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The Tower is a garrisonable structure.

Description[]

Towers are defensive structures that provide an elevated position for the castle's missile troops to fire from. With height advantage, tower defenders enjoy limited protection against ranged attacks, while they themselves can hit targets on the ground easier. Some towers can support defense engines, such as mangonels and ballistae.

Most towers can be repaired to undo the damage of rocks and other damage. They are particularly vulnerable to bombardment from catapults and trebuchets. When crumbling, all units are severely damaged on the top of it.

Information[]

Warwick-castle

Square towers of Warwick Castle

Towers are tall structures that are primarily constructed towards the air. While there have been towers for industrial or civilian purposes, they also found great utility in defensive measures and fortifications.

Watch towers have existed since early ages that could overlook swathes of areas and provided scouts an easier means of obtaining information about incoming threats, such as an army marching in formation. Most of the time, watchtowers were also serving as beacons, having lit up flames high enough on their top to emit light visible in big distances. While their utility was immeasureable, they were easy to demolish and remove by tools and weapons.

Springald

The springald, a bolt-firing defensive weapon

Fortified towers made of stone appeared early in castles of the Medieval Ages. These towers were built on a stable foundation so that they could easily shrug off catapulted rocks, as well as they were able to host groups of defenders on the top and in the medium levels. Towers were later provided additional features that made retaliation possibilities better and safer: arrowslits, holes for pouring out hot liquids and stakes. Grand towers were able to house heavy mechanical equipment such as mangonels and springalds (later cannons).

In sieges, towers were a crucial weak point of a castle and the attacking force often deployed siege equipment - mechanical devices that used heavy projectiles to damage the structure of a tower and crumble it. Rocks and iron balls were really effective in this, but very unreliable due to their long arming time and preparations. Sometimes, a more brute but stronger and heavier battering ram was used for the task.

Castle towers remained well in use until the 17-18th century, even in the era of cannonballs and gunpowder.

Towers can be built in a large proximity of the player's keep and close to an ally's keep. They require the presence of a single-tiled wall from any side direction in order to be accessible for infantry. Tower engines (ballistae and mangonels) can also be installed on top of larger towers.

Garrisoning units atop a tower gain height advantage: enemy projectiles from lower heights have a tendency to miss and they only inflict half of their damage. Braziers can also be placed on a tower, further improving the combat capabilities of archers and Arabian bowmen by allowing them to ignite pitch ditches.

Towers can be damaged with rocks, melee attacks and bashes from the battering ram, creating holes in it. On critically low health, the tower crumbles, burying or sending all units on top fly. When a tower is destroyed without crumbling, all of its defenders lose half of their health as fall damage. Tunnelers may also undermine the foundation of smaller towers, causing heavy damage.

Towers can be repaired to full health by selecting and manually repairing it, just like gatehouses. The repair cost is proportional to damage dealt. Partial repairs are not allowed.

Variants[]

Tower Description Cost Health Repair cost
Lookout Tower A very cheap and tall Arabic-style tower with limited garrison space and health. 10 stone 250 1 stone / 25 hp
Perimeter Turret A small, solid square tower with limited garrison space and medium height. 10 stone 1000 1 stone / 100 hp
Defense Turret A larger variant of the perimeter turret with lots of health and surface area. 15 stone 1500 1 stone / 100 hp
Square Tower A robust large tower, capable of hosting tower engines and up to 36 units. Immune to tunnels. 35 stone 1600 1 stone / 45 hp
Round Tower The most massive tower in the game, capable of hosting tower engines. Immune to tunnels. 40 stone 2000 1 stone / 50 hp

Stone towers can be built anywhere independently in a player's own estate. They have three floors, which are interconnected with stairs inside, accessible from the bottom or the middle level (and as a result, from walls as well). Garrisoning units atop a tower gain height and range advantage, reducing incoming damage from enemy projectiles below, while also increasing the range of ranged units. Braziers can also be added on the top level to allow archers to ignite pitch ditches.

