Building

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There are generally two types of buildings that can be used:


 * Buildings that are specifically built by your builder units or hero. They produce your armies, defense and upgrades.


 * Neutral buildings that can never be constructed by your units. Instead, many of them require conversion to be used.

The latter include resource mines and special buildings that allows you to produce a particular unit. All buildings in the game are resistant to piercing damage and vulnerable to fire damage. Every building that you control can be repaired slowly or quickly (more expensive). Resource and special buildings that are destroyed will automatically rebuild themselves after some time.

Most buildings including your opponent's and your own ones can also be converted by the opposing hero or general. So it is sometimes faster and more efficient to convert enemy buildings rather than destroy them. Shops and quest buildings do not require converting and anyone is free to use them by selecting the hero and right clicking the building.

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

Buildings are normally constructed by the hero or builder units. It is a good idea to leave the building to the builder units though as your hero will usually be busy converting buildings or fighting the enemy. The hero also cannot build towers and fortifications anyway. So it's really best to leave the building to the builders most of the time.

Speaking of which, the speed of building construction varies quite a bit depending on the builder's build skill. This ranges from the abysmally slow zombie to the amazingly fast upgraded chameleon. In most maps, you usually start with no buildings at all. So the first one to build a keep and churn out workers have a useful advantage. Later on, building quickly means a smoother production line and faster fortifications of new territory.

MAKING A BASE

Creating an efficient base of operation is more than just simply making a few buildings and calling it a day. Building placement is extremely important for several reasons.

1) Building space is limited and yet buildings are necessary to increase your army supply limit. You would want to make optimum use of the terrain to maximize the number of buildings in it.

2) You want to achieve the previous objective without causing your units to get stuck in between buildings

3) Buildings can sometimes be built beside towers to blockade enemy melee troops from reaching the tower. This enables you to skimp on traditional fortification like walls a little bit.

4) Critical or vulnerable buildings need to be placed in secure locations. Sometimes a big building may have such a large hit box that enemy units can harass it from a particular angle, away from your towers. Additionally, some buildings like the Fey's Orb of Wonders are so important that even a slight vulnerability to attack will prompt the enemy to launch an all out assault on them.

Try to keep the above points in mind when making a base and balancing the various objectives.

MISC

Pressing Tab lets you cycle through your research and unit-producing buildings.