Dwarf Engineers | ||
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Race | Dwarves | |
Req. Town Buildings | Builders' Hall | |
Construction Cost | 40 | |
Upkeep Cost |
1 1 | |
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# of figures | 6 | |
Moves | 1 | |
Melee Attack per figure | 1 | |
Defense per figure | 1 | |
Resistance | 8 | |
Hit Points per figure | 3 | |
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Wall Crusher |
Dwarf Engineers are a type of Normal Unit that can be recruited in Dwarf Towns containing at least a Builders' Hall. Engineers are a support unit whose primary purpose is the improvement of infrastructure through the construction of Roads. They offer little in the way of combat prowess, although they are capable of demolishing sections of City Walls during siege battles – provided that they can be kept alive while trying to reach those walls. Dwarf Engineers are arguably the best at what they do, not just because they work twice as fast as other Engineers, but also due their significantly higher survivability.
Dwarf Engineers have a Construction Cost of 40, and require an Upkeep Cost of 1 and 1 to maintain. Failure to pay these costs will result in the unit being disbanded automatically.
Unit Properties[]
Physical Description[]
Dwarf Engineers are a group of short, stocky, bearded humanoids. They wear green tunics and caps, distinguishing themselves from the Dwarven combat units. Though they are not seen to be carrying any weapons or armor, they are implied to be equipped with short swords for self defense. Dwarves have a terrific constitution, and do not succumb easily to either damage or ill magic. They are at home in mountainous terrain, although this comes at a cost of being unaccustomed to open spaces.
Dwarf Engineers are a Multi-Figure unit, containing up to 6 individuals.
Attack Properties[]
Dwarf Engineers initially possess a very weak Melee Attack, which will only be threatening to low-tier Normal Units. They start out with an Attack Strength of 1, which has an average "raw" damage output of 0.3 – or rather, there is only a 30% chance for each Engineer to inflict any damage on the opponent, which may then possibly be negated entirely by a Defense Roll. Therefore, Dwarf Engineers are highly unlikely to get through any armor at all. They do get better with Experience though, both in strength and accuracy. At the Elite level, the maximum normally attainable, their attacks will actually do 4 times this much – 1.2 points of "raw" damage, on average, per Engineer.
Dwarf Engineers do possess one quality that might warrant their inclusion in an offensive army. During a siege of an enemy Town with City Walls, they may be able to demolish segments of those walls, allowing other ground troops to push through and engage the defenders without the protection granted by the walls. However, to accomplish this, the Dwarf Engineers need to get adjacent to a wall segment, and even then, their chance of successfully destroying it is only 50% per attack.
Defensive Properties[]
Dwarf Engineers wear very little armor, and possess a Defense score of only 1. They can deflect about 0.3 points from Conventional Damage attacks, on average – which is barely anything, and leaves them extremely vulnerable. Fortunately, Dwarves are exceptionally sturdy. Their 3 Hit Points give them relatively good survivability as long as they don't become the center of enemy attention. Their base Resistance score is also very impressive – with 8, they stand a good chance at shrugging off Unit Curses and other combat maledictions. Their Defense, Resistance, and even Hit Points also improve with Experience.
Other Properties[]
Dwarf Engineers move at a slow 1, and can only traverse land tiles. Like most Dwarves, Dwarf Engineers also possess the Mountaineer ability, which allows them to traverse Hill, Mountain, and Volcano tiles for a movement cost of only 1. However, since their Movement Allowance is only this much too, this by itself will not grant them any tangible benefit. On the other hand, they also move slower on Grassland, requiring 3 to enter each tile. Fortunately though, this will actually not affect them either for the same reason, unless their base speed is increased through magic.
Dwarf Engineers are one of only a handful of units in the game capable of building Roads. In addition to improving the movement of troops in general, Roads can also provide a tangible economical benefit by allowing connected Towns to trade between each other, increasing their Gold income. Roads may only be built on land and, by default, take between 3 to 8 turns per map tile to construct, depending on terrain. However, Dwarf Engineers work twice as fast as those of other Races, and multiple Engineers working together can reduce the construction time even further.
To build a Road, the Engineers must first move to the tile where it is intended to start, and be given the "Build" command. The player is then given information about the time it will take to construct the Road, and may also select a destination to build to – clicking the "Ok" button without choosing a destination will prompt the Engineers to build only on the tile they are standing on. Adjacent tiles with Roads on them are connected automatically in any direction, including diagonals.
Overland tiles with Roads on them can be entered by ground units for a movement cost of only 0.5, regardless of the actual terrain. However, flying units gain no benefit from regular Roads unless they are moving together with ground forces. Should Roads be built on Myrror, they will automatically become Enchanted Roads instead. These can be moved over by corporeal units – including flying ones – at no movement cost whatsoever, allowing troops to travel great distances in the blink of an eye. Like it is with flying units and regular Roads, Non-Corporeal creatures can also make use of the Enchanted Roads, but only as long as they move together with corporeal units.
Basic Strategy[]
The primary role of Dwarf Engineers is to build Roads. On Myrror, the home Plane of Dwarves, this actually means Enchanted Roads. Connecting strategic locations with such Roads allows armies to move instantaneously between them, and enables newly recruited troops to reach the front lines more or less immediately. At the same time, Roads – Enchanted or otherwise – also provide Towns with the opportunity to trade amongst each other, increasing the amount of Gold they can generate each turn. The more Towns that are interconnected, the higher the income of each one becomes.
