123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345 ========================================= Ancient Conquest: Quest for Golden Fleece ========================================= FAQs/Hints by Anil ========================================= WHY THIS FAQ? ========================================= Ancient Conquest is a great game from the late 90's produced by Megamedia Australia. I played a demo in 1999 and bought this game immediately. Recently I found the game CD again when browsing through an old CD collection, so I played it again. I was playing this game after a long time, so tried to look for information on internet. Clearly, there is not even a single person on the internet who has posted anything significant about this game. So I decided to bridge this information gap and wrote this document during school break. ========================================= STORY ========================================= The history of the world numbers five ages. In the first age - the Golden Age - the ferocious overlord Cronos was leader of the immortal deities living on Mount Olympus. Cronos created the first mortals. They were in every way similar to the deities save immortality, they knew not sorrow, troubles or hard work and died painlessly when their time came. After a time Zeus rose up among the gods, slaying Cronos and becoming their leader. In this Silver Age Cronos's mortals began quarrelling amongst themselves even as the immortals did. The mortals turned away from the gods on Olympus and in his anger Zeus wiped them out, leaving the earth empty. The gods then created a new race to worship them, beginning a new age, the Copper Age. These mortals loved bloody wars, each side loyal to a different deity. In only a short time their civilisation fell into ruin and they descended to the gloomy land reigned over by Hades, lord of the dead. Zeus now created a new race of mortals, strong in spirit and body. These heroes fought great battles, proving their mettle against monsters and other heroes alike. This Heroic Age again lasted but a short time as Zeus became enraged with their near-godlike prowess and feared they would challenge Olympus itself. He plagued the earth with such a heavy rain that only twin-peaked Parnassus and Olympus itself towered above the boundless ocean - all other towns, hills and mountains were drowned. After seven days of unceasing rain, Zeus unbound the sun. When the waters receded the face of the world had changed. Continents shifted, old lands destroyed and new lands created. Zeus created new people and the gods removed themselves from the world. This became the Iron Age, in which we are still living. Now let us return to the fourth age, the age when heroes lived. On the shores of the Aegean Sea there was the land of Hellenes ruled by the just and wise King Eson. The land of Hellenes was rich but great misfortunes befell its peaceful and industrious people. Many droughts, natural disasters and enemy forays exhausted the country. With one last hope King Eson commanded his nation to gather at the Agora: "Citizens of Hellas! Our land is in decline. The merciless sun burns our fields of grain, our cattle starve in their pastures, game abandons our forests, fish leave our coast. Enemies are despoiling our grief-filled land. The Persian hordes are approaching our borders both on land and by sea. Even the cowardly barbarians are harrying our coastal settlements and robbing our merchant boats without fear. The gods have turned away from us! The Delphic Oracle has revealed to me the only way our land can be redeemed from the misfortunes besetting us. To please the gods we must send our most skilled and powerful heroes on a long and arduous expedition to blessed Colchis to gain the Golden Fleece." ========================================= SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ========================================= Pentium 133 MHz PC or compatible equivalent. Microsoft Windows 95/98 operating system with all current 32-bit drivers for CD-ROM, video card, sound card and input devices (see note for windows xp and vista below). 16 MB RAM. 20 MB of free hard disk space. 2x CD-ROM drive (4x CD-ROM drive required to play movies). 16-bit SVGA (800 x 600 pixel display) graphics mode. DirectX 6. A mouse or equivalent input device. 14.4 baud modem for modem-to-modem play. 28.8 baud modem for Internet or Wireplay play. Note: During my testing, this game works well with Windows XP without using any compatibility mode whatsoever. I haven't tested it on Windows Vista though. ========================================= KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS ========================================= ALT+P - pause the game. Left CTRL+C - make a screenshot, will print screen to file scr###.bmp. TAB - replace Map View with Radar Map. CTRL+S - save game into the last made save game file. CTRL+O - load the last saved game. CTRL+1...CTRL+0 - assign the currently selected units to a group. 