Spellforce: The Order of Dawn ------------------------------- Elven Faq by Daran Humber V1.01 Copyright by Marcus Dohn aka Daran Humber (2004) ------------------------------- IMPORTANT!!!READ FIRST!!! It took me some time to write this. All I ask is: If you want to post this on your site or use this for other purposes send me an e-mail and ask me for permission first. I probably won't say no. Nothing is more frustrating than writing this and finding out that a lot of people just post this without asking. Copyright by Marcus Dohn aka Daran Humber (2004) IMPORTANT!!!READ FIRST!!! (This FAQ is the first one I made and my mothertongue isn't English. I only have the German Version of this game. (my mothertounge is German) So please don't send me hate mails if I spelled sth. wrong or if you found out I made a mistake in this FAQ. If you have something to add (info, tactiques,...) be sure to send me an e-mail. I'll make sure you get credit for it. My e-mail is: MarcusDohn@t-online.de !!!BE SURE TO WRITE "ELVES FAQ" IN THE E-MAILS TOPIC!!! (It might take a while to respond, depending on how my studies are going) Introduction ============ This FAQ is about my favourite of all six races from Spellforce: The Elves. Why play with the Elves you ask? Well there are some good reasons. Elves only need wood and Lenyafor their buildings and planting new trees is restricted to Elves only in Spellforce. As an addition, most of the Elven units are ranged combat units. The enemy can't hit you if he can't reach you. Shoot them down before they reach you and let your Protectors do the rest...And some of the units use ice attacks to freeze enemies and stop them in their track. Enough chitchat. Lets get to the content. Content I -Elven Units II -Elven buildings III -Upgrades IV -Contact and Version changes - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I Elven Units - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Worker ====== Your common worker. Chops down trees for you. The worker also plants new trees and hunts for food/collets berries (only when assigned to the proper buildings though. Reed in part II, buildings). The Elven workers can't mine stone. needs: nothing special ----- costs: Rune energy (Dïoh) ----- upgrades: no comment... -------- - - - - - - - - - - Close combat units - - - - - - - - - - Warder ====== Your first common (and also weak) close combat unit. The warder carries a two handed staff,wears a leather armour and can be upgraded with a shield for 300 units of wood in the Armoury. The Warder is a relatively weak unit. His (sorry, HER) HP are relatively low and so is the damage she can dish out. Comments: The Warder will do fine for the first few levels which you have to use the Elves in. It takes quite some time until you get the plans for the Iron armoury and for the Protector in single player. But do not underestimate them. They can usually keep the enemy busy long enough for your long ranged units to snipe them down. If you are in desperate need of close combat units don't hesitate to create a few of them. Once you get the Protector (and Iron) be sure to produce theese only if really necessary. Rating: Well...relatively weak but better than the worker :) needs: Armoury ----- costs: Wood: 60 ----- upgrades: Shield upgrade: wood: 300 (in Armoury) -------- Protector ========= A fine close combat unit. Nothing compared to the Dwarven units,but nice anyway. The Protector comes with a sword and middle apadded armour. It is possible to upgrade his weapon thus giving him a Ice sword. The Protector has better attack/defense and more HP than the Warder. Comments: If you read the introduction (You didn't, right?) you might remember that I mentioned that most Elven units use ice attacks to freeze enemies. If you upgrade your Protectors with the Ice sword, they dish out a little bit more damage and can freeze (won't always work) the enemy for a few seconds. They also get a high ice resistence with this upgrade. Be sure to use theese together with wind archers. The Protector will "replace" your Warders later but remember,that you need Iron to produce them and the armoury, as well as the Iron Armoury. You might want to produce some Warders at the beginning before you're able to produce theese. Having no close combat units when the enemie attacks your village isn't nice. Rating: Quite nice. I like their Ice sword. They're nothing compared to the Dwarven units, but the Elves rely more on ranged attacks. needs: Armoury, Iron Armoury ----- costs: Iron: 80 ----- upgrades: Aryns anger: Iron: 100 Lenya: 300 Unit gets Ice sword and high -------- resistance against ice (in Iron Armoury) Titan of the Elves ================== The Titan reminds