Because of this, Dwarf Engineers are typically worth recruiting as soon as their maintenance becomes manageable. This is especially true given that Roads can take quite some time to construct, and the larger the empire, the longer it will take to fully cover it. At the same time though, building Roads whereever possible is not necessarily a good idea, particularly on the frontiers. Enemies may be able to make use of the Road network in the same way that its builders can, allowing them to overrun the empire if ample defenses are not yet in place to stop them. This is even more relevant on Myrror, given the nature of Enchanted Roads: hostile forces may use them to strike literally without warning.
To train Dwarf Engineers, a Town only requires a Builders' Hall. This is usually among the first Town Buildings constructed in a settlement – if not the very first one –, as it unlocks a number of other structures – including the Granary, which can play a vital role in the growth of new Cities. Thus, Dwarf Engineers tend to be readily available in Dwarven empires. They are also one of the few units that can be created without any military buildings, and can therefore be trained without interrupting regular army recruitment.
Unfortunately, Dwarf Engineers are not quite an ideal combat unit, and generally don't perform well in battle. Dwarf Swordsmen are better protected and can do more damage for a lower Upkeep Cost, although it is true that they do cost 25% more to recruit. While the Wall Crusher ability may seem promising, the fact that the Dwarf Engineers need to reach the City Walls to attempt to demolish them makes it seldom useful in practice. While they do have plenty of Hit Points, Dwarf Engineers are still quite vulnerable to Ranged Attacks due to their minimal Armor.
However, Engineers do have a trait that is not mentioned anywhere in the game documentation: computer players do not consider them to be military units. That is, Engineers can enter the territory of other Wizards without any diplomatic repercussions. Although Settlers also possess this quality, they are typically more expensive than Engineers, and are even more defenseless in combat. In fact, given their decent figure count, impressive health, and outstanding Resistance score, Dwarf Engineers are arguably the best non-military unit in the game. Through Experience and other enhancement effects, they can potentially be empowered enough that being attacked does not always result in losing them.
Should this be the case, Dwarf Engineers can serve as scouts, or possibly even guard strategic locations where the presence of military units might otherwise escalate into unwanted wars. Combined with the fact that they also build Roads twice as fast as any other Engineers, yet cost the same as the cheapest ones both in terms of recruitment and maintenance, Dwarf Engineers can be one of the most useful units in Master of Magic.
Ability Overview[]
Construction[]
- This unit can build Roads on land tiles.
- To use this ability, the unit needs to be on a valid tile, be selected, and have Movement Allowance remaining. If all requirements are met, the "Build" command becomes active in the unit window at the bottom right of the screen. Triggering it also allows a destination to optionally be chosen.
- Building a Road on a map tile takes 3 to 8 game turns depending on terrain, and can be sped up by employing multiple units with this ability, in which case the time required is divided by the number of such units, rounding down. Dwarf Engineers also build twice as fast as all others by default.
Mountaineer[]
- This unit, and any others grouped with it on the overland map, may move through Hill, Mountain, and Volcano tiles at a rate of 1 Movement Point per tile. On the other hand, Grassland tiles cost them 3 to enter.
- Should the stack also contain a Forester, the Movement Type of the group becomes Pathfinding instead, allowing them to enter any tile that they normally could for a cost of only 0.5.
Wall Crusher[]
- When besieging a Town, this unit can target map tiles with intact City Wall segments as if there were enemy units on those tiles.
- Any attack made by this unit against a tile – or an enemy on a tile – with an intact wall segment has a 50% chance of destroying the wall segment on that tile for the remainder of combat. If an enemy is also hit, then the chance is rolled only after resolving the attack against that enemy.
Experience Table[]
The following table illustrates how Dwarf Engineers improve with Experience. Any properties that are not listed here are not affected by Experience in any way.
Level Icon | Level Name | EP | Melee | To Hit | Defense | Resist | Hits |
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Recruit | 0 - 19 | 1 | 30% | 1 | 8 | 3 | |
Regular | 20 - 59 | 2 | 30% | 1 | 9 | 3 | |
Veteran | 60 - 119 | 2 | 30% | 2 | 10 | 3 | |
Elite | 120 | 3 | 40% | 2 | 11 | 4 | |
Ultra-Elite | 120 * | 3 | 50% | 3 | 12 | 4 | |
Champion | 120 ** | 4 | 60% | 3 | 13 | 5 |
* To achieve this level, either the Warlord Retort or the Crusade spell must be in play.
** To achieve this level, both Warlord and Crusade must be in play simultaneously.
Average Damage Output[]
The table below details the average amount of "raw" damage that each Figure in a Dwarf Engineers unit will deliver based on Experience Level. It can be used in comparison to the target's Defense rating to approximate the chance of hurting that target.
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Acquisition[]
Dwarf Engineers may be recruited in any Dwarf Town with a Builders' Hall already present. The Construction Cost of this unit is 40. Dwarf Engineers may also appear as Mercenaries, provided that the player has a presence on Myrror. In this case, they cost between 80 to 120 to hire per unit, based on their Experience – or half that much for Charismatic Wizards.