Cities (Warlords III)

Cities are the key static pieces of the battlefield. They generate Resources, control Sites, produce Armies, attract Heroes and Mercenaries, provide Quests, and serve as formidable defensive positions for Combat. Losing all of your Cities constitutes defeat, while capturing all opposing Cities constitutes absolute victory.

Resource Generation
Every City provides an amount of Gold Income per turn (typically 15-35). Some Cities also provide Mana Income per turn (typically 1-4 of a specific colour). Note that this income cannot be upgraded.

Site Control
Every City absorbs the benefits of those Sites it is closest to. These Sites typically improve the Gold Income of the City itself or improve the Statistics of the Armies it produces. The benefits of multiple Sites are cumulative, so in the right circumstances, income can be significantly improved and Armies can be made abnormally strong.

Army Production
Every City can work on Producing a new Army.

In order to begin producing a new Army, the ability to produce that type of Army must be first purchased for the City. This requires paying the Army's listed Production Cost. The City must then be focussed on producing that Army for the requisite number of Production Time (Turns); any change of production focus will reset the timer.

Each City can be outfitted to produce up to four different types of Army. If you wish to produce a different kind of Army yet again, one of the existing Armies must be replaced.

You may also stop a City from producing any Army, in which case its production capability will sit idle. This may be desirable if for instance your upkeep is already dangerously high.

Vectoring Armies
Armies stationed in a City can be Vectored to any other owned City. This causes the Army to 'disappear' from the game map immediately, then appear at the destination City after 2 turns.

While in transit, the Vectored Army cannot be intercepted or interacted with in any way. If the destination City is destroyed, the Army will be 'vectored back' to the City it was Vectoring from.

Note there is a map setting that causes Vectoring to take a variable number of turns based on how far away the destination City is.

City Levels
A City can be Upgraded to improve the Fortify bonus it provides to its defenders.

Combat in Cities
Battles that take place against Cities are resolved like normal Combat except that:
 * Attacking any of the four squares of the City constitutes as 'attacking the city'
 * The defending stack will be comprised of all Armies on all four squares of the City (up to 32 Armies!)
 * Defenders gain a Fortify bonus based on the City Level

Also note that if the 'see in cities' map option is turned off, invaders to not get to see the defending Army stacks until battle begins.

Capturing a City
When an attack on a City is successful, the invaders are given four Capture Method options.


 * If the City only produced armies your Side CAN produce, the Sack option will be identical to the Pillage option.
 * If the City only produced armies your Side CANNOT produce, the Pillage option will be unavailable.
 * If you have a Quest related to this City, it will be notated under the relevant Capture Method.

Razed Cities
Razed cities are not owned by any player and confer no bonuses or penalties for Armies traversing or battling on its ruins. They can be rebuilt at the cost of 800 Gold.