1x Dragon (Summoner), 1x Angel DarkLord: 6x Demon, 7x Golem, 7x Griffon, 6x Minotaur, 3x Octopus, 4x Warrior, 9x Wraith. My army after this battle: 1x Summoner, 3x Angel (All 0 XP), 1x Demon (0 XP), 2x Dragon (DarkLord) (Both 0 XP), 3x Dragon (Summoner) (XP: 75, 18, 0), 1x Troll (1 XP), 4x Arch Angel (XP: 21, 20, 12, 0), 3x Dark Dragon (XP: 22, 18, 0), 2x Fighter (Both 12 XP), 1x Mono Pegasus (1 XP), 1x Silver Dragon (2 XP) --------- 3.2.2) Mission 2: NEAR Battleground: this mission is played at a small island, with some other islands around it, most of them connected by shallow waters. This map is pretty unique. There are no main fortress hexes. You start at the island’s northeastern area, while the blue Daimyou starts at the southwestern area. There are fortress hexes connecting both masters, the main island of this map is like a big castle for both masters. To the island’s southeast, the fortresses involve a cluster of 21 towers placed around a volcano. Some of the tiny islands around the main island also have towers. You start this mission at a great tower disadvantage. The Daimyou has three from start, and simply by moving to the tower cluster, he will get three more, one per turn, not counting the ones his monsters can take. You have no towers from start, and your master is far from reaching any towers. Max number of turns: 15. Blue Daimyou Coordinates: 24, 38 Starting towers: 3 MP: 600 (initial) + 70 / turn Monsters: Arch Angel, Carthago, Frost Dragon, Serpent, Troll, Unicorn, Valkyrie Player (red Summoner): Coordinates: 36, 19 Starting towers: 0 MP: 200 (initial) + x / turn As said, you start this mission at great tower disadvantage, and should be thirsty for towers at initial turns. At turn 01, move your master, call an Arch Angel (prefer an experienced one) and use Again magic to have it taking a tower. Call another Arch Angel. At turn 02, use the first Angel to get another tower, and use Again at the second Angel, so it can take a tower at that little island northeast of the tower cluster. Continue moving your master and call two strong monsters, like Silver Dragons. Your first Arch Angel may have to fight against an enemy Arch Angel, Valkyrie or Serpent (if a Serpent comes, start causing damage to it immediately with the Earth Force, because its HP is high and it could attack your Angel) for those towers it just took. If needed, have another Angel or a Fighter / Crusader helping it as soon as possible. Your second Arch Angel should take more towers, and you can still use Again on it if needed. Take towers at the eastern part of the tower cluster. Your land monsters should have their path to south blocked to north of the tower cluster. You have to pass through the Daimyou’s land monsters (probably including a Carthago or Frost Dragon) at all costs. Use forces, if needed, and even have them taking heavy damage, just be sure they won’t die. Call more monsters and invest against these enemies blocking your path. Once your land troops break the enemy barrier and reach the tower cluster, you can call all monsters you need (just keep taking some towers per turn), and the battle will soon be at your control. The Daimyou will still create some level 02 monsters (Carthago is the worst he has because of terrain protection, you can use Angels and Earth Force to hit it; Dragons and Arch Angels are, at least, easier to hit) but once his initial MP is gone, he will just create Unicorns, Trolls and Valkyries. If he is at a tower at western portion of the cluster, he will soon be surrounded and towers won’t matter anymore. You can take his towers to west, but it’s not necessary. Have some monsters killing his creatures to get XP. Valkyries are easy to hit and weak at short range, Trolls are also easy to hit and have no ranged attack. Unicorns have high protection from towers or fortresses, so you can have some Arch Angels or Great Angels (which you may have already) weakening them. Against the Daimyou himself, you can use a healthy Silver Dragon. It has a good resistance against his magical attacks, and this time it will have a 60% hit chance (the Daimyou is not at a main fortress hex, remember?). Angels of levels 02 or 03 can also be used, although the Daimyou has high resistance against magical damage. Meteor spell the enemy will cast is again a pain, your troops are clustered. Avoid having low health monsters around, like Wraiths and level 01 Angels or Demons. Trolls and Dragons can hunt for some XP, or you can level up some level 02 monsters to level 03, like your Fighters. At turn 15, eliminate the Daimyou. At end of this mission, better having some powerful monsters, and the kill bonus of a master is always welcome. Before doing it, again you can summons some monsters, if there are still available slots at your army. Real result: Casualties: Player: 2x Wraith Daimyou: 2x Arch Angel, 2x Carthago, 2x Frost Dragon, 1x Serpent, 3x Troll, 3x Unicorn, 5x Valkyrie, Fire Elemental My army after this battle: 1x Summoner, 4x Angel (All 0 XP), 2x Demon (Both 0 XP), 3x Dragon (DarkLord) (All 0 XP), 1x Dragon (Summoner) (0 XP), 1x Troll (0 XP); 2x Arch Angel (XP: 15, 8), 1x Attacker (0 XP), 2x Dark Dragon (XP: 18, 14), 1x Dark Wraith (0 XP), 2x Fighter (XP: 14, 12), 2x Giant (XP: 18, 0), 1x Mono Pegasus (1 XP), 1x Death Dragon (0 XP), 2x Great Angel (XP: 4, 0), 3x Silver Dragon (XP: 15, 3, 3) --------- 3.2.3) Mission 3: DOUBLE Battleground: a big island, with most of its coast formed by mountains and volcanoes, except to west, where there are some dunes, rocky tracts, forests and grasslands. Players’s castle is at central northern area, next to some mountains and volcanoes. Just a few grassland hexes to southeast, you can find the blue Summoner’s castle. The green Wizard’s castle is much further, to southwest of your initial position, among forests and shallow waters. Your troops can reach it passing through two grassland paths around a chain of mountains. Max number of turns: 25. Blue Summoner Coordinates: 49, 35 Starting towers: 3 MP: 1000 (initial) + 90 / turn Monsters: Fighter, Giant (rare), Gorgon, Stone Golem, Tricorn Player (red Summoner): Coordinates: 39, 20 Starting towers: 1 MP: 200 (initial) + x / turn Green Wizard Coordinates: 13, 50 Starting towers: 3 MP: 1100 (initial) + 80 / turn Monsters: Attacker, Iron Golem, Loc, Musha, Sky Dragon, TwinHead Now, this mission is HARD. Do you remember that second mission of Campaign 1 (at CIRCLE map)? Again, you have enemies coming from two sides and 25 turns to beat them. That time, we sent part of the army to east, got some towers, and used a few Serpents to defend against enemies from west while deployed the rest of our army to crush them. Sounds like a plan? Sadly, it won’t work now. Why? – you can ask. Because this time our army is not that much superior when compared to the enemies. Also, we have just a few towers at our disposal. Beyond your initial tower, and the one at your castle, you can count with three towers to west, coordinates: (24, 25), (30, 23) and (32, 29). There is a tower to south of your castle, which the blue army can fight for. All other towers are at “blue territory” or “green territory”. If the fight against the blue Summoner takes too much time, the green army will reach you and you are done. You won’t have Serpents with terrain protection to save you. What to do? We need beat the Summoner quickly. I hate it, I would prefer having my monsters getting XP while I beat the Wizard. Not possible. If you have a good portion of your army (let’s say, five monsters, which is almost half of your available army due to the lack of towers) farming XP from Summoner monsters, you will have a lot of trouble against the green army and those terrible Mushas. Also, the Summoner can use her elementals to kill any injured monster you get at the fight against the Wizard. Better killing her, and fast. Turn 01: call a Great Angel (if you have at least two) to the hex southwest of your main fortress (if you don’t have two Great Angels, call an Arch Angel instead). This one will take those towers to west. Move the Summoner and take hat tower. Now, the real trick: call another Great Angel to the hex to east of that tower, use Again on it, and take a tower from the Summoner’s castle (45, 29). Use a Force against one of the monsters that can attack the Angel. If it’s heavily injured, the Wizard can also use his Force and kill it (this is not the goal, though; the goal is just make it weak). Call more agile monsters near your master, maybe a Silver Dragon and a Dark Dragon (you also want something to evolve, don’t you?). Turn 02: if possible, take the other tower there. If it’s already taken or the Angel has low HP, move it and take the tower at 39, 31 (from there, you will take the blue tower at 43, 39). Also, move the master to an hex adjacent to that tower at your castle, call to it a heavy hitter (I recommend a Colossus or a Death Dragon) and Warp it to that tower at 39, 31. Use the Force (to kill an enemy, if possible: better it getting XP than the Wizard’s one) and move your troops. As you see, your goal is to take and defend that tower, take the twin tower as soon as possible, and have your Angel also taking other towers. Your Angel that went to west will also take towers there, so call some more creatures that may level up (like Giants and Arch Angels) and send to the blue castle. Take the remaining blue towers at Summoner’s castle, and don’t forget that one at 52, 24. Try to kill the Summoner quickly, you can even use other monsters (like a Colossus) if they are healthy. I managed to kill her at turn 10. Once the battle is over, move the monsters back to your own castle, because the green army is coming. After getting the Summoner’s towers, you should control 12. Call all monsters you can before losing any towers to the Wizard. If you have a Black Wraith available, call it, because it’s the best monster to block those Mushas. The Wizard’s army has no magical damage (beyond the master, of course), so Wraiths are very useful. Some Locs should reach the area around your castle while you are regrouping our troops. No problem. Then, the real green army arrives. TwinHeads cause low damage and aren’t a problem for your Angels. Attackers have no long range attack. Sky Dragons have low HP and are easy to hit. Mushas are your real problems. These solid monsters cause low damage at long range, but have very high resistance to cold damage, and the worst part, cause a super high damage at short range (15-3). Also, they are Small Land type (good terrain protection) and have movement allowance 07. While you fight, probably some monsters will be exposed to more incoming Mushas, and this is very dangerous. If you can’t have a Wraith to block them, use all you have to decrease its HP to a “safe” level. Use your forces (Fire and Earth recommended) or even the Mind spell. Luckily, at this point, Wizard’s Water Elemental should be dead (or he won’t use it because of low MP), so you can safely have some injured monsters removed from the front. Don’t worry if at turn 14-15 you are still fighting the green army around those towers your first Angel took in the beginning of the mission. You are just in time. After winning this battle, probably you will have just a few monsters to defeat. You should meet these around the southern part of that chain of mountains. Once low on MP, the Wizard will still create some Locs, which you will kill easily. Again, in the end towers won’t be important, because MP will limit what the Wizard can do, but you can take some and Warp some more monsters that need XP. Kill the Wizard at turn 25 and move to the fourth mission. Real result: Casualties: Player: - Summoner: 3x Fighter, 4x Stone Golem, 4x Tricorn Wizard: 5x Attacker, 2x Stone Golem, 10x Loc, 7x Musha, 6x TwinHead My army after this battle: 1x Summoner, 4x Angel (XP: 65, 0, 0, 0), 2x Dragon (DarkLord) (Both 0 XP), 1x Dragon (Summoner) (0 XP), 1x Arch Demon (0 XP), 1x Dark Dragon (16 XP), 2x Dark Wraith (Both 0 XP), 1x Fighter (12 XP), 2x Giant (Both 0 XP), 1x Mono Pegasus (1 XP), 1x Colossus (13 XP), 1x Crasher (11 XP), 1x Crusader (16 XP), 3x Death Dragon (XP: 22, 6, 6), 4x Great Angel (XP: 24, 18, 8, 6), 1x Great Demon (2 XP), 3x Silver Dragon (XP: 18, 15, 3) 3.2.4) Mission 4: AROUND Battleground: a medium sized island. Player’s castle is at its southeastern area, while the blue Daimyou’s castle can be found at island’s northern area, maybe a bit to northeast. In fact, both castles are near each other, some flying monsters, without opposition, could reach the enemy master in two turns. But, for land based monsters, the island’s terrain is not that friendly. A chain of mountains and volcanoes is exactly between those castles, and it is surrounded by deep waters and tundra. Tundra, in fact, is the perfect terrain for your Dark Dragons, Death Dragons and Silver Dragons, but the way it is mixed to other terrains, including water hexes that your dragons can’t enter, makes it difficult to maneuver. There is another attack route, a grassland path to west, among rocks, mountains and dunes. This looks a better option, and even more because you can take those blue towers around the island. Most of them are concentrated at the west side, surrounded by rough terrain. Curiously, there are no neutral towers in this map. Max number of turns: 16. Blue Daimyou Coordinates: 33, 22 Starting towers: 12 MP: 1400 (initial) + 100 / turn