me a bit of that talking tree from Lord of the ring (copyright by you know who). It's a big talking and walking tree. His attack/defense and HP are really high. The Titan can also use an endurance aura which affects your units in combat. He's the only male unit, too. Comments: I always use this big tree once I'm able to. Be warned however: If he dies you won't be able to produce another one because he counts as an upgrade. Be sure to watch his HP. Rating: Really a good and very strong close combat unit. IMPORTANT!! If your Titan dies you won't be able to produce another one because he counts as an upgrade. (You can produce another one on other maps of course or when reentering the map and starting over again) needs: small, middle and the large Headquarter ----- costs: Wood: 700 Lenya: 300 (!!!build in Large Headquarter!!!) ----- upgrades: Actually the Titan itsself is an upgrade -------- - - - - - - - - - - - Long ranged combat units - - - - - - - - - - - Ranger ====== Your first and standard ranged combat unit. The Ranger has low HP, wears a leather suit and a bow. The only thing the Ranger can do is shoot arrows. Nothing fancy but serves you quite well in certain situations. It seems The Ranger needs to get a bit closer to the enemies than the Windarcher or the Wanderer. Comments: Since you need only wood to produce theese you can usually create a lot of them relatively quick. If you're out of Lenya and/or Iron theese are your choice number one (actually the only choice). Once you get the Windarcher in solo play you should stop using theese except when long ranged units are needed desperately or you are out of Lenya. Rating: What should I say? Your first but weakest of the long ranged units. Not too strong but not bad either. When positioned correctly theese can be annoying to you enemies (or friends). needs: Armoury ----- costs: Wood: 50 ----- upgrades: none :( -------- Windarcher ========== My absolutely favourite Elven unit. They are not only stronger than the Ranger, they can also shoot from a bigger distance, can use a spell which helps them dish out more damage and can learn Ice arrow (!!!). Be sure to prefer theese to Rangers if you have enough Lenya. Comments: Did I mention that I love theese already!? They can lear the Ice arrow ability which freezes enemies for a few seconds, which seems to work nearly everytime. Be sure to always have lots of them in your groups. They also come in handy when protection your village. Build lots of Archer towers along with Frostbringers and put a row of Windarchers in front of those. They'll freeze and damage the enemies and the towers will do the rest. Best when used with Protectors. HOWEVER: Be sure to have enough Lenya as theese will cost a bit. They're only really that usefull if you have the Ice arrow upgrade, though. Rating: I love them!!! 10/10 from me. Try them and you'll love them. needs: Armoury, Ailantery ----- costs: Wood: 25 Lenya: 30 ----- upgrades: Ice arrow: Wood: 100 Lenya: 200 (in Archery Hall) !be sure to get! -------- Wanderer ======== A nice and powerfull addition to the Windarcher. The wanderer has different abilities and better armour and a slightly better attack than the Windarcher. The Wanderer can be upgraded with the Ice shield (spell), high ice resistance and a dagger for the 2nd hand. The dagger is actually an ice dagger. It can freeze enemies and the Wanderer has a little close combat weapon. The Ice shield spell however is really usefull (if used on the right unit). It creates an Ice shield (DïOH) around the target protecting it. There is a chance that any enemy in close(!) combat attacking the unit with the Ice shield effect might be frozen and damaged a little bit. Comments: A really great addition to the Windarcher. Ice shild is a nice support for your Protectors. It already saved my Avatar twice. Freezeïem to death... Rating: Like I said. Really usefull if the enemies are hacking and slaying at your close combat units, e.g surrounding one. Think of what might happen if ~6 enemy units surround a Protector with Ice blade and Ice shield. Might get cool. (If the Protector doesn't die, though). My Avatar had an ice wand and Ice shield cast on him while surrounded by enemies. Helped me quite well. needs: Armoury, Iron Armoury, Archery Hall ----- costs: Wood: 45 Iron: 45 ----- upgrades: Ice Shield: Iron: 100 Lenya: 300 Unit gets an ice dagger, the Ice -------- shield spell and high resistance to ice attacks. (in Iron Armoury) - - - - - - - - Magical units - - - - - - - - Note: I don't have to mention theese units have low HP, do I? Healer ====== Your average everyday Healer. The Healer wears a robe along with a staff. Sounds boring? As you hopefully