Ground Movement

Ground Movement is the most restrictive of the three modes by which units move in combat.

• Ground Movement
• Water Movement
• Air Movement

Ground Movement takes effect during battles on land.

Most of the game's units march, ride, or hover at ground level, and are subject to Ground Movement rules by default. They have to overcome less-than-ideal conditions on the world's surface to fulfill their orders. They face correspondingly higher point-costs when entering certain tiles on the battlefield. The other baseline rules are:

• Units with Water Movement have to adopt Ground Movement whenever they enter battle on land.
• Units with Air Movement get to retain it no matter where they fight.

The term "ground movement" applies to land-bound units traveling overland in a general sense. The Boot graphic is useful for displaying these units' base Movement Allowance. It does not, however, call attention to specific Movement Types that might be active on the unit or stack (Mountaineer, Planar Travel, Path Finding, etc.) in their overland journeys.

Combat Terrain Edit

The table below shows the combat terrain gradients that units face under the Ground Movement rules.

Ground Movement Terrain Table

Terrain Square		Name	Cost to Enter		Description
Arcanus	Myrror		Cardinal	Diagonal
		Road	.5	1	Normal or Enchanted Road passing through square in any direction.
		Grass	1	1.5	Default flat terrain.
		Tree	1.5	2	Single tree on square or casting a shadow across it.
		Rock	1.5	2	Single rock on square.
		Trees	2	2.5	Multiple trees on or clustered around square.
		Rough	2	2.5	Small hills on square.

Sailing Units Note: : While Flying and Swimming units may default to Ground Movement, these units cannot. In rare circumstances sailing units may be attacked on land. In the even rarer circumstances that they actually appear in the battle, they cannot cross these tiles, rendering them effectively immobile in land combat. They can still hurl their  Rocks and attack adjacent foes. They mobilize if they obtain the ability to Fly.

Effects Overview Edit

Unit Abilities and spells concerned with overland travel don't necessarily affect Ground Movement. Raising maneuverability (and snaring enemies) in battle constitutes a somewhat different line of spell research and troop selection. The table in this section lists abilities and spells that act discriminately in some way with Ground Movement.

Ground Movement Effect Table

Unit Abilities
Icon	Ability	Combat Effects
	Forester	None No combat terrain discounts.
	Mountaineer
	Pathfinding
	Fire Breath	Permits a Walker to initiate melee attacks on a Flyer.
	Lightning Breath
	Thrown
	Death Gaze
	Doom Gaze
	Stoning Gaze
	Merging	Unit may teleport to almost any tile at a cost of 1.
	Teleporting
	Non-Corporeal	Unit gains immunity to snares and may pass through City Walls. No combat terrain discounts.
	Plane Shift	None — Sorry, you cannot wink in and out of combat.
	Web Spell	Traps a target, forces a Flyer into Ground Movement (Combat Instant snare).
	Wind Walking	None — Note: Does not grant Air Movement in combat, not even to the unit possessing the ability.
Spells
Realm	Spell	Combat Effects
	Dispel Magic	May remove relevant movement buffs imparted by spells, but not innate abilities or Item Powers.
	Disenchant Area
	Dispel Magic True
	Disenchant True
	Call Chaos	Potentially grants Air Movement (~4% per target).
	Chaos Channels	Potentially grants Air Movement (~33%).
	Cracks Call	Requires corporeal target in Ground Movement (technically a tile snare).
	Earth to Mud	Corporeal units (friend or foe) must be in Ground Movement (tile snare).
	Endurance	+1
	Entangle	−1 ... Requires corporeal foes in Ground Movement (Combat Enchantment snare).
	Flight	Grants Air Movement to the target.
	Flying Fortress	units cannot enter or leave the Town.
	Haste	× 2
	Wall of Fire	Units (friend or foe) must be in Ground Movement to trigger the effect.
	Water Walking	None - grants Water Movement to the target, which defaults to Ground Movement in land combat.
	Web	Traps a target, forces a Flyer into Ground Movement (Combat Instant snare).
	Wind Walking	None — Note: Does not grant Air Movement in combat, not even to the unit bearing the enchantment.
	Wraith Form	Unit gains immunity to snares and may pass through City Walls. No combat terrain discounts.