1...0 - activate the previously assigned group. SHIFT+F1...SHIFT+F10 - assign location F1...F10 - centre on assigned location. SPACEBAR - hide/show the Control Bar. ENTER - activate message mode while playing multiplayer / send a chat message while playing multiplayer. BACKSPACE - show last location of enemy attack on the map To edit the hot keys run the Ancient Conquest Configuration program and select the Hotkey Editor tab. ========================================= COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS ========================================= - What kind of game is Ancient Conquest? - Ancient Conquest is a real time strategy game based around the mythical times of ancient Greece, when heroes like Hercules and Jason roamed the seas. - How does it differ from other real time strategy games? - Ancient Conquest leaves the decision of the armament of each individual unit in the player's hands. As the game is played out with sea units, the player can put 3 different soldier units and 6 different weapons onboard different ship types, giving nearly infinite ways of assembling a navy. - How does this affect the strategy side of the game? - No longer is it enough to select a large group of units and tell them to attack the enemy. Each ship can attack in 3 different ways, shooting, ramming and boarding. If all the ships are equipped only with catapults, a clever strategist can use the boarding attack and decimate a much superior force. Lighter and faster ships are also better at ramming than big slow ones. - What is the story behind the campaign? - The story is of Jason, a Greek hero who needs to sail to a distant island to find and retrieve the Golden Fleece to lift a curse that has been laid upon his land. Along the way he must recruit other heroes and defeat the Persians, barbarians and other enemies of the Greeks. Various monsters also block their path, including the horrible Gorgons and the beautiful but deadly Sirens. - What do the various heroes do for your campaign? - All of them enhance the abilities of the units that are put onboard. Some give additional defensive or attacking abilities. Others repair your ships or even make them invincible. - Can Ancient Conquest be played by more than one player? - Yes, the game is multiplayer ready, over the Internet, over Wireplay, using a local area network, IPX connection and modem to modem. Up to 8 players can play in the full version. - How do I play over the Internet? - To play the game with your friends press the Multiplayer Game button in the Main Menu. In the Multiplayer Game screen you should enter your name, select the type of multiplayer game connection you wish (for the Internet play it will be TCP/IP connection) and the map on which you will play. - I have built a fort but it has no weapons in it. How do I build a fully equipped fort? - Forts can be built by any ship. We recommend you use merchant ships and fill the ship with the weapons that are to be transferred to the fort. After the fort is built select the merchant ship and the load/unload option then click on the fortress. The merchant ship will dock with the fortress and you can transfer the weapons by clicking on each. Alternatively build forts using your settlement or town. By default these forts are fully armed. - When I send a merchant ship to build forts, they have no weapons. How can I load the weapons? - First you have to produce weapons at a workshop, (click on the type of weapons to produce them) then load them on to a ship and unload them from the ship to the fort. - How do I build big fortresses? - You must first upgrade arming at the sage school. - What does upgrading medium and powerful weapons mean? - Upgrading weapons means increasing their effective characteristics, like rate, power and the range of fire. - How do I catch a leviathan? - To catch a leviathan, select a boat or a merchant ship and then click on a leviathan, or in the Control Bar go to Ship AI Options, click on the Prepare Leviathan button and then drag a rectangle on the playing field where the leviathans are. The ship will then hunt leviathans. It may take some time for the ship to capture a leviathan. - How do I kill the cyclops? - You can clear an area of cyclops by destroying the huts which breed them - What is the difference between boats and merchant ships? - The merchant ship has bigger capacity than a boat. It means that the merchant ship can gather more resources at one time. Boats are faster than merchant ships. Boats and merchant ships perform the same functions, like gathering amber, fishing, and catching leviathans. - How do I automate my ships to do various tasks? - To automate ship behaviour, select a ship or a group of ships (to select a group of ships, click and drag your mouse on the group of ships you want selected). In the Control Bar go to Ship AI Options and select behaviour of your ships, like Guard, Ram Attack, Board Attack, Convoy, Patrol, etc. For merchant ships you can specify zones of