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MCV
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The Definite Guide to the Fifth Race (part 1)
Introduction
NOTE: This is not, and I repeat not, a technical guide for how to make a Fifth Side. This is a guide for the construction and design of the Fifth Side, and is meant to help you discover Blizzard's "secret" design for WC3.
Units
Amount
Open up your World Editor. If you haven't disabled the feature, a new map should be made on startup, and the Unit Palette should open. It will open up to Human Alliance units. Let's start here.
Count the number of units. (i.e. Not Heroes or Buildings)
There are 12.
Switch to Orc, and count the units.
Do the same with Undead and Night Elves.
If you know how to count, you will have arrived at the following results:
Destroyer is a wildly different unit from Obsidian Statue. The Statue is a land-moving Support (More about this later) vehicle, while the Destroyer is a flying Caster (More about this later) with some very special traits. Not to talk about, it costs money to upgrade to the Destroyer, and the effect is permanent. The Druid of the Claw/Talon, while wildly different, are capable of changing back, and it is a free change.
So, here we have our first guideline: The new team should have 12 units.
A quick count will reveal to you that you should have 4 Heroes on each side, while buildings are very different from race to race.
Type
Here the hard analysis begins.
If you play some Melee, this is much simpler. But very important.
We will start by defining the Tiers:
These units are:
In all cases this unit will be ranged. Notice that of these, Huntress and Crypt Fiend cannot attack air, this is done by Archers or Crypt Fiend's Web.
*(The Humans have two "Mills" the Blacksmith and the Lumber Mill, although the Lumber Mill is the only one that can recieve wood.)
The unit that you can build without the Mill, is usually a melee (close combat) unit, although the Archer is the exception. (More about this later)
So there we have our guidelines for the Barracks Building;
Tier 1: Melee & Ranged, Ranged requires Mill.
In order to speed this up a bit (You probaly don't want to sit her for too long?) I'll be more direct from now on, as you should have understood what I'm doing here. If you haven't, re-read the last sections.
These were the Tier 1 units; Melee[1] and Ranged[1] (The "[1]" specifies that this is a Tier 1 unit.)
Normally, those are the only units you can build at Tier one, save the Builder.
For all sides, at least two new production buildings become avaliable at the next tier, Tier 2. These are the Magic Building (Arcane Sanctum, Spirit Lodge, Temple of the Damned, Ancient of Lore.) and the Factory (Workshop, Beastery, Slaughterhouse, Ancient of Wind)
The Magic Building will produce Caster units, while the Factory will produce more advanced units. (AdvUnits, Flyers, Support & Siege)
Casters
Caster Units are units that cast magic a lot, like Priest or Necromancers. These use a special upgrade system, where the Caster can be upgraded twice, once at Tier 2 and once at Tier 3. Each time the Caster is upgraded, it recieves a new spell. When the Magic Building is built, 2 Casters can be made, when a Shop is made, a third becomes avaliable.
The ShopCaster
This unit is a caster, but can only be built after the Shop has been Built. The exceptions are the Spellbreaker, which is an AdvUnit/Caster, and, the Night Elves has the Mountain Giant instead which is a AdvUnit/Siege. This unit class is introduced with TFT.
Here, there Night Elves get the exceptions:
The Factory is where the differences between the Races become more obvious:
[Units built from the facory (or Ancient of Lore)]
The ShopFlyer is a unit introduced with TFT. It is a flying unit that requires the shop to have been built, and it does not belong to any building in particular, which is very advantagous for us when making the Fifth Race:
This is the capital unit of all sides. It is so awsome it has a building all by itself (NOTE: In TFT the ShopFlyer is attached to the same building for the Humans.)
