I with LordDainIronfoot have some better ideas for Iron Hills outpost: Assembly Hall.
I think that the Lake-Town is designed for Ered Luin. Thorin and his company visited the Lake-Town. Ered Luin needs faster units and Bard.
Why Hills Iron needs second hero only with bow(Bard and Drar have only ranged attack) or faster units in fortrees and also in outpost?
Assembly Hall will represent the dwarven meeting there Dain asks for help dwarves from other kingdoms, similarly as Thorin in hobbit movie.
We don't know much about the Iron Hills and his allies. Maybe Dain had alliance with dwarves from Grey Mountains and Orocarni. Actually they are not too far apart.
MapAlso, Thorin mentioned in book that he has kin in the mountains of the North(Grey Mountains are in north) and East. Dain and iron Hills army arrived first because they are dwells nearest to Erebor:
Hobbit, Chapter 15: THE GATHERING OF THE CLOUDS:
Then Thorin burst forth in anger: “Our thanks, Roäc Carc’s son. You and your people shall not be forgotten. But none of our gold shall thieves take or the violent carry off while we are alive. If you would earn our thanks still more, bring us news of any that draw near. Also I would beg of you, if any of you are still young and strong of wing, that you would send messengers to our kin in the mountains of the North, both west from here and east, and tell them of our plight. But go specially to my cousin Dain in the Iron Hills, for he has many people well-armed, and dwells nearest to this place. Bid him hasten!”
Assembly Hall can have one of these designs:
or old design dwarven fortress from vanilla with some changes:
CragLord idea:
Maybe we could use model of current Dwarven fortress from vanila:
Of course, there should be few modification.
First all towers from main building should be removed (except one, as you propose in general idea, one shooting tower from start, and this will make outpost more expensive than others dwarven outpost expansions)
Second, inner hole in building structure will be filled, so fresh builded outpost should be something like this:
Inside yellow circle should be place for Dwarven table expansion, in red circles should be some of outside buildings (barracks, tarven, ballista's expansion and one starting defence tower).
Assembly Hall will be a little more expensive(1500) than basic building of Lake-Town/Dale(800)
Assemble Table(with 7 representatives fo each dwarven clan) and Battle Tower are part of Assembly Hall.
Battle towert providing a better defense and Assemble Table offers a leadership:
Nearby friendly units get +25% armor.
Similarly to Lake-Town or Dale, Assembly Hall can have some extensions with same system:
1) Dwarven tavern
Tavern produces resources and heals nearby units.
2) Dwarven balista
Unlocks Balista on roof on Assembly Hall.
Balista can have this design:
3) Assembly barracks:
Assembly barracks extension can have appearance one of three old dwarves barracks from 3.8.1:
Barracks unlocks dwarven units from Ered Mithrin and Orocarni:
- Guardians of the Orocarni with mace and shield(max 3 units)
Orocarni unit can have one of these designs:
- Phalanx of the Ered Mithrin(max 3 units)
- Ered Mithrin crossbowmen(max 3 units)
Ered Mithrin units can have old design of Veterans of Khazad-Dum:
Ered Mithrin and Orocarni units have better armor and are stronger against monsters and single targets than the Iron Hills units. You can have only 9 units from Ered Mithrin and Orocarni in same time.
Assembly barracks unlocks new hero, the Leader of Ered Mithrin dwarves:
Grimir:Grimir can have this look but with White/Grey Beard
We don't know about heroes from this area in books or movies. So, Grimir(or another name) can be leader of this dwarves. Grimir has only melee weapons. In addition, Iron Hills has own normal hero with a bow. Drar can be main archer in Iron Hills subfaction.
Grimir abilities:Level 1: Defensive positionGrimir gives order to build defensive positions.
He summon two Ered Mithrin soldiers with big crossbow in selected areas for 30 seconds.
Level 3: Toggle Weapon Switching between hammer/spear. Grimir now can use special anti-monster spear. Grimir with spear gets double damage against a monsters and cavalry, but he is more vulnerable against others units.
Level 5: Monster Hunter from Grey Mountains(passive)Grimir inspires dwarves from different kingdom to battle against powerful enemies.
Nearby Ered Mithrin and Orocarni units gets resistance to fear and only half damage from monsters and heroes.
Level 10: Cry of the NorthThis power heals nearby friendly unit a little bit and makes nearby enemy units run away in terror, which includes monsters.
what do you think?