extracting amber, fish or hunting leviathans. - How do I exit from the self-running demo? - To exit the demo to the Main Menu, press ALT-X or the Esc button on the keyboard. - I can't seem to pause the game? How do I do it? - To pause the game, press ALT-P. - In some campaign scenarios I don’t have certain upgrades and can't build as many types of ships as in custom missions. Why not? - In the campaign you get new technologies (new terrain objects, weapons, ships and spells) as you progress from mission to mission. This is to allow a new player to gradually become familiar with the game and to make the campaign more challenging for advanced players. - How do I build bomber ships in custom mission? - You cannot build bomber ships until you upgrade arming and armour at the sage school. - What is the best way to kill the cyclops? - The best way to kill the cyclops is to use the bomber ships. The more upgraded your armour and weapons are the faster you destroy their hut. This minimizes damage to your bomber ships as well. - Why is it that the game is so slow for me? - To regulate the speed of the game, select the Configuration of the Game tab at the bottom of the Control Bar and regulate the speed with the help of the Game Speed trackbar. We recommend you run the game on a Pentium 200 or better for best performance. - How do I cast magic? - You need to build the Temple of Sea or Temple of War in order to use magic spells. Click on the Get Magic button to learn each spell. To cast a spell click on the appropriate magic and move the cursor over the playing field to the place where you want to cast the spell. - Why is it that I get a grey cursor and can't cast magic? - Some magics have limited range and they will only work within a certain distance from the corresponding temple. - When I play against the computer in the custom mission, the computer ships attack me so fast. What can I do to protect myself? - There are several ways of protecting from enemy attacks. Here are two effective ones: build big fortresses which will effectively protect your terrain objects, alternatively build boarder ships, set to board attack in their behaviour and move them half way between your settlement and the enemy ships. - How does upgrade arming work in the workshop? - When you select the Upgrade Arming sub menu you will be able to see 3 rows of buttons which upgrade rate, range and power of weapons. The upper row is for crew weapons, middle row for medium weapons and lower is for strong ones. To get the ability to produce strong weapons you have to first upgrade arming at the Sage School. - How does the upgrades work in the Smithy? - At the Smithy you can upgrade 3 types of armour and 3 types of ram: regular, silver and golden. Armour upgrade reduces damage to a ship covered by the corresponding type of armour. Ram upgrade increases damage that is inflicted by the corresponding type of ram. - I can't repair a ship, it is greyed out? What am I doing wrong? - You have not upgraded your shipyard to a dock. Only the dock can repair damaged ships, the shipyard can only produce them. - In the beginning when I build a town, there is no option to build a merchant ship. Why can't I build a merchant ship? - You have to upgrade your settlement to town. You will be able to do the upgrade if you have already built a moorage, shipyard, smithy, workshop and you have 500 units of money. Select your settlement and choose to upgrade to town. - How do I unload or reload items into a port or moorage? - To unload/reload a ship, first select the ship, then right click over a moorage or a shipyard till the cursor changes to the proper type (triangle formed by 3 arrows) and then left click the mouse. The Control Bar will split into 2 parts: one will show the content of the ship the other the content of the settlement/town to which the moorage/shipyard/dock belong. By clicking the icons of the contents you can upload them to the moorage or shipyard. - If I catch a leviathan do I get money and fish? - Yes, each leviathan earns you 5000 units of money and 2500 units of fish. - I want to see the whole map, how can I do that? - Use the TAB key to swap between the actual and the radar map. - How do I minimize the game? - Use ALT-TAB key combination to switch between programs. - Are there any keyboard shortcuts I should know of? - See HOT KEYS. - What is the difference between the different difficulty levels? - Different levels of difficulty mean different types of Artificial Intelligence. The harder the level the harder the computer Artificial Intelligence is to beat. - Can I sell back items? How do I do that? - All objects can be sold back except fortresses built by ships. To sell an object, select the settlement/town that built that object, if you are going to sell a ship, it should be docked to the shipyard/dock of that settlement/town. Click on the Sell Item button in the Control Bar and then click over the object you want to sell. - I can't build anything at the