Dwarf Buildings

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Dwarf Buildings

Citadel
The Dwarven keep - the Citadel - is a rather disappointing building. Up until it reaches level 5, the only activity it would have done is researched extra speed to a unit that by all rights should have had that extra speed to begin with. Come level 5 where it can start to produce units and it becomes immediately obvious that even then we have problems. The only unit it produces is the Dwarven General, who requires a lengthy production time. This drastically reduces their numbers on the field which further stresses the Dwarves poor map control and almost forces the Dwarven player to fork out the resources for another level 5 Citadel. It is even worse in game versions prior to 1.03.1, where King Khalid is also present and would halt General production altogether for a considerable time if the Dwarves dared to produce their Titan.

Tower (Dwarf)
Dwarven towers are among the best in the game, possessing very high damage, great durability and a "balanced" cost, even if it is a little on the high side. However, that's just the tower with its default stats - the Dwarven race can build on to that with extra hit points, faster build times (and a fast builder to boot!), cheaper repair costs and garrisoned archers that offer double the damage an archer would normally offer. All this together makes Dwarven towers a real nightmare to face and allows the Dwarves to build themselves an incredibly potent bulwark that ensures their base wont be easily sieged late game.

The only downside is that the Dwarven race is forever hungry for gold, and spending 300 for a tower will most certainly hamper their economy in some way. There is also the high construction time, but this mostly only causes problems for non-Dwarven builders attempting to build one of these towers before the Engineering skill has been acquired. After which, or using a Dwarven Smith, will negate this otherwise-lengthy construction time.

Foundry
For the most part of the game, Foundries will be the heart and soul of the Dwarven base. Whether it's through upgrading their units, producing (siege)weapons of mass destruction or pumping out Smiths to fill mines, the Foundry will certainly have a lot to do. So much in fact that you'll likely need to build at least couple of these right from the start of the game. By late game, once the Dwarves' mines are filled and the upgrades researched, the Foundries' workload starts to slack off, with Siege Weapon production being their only common use. Just remember to keep a good clearance of space around them to allow those Siege Weapons to freely move around your base without getting stuck.

Armory
While the Foundry makes itself a core part of the Dwarven base via a multitude of reasons, the Armory makes itself equally as important but for just one reason - production of almost every Dwarven unit. Whether they're scouting units, missile units, infantry and anti-cavalry units, they all make home in the Armory, which ensures the usefulness of these buildings throughout the game. Because of all these units it produces, you'll be using up most of your building room for countless amounts of these buildings. They're fairly tough, quick to build and have a balanced build cost, so building them is neither a waste nor a costly mistake. Unfortunately though, they are somewhat on the large size - not huge, but just a little too big for the amount that you'll need to build.

Trading Post
The Trading Post aims to save the Dwarves from their terrible economy with the highly praised and sort-after Income and Trade skills. But unfortunately for them, the Trading Post doesn't come without its flaws. Before the Dwarves economy gets better, it must first get worse! The Trading Post itself is quite taxing on the gold resource, and the researches are quite expensive, especially the Trade skill. This means the Dwarves must sacrifice a little more before things can start to get better for them. Thankfully though, the Trading Post arrives in tier 2, allowing the Dwarves to get the income boost during the early periods of the game that can help feed the later game. But the Trading Post also arrives in the form of a large and unwieldy building. Also, due to it's less than stellar hit points and an ability that requires it present at all times to use, this makes it an easy and high priority target for the enemy. Therefore it should be placed somewhere secure and away from your base's entry points. But as it doesn't produce any units, you don't need to worry about units leaving the building and getting stuck on nearby terrain objects (other than the builder who constructed the Trading Post), so it can be placed directly next to groups of features and impassible terrain without much care.

Workshop
The Workshop is a simple building that allows for the production of Dwarven Crossbows and can power them up with two researches. As it's the building itself that is the requirement for Dwarven Crossbows, its presence will be needed throughout the game, even though it wont actually be doing anything past the researching of the two skills it offers. It's quite small, cheap (although it still costs gold), but not very sturdy and takes 50% longer to build than the average Dwarven building. Regardless, you'll only need to build one of these, assuming you don't let the enemy destroy it, so put it somewhere out of the way.

Eyrie level 1
With the first Eyrie level, the Dwarves gain Eagles. Although their building prowess is vastly outclassed by Dwarven Smiths, their fast movement speed and ability to fly makes them ideal for scaling the map and building a structure in a location far away from your base, a location that would normally take a Dwarven Smith forever to reach with their grounded and terribly slow movement speed. Eagles are also one of the better basic fliers for combat, so even if you have no intention of building beyond your base, they can still be used for aerial combat. But keep in mind the gold cost needed for Eagles and Eyries, which could hamper the rest of the Dwarven economy if you spend too much on them. As such, a single Eyrie would probably suffice in tier 2.