Monsters: Hippo Griffon, IceGiant, Kraken, Musha, Phoenix, Sphinx, TwinHead Player (red Summoner): Coordinates: 39, 36 Starting towers: 3 MP: 200 (initial) + x / turn After that hard Mission 3, you will face a cakewalk Mission 4. Yeah, it’s easy. At turn 01, call a Great Angel to the fortress hex west of your master. Use Again magic and move it to 34, 31 coordinates. This is the northernmost hex from where you can take the tower at 30, 42 next turn. Also, call three more monsters, at least a heavy hitter (like a Colossus) and something that can evolve (a Giant or a Dark Dragon, maybe a level 01 Dragon). Again, Black Wraiths are very useful, the single monster Daimyou has that causes magical damage is the Sphinx, and its damage is low. Calling a Wraith is also recommended. Use your Force against one of the Daimyou’s flying creatures. At the enemy’s turn, that Great Angel will attract the enemy army, and possibly also the enemy Force. Flying creatures can come through the water, but land based monsters and even Krakens should stay around the dunes to southwest of the enemy’s castle. At your next turn, move your Angel and take two towers (using Again spell), and move your other monsters to the position where your Angel was to still attract the enemies. Call more monsters, and use your Force against a flying monster. That’s it. You Angel will continue taking the blue towers to west. You don’t have to use Again always, but try not allowing your enemy to replace dead monsters. As your attraction strategy served to split his army, just a few flying creatures won’t be trouble for you, and you can have some lower level creatures leveling up. A few TwinHeads can also come through the dunes, but your Angels or Wraiths can deal with them. Worthy to mention that you can destroy Phoenixes easily using a Great Demon, a Colossus, a Crusader, or maybe a Death Dragon during a moon turn. Forces or other creatures may be used, but usually they will need to hit all attacks, so you can have your monsters receiving free damage. After defeating Daimyou’s flying monsters and a few TwinHeads, you can probably move easily through that grassland road. The enemy probably has just a few Mushas, IceGiants and Krakens around the castle. Try attract them to west of the castle. Let them attack a Wraith, or a high HP monster, like a Colossus, to have them at a grassland hex, so you can attack them from the forests. Forces may also be used to cause damage, and, as the enemy army at this point will have just a few monsters, you can move some injured monsters from the front, without any problem. The Daimyou, having an excess of MP, will invoke his Fire Elemental every turn. Soon or later, it will die, so you can call your Mono Pegasus to have some XP, too, in case you intend to use one against the campaign “trick”. Remember, you will need it at Mission 6, so getting XP, and even killing the enemy master are good ideas. If necessary to beat the enemy master (which is resistant to magical damage) in time, after taking the last towers you can also call more Great Angels, these can reach and fight the Daimyou in two turns. You can move any injured monsters (monsters hit by meteors, for example) and still have more to fight him. Of course, killing more enemy monsters is also appreciated. I recommend letting the hex at 32, 23 free, so the enemy can create a monster per turn to give your monsters more XP. This hex is recommended because you can easily have some land monsters around it to weaken and kill enemies, while your Angels and Demons attack the enemy master. Real result: Casualties: Player: - Daimyou: 2x Hippo Griffon, 4x IceGiant, 2x Kraken, 2x Musha, 1x Phoenix, 1x Sphinx, 3x TwinHead, Fire Elemental My army after this battle: 1x Summoner, 2x Angel (Both 0 XP), 1x Dragon (DarkLord) (0 XP), 1x Dragon (Summoner) (0 XP), 2x Arch Angel (XP: 24, 6) 2x Dark Dragon (XP: 51, 0), 2x Giant (XP: 18, 0), 1x Mono Pegasus (33 XP), 2x Black Wraith (XP: 7, 3), 1x Colossus (20 XP), 1x Crasher (11 XP), 2x Crusader (XP: 16, 0), 3x Death Dragon (XP: 33, 6, 6), 4x Great Angel (XP: 28, 20, 9, 6), 2x Great Demon (XP: 5, 2), 3x Silver Dragon (XP: 18, 15, 3) --------- 3.2.5) Mission 5: FOURWAR Battleground: this mission is played at a curious archipelago. There is a big central island where both castles can be found: Player’s castle at its southwest, and blue DarkLord’s castle at its northeast. There is a lake of deep waters connecting both castles to the island’s south and east, and near the lake there is also a land path, with grassland and forest hexes. To north of this land path, there are dunes, rocks, mountains, and some volcanoes. The most interesting fact: the entire island (except something that seems like an “escape route” near the DarkLord’s castle) is surrounded by volcanoes. This prevents most creatures from reaching the blue towers, these are in the smaller islands, in the four map corners (there is a single blue tower at eastern portion of the biggest island, but also out of the volcano barrier). Like the last mission, there are no neutral towers in this map. All towers inside the volcano barrier are red, all towers outside it are blue. Max number of turns: 20. Blue DarkLord Coordinates: 39, 23 Starting towers: 20 MP: 1500 (initial) + 100 / turn Monsters: Arch Angel, Big Serpent, Gorgon, Iron Golem, Phoenix, TwinHead Player (red Summoner): Coordinates: 22, 42 Starting towers: 10 MP: 200 (initial) + x / turn There are some things you should realize before playing this mission. First, the DarkLord will soon start taking your towers, possibly at turn 02. Second, luckily you have enough space at your castle to call, at turn 01, all monsters you are allowed: just call six monsters, move the Summoner two hexes to east, and call five more monsters. Third, if you don’t call a Mono Pegasus or Sphinx (in case you have any) at turn 01, you won’t be able to call any monsters for the rest of the mission, unless one of your monsters gets killed (and you meet tower requirements, which should occur just in the mission end, when you are able to retake your towers). If you intend using a Mono Pegasus against the Wizard at Mission 6, I recommend calling your Mono Pegasus at turn 01. Don’t worry, DarkLord’s Earth Force is useless against it. Send it to take those towers at the small island to southwest, and after doing it the Mono Pegasus can return and kill some enemies to get XP. Other monsters to call: two heavy hitters (like a Colossus and a Death Dragon), a Great Demon or Crusader to kill Phoenixes (I prefer the Demon, it is also effective against Gorgons), 1-2 Great Angels, and creatures to level up, like Dark Dragons, Giants, Arch Angels, even 1-2 level 01 creatures (you should still have some in your army, because in Campaign 2 you usually can’t have all your army fighting most mission). Ok, this mission would be much easier if you call a bunch of level 03 monsters, but having your monsters leveling up is always great, so mix monsters of all levels. That’s it. After calling monsters at turn 01, you possibly won’t have any reinforcements for a long time. Unless you can prevent your enemy from taking your towers for a while, of course. A Phoenix is really fast and may take a tower at turn 02, but may be killed by any Force except Fire (I recommend Air or Water). If you succeed, and use Again spell twice on your Mono Pegasus, you can take a tower at turn 02, and call another monster (your army will be outnumbered so, believe me, it counts). In my game, I did it. And I lost a tower at turn 03, but used Again once more and took two towers at my turn 03, being able to call one more monster, for a total 14 (including the Summoner). The DarkLord, at other hand, won’t have any tower limit during this mission. He will use all his MP to create monsters, especially Gorgons and Arch Angels (so, you know your Wraiths aren’t going help you this time). Your army will be heavily outnumbered, and because of this, you can’t call all your weaker monsters to the battlefield, you will need some level 03 minions. As usual, it can be necessary to remove injured monsters from the front. Luckily, the DarkLord will use his Earth Force just a few times (spending a lot of MP on monsters, he probably will be on a budget at turn 04-05). Also, don’t worry too much about the XP kill bonus. Of course you should try to level up your monsters, but it’s ok having some enemies killed by your forces, or level 03 creatures. Try to create a defensive line at forest hexes. Yes, I said line. This will expose your monsters much less. See, for example, if a monster has an ally in the hex to its northwest and another one to its southeast, it can be attack by two positions only: northeast and east (considering where enemies are coming from at this map). With so many enemies, an exposed monster can be easily attacked by 4 enemies, and be in serious danger, because it can’t simply leave at your next turn (monsters have zones of control, remember?). While fighting, the top priority is to eliminate Phoenixes. In fact, if you have a Colossus leading the army, some of them will develop suicidal tendencies not bad at all. Eliminate the rest using your Great Demon if possible. Even using forces is ok. Use Angels and Demons against Gorgons, and Dragons and Giants in short range against Arch Angels. Injured Arch Angels are also good targets for your Mono Pegasus. TwinHeads are not a problem, except for their terrain protection. Angels can weaken them. Iron Golems are dangerous, use Air or Water elementals against them before they can attack your monsters. Dark / Death / Silver Dragons in long range can also damage them. (Tip: keeping an injured enemy Iron Golem is a great way to level up Giants or Arch Angels that need just a few more XP; your monsters get 2 XP for no damage, just to reduce the Iron Golem HP again after the DarkLord uses Heal All magic). If a Big Serpent comes from the swamps, concentrate some ranged firepower on it. Even fighting from the land, where it can be easily hit, a Big Serpent can cause high damage. Once DarkLord’s MP are gone, his army will start losing its power. When your healthy monsters outnumber the blue army, the battle is won. After retaking your towers, you should call more monsters to level up, and maybe some Great Angels to help fighting the DarkLord himself. He may still create at least one monster most turns, so feed your army. Kill the blue master at turn 20, and if your Pegasus is in need of XP, use it to get the kill bonus. Real result: Casualties: Player: - DarkLord: 11x Arch Angel, 1x Big Serpent, 9x Gorgon, 2x Iron Golem, 4x Phoenix, 6x TwinHead My army after this battle: 1x Summoner, 1x Arch Angel (16 XP) 3x Dark Dragon (XP: 56, 51, 35), 1x Giant (46 XP), 1x Mono Pegasus (121 XP), 2x Black Wraith (XP: 7, 3), 2x Colossus (XP: 35, 0), 1x Crasher (11 XP), 2x Crusader (XP: 16, 0), 3x Death Dragon (XP: 45, 6, 6), 7x Great Angel (XP: 49, 20, 9, 6, 6, 3, 0), 2x Great Demon (XP: 26, 2), 4x Silver Dragon (XP: 18, 15, 4, 3) --------- 3.2.6) Mission 6: GREATAXE Battleground: this is the single mission of Campaign 2 that is played at a coastal portion of a continent. Player’s castle is at northwestern area, among some grassland and mountain hexes, and includes a cluster of six (initially neutral) towers. To east of your castle, there is a land portion with two more neutral towers, and to southeast of this area, in the map central area, you will find the yellow Wizard’s, castle, at his island, completely surrounded by both deep waters AND volcanoes (the campaign “trick”). To south of your initial position, there is a lot of forest hexes and some towers, beyond some dunes and shallow waters at the coast. You will also find a grassland path to the southern portion of the map. After reaching the south, you can follow another grassland path to east, to find the blue DarkLord’s castle, at the southeastern part of the map. From the DarkLord’s castle, there are two roads leading to north, and around these you will find the blue towers, near two chains of mountains and volcanoes. Max number of turns: 30. Blue DarkLord Coordinates: 58, 57 Starting towers: 9 MP: 1800 (initial) + 100 / turn Monsters: Caeser (rare), Crasher, Hippo Griffon, Mage, Sky Gorgon, Tricorn Player (red Summoner): Coordinates: 02, 20 Starting towers: 3 MP: 200 (initial) + x / turn Yellow Wizard Coordinates: 29, 37 Starting towers: 9 MP: 1800 (initial) + 80 / turn Monsters: Amazon, Black Wraith, Giant, Iron Golem, Kraken, Phoenix (rare) Looking at the blue army, you will soon realize that most creatures, like Sky Gorgons, Mages, Tricorns and Crashers, simply aren’t a match for your Great Angels in long range fights. Their long range attacks being magical give your Angels a great environment in this mission. Hippo Griffons have heat attacks for long range, but the damage they cause is low, and the dangerous Caeser is not used frequently. Yes, the blue army is weak. The point in this mission is to beat the Campaign “trick”, killing the Wizard which lives on an island surrounded by both deep waters AND volcanoes. If you choose the Warp strategy (which I did, after realizing it could be viable), you will need at least two Black Wraiths blocking yellow creatures while you warp more monsters to the Wizard’s island. Warp the first Wraith at turn 01. At turn 02, move it to coordinates 24, 37, and warp the second Wraith. When the blocking Wraith has