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68 - We're Surrounded!
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Author |
File Description |
Lord Michael I |
Posted on 06/16/09 @ 11:00 AM
In this mission you’ll be paired up with a rather useful Emir, battling on the top of a plateau against four enemies: The Nizar, The Wazir and two Sheriffs. The Arab enemies are placed on the top part of the map (Nizar Northeast, Wazir Northwest), while both sheriffs are south of your position. This means that you’ll be in charge of keeping the Sheriffs and the Nizar under control, while the Emir will have to try to do the same with the Wazir.
The enemies will start with 20000 gold pieces each, while you and your partner will have 7000. Despite being outnumbered, and having less starting money, you have two great advantages: Height and Resources. You have almost anything you need on that plateau, so production and town development will be simple and safe. Besides this, the Higher ground lets you have an edge in combat. So, enough of this, and let’s start the game!
As always, start by slowing things down. This way you’ll think and move faster than the enemy. Start by making that traditional 6 tiled stockpile, and a granary behind your keep (Refer to the image below for a guide on how to place everything), and after construct one Dairy farm and two Wheat farms, preferably west of your keep, but not so close to it as we will need the space for future buildings. Now construct a hops farm and two woodcutters. One woodcutter will go on that small patch of trees to the west, and the other on the opposite side. After that build a marketplace, and buy around 300 wood pieces.
With the wood, build four hovels, two Quarries, two oxen for each quarry, and two iron mines, along with a mill (Close to the granary), three bakeries, two fletchers, one Pole turner, one Tanner and one Armorer. Start crossbow and pike production.
Use this image to guide yourself. Note how the weapons industry buildings are grouped together, as the bakeries are also all together. I put brown X’s over the iron mines as I thought they would be difficult to see. There’s a blue dot over the granary for the same reason. Also, note how the market is placed in an isolated place, this way to prevent it from interfering with industry buildings. Remember that this is a crucial point in the mission, and you have to be faster than your enemy to succeed. Every time you stop and think about something, every time you’re not placing a building, pause the game. This will slow even more your enemies.
Now we have to set up our defenses. We start with plenty stone, so we can afford to set a nice ring of towers to defend ourselves. First, let’s start with the round tower. Go to the slope east of your keep and make a massive square made out of stone walls. Then, on top of that square stone wall, put your round tower. This is the only way I know to place towers on uneven terrains.
Then, eliminate the excess walls, build stairs, place a ballista on it, etc. Now, build a barracks, and go to the market place. There, buy 20 crossbows and 20 leather armors. Recruit 10 of them and place them on your tower.
Now, on to the other sides you must defend. Place two Lookout towers facing each castle, then, build an engineer’s guild, hire 4 engineers, build 4 shields and place one on top of each tower. Take your initial archers and distribute them among the towers, and recruit crossbowmen, which will also be evenly distributed.
Once your towers are erected, finish by blocking off with walls the slope on the southeast of your round tower. This way, any assassin attack will funnel to the west of the tower, and will be under a concentrated fire of both your men and the Emir’s archers. Finally, go to the barracks and set your pikemen to automatically assemble behind your round tower, and send your initial pikemen there, too, in order to fend off any early assassin attack.
Use this image as a guided for you to know where to place the towers. In this image you can also see where I placed my barracks and the engineers’ guild (Just behind the left towers).
Now we’ll focus on improving your town. First, make three more bakeries, along with two Inns and two breweries. Sell the pitch at the market in case you need more wood. Also, place a new iron mine (Destroy an enemy mine if there is no room). Finally, build another hovel.
The game should be getting pretty intense by now. Attacks have started, and you need more men. Keep on recruiting every crossbowman you have and send them over to the round tower (The lookout towers should be full by now), as well as the pikemen, who should assemble at the foot of the tower. Your inns should be functional now, so go ahead and start charging your people with -8 Taxes. Now, go to your market and sell EVERYTHING. When I say everything, I mean everything you don’t need. All that stone and iron, sell it. That excess of flour, hops and ale, sell it. Sell everything you don’t need, and prepare for the offensive half of the mission.
Once you’ve sold all the unnecessary goods, build a marketplace, and start hiring Horse Archers. Assemble them in a safe place, but put 15 on the foot of each pair of lookout towers, since the Sheriffs may have fire ballistae rolling around, and your crossbowmen may need help. When you think you got enough of them (Or got no more money), UNLEASH THE POWER!
Take a look at the front of the Emir’s castle. Yes, the poor man is having a hard time fending off the Wazir, while you are taking on three enemies quite easily. So, it’s time to send in the cavalry. Send your Horse Archers over to the front of the Emir’s castle, and remember to avoid fire. Keep your Horse Archers moving around, and target anything in site, other Horse Archers, trebuchets, catapults, anything. Just get rid of everything. Once you’ve cleaned the place up for the Emir, it’s time for step two.
Before starting step two, go back town and check how stuff are going. Recruit more Crossbowmen and Pikemen, sell stuff if you want to replace your dead Horse Archers and replace the dead (If there are any) on your lookout towers.
Now, make a wall in front of the Emir’s castle, the furthest away as possible. Behind the wall, build 3 trebuchets. Once the trebuchets are built, retreat your Horse Archers behind the wall, if someone approaches your position, send out your Horse Archers to take care of them.
With the trebuchets, target the Wazir’s towers that are facing you. If he builds a new one, take it down. Remember to restock your trebuchets with more stone.
Back home, hire 8 engineers and build 4 Fire Ballistae, put 2 at the foot of each pair of lookout towers, and target a weak building inside the Sheriffs’ castle. This will result in chaos for the Sheriff, and fun for you!