Brewery
Dwarves are painfully slow, but as if by magic, getting them drunk makes them faster! The Brewery is responsible for this productive, if not crude, act, as well as producing their Titan (as of 1.03.1 onward). Unfortunately, everything obtained from the Brewery requires a decent amount of gold, so you wont be obtaining the skills easily. Further more, the Dwarven Brew ability requires 20 gold per unit to activate, so even after getting the skill, you still have to battle the gold resource to get it to function. Because of this constant devouring of gold, it is usually best to get the three Morale skills first.

Other than production of four skills and the Dwarven Titan, the building is also required for the production of Berserkers, so there is a need to keep it around after obtaining everything from it. The building is not particularly big and doesn't have any reoccurring units produced from it, but you'll still need to be careful of where it's placed due to producing King Khalid from it, who can easily get stuck in tight bases.

Note: Due to an oversight by the 1.03.1+ team, the Brewery does not prevent defeat despite being able to produce King Khalid. (Typically, any building that can produce/summon units, or attack/convert prevents defeat)

Mortar
Mortars are a defensive structure that can help the Dwarven base defend itself against units that would otherwise resist the attacks of their main towers. The added splash damage can make short work of groups of light infantry and with its long range it can be positioned behind the more-durable standard Dwarven towers, keeping its frail self away from harm. However, Mortars can only strike grounded targets, so they should never be used as a form of main defense and only used to support existing towers.

Note: With the exception of a few mods (such as The Protectors), the AI cannot actually build Mortars.

College
It's tier 4 when things get really interesting for the Dwarves, and it's all because of the College. This surprisingly small building (especially considering its hit points) produces arguably the best Dwarven unit, the Runelord, as well as researching three fantastic skills that is what makes fighting the Dwarves so annoying late game. Needless to say, Colleges should take high priority for building when they become available, and should even consider rushing through a lower tier to get to them. As the lone unit it produces is a spellcaster, you should also consider setting the College's attitude to "Magic Defender" to have the units produced set up to auto-cast their Doomstones spell without out the need for any micro-management.

However, the construction of the College heralds the time of stone depletion. Not only do each College require 200 stone for construction, but each research and the Runelords produced require a large amount of stone, too. Indirectly, by making buildings quicker to build, it also makes spending stone quicker as well.

Eyrie level 2
The Eyrie level 2 opens up the Dwarves to another fast moving unit - the Griffon. But unlike the Eagle, the Griffon is far more effective in battle through its higher stats and ability to hit ground targets as well as aerial ones. With this new unit, the Dwarves can now pull off strategies that no other unit in the race could even remotely try, such as ambushes, hit and run etc... Although Griffons certainly prove they have a lot of uses for the Dwarves, they also cause conflicts with other useful things, too. With the requirement of gold and stone for both the Eyrie upgrades and the Griffons, they hit hard the already struggling Dwarven economy, especially since Runelords become present in the same tier. Because of this, Griffon production will likely end up being rather situational, and thus not needing to build many Eyries at all. You may even find that a single Eyrie level 2 for both Eagle and Griffon production is all you need.

Eyrie level 3
For Dwarves to get an Eyrie level 3 up, they require much use from their Trading Post, more specifically referring to the Trade skill. The Dwarves can use their newly obtained Dragons in a similar role to the Griffons, but while they loose the stone cost and gain a much less used crystal cost, they still require that huge gold cost. Although, once again the Trading Post can help out here, too. As the Dragons can be used to replace Griffons, you wont have any real need to build another Eyrie for them. Perhaps one more for Eagles if you have need for long distance construction, but other than that you should be set with just one in a typical game.

As for the choice of which Dragon to produce, a Storm Dragon would prove more useful to the Dwarves than a Fire Dragon in most cases. Simply because Dwarves are already great for knocking down buildings, with plenty of units dealing extra damage to them, as well as Runelords already possessing a fire type attack. Storm Dragons can be mostly used to protect Siege Weapon convoys and making their base defense even more formidable. As nearly every single Dwarven unit has high resistance and a special resistance to all elemental attacks, as well as having a hidden resistance to poison and being so slow that any further loss of speed wont really matter, they therefore aren't bothered much by enemy spellcasters. As such, their Storm Dragons will only really need to charge against enemy spellcasters that threaten their Siege Weapons.