shipyard. All the ships are greyed out but I have all the necessary amber and fish. - Most likely there is a ship in the front of the shipyard which is occupying the area in which ships are built. Move this ship out of the area. - What is the "default arming" box for? - Marked Default Arming checkbox means that all objects are built with default arming. If you want to arm newly built objects on your own, mark the checkbox off. Be aware that in this mode all newly built objects will be built without arming and you will have to reload them with the weapons you like them to have. - Why can't I board the fortresses? - Because a fortress is a terrain object. You cannot also ram them. ========================================= RESOURCES ========================================= There are four kinds of resources in this game. Once depleted, resource supplies replenish a few times and then finally exhaust. 1. Amber: Shines like gold, and is available at multiple sites on shores. Once depleted, amber supplies replenish a few times and then finally exhaust. Building and ship repairs cost amber. 2. Fish: Staple food of the islands, required to build almost everything. Repair does not require fish. 3. Leviathan: Gigantic but harmless sea creature. You can catch it with any of your boats or merchant ships. When caught, one leviathan yields 5,000 amber and 2,500 fish. 4. Ship wreckage: When a ship sinks, it leaves behind a wreckage of barrels. You can move one of your own ships over this wreckage area to recover partial amber (5% of ship cost) from the wreckage - very useful if you're running low on resources. ========================================= STRUCTURES ========================================= SETTLEMENT This is a basic structure. It builds all terrain objects. In a settlement you can train armed crews, which are necessary for equipping ships and fortresses. Cost: 400 amber PORT Port is intended for loading/unloading crews, weapons, and natural resources between a ship and the settlement. Cost: 200 amber WORKSHOP Workshop produces and upgrades weapons. Cost: 700 amber SHIPYARD The shipyard builds ships. Cost: 400 amber SMITHY This produces and upgrades armour and ram. Cost: 800 amber TOWN (upgraded SETTLEMENT) After you upgrade settlement to town you will get the ability to build sage schools, temples and upgrade shipyard to dock. Cost of upgrade: 500 amber DOCK (upgraded SHIPYARD) This upgrade allows you to repair ships. Cost of upgrade: 600 amber SAGE SCHOOL Allows further upgrade of armour, weapons, ram and speed of ships; develops technology of producing Greek unique ships. Cost: 900 amber FORTRESSES There are 3 types of fortresses that differ in life level and fire power. SMALL FORTRESS Cost without arming: 600 amber Default non-upgraded arming: 4 Gastrafeteses Cost with default non-upgraded arming: 800 amber Default upgraded arming: 1 Gastrafeteses, 1 Catapult with stones, 1 Ballista with lead shot Cost with default upgraded arming: 770 amber MEDIUM FORTRESS Cost without arming: 1,000 amber Default non-upgraded arming: 2 Bowmen, 5 Gastrafeteses Cost with default non-upgraded arming: 1,310 amber + 400 fish Default upgraded arming: 1 Bowman, 2 Gastrafeteses, 1 Catapult with stones, 1 Ballista with lead shot, 1 Catapult with lead shot Cost with default upgraded arming: 1,270amber + 200 fish BIG FORTRESS Cost without arming: 1,500 amber Default non-upgraded arming: 2 Bowmen, 5 Gastrafeteses, 2 Ballistas with lead shot Cost with default non-upgraded arming: 1,950 amber+ 400 fish Default upgraded arming: 1 Bowman, 1 Javelinman, 1 Gastrafetes, 1 Catapult with stones, 1 Ballista with lead shot, 1 Catapult with lead shot, 1 Onager Cost with default upgraded arming: 1870 amber + 400 fish A fortress can be built by a settlement/town or a merchant ship. Users cannot keep heroes inside a fortress but they can keep treasures in it. One settlement can build a limited number of fortresses, which is defined by their total strength. A Small fortress has a strength scale of 1, medium 2 and big 3. A settlement can erect number of fortresses, with a maximum strength scale of no more than 15. For example, a settlement can build 15 small fortresses, or 5 strong ones, or 7 medium ones and 1 small, etc. However, if you reach the limit of fortresses built by one settlement you may build additional forts using your merchant ships. --------------------- TEMPLES By building temples you get the opportunity to use various kinds of magic, which will help you achieve victory. A. In the TEMPLES OF SEA (cost: 1000 amber) you can develop the following kinds of magic: (Research cost of every new magic is 1000 amber.) MAGIC OF WHIRLPOOL allows you to create whirlpools at the selected area Cost: 5000 amber + 1200 fish Range of magic around the temple: 12 cells MAGIC OF REEF allows you to create one of 2 kinds of reefs: constant (which is always seen over the surface of water) and disappearing (which hides and emerges from the sea). Cost: 5000 amber + 1200 fish