It can be an form of unit, although it tends to be flying, as the exception is the Tauren. These units has one special upgrade, that only affects them, often reseached from the Ownage Devices' production building. (Frost Breath, Storm Hammers, Corrosive Breath, Pulverize) And they're allways built at Tier 3. (Actually, the building is Tier 3, the unit can be built as long as you have the building. This is slightly unfair for the Humans, who require the Castle for their Gryphon Riders as the Dragonhawk Riders makes the Gryphon Aiviary avaliable from Tier 2.)
melee[3]
The last unit I will describe in detail is the Melee[3] This is probalby the most diverse unit in the game. It is, as you probably guessed, a melee unit that can be built at Tier 3.
*In an early version of WC3 Reign of Chaos, the Abomination was built by combining two Ghouls. You could use this for your Fifth Race.
Types Per Building in General
This is just how it is in general:
But that's not where it ends. You can go way further. The following has never been used:
The Zeppelin, fits nicely for ShopFlyer, but is not a combat unit.
A Support-Siege-Ownage Device.
Buildings
If you remember what I said earlier, there's not a set amount of buildings. But every side has some specific buildigs that are owned by all sides.
Base Building
This is the building that is allready constructed from the start. It can recieve resources, and be upgraded twice to reach new Tiers. Avaliable from the start, but the second upgrade requires the Altar. Builds Workers
Barracks
The first production building you can make, since it is avaliable from the start. This building produces 3 units, Melee[1], Ranged[1], and one other unit. (Knight, Demolisher, Gargoyle, Glaive Thrower.)
Mill
The mill can also be built from the start, and is a requirement for building Ranged[1]. It can recieve lumber, and it holds Armor and Weapons upgrades for that side. Usually four upgrades, two kinds of Armor and two kinds of Weapon upgrades. One of the Armor/Weapon upgrades affects Melee[1] and the other affects Ranged[1] These armor and weapons upgrades affect your whole army, half by the one that affected Melee[1] and the other half by the one that affects Ranged[1].
Food
The Food Production Facility has the primary task of providing food, so your army can grow bigger.
Altar
Summons Heroes and Revives them. Is a requirement for upgrading the Base the second time.
Base Defence
A small building that can attack.
Shop
Sells Items. Is a requirement for the ShopFlyer and the ShopCaster.
Magic Tier 2
Produces the Casters and in most cases the ShopCaster. Also provides upgrades for those units.
Factory
Produces several unit types, although not specified by any traditions, as any type of unit can be produced here.
Special (Ownage Device Production Facility) Tier 3 Building. Produces the Ownage Device, and holds the upgrade(s) for it.
Upgrades
Very quick, the upgrades for most of the units:
Key: Type: Research at, unit(s), special
Recap
A quick summary of which units you will need:
Key: Type, Tier, (Produced by) Requirement
An Analasys of Uniqueness
This ection will detail how you can make the Fifth Race unique, WC3-wise.
Building Construction
All Races build differently:
Worker can protect the base in different ways.
All Food buildings can help defence.
There are several Race-specific shop Items, but one of the most memorable is the Orb.
My Goblin Fifth Side, an Example and Self-Taught Race Building
The Fifth Race many people try to include is the Goblins. While hard to do well, they are excellent to start off with, as they have defined tech, there are many nice models for them, and they can easily use Orc Building as placeholder buildings.
The following is my take on the Goblins, you may have a totally different take on the Goblins, or maybe not event want to do Goblins, but this will be an example of how a Fifth Race can be made unique. It is not complete, and it may be a long time before it is released.
Buildings
Feurweker
A Tier 2 AdvUnit, this unit is armed with a flamethrower that deals Damage over Time. Built from the Armory (Barracks)
Dragon War Turtle
An Ownage Device, this unit has a Siege main attack, and has a bunker on it's back to carry Grenadiers around, while they fire out at nearby units. It can also devour enemy units and it is amphibious. An Siege-Support-Ownage Device, built from [Insert Name] (Special)
Most Goblin Buildings
As their special construction ability, the Goblins will be able to reconstruct their buildings. The Building can be turned into a construction site, that can turn into most other Goblin buildings, but with half cost and half buildtime. The Construction Site can also be destroyed to provide the Goblins with more build space.