its HP around 25 (or earlier), move it to a tower, and have the other Wraith blocking your enemies. Also call two Great Angels. Have one quickly taking towers to east, and after it takes the towers there, including the ones north of the Wizard’s island, send it directly to east, to also attack the blue towers. The other Angel should go to south, also taking towers. The Summoner herself can take most towers in the little cluster at her castle. Each turn, have another monster prepared to be warped to the Wizard’s island. These monsters can also take towers from the cluster while they are neutral (the monster status, if it has been moved this turn or not, doesn’t interfere with the Warp spell). Continue using the Warp magic until you have like ten monsters in the Wizard’s island. You can also warp some creatures that need XP to level up, like Giants or Dark Dragons. With the exceeding towers, call more monsters. You can have a little land army moving to south, but try to call all your flying monsters, too, the fight against the blue army will probably happen over the ocean. This happens because after taking some towers in the map southern area, DarkLord’s army will be attracted by the Wizard’s castle: land creatures will stay around the continent coast, while flying monsters fly to the island, being blocked by the volcanoes. Even if you call your army slowly because of the monsters you warp, don’t worry. You will have enough time to regroup your Angels, Demons and Crusaders and crush DarkLord’s monsters like bugs. Your Angels and Demons can ignore Mages and attack Sky Gorgons and Hippo Griffons. Crusaders may attack Mages, if they aren’t on risk of being attacked by other enemies. Crashers and Tricorns will wait for you to decimate other monsters, heal your monsters if needed, and regroup before attacking them. At this point, your land troops and the Angel you sent to east probably took most blue towers. If the DarkLord manages to summon more monsters, he will just be sending more minions to death. About the battle on the island, keep checking the Wizard turn, so you know which monster he will send against your Wraiths next, in case you intend to kill the enemy next to your Wraith. In fact, it’s a good thing eliminating some Amazons and Golems, if possible; if the Wizard has more Giants and Krakens when you start your invasion, your life will be easier (these are easier to hit and cause no to average damage in long range). Beware of enemy Black Wraiths, mirror matches are bad for your Wraiths. You can even use the Mind magic (if available) and your Earth force, if needed, to prevent enemy Wraiths from attacking. By the way, the DarkLord’s EarthForce is also very dangerous to Wraiths. Although I had no problem about it being used against my Wraiths, try do not concede it free XP (in fact, during this mission I have increased the XP of my own elementals a lot). Do not invade the yellow castle before having both enemy elementals dead. Once you attack (I have used 3x Dark Dragons / Death Dragons, 2x Giant / Colossus, 2x Great Angel and 1x Great Demon, beyond my two Wraiths), remember that Amazons and Iron Golems, like Black Wraiths, have low HP and can be weakened by force or magic. Against the Golems, use Air or Water elementals, and the Wraiths are the best match up against Amazons (beware of meteors, however). Your Angels or Demons can deal with enemy Wraiths. Giants and Krakens are easy to hit and shouldn’t trouble you too much. Just use some heavy hitters (like Colossus and Death Dragons). Now, if you are going to use a trained Mono Pegasus against the “trick”, call some Great Angels and start taking towers (even because you will lose you towers at the island). Send them, as usual to east and south. But this time, concentrate on calling your flying monsters. Again, you can fight against DarkLord’s troops as usual. When Wizard’s Water force dies, call the Mono Pegasus and warp it to the tower at coordinates 26, 30 (should be yours already, and its position shouldn’t be in danger of DarkLord’s army attacks). While your troops, including land monsters you have called, corner the blue army, have some monsters attracting the yellow monsters from outside of the volcanic barrier. Try to have a free route to attack the Wizard with your Pegasus while starting its turn at that tower (26, 30). You probably will eliminate the Wizard after 10-12 turns attacking with the Pegasus. During these turns, you should use Again magic, so you could put the Pegasus at the tower again at end of your turn. If you can do it, you probably won’t need any healing for your Mono Pegasus. If you can’t attack from the tower, attack from anywhere else, just have in mind that at least once you will need to replenish the Pegasus HP. When this time comes (probably after like 6 fights), have it resting at a tower and use Heal spell, this is probably enough to completely heal your Mono Pegasus in two turns, so it will soon be attacking the Wizard again. By the way, this mission is the last one you will use level 02 creatures (except for the Mono Pegasus, of course). Now you probably have your creatures at max level, except for Crashers. You can give exceeding XP for Crashers (trying to level up to Taitans), Death Dragons, Great Angels / Demons, but at this point you can also have your forces gaining XP. A level 02 or 03 enemy killed means just a little XP gain for your level 03 monster, but will surely increase the damage of your elementals. Each force needs just a few kills, so you can think about it. Kill both enemy masters at turn 30 (except the Wizard, of course, if you have opted by the trained Mono Pegasus strategy), and prepare yourself to Mission 7. NOTE: I have experienced a strange bug at this mission. All enemy monsters simply stopped moving, like if their movement allowance was suddenly reduced to 0. And yes, I mean ALL enemy monsters, including monsters enemy masters create. My monsters were not affected. After some tests, I found it was related to occupying the tower at coordinates 10, 63. In fact, this could make the fights much easier than they should, because you could move your monsters without any danger of having them attacked. As I was testing, however, a working strategy, I decided just to ignore this bug, by not taking the said tower. Real result: Casualties: Player: - DarkLord: 1x Caeser, 3x Crasher, 7x Hippo Griffon, 8x Mage, 8x Sky Gorgon, 4x Tricorn, Earth Elemental Wizard: 4x Amazon, 10x Black Wraith, 3x Giant, 4x Iron Golem, 3x Kraken, 1x Phoenix, Water Elemental My army after this battle: 1x Summoner, 1x Mono Pegasus (139 XP), 2x Black Wraith (XP: 45, 18), 3x Colossus (XP: 48, 8, 3), 1x Crasher (155 XP), 2x Crusader (XP: 27, 3), 6x Death Dragon (XP: 53, 45, 19, 19, 6, 4), 8x Great Angel (XP: 96, 55, 43, 33, 23, 23, 17, 14), 2x Great Demon (XP: 61, 39), 4x Silver Dragon (XP: 18, 15, 6, 4) --------- 3.2.7) Mission 7: DEATHWAR Battleground: this mission is played at a very big island. Player’s castle is at its northwestern area, among tundra and grassland hexes and near a lake of deep waters. Blue Wizard’s castle is at the northeastern area, among tundra and shallow water hexes, and near some volcanoes and mountains. The north of the island is formed by mostly tundra, and the “tundra path” connects player’s castle to the Wizard’s castle. Green DarkLord’s castle can be found at the island’s southwestern portion, among grassland hexes. If your monsters move to south from your castle, after the tundra they will find this grassland area that can be used to reach the DarkLord’s castle. Finally, the yellow Sorcerer has it castle at the island’s southeast, among dunes, forests and mountains. From this castle, to both north (path to Wizard’s castle) and west (path to DarkLord’s castle), the terrain is very hard, with lots of dunes, forests, and shallow waters. The central portion of the island is occupied by a big lake, of both deep and shallow waters, with lots of swamps and forests around. Max number of turns: 30. Blue Wizard Coordinates: 49, 06 Starting towers: 1 MP: 2000 (initial) + 100 / turn Monsters: Big Serpent, Black Wraith, Firbolg (rare), Frost Dragon, Great Demon (rare), Kraken Player (red Summoner): Coordinates: 11, 18 Starting towers: 6 MP: 200 (initial) + x / turn Green DarkLord Coordinates: 16, 52 Starting towers: 0 MP: 2000 (initial) + 100 / turn Monsters: Hydra, Iron Golem, Mage, Phoenix, Valkyrie Yellow Sorcerer Coordinates: 47, 53 Starting towers: 0 MP: 2000 (initial) + 100 / turn Monsters: Big Serpent, Crasher, Hydra, Kraken, Sirene, TwinHead Despite the name, this mission is not that difficult. The reason? The Wizard and the Sorcerer both have a strange preference for big ocean monsters (it means, Krakens and Big Serpents), which have low mobility and low protection in the hard terrain, and can’t counter-attack when attacked in long range. This, plus the fact your enemies start this mission with almost no towers, make this a really simple mission if well played. The DarkLord’s army is the single one with agile creatures (it could even outnumber and destroy the yellow army if you don’t interfere), but it isn’t so strong either, and I suggest it as your first target. Start, as always, calling your Great Angels, they will get you the towers you need. For first turn, I suggest five Angels, and two Colossus. These are to let your enemies have something more “challenging” to send their elementals against, but there is another advantage: they will be able to engage the fight against the green army at the right time. Your Death / Silver Dragons are Small Tundra creatures, and won’t have any trouble to reach that grassland path to south of your castle, so you can send your Colossus some turns earlier. Send your Angels to the central lake area and start taking towers like hell. Call more Angels or Demons, and also some Death / Silver Dragons, and send against the DarkLord. Your initial Angels can still take towers around the lake. They can even face some enemy monsters, like a green Mage, or a yellow Sirene, but nothing they can’t deal with. After, while your army defeats the DarkLord’s army, use some of these Angels to take the green towers. You can also have 1-2 Angels taking towers at the central eastern portion of the island, there are lots of towers between the blue territory and the yellow territory, and like said, most of their monsters are aquatic and shouldn’t trouble you. The fight against the DarkLord’s forces shouldn’t be hard. The Hydra is the worst monster he has, but without terrain protection, it can’t do much. Against Iron Golems, use Air or Water force, and the ranged attack of your dragons. Demons, Crusaders, Colossus and a trained Crasher (if you have any) are good options to kill Phoenixes. Mages and Valkyries are good targets for short range fights, and aren’t a problem. Soon, you can use your Angels against the DarkLord himself and weaken him. I kept him alive, providing some XP to my monsters while I sent more monsters against the other masters. Once you have enough monsters to deal with the green army, you can send to east, through that tundra path, other monsters you call, mostly Death / Silver Dragons and your Wraiths. These will attack the Wizard’s castle. Your dragons can deal easily with Krakens and Serpents. The Wraiths are useful against Frost Dragons or an eventual Firbolg, these have high protection at tundra hexes. Have two Angels with your monsters, in case the Wizard summons Black Wraiths. After controlling the green army, send exceeding Angels, Demons, Crusaders, and even some land monsters you have there to east too, against the Sorcerer. Again, a Hydra can be dangerous. Use an Angel blitzkrieg against it if you need. Your Earth force, in fact, is also very useful against Hydras. None of the Sorcerer’s other monsters can really harm your Angels in long range fights, so, yeah, an aerial attack is recommended. TwinHeads are too weak to worry about, and Crashers and big ocean monsters probably will just wait for death in small groups around the towers. The Sirene requires some patience, because it has high magical resistance, and may have a great part of his low HP healed by the Sorcerer’s magic and towers, but that’s it. Against the Wizard and the Sorcerer, just take unguarded towers, and the towers occupied by the monsters you just killed. Their armies will soon lose power and you can attack / weaken the masters. Again, you can keep them alive, so they summon more monsters to feed your army. It’s up to you. Kill all enemy masters when you are ready and let’s move to the last battle. Real result: Casualties: Player: - Wizard: 3x Big Serpent, 2x Black Wraith, 6x Frost Dragon, 7x Kraken, Water Elemental DarkLord: 2x Hydra, 4x Iron Golem, 9x Mage, 9x Phoenix, 3x Valkyrie, Earth Elemental Sorcerer: 3x Big Serpent, 3x Crasher, 1x Hydra, 5x Kraken, 6x Sirene, 4x TwinHead, Air Elemental My army after this battle: 1x Summoner, 1x Mono Pegasus (203 XP), 2x Black Wraith (XP: 91, 32), 3x Colossus (XP: 63, 15, 12), 2x Crusader (XP: 30, 6), 6x Death Dragon (XP: 106, 88, 49, 38, 22, 11), 8x Great Angel (XP: 192, 93, 65, 54, 46, 37, 32, 31), 2x Great Demon (XP: 146, 62), 4x Silver Dragon (XP: 29, 24, 17, 8), 1x Taitan (8 XP) --------- 3.2.8) Mission 8: BIGARROW Battleground: the last mission of Campaign 2 is played at a group of islands which shape seems a bit the letter “T”. Curiously, except for the green