Posts from Tactics for the Swamp (Fortress).

To avoid being overly verbose, I'll briefly reiterate: the "weakness" or "strength" of Fortress or Inferno largely depends on the resources available in the lands surrounding your home city, and on when your neighbors "visit." Fortress with troops of levels 1-3, and Inferno with troops of levels 1-4, are relatively weak. Fortress excels due to the special abilities of its troops of levels 4-7, and Inferno due to its troops of levels 6-7. But first, you need to acquire enough of them.
In most cases, a player controlling Fortress should capture a city of another race to gain additional troops and learn useful spells.

"Weakness" or "strength" of Fortress or Inferno largely depends on whether the lands surrounding your home city are rich or poor.

This is true for all cities.

Inferno with troops of levels 1-4 is quite weak.

What about demons?

Demons are strong in Inferno – levels 6-7. But first, you need to acquire them in sufficient numbers.

The main advantage of Inferno, in my opinion, is demonization. If you have time to develop it. It works well with it.

***

Often, by the 2nd-3rd week, a couple of computers come to visit.

As a result, you have to defend the swamp more than attack. Slow heroes, sluggish units (it's difficult to win without losses, as even with acceleration, the computer manages to charge its chain)

Wow, your computers are really strong! They use chain attacks in the second week. If it's not Solmyr, then I don't know what kind of royal computers are playing against you.

The troops are made of cardboard, and there are no special abilities.

Wow, they are really made of cardboard. And they have no special abilities at all. Playing against the AI on the Swamp map is a real pleasure. Level 1 is not particularly noteworthy, but although it's slow, it only yields to Pokémon and Centaurs in terms of health. Level 2 is a very strong ranged unit. Thanks to its health, it survives and accumulates experience. Level 3 is the Snake. There's nothing to say about it. Until the AI has level 7 creatures, the Snake will allow your hero to cast spells first. The Vasili are mediocre, inferior to almost everyone. But this is perhaps the only weak unit. Next come the Gorgons, which easily defeat level 7 creatures (even if they are Azure Dragons) and also destroy high-level enemy stacks. Then come the Wyverns, which are not very strong, but they can fly and poison a stack with a fairly good chance, which is nice. Finally, the Hydras, which are simply excellent if you have an Expert Teleportation spell, which is quite common in Swamp castles.
Although the Swamp faction doesn't have the highest total hit points, the heroes of the Swamp have rapidly increasing defense. Plus, the city is very difficult to attack due to the Swamp abilities. And the Gorgons work perfectly against the enemy's "excess" hit points, leveling out the final difference.
Plus, the fast construction of Wyverns allows for a quick start. Which is important in any game.
In my opinion, the main weakness of the Swamp is the lack of any anti-magic properties. All units are vulnerable to any spells of any level.

Here, it should be noted that we are talking about playing against the AI, on FMX maps/campaigns.

Hello everyone.

I didn't understand the Swamp faction before. Now I've tried it – it's a complete analog of the Barbarians, only made of wood.

But seriously, where do you get this highly praised EXPERT teleport/bless spell?
I've already played several games on the maps of Tazar and Alkine – and I haven't been offered water magic even once.
Are you taking mages?

In my opinion, it's better to take Ballistics and Earth right away; there's a very high chance of missing out on water magic. Just like with the Barbarians.

Well, for the Beastmasters, the base skill drop in HCTRAITS.TXT is as follows: Air 1, Water 2, Earth 3. For the Sorceresses, it's Air 3, Water 3, Earth 3. So, there are no bonuses to the chance of Water skills dropping. It's just harsh randomness. And what to choose, everyone decides for themselves, if they are given the option.

I read the thread... It's funny, 10 years ago, Bolotnikov was mostly hated, but now in polls of Heroes groups on vk, Bolotnikov is leading. As Marmot rightly said, it all depends on how quickly you develop and how you level up your magic. A blitzkrieg with wyverns in the first few weeks, capturing neighboring castles where you can learn level 5 magic, and leveling up elemental magic (two, three, four) – and victory is in the bag. As I see it, it's easiest for Fortress heroes to level up earth, water, air, and fire magic; this is their advantage. Slowing down the enemy, speeding up your troops, Expert City Portal, and Dimension Door – the opponent is doomed. :)

It seems to me that it's easiest for heroes of Fortress to level up their fire magic.

Fire magic is not available to Swamp heroes (unless they learn it through a scholar).

I'll take Alkin for the Swamp. Or Bron for the Basilisks. The goal is to build Wyverns as quickly as possible. The Swamp's advantage is its territory. If an enemy attacks, they'll have a hard time reaching the Castle. In my opinion, the Swamp is the best Castle for a defensive strategy. Excellent defense upgrades make many units durable. As for playing against the AI, it's a good Castle with low-cost buildings. It also has its advantages when playing against a human opponent. On random maps, people often build Snake Pits. The result is that you'll get a lot of cheap Wyverns. Yes, the enemy can do the same, but you can upgrade them. It's easy to upgrade a Warrior into a Warrior-Mage, whose strength and mana balance can be adjusted with artifacts. I rely on defense and try to upgrade it. I take Tactics, which is often available, and Water and Earth magic. On large maps, I try to get the Cloak of Resistance so that brute force and basic level 1-2 spells decide the battle. I remember my first victory with the Swamp against an opponent who had a two-Rampart advantage. He found a second Castle on the map. I had Tactics and 50 defense thanks to the Titan Shield, a couple of artifacts, and upgrades. I had Alkin. I simply pushed everyone forward. He didn't have magic to slow me down, and after his creatures attacked, I cast Prayer on everyone. After I moved all my units, the game was practically over

For some reason, no one mentioned such an interesting feature of the Swamp faction as its actual immunity to Berserk magic. Due to the significant advantage of defense over attack, both for the Swamp heroes and all its creatures, casting mass Berserk on them is practically useless. But Barbarians, on the contrary, successfully eliminate themselves under mass Berserk.

For some reason, no one mentioned such an interesting feature of the Swamp faction as its actual immunity to Berserk magic.

Due to the significant advantage of defense over attack, both for the Swamp heroes and all its creatures, casting mass Berserk on them is practically useless. But Barbarians, on the contrary, successfully eliminate themselves under mass Berserk.

Useful. Only in progress. On Hydras... Doesn't matter how many, but sometimes it can deal a lot of damage. And that's a plus, especially if the opponent doesn't have teleportation.

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A dragon with buffed Gnolms destroys the Hives: +12 Wyverns for 111
Losses: -30 Gnolms and -6 Basilisks from Bron
The Basilisks were used as single units. The Dragonflies focused only on them and petrified them with counterattacks.

Basilisks as single units are quite effective.