Napalm (Upgrade)
In adition to the normal Armor and Weapons upgrades, the Goblins will be able to research Napalm, that will provide several units with bonuses, like Sappers that leave Burning Napalm on the ground when they kill themselves.
The Shop
In the Shop, one of the Goblin specialities will be to purchase artillery shells, which can be fired anywhere on the map Each shell must be purchased, and the Shells will benefit from the Napalm Upgrade.
Defender
The Goblin base defence will benefit from two seperate upgrades, which can be researched in any order. The First will be an AA upgrade, while the other will give it self-repair.
Ideas that didn't quite make it, but that you are totally free to use
-All Goblin Buildings can explode on command, to fend off enemies.
-All Goblin Buildings can lay mines around themselves to fend of enemies.
-Some Goblin Buildings can build Addons (Starcraft) that will provide upgrades or other abilities.
Let your mind loose when making the Racial Uniquenesses. Think outside the box. I have seen a unit that make the trees alive and makes them walk into the Lumber Mill. Or what about a Base Building that sucks the gold out of the gold mines, and can be upgraded four times, so in the end you have 5 "workers" mining the Gold Mine? The mind boggles.
Overdoing it
Race Uniqueness can be overdone to the level at which it becomes stupid; If my Goblins could build addons, lay mines around their buildings, reconstruct them and detonate them they would have way to many racial traits, and I planned this only for buildigs. I had not yet touched the units.
If you have a really great idea that you cannot make the race without, then it is clearly more important than something else, so you should remove the less important idea.
Beyond the Fifth Race
Lies the Sixth Race, which can incorporate the features that you didn't include in the Fifth Race. I am planning a Gnome Race that will have addons for their buildings for example.
~MCV
Introduction
NOTE: This is not, and I repeat not, a technical guide for how to make a Fifth Side. This is a guide for the construction and design of the Fifth Side, and is meant to help you discover Blizzard's "secret" design for WC3.
Units
Amount
Open up your World Editor. If you haven't disabled the feature, a new map should be made on startup, and the Unit Palette should open. It will open up to Human Alliance units. Let's start here.
Count the number of units. (i.e. Not Heroes or Buildings)
There are 12.
Switch to Orc, and count the units.
Do the same with Undead and Night Elves.
If you know how to count, you will have arrived at the following results:
- Human: 12
- Orc: 12
- Undead: 11
- Night Elf: 12
Destroyer is a wildly different unit from Obsidian Statue. The Statue is a land-moving Support (More about this later) vehicle, while the Destroyer is a flying Caster (More about this later) with some very special traits. Not to talk about, it costs money to upgrade to the Destroyer, and the effect is permanent. The Druid of the Claw/Talon, while wildly different, are capable of changing back, and it is a free change.
So, here we have our first guideline: The new team should have 12 units.
A quick count will reveal to you that you should have 4 Heroes on each side, while buildings are very different from race to race.
Type
Here the hard analysis begins.
If you play some Melee, this is much simpler. But very important.
We will start by defining the Tiers:
- Base Building (Town Hall, Great Hall, Necropolis, Tree of Life) not upgraded = Tier 1
- Base Building upgraded once (Keep, Stronghold, Halls of the Dead, Tree of Ages) = Tier 2
- Base Building upgraded twice (Castle, Fotress, Black Citadel, Tree of Eternity) = Tier 3
These units are:
- Human: Footman & Rifleman
- Orc: Grunt & Headhunter
- Undead: Ghoul & Crypt Fiend
- Night Elf: Archer & Huntress
In all cases this unit will be ranged. Notice that of these, Huntress and Crypt Fiend cannot attack air, this is done by Archers or Crypt Fiend's Web.
*(The Humans have two "Mills" the Blacksmith and the Lumber Mill, although the Lumber Mill is the only one that can recieve wood.)
