How to Play
This document outlines the basic aspects of gameplay that define your experience in Castle of Heroes. This is a living document and if you feel that important game details are not covered, please let us know and we will do our best to keep this document as useful as possible!
1.
Castle Building
To access the Castle Building screen, please click on the 'Build' button in the menu. Here are some general rules and tips regarding castle building.
Main Treasure Each castle is required to have one Main Treasure tile. This tile represents your treasury and is the objective that opposing players are trying to reach. Try to keep it as secure as possible for an effective defense.
Castle Cost This counter, at the top of your screen, counts how much it would cost the treasury to submit the castle design/changes you have just made. In order to submit and save your castle, your treasury needs to have the resources to support it!
Castle Production This indicator tells you how many of each resource your castle will produce per game cycle.
Castle Upkeep This indicator tells you how many of each resource it will cost to maintain your castle per game cycle. When your upkeep exceeds your production, you need to make sure your treasury has enough resources left to support the difference or else your castle will go out-of-repair, and will stop accumulating resources and will no longer be active until this resource imbalance is corrected. Keep in mind that castle production is not the only way you can accumulate resources, so upkeep does not have to necessarily be less than or equal to production.
Out-of-repair When you castle enters this state, it is no longer active and is not capable of being targetted for siege or defend campaigns. Please correct this status by selling off castle resources (to lower upkeep/increase treasury) or releasing units. Additionally, your heroes are not able to mount offensive campaigns in this status.
More Tiles As you accumulate experience from successful campaigns, new tiles will be unlocked for your use (and when other special conditions are met).
2.
Hire Heroes
Your heroes are your army, and they aren't all necessarily heroes. You can hire new units or maintain your existing roster by accessing the 'Tavern' section from the menu.
Hiring Heroes The tavern screen lists all heroes that are available for you. As long as you have the treasury to afford them, clicking on the 'Hire' button will add that hero to your roster, ready for campaigning.
Releasing Heroes Releasing a hero simply removes their upkeep requirements from your totals.
Hero Types Heroes are separated into attacker/defender classifications. These classifications have an impact on how they level and regenerate health. Attackers can only be used in siege campaigns, and defenders can only be used in defend campaigns.
Hero Upkeep Heroes don't fight for free. They are mercenaries and demand to be paid accordingly. Running out of treasury puts your castle in an out-of-repair status but you don't lose your heroes.
Hero Leveling Attacker heroes level through experience on the battlefield. Defender heroes level when you (their employer) gains experience.
3.
Campaigns
If you want to know why you are building a castle and hiring a roster of hardened heroes, it's because you need them for the campaign mode. It's a dog eat dog world out there and you need to make sure you are victorious on your conquests while your defenders keep your castle safe at home.
Siege Campaigns Siege campaigns are your primary offensive mode. A random, active castle is selected for your horde (heroes) to descend upon. Your goal is to either a) eliminate all defenders or b) reach the Main Treasure of the defending castle. Either of these conditions will gain you victory and rewards. Watch out though, damage your units sustain in battle carries forward and deceased units do not resurrect on their own. The win conditions for this mode are 1) for one of your heroes to reach the main treasure and stay alive on it for 1 turn or 2) to vanquish all defenders in the castle. You lose if all your units are defeated. Forfeiting in this campaign mode will cause your units to incur a slight penalty in HP (potentially killing them) but they should be okay with > 50% HP left.
Defend Campaigns It's your castle versus AI invaders in this mode as you guide your defenders through a defensive battle. Your defensive units immediately recuperate after defense campaigns. The win condition for this mode is to defeat all invaders who dare attempt to breach your walls (if you built any). You lose if the AI defeats all of your units or reaches your main treasure. Forfeiting in this campaign mode will cause a hit to your castle treasury.
Defending sieges from other players This is a passive campaign mode in that other players can launch campaigns against you while you are offline or sleeping. Don't worry though, because your defensive heroes are always alert and ready to protect your honor.
Other Campaigns Some future campaign modes under consideration/development include: Dungeon Crawl, Treasure Hunting, Farming