castle, there is nothing alike to an “arrow”. Player’s castle can be found in the central northern area of the main island, among some grassland and mountains. The blue Daimyou’s castle is just a few hexes to south, with dunes and towers around it. To east of your castle, there is a path of grassland and forest hexes, and following it you will reach the green DarkLord’s castle, in the easternmost area of the main island. To west of your castle, there is a narrow path of grassland, swamps, mountains and forests, surrounded by water. Following it, in the western area, you will find the yellow Wizard’s castle, lying at a small island, connected to the main island by shallow waters. There are other islands in this portion of the map, including a narrow island with six towers to south of the Wizard’s castle. Max number of turns: 38. Blue Daimyou Coordinates: 27, 43 Starting towers: 11 MP: 5000 (initial) + 100 / turn Monsters: Amazon, Colossus, Guardian, Hydra, Ice Dragon, Iron Golem, King Dragon Player (red Summoner): Coordinates: 31, 29 Starting towers: 6 MP: 200 (initial) + x / turn Green DarkLord Coordinates: 50, 25 Starting towers: 11 MP: 2500 (initial) + 100 / turn Monsters: Crasher, Fire Dragon (rare), Great Angel, Great Demon, Tricorn Yellow Wizard Coordinates: 12, 28 Starting towers: 11 MP: 2500 (initial) + 100 / turn Monsters: Big Serpent, Black Wraith, Kraken, Mono Pegasus, Phoenix, Sky Gorgon Ok, this is the last mission. And good news, it’s not the hardest one. Looking at the blue army, yeah, you can see it has dangerous monsters: the mighty King Dragon (the strongest monster in the game), plus Amazon (good damage and resistance to physical damage), Colossus (high HP, high all-or-nothing physical damage), Hydra (heat damage and terrain protection), Ice Dragon (cold damage, high HP), Iron Golem (high physical damage, high resistance to everything except cold). Good monster selection (except for the Guardians, of course), and 5000 MP, this Daimyou guy is powerful. The green army has some creatures with high resistance to magical damage, but weak in short range, like Great Angels and Great Demons, and Crashers, which, at other hand, are good for short range fights, and ridiculous for long range. Tricorns are resistant to magical damage too, but are inferior level 02 monsters. The yellow army is by far the weakest one, it has creatures with no magical resistance, and which cause no to little damage if attacked by your Angels and Demons. In fact, Mono Pegasus have high resistance to magical damage, but there is no problem, a trained Air or Water force can kill a Mono Pegasus in one fight, while receiving no damage. As you can realize, the Daimyou is your most dangerous opponent, and it’s very near to your castle. However, I suggest killing the Wizard first. At turn 01, plan how to take the maximum number of towers at turn 02. Using Again magic twice (turns 01 and 02), you can have 15 towers at end of turn 02, even if you lose the tower at coordinates 26, 38 (you probably will). To do this, you need to call mostly Angels at turn 01, as usual, but I recommend a Black Wraith to take the tower at 27, 33, and a heavy hitter, possibly a Colossus, to 30, 33. At turn 02, continue calling your flying monsters, but also call some more Wraiths / hitters. Well, you will just defend yourself against the blue army at the beginning. To do this, have your Wraiths defending the tower at 27, 33. Use Heal spell if needed, although the tower healing will be enough most times. Also, have your hitters, Colossus and Death Dragons, at those forest hexes near the “Wraith tower”. They will be injured, but you will remove them from the front and send other monsters to guard the position. There is no need to kill any enemy monster, unless the 56 limit (and other masters summoning monsters) prevents the Daimyou from summoning more. Send your flying monsters (like eight Angels and Demons, maybe Crusaders) to west and fight the yellow army. Use your elementals against Mono Pegasus, and kill anything else using magical damage. This battle is easy. Soon, you will control the situation there and take all those valuable towers. I killed the Wizard himself at turn 08. To east, take up to the tower at coordinates 40, 26, then send like two Angels to south flanking the blue territory. Soon, they will take those towers to south of the blue castle. When the Daimyou doesn’t have enough towers to summon, kill his monsters and use these Angels to take that group of three towers to northwest of his castle. At this point, your Angels and Demons should be returning from the war against the Wizard, and can also help against Guardians and the master himself. As he can always summon a dangerous monster (like a King Dragon, argh!), I suggest you use your monsters to surround the Daimyou. I managed to kill the Daimyou at turn 11. After turn 02, he was never allowed to summon anything. What about the green army? Yes, I ignored it for a bit. The DarkLord’s army reached a maximum of 12 monsters, he also had some towers to west. With the battle against the Daimyou under my control, and all the towers I got in the west, I put my Colossus and Dragons at forests or mountains just east of my castle. Some of my monsters were damaged, but I replaced them for healthy ones. At this point the DarkLord had seven towers, and I had all my army on the field. Against the DarkLord alone, you will have no problem. You shouldn’t use your Wraiths, but any other of your monsters can attack Crashers in long range and Angels or Demons in short range (I have even used my trained Mono Pegasus!), these fights will cause low damage to your monsters. After some waves of green monsters, and now with the support of your Angels (that just killed the Daimyou) you will soon reach the green castle. I could have killed the DarkLord at turn 14, but I decided to torture him for my amusement up to the last turn. This way I killed some extra monsters, too (3 Crashers, 1 Fire Dragon, 4 Great Angels, 4 Great Demons, and 4 Tricorns). You know, my monsters just love XP. And again, it’s time for the game credits! Real result: Casualties: Player: - Daimyou: 1x Amazon, 1x Colossus, 2x Guardian, 2x Hydra, 3x Ice Dragon, Fire Elemental DarkLord: 9x Crasher, 1x Fire Dragon, 6x Great Angel, 6x Great Demon, 10x Tricorn, Earth Elemental Wizard: 1x Black Wraith, 1x Kraken, 3x Mono Pegasus, 5x Sky Gorgon, Water Elemental My army after this battle: 1x Summoner, 1x Mono Pegasus (253 XP), 2x Black Wraith (XP: 100, 96), 3x Colossus (XP: 66, 34, 22), 2x Crusader (XP: 64, 24), 6x Death Dragon (XP: 126, 100, 82, 81, 80, 26), 2x Gold Dragon (XP: 2, 0), 8x Great Angel (XP: 250, 154, 105, 99, 79, 65, 63, 44), 2x Great Demon (XP: 154, 101), 2x Silver Dragon (XP: 27, 19), 1x Taitan (55 XP) ====================/ Chapter 4: SINGLE BATTLES – MASTERS /==================== When playing the campaigns, you aren’t able to choose which master you are going to use. However, if you are going to play single battles, you should consider strong and weak points of each master. There is not much to consider about the masters as monsters themselves. All masters are level 03 creatures, have 100 HP, cause low physical damage during short range fights, but high magical damage at long range, are immune to magic and forces. All masters have movement allowance 03, Master type. Each master, except for the Summoner, which has 50% resistance to all damage, is more vulnerable to a specific damage type: Daimyou to cold, Wizard to heat, Sorcerer to physical and DarkLord to magical damage. What really makes the difference is which monsters / force / spells a master has available. This is what we will consider in this section. But before doing it, I will share the criteria I have used to classify the monsters: ================================================ |Criteria \ Monster Lv | Lv 01 | Lv 02 | Lv 03 | ------------------------------------------------ | Low | 12-36 | 24-45 | 36-59 | |HP Medium | 37-44 | 46-60 | 60-79 | | HigH | 45-73 | 61-83 | 80-110| ------------------------------------------------ | Low | 02-14 | 04-21 | 08-30 | |Total Damage Medium | 15-19 | 22-27 | 31-35 | | High | 20-24 | 28-36 | 36-40 | ------------------------------------------------ | Low | 00-20 | 00-30 | 00-40 | |Resistances Medium | 30-40 | 40-50 | 50-60 | | High | 50-Im | 60-Im | 70-Im | ================================================ NOTES: - The criteria expressed on the table above are personal, and are based on my game experience, as on comparisons of monsters of same level as a group. For this comparison exercise, I didn’t consider forces, masters and AI exclusive monsters (these are supposed to be more powerful than other monsters of same level). Level 04 monsters were also ignored (it’s a waste of time creating a class for two monsters only). - Although there is no “science” on these numbers, I tried to create some “valid data”. As most monsters aren’t supposed to be equally efficient for both ranges, I got just the highest "damage per hit x number of hits" value of each monster and created a medium damage value for each level. Medium damage is 15.13 for level 01 monsters, 23.91 for level 02, and 36.12 for level 03. - Yes, medium value should be at medium class for an attribute, but still, most level 01 should be weak, while most level 03 should be strong, in my opinion. - Total damage considers "damage per hit x number of hits" for any given monster, at any range. - About damage, level 03 is much more homogenous than other levels, and not only because it has less monsters. A lot of monsters are around the medium value or slightly higher, while a few (like Sky Gorgon and Firbolg) bring the stat down. - I have also calculated medium HP value: for level 01, it’s 37.75; for level 02, the value is 51.61; for level 03, it’s 70.59. - About resistances, “Im” means immunity (all damage reduced to 01 per hit). ------------------ 4.1) Daimyou --------- 4.1.1) Monsters Dragon (Daimyou) > Flame Dragon > Fire Dragon > King Dragon Dragons are usually good level 01 monsters, and because of this, they are more expensive them most monsters. Daimyou’s Dragon costs 26 MP. 40 HP and 05 movement allowance (Fire Land type) is just ok, but damage they cause is higher than most level 01, and they also have a ranged attack, being able to gain XP for no damage against several enemies. They need 48 XP, three kills, to level up. The Flame Dragon is an good monster, it has ok HP (51) HP, medium to high damage for both short range and long range, 06 movement allowance and good resistance to heat damage. 60 HP needed to have it evolving again is surely a lot, but the Fire Dragon is a powerful monster, as we can say after playing the first campaign: medium to high HP, great damage and high resistance to heat. I really doubt you are able to have a Dragon leveling up to level 04 on a single battle, but anyway, the King Dragon it’s the most powerful monster in the game. Roman > Carthago > Caeser The Roman is a weak, generic level 01 monster. Low HP, low damage, 05 movement allowance, Small Land type. It costs 12 MP. The good point is that it requires just 26 XP to evolve, so two kills are enough. The Carthago is also not that great, its damage a bit low, as its HP (44) and resistances, but again, it requires just 38 XP to evolve. It also has 06 movement allowance. The Caeser is a much better monster: medium HP (62), 40% resistance to physical and magical damage, good damage, and terrain protection of Small Land monsters. Loc > Phoenix The Loc is another weak monster, low damage and HP, but being a High Sky monster with a 10 movement allowance (fastest monster in the game) makes it a very efficient tower taker. It costs 26 MP, and requires 36 XP to evolve, two kills plus some fights. Evolving, it becomes a Phoenix, creature of Fire Sky type (can pass through volcanoes), with 09 movement allowance. The damage the Phoenix causes is low for short range and just ok for long range, but hey, it’s free damage! Every time it survives a fight, it will get its low HP (24) replenished, and this is enough for never get the Phoenix killed by most level 01 monsters, and a lot of level 02. The Phoenix is also immune to heat damage. Although a Phoenix may cause havoc among enemy level 01 monsters, it’s important to mention that it can be killed by elementals (except Fire) or level 03 monsters easily most times. Phoenixes are useless against masters, for example. Troll > Giant > Colossus The Troll is another weak, generic level 01 monster. 