Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos ties the size of your army to a running tax the game calls upkeep. You cannot simply mass units the way you might in other Internet Gaming Zone strategy titles. The more food your forces consume, the smaller the share of each gold load your workers carry home.

Every unit and hero draws food, and your total food used sets your upkeep bracket:

• No Upkeep (0 to 50 food): You keep every coin. A peasant, peon or acolyte returns the full 10 gold per trip.
• Low Upkeep (51 to 80 food): A 30 percent tax. That same trip now yields only 7 gold.
• High Upkeep (81 food and up): A steep 60 percent tax. Each haul brings back a mere 4 gold.

Note well: upkeep taxes gold only. Lumber cut from the trees is never reduced, so builds that lean on lumber feel far less pain at high food.

Because troops and heroes each eat food (a hero costs 5), your aim is the strongest army that keeps you in the bracket you can afford:

1. Early on, stay under 50 food. Full gold income lets you tech and expand quickly.
2. The mid game lives comfortably in low upkeep. A 51 to 80 food army is the standard fighting force, and 70 percent income still funds reinforcements.
3. Only climb into high upkeep when you mean to end the game. Above 80 food you keep barely 40 percent of your gold, so spend that army before the tax starves you.

Two habits keep the gold flowing. First, creep the neutral camps: heroes leveled on creeps earn experience, items and a gold bounty, so a small elite force fights above its food weight and holds you in a cheaper bracket. Second, expand. A second gold mine roughly doubles your raw income, which offsets even the high-upkeep bite. Watch the food counter as closely as your minimap, and never sit on an army you are not about to use.