Lords of Magic: Special Edition F.A.Q.
Written By: Eric Gross
Table of Contents
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+FAQ Information+
Legal Disclaimer
Revision History
+The Beginning+
Introduction to LoM:SE
Choosing Your Lord
Choosing Your Faith
Standard or Custom???
Basic Termonolgy
Resources
Champions, Units, and Followers
Liberating Your Great Temple
+Copyright+
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+F.A.Q. Information+
Legal Disclaimer-
This FAQ is copywritten. Any copying, stealing, selling, or similar is
strictly forbidden. If found preforming the listed, legal action can and
will be taken. You may, however, write to me at jig816@msn.com to ask
permission so you may distribute this FAQ publicly. You also may print out,
and distribute this among others as long as you do not recieve cash for
this. Please ask me before posting this on your website, and if you do make
sure you give me proper credit.
Revision History
Version 1.1 - Been a while. I guess I forgot about this, just some editing
and finetuning.
3-27-03
Version 1.0 - Filling in the Legal Stuff, and some basic game information.
Completed Legal Disclaimer, Introduction to LoM:SE, Choosing Your Lord,
Copyright, Choosing Your Faith, Standard or Custom???. Resources, Basic
Termonolgy, and Liberating Your Great Temple. Requires much work and
updating.
7-23-02
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+Walkthrough+
Introduction to LoM:SE
First off I hope this FAQ is useful to you and will help anyone from a
newbie to a master. Ok, I would also like to add that every game is
different. I have never played a game that went by exactly the same. So I
cannot give you a step by step walkthrough because I would have to list as
many ways to win as you could if this were a chess match. So what I have
decided to do is to give you a basic outline for a random game, the
campaigns will be described in detail later. I am not going to explain every
screen, every button, or every menu. Please, this is just a guide, your
instruction manual will explain to you the various screens, not me.
Choosing Your Lord
Your Lord is the most important unit in the begining of the game. If S/he
dies, the game ends (unless you have another backup Lord which will be
descirbed later). You have three choices to choose from and each one is
different.
Warrior - A combat specialist. Usually equipped with strong armor, and never
goes anywhere without their trusty sword, axe, staff, etc. Very good for
begininers although I personally don't perfer them. Has the ability to train
units at the Barracks(more on training later).
Mage - The only one who can case magic without artifacts. Weak in the
begining but like in most RPG's powerful in the end. Can learn any spell of
his faith, and can train units at the Mage's Tower. My personal favorite
Theif - The stealthiest of the three, thieves can subdue champions,
interrogate prisoners, steal from other units, and a variety of other
things. I personnaly don't think this is a great choice for a lord
(especially for a beginner but I will explain this more later) but once the
become powerful enough they are formidle foes. Trains units at the Thieve's
Guild.
All of them have their strengths and weaknesses, and certain faiths (see
below) are more contored to one class then another (at least in my opinion).
after you choose your Lord's class, you enter the room holding the champions
of eight faiths...
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Choosing Your Faith
Their are eight faiths to choose from (you must beat the game once before
you can choose Death) four elemental faiths, and four virtue faiths. Each
one is listed below.
Life - These elves are my personal favorite. Extremely powerful archers, and
great magic skills all these elves lack are strong armor. They are very
skilled with healing magic and have the ability to ressurect the dead (very
useful if your Lord dies) if need be. Their close combat skills lack the
strength of other faiths, but usually the archers wipe out all of the
enemies on the board before they even get near you.
Death - The dark elves are very powerful in combat, archery, and magic.
Their powerful necromancers can raise the dead, creating hordes of undead
armies. They also recieve one more spell than the other faiths. Their
javelin throwers are extremely strong, and their thief champions are
difficult to spot. Once you've played the game for a while you learn to
avoid Death as much as you can.
Order - The humans (ironically the same ones who inhabit Camelot) are strong
fighters. Their archers are mediocre, but they are very slow. Their wizards
(who all look like Merlin) have strong magic, which I'm sure if you took the
time to learn the good spells is very powerful. Their infintry is great, and
some who have achieved level 5 can be upgraded to level 6 (something which
only Order can do). A good faith for beginners.
Chaos - The anthesis of Order, the barbarians of the north have many
admirable qualities. Their magic is all based on chance, it does extrodanary
amounts of damage, but it can hurt the user or the user's army as well.
Their warriors are strong, however they wear little or no armor. Their
sitckthrowers (their non-champion range unit) is dissapointinly poor. A
difficult class for the newbie, but once mastered deadly.
Air - The faries and storm lords of the north make up the faith of Air. Some
of the fastest units belong to thiis faith, and in my opinion the second
strongest archers. Their infintry is ok, but what really makes them stand
out are their magical talents. Able to control the air and lightning, storm
lords are very powerful sorcerors. Chain Lightning, Cone of Cold, and
Poision Cloud are just a few of their offensive line-up which can be used to
decimate an army. An ok Faith meant for the new-intermediate player.
