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/~~~~/ _______ _______ _______ _ _______ ______ /~~~~~/
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\~\____ |~|____ |~| |~| |~| |~|____ |~| \~| \~\_____
\~~~~~\ |~~~~~~| |~| |~| |~| |~~~~~~| |~|__|~/ \~~~~~~\
|~| |~| |~| |~| |~| |~| |~~~~~/ |~|
/~/ |~|_____ |~| |~| |~|___ |~|_____ |~| \~~\ /~/
____/~/ \~~~~~~~| |~| |~| |~~~~~| \~~~~~~~| |~| \~~\ ____/~/
/~~~~~/ /~~~~~/
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HERITAGE OF KINGS
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Guide author: Orgulo
Guide version: 1.4
Game version: 1.0
System: PC
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1. INTRO
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1.1 INTRODUCTION
1.2 USING THIS GUIDE
1.3 CONTACT ME
2. GAME INFO
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2.1 RESOURCES
2.2 BUILDINGS
2.3 UNITS
2.3.1 CIVILIANS
2.3.2 MILITARY
2.3.3 HEROES
3. WALKTHROUGH
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3.1 THALGRUND
3.2 RIDGEWOOD
3.3 CRAWFORD
3.4 CLEYCOURT
3.5 THE FLOOD
3.6 BARMECIA
3.7 FOLKLUNG
3.8 NORFOLK
3.9 KALOIX
3.10 THE GREAT PLAGUE
3.11 OLD KING'S CASTLE
3.12 CLOUDY MOUNTAINS
3.13 EVELANCE
3.14 WASTELANDS
3.15 BATTLE OF EVELANCE
4. CONTRIBUTIONS
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5. VERSION HISTORY
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==============================================================================
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1. INTRO
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1.1 INTRODUCTION
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Welcome to my guide to Settlers: Heritage Of Kings, the fifth instalment of
the amazingly popular Settlers series.
This walkthrough is mostly about taking players through the levels, pointing
out things they might want to know or take into consideration, and suggesting
the best ways to complete each objective and level. I've also bunged in some
stuff about various game concepts, since the manual is often less than
helpful. The walkthrough is for the fifteen campaign levels only, not the
custom-made skirmishes.
---
I've played (if not completed) Settlers 2, 3 and 4, and having now completed
this fifth episode I'm having great trouble seeing this as a Settlers game.
It's absolutely nothing like its predecessors, so if you think it's going to
be more of the same you'll be either disappointed or surprised. I enjoyed this
game a lot, even though it took me a long time to get into it at first, and
whether or not you liked the previous four games, this fifth one is very much
worth playing and completing.
The most obvious similarity is the fact that you are still constricted in
where you want to place your buildings. You also still have little or no
option about where to build village centres, and the settlers (civilian
workers) remain completely controlled by the computer.
On the other hand you now have heroes, unique combat units with special
powers, who can change the course of a battle on their own. Resourcing has
become more of a UT domination round, since all resource shafts are in fixed
positions around the maps. No more sending in geologists - now you just find a
shaft and stake your claim as soon as possible.
One big drawback of this game is the enormous amount of upgrading you have to
do to let your settlement flourish. You often find yourself doing cycles of
buildings, clicking an upgrade which will open up another upgrade, which will
open up another upgrade... and so on. It gets immensely tedious in level after
level, and the worst part is that new buildings begin from scratch, which
means you often have to do it all over again.
Combat is still as suckage as in the other games - battles are just a case of
bandboxing all your units and clicking them vaguely on the opposition. And
then just crossing your fingers. Heroes' abilities help a lot in this, but
without them around battles are won by numbers and whoever has more upgrades.
There's little or no strategy, especially given how linear many of the maps
are. It's also a pity that you seem to be unable to build walls and gates,
while the computer is very capable indeed.
There is now no naval warfare, though water does come into it. You may not be
able to build ships, but you do have the new weather tower which allows you to
alter the seasons from summer to rain to winter and back again. This plays an
important strategical part (unlike much else), and is an interesting enough
concept to keep people's attention.
One thing that definitely does remind you of Settlers 1-4 is the quite
fantastically bad voice-acting, scripting, narration and direction. There are
very few cutscenes or voice-overs in the game which don't leave you cringing,
scratching your head or running from the room in distress. I find it hard to
take any game seriously when one of the protagonists has a response which
goes, "How am I supposed to concentrate when you are tickling me?!" The
scripts really are baffling at times, and the least they could have done is
translated them over with some amount of believability. Surely the worst
example in the game of any of the above is Kerberos: if you didn't get him in
only one level you would probably just pack it in, purely to avoid hearing him
scream "YEEEESSSS!" every time you try to move him about.
On the bright side, you do still have the pleasure of building up pretty
bases, designing and maintaining functioning infrastructures, exploring the
beautiful big maps, and amassing avaricious wealths of resources. There are
also things like tax rate and motivation to take into account, as well as
playing "Shove, Piggy, Shove" with the computer, who is just as intent on
grabbing as much of the map as you are.
Overall this game is a decent one: hardly recognisable as a Settlers game;
flawed in a lot of places; full enough of entertainment to make you want to
see it through to the end. I recommend you do, or else I wouldn't have written
this guide.
I hope you enjoy the game and the guide, and thanks for reading :)
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1.2 USING THIS GUIDE
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Please view this guide in a text viewer / editor with a set fixed-width
font, or else it might look a mess. I use Courier New, Size 10.
