Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne - Page 70

Potent cheese in G1, quality comeback in G2.

Unusually, the Alliance has two tier 1 production structures, which remain the primary production structures throughout the game. One is the Barracks, which allows the Alliance to focus on defense and economy, while the other is the Lodge, which shifts the focus to stealth, aggression, and burst damage. Knowing which to focus on at different points in the game will help to define Alliance stategy.

Building Tree:
Town Hall
....Altar: Paladin (str), Archmage (int), Huntress (agi), Keeper (int)
....Barracks: Footman, Priest (requires Sanctum), Mortar Team (requires Workshop)
....Lodge: Archer, Druid of the Claw (Bear form only until Keep tech), Druid of the Talon (Requires Aviary)
Keep
....Sanctum: Sorceress, <Upgrades for Priest, Claw, Talon, Sorc, Spy>, <mana upgrades>
....Workshop: Flying Machine, <Upgrades for Militia, Footman, Mortar Team, Archer, Emissary>, <armor upgrades>
....Aviary: Gryphon Rider (require Barracks), Faerie Dragon (requires Lodge) <Upgrades for gryphons, dragons, flying machines>, <speed upgrades>
Castle
....Embassy: Emissary, Infiltrator, <Hero Upgrades>, <Upgrade sharing between Lodge/Barracks units>

The Barracks starts with the ability to produce Footmen, cheap high-armor soldiers, who serve as the Alliance's primary defensive troops.
-At Tier 2, the Alliance can add on a Sanctum, which allows Priests to be trained at the barracks to heal and buff allied units. The Sanctum itself can build Sorceresses, who slow enemies and can grant invisibility to allies.
-Adding on a Workshop at tier 2 allows Mortars to be built at the barracks, granting AoE damage against troops and siege damage against structures. Workshops can also build Flying machines, a cheap anti-air flier.
-The Paladin goes well with Footman armies as a melee healer that slows down the fight with heals, the divine shield ult, and by adding a % to the armor of nearby units and can do significant damage over time with Consecration.
-The Archmage similarly shines over longer fights with Blizzard, and Brilliance Aura (which synergizes well with Priests and Sorceresses). The Archmage's mass teleportation ability helps less mobile barracks armies defend all vulnerable areas.

The Lodge starts with the ability to produce Archers and Druids of the Claw in Bear form. Archers have a limited number of powerful arrows that regenerate slowly over time and can go into stealth when stationary and not attacking, making them ideal for hit and run attacks.
-Claws start in Bear form, a powerful melee damage dealer with a charge ability. At Keep tech, they gain the ability to transform into casters with a AoE damage boost and an interuptible HoT.
-Building an Aviary at tier 2 allows for Talons to be built, which can transform into ravens for quick flight and otherwise debuff enemies and cyclone them temporarily out of the fight. The Aviary can also (if a barracks also exists) build Gryphon Riders, expensive, tough, and versitile fliers that momentarily stun targets they hit and deal heavy siege damage. If a lodge exists, the Aviary can build Faerie dragons: evasive fliers with anti-magic abilities.
-The Huntress hero serves as an anti-hero sniper, with powerful ranged autoattacks and buffs for itself and ranged allies like Archers or casters. The ability to stealth makes it a potent ambusher as well.
-The Keeper summons Treants to tank damage (potentially allowing the Alliance to build fewer Bears), can heal allies in an area, and can root enemies, but runs out of mana quickly. Its key purpose is helping an Alliance player to choose which engagements they wish to fight.

The Embassy is a Castle-tech building that builds specialized units and helps unify the two tech branches.
-The Emissary will not be targeted by Neutral creeps and can, if allowed to finish a channel, convert nearby enemy or neutral units to your side (though player-units will eventuall revert to their original owner). It can also be expended to convert a Lodge to a barracks and visa versa.
-The Infiltrator is a stealthed assassin who moves slowly and attacks with devestating power once every 10s.
-The Embassy Contains hero upgrades and can make many barracks and lodge upgrades apply to units built at the other structure. It also allows Footmen to upgrade to Knights, which move faster and turn into Footmen instead of dying when their HP runs out.

The simple route with the Alliance is to either rush with Lodge units or expand behind Barracks units and eventually add Lodge units on to secure the win. But more complicated strategies are also possible. For instance, a player might go caster-heavy with an Archmage and various Druids and a Keeper to deal powerful hit and run harassment damage, teleporting out when necessary. Or it might use a Huntress to solo harass while building up an economy and defending wtih Footmen. Or perhaps a Barracks defense rushing to Aviary Tech and using Gryphons to surprise a ground-focused enemy. Maybe adapting to an enemy flier-heavy army on barracks tech by using a Huntress and Priests in shadowform. You get the idea.

I came to WC3 without any knowledge of the lore at all. Stepped into a fantasy/Tolkien universe, and felt, "Okay, I know my way around." But then the Orcs start showing their complexity, the human Hero goes to the dark side. I'm like, cool, getting dark. Then the fucking High Elves get destroyed. The human kingdom gets scattered, with only a handful of survivors fleeing for parts unknown. And suddenly I'm in love with this story. It's Tolkien if Boromir got the ring, killed the Mouth of Sauron then took over Mordor's armies and trashed Gondor and Rivendell. The beautifully constructed universe gets introduced to you... then shattered into a million pieces.

It was epic.

The orcs kill the Night Elf deity, free themselves from Demon corruption, and make peace with the humans, all in one campaign. Then Sauron invades fucking Valinor. The Night Elves have three fascinating characters, who all fight for their own way to make everything work. Eventually, they give up immortality to save their world.

And that was the first half.

TFT saw new factions forming, though I wish WoW had followed up on these more than it did. The age-old alliance of Elves and Men shatters, and the now-fallen High Elves join up with the Naga (fallen Night Elves) and the Draenei (or at least a faction that WoW tells us is fallen as well) to serve the fallen Illidan. The Night Elves start to divide into factions between Tyrande and Maiev with Malf trying to hold things together. The Undead split into three groups. And in the bonus campaign the Horde begins to reform as tensions with the Alliance begin again to arise...

Man, that was an awesome game. WC4 would really have to tear the world apart and put it back together again to match up to that.