Earth - The gnomes and dwarves of the Earth faith wear strong armor and
wield owerful axes. Their magicians have the ability to completly stop some
units for a short time and can harden armor to the strength of diamonds.
Their archers aren't exactly top-notch, which makes them rely a lot on melee
combat which they are good at. When needed these small folk go above and
beyond the average lawn ornament.
Water - The amazon's army consists of almost entirerly women. This faith is
a very balanced choice. They have an ok infintry although they don't wear
much armor, and their archers are average. They have good magic, and can
whittle down tough opponents by rusting away their armor. I usually just
take over this faith for the added income but I've defeated the feared Dark
Lord with this units before.
Fire - And lastly, the lava people of the south. They have very poor archers
and thieves (the worst in the game) and you only get one stonethrower per
unit (rather than three like the other faiths have). They have fairly decent
infintry but they are slow. Their magic is ok from what I've seen (the
computer doesn't always use magic to it's full potential) but I wouldn't
reccomend choosing this faith. If you must have their magic, find a town and
build a Fire Mage Guild there.
Most of my stradegies I give are based on my extensive use of the Life
Faith, so if would like to try them you will probably want to choose Life.
However, there are an infinte amount of ways to beat this game, so try out
some of your own ideas, they might work great.
=========================================================
Standard or Custom???
In LoM: SE you have the choice between starting of with your lord, a
starting artifact, two or three spells, and usually two infintry and an
archery unit. However, in custom mode you can choose who and what you bring
with you in the beginning of the game by spending points given to you. You
can even buy your Stronghold or Great Temple. I suggest only buying things
from your faith (you have a choice of buying units and spells from the other
seven faiths) because it is too costly and in the beginning they are all
pretty alike anyway. I suggest buying two archery units and one infintry (or
vise versa) and leveling the two archery/infintry to level two. Do this buy
highlighting the unit you want to level and on the left side of the screen
click on the 2. You can also raise/lower their expierience in incriments of
1 by clicking on the + or - sign. After you have your units done take a look
at spells (only if you have a mage). You should always buy a spell if you
are a mage, otherwise he is next to useless until you can research spells
(more on researching later). Since you want to conserve points, consider
buying your cheaper damage spells (usually the arrow or bolt spells are the
cheaper ones) so you can still buy some resources. If you are not a mage, go
to the artifacts screen. Here is a list of all of the artifacts in the game.
Artifacts of your faith are cheaper than the others, and some you cannot
even use. Some artifacts goof for all of the classes are Ring of Protection,
Amulet of Protection, Potion of Healing, etc. When you are done with
everything else, go back to the screen that shows you the units you have
bought. On the lower left side of the screen are some pictures of gold
coins, ale, crystals, and a stick figure with numbers next to them. Put all
you have left into resources by using the plus and minus buttons like with
expierience, evening them all out.
+++My Opinion+++: (These will be shown throughout the walkthrough to show my
way of doing things, these are not neicerilly the best way or easiest way to
do things, but this is how I run my show.) Don't put any into Fame
(stickfigure) because it is very easy to get and is only useful when you
have a stronghold. I would worry more about gold and ale (you get 100
crystals when you liberate your great Temple).
When you are done creating your party, click the Ok button (could be submit
or enter world) and you will be moved to the World Map.
===============================================================
Basic Termonology
Just so we are both on the same page, here is a list of terms so you don't
get lost if you are new to the game.
Ale - A resource, usually required to purchase melee units.
Army - A group of 1-3 sections. Cannot have more than 3 champions and 9
units. You can have as many armies as you want, as long as you can pay for
them.
Autocalc./Autocalculate - Automatically determines the outcome of a battle
based on statistics. Only useful against weaker enemies, use sparingly.
Barracks - A building, used to recruit melee units and ships.
Champion - A military unit who can be at the head of a section. Either a
Mage, Warrior, or Theif. Similar to your Lord but can only reach Level 10
rather than 12.
City - One of eight places where you recieve tribute and recruit military
units. One for each faith.
Crystals - A resource, usually required to purchase magical supplies.
Fame - A resource, required to recieve money from begging. The more you have
the more followers you get.
Followers - People you can alcolate between working in the city buildings,
or recruiting into the Military.
Gold - A resource, usually used to purchase ranged units.
Great Temple - One for each faith, a building in which the player can summon
the legendary creatures, and perform special tasks. Needs to be liberated
early in the game.
Library - Place where mages go to research new spells. Automatically
upgraded when the Mage Tower upgrades.
Mage's Tower - Used to recruit magical units, you can also purchase potions
here.
Section - A part of an army that can contain only 1 champion and 3 units.
There are 3 available sections in every army.
Stronghold - Building required to gain followers, recieved when you liberate
your Great Temple. Also lets you sassign followers to city buildings to gain
tribute.
Thieve's Guild - Building used to recruit ranged units.