Use the Find command (CTRL + F) with the numbered contents menu at the start
of the guide, in order to quickly jump to the section you want.
I have put the main walkthrough section of the guide towards the end, after
all the other game information. This is not a design flaw - it's deliberate.
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1.3 CONTACT ME
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As the game is now quite old, and since I now consider this guide complete, I
have no intention of updating it in the future and will therefore no longer
respond to feedback.
==============================================================================
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2. GAME INFO
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This section describes many of the game's concepts, and goes over some things
mentioned in the manual, as well as quite a few other things not mentioned.
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2.1 RESOURCES
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There are six resources in Settlers: HOK, and you can never have too many of
either. The idea is to amass is many resources as possible, while stopping
your enemies from doing the same.
Marketplaces are excellent places in which to manage your resources,
especially since you almost always have tons of at least one type, which can
then be exchanged for what you really need. Occasionally you have the option
of trading through the tribute menu, though these are often one-off deals.
THALERS
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This basically means gold, and is acquired quickest by having loads of
civilians and few or no military units. Heroes and serfs don't affect your
thalers; but the more workers occupying buildings in your cities, the faster
the thalers will come in. Soldiers are paid wages from the thalers, so try not
to have more soldiers than you need.
Thalers can be given an enormous boost by building some treasuries. When
trading in the marketplace, you should always spend thalers if at all
possible.
CLAY
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Clay can be found in orange shafts or little clumps. It's important for
building, especially when you're just beginning to develop your base. It
becomes less important later, and so you will tend to amass huge amounts of it
without needing it very often. Clay should always be a big priority in
fledgling bases.
WOOD
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Wood is probably the most troublesome of the resources when you're starting a
base, since it's the only one (apart from thalers, which work differently) for
which you can't immediately build a building which generates it. You need to
research Construction from the college first, and until then you're stuck with
serfs. I suggest that gathering wood should be the main job of most of your
serfs at the beginning of any level, since clay takes care of itself a lot
quicker.
Wood remains important throughout each level, and you will always be using
lots of it. Try to have at least two sawmills in operation in each mission,
and upgrading them is definitely worth it. Wood is also something you will
find yourself buying in bulk from the marketplace, though luckily the natural
resource takes absolutely ages to even look like it's running out.
STONE
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Stone can be found in quarries or clumps, and is used in a lot of buildings.
You'll need lots of it for decent fortifications, especially late on in the
game, and it's always worth having a couple of quarries operating, with at
least one stonemason.
IRON
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Iron is mostly used for upgrades and military units. It drops particularly
quickly if you're building combat units in groups (which I suggest you do), so
three iron pits and three smithies would not be overkill. This is the most
important resource (along with thalers) in any combat-intensive mission,
though there are thankfully not many of those.
SULPHUR
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Sulphur is the least important of your resources, and you shouldn't worry if
you can't find any decent supplies in the area. It's used in some upgrades,
but mainly in things to do with the weather and / or building artillery. If
you're not interested in either of these things you can pretty much ignore
sulphur; and even if you do need it but can't find it, it's not hard to come
by through the marketplace.
It's a good idea to knock out an enemy's sulphur mines if he's persistently
sending artillery at you.
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2.2 BUILDINGS
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This is just a few notes about some of the buildings in the game which you
might want to pay paticular attention to. I've named each building by its
first version: e.g. headquarters = keep = stronghold = fortress.
ALCHEMIST'S HUT
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The alchemist might not seem very worthwhile if you're not using much sulphur;
but you can't change the weather without building one and then upgrading it to
a laboratory (except in special circumstances). It also holds a couple of nice
cannon upgrades, so bear both these things in mind.
BANK
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Once you build a couple of banks and upgrade them to treasuries, you will
likely never want for thalers again. Extremely useful for allowing you to
forget about at least one of the six resources.
BARRACKS
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The barracks lets you train foot-soldiers, but in later missions it gets to be
a bit useless. It needs too many upgrades and you keep wanting to build
another barracks once you've conquered more land. It's probably best not to
bother with the irritating upgrades until you've built a barracks whose
position you're totally happy with; and forget all about it in the last few
missions.
CHAPEL
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I've completed the game and I honestly only built one chapel, and that was
only because it was an objective. If you never mess about with overtime or tax
rate, and if you build enough houses and farms to keep your civilians happy,
you will never need a chapel, church or cathedral. On the other hand, building
one or two chapels can allow you to bump up the taxes or hit the overtime
without having to worry about your civilians' happiness dropping below 100%.
One great thing about a cathedral is how enormously tough it is - tougher than
a fortress, at least in terms of hitpoints. The one use I can think of for the
cathedral is if you build one at whichever point you know the enemy is going
to attack you from, then stick some cannon towers just behind it. Your enemies
will have great difficulty destroying the cathedral, and your towers and
troops can cut them down while they try. Then you just repair the cathedral.
COLLEGE
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The college should be a priority building at the beginning of each level, and
is the first thing you should build if you haven't been given one for free.
Like the cathedral, a university is a very tough structure, and can be used as
a decoy for enemy troops.
ENCLOSURE
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The annoying thing about the enclosure is that it's the largest building in
the game, and there are frustratingly few places where you can fit one in in
some of the levels. You only really need enclosures late on in the game - say,
around the thirteenth level onwards - but you will notice a big difference in
your army's effectiveness. It's just that they take so long to research and
build and upgrade...