40 HP is ok, but the damage is low, the movement allowance is 04, and the type is Big Land, making it easier to hit. It costs 18 MP, and requires 46 XP (three kills) to evolve to Giant. The Giant is an ok monster, easy to hit, but with a very good HP amount for level 02 (75 HP), 05 movement allowance and ok damage for short range, a bit low for long range. It needs 48 XP to evolve to Colossus. The Colossus is a very good monster, still easy to hit and almost no damage resistance to damage, but 06 movement allowance, a very high HP (110), and great damage, all-or- nothing style. Marmaid > Sirene The Marmaid is an expendable monster, a good cannon fodder if you have enough water hexes to use it. Marmaid costs 13 MP, and is a Small Ocean monster, with 05 movement allowance. The good point is the long range attack, which causes great damage, considering it’s a level 01 cheap monster. Bad part: very low HP (26), almost no resistances, and negligible damage for short range. It needs 39 XP to evolve (two kills and some fights, or three kills). The Sirene, level 02, has more HP (45), 50-60% resistance to all damage types, and causes more damage, beyond having 06 movement allowance. Serpent > Big Serpent The Serpent is the most expensive level 01 creature, it costs 81 MP. It’s more expensive than several level 02 monsters AI uses in the campaigns. The reason: the Serpent is strong like a level 02. Surely, no ranged attacks, but good damage for short range, very high HP for a level 01, and good mobility in deep water hexes, beyond superb terrain protection in these hexes. It needs 98 XP to evolve to Big Serpent, six kills and a couple of fights, but considering that it is easier to get XP at level 01, it would correspond to like 50 XP if it was a real level 02, so it’s ok. The level 02 Big Serpent has HP and damage compared to level 03 monsters, and 08 movement allowance. These monsters are great, if you are in need of aquatic monsters. Chimera > Sphinx The Chimera is another generic level 01 monster, and costs 20 MP. Ok HP, low damage, 05 movement allowance, Low Sky type (easy to hit). It has, however, 30% resistance to all damage. Once it gets 40 XP (two to three kills), it evolves to a Sphinx. The Sphinx has 40% resistance to all damage, 06 movement allowance, Fire Sky type. Its HP is ok (60), as its damage for short range, but its damage for long range fights is very low. --------- 4.1.2) Magic and Force The Shield magic doesn’t seem that useful, but it is, in fact. Not that much for the Campaign 1, there you have monsters (Great Angels) that can be used to kill enemy masters easily, and your enemies also don’t use spells like Mind on your monsters. But for single battles it is useful. If you are playing against the AI, it can be used to protect your monster against the enemy master it is attacking, because his hit chance will drop to 10%. Note that you don’t have in your army a monster with a very high magical resistance (like a Great Angel or Great Demon), and the highest you have, the Sirene, has a very low HP. But this magic may be even more useful if you are playing a multiplayer battle. A human player can use negative spells on your monsters, like Mind or Sleep, so protecting one of them against these can be the better use for your magic. The Storm magic is more useful in the campaign, you can use it to remove those pesky Guardians form the enemy castle, or to transform the 7th mission in a cakewalk, for example. For single battles, it’s still useful, and even more on small maps like FIRELAND and NEAR. Move those land monsters to the ocean, where they can do nothing. Even if the monsters don’t fall in the ocean, the enemy army will need time to regroup, and lonely monsters will make good targets for your troops. You can also open your path to the enemy master, when going for a kill, or just storm any enemies coming to your own master. The Daimyou controls the Fire Force. It causes heat damage, and is very resistant to heat damage. It has no resistance to other damage types. Good targets are monsters with low terrain protection (like land monsters on grassland hexes and flying monsters), low heat resistance and that don’t counter-attack, or do it using heat attacks. Examples of good targets: Mono Pegasus, Hippo Griffon, Sky Dragon, Air Dragon. --------- 4.1.3) Conclusion The Daimyou is the single master that can’t use Angels or Demons, this looks plain wrong to me, and is a serious disadvantage, once these are the best monsters to kill enemy masters, beyond being very good monsters. His tower taker, the Loc, is better than the Pegasus in both levels 01 (it’s faster) and 02 (it can be used to fight against lots of enemies without any need of healing). He also has two options of aquatic monsters: the cheap and expendable Marmaid (can even be used in great numbers to weaken enemy masters), and the expensive Serpent, which is faster than the Octopus. Daimyou’s army has good heat damage sources, Fire Dragons, Phoenixes (the damage is not that great, but they cause free damage to weak enemies), beyond the Fire Force. High physical damage is available too, with Serpents by the ocean, Caesers and Colossus by the land, beyond the Fire Dragon, for short range only. Magical damage is a weak point, his best monster is the Sirene, but it has limited use on some maps, as an aquatic monster, while the Sphinx deals low damage. Daimyou’s troops have no source of cold damage. About damage resistance, Fire Dragons and Phoenixes, as the Force, have high resistance to heat, but there are not truly resistant monsters to physical, magical or cold damage. The Sirene has some resistance to all, but this just helps to compensate its low HP and, like said, this monster is aquatic and is useful in specific situations. The Storm magic is a beast, but the Shield magic just decreases the problem created by the lack of Angels (unless you are playing a multiplayer battle). The Fire Force is not the most versatile, too. As you see, Daimyou’s army lacks diversity. This problem would be much smaller if he was able to use Angels, at least. ------------------ 4.2) Wizard --------- 4.2.1) Monsters Demon > Arch Demon > Great Demon The Demon costs 34 MP. It has low damage and low HP, and some magical resistance. Its movement type is Low Sky, and as an agile monster (move allowance 07), it can even be used to take towers (some terrain types, like tundra, shallow waters and dunes won’t be a problem). Easy to hit, but this problem is reduced by the fact it will be used for long range fights, and won’t be counter-attacked against most level 01 enemies. It requires 55 XP to level up (three to four kills). As Arch Demon, its move allowance increases to 08, and its damage is doubled. For long range, it’s a ok damage. Its resistances also increase, but the low HP (44) remains as a weak point. Again, a lot of XP is needed to level up (57). The level 03 Great Demon becomes a Sky creature, and is able to move more easily. It also has increased damage (low for short range, good for long range), medium HP (66) and some resistances, including a good 70% resistance to magical damage. An excellent monster. Dragon (Wizard) > Sky Dragon > Air Dragon Wizard’s Dragon is, as usual, a good level 01 monster, with damage above average, but no ranged attack. Ok HP (42), and move allowance 06, Fire Land type. The Dragon needs 48 XP, three enemy kills, to level up. The level 02 Sky Dragon, as its name suggests, can fly. It’s a Fire Sky creature, with movement allowance 07. Agile, but not that strong. Its damage is a bit low, as its resistances and HP (48), even worse for a monster which can be hit easily. With 53 XP, it becomes an Air Dragon, 08 movement allowance, high damage for both short and long ranges, high HP (96), but still easy to hit, and having low damage resistance. Warrior > Attacker > Crasher > Taitan The Warrior costs 12 MP, and is a generic, weak level 01 monster: low damage, HP and no resistances, plus 05 move allowance, Small Land type. However, it levels up easily, just two kills are needed to become an Attacker. The Attacker is also not that powerful, ok damage for short range, but no attacks for long range, HP just ok (48), and still move allowance 05. The Attacker will turn into a Crasher after getting 40 XP. Not that great. Good damage for short range, but very low damage for long range, ok HP (63) and low resistances. At least, the movement is increased to 06. I really don’t imagine myself having a Taitan at a single battle, it’s a lot of XP. Pegasus > Mono Pegasus The Pegasus is a tower taker worse than the Loc. It fights equally bad, but it’s much slower, having movement allowance 07, Sky type. Its HP is low, but, as a small advantage, it has 60% magical resistance. It costs 18 MP, and requires 36 XP to level up (like the Loc), so, two kills and some fights. As a Mono Pegasus, it’s a better tower taker, as it has allowance 09, High Sky type, but still worse than a Phoenix: the damage is ok for short range, but no attacks for long range fights, and just 42 HP, without the Phoenix’s auto-healing. Good 80% magical resistance, but this isn’t really that helpful, because the Mono Pegasus can’t attack enemies in long range, so this serves for merely defensive purposes. Something positive is its high number of attacks: with enough XP, it can cause really high damage. Cyclops > IceGiant > Firbolg The Cyclops, as its level 02 and 03, is a Big Tundra monster, easy to hit at most terrain types. It has 46 HP and no damage resistance. Its damage is ok for level 01, all-or-nothing style, and its move allowance is 05. It costs 19 MP, and needs 46 XP, three level 01 kills, to level up. The IceGiant is very alike to the normal Giant, good HP (68), 05 movement allowance, ok damage for short range, a bit low damage for long range, 48 XP needed to reach level 03. The level 03 Firbolg is a good monster, high HP (86), ok damage (cold damage for long range), movement 06 and some resistance to heat and cold. Wraith > Dark Wraith > Black Wraith The Wraiths are some of the most useful monsters. The level 01 is crappy, costs 10 MP, but very low damage, HP (12), and even movement allowance (03, Low Sky type). Good points are very low XP required to level up (18 XP, one kill plus two fights), and 70% resistance to all damage except magical (this helps it to survive, most hits from level 01 monsters will cause 03 damage). Level 02, for one kill, has double HP (24), double damage, 04 movement allowance, and 80% resistance to all damage, except magical. Again, just 18 XP required to level up, so for three level 01 kills and some fights, you can have your level 03 monster. Level 03 has 36 HP, still low, but 90% resistance to all damage, except magical (most non-magical hits it receive will cause 01 or 02 damage). Its damage is ok for long range, magical type, and it has 05 movement allowance. Surely, a great blocker for enemy creatures. Octopus > Kraken The Octopus is pretty much another version for the Serpent, and so it’s strong like a level 02. Also a Big Ocean monster, it also has good HP (65), good damage for short range (no ranged attacks), and requires a lot of XP to make it to level 02 (86 XP, five to six kills). It costs 74 MP, being also expensive, and its real disadvantage when compared to the Serpent is the movement allowance, 06 (Serpents have 07). The Kraken, level 02, is also very alike to the Big Serpent, but has a bit smaller damage, a bit smaller HP (75), and a movement allowance 07 (Big Serpents have 08). Griffon > Hippo Griffon The Griffon is a bit better than the average level 01 monster. Ok damage for level 01, ok HP (42), and some agility: 06 movement allowance, Low Sky type. It costs 22 MP, and requires 42 XP to level up, three kills. The Hippo Griffon is a solid monster for level 02. 65 HP is good, as 08 movement allowance, Sky type. It has some resistance to physical damage (30%), and its damage is ok for short range (a bit low, heat type, for long range fights). --------- 4.2.2) Magic and Force The Stone magic is completely useless if you are playing a single player battle. Against the AI, you can use the Sleep magic, which costs 10 MP less than Stone, because the AI will never use the Awaken spell. Even for a multiplayer battle, Stone is almost useless. This because the best effect of Sleep / Stone is not preventing the master from moving its monster, but making the monster unable to counter-attack. If the Sleep is countered by Awaken, the master can use the monster, but it was already attacked during enemy turns, and couldn’t counter-attack. The First magic may have its uses, like allow and injured monster to escape from enemies, or help your monster to reach a tower before the enemy, allowing it to get tower healing while fighting. However, it’s not a very important magic. The Wizard controls the Water Force. It causes cold damage, and is very resistant to cold, but has no resistance against other damage types. Its perfect target is a monster that doesn’t have high terrain protection, nor cold resistance, and that can’t counter-attack, or use cold attacks to do it. Examples of good targets: Mono Pegasus, Dark Dragon, Death Dragon, Iron Golem. --------- 4.2.3) Conclusion Although his tower taker, the Pegasus, is worse than the Loc, and his aquatic monster, the Octopus, is also a bit worse than the Serpent, the Wizard’s troops are much more versatile than Daimyou’s ones. For long range fights, the Wizard has creatures that deal ok / good magical damage (Great Demon, Black Wraith), as heat damage (Air Dragon) and cold damage (Firbolg, Water Force). Physical damage, however, is high only at short range (Air Dragon, Crasher, Firbolg, Kraken). Blocking enemy attacks is also possible. The Black Wraith is the best blocker in game, as you can check playing the 2nd campaign. Beyond being easy to get (very low XP required), it can block three types of damage without any problem, and has magical attacks itself, being able to hit enemies which have terrain protection. Wraiths can’t stand against magical damage, but the Wizard has Demons available, which have high magical resistance and can be used to kill enemy masters. Mono Pegasus also have high magical resistance, while the Water Force is resistant to cold. It’s worth mentioning that even the Griffon can be used, the