Training - A champion has the ability to train units at it's respecting
military building. By staying there for a certain amount of turns, the units
there will gain expierience prior to being recruited. For example, if a
Level 6 Mage stays at the Mage's Tower for several turns, he will be
training the wizards staying there. If he trains them long enough mages
recruited there will start off at level 2. This effect is kept unit the
building is destroyed or (captured?) even if the mage leaves. The higher the
level of the trainer and the level of the building, the more expierience
will be given to the faccility.
Units - Military followers who are not champions, usually in groups of 3.
They only take one space in a section, and are the the main fighting force
of most armies.
Upgrading Building - For an amount of money you have the option of upgrading
your cities. A Level 2 city has a wall with an opening in the middle, and a
Level 3 has a gate guarding the opening. Archers can stand on top of the
wall and fire down on enemy troops. The gate can be opened, closed, and
destroyed (it takes a full turn to repair). If a city is level 2 the
building surrounding it can also be upgraded (this costs money too) to
provide more expierience to new recruits. A Level One Library can hold one
mage while he is researching spells, but a Level 2 can hold two mages and so
forth. Cities cannot exceed Level 3, and the surrounding buildings cannot be
upgraded past the current level of the city.
Some things that were not described in detail here or at all will be or have
been mentioned in this F.A.Q.
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Resources
The are four resources in this game Ale, Crystal, Fame, and Gold. Each one
can be gained or lost in battle. Below is a more detailed description of
each one.
Ale - The main resource used to recruit melee units, you can recieve a daily
(every turn) amount of Ale after liberating a brewery.
Crystals - The Main resource to recruit magical units, you can recieve a
daily amount by liberating a Crystal Mine. Needed to create potions.
Fame - Needed to recieve lots of followers, you can recieve a daily amount
by liberating your great Temple or Statues.
Gold - The main resource to purchase ranged units, you can recieve a daily
amount by liberating a Gold Mine.
There are many more things other than what I've listed here that resources
are needed for, but this is their main purpose in my opinion.
=================================
Champions, Units, and Followers
This may not be their real names, but in order for you to understand what I
am talking about, I need to give the three types of people names. Champions
are the people who can lead a unit, and they only come in groups of 1. They
choose between being a mage, a thief, or a warrior like your Lord. You may
only have three champions in an army, and only one in a section. You can
name your champions if you wish, otherwise they are prechosen. Units are the
people who generally come in groups of 3, but not always. There can be 9 in
an army, and 3 to a section. You cannot name them. Followers are potential
members of your army, or they can be used to recieve tribute from your
cities. To recieve tribute, you must enter your city screen. You will see
buildings that say Tavern, or Temple, and have arrows with a resource by
them. Pushing up on the arrow once will give you one resource of that type
every turn, but you lose a follower. You can also remove followers, and then
put them to other task as well. Eventually, after you upgrade your cities,
you can place more followers at each location. Remember, you cannot assign
or recieve followers until you have a stronghold. Followers are also
required to make a champion or unit.
This may seem confusing, but when you see your city screen it will help you
understand.
=========================================================
Liberating Your Great Temple
Ok, so you are finally out in the world. You are the potential leader of
your chosen faith, but you need to accomplish something to get yourself
known to your people. Liberating your Great Temple is your best bet.
Ok, for me to explain where all eight Great Temples are in corroalation to
their corresponding cities would take forever, but all of them are
relatively close to their city. They look similar to the architecture your
faith is known for (Death has skulls and dark towers, Life has a large tree
that is bright, etc.) and when you enter them the computer tells you are
entering the Great Temple.
Fight: You can autocalc the fight here, but it is almost inevitable to not
lose one of your companions. I suggest you fight in real time
combat,(Attack), so you have a better chance of not losing anyone. If you
are a mage or thief, cast as many spells as you can or start shooting your
bow to get rid of the marching enemies. Keep your archers in back but make
sure they are close enough to fire at the enemies. If you have low level
melee units a good stradegy is to have the entire group swarm on one enemy,
especially if you are a weaker faith like Life or Water. If you are a
warrior, you should still keep your archers back and your melee units in
front, but a Warrior Lord can dish out and take more damage. Keep him/her in
front, BUT DO NOT LET HIS HEALTH DROP TOO LOW! You may want to start over if
you lose, but when you finally win (this fight shouldn't be too hard) you
will recieve an artifact and 2 champions (the 2 classes you didn't pick for
your Lord).
+++My Opinion+++
You may need to liberate some low-level hamlets or other buildings (be very
careful of large estates) if you are having trouble in the Great Temple. Try
not to lose any units when gaining this extra expierience though, it will
make your Great Temple fight harder than before.
And so, as you parade back to your city the voices of the townsfolk cheer
your name and crown you Lord of your Faith! The path ahead is long and hard
(trust me I've had games last longer than 1000 turns!) and you will need to
know the basics on expanding your empire. And so your journey begins...
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Copyright 2002: The Lords of Magic: Special Edition Unoffical F.A.Q. All
rights reserved.