The unit that you can build without the Mill, is usually a melee (close combat) unit, although the Archer is the exception. (More about this later)
So there we have our guidelines for the Barracks Building;
Tier 1: Melee & Ranged, Ranged requires Mill.
In order to speed this up a bit (You probaly don't want to sit her for too long?) I'll be more direct from now on, as you should have understood what I'm doing here. If you haven't, re-read the last sections.
These were the Tier 1 units; Melee[1] and Ranged[1] (The "[1]" specifies that this is a Tier 1 unit.)
Normally, those are the only units you can build at Tier one, save the Builder.
For all sides, at least two new production buildings become avaliable at the next tier, Tier 2. These are the Magic Building (Arcane Sanctum, Spirit Lodge, Temple of the Damned, Ancient of Lore.) and the Factory (Workshop, Beastery, Slaughterhouse, Ancient of Wind)
The Magic Building will produce Caster units, while the Factory will produce more advanced units. (AdvUnits, Flyers, Support & Siege)
Casters
Caster Units are units that cast magic a lot, like Priest or Necromancers. These use a special upgrade system, where the Caster can be upgraded twice, once at Tier 2 and once at Tier 3. Each time the Caster is upgraded, it recieves a new spell. When the Magic Building is built, 2 Casters can be made, when a Shop is made, a third becomes avaliable.
The ShopCaster
This unit is a caster, but can only be built after the Shop has been Built. The exceptions are the Spellbreaker, which is an AdvUnit/Caster, and, the Night Elves has the Mountain Giant instead which is a AdvUnit/Siege. This unit class is introduced with TFT.
Here, there Night Elves get the exceptions:
- Anciet of Wind produces the Druid of the Talon, a Caster/Flyer, while the Ancient of Lore produces the Dryad, an AdvUnit.
The Factory is where the differences between the Races become more obvious:
[Units built from the facory (or Ancient of Lore)]
- The Humans have no AdvUnits, only Siege and Flyers.
- The Undead have no AdvUnits, only Siege and Support (Destoyer is Flyer)
- The Night Elves have no Siege or Support, only Flyer and AdvUnit.
- The Orcs have an AdvUnit/Siege (Rider) a Flyer and a Support (Kodobeast)
The ShopFlyer is a unit introduced with TFT. It is a flying unit that requires the shop to have been built, and it does not belong to any building in particular, which is very advantagous for us when making the Fifth Race:
- Human: Gryphon Aiviary
- Orc: Beastiry
- Undead: Upgraded from Obsidian Statue
- Night Elf: Anciet of Wind
This is the capital unit of all sides. It is so awsome it has a building all by itself (NOTE: In TFT the ShopFlyer is attached to the same building for the Humans.)
It can be an form of unit, although it tends to be flying, as the exception is the Tauren. These units has one special upgrade, that only affects them, often reseached from the Ownage Devices' production building. (Frost Breath, Storm Hammers, Corrosive Breath, Pulverize) And they're allways built at Tier 3. (Actually, the building is Tier 3, the unit can be built as long as you have the building. This is slightly unfair for the Humans, who require the Castle for their Gryphon Riders as the Dragonhawk Riders makes the Gryphon Aiviary avaliable from Tier 2.)
melee[3]
The last unit I will describe in detail is the Melee[3] This is probalby the most diverse unit in the game. It is, as you probably guessed, a melee unit that can be built at Tier 3.
- Human: Knight, built from Barracks.
- Orc: Tauren, Ownage Device/Melee[3] combination
- Undead: Abomination, built from Slaughterhouse.*
- Night Elf: Bear, morphed into by Druid of the Claw (bear form is Tier 3)
*In an early version of WC3 Reign of Chaos, the Abomination was built by combining two Ghouls. You could use this for your Fifth Race.
Types Per Building in General
This is just how it is in general:
- Base Building: Builder
- Barracks: Melee[1], Ranged [1],
- Magic: Caster, Caster, ShopCaster
- Factory: Various
- Special: Ownage Device
But that's not where it ends. You can go way further. The following has never been used:
- Caster built from Barracks?