Range of magic around the temple: 12 cells MAGIC OF WIND allows you to select direction of wind (or calm) for a certain period of time. Cost: 400 amber + 100 fish Range of magic around the temple: unlimited MAGIC OF WATERSPOUT creates a waterspout in the selected area for a certain period of time. Cost: 2000 amber + 500 fish Range of magic around the temple: 15 cells MAGIC OF VIEW deletes clouds over the selected area of the playing field. Cost: 250 amber Range of magic around the temple: unlimited MAGIC OF MONSTER creates a monster, which attacks enemy ships in the selected area. Cost: 4000 amber + 1500 fish Range of magic around the temple: 12 cells B. In the TEMPLES OF WAR (cost: 1000 amber) you can develop the following kinds of magic: (Research cost of every new magic is 1000 amber.) MAGIC OF FLAME increases the strength of all your weapons for a certain period of time Cost: 6000 amber + 1500 fish Range of magic around the temple: unlimited MAGIC OF LIGHTNING strikes and destroys all enemy objects unprotected from magic, annihilates the land in the area of the strike. Cost: 10000 amber + 2500 fish Range of magic around the temple: 12 cells MAGIC OF FIREBALL attacks enemy objects in the selected area for a certain period of time. Cost: 3000 amber + 700 fish Range of magic around the temple: 12 cells MAGIC OF PHANTOM OBJECT makes a selected object invisible for a certain period of time. Cost: 1000 amber + 100 fish Range of magic around the temple: 15 cells WEAPON SHIELD gives 80% protection from usual weapon attacks of the enemies to your objects. Cost: 1000 amber + 100 fish Range of magic around the temple: 15 cells MAGIC SHIELD protects from or reduces damage of magic to your objects. Magic protection neutralizes magic of lightning, magic of flame, gorgon's and siren's influence (though ships are still attracted to a siren under the influence of her magic singing they do not take any damage from her). It gives 80% protection to your objects from magic of sea monsters, fireballs and waterspouts. Magic protection does not protect your ships from magic reefs and whirlpools. Cost: 1000 amber + 100 fish Range of magic around the temple: 15 cells ========================================= SHIPS ========================================= Being a naval strategy game, ships are the heart of this game. Each civilization has 2 merchant and 8 military ships. 6 military ships are common for both civilizations and 2 are unique for each civilization. Ships differ in cost of building, speed, ability to pass over shallow waters, capacity for cargo, weapons and armed crew, armour and ram (device used for attacking). While playing the game, ships are influenced by wind strength and direction. With a tail wind, ships reach their maximum speed and with a head wind they get their minimum speed. --------------------- A. MERCHANT SHIPS Merchant ships are intended for exploring the map, collecting amber, fishing, hunting leviathans and carrying cargo. They have no weapons or ram to attack other ships. They cannot initiate boarding attacks even if they have armed crews onboard, although when they are boarded, the armed crews onboard can effectively repel the attack. All merchant ships can pass over shoals. BOAT Cost: 200 amber Terrain objects needed for building: Shipyard, Settlement MERCHANT SHIP Cost: 400 amber + 200 fish Terrain objects needed for building: Shipyard, Town --------------------- B. WARSHIPS Warships are intended for attacking enemy objects as well as guarding merchant ships and towns. They have a ram, armour and they can carry weapons. Only warships can take heroes onboard. Unlike merchant ships they cannot collect amber, hunt for fish/leviathans or carry cargo. Players may change the weapons on warships to alter their battle characteristics. RAMMER is the most effective in ramming enemy ships. Cost without arming: 800 amber + 300 fish Minimum cost with default non-upgraded arming: 925 amber + 300 fish Cost with default upgraded arming: 1010 amber + 500 fish Terrain objects needed for building: Shipyard, Town MEN KILLER is intended mainly for killing enemy armed crews. Cost without arming: 600 amber + 200 fish Minimum cost with default non-upgraded arming: 680 amber + 400 fish Cost with default upgraded arming: 710 amber + 400 fish Terrain objects needed for building: Shipyard, Settlement, Workshop SHIP KILLER is a small ship, abilities of which are aimed at destroying hulls and buildings. Cost without arming: 700 amber + 200 fish Minimum cost with default non-upgraded arming: 800 amber + 200 fish Cost with default upgraded arming: 825 amber + 200 fish Terrain objects needed for building: Shipyard, Settlement, Workshop BOMBER is awkward to use but the most powerful ship. It is the most effective in attacking enemy fortresses. Cost without arming: 1300 amber + 400 fish Minimum cost with default non-upgraded arming: 1550 amber + 600 fish Cost with default upgraded arming: 1610 amber + 800 fish Terrain objects needed for