FARM
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The annoying thing about farms is that the farmers themselves need a spot on a
farm, and so you keep having to build extra. Bear this in mind if they're
pissing you off.
Another thing about farms is that building a new one from scratch is often a
cheaper and better solution than upgrading a mill to an estate. Have a look at
your resources before you decide which to choose.
FOUNDRY
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Unlike the barracks, shooting range, or enclosure, a foundry actually has
someone working in it, which means it needs a farm and house nearby to keep
the forger happy. This does of course suck, but just remember it when you're
situating a new foundry away out in the wilderness to better replenish your
artillery.
HEADQUARTERS
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This is always either a keep, stronghold or fortress, and it's extremely rare
that you get more than one. There are two very important things about it.
Firstly, if you lose it you lose the level. Secondly, it's the only building
that can produce serfs. This means that you should keep any intrepid serfs
safe if they're very far away from your HQ (particularly true of the final
mission), since it's a hell of a long way for new serfs to come in order to
pick up where the dead ones left off.
SAWMILL
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An important building if you want your base to progress quickly. Even with
three fully upgraded lumber mills you might often find that the wood is coming
in too slow, so the more the merrier.
SMITHY
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This generates extra iron, but more importantly it allows you to buy upgrades
for your military units. You probably only need one, but make sure you upgrade
it and buy everything it offers for whichever units you're building.
STOREHOUSE
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Only really useful when you upgrade it to a marketplace, at which point you
can play around with your resources to bring in whichever ones you really need
and get rid of the surplus. The bigger the trade, the longer the transaction
takes, and you'll often find that you actually have the resources you wanted
by the time the marketplace decides to finalise the trade.
VILLAGE CENTRE
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One of the most important buildings in the game. You can't do anything without
these, and each one is like a glittering prize. Either build on unoccupied
sites or knock down enemy village centres to claim them for yourself, a bit
like UT domination control points. You want more, and you want the enemy to
have fewer.
They are always placed in supposedly strategic points, and you have to bear
your building placement in mind when you get them. For instance, if you build
a smithy nearer one village centre than another, you'd better make sure that
the blacksmith doesn't have to pass through enemy territory to reach the
smithy, otherwise he may never get through and you'll have to tear the
building down and rebuild somewhere else.
Upgrading village centres gives you a little more space in your population
limit, but you should always be looking to find more. Get rid of some serfs or
even soldiers if you have buildings still waiting to be occupied. Bear in mind
that you sometimes don't need an army beyond your six heroes if you have
enough towers for the defense of your base.
Village centres are definitely priority kills in enemy bases - destroying a
city centre (in theory) reduces the size of your enemy's army by 150 units.
WATCHTOWER
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Pretty crappy without upgrades, and even ballista towers aren't quite as
worthwhile as they should be at that price. Cannon towers are another matter -
no army is getting past ten evenly spaced cannon towers, especially if you've
researched Masonry from the stonemason. The downside is that building this
many really hits your wood and stone reserves hard, but it's worth it to know
your base is totally safe. Keep them repaired though, and don't put them too
close together.
WEATHER TOWER
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The weather tower is a good way to delete lots of enemies at once - run a hero
or two into an enemy base and then out again, drawing a few units out of their
base and across some ice. When you're all out in the middle, switch to summer
or rain and let the ice melt. The enemy units will die, whereas your heroes
will merely be returned to your headquarters, unconscious but alive.
The weather tower will also give you advance warnings of when the weather is
about to change, which lets you know when to take your units off the ice, or
when to double the guard on the beaches.
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2.3 UNITS
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This section is about most of the units you'll meet and control in the game.
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2.3.1 CIVILIANS
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There are two types of civilians: workers and serfs.
WORKERS
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Most of what you need to know about your workers is in the manual, but I just
wanted to add a couple of things.
Always make sure your workers can get from the nearest village centre to
whichever building you want them to occupy. If they have to travel through an
enemy base to reach their building they will probably not make it and you'll
have to move the building to somewhere else.
Always prioritise workers over serfs and military units in your population
limit. If you have a huge army but only a handful of workers, you're not going
to be able to replenish that army when it eventually gets reduced in numbers.
But with lots of workers and only a few military units, your heroes and some
cannon towers can do the defensive work while the workers bring in the all-
important resources.
SERFS
+=~=+
Serfs are only useful if they're working. They're useless at fighting, even
with the Call To Arms thing, and they become quite superfluous once your
workers are pulling in plenty of resources. It is worth keeping a few around
for future building and repairing, but don't be afraid of disbanding quite a
lot of them late on in the levels.
One serf builds a building too slowly. Build plenty of serfs at the beginning
of each level, and get two or three working on each construction site. The
quicker they get building your base the faster the thalers will come back
anyway once the workers emerge to fill the buildings.
Don't bother exploring with your serfs: they can't pick up chests and they
can't get out of trouble easily if they run into it. Explore with heroes and
then send serfs in to build in useful areas.
Get most serfs chopping wood when you're starting a base - wood is the slowest
resource for a long time. And always build the mines and college first, before
anything else - you can build the farms and houses later, but right now you
need workers for those thalers.
Try to spread your serfs out all over the map (at least in the territory you
control). The missions are big, and you don't want to have to waste time
sending one single serf back and forward. You don't have to chop wood near
your own base - chop it near the enemy's in case you might want to build any
buildings nearby. And so on.
