Watch that first step

Arkantos and Ajax must recover the final Osiris Piece in a surprise attack on the pirate stronghold of Kamos.

Starting objective: Capture the Back Sail ships to the east by destroying the forward base that guards them. (2)

Difficulty levels:

  • Easy:
    • 12 minutes before Kamos’ forces detect your presence on the island
    • Kamos has less units and defenses
  • Moderate:
    • 10 minutes before Kamos’ forces detect your presence on the island
  • Hard:
    • 5 minutes before Kamos’ forces detect your presence on the island
    • No Roc at (5)
    • Additional guards at forward base (2) including 2 extra Colossi
  • Titan:
    • 3 minutes before Kamos’ forces detect your presence on the island

The scenario opens on cliffs overlooking the bay that divides you from Kamos’ stronghold. (1) You command Arkantos, Ajax, 20 Champion Hoplites and two siege weapons. Simply follow the path to the east to reach the docks. (2) On the harder levels, advance slowly so you don’t attract the attention of all three Colossi at once, and be sure to have your two heroes in the thick of the fight and focused on enemy MU’s. Your Hoplites will simply make up force of numbers here. Finally, once you’ve dispatched the enemy units, wipe out the buildings in the area to gain control of the Pirate ships.

New objective: Use the Black Sail ships to transport troops across the bay behind Kamos’ base and claim a settlement. (3)

This is pretty self explanatory. Load your units on board and head to the marker on the island. (3) Once you arrive, you’ll gain control of a Town Center there.

New objective: Quickly build up a large force and lay siege to Kamos’ base. Stay behind the large forest (4) to remain undetected until you are ready to attack.

A timer will appear on the screen indicating how long until Kamos’ forces scout the area, thus revealing your presence. This scenario seems to have a few quirks – the AI is supposed to begin launching attacks at regular intervals once it has ‘detected’ you, but it doesn’t always. If it does begin attacking you, then on the harder difficulties, you may find the time you are allotted is too little time to prevent being overwhelmed – but don’t worry. You can simply abandon the Town Center and shift all your units over to the other island, where you will be unharassed while you build up.

I recommend making your Heroic Age god on this mission Hathor – she grants you the Roc MU. This will allow you to fly units between the two islands, without the trouble of having to wipe out Kamos’ navy and defenses along the channel. This is not essential on the easier difficulties though, since you have more time with which you can safely use the channel to transport units, and because you can find a free Roc MU in the far south of the map (5) – reaching it will require building a dock and a transport ship.

There is only one small gold pile to be found on Kamos’ island, which will run out quickly. Two more gold piles can be found in the area where you started the mission, on the other island. (1) In the far south of the map – where the Roc can be found – (5) you will also find two more gold piles and two relics. As mentioned above, you will require a transport – or a Roc – to reach this location.

The Colossus builders you liberated when capturing the Pirate Ships early in this mission will generate a Gold Colossus every few minutes. Use a Roc to fly the Colossi back to your main army – they make very powerful siege weapons.

So, keeping these things in mind, begin establishing a decent economy. There are goats waiting at your Town Center which will serve as a source of food, and you have Ptah’s Shaduf technology (grants you cheaper farms – research it at the Temple) and the Rain god power which you can use once you start farming. (For some reason, Rain only boosts the rate of farms that built near a settlement. Keep this in mind.)

Now comes the generic ‘build a massive army to overwhelm the enemy’ stage. Begin training and upgrading units of your choice. Additional priests will help your army out, since you will be facing quite a few MU’s when facing Kamos. Advancing to the Mythic Age under Osiris will grant you the Son of Osiris, who will prove a very powerful addition to your army as well as a strong MU killer. You shouldn’t need any more siege since you’ve – hopefully – already got several Colossi plus your starting siege units.

When you have a balanced and upgraded army, it’s time to attack. You don’t need to raze Kamos’ entire base, so take the quickest route to the north part of the map, (6) killing everything that gets in your way. Once you get close enough, you should be informed of Kamos’ presence.

New objective: Kamos has been found near the north side of his base. (6) Eliminate his guards and defeat him.

Kamos’ ‘guards’ are the Anubites in the area – wipe them and him out and you will be rewarded with victory. (If you aren’t, search around for any stray units you may have missed.)

On to mission 20

Return to index