building: Shipyard, Settlement, Workshop, Sage School BOARDER is a slow warship that has the most powerful armed crew. Cost without arming: 900 amber + 200 fish Minimum cost with default non-upgraded arming: 980 amber + 500 fish Cost with default upgraded arming: 1070 amber + 1000 fish Terrain objects needed for building: Shipyard, Settlement, Workshop, Smithy ROYAL SHIP is the most diverse ship, able to perform different tasks. It is ideal for carrying heroes. Only Royal ships can be flagships. Cost without arming: 1100 amber + 400 fish Minimum cost with default non-upgraded arming: 1280 amber + 600 fish Cost with default upgraded arming: 1390 amber + 900 fish Terrain objects needed for building: Shipyard, Settlement, Workshop, Smithy --------------------- C. UNIQUE GREEK SHIPS FIRESHIP is a small ship that has ballista with Greek fire *. Cost: 700 amber + 200 fish Terrain objects needed for building: Shipyard, Town, Workshop, Sage School QUICK LIME SHIP can carry catapult with quicklime *. Cost with quicklime catapult only: 900 amber + 200 fish Cost with default upgraded arming: 960 amber + 400 fish Terrain objects needed for building: Shipyard, Town, Workshop, Sage School * These weapons are produced only on these particular vessels and cannot be removed from them. You can upload an additional weapon to a Quick Lime ship. ========================================= RAM ========================================= The more advanced (i.e. powerful) a ram is, the more damage it inflicts. There are 3 types of ram: REGULAR (cost: 0 amber) SILVER (cost: 25 amber) GOLDEN (cost: 50 amber) ========================================= ARMOUR ========================================= The more advanced (i.e. stronger) armour is, the more it protects a ship from damage. There are 3 types of armour: REGULAR (cost: 0 amber) SILVER (cost: 30 amber) GOLDEN (cost: 60 amber) ========================================= ARMED CREWS ========================================= Armed crews can damage enemy crews only. They differ in their effectiveness in killing enemy crews at a distance and in boarding attacks. The experience of the crew plays an important role in boarding attacks and in the accuracy of fire. The larger and more experienced crew you have, the better your chance of capturing enemy ships and the less chance of missing enemies. If a boarding attack is not successful for your ship, it loses all its crew and the ability to board and becomes defenseless against boarding attacks until you add a new crew to the ship. BOWMEN are the most effective in killing enemy crews at a distance. JAVELINMEN are useful in killing enemy crews at a distance and in boarding attacks. SWORDSMEN are effective in boarding attacks only. ========================================= WEAPONS ========================================= Weapons are characterized by their effectiveness in damaging crews and hulls. They differ in strength of fire, fire rate, range and minimum range. Weapons may be: Medium, which inflict moderate damage to a ship: Scorpion, Gastrafetes, Catapult with stones Strong, which inflict serious damage to a ship: Ballista with lead shot, Onager with lead shot, Catapult with lead shot Weapons only produced with unique ships. Ballista with greek fire, Catapult with quicklime powder ========================================= HEROES ========================================= Heroes modify the abilities of a ship they are on. JASON The ship that has Jason on board will never get into a whirlpool or strike a reef. THESEUS Skilled warrior, he increases strength and range of fire of the ship he is on. ORPHEUS Legendary musician. Creatures will not attack the boat that Orpheus is on. ZETES Son of Boreas, the god of wind. Zetes increases ship movement so it can move against cross-wind as fast as with a tail wind and it cannot be damaged by a waterspout. HERCULES Mightiest of all mortals, turned demigod, makes the warship invincible. ARGUS Builder of Argo, repairs the boat he is on and increases its resistance to monster attacks. ATALANTA Warrior famous for her speed. Increases accuracy and rate of fire. ODYSSEUS Man known for his cunning mind, protects the ship he is on from Sirens and Harpies. PERSEUS Defeated Medusa Gorgon and possesses a mirror shield that protects a ship from other Gorgon attacks. ========================================= MONSTERS ========================================= Monsters are hostile both to players and enemy objects. AMAZON Militant woman armed with a bow. CYCLOP He throws stones at all types of objects that appear to be near their dwelling house. To get rid of the cyclops you must destroy their hut. MINOTAUR He throws axes that damage your objects similar to a Scorpion's attack. To get rid of minotaurs you must destroy their dwelling house. SIREN A sea creature, partly woman and partly fish in form, whose singing attracts ships towards rocks and whirlpools. GORGON She turns ships near her to stone (temporarily), but she has a limited