Bear in mind that your serfs can only be sent from your headquarters if you
need to replace them. The farther away from your headquarters a serf is, the
more important it is that you keep him healthy.
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2.3.2 MILITARY
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Most fights in the game are just big brawls, but it's at least worth knowing
about the units you're filling your army with, and what they're good and bad
at.
You can choose whether to build units in groups or individually, but I
recommend groups, even though you do have to keep a close watch on your iron.
Remember that you can give a surviving captain more units for his squad, just
by moving him close to his building of origin and clicking the recruit soldier
button in his action menu.
It's worth looking at your units' rank, as higher ranks bestow greater rewards
on the captains and their squads. Try to pull higher ranking captains out of
battle if they get into trouble and lose all their squad members, because you
can always give him more later, and they will start at his rank rather than at
the lowest.
Remember that, as with serfs, you can double-click on a certain unit type to
select all similar units in the area at once. This makes it very easy to
assign group numbers.
SWORDSMAN
+=~=+=~=+
This is a basic melee grunt, good at attacking buildings and archers, and of
course other swordsmen. They're slow and kind of weak, but they are
understandably cheap. You can rely on nothing but swordsmen for most of the
game, though I suggest you ditch them by the time you hit the thirteenth level
- the computer certainly does.
SPEARMAN
=+=~=+=~
They're good against horsed units, but by the time you're meeting a lot of
horses you're probably building plenty cavalry of your own. Spearmen are just
too slow for me, and I don't like they way they have to be upgraded half
through the smithy and half through the lumber mill.
ARCHER
=+=~=+
Surprisingly useful, as all ranged units tend to be. As weak and slow as any
other foot soldier, but can do great damage to enemy troops and artillery if
you get big groups of them. You're actually better building more archers than
swordsmen in levels where you have five or six heroes around to do the main
melee damage.
LIGHT CAVALRY
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This is the sort of unit that many people will automatically skip in order to
get to the heavy cavalry, but I strongly suggest you give these guys a look. I
rely on them a huge amount in the last few levels, especially for base
defense. A bunch of these guys behind a few cannon towers is just an
unbreakable barrier for the computer.
They're also fantastic in attack, able to quickly take down anything - unit or
building - if deployed in numbers. Don't use nothing but light cavalry, of
course, but it's well worth filling out at least half your army with them.
HEAVY CAVALRY
=+=~=+=~=+=~=
Like light cavalry, these guys take a lot of time and money to reach. Once you
get them, however, you will know where that money went. All else aside, you
can't not use heavy cavalry when you see what units the computer is sending at
you, and the bases and fortifications lying in wait. It's just a pity you
don't get many in a squad; and they're also much faster than your heroes,
which means you always have to wait for the heroes to catch up so you can send
them in first.
LIGHT CANNON
=+=~=+=~=+=~
I hardly ever use these, because by the time you're building artillery a lot
you have tons of resources, which means you can afford the heavier versions.
They're OK as far as they go, but they're so slow and weak that they just
don't survive if an enemy gets anywhere close. They're also difficult to
protect when your army is advancing, since the computer is often fond of
sneaking units around the back and chopping them down.
HEAVY CANNON
=+=~=+=~=+=~
If you're going to build artillery, make it the heavy versions. I suggest you
just build siege cannons - they're good enough versus units to let you ignore
the iron cannons, and in fact almost all other ranged units; and against
buildings they're unrivalled. I know they cost a lot, but five or six leaves
an enemy base with little or no chance. Just keep them protected.
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2.3.3 HEROES
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Heroes are unique units, each with their own special abilities. You can only
ever have six at once, but the more you have the better, as they have a huge
effect on whether or not you win your battles against the computer.
Heroes can't be killed, but they can be knocked unconscious, and the only way
to get them back is to kill off any enemy forces near their bodies then keep
friendly units nearby until their green gauge fills up.
Try to keep your heroes at the forefront of any battle, and keep an eye on
their abilities so you can use them as much as possible.
---
DARIO
+=~=+
Mission gained: 1 - Thalgrund
Rating: 2/3
Dario is with you from the first minute of the game, all the way through to
the end. Haircut aside, he's about the most average of the heroes, but he's
always useful in battles. He gets a boost to his armour in the Old King's
Castle mission. His three abilities make him best suited for exploration of
the maps and inaccessible areas.
Eye of The Falcon (1/3): The only thing this is useful for is when you want to
look behind buildings for treasure chests. Since you can spot every chest in
the game without this, you'll use it once and then forget about it.
Protect Units (3/3): This is very handy for battles, especially when Dario is
surrounded by enemy units. It makes any enemy close enough run away a short
distance and then stand still for a few seconds, without fighting back. The
more enemies affected by it the better, at which point your own troops can cut
them down with no trouble. It also lets Dario repel anyone chasing him if
you're sending him scouting alone.
Sentinel (1/3): You can send Dario's falcon over fog of war which your units
can't get to via the land. Like Eye, this is useful only very occasionally,
though it does let you recon enemy fortifications from safety.
EREC
+=~=
Mission: 2 - Ridgewood
Rating: 3/3
Erec is a bit tougher than Dario and immediately becomes the more useful of
the two heroes. Erec's strength is purely in battle, and he will remain the
best fighting hero throughout almost the whole game.
Maelstrom (2/3): Trigger this when Erec is surrounded by enemies - much like
with Dario's Protect Units - and the enemy units caught in the swing will
almost always die, even including siege cannons. Try sending Erec alone into a
melee and letting him get surrounded, and this ability can drop multiple units
before the battle even really begins. It's useless if Erec is too far away
from an enemy, however.