level 02 Hippo Griffon is a good and fighting tower taker, if you manage to have it. Wizard’s spells aren’t that great, Stone being a dead magic, and First being situational. The Water Force, like Fire, is also not that versatile. The Wizard’s army has much more variety than Daimyou’s, and is able to deal all damage types efficiently. It has Demons, good against masters, and Wraiths, very powerful monsters for single battles, and even more due to the low XP necessary to get it to level 03. ------------------ 4.3) Sorcerer --------- 4.3.1) Monsters Angel > Arch Angel > Great Angel The Angel costs 36 MP, has low damage and HP (30), 06 movement allowance, Low Sky type. Good points, ranged attacks and 50% resistance to magical damage. It needs 67 XP to evolve, four kills and some fights. The necessary XP is high, but the Arch Angel is a very good monster: good HP (62), ok damage for long range, 07 movement allowance, and higher resistances. It needs 49 XP to reach level 03, and then it becomes a Great Angel, one of most useful monsters in game. With 08 movement, Sky type, it can be used to take towers, but usually it will be used to fight, as it has high long range damage and a superb 90% resistance to magical damage. Great Angels can defeat masters without a problem, as you can realize playing the campaigns. However, it has just ok HP (60), and low resistance to other damage types. Dragon (Sorcerer) > Frost Dragon > Ice Dragon > King Dragon The Ice Dragon lineage is very alike to the Fire Dragon lineage, with three major differences: their movement type is Small Tundra instead of Fire Land; they cause cold damage instead of heat in long range fights; they are resistant to cold instead of heat. So, the level 01 Dragon is better than most level 01 monsters, causing a bit higher damage and having a long range attack. The level 02 Frost Dragon is a solid monster for its level, having ok HP (51), damage for both ranges and cold resistance. Finally, the level 03 Ice Dragon is a cold beast: high HP (88), ok damage for short range, great damage for long range, and superb cold resistance. There is also the chance of evolving to a mighty King Dragon, but this is unlikely, during a single battle. Soldier > Fighter > Crusader The Soldier costs 12 MP and is another generic level 01, low HP (34), damage, resistances, but is a bit faster: 06 movement allowance, Small Land type. It needs just 24 XP to level up, so two kills are enough. The Fighter has ok HP (46), but its damage is a bit low. However, it’s an even faster monster, 07 movement allowance, Low Sky type. The XP required to level up is 35, not that high, and it will become a Crusader. Again, fast (it has now Sky movement type) but not that powerful. Medium HP (70) and low resistances for a flying (easy to hit) monster. Short range damage is good, but for long range is low. Can work as a fighting tower taker. Loc > Phoenix Described at section 14.1.A. Both Loc and Phoenix are very fast flying monsters, and can be used to take towers. The Phoenix can also fight, as its auto-healing makes it invincible for several enemies. Troll > Giant > Colossus Described at section 14.1.A. The troll is slow and weak. The Giant is ok and has a lot of HP, and ok damage for short range fights. The Colossus has even more HP and causes massive damage for both short range and long range, a great tank, despite low resistances. Marmaid > Sirene Described at section 14.1.A. Aquatic monsters. The Marmaid is cheap and can be used as cannon fodder, having great long range damage for a level 01. The Sirene is a solid monster, has ok damage for long range, and good resistances that compensate the low HP, but I usually would prefer the Serpents. Serpent > Big Serpent Described at section 14.1.A. Aquatic monsters, too. No ranged attacks, but lots of HP, movement, and damage for short range. Level 01 Serpent is strong like a level 02, and level 02 Big Serpent is strong like a level 03. However, MP cost and XP needed to level up are very high. Unicorn > Tricorn The Unicorn costs 20 MP. It has low damage and low HP, but also 06 movement allowance, Small Land type, and 40% resistance to magical damage. It needs 32 XP (two kills) to level up to a Tricorn. Low XP needed, but the Tricorn is a weak monster. Medium to low HP (48), low damage, especially for long range. It has 07 movement allowance, and 60% resistance to magical (20% to heat and cold), but yet, not a monster I would recommend. --------- 4.3.2) Magic and Force Quick is a very weak magic. Its target gets and additional attack (for short or long range, if available) this turn. Doesn’t even remain active during enemy turns until your next turn. Seriously? One more attack? The Again spell costs 10 more MP, but I can move my monster again, choose another target, have all its attacks twice. The single advantage of Quick, beyond 10 MP, is that your monster won’t be counter-attacked during a second fight. It can be used on creatures that have a single attack, like a Colossus, if you would use Again to fight the same enemy twice. Refresh, at other hand, is a very useful spell. Full HP for any monster? I would love having it during the campaigns. Heal doesn’t help that much if you need to get a Colossus or Dragon in action really soon. The Sorcerer controls the Air Force. It causes cold damage, and has medium resistance against cold and magical damage. Its perfect targets are monsters that don’t have high terrain protection, nor high resistance to cold damage, and that don’t counter-attack or do it using cold or magical attacks. Examples of good targets: Mono Pegasus, Arch Angel, Crasher, Dark Dragon, Iron Golem, Tricorn. --------- 4.3.3) Conclusion The Sorcerer’s army is a lot alike the Daimyou’s army, with the clear difference that he can use Angels, a nice advantage. About tower takers and aquatic monsters, the Sorcerer has, as the Daimyou, the best options available, Loc and Serpent, respectively. For long range, the Sorcerer has great sources of magical (Great Angels), physical (Colossus) and cold damage (Ice Dragon, Air Force). About heat damage, if he doesn’t get a King Dragon, his single source is the Phoenix. For short range, the Sorcerer surely has some hitters, Big Serpent, Ice Dragon and Colossus, the tank. About resistances, the Sorcerer has good blockers for magical damage (Great Angel) and cold (Ice Dragon). Of course, the Phoenix is immune to heat damage, but it’s not a reliable blocker, depending on the attacker (Phoenix can be destroyed by most level 03 monsters). While Quick is a dead magic, Refresh takes the Sorcerer to a new healing level, when compared to other masters. The Air elemental is more versatile than Fire or Water, because it has two resistances and can be used against more monsters. Also consider that magical damage is the most common damage type for long range battles. As you see, Sorcerer’s troops have more versatility than Daimyou’s, but yet, less than Wizard’s. The Sorcerer has, however, better monsters for specific jobs, and better magic and Force, if compared to the Wizard. ------------------ 4.4) DarkLord --------- 4.4.1) Monsters Demon > Arch Demon > Great Demon Described at section 14.2.A. Level 01 Demon is fast, has ranged magical attacks and some magical resistance, but it’s not powerful. Level 02 Arch Demon is even faster, has more HP (although still low) and ok damage for long range. Level 03 Great Demon has Sky movement type, and can be used to attack towers. Also, it has ok HP, great damage for long range and high magical resistance. Dragon (DarkLord) > Dark Dragon > Death Dragon DarkLord’s Dragon is, as all level 01 Dragons, an ok monster: although it has no attack for long range, causes high damage for a level 01 at short range, has ok HP (42) and 05 movement allowance, Small Tundra type. It costs 22 MP and needs 48 XP (three kills) to level up. The level 02, Dark Dragon, is also a good monster. It has medium to high HP (56), causes good damage at short range and its movement allowance is 06. Weak points are the low long range damage and 60 XP required to the third level. The Death Dragon, level 03, is also good monster, with high HP (90) and very good short range damage. The ranged damage is not that high, but the number of attacks helps it to increase quickly with XP gained. It also has some low resistances to all damage types. Lizard > TwinHead > Hydra The Lizard is a very weak monster, for the cost of 10 MP. Low HP (30), very low damage, almost no resistances, movement allowance 05. Its advantage, like its levels 02 and 03, is the high mobility. Its movement type is Dune, so it can pass through deserts, rock terrain and forests at cost of 01 from the movement allowance, while getting high protection. Other terrain types also have usually a smaller cost to enter them. The Lizard needs 24 XP (two kills) to become a TwinHead, another weak monster. TwinHead’s HP is just ok (48), and it’s immune to heat damage, but other resistances are almost non-existent, and its damage is very very low. Getting 48 XP, it evolves to a Hydra. Its HP is just ok (60), it has same resistances and movement allowance the TwinHead has, but the Hydra gets something new: damage. Its damage is ok for short range, and good heat damage for long range battles. Pegasus > Mono Pegasus Described at section 14.2.A. Both levels 01 and 02 have low HP. Pegasus damage is low while Mono Pegasus damage is just ok. Both have high resistance to magical damage, and are fast monsters, that can be used to take towers. Cyclops > IceGiant > Firbolg Described at section 14.2.A. All these monsters have good HP, which helps to compensate their Big Tundra type (they are usually easy to hit). All cause ok damage, all-or-nothing style, at short range. For long range Firbolg’s damage is ok. The Firbolg also has some cold and heat resistance. Wraith > Dark Wraith > Black Wraith Described at section 14.2.A. These monsters are essentially used to block enemy creatures, because they have very high resistance to all damage, except magical. Their HP and damage is always low, except for the Black Wraith’s long range damage, which is ok. A very positive aspect is, they require very low XP to reach level 03. Octopus > Kraken Described at section 14.2.A. Octopus and Kraken are chaotic versions of the neutral Serpent and Big Serpent. They are also strong like level 02 and level 03 monsters, respectively, but are a bit slower than the Serpents. MP cost and XP to level up are very high. Minotaur > Gorgon > Sky Gorgon The Minotaur is another typical weak level 01 creature. HP is ok (38), but the damage is low, as resistances, and movement allowance is 05, Small Land type. It costs 17 XP and requires 32 XP (two enemies killed) to advance to level 02. The level 02 Gorgon has something low HP (45), and causes just ok damage. The Gorgon can fly, it’s a Low Sky monster with 06 movement allowance. It needs 34 XP to become a Sky Gorgon, by far the weakest of all level 03 monsters. It’s agile, 07 movement allowance, Sky type, but damage for both ranges, as its HP, are low for a level 03. Resistances also don’t help too much: just 50% to physical damage, and nothing else. --------- 4.4.2) Magic and Force Reverse is a very good magic for its moderate cost. It reverses the time of day order (that should be extremely power consuming to do in real life). As the DarkLord controls mostly chaotic creatures, this magic should be used during a rising sun turn for the first time, so next turn is a moon turn instead of a sun turn, giving a damage bonus for chaotic monsters. Look, you also avoid a damage penalty. At a sun turn, an Octopus (for example) would get a 25% damage penalty, dealing 06 damage per hit, but instead of it, your monster will get a 25% bonus, dealing 10 damage per hit. From 06 to 10, this is a 67% increase. And same goes for other chaotic monsters, for a mere 30 MP. Then, next rising moon turn, you can use Reverse again, to return the day order to its normal and get a moon turn again. That’s an infinite night, perfect for DarkLord’s chaotic troops. But remember it’s a magic to be used to get a fight advantage (you shouldn’t use it if there are no important fights to happen), and it will also affect enemy monsters (so better be fighting against lawful monsters, or having the battle under your control before using it). The Confuse magic, at other hand takes control over an enemy monster until end of turn. This effect can be interesting, but at cost of 70 MP, better use it cautiously. Also, usually it doesn’t help taking control over weak monsters, so this spell is very situational. It’s also a bit buggy, so I usually ignore it. The DarkLord controls the Earth Force. It causes magical damage, and has medium resistance against heat and magical damage. This is the most versatile elemental, because it uses magical attacks, so it can efficiently hit monsters with high terrain protection, and also has protection against two types of damage. A perfect target for this force is a monster that don’t have high resistance to magical damage, and that don’t counter-attack, or do it using heat or magical attacks. Examples of good targets: Black Wraith, Crasher, Hippo Griffon, Hydra, Sky Dragon, Sky Gorgon. --------- 4.4.3) Conclusion The DarkLord’s army is a lot alike to the army of the other chaotic master, the Wizard. Five out of eight monsters are identical. For the jobs of tower taker and aquatic