C++ class forward declaration

Question

When I try to compile this code, I get:

52 C:\Dev-Cpp\Projektyyy\strategy\Tiles.h invalid use of undefined type `struct tile_tree_apple' 
46 C:\Dev-Cpp\Projektyyy\strategy\Tiles.h forward declaration of `struct tile_tree_apple' 

some part of my code:

class tile_tree_apple;

class tile_tree : public tile
{
      public:
          tile onDestroy() {return *new tile_grass;};
          tile tick() {if (rand()%20==0) return *new tile_tree_apple;};
          void onCreate() {health=rand()%5+4; type=TILET_TREE;};        
};

class tile_tree_apple : public tile
{
      public:
          tile onDestroy() {return *new tile_grass;};
          tile tick() {if (rand()%20==0) return *new tile_tree;};
          void onCreate() {health=rand()%5+4; type=TILET_TREE_APPLE;}; 
          tile onUse() {return *new tile_tree;};       
};

I dont really know what to do, I searched for the solution but I couldn't find anything simmilar to my problem... Actually, I have more classes with parent "tile" and It was ok before...

EDIT:

I decided to change all returned types to pointers to avoid memory leaks, but now I got:

27 C:\Dev-Cpp\Projektyyy\strategy\Tiles.h ISO C++ forbids declaration of `tile' with no type 
27 C:\Dev-Cpp\Projektyyy\strategy\Tiles.h expected `;' before "tick"

Its only in base class, everything else is ok... Every function in tile class which return *tile has this error...

Some code:

class tile
{
      public:
          double health;
          tile_type type;
          *tile takeDamage(int ammount) {return this;};
          *tile onDestroy() {return this;};
          *tile onUse() {return this;};
          *tile tick() {return this};
          virtual void onCreate() {};
};

Answer 1

Use forward declaration when possible.

Suppose you want to define a new class B that uses objects of class A.

1. B only uses references or pointers to A. Use forward declaration then you don't need to include <A.h>. This will in turn speed a little bit the compilation.

   class A ;
   
   class B 
   {
     private:
       A* fPtrA ;
     public:
       void mymethod(const& A) const ;
   } ;
   

2. B derives from A or B explicitely (or implicitely) uses objects of class A. You then need to include <A.h>

   #include <A.h>
   
   class B : public A 
   {
   };
   
   class C 
   {
     private:
       A fA ;
     public:
       void mymethod(A par) ;   
   }