Now that 3 of your enemies are under control, go back to the market and sell everything. This time include crossbows and leather armor, as your round tower should be by now full. Keep recruiting Pikemen, though.
Go back to your trebuchets. Resupply them some stone, and target more towers. In the meantime, you can recruit more Horse Archers. Go check on your Fire Ballistae, and set them another target if you want.
Keep on doing this until you have a healthy army of Horse Archers (Around 120 is fine). When you reach this number, select your pikemen and move them to the front of the Emir’s castle (Where your trebs are), and move your Horse Archers into the Wazir’s castle.
Since he has 3 disabled towers, defeating him must be simple. Just keep your men moving around, and avoid getting too close as he has pitch traps. Once there is nobody on the towers, place your Horse archers in front of one of the gates. This way you’ll lock the survivors inside. Now that the castle is under control, move your pikemen in, destroy the gates, and kill the Wazir. Now that the Wazir is dead, there’s a ton of greenery and trees left for you. If you haven’t noticed, the plateau should be virtually out of trees, so eliminate the two woodcutters you got and place three near some trees on this new area.
Reassemble your troops near the Sheriff of Nottingham’s castle. Replace the dead Archers, and move in. The Sheriff’s castle should be partly ruined, so it’ll be easy. Another peculiar thing is that there will be a breach on his wall. Look at the image above, the left Sheriff. See the gallows? Right next to the pair of gallows is an empty square, where a wall should be. Makes everything easier…
So, move in your Horse Archers, clear the exterior of the castle, and move them inside the castle (If it’s on fire, don’t) Once you clear the keep area, send in your pikemen for the kill. Repeat this process for the other Sheriff. This one won’t have a breach on his walls, so it’ll be a bit more difficult. Just remember to stay away from those Fire Throwers.
Once the three enemies are dead, it’s time to prepare for the biggest battle yet, taking on the Nizar.
Assemble your men near the round tower, again recruit more Horse Archers, and hire 18 engineers. With them, make 6 trebuchets:
The three trebs on top will target the left side of the castle, including a round tower, a lookout tower and a gatehouse, while the three trebs on the bottom will do the same, but on the right.
In the meantime, recruit a bunch of slaves. We will use them to dig out a part of the moat (Choose a skinny part, like the ones on the left), and then, once there is a breach, use them to trigger any traps before your pikemen move in.
Once the towers are down, move your Horse Archers in and kill off anything left alive. Once the coast is clear, send in your slaves, dig out the moat, trigger the traps, and move in for the kill.
The saved game that comes along with this walkthrough leaves you just before the attack on the Nizar started, so you can have some fun : ) If you are still having trouble with the mission, feel free to email me (My email is on my profile).
Oh, and I’d like to thank peter2008 for his help. While I was writing the walkthrough he gave me some ideas I ended up using for the walkthrough.
See you on the next mission! |
Pages: [1] 2 » Last » | Author | Comments & Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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Bartimaeus M |
Posted on 06/17/09 @ 11:07 AM
like the guides, as always, although through reading, I noticed you put build a marketplace and hire horse archers... lol
and in this mission, I attempted at taking the nazir out first as I hate his assassins. Althtough I havr found building a wall and haveing it double layered with Crenellated Walls but this takes the fun out of it as it stops the AI from being able to attack, or it has in the past for me |
Lord Michael I
Staff
File Author |
Posted on 06/18/09 @ 03:02 PM
Well I used "Hire" because the Hors Archers are mercenaries. You don't train them...
I try to leave the toughest AI's last. This way you will have a bigger military and economic strength to fight with. |
Darkness_Elf |
Posted on 07/13/09 @ 05:50 PM
i was messing around,thought ide go for an all out rush so i hired 50 macemen and took out nazir then i took out a sheriff with added troops then i had about 20 left so i attacked the next sheriff but not to kill the king, i went in and destroyed every single economic building before losing the rest of my troops. So, even though i was a cripple, i had no opponent focusing on me so i was allowed to build up an economy (10 minutes) and kill both opponents easily. |
Darkness_Elf |
Posted on 07/13/09 @ 05:56 PM
Lord Micheal, do you do each level a couple times to get the ideal one for the walk through? I have followed them, not because i needed help, but so that i could see how effective i play compared to you. |
Lord Michael I
Staff
File Author |
Posted on 07/16/09 @ 02:44 PM
Hello Darkness_Elf,
I indeed play each mission 2 or 3 times. I do this in order to experiment with different strategies, and find the easiest and simplest way to finish the mission, in order to provide the best walkthrough. Normally the walkthroughs I write are not they way I'd prefer to do the mission, but they are indeed the easiest to follow and execute.
I also sometimes get help from others :) I'm always open to tips and ideas that will help people finish the missions. For example, peter2008 gave me some nice tips I used in this walkthrough :) |
manudan |
Posted on 08/24/09 @ 05:57 AM
both the sheriffs are about get killed by some of my arabic swords!!!! lol he is a bonfire |
manudan |
Posted on 08/27/09 @ 04:26 AM
do you have any more files like the next mission after which is you vs 6 enemies? |
Lord Michael I
Staff
File Author |
Posted on 09/02/09 @ 11:36 PM
Hello manudan,
I am currently working on that :) They will be on the site soon (Very soon I hope ;))
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manudan |
Posted on 09/05/09 @ 03:26 AM
thankyou Lord Michael 1 |
XGrimorgX |
Posted on 01/31/10 @ 06:00 AM
Another useful trick in this mission:
You can keep both sherifs from doing anything with some fire ballistae. Don't target individual buildings, but put them on autofire between the buildings and they should continuously light the castle and keep him busy rebuilding all the time. About 3 ballistae each should do the trick.
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