Warcraft: Orcs & Humans

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Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
The original box art for Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
Developer(s)	Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher(s)	NA Blizzard Entertainment EU Interplay Entertainment
Designer(s)	Blizzard Entertainment
Version	1.21 (PC) / 1.06 (Mac)
Platform(s)	MS-DOS, Mac OS
Release date(s)	NA 1994 EU 1995
Genre(s)	Real-time strategy
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Media	CD-ROM/4 Diskettes 1.44 MB
System requirements	Intel 80386 CPU, 4MB RAM, VGA graphic card, CD-ROM
Input methods	Keyboard and mouse

Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is a real-time strategy game, developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment in 1994.^[1] The game is set in the Kingdom of Azeroth, part of the fictional Warcraft universe. The events that take place in this game are known in Warcraft lore as the First War or the Great War.

Units and structures

Warcraft features two opposing factions: the noble Humans and the savage Orcs. The goal of most scenarios is to destroy the enemy.

The working units are Human Peasants and Orc Peons; they each cost 400 gold and harvest lumber, mine gold and build and repair buildings. Buildings enable creating more advanced units or researching technologies for improving weapons, shields or other abilities.

Various units serve different purposes in combat. Footmen (or faster and stronger Knights) are the basic fighting units for the Humans; they are therefore effective in finishing damaged units. Their Orcish equivalents are the Grunt and Raider. Catapults throw missiles that deal heavy damage to nine squares at the same time; as they cannot aim at an empty square, it is difficult for them to hit a moving unit.

Clerics and Conjurers are vulnerable spell casters that can heal damaged units, explore any segment of map, make a unit invisible, cast a rain of fire or summon Scorpions (weak units useful for exploring) or a mighty Water elemental. Their Orc counterparts, Necrolytes and Warlocks, have partly different spells, they can summon Spiders (Scorpions counterpart), turn dead units into Skeletons, make a unit invulnerable and summon a Demon, the most powerful unit in the game.

In the single Player campaign there are also several "neutral" units that appear in the dungeon maps. These include Brigands, Ogres, Fire elementals, Scorpion, spiders, slime and Skeletons (Not to be confused with the skeletons raised by the orcs. These have higher armor, deal less damage and do not disapper after time).

Finally, featured in the single campaigns are a small number of Special characters, that would evolve into heroes in further installments in the series, eventually leading to World of Warcraft. The only one of these characters to make a later appearances is Sir Anduin Lothar who is featured in Warcraft II. The character of Medivh would also later appear in a prominent role in Warcraft III: The Reign of Chaos, and later in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, where players must protect him from the Infinite Dragonflight in the Black Morass.

Counterparts

Each faction’s units and buildings have a counterpart within the other faction. With the exception of some spells, each unit is basically the same as its counterpart, with only slight variations. For example, Orc Spearmen do slightly more damage than Human Archers while having a slightly reduced range.

The only units which are exclusive and have no counterpart in the game are the summoned units. While the Humans' scorpions and the Orcs' spiders are identical in hit points, attack power and speed, the Orcs can use a spell to summon skeletons from corpses, while the Humans' counterpart is a spell that heals units. In addition, the Demons (Summoned by Orcish Warlocks) and the Water Elementals (Summoned by Human Conjurers), both of which are the most powerful units for each faction, are notably different: the Demons are slow melee attackers with more HP and damage output, while the Water Elementals are ranged units. While subtle, the differences with these units provided something that would be kept in the series and give each race its flavor: the orcs could wreak havoc using invulnerable Demons enchanted with Unholy Armor, while humans could simply pass by heavy defenses using Invisible Water Elementals.

Structures

Town Hall

The Town hall is the major building for both Orcs and Humans. There may only be one Town hall at a time but if the Town Hall is destroyed a new one may be built to replace it. The Town Hall's main function is to produce Peasants/Peons and provide a drop point for resources. You may also build roads, needed to build buildings alongside, and walls, for defensive purposes.

Farm

The Farm provides food and is necessary to build any unit.

Barracks

All military units are built at the Barracks although they may require other buildings.

Lumber Mill

Provides upgrades for ranged soldiers, Archers/Spearmen and is required to build them. The Mill is also required to build Churches/Temples.

Church/Temple

Clerics/Necrolytes are trained at the Church/Temple and their spells are researched here.

Blacksmith

Provides upgrades for Footmen/Grunts and Knights/Raiders. Is required to build Knights, Catapults and Towers.

Stable/Kennel

Knights/Raiders speed can be upgraded at the Stable/Kennel. The Stable/Kennel is required to build Knights/Raiders.

Tower

Conjurers/Warlocks are trained at the Tower and their spells are researched here.

References

External links

• Official Lore: The Dark Portal and the Fall of Stormwind.
• Game Manual History on Warcraft's game box
• Warcraft: Orcs & Humans on WoWWiki, a Warcraft wiki