amount of power, i.e. the more ships you have near her, the less damage she inflicts. It is advisable to attack her with a group of ships. HARPY She mainly damages armed crews. She will revive after being damaged or killed. To get rid of her, you have to destroy her nest. FLYING DRAGON When it flies it throws its teeth that spawn other monsters, such as minotaurs and cyclops on land and crocodiles and sharks in the sea. It dwells in a castle. SEA CREATURES Sea creatures damage ships. They consist of: Crocodile, swordfish, shark and sea-serpent. ========================================= WIZARDS ========================================= Wizards dwell in huts from which they cast various spells, which damage ships and objects no matter to whom the objects belong. WIZARD OF WIND casts waterspouts and head winds. WIZARD OF FIRE casts fireballs over approaching ships. Wizards are resistant to their native magic. For example, if you attack a wizard of fire with a fireball or a wizard of wind with a tornado, their huts won't take any damage. ========================================= BARBARIANS ========================================= Barbarians are uncivilized tribes that live on robbery. They support neither Greeks nor Persians. They can build five types of ships. Barbarians can build three types of fortresses. Barbarian Medium Fortress performs functions of town, moorage and dock as well. They do not have any other types of land objects, they cannot develop technology and they do not know any magic. ========================================= TREASURES & ARTIFACTS ========================================= Treasures are intended to give players some advantages to help them achieve victory. Caution - at other times they may prevent victory. Treasures may be by themselves or hidden inside other objects such as ships, forts, towns, monsters or their dwelling houses. Ships and forts can store one treasure, a Royal ship can store two, while a town can store an unlimited amount. Treasures are of the following types: 1. The Golden Fleece. A magical artifact that restores life levels, weapons and crews automatically. 2. Treasures that give you a certain amount of fish or money. (Looks like a big barrel floating in sea) 3. Treasures that give you a weapon. (Looks like a circular metallic box of brown color with gold platings) 4. Treasures that give you the ability to cast magic. (Looks like an elongated water jug) 5. Treasures that give you protection from fire. (Looks like a cup with fire in it) 6. Treasures that increase your armour. (Looks like a wooden triangle with a shield on it) 7. Treasures that increase speed and ramming ability of your ship. (Looks like a wooden triangle with picture of a ship ram on it) 8. Treasures that protect one of your ships from being boarded. (Looks like a wooden stick with a halo around it) 9. Treasures that make objects resistant to fire and Gorgon's magic. (Looks like head of a white statue) 11. Treasures that restore life level of armed crews. (Looks like a cup with a red heart in it) 12. Scrolls that provide players with an ability to upgrade their technology level once delivered to their town. Scrolls are used only in missions. (Looks like a scroll, obviously) In addition, there are unique treasures that attract heroes to your side. You must get these treasures before a new hero can join your campaign. 1. Magic oar for Jason. 2. Magic horn for Zetes. 3. Magic harp for Orpheus. 4. Ariadne's clew for Theseus. 5. Magic sword for Hercules. 6. Magic hammer for Argus. 7. Magic bow for Atalanta. 8. Mirror shield for Perseus. 9. Golden statuette for Odysseus. ========================================= MOST UNIQUE FEATURE OF THE GAME: ========================================= The ship artificial intelligence control is the most unique feature of this game, not seen in any other contemporary games. You can set the type of behavior of a ship. For example, I prefer most of my royal ships and the Argo ship to be on "guard" (fire on enemy ships from its position) and "board" (try to board enemy ships that are within reach. I also set all ship killers on ram AI. Similarly, remember to set the AI of enemy ships according to your liking as soon as you convert them by boarding. You can set a certain number of behaviour models for military ships. Ship AI options are intended to free you from excess clicking over your ships. To set a behaviour model, do the following: 1) Select a military ship or a group. 