forces, the DarkLord has the same monsters available to the Wizard: Pegasus and Octopus, respectively. As mentioned, I think that Loc and Serpent are better options. About dealing damage in long range fights, DarkLord’s monsters can deal good magical damage (Great Demons, Black Wraiths, and the Earth Force, while the Sky Gorgon deals lower damage). The Hydra can deal high heat damage, while the Firbolg deals cold damage (Death Dragon also deals cold damage, but it’s lower). DarkLord’s army can’t deal physical damage at long range, but for short range the Death Dragon is superb, while Hydra, Firbolg and Kraken are ok. About blocking enemies, the DarkLord has the best blockers in game to use: Wraiths. Level 03 Wraiths are easy to have (they require very low XP), and may block physical, heat and cold attacks, taking very little damage. The Hydra is immune to heat damage, as its level 02, TwinHead. Against magical attacks, Great Demons can be used. Mono Pegasus also have good resistance to magical damage. Reverse spell can be used to have all your army (except neutral monsters) getting damage bonus instead of damage penalty, as it changes turns order. While Reverse magic is good (at least, if you are facing lawful masters), Confuse is very expensive and still situational. It’s not worthy to use it unless you have a great target. The Earth Force is the most versatile, as it doesn’t need to target monsters with low terrain protection. DarkLord’s forces are very alike to Wizard’s ones. But, they still include the “all terrain” Hydra, an extra level 03 monster (the Sky Gorgon, although it’s not that powerful), and the best elemental force available. The DarkLord is the most complete master, if we consider the available monsters. ------------------ 4.5) Summoner --------- 4.5.1) Monsters Angel > Arch Angel > Great Angel Described at section 14.3.A. All these monsters have high magical resistance. The Angel is just a weak monster with ranged attacks. The level 02 Arch Angel is a bit faster and has high HP and ok damage for long range. The level 03, Great Angel, is a very powerful monster: high magical damage, ok HP, 08 move allowance (Sky type), beyond superb magical resistance. Demon > Arch Demon > Great Demon Described at section 14.2.A. Level 01 Demon is fast, has ranged magical attacks and some magical resistance, but it’s not powerful. Level 02 Arch Demon is even faster, has more HP (although still low) and ok damage for long range. Level 03 Great Demon has Sky movement type, and can be used to attack towers. Also, it has ok HP, great damage for long range and high magical resistance. Dragon (Summoner) > Silver Dragon / Gold Dragon As always, Summoner’s Dragon is an ok level 01. Costing 24 MP, it has good HP (46), ok damage for short range, a weak attack for long range, and 05 movement allowance, Fire Land type. It needs a lot of XP to level up (78, five enemy kills), but it doesn’t evolve to level 02 like most monsters. It evolves directly to the level 03 Silver Dragon, a good monster. The Silver Dragon has 07 move allowance, Small Tundra type, ok HP (70), good damage for short range, ok cold damage for long range, and some resistances to physical, magical and cold. After getting 30 XP, the Silver Dragon changes to the Gold Dragon form, which is very alike, but has Fire Land as movement type, uses heat attacks to fight at long range, and is resistant to heat, not cold. Each 30 XP this versatile creature will alternate between Silver Dragon and Gold Dragon forms. Lizard > TwinHead > Hydra Described at section 14.4.A. Monsters of Dune type, these have high mobility and protection from most terrain types. The Lizard is a very weak monster. The TwinHead, level 02, is also not powerful, having ok HP but very low damage. It’s immune to heat damage, though. The Hydra causes high damage and has ok HP, beyond the heat immunity. Pegasus > Mono Pegasus Described at section 14.2.A. Both levels 01 and 02 have low HP. Pegasus damage is low while Mono Pegasus damage is just ok. Both have high resistance to magical damage, and are fast monsters, that can be used to take towers. Golem > Stone Golem > Iron Golem The level 01 Golem is a slow and easy to hit monster: 04 movement allowance, Big Land type. It has low HP (30), ok damage, immunity to magical damage and some resistance to other damage types. It costs 20 MP and needs 45 XP (three kills) to level up. Once it levels up to Stone Golem, it will still have low HP (35), but resistances against physical and heat damage will increase a lot. The Stone Golem causes ok damage and is a bit faster: its movement allowance is 05. Again, it requires 45 XP to reach the level 03. As an Iron Golem, its HP is still low (40), but again the resistances will increase, and we can say this is a monster vulnerable just to cold damage (and damage from spells, like the Mind spell). It causes great damage in short range fights, and is the single level 03 creature without any long range attacks, but yet, a great blocker. Serpent > Big Serpent Described at section 14.1.A. Aquatic monsters. No ranged attacks, but lots of HP, movement, and damage for short range. Level 01 Serpent is strong like a level 02, and level 02 Big Serpent is strong like a level 03. However, MP cost and XP needed to level up are very high. --------- 4.5.2) Magic and Force The Typhoon magic is a dead spell to me. It causes damage to all creatures, including your monsters, that aren’t at a fortress or tower hex. Yeah, it damages your monsters. Plus, the damage caused is low, like 05 HP or less, and the damage dealt to enemies will be nullified when the AI casts Heal All spell (AI does it all the time). It’s like “pay 30 MP and waste your magic this turn to cause damage to your monsters only”. The Heal Area magic, however, may be useful. It restores a medium amount of HP to your monsters that are in tower hexes. Other monsters get no heal, but monsters that are in towers receive a greater heal compared to what they would get if you use Heal All. So, if your monsters that need healing are at towers, you can use this magic. In fact, I have used it a few times while playing Campaign 2. Anyway, it’s a situational magic. Summoner controls all elemental forces: Fire, Water, Air and Earth. This is a nice advantage. Not only she has four HP bars to use, she can choose the most adequate force to use against the target. If the target has high terrain protection, I first consider using the Earth force. If it’s not good against that target (because it has high magical resistance or the force is already severely damaged), I consider other options. If the target doesn’t have high terrain protection (or I decided for not using Earth), its resistances and damage type are the criteria I use to choose the force. Anyway, having all forces available, other masters can’t compare to Summoner’s versatility. --------- 4.5.3) Conclusion Well, Summoner’s troops include both Angels and Demons. Yes, this is a lot redundant (and makes Daimyou jealous, I bet). Other than these, she controls only neutral monsters. Her tower taker option is the Pegasus, which I think is worse than the Loc. Her option for aquatic monster, however, is the Serpent, the best aquatic monster in my opinion. Summoner’s army includes monsters that cause, for long range, ok (or better) magical damage (Great Angel and Great Demon, Earth Force), heat damage (Hydra, Gold Dragon, Fire Force), or cold damage (Silver Dragon, Water Force, Air Force). Summoner’s Dragon can alternate between two forms, one that deals cold damage, and other that deals heat damage, but it can be hard to have it in the form you need. For dealing damage in short range, both level 03 Dragons are good options, as the Iron Golem, Big Serpent, or even the Hydra. About blocking enemy attacks, Great Angels, Great Demons and Mono Pegasus have high resistance to magical damage, while the Hydra is immune to heat. Her best blocker, however, is the Iron Golem, which has high resistance against physical and heat, and is immune to magical damage. The Silver Dragon is the single monster with ok resistance to cold, but again, controlling its form can be hard: it can change to Gold Dragon (resistant to heat) while you use it. Worthy mention that Fire and Water forces are also very resistant to heat and cold, respectively. Summoner’s exclusive spells aren’t that great, Typhoon being a dead magic, and Heal Area being very situational. Having control over all elementals, however, is a great advantage, as she can choose the best force against a specific target. Despite the redundancy of having Angels and Demons, Summoner’s troops aren’t weak. She has Serpents (best aquatic monsters), Golems (excellent blockers), Hydras (that can move easily through most terrains), and a nice Dragon that needs a lot of XP but evolves directly to level 03 and alternates through two forms. Having control over all forces just adds diversity to this powerful army. ==============================/ Chapter 5: MORE /============================== ------------------ 5.1) FAQ – Frequently asked questions Q: Why to create a guide for an old Genesis game? A: I love this game, and I was nostalgic about it. I had fun replaying those campaigns. Also, I couldn’t find a good guide on the net, so I decided to write one myself. Q: Which monster is the most powerful? A: Surely, the level 04 King Dragon. Normal mobility and resistances, but highest HP and highest damage in game, beyond a nice name. “Is it invincible?” - you may ask. Of course, it’s not. For example, it can’t defeat, alone, a Black Wraith on a tower. Q: Which monster is the weakest one? A: There are several weak level 01 monsters, but if I would choose one of them as the weakest one, I would say that this monster is the Lizard. Q: Which monster is your favorite for each level? A: I usually don’t consider a monster for its lower levels, just for its highest level, and so it’s hard finding something special about level 01 monsters. I believe the Marmaid is the level 01 that has something special: a high magical damage for long range. And it’s cheap (13 MP), so it’s possible use Marmaids as powerful cannon fodders (for example, I had a strategy for CAMP-2 level that had lots of Marmaids attacking the DarkLord, and it worked pretty well). For level 02, I like the most the Phoenix (great mobility and auto-healing) and the Big Serpent (superior power). For level 03, I love Great Angels and how they own enemy masters. For level 04, my favorite surely is the all mighty King Dragon. Q: Which master is the most powerful to play single battles? A: I think that DarkLord and Summoner are the best masters, followed by Wizard and Sorcerer. The Daimyou is easily the weakest master for single battles. Q: Which campaign mission is the hardest? A: I believe it’s the 3rd mission of Campaign 2, the one played on the DOUBLE map. Why? Your army is far from ready at that point, you have just a few towers available, you have an enemy master very close to your own castle... and I hate Mushas. Q: Why do you consider Campaign 2 as the hardest one? A: Because the initial missions don’t let you have enough towers and turns to evolve your army properly. In Campaign 1, you won’t have to deal with a serious tower shortage until the 6th mission, and you also have a greater number of turns, so you usually will have your army at a more powerful level, when compared to the enemies. As an example, the four initial missions of Campaign 2 have 81 turns, while the four initial missions of Campaign 1 have 111 turns (+37%). Also, in Campaign 2 you can’t use Serpents and the Storm magic. Q: I think this game is way easy. What to do to make it more challenging? A: Easy, huh? Ok, you asked for it. If you want a harder single battle, playing the Daimyou is a good start. You can also set your MP regeneration to 50 / turn and let your enemies have 100 / turn, use only Heal All magic, never use your Force. Want a harder campaign? 