Aura Of Strength (3/3): The best combat ability in the game. This alone can
change a probable defeat into a certain victory. Even if Aura affects only
Erec's fellow heroes it's a big blow to the enemy; but if you can get half
your troops into the area of effect then Erec can transform your army into
juggernauts of destruction, against units and buildings alike. It also lasts a
hell of a long time. This is the first hero ability you should use when going
to pick a fight.
HELIAS
+=~=+=
Mission: 3 - Crawford
Rating: 2/3
As useful as Helias's abilities are, I can't bring myself to give him a full
rating. Each ability cancels out the other, so it's difficult to know exactly
what to do with him in battles.
Persuasion (2/3): This lets you convert enemy soldiers (not artillery) to your
own army. It's immensely useful in Cleycourt and certain other missions, but
it does take a long time to recharge, and is totally spoiled if Helias takes
damage while trying to cast it. Best used while other heroes or units are
running around and baiting enemies into chasing after them instead of
attacking Helias.
Blessing (2/3): Similar to Erec's Aura Of Strength, except this increases your
units' armour instead of attack damage. Useless if there are no friendlies
near Helias while it's in effect; but for it to take effect he has to be among
the fray, which makes it very difficult to cast Persuasion. And if he's
casting Persuasion he'll tend to be doing so from safety, which seesaws into
making Blessing a bit worthless. Oh well...
ARI
+=~
Mission: 5 - The Flood
Rating: 1/3
When you first meet Ari you have to use her Camouflage ability, which makes it
seem really useful. You then get her in most of the remaining levels, but
mostly you'll forget she exists. Not a great hero at all, though at least her
position as the only hero who uses ranged weapons keeps her out of danger in
battle, if also out of the area of effect of the abilities of her companions.
Camouflage (1/3): This is meant to let Ari sneak past enemy units and
buildings, exploring bases, scouting out fogged areas, etc. But it seems to
fail on me at critical times, at which point Ari gets attacked and often
knocked out, which sucks. I don't like the way this just gets turned off for
no reason, and Dario's falcon is probably better for reconnaissance.
Call Bandits (2/3): This is a bit more like it. Any extra combat units are
always a good thing, especially ones which don't cost anything. They do tend
to die and / or fade away sooner than you'd like, but every little helps. They
can also help distract enemy units chasing Ari, allowing her to escape while
her bandits take the flak.
PILGRIM
+=~=+=~
Mission: 6 - Barmecia
Rating: 3/3
Second only to Erec when it comes to fights: you might think Pilgrim's
superior stats make him better, but I can't agree - Erec's abilities own
everyone else's.
Plant Bomb (3/3): This is useful for the demolition of rocks and the opening
of closed resource shafts. Since the enemy can never open closed shafts, you
know you'll be the first to get control of them. The bomb can also take out
groups of tightly clustered enemies in the midst of combat, and its fast
recharge allows you to use it quite a few times in prolonged battles. Plant
Bomb is essential to complete many of the game's missions.
Spring Cannon (2/3): This is like getting a free bombard cannon (or whatever
artillery it most closely resembles). It takes potshots at enemies when they
approach, but it disappears after only a few shots, and it can also be
destroyed as easily as any other artillery. It takes a while to recharge, but
the bright side is that you can lay down as many as you want - they only
vanish once they're destroyed or have shot their loads, so to speak. In theory
you could lay down a huge bunch of them as a nice surprise for the first enemy
attack.
SALIM
+=~=+
Mission: 7 - Folklung
Rating: 2/3
Lay Trap (2/3): Like Pilgrim's Spring Cannon, you can keep using this over and
over. The traps only trigger when an enemy gets near enough, so you can use
them like mines. They do good damage, but again take too long to recharge to
be truly useful. Good for close battles, even if the game won't allow Salim to
lay one too close to an enemy.
Heal (2/3): This is the only healing spell in the game, and thus comes in
handy when Salim is in the middle of a group of your troops, all of whom need
more health. Takes a while to recharge, but it can give you another lifeline
and change the occasional battle.
KERBEROS
+=~=+=~=
Mission: 12 - Cloudy Mountains
Rating: 2/3
You only get him in one level, and if you approach the level in the way I
suggest you will never see Kerberos in battle. He is good in combat - sort of
a cross between Dario and Erec, only tougher - but if you do the mission the
easy way then he is totally superfluous.
Hellshout (2/3): Pretty much the same as Dario's Protect Units.
Aura Of Fear (2/3): And this is similar to Erec's Aura Of Strength, except
that the enemies' stats go down instead of friendlies' stats going up.
==============================================================================
+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=
++ ==== ++++ ==== ++++ ==== ++++ ==++====++== ++++ ==== ++++ ==== ++++ ==== ++
++ ==== ++++ ==== ++++ ==== ++++ ++++ ==== ++++ ==== ++++ ==== ++
3. WALKTHROUGH
++ ==== ++++ ==== ++++ ==== ++++ ++++ ==== ++++ ==== ++++ ==== ++
++ ==== ++++ ==== ++++ ==== ++++ ==++====++== ++++ ==== ++++ ==== ++++ ==== ++
+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=~=+=
This is the main part of the guide, taking you through from the start of the
first level to the end of the final one. There is little or no mention of the
storyline in here, so try your best to follow what the hell's going on during
the cutscenes, which is more than I could...