2) In the Control Bar, press the Ship AI Options icon - leads you to the Ship AI Menu. 3) In the Ship AI Menu, enable required ship behaviour by putting checkmarks in the relevant icons: - GUARD icon. When this icon is marked the ships will fire at enemy objects. If it is not marked the ships will not guard and the Fire on Aggressor option will be disabled. - RAM ATTACK icon. When this icon is marked the ships will attack enemy ships by ramming them. - BOARD ATTACK icon. When this icon is marked the ships will board enemy ships when attacking them. - FIRE ON AGGRESSOR ICON icon. When this icon is marked the ships will fire at aggressive enemy objects. or give an advanced order: - CONVOY icon. To select a ship or a group to be convoyed, click on the CONVOY icon and then press the left mouse button and without releasing it drag a rectangle around the objects to be convoyed. - SCOUT icon. Click on the SCOUT icon and then click on the area of the playing field that the selected objects will scout. Scouting means that the selected object will go to the selected area of the playing field and then return to its initial position unless attacked en route in which case it returns to the initial position immediately. - PATROL icon. To assign patrolling behaviour to the selected objects, click on the PATROL icon and then click checkpoints on the playing field, which the ships will patrol. - GUARD ZONE icon. To mark the zone that will be guarded by the selected objects, click on the GUARD ZONE icon and then press the left mouse button and without releasing it drag a rectangle that will define the zone to be guarded. - ATTACK ZONE icon. To mark the zone in which any enemy object will be attacked by the selected ships, click on the ATTACK ZONE icon and then press the left mouse button and without releasing it drag a rectangle that will define the zone. ========================================= SOME USEFUL TIPS ========================================= 1. Destroying enemy fortresses: Take down the small towers first, then medium, and finally big fortresses. Some areas will have a lot of fortresses, making it difficult to destroy them. In such a case, approach the area from one corner with 4-5 ships. At least three of them should have high board power, to board any enemy ships that come to defend. Keep the bombers behind. I advise against taking rammers in such an attack fleet - they're more useful against boats rather than fortresses. It is not necessary to destroy a fortress completely - just keep hitting it till its fire power drops down to zero. Once the fire power is zero, the fortress is just like a dead artifact, you can focus on the next active fortress then, saving time. You can finish these fortress off later, as time permits. Barbarian fortresses are an exception - they retain a lot of fire power even after being hit a lot - you have to destroy them completely - there are no options to leave them and move on. Later in the game, you should build quicklime ships for enemy fortress control. These ships don't do much damage, but their quicklime shots paralyze the enemy buildings and ships (they look white under the effect of quicklime and can't do a thing). Enemy fortresses towards the end missions tend to have more big catapults etc. rather than bowmen or scorpions. This makes them very damaging to your ships, with one important exception. The big catapults etc. cannot fire on your ships if your ship is immediately next to it. Try to use this to your advantage by moving your ships very close to them. This will protect your ships from their high-power catapults etc. --------------------- 2. Destroying Barbarian colonies: Barbarian colonies: Barbarian ships originate from barbarian fortresses. When attacking a barbarian fortress, you should park one of your just against the barbarian fortress - this prevents the barbarian fortress from building new ships. When you board the barbarian ships, you cannot convert them - the barbarian ships simply sink - therefore make sure you take royal ships and bomber ships rather than boarders. Carrying artifacts through the game: After completing one mission, you will lose all artifacts you gained in that mission except those carried by Argo ship or those dropped at one of your settlements. Therefore, you must carry all (two)useful artifacts on the Argo ship or your settlements. Boats and merchant ships stay idle once the resource they're gathering is exhausted. To increase their catchment area, click on the boat/ship, click on Resources button, and then choose a resource (amber or fish) and click-drag the mouse over a large area covering more than one resource locations. --------------------- 3. Using barbarian attacks to your advantage: Final mission: Barbarian ships often choose to synchronize their attacks with yours. This is a good thing because you can let their ships take the beating whereas you take down their towers. If you see any barbarian ships attacking enemy town at the same time as yours, hold your ships from firing at the barbarian ships - you can take them down once the Persian settlement is destroyed. The Persian ship of the dead is very resistant to boarding attacks, possibly immune. You should refrain from boarding those ships - instead, ram into them. One ram shot is enough to take it down easily. ========================================= TO DO NEXT ========================================= Write mission-by-mission walkthrough, maybe next year. Or maybe you can give a it a headstart!