50 MP per turn is obvious, as magic and Force limitations. But how about limiting your army? Use a max of 20 monsters. Randomly pick half of your monsters and don’t use them. Never use more than four of any given monster. Just be creative and think about a funny challenge. Q: What do you like / hate the most about this game? A: The thing I like the most is the way you use your monsters for all missions when playing a campaign. This makes really important to build a powerful army, you really have to invest on your monsters. The thing I hate the most is the Meteor magic, and how it can kill most of the mighty level 03 monsters at full HP, simply by hitting them twice. It’s a strategy game, and them an important piece of your army is destroyed, based PURELY on luck. Q: I have a different / better strategy for this mission! A: Great, don’t forget to tell me about it. Contact me by e-mail: ‘psico.ufmg@gmail.com’. Q: How can I play Master of Monsters? A: I guess you can buy the cartridge on eBay, but you need a working Genesis, and even then I doubt its battery (used to save games) is functional. You can also play it online (at ‘ssega.com’, for example), or using an emulator. Q: Where can I download Master of Monsters ROM? A: I really won’t help you with this one, mate. One word: google. Q: Which Genesis emulator should I use? A: I recommend Gens. I use its version 2.11. You can find it easily on the net. The official site is ‘gens.me’. Q: There are other Genesis games alike to Master of Monsters? A: Yeah, Genesis has other strategy games with RPG elements. Some of them are always considered among the best Genesis games: Shining Force series and Warsong are good examples (I admit, they have a much deeper storyline, though). In fact, these games are also great, I like them all. The sad part is how Master of Monsters is usually underrated. This game is a gem. Q: Did you ever try Master of Monsters for PlayStation? A: No. And considering what I saw on reviews, I believe that ignoring it is the best thing I can do. Q: I’m working on a game based on Master of Monsters. Would you...? A: Yes! I’m willing to contribute to anything related to Master of Monsters. I mean, doing anything I can do. I’m not a programmer or an artist, but if I can help as monster designer, tester, or any other way, count me in. Contact me by e-mail: ‘psico.ufmg@gmail.com’. ------------------ 5.2) Answers for the test (1.3) Q-1: Which of these monsters can’t be seen at the title screen? Correct answer: D) Warrior Pretty simple, just look at the title screen for some moments. Yes, I know some monsters are slightly different, like the Angel is holding a spear, and the Unicorn has a different color in game, but yet, no Warrior. Q-2: Which elemental Force is a female? Correct answer: B) Water The Water elemental has long “hair” and breasts, and its waist a lot thinner than its hip. To me, it’s clearly a female. Air and Fire elementals are surely males. Earth elemental... well, it looks like just a pile of dust. Q-3: How many weapons a Great Demon uses, according to its picture? Correct answer: C) Three According to its picture, the Great Demon has four arms, and uses three weapons, apparently a mace, a sword and a spear. Q-4: A Taitan’s icon at the map is a lot alike to the icon of which other monster? Correct answer: C) Caeser Strange, because the Taitan picture is the same picture used for the Colossus, with some different colors. But its icon is alike to the Caeser’s icon. The other level 04 monster, King Dragon, has both picture and icon alike to the Death Dragon. Looks like they decided make it differently for the Taitan. Q-5: If you are playing a campaign and never changed the music, during a Sorcerer’s turn which music will you hear? Correct answer: B) BGM03 If you don’t change the default music settings, the music will appear as this: BGM01 – theme for enemy Daimyou ; BGM02 – theme for enemy Wizard ; BGM03 – theme for enemy Sorcerer ; BGM04 – theme for enemy DarkLord ; BGM05 – theme for enemy Summoner ; BGM06 – theme for human player. Q-6: Which map, if played as a single battle, will have the blue castle on a different place, instead of the coordinates it used to be during Campaign 1? Correct answer: C) HALF You start at a pretty bad location when you play the HALF map as the 6th mission of Campaign 1. Your main fortress coordinates are 12, 52, and your castle is located on an area with heavy tower shortage. If you play the same map for a single battle, blue main fortress is located at a much better area, at coordinates 36, 36. Q-7: Which map, if played as a single battle, will have the yellow master sitting on a rocky hex instead of the yellow castle? Correct answer: B) DESERT Curiously, when the DESERT map is used for a single battle, yellow main fortress can be found as an isolated hex, at coordinates 35, 42. But, the yellow master starts the battle at coordinates 40, 17. The rest of the yellow castle is there, just the main fortress is missing. Q-8: (Highest number of turns on a campaign mission) + (Lowest number of turns on a campaign mission) = ? Correct answer: A) 55 Highest number of turns on a campaign mission is 40 (ICECROSS map, 8th mission of Campaign 1). Lowest number of turns on a campaign mission is 15 (NEAR map, 2nd mission of Campaign 2). 40 + 15 = 55 Q-9: How many level 01 monsters you have available for summoning in both campaigns? Correct answer: C) Six These level 01 monsters can be summoned in both campaigns: Angel, Troll, Pegasus, Chimera, Minotaur and Marmaid. These can be summoned in Campaign 1 only: Dragon (Daimyou), Roman, Lizard and Serpent. Finally, these can be summoned in Campaign 2 only: Dragon (Summoner), Dragon (DarkLord), Demon, Soldier, Warrior, Wraith. Q-10: How many monsters AI can summon during campaigns, and are never available on single battles? Correct answer: A) Five These monsters are: Amazon, Guardian, Mage, Musha and Valkyrie. Cocoon? No, AI can’t summon it, a Cocoon is always obtained from a Guardian getting full XP. All other monsters AI summons can be obtained from other monsters leveling up, and are available to be used on single battles. Q-11: After playing through both campaigns, how many masters of your own type you have defeated? Correct answer: A) Two It may be surprising, but for each campaign you will fight just one master of your own type, and for both campaigns this happens at 3rd mission. In Campaign 1, you are a Daimyou, and will fight another Daimyou at 3rd mission (MOONLAND map). In Campaign 2, you are a Summoner, and will fight another Summoner at 3rd mission (DOUBLE map). There aren’t other masters of your own type. Q-12: Which monster uses a different attack for long range fights? Correct answer: A) Gorgon All these monsters cause magical damage for long range fights. But the question isn’t about damage type. Crasher, Sphinx and Mage use an attack called “Hellfire” for long range, while the Gorgon uses an attack named “Marrow”. So, the Gorgon is the monster that uses a different attack. Q-13: If you sum all four damage resistances (in %), which monster will get a higher number? Correct answer: D) Cocoon Iron Golem resistances: 80 + 100 +80 + 30 = 290 Black Wraith resistances: 90 + 0 + 90 + 90 = 270 Sirene resistances: 50 + 60 + 50 + 50 = 210 Cocoon resistances: 80 + 80 + 80 + 80 = 320 Cocoon has the highest number for all resistances summed. Q-14: How many monsters have their HP decreased after leveling up? Correct answer: B) Two Usually, a monster will have its HP increased after leveling up. There are two exceptions: the Loc, when levels up to Phoenix, has its HP reduced from 30 to 24; the Arch Angel, when levels up to Great Angel, has its HP reduced from 62 to 60. Q-15: A Colossus may cause the highest damage possible for a single hit. How much damage is it? Correct answer: D) 55 The maximum damage for a single hit can be dealt for a Colossus during a ranged fight. Ok, the Iron Golem also can deal the same base damage, 38, at short range, but the Iron Golem is a neutral creature and won’t get a damage bonus from a sun turn, like the lawful Colossus. A Cocoon even have a 40 base damage attack for long range, but is also neutral, and can't accumulate XP. The 25% damage bonus a Colossus receives at a sun turn corresponds to 09 (rounded down from 9,5), so a Colossus can deal 47 damage on a sun turn. Add 08 damage possible from XP bonus (01 for each 30 XP), and the maximum damage it can deal is 55. Obviously, this considers 0% resistance to physical damage for the monster fighting the Colossus. Q-16: If you summoned a Cyclops, a Demon and a Minotaur, how much MP you just spent? Correct answer: D) 70 Simple, direct question. Summoning costs are 19 (Cyclops), 34 (Demon) and 17 (Minotaur). 19 + 34 + 17 = 70. By the way, you are playing a single battle as a DarkLord. Q-17: Which monster requires the most XP to reach level 03? Correct answer: B) Frost Dragon The Frost Dragon requires the most XP, 62. The Flame Dragon requires just a couple less XP: 60. An Arch Demons requires 57 XP to level up, while a Giant requires 48. Q-18: Which ones are the unique spells of the Wizard? Correct answer: D) Stone and First Stone and First are the spells which only the Wizard may use. Worthy mention that Quick and Refresh are the unique spells of the Sorcerer. Typhoon is a unique spell of the Summoner. Q-19: Which magic has a different MP cost? Correct answer: C) Shield Again, Reverse and Typhoon are all spells that cost 30 MP. Shield costs 20 MP, and so, it’s the correct answer. Q-20: If all masters decide to create a 1-on-1 league to fight each other without using monsters, who would be the league winner? Correct answer: A) Daimyou This question may seem difficult, but it’s not. All masters are immune to magic and Force, so, if they aren’t going to use monsters, they will fight each other using their attacks only. All masters cause low damage for short range, so it’s clear they are going to use their magical ranged attacks. Why would the Daimyou win? Simple, because he has the greatest resistance to magical damage, 80%. Other masters have 60% resistance or lower. For the same attack, a master that has 60% resistance will receive double damage, compared to the one that has 80% resistance. So, there is no doubt about the winner. Also, there is no doubt about the last place: it would be the DarkLord, with his 30% resistance (the lowest one). --------- 5.2.1) Your knowledge level * 00 to 04 correct answers: you are a level 01 Wraith. Pathetic, you are weak and can be easily destroyed. At least, you don’t need to learn a lot to improve yourself. * 05 to 09 correct answers: you are a level 02 Arch Demon. Yes, you aren’t that weak anymore, you know some tricks. But there is still a lot to learn. * 10 to 14 correct answers: you are a level 03 Sky Gorgon. You may even think you are at the top level, but you aren’t - yet. In fact, you are powerful, but not as much as other monsters. * 15 to 19 correct answers: you are a level 03 Summoner. You did it well, and now you are a master. You can command your army and beat mighty opponents at the hardest campaign. * 20 correct answers: you are a level 04 King Dragon. You are the mightiest monster in this game. You are a beast to be feared. All I can say is... congratulations! ------------------ 5.3) Try my army, share your army Ok, I have played both campaigns while writing the walkthrough chapter. And I will let you try my army! Here, visit RapidShare by coping and pasting this as address at your browser: rapidshare.com/share/F140C9A323D2248F0D3F909679DCB166 You will find two zip files, one for each campaign. Each zip file contains saved states that allow you to play all campaign missions (beyond the first one) using my army, or just load the last fight before the game ending. The saved states were created using Gens emulator, version 2.11. Each file also includes a txt with instructions about how to load the states. Oh, you can also share your army. If you want to show your mighty army, or just got an interesting thing that you should share, send me your saved states by e-mail. I prefer saved states for Gens 2.11, but I can accept states from other emulators as well. If I can load your files properly, and they are really interesting, I will add them to the share list. ------------------ 5.4) Contact: help improving this guide This guide is supposed to never be finished. I will always add anything new or relevant about Master of Monsters. Use my e-mail to contact me, and please put something like MoM or Master of Monsters as the message title. Here is my e-mail: psico.ufmg@gmail.com All help is also welcome, especially the following: - I’m not a native speaker of English language. Of course, the guide has grammatical errors, misspelling errors, etc. I’m especially bad with prepositions. If you are a native English speaker, and can help me to correct these language errors, I would appreciate a lot. - As said at the “Legal info” section (1.2), please inform me if you see this guide on any internet site that is not among the allowed sites listed there. - Any wrong info in this guide? Maybe on those tables? Or maybe I just didn’t notice one of the campaign enemies can summon a monster (it’s not listed in the available monsters for that enemy). If you see anything wrong, or any missing data, let me know. - If you have the game manual in English and can scan it, or have it in digital format already, and you can send it to me, please do. I would like adding anything relevant to the guide, but I could find scans only in Japanese, and these don’t really help me. - Do you disagree about any comments? Do you have a question for the FAQ (or the test)? Maybe you have a better strategy for a mission / campaign. Any positive criticism is welcome. - Want to share your army? Do it (check the previous section). By the way, I’m not really happy about RapidShare, too. If you know a better option for a file sharing site, please tell me. Finally, if you are working on anything related to Master of Monsters (even your own guide), I’m willing to help you. Feel free to contact me. ------------------ 5.5) Acknowledgments Before finishing my guide, I would like to thank: - God, for the gift of life. - My family, for my education and all they have done for me. - Telenet Japan Co. staff, and all people that worked hard to create this great game. - Gens staff, for creating an almost perfect emulator. - All the sites legally hosting my guide. - All my friends (including Troia team), for making my life happier. - Daniel M. Santos, for being a great friend and gaming (and beer) companion. - Eder S. S. Alvares (ESSA), for being a good friend and sharing good MoM moments at the college. Mate, if you ever read this message, contact me and let’s have some beer. - All other people I may have forgotten. That’s it. See you next guide. Eduardo Almeida - PsychoBio