- Siege/Caster?
- Special Case Ownage Device?
- Caster[3]
- And many more. I'll give you a few to kick off with:
The Zeppelin, fits nicely for ShopFlyer, but is not a combat unit.
A Support-Siege-Ownage Device.
Buildings
If you remember what I said earlier, there's not a set amount of buildings. But every side has some specific buildigs that are owned by all sides.
Base Building
This is the building that is allready constructed from the start. It can recieve resources, and be upgraded twice to reach new Tiers. Avaliable from the start, but the second upgrade requires the Altar. Builds Workers
Barracks
The first production building you can make, since it is avaliable from the start. This building produces 3 units, Melee[1], Ranged[1], and one other unit. (Knight, Demolisher, Gargoyle, Glaive Thrower.)
Mill
The mill can also be built from the start, and is a requirement for building Ranged[1]. It can recieve lumber, and it holds Armor and Weapons upgrades for that side. Usually four upgrades, two kinds of Armor and two kinds of Weapon upgrades. One of the Armor/Weapon upgrades affects Melee[1] and the other affects Ranged[1] These armor and weapons upgrades affect your whole army, half by the one that affected Melee[1] and the other half by the one that affects Ranged[1].
Food
The Food Production Facility has the primary task of providing food, so your army can grow bigger.
Altar
Summons Heroes and Revives them. Is a requirement for upgrading the Base the second time.
Base Defence
A small building that can attack.
Shop
Sells Items. Is a requirement for the ShopFlyer and the ShopCaster.
Magic Tier 2
Produces the Casters and in most cases the ShopCaster. Also provides upgrades for those units.
Factory
Produces several unit types, although not specified by any traditions, as any type of unit can be produced here.
Special (Ownage Device Production Facility) Tier 3 Building. Produces the Ownage Device, and holds the upgrade(s) for it.
Upgrades
Very quick, the upgrades for most of the units:
Key: Type: Research at, unit(s), special
- ArmorMelee: Mill, Melee[1] & Others, the name is very important, as it specifies which other units recieves this upgrade
- ArmorRanged: Mill, Ranged[1] & Others, the name is very important, as it specifies which other units recieves this upgrade
- WeaponMelee: Mill, Melee[1] & Others, the name is very important, as it specifies which other units recieves this upgrade
- WeaponRanged: Mill, Ranged[1] & Others, the name is very important, as it specifies which other units recieves this upgrade
- Melee[1]Upg: Barracks, Melee[1], often passive (Defend is half-passive)
- Ranged[1]Upg: Barracks, Ranged[1], often passive
- CasterTraining: Magic, Caster, two leves, each gives new spell & better stats. Applies to all Casters, including normal ShopCasters.
- Melee[3]Upg: Melee[3]Building, Melee[3], improves Melee[3] and sometimes other units
- OwnageUpg: Special, Ownage Device, passive attack bonus.
- Backpack: Base, Most Units, allows normal units to carry items.
Recap
A quick summary of which units you will need:
Key: Type, Tier, (Produced by) Requirement
- Worker, Tier 1 (Base)
- Melee[1], Tier 1 (Barracks)
- Ranged[1], Tier 1 (Barracks) Mill
- Caster, Tier 2 (Magic)
- Caster, Tier 2 (Magic)
- ShopCaster, Tier 2 (Magic) Shop
- Siege, Tier 2 (Barracks/Factory)
- Flyer, Tier 2 (Barracks/Factory)
- ShopFlyer, Tier 2 (Any One Building) Shop
- Ownage Device, Tier 3 (Special)
- Melee[3], Tier 3 (Any One Building)
An Analasys of Uniqueness
This ection will detail how you can make the Fifth Race unique, WC3-wise.
Building Construction
All Races build differently:
- Humans can use several peasents.
- Orcs protect their Peons inside the building while building.
- Undead does not have to stay while building.