Most towers can be installed a mangonel or ballista, on their top level (engineers are automatically added). They also feature arrowslits on the middle level that allow a ranged unit to safely attack through a fireport. The square tower and round tower can also be given a hoarding refit that protects units from fire damage (most notably fire ballistae), losing the capability of hosting a defense engine. When the hoarding burns down, it is lost and the tower is converted back to its normal variant.

Towers can be damaged with rocks and tunnel mines. On critically low health, the tower crumbles, with all of its units flying off in every direction. Engineers may also undermine the foundation of a tower, which also results in heavy damage or collapse. Fire ballistae can also shoot off units with their line attacks.

Towers can be repaired to full health, just like gatehouses. The repair cost is proportional to damage dealt. It costs 1 stone per with the unit being a rock from the catapult. Partial repairs are not allowed.

Variants[]

Tower Description Cost Arrowslits
Lookout Tower A very cheap and tall square tower with limited garrison space and health, granting large height advantage. 40 stone -
Bastion A sturdy round tower with medium height that can support a tower engine. 60 stone 1
Square Tower A robust large tower, capable of hosting tower engines. Can be outfit with a hoarding. 100 stone 1
Round Tower A larger variant of the bastion, capable of hosting tower engines. Can be outfit with a hoarding. 120 stone 2
Great Tower A massive and grand round tower with large surface area and exceptional durability. Capable of hosting tower engines. 180 stone 4

Stone towers can be built anywhere independently on the map, in the player's starting estate. They are accessible from adjacent walls only, as they lack an entrance of their own from the ground level. Mounted units can also enter towers. Garrisoning units atop a tower gain height and range advantage, while enemy projectiles only inflict part of their damage. Braziers can also be placed on a tower, further improving the combat capabilities of archers.

Towers can be damaged with rocks and bashes from dwarves, polar bears and frost giants. On critically low health, the tower crumbles, with all of its units flying off in every direction. Fire ballistae can also shoot off units with their line attacks, as well as bats can knock them off with their suicide blast. Area abilities from special units also affect the garrison from any level, like the blast from Sir Percival.

Towers can be repaired to full health, just like gatehouses. The repair cost is proportional to damage dealt, with the unit being a rock from the catapult and trebuchet.

The design of towers slightly differs with each faction, but their characteristics are more or less the same. The only notable exception is the Evil faction's lookout tower, which features a second protruding upper floor surrounded by the original upper floor, making it somewhat more versatile to utilize.

Variants[]

Tower Description Cost
Basic Tower A somewhat tall tower with small footprint and limited durability. 40 stone
Lookout Tower A very tall tower granting the highest possible range advantage and a good garrisoning capacity. 80 stone
Engine Tower A medium-high tower with a large surface area for large groups of units. Can host a tower engine on its top. 120 stone

Stone towers can be built anywhere independently on the map, in the player's starting estate. They are only accessible from the middle level, if a wall or stairs is connected next to it. Garrisoning units atop a tower gain height and range advantage, while enemy projectiles also have a tendency to miss. Braziers can also be placed on a tower, further improving the combat capabilities of archers and Arabian bowmen.

Towers can be damaged with rocks and melee attacks. When running out of health, the tower crumbles, with all of its units flying off in every direction and dying. Towers can be repaired by the use of the repair tool, just like gatehouses and walls. The repair cost is proportional to damage repaired, where each use restores 25% health and costs 25% of the original cost.

Depending on the starting faction, the player can construct a selection of distinct European or Arab towers. Arab towers are somewhat cheaper and come in round shape, while they bear inferior durability. European towers are square-shaped and withstand more punishment, but they can house less units on their rooftops.

Variants[]

Tower (Arabic/Crusader) Description Cost (Arabic/Crusader)
Watch tower/Lookout tower A very cheap and tall tower with limited garrison space and health, granting large height advantage. 60/70 stone
Stump tower/Medium tower A large tower with good garrison capacity and high durability. 90/100 stone
Grand Tower The largest tower with exceptional tolerance to attacks and a large rooftop. 180/220 stone

Tower/Stronghold Warlords

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