know, Healers heal (DïOH again) your units granting them a much longer life. There is an upgrade which has an effect on the Healer, Druid and Winter Mage. It will make them use less mana for spells in areas with trees. (Thanks, mother nature) Comments: I usually take around 6 of them with me. The good thing, like I said, is that they will heal you and your units. The bad thing(s) is/are that they'll usually immediently heal your units even if they got only a scratch. They might get low on mana right after the battle started. Fortunately the can regain mana (if you build the Foodstore, that is). Another bad thing is if they run out of mana they might attack your enemies in close combat (*ouch*). Be sure to keep them in the last row and send them away if they start charging the enemies. I usually form an extra group consisting only of healers to have better control over them. Rating: They aren't bad. You will need lots of healing in battles and fighting without them is really tough (unless you Avatar is really good at white magic). Try to fight without them. It should be a lot harder. Just make sure to keep them away from close combat. needs: Ailantery ----- costs: Lenya: 55 ----- upgrades: Elen's Grace: Lenya: 500 (counts for Healer,Druid and Winter Mage) -------- Your magical units use less mana in areas with trees. (in Hall of Ancients) Druid ===== The Druid is able to heal your units,too. The difference between the Healer and the Druid is that the Druid uses a Healing aura which "shoots" at your wounded units and heals them. As a nice addition, the druid is also able to damage undead with a neat spell. The undead take some damage over a certain period of time when hit by that spell. Comments: A good addition to the healer and also usefull when fighting undead. Be sure to keep the Druid out of close combat. Rating: Quite good. Their aura always makes sure that those wounded units of yours are healed. Since the aura heals quicker than the normal spell of the healer you might consider using more of theese. needs: Ailantery, Hall of Ancients ----- costs: Lenya: 100 ----- upgrades: same as Healer (see above) -------- Winter Mage =========== The Winter Mage is your only magical unit attacking your enemies with magic (except for the druid, which attacks undead). The Winter Mage hits the enemies with ice attacks and most of the time freezes them as an addition. Comments: I usually use theese very often. The Windarchers are able to freeze the enemies, too (only with upgrade) but The Winter Mage has more mana, though. Again, be sure to keep theese away from close combat. Rating: Good for the last rows and freezing your enemies is what makes the Elves so strong. It seems they're able to freeze the enemie for a little longer than the Windarchers. (Not confirmed yet) costs: Lenya: 70 ----- needs: Ailantery, Hall of Ancients ----- upgrades: same as Healer (see above) -------- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - II Elven buildings - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Most of the buildings need workers assigned to them in order to work. Be sure to remember. If there is no "needs" under a building you can build it anytime. small, middle and large Headquarter [HQ] (no worker needed) =============================== Theese are important if you need to build more units. By paying food here (the amount goes up every upgrade 100...300...) you can raise you max. amount of units you are allowed to have. You can also build the Titan of the Elves in the large Headquarter. The large Headquarter needs a lot of space though. Be sure to keep some. costs: Small HQ: Wood: 100 ----- Middle HQ: Wood: 250 Large HQ: Wood: 500 needs: Middle HQ needs Small HQ ----- Large HQ needs Small and Middle HQ Woodcutter, Master Woodcutter (max 5 workers) ============================= Without theese nothing works. Assign some workers to them and they'll start chopping down trees. The Master Woodcutter let's your Elves cut down trees even faster than the normal Woodcutter. costs: Woodcutter: Wood: 40 ----- Master Woodcutter: Wood: 150 needs: The Master Woodcutter needs the Middle HQ ----- Sawmill (max 1 worker) ======= A must. The Sawmill doubles the amount of wood gained. Woodcutters bring their logs here if the Sawmill is close enough to the Woodcutter/master Woodcutter. Try a game without this building. It will be a lot harder. costs: Wood: 100 ----- Forester (max 5 workers) ======== A must,too. Workers assigned to this building plant new trees, providing your woodcutters with enough work to do. Only the elves are able to plant trees. Be sure to put them near the Woodcutter, but watch out: They'll use a lot of space for trees. costs: Wood: 50 ----- Hunting Lodge/Hunter's Guild (max 5 workers) ============================ Hunters shoot down animals (I thought Elves live in harmony with them?) and provide you with food. Workers assigned to the Hunter's Guild work even faster. Be sure to build it near animals (they won't survive long) and most important near your Foodstore to double the ammount of food gained. It might happen that some hunters get too close to enemy units while hunting. This can be very annoying. costs: Hunting Lodge: Wood: 60 ----- Hunter's Guild: Wood: 150 needs: The Hunter's Guild needs the middle HQ ----- Gatherer's Hut (max 5 workers) ============== Workers assigned to the hut collect berries from nearby bushes providing you with food. Be sure to build them close to berry bushes and most important the Foodstore. costs: Wood: 50 ----- Foodstore (max 1 worker) ========= Workers collecting food bring it here (if it's close enough to the Hunting Lodge/Hunter's Guild or Gatherer's Hut). It (!) doubles (!) the amount of food gained and allows your units to regenerate HP and mana. Without this building, magical units for example won't regenerate mana. VERY IMPORTANT building! costs: Wood: 150 ----- needs: Small HQ ----- Lenya Gatherer (max 5 workers) ============== Be sure to build this near Lenya (wouldn't make sense without Lenya). Workers collect Lenya, which is important for magical units and certain upgrades. If you have two fields of Lenya near to each other be sure tu build this between them so they'll harvest from both. costs: Wood: 80 ----- needs: small HQ ----- Ailantery (max 1 worker) ========= You need this building in order to produce Healers and Windarchers. costs: Wood: 200 ----- needs: middle HQ ----- Hall of Ancients (no worker needed) ================ You need this building if you want to create Druids and winter Mages. costs: Wood: 250 Lenya: 100 ----- needs: middle HQ ----- Armoury (no worker needed) ======= Needed to produce Warders and Rangers. costs: Wood: 60 ----- Iron Armoury (no worker needed) ============ You will need this if you want to produce the strongest (except for the Titan) Elven close combat unit, the Protector. It is also needed in order to produce the Wanderer. costs: Wood: 400 ----- needs: middle HQ ----- Archery Hall (no worker needed) ============ You will need this building along with the Iron Armoury if you want to produce the Wanderer. costs: Wood: 300 ----- needs: small HQ ----- Archer Tower ============ Veeeery nice defense building. It shoots arrows at you enemies. Theese usually do ~ 8-10 points of damage. Be sure to build some rows of theese at the entrances to your village/s with a row of Frostbringers behind. costs: Wood: 120 ----- Frostbringer ============ This building shoots ice spells at your enemies, damaging and hopefully freezing them. Combine theese with Archery Towers. They'll freeze them and the Towers do the rest. Building theese costs you Lenya, so watch out a bit. costs: Wood: 20 Lenya: 100 ----- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - III Upgrades - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - This section is about the possible upgrades and where to get them. - Shield upgrade for Warder where: Armoury costs: 300 Wood Warder gets a wooden shield for better defense - Aryns anger where: Iron Armoury costs: Iron: 100 Lenya: 300 Protector gets Ice sword and high resistance against ice - Titan of the Elves (Yes, he's an upgrade) where: Large Headquarter costs: Wood: 700 Lenya: 300 The Titan of the Elves (melee unit) - Ice arrow where: Archery Hall costs: Wood: 100 Lenya: 200 Windarchers can use Ice arrow attack (freezes enemies) - Ice shield where: Iron Armoury costs: Iron: 100 Lenya: 300 Wanderer gets an Ice dagger, high resistance against ice and the Ice shield spell - Elen's Grace where: Hall of Ancients costs: Lenya: 500 Healer, Druid and Winter Mage use less mana for spells in areas with trees - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - IV Contact and Version changes - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - How to contact: ============== If you want to contact me, send an e-mail to: MarcusDohn@t-online.de !!!BE SURE TO WRITE "ELVES FAQ" IN THE E-MAILS TOPIC!!! It might take a while for me to respond, but don't worry. I'll try to respond to every e-mail as fast as possible. If you have anything new to add or found mistakes, I'll add it and give you credit for it. Version changes: =============== V 1.00 I just wrote the FAQ. So no changes yet. Maybe I'll add a tactiques section. If you have any be sure to send me. I'll post them along with credits. V 1.01 Corrected a small mistake. Added description of upgrades in upgrades section.