Date: Mon, 25 Aug 1997 20:10:13 +0100
From: Tournament Headquarters  (by way of Robert F. Heeter)
Subject: W2WT: Tutorial #4C - Notes on Battle Bonuses (B)

Tutorial #4C:  Understanding Battle Bonuses

This "optional" tutorial provides a variety of tips on the information
in the WarDocs materials on Battle Bonuses.  (WarDocs was included with
your WarBOT distribution, so you do have a copy already.)
You don't need to know this - WarBOT does the work for you - but it's
helpful in understanding how WarBOT works, and figuring out how to
maximize your odds.

** Always check the enemy's units using the "view stack" command,
   to see which units have blessings.  (Medals are not allowed; otherwise
   players would revert like mad to get a medal in every battle.)
   To do this you need to create an unofficial copy of the gamefile
   and open it up to that player's turn: "See through the eyes of the enemy."


** City Defense Bonuses:  (from assorted Moderators)
>A non-neutral city with 0, 1, or 2 builds has defense 1 and
>a non-neutral city with 3 or 4 builds has defense 2.  This is true even
>if the production is turned off.  A razed city has defense 0 but is still
>city terrain.  You can see how many units a city produces by
>clicking on it, since "View Production" is on for the tournament.
>(You can view enemy stacks using control-click on a Mac, or right-click
>on a PC.)
>
>A neutral city with only 1-2 builds has a no defensive bonus,
>because the neutral city defense bonus is only half of the
>normal bonus, and "1/2" is rounded down.  All neutral cities in the
>tournament will generally have only 1 production (the useless
>scouts) and therefore no defense bonus.  So the fact that the scout is in a
>city doesn't increase its strength at all.  This means that any
>strength-2 unit can capture a neutral city (i.e., anything except a
>scout or bat will do).


** Terrain of Bonuses:  (from the Bonus Gurus)
>When you fight a battle the bonuses are always evaluated on
>the *defender's* terrain.  Navies revert to their normal,
>on-the-ground army strengths when attacking a city or a ground
>unit on a bridge.  Navies parked at a bridge also *defend* as groun
>units, since bridges are considered "open" terrain.


** Roads:  (From Max, moderating P32-P36)
>Also, at this time, I would like to point out the following (in case people
>don't know):  Even though you can move 1 space over roads, roads are NOT
>necessarily "open" spaces.  A road with any part of woods/hills/mountains
>around it *will* be a terrain space.
>
>How do you know?  Check stack.  The screen will show what terrain you are
>in-- and perhaps, some of your armies will have bonuses there!

You can usually tell by putting the pieces into the relevant square and
seeing what terrain they sit on or "touch".


** Fortified Bonus:  (courtesy of Max, P32-P36)
>Archers.  Sure seem expensive, don't they?  (I leave this to you to
>decide.)  But here's the thing:  Just like the -1 to enemy of the Elephant,
>they CAN'T be cancelled!
>
>"Fortified" applies *anywhere* and anytime.  He attacks you with an archer in
>the stack-- they are all +1.  You attack him-- same deal.  So, yes, in a
>sense it IS Def +1 to the city if the Archer is in it.  But it's also +1
>anywhere.
>
>{Think of it as a NON-Cancelable +1 Stack bonus!  A quick blessing, but it
>only applies when the archer is IN that stack or city.}

** More on the Fortified Bonus:  (Barry, P18-20)
>Some very useful advice from Max. There is one other *major* good point
>about a
>fortify bonus (which makes them invaluable in my opinion), is that not
>only is
>the +1 bonus they confer non-cancelable, it is also *additive*, just like a
>hero bonus.
>
>To give an example: Lets say we had a stack with an Elemental (+1 special)
>and
>a Giant Worm (+2 special). The total stack bonus would be +2 (the higher
>bonus
>-from the Giant worm). However, if the elemental was replaced by an Archer
>with
>a +1 fortify bonus instead of the +1 special of the Elemental, the total
>stack
>bonus becomes +3! (+2 from the Worm, and +1 added onto that from the Archer).
>
>So, in affect you can also consider troops with a fortify bonus (such as
>Archers) as being equivalent to a minor hero!! Certainly worth the build
>cost...

Additional Notes:

* The catapult cancels only the bonus from the city.  It does not affect
  the individual or stack bonuses of units in the city.  For example,
  if you have a 3-build, defense-2 city with a pegasus, a griffin,
  and a heavy infantry inside, and your enemy attacks with a catapult
  (and other units), then you lose the +2 city defense bonus, but you
  still get the +2 stack of the pegasus, and the +2 and +1 individual
  strength bonuses of the griffin and heavy inf.

* The bonuses of the elephant and archer are not affected by the
  allies with cancel-non-hero attribute.

* For much more information and more examples, see the WarDocs that
  came with WarBOT.  Note - a new WarDocs is available on the Web now,
  at the usual Tournament Downloads address:

	http://www.pixgen.com/elam/warlords/tournament.html

-- Tournament Headquarters