My mission tactics are just my favourite ways of doing things: if you have
better strategies then you should obviously use them, and you might even
consider contributing them to the guide. I've denoted each mission objective
as it occurred for me - please read their details in the objectives menu if my
descriptions are unclear.
I've also noted the locations of all the treasure chests in each level after
each mission's guide. Because the chests' contents are mostly randomised, I
can't tell you what's going to be in them, so it's up to you whether you want
to go for them.
I had trouble deciding how to give decent directions, so I finally decided on
a combination of clock numbers and rings. Plot numbers from 1 to 12 around the
minimap, as if it was a clock face, then divide it into three rings; 1 (small
circle in middle of minimap), 2 (middle ring, in between the inner and outer),
3 (outer ring, the widest circle). So to find a chest located at -
7 / R2
- you would go to around the seven o'clock position and send a hero into the
second, middle ring, somewhere between the centre of the map and the outer
edge. I hope this is clear, as it's the best I could come up with.
Good luck.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=================++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
===============================+++++++++++++++++==============================
3.1 THALGRUND
===============================+++++++++++++++++==============================
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=================++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"The peaceful idyll of Thalgrund is suddenly interrupted, when Black Knights
approach the little village and attack it on their search for a mysterious
amulet..."
+++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++--++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ +++
This mission is simple, with very few enemies or problems. Do everything else
before building a barracks and your attack on your few enemies will be swift
and easy.
==============================================================================
RESCUE THE VILLAGE!
---
Get Dario and the serfs to kill off the barbarians, and once they're dead you
get a new objective.
---
TALK TO BROTHER JOHN
---
Start repairing the buildings with the serfs, and send Dario north to meet
Brother John. He gives you more objectives and three extra serfs.
---
REBUILD THE VILLAGE
---
Before Dario leaves the abbey, look at the ground of the little graveyard to
the north of it. You should see something glittering on the ground - it's a
ring belonging to a miner. Talk to Leonardo just east of the abbey - he will
allow you to build watchtowers.
Build your first village centre. Send serfs north east over the river to find
a clay pit; there is a stone pit west of your village and another to the south
of the keep; and you can get a free iron pit by sending Dario to the miner
north of the governor in the west. He asks you to find his ring, so go to the
graveyard and bring the ring back to the miner, who will then give you his
iron pit.
Once your three pits are in place get your serfs to start cutting wood in
order to build residences and farms for your new miners. The two governors can
be spoken to with Dario: the one in the west gives you some free archers, and
you can tribute both governors with resources to gain more free soldiers
later. I suggest that you don't get the soldiers yet, as they will reduce your
thalers through wages.
You should soon have enough resources to build a college and food and housing
for all your workers. When the college is up research Conscription so that you
can build your barracks. Build it near your first clay pit, since your enemies
are all in the north and will be passing the clay pit when they're attacking.
You might need more room in your village for extra soldiers, so you'll have to
build another village centre. There's a site south east of your keep, and
another one north of the clay pit, on the way to the barbarian camp. Some
watchtowers couldn't hurt - send Dario to speak to Leonardo north of your
base. There's a free quarry in the west.
There are a few chests around the map - they all contain thalers, so you might
want to send Dario around to pick them up. There is a serf south east of your
base who will give you 500 thalers for nothing; and a trader to the south west
who will buy your iron.
Build and research everything else before your barracks, and when you are
ready you can trigger the next objective. Buy the soldiers from the two
governors, then build your third town centre at the site south of the
barbarian base, and then build your barracks to the north west, next to the
river crossing. Once your barracks is up you get another objective.
---
HURRY TO HELP YOUR MOTHER
---
Soon after this you will get a visual warning that the barbarians are planning
to attack, and a countdown will begin. Start building soldiers from your
barracks. Build a watchtower near your barracks and build up your army. You
should be able to easily beat the barbarians with the units given to you by
the governors, plus a few more soldiers from the barracks. Free the gatekeeper
from the tower and he then scarpers east to the gate.
To complete the level just talk to him with Dario. He'll then open the gate
and you can take your men through.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TREASURE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3 / R3 - North of the river
5 / R3 - Next to the serf who gives you 500 thalers
6 / R3 - Due south of the stone shaft south of your keep
9 / R3 - West of the stone shaft
10 / R3 - On the mountains west of the waterfall (3)
12 / R3 - North of Leonardo's workshop
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++===============++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
===============================+++++++++++++++================================
3.2 RIDGEWOOD
===============================+++++++++++++++================================
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++===============++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Other villages in the surrounding area were also not left unharmed by the
attacks of the Black Knights. Just like the village where Dario's mother
lived..."
+++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++--++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ +++
This mission is pretty much over once you've dealt with the bandits, and if
you have a barracks built by the time they launch their first attack it
becomes extremely easy.
==============================================================================
RESCUE RIDGEWOOD!
---
Your falcon will find enemies on the eastern road, so take everyone north and
round into the centre of town. Kill off the enemies attacking the keep and
watch the cutscene.
---
DEFEND RIDGEWOOD TILL EREC RETURNS!
---
Build some serfs and get them to repair the buildings, chop wood and build a
mine in the nearby clay pit. Take Dario and your soldiers west to the
mountains. There is a miner along the way who tells you about the mines over
there. Clear away the enemies in the area and bring a serf over to build a
stone quarry and an iron pit, followed by houses and farms.