- Night Elves somethimes turn into their buildings.
Worker can protect the base in different ways.
- Humans can arm their workers
- Orcs can bunker them for an attack
- Undead can flee the construction site, and Ghouls can attack.
- Night Elf can Detonate for anti-magic fields.
All Food buildings can help defence.
- Humans have a small, cheap building, for cannon fodder.
- Orcs have a bunker for Workers.
- Undead can upgrade theirs fo attack.
- Night Elves have Recharge Health and Mana on theirs.
There are several Race-specific shop Items, but one of the most memorable is the Orb.
- Humans have an AoE orb.
- Orcs have a Purge orb.
- Undead has a Decrease Armor orb.
- Night Elf has a DoT orb.
My Goblin Fifth Side, an Example and Self-Taught Race Building
The Fifth Race many people try to include is the Goblins. While hard to do well, they are excellent to start off with, as they have defined tech, there are many nice models for them, and they can easily use Orc Building as placeholder buildings.
The following is my take on the Goblins, you may have a totally different take on the Goblins, or maybe not event want to do Goblins, but this will be an example of how a Fifth Race can be made unique. It is not complete, and it may be a long time before it is released.
Buildings
- Outpost-Base-Command Centre (Base Building)
- Armory (Barracks)
- Chemistry Lab (Magic)
- Factory (Factory)
- Goblin Sheep Processor (Food)
- Defender (Base Defence)
- [Insert Name] (Special)
- Ammo Depot (Mill)
- [Insert Name] (Shop)
- Altar of BOOM! (Altar)
Feurweker
A Tier 2 AdvUnit, this unit is armed with a flamethrower that deals Damage over Time. Built from the Armory (Barracks)
Dragon War Turtle
An Ownage Device, this unit has a Siege main attack, and has a bunker on it's back to carry Grenadiers around, while they fire out at nearby units. It can also devour enemy units and it is amphibious. An Siege-Support-Ownage Device, built from [Insert Name] (Special)
Most Goblin Buildings
As their special construction ability, the Goblins will be able to reconstruct their buildings. The Building can be turned into a construction site, that can turn into most other Goblin buildings, but with half cost and half buildtime. The Construction Site can also be destroyed to provide the Goblins with more build space.
Napalm (Upgrade)
In adition to the normal Armor and Weapons upgrades, the Goblins will be able to research Napalm, that will provide several units with bonuses, like Sappers that leave Burning Napalm on the ground when they kill themselves.
The Shop
In the Shop, one of the Goblin specialities will be to purchase artillery shells, which can be fired anywhere on the map Each shell must be purchased, and the Shells will benefit from the Napalm Upgrade.
Defender
The Goblin base defence will benefit from two seperate upgrades, which can be researched in any order. The First will be an AA upgrade, while the other will give it self-repair.
Ideas that didn't quite make it, but that you are totally free to use
-All Goblin Buildings can explode on command, to fend off enemies.
-All Goblin Buildings can lay mines around themselves to fend of enemies.
-Some Goblin Buildings can build Addons (Starcraft) that will provide upgrades or other abilities.
Let your mind loose when making the Racial Uniquenesses. Think outside the box. I have seen a unit that make the trees alive and makes them walk into the Lumber Mill. Or what about a Base Building that sucks the gold out of the gold mines, and can be upgraded four times, so in the end you have 5 "workers" mining the Gold Mine? The mind boggles.
Overdoing it
Race Uniqueness can be overdone to the level at which it becomes stupid; If my Goblins could build addons, lay mines around their buildings, reconstruct them and detonate them they would have way to many racial traits, and I planned this only for buildigs. I had not yet touched the units.
If you have a really great idea that you cannot make the race without, then it is clearly more important than something else, so you should remove the less important idea.
Beyond the Fifth Race
Lies the Sixth Race, which can incorporate the features that you didn't include in the Fifth Race. I am planning a Gnome Race that will have addons for their buildings for example.
~MCV
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