A fine plan

The Greek and their Atlantean allies prepare to lay siege the mighty Trojan gate.

Starting objective: Find and take a gold mine from the Trojans. (1)

Difficulty levels:

  • Easy:
    • Troy has fewer units defending its gold mines (1 & 2)
    • Cyzicus has no tower defending his Docks
    • Cyzicus waits longer before building Triremes and attacking you
  • Hard:
    • Troy has more units defending its gold mines (1 & 2)
    • Troy attacks sooner and more frequently
    • Cyzicus attacks sooner and more frequently
    • No starting Sentry Towers
  • Titan:
    • Troy has yet more units defending its gold mines (1 & 2)
    • Troy attacks more frequently

At the start of this scenario you command Arkantos, Odysseus, a scout, several Hippikons and Hoplites and a Helepolis. Your first order of business is to liberate one of the two Trojan gold mines north and northwest of your starting location. (1) Each is guarded by Trojan Toxotes which your cavalry specialise against. Once the Toxotes are dead, you can destroy the Trojan storehouses for some bonus gold.

Now set up a strong economy, build yourself plenty of villagers begin gathering necessary resources to strengthen your army and advance through the ages. Plenty of wood as well as some hunting can be found west of your starting location (5) and you can build fishing boats from either of your starting docks to gather food. As well as the two nearby gold mines, there are two more to the northeast guarded by Trojan Hippikons (2) and another to the west guarded by a Trojan Town Center. (3) (Use your Helepolis to destroy the Town Center – that way you can claim the settlement even if you don’t want the gold mine.) Finally, there is another gold mine on a small island to the east of your starting location guarded by Trojan toxotes. (4) Your triremes will make short work of them if you wish to make use of this gold mine.

Once you set your villagers mining gold you’ll be given your main objective.

New objective: Build up an army and attack the Trojan gate. (8)

As in the previous mission, the Trojan Army will be largely made up of Hoplites and Hippikons, and a steady stream of attacks will be produced from the Trojan base. (8) Investing in your own Hoplites is probably a good idea. You also have access to Athena’s Minotaur myth unit, which is effective against both Hoplites and Hippikons, as well as any enemy buildings while still being fairly cheap and easy to mass. Purchase the Labyrith of Minos upgrade to lower their cost and increase their HP. If you want time to build up, it is probably a good idea to build walls north of your town near (2) and north-west of your town near the destroyed Trojan Town Center. (3) This way you can position your army to intercept all the Trojan attacks.

There are two relics on the map you will want to get, in the far west of the map and to the north-east of your town. (6) One is guarded by a Medusa, but since you will be retrieving these relics with your two heroes, they’ll make short work of it.

You may have noticed in addition to the Trojans, there is another enemy player on the map. The forces of Cyzicus reside in the far east of the map, and like you have an interest in the small naval part of the map. (7) Cyzicus’ docks will produce attacks focused on your fishing and docks – you can build your own warships to repel them, or you can just build towers or a fortress on the coastline. If you build your own warships (or if you advanced to the Heroic Age under Dionysus, his naval myth unit the Scylla) you can destroy his docks which will halt the attacks entirely. (Cyzicus will attempt to rebuild their docks if destroyed, simply leave your warships to attack any villagers who come down towards the shore to try and build new ones.) On the harder difficulty levels Cyzicus will attack you on land with Toxotes.

Attacking Cyzicus is not necessary, but if you want a bonus settlement and to put an end to the attacks generated by them, then by all means feel free. There’s also a relic near the Cyzicus Town Center you’ll want to grab. It might be an idea to leave some of your army at home in case the Trojans attack while your army is busy on the other side of the map, or use Apollo’s Underworld Passage god power to jump quickly home if you are attacked.

So, now that you’ve built up your army to a significant size, it’s time to think about attacking. The Trojans will often invoke the Lightning Storm god power just as you begin your assault of the gate – so take this into account and make sure your force is large enough to withstand the damage. In addition to Trojan Hippikons and Hoplites, the gate is also guarded by Cyclopes – take these out with your heroes. Once you destroy the Trojan gate, you’ll be rewarded with victory.

If you can reach the Trojan market, but you think your army will be defeated before it reaches and destroys the gate, then destroy the market before returning to your camp. If you have already attacked the other Trojan gold mining operations (1, 2 & 3) then Troy will have no source of gold – preventing them from training many more units.

On to mission 5

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