Build a college in town and start researching. You will also spend a lot of
time trying to get more clay and wood for your infrastructure, so build at
least ten serfs and get them to help out with both. There is another clay pit
in the south of the map, and a miner nearby to tell you about it.
As soon as your soldiers and Dario have killed off the bandits at the iron
pit, send them south of your base to take out the ones you would have met had
you gone east at the beginning of the level. Then go south to the robbery
tower, where you can fight and kill more enemies, as well as destroy their
barracks and tower. This can be done easily if you use Dario's Protect Units
ability when he's surrounded.
While attacking this southern bandit camp you will receive a warning from
Leonardo, who tells you to prepare for an assault on your base in around four
minutes. Get rid of the southern bandit base and then park whatever soldiers
you still have at the hill road south of your keep. You should be able to
research and build a barracks in time to have more soldiers in place for when
the bandits attack. If not you will have to fend off more and more until your
barracks is up.
With the bandits dead, you get a new objective.
---
TALK TO THE MAYOR OF OBERKIRCH!
---
Before that you can go into the other bandit camp on the hill to free
Leonardo, who will come out of his cage once the bandits up here are dead,
bringing with him five extra serfs. Leonardo follows Dario around, so you
can't lose him accidentally. Talk to him and he will let you upgrade your
watchtowers to ballista towers.
There is a trader due north of your clay pit, across the river. You can sell
100 wood for 200 thalers, then 200 iron for 400 thalers, through the tribute
menu.
Spend some time exploring the map, picking up the treasure and admiring the
view. Eventually this gets boring and you'll want to talk to the mayor of
Oberkirch (beware of bandits just north east of your base). Before you talk to
him build up a barracks, an army, and a couple of ballista towers just east of
his town centre, and make sure you've built a village centre on the western
site to give yourself more space in your population limit.
---
HELP OBERKIRCH!
---
Hopefully you waited around for a while and you now have tons of thalers.
Tribute the mayor some so that he can build his own troops, and position all
your forces to the east beside his while you wait for the countdown to end.
Your second barracks in the east ensures that the bandits will attack it
instead of the Oberkirch town centre.
When this pathetic bandit "attack" is taken care of, Erec will appear with
some troops.
---
REPEL THE LAST ATTACK OF THE BLACK ROBBER-KNIGHTS
---
Send Dario and his lads to meet up with Erec's mob, then send everyone due
north of Erec's position to the other cave mouth (you could also have built a
couple of ballista towers here earlier in preparation for this bit). Let the
bandits pour out at the end of the countdown and use Erec's great powers to
finish them all off and end the level.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TREASURE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5 / R3 - Among the trees just east of the river
6 / R3 - On the riverbank next to the waterfall
6 / R3 - North of the robbery tower
6 / R2 - Next to Leonardo's cage
9 / R3 - On the snaking road on top of the mountains
10 / R3 - On the snaking road on top of the mountains
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++================+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
===============================++++++++++++++++===============================
3.3 CRAWFORD
===============================++++++++++++++++===============================
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++================+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"After his mother's death, Dario was advised by his old friend Erec to visit
his only living relative - the wise priest Helias - in Crawford."
+++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++--++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ +++
This is one of the most lucrative levels in the game, and resources should
never be a problem. You can also postpone meeting too many enemies by simply
avoiding their territory until you're strong enough to destroy them.
==============================================================================
ERECT TWO BALLISTA TOWERS IN THE WESTERN PART OF TOWN!
---
The hermit and forger near your keep tell you about different areas you might
want to check out, but I prefer going to the south to build my mines and so
on. If you build a quarry at the stone pit just west of your base but then
never go farther west than that, the bandits in the west won't ever bother
your base.
Ignore the objective for now and build up your town instead. There are lots of
pits around the south: you should find at least two of each, as well as lots
of trees for sawmills to sit among. Look west for a quarry close to your
village centre too, and there is another village centre site to the south,
between two mountains.
By the way, there are three traders hanging around in Crawford: one each for
clay, stone and wood.
Your two heroes can explore the southern area of the map, and they will run
into a few bandits. You'll have to keep them holding position at the eastern
path which leads to the big area with the iron pit and the sulphur pit in it.
If you are attacked it will be from there, as the bandits have a camp nearby.
Your heroes can hold off the bandit attacks easily, but try to get some
soldiers to help them out when you get a barracks built.
You also have a lot of new buildings and upgrades for your town, though many
of them are a bit worthless in a level where your enemies are so weak. All you
really need are swordsmen and some archers.
Once your town is built up and you have a few soldiers, send them east of your
southern mines to find the bandit camp and its towers. There are three
ballista towers to watch out for, but the camp is easy to knock down. The best
thing about it is that you can destroy the town centre to the north to give
yourself another much needed village centre.
There's another camp up in the north west, beyond where Helias wants you to
build the first two ballista towers. Build the towers first if you like, but
this second base is no harder than the first one to kill off, and it gives you
another village centre site.
Once the two towers are built and upgraded near the marker you get a new
objective.
---
ERECT TWO BALLISTA TOWERS IN THE EAST!
---
Build these two and get another objective. Occasionally you might be told
about the buildings the bandits are coming from, but you've probably already
erased those buildings by now, so forget this.
You can also explore to the west, where you avoided earlier. There may be a
few more bandits around here, but there are lots of mines and even yet another
village centre site.
---
ERECT TWO BALLISTA TOWERS IN THE NORTH-WEST!
