Fog of War

Fog of War is a feature in both Dungeon Keeper and Dungeon Keeper 2 that represents the area you have not yet discovered.

Dungeon Keeper

Fog of war. The north area is undiscovered.

Fog of War shrouds in complete blackness anywhere you have not visited. Once your creatures have visited an area, the fog will lift around where they can see. You can never be sure what's lying in wait for you behind the fog, so always dig carefully.

You can see through the fog using the Sight of Evil spell, allowing you to see anything in a small area. One cannot cast spells through the fog, except for Sight of Evil (and certain aggressive spells cast through the area temporarily uncovered). To a lesser (and much more expensive) extent, one can use a combination of Sight of Evil and Destroy Walls to permanently reveal the collapsed area. This is very expensive, so it is not advised, but can be used to open up enemy fortifications and get a quick look around with a possessed Imp, for example.

One can permanently lift all the fog from a level by either finding a Reveal Map special, or casting the Armageddon spell. Gold seams that are revealed by the dungeon special, but subsequently mined-out by the enemy in the course of the game, are once again obscured. As to the Armageddon spell, the lifted fog is merely a by-product. It is pointless to cast such a powerful spell just to reveal the map, since as it brings about a decisive, game-ending battle.

Note that in all maps, Impenetrable Rock, Gold Seam and Gem Seam are always visible within the fog, which gives a clue to the player about what is in store for them. The player can look for any strange areas carved into the rock, possibly hinting at secrets, while in later levels, large veins of gold or seams of gems are usually well-guarded.

Dungeon Keeper 2

Fog of war.

Unlike in the previous game, the Fog of War looks like faint earth walls, and only gives more of an idea of what is underneath when you get closer, and is finally revealed when the area is open for your creatures to inspect. This fog does not reveal gold, gems or solid rock until you get closer to the area, in which some of these will be revealed. As before, Sight of Evil will help lift the fog temporarily.

Portals may tend to have a unique indicative 3x3 dark spot above them on the non-revealed earth walls to help a player find them.

Sometimes specific level objectives, mostly in the story campaign mode have no fog around them, like the default room where a Lord of the Land may reside in. This is also the case for the My Pet Dungeon Hero Toolbox.

Tips

• To dispel the fog, the normal way is to make creatures see the locations, which instantly reveals the map segment to the Keeper. For this you need scouting creatures. There are two types:
  • Exploring capable specimens who might or might not explore towards uncharted lands, like Firefly, Rogue, Thief, Fairy; (Note: For exploring to trigger, creatures need access to either dirt path, enemy claimed path, enemy or neutral/unclaimed rooms, unclaimed Mana Vaults, a Hero Lair, water, (possibly an unclaimed Hero Gate), or in the case of the Firefly or Fairy, lava. These may even lure them to the task even if inside your own relative boundaries accidentally turning their venture pointless.)
    • Fireflies are ineffective combatants to defend themselves but can fly over lava and can attempt a getaway with Whirlwind,
    • Rogues and Thieves cannot go over lava and are the slowest but can go Invisible, Thieves may steal their own Keeper's gold if not Happy, [As a possession extra, Rogues and Thieves can perform Cloaking when possessed and steal enemy money (they might have been able to do this without possession in some past versions of the game) and depending on certain game versions may also be able to pick locks.]
    • Fairies have low health but can also fly over lava and can also defend themselves with Whirlwind but likewise Lightning, and can Heal themselves by Praying (like the Monk),
  • and useful Possession candidates who only work with micromanaging possession, like Troll, Skeleton, Salamander, Vampire, Dark Angel, Maiden, Guard, Monk, Giant;
    • Trolls may reveal hidden enemy traps (and depending on game version and settings may even disable traps and pick locks) but have low health and also low attack damage,
    • Skeletons are fearless, (Note: Fearless creatures are not un-possessed when meeting a Fear Trap)
    • Salamanders can go really fast in lava (but only in lava) and have some ranged attacks to pick off some melee targets in the non-aggroing safety of lava in the specific case of melee targets,
    • Vampires are fearless, can Turn into a Bat and scout anywhere but must change back into humanoid form to attack, and must be in bat form to step into water and not be damaged by it when coming out of it,
    • Dark Angels are fearless, incredibly strong, have a ranged attack, and can summon temporary reinforcements which may also be used as flawless decoys,
    • Maidens can scare away weaker disturbances with their Fear Attack,
    • Guards reveal Invisible and Cloaking Rogues and Thieves (may also work for Royal Guards) but are slow,
    • Monks may heal themselves with their "Pray" special ability when needed (just like Fairies) and can either decrease the level or outright kill weaker Vampires in thematic confrontations,
    • Giants are just a slower replacement for Salamanders but can perform Dwarf Chucking if needed.
  • And Imp is also a good candidate for being fast on land (especially own claimed), significantly expendable, and cannot be Hypnotised in multiplayer by a player controlling a possessed Vampire.
  • It is the players' and A.I. Keepers' choice what to allow or employ.

• Alternatively before doing real scouting, you can just make sure to place one Imp of yours to the farthest reaches of your own territory and dirt path to get a sense of directions fast an easy.
• It is normally advisable to scout out all possible locations with fog to know where the enemy might come from to be prepared.

Trivia

• Possessed creatures see much further than the revealed fog of war - especially Dark Elves and Elven Archers in Sniper Mode - they just don't reveal as far as their possessed sight goes.
• Fog of War can be disabled in Skirmish and Multiplayer modes.
• Hero parties which would want to weed out Keepers and destroy their Dungeon Heart always know the direction through the fog of war (with partial, in-universe reasoning being the fog only existing in God View), and if they have a Dwarf with them he may automatically sense a direction in which he could dig towards to make the route shorter, and also possibly accidentally stumbling upon Secret Doors this way. Extra tip: Make them get stranded on (your own) Stone Bridge above and around lava, only allowing neighbouring Impenetrable Rock tiles if needed, so you can deal with them whenever you like later. Optionally use them as target practice to gain experience.
• Once the whole map is revealed, fog ceases to be an issue.
• Your creatures don't reveal the fog of war if unconscious, imprisoned by the enemy, tortured, put in a Combat Pit, or dead.