---
Explore the map for treasures if you like, and build a barracks and an archery
range as close to that locked gate as you can. There's ANOTHER village centre
site in the east of the map, as well as more resources, but you should never
be having so much trouble that you need to go over there. Once you're ready
build the fifth and sixth towers and get another objective.
---
DRIVE THE ENEMY GENERAL OUT OF HIS BASE!
TALK TO REGENT DOVBAR
---
If you just talk to Dovbar you can give him 2000 iron for him to hire soldiers
with. This doesn't open the gate, however, so talk to the bishop to discover
that he wants 2000 thalers.
---
PROVIDE REGENT DOVBAR WITH IRON!
GIVE MONEY TO THE BISHOP
---
Give the bishop the money and he will try to do a runner, but he'll be cut
down before he can flee to the enemy base. Now the gates open and you can
prepare your attack.
Don't underestimate the enemy base, though with five village centres and so
many resources you should have no trouble just steaming in and erasing the
bandits with a large army. With the main buildings and enemy units gone, you
win.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TREASURE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 / R3 - Among trees west of the enemy base (only accessible once the gate
is open)
3 / R2 - Across the river, west of the easternmost clay shaft (only
accessible once the gate is open)
3 / R3 - East of the easternmost stone shaft
7 / R3 - Due south of the westernmost stone shaft
8 / R3 - On the mountainside, due south of the two iron shafts
9 / R3 - On the mountain path west of the two iron shafts (get serfs to cut
down the trees)
10 / R3 - Under one of the bandits' white tents
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++===============++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
===============================+++++++++++++++================================
3.4 CLEYCOURT
===============================+++++++++++++++================================
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++===============++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Once united, the towns of Cleycourt and Barmecia now represented two
completely separate realms. But still, both of them had to be gained as allies
for the resurrection of the OLD EMPIRE."
+++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++--++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ +++
There's not much to this mission. If you take your heroes straight to your
enemies from the start and keep capturing the enemy units with Helias, you can
destroy a few buildings early and control the level from then on. You may not
even have to build any military buildings.
==============================================================================
VISIT THE GOVERNOR OF BARMECIA
---
Build your village centre and hunt west and south west for clay and stone
pits. Get your serfs to construct mines, houses and farms while you take your
heroes south west as soon as the level starts. You can also send a serf north
through the mountains to find Leonardo and his machine - you'll be coming back
here later.
Your nearest enemies are a little too near - just south west of your village -
and you'll want to get them out of the way as soon as possible. Helias's
Persuasion can help a lot with this, and you can end up nicking most of your
opponents and putting them in your own army.
The two miners to the south west will tell you about the location of
Kerberos's nearest base, planted right next to the only iron in the vicinity;
and they'll also tell you that you can get iron from the Vanlow brothers way
up in the north - one wants thalers for iron, the other wants wood. This is
needless, however, so take your heroes south until you find the little mining
operation, and begin attacking and converting the black units. You can get rid
of every building (prioritise the ballista towers - watch out for any new ones
being built) and unit around here in this way, without having to build a
barracks or call any serfs to arms.
While you're attacking these buildings there will be more and more of
Kerberos's squadrons coming at you from the little grassy crossing to the
west. Park whatever military units you've managed to get at that crossing and
just let your guys kill theirs. Grab some with Helias whenever his Persuasion
ability has recharged.
Leave them all here for a while and start developing your base, as well as
buying upgrades and erecting mines at all the pits in the area. The only thing
you won't have much of is sulphur, but that's not important right now. You
should have a flourishing town after a while, with most of your serfs on
lumberjack duty.
Bring in a serf and build a village centre at the site that the black knights
recently vacated, then build two or three ballista towers at the crossing to
catch any stray black attackers. These towers will defend your entire base
from now on, and you can keep building up your army with Helias's help until
you feel strong enough to assault the keep to the south west.
The keep is tough and it will be constantly producing more and more units of
swordsmen and archers. Keep Helias back at the towers to collect more of them,
while the rest of your army heads to the keep and attacks it. It's not hard,
it just takes quite a while. Once the keep falls you'll find a chest that you
can't open yet, and there will be no more attacks on your base.
Start exploring more of the map. There is a mountain pass to the north of your
keep which leads to a grassy area with a weather machine in it - you'll come
back here later. The area north of the black knights' wooden enclosure has a
waterfall to the west, just over the river. Talk to the yellow guy guarding
the gate, who tells you to go north and talk to the mayor of Barmecia, which
you were going to do anyway.
At this point send one of your heroes (it doesn't matter which) up to Leonardo
and keep him there.
Head farther north and explore Cleycourt to the west; then up into Barmecia to
meet the mayor (send a couple of serfs up as well to save time). The mayor
gives you new objectives.
---
EXPLORE THE BANDIT CAMP
SEARCH THE ROBBER BAND
---
Open the chest you recovered from the black keep earlier, and this gives you
the key to open the gate in the west. Get to that waterfall and find that the
way is now open. Work your way up and into Ari's camp - she surrenders and the
gates open.
Then you get a new objective.
---
BUILD A UNIVERSITY AT THE DESIGNATED PLACE IN BARMECIA.
---
Once you've built a college - you don't need to upgrade it - within the fenced
area, the weather machine will be revealed on the map, if you hadn't already
found it, and you can talk to Leonardo to complete the mission.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TREASURE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
N/A
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++===============++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
===============================+++++++++++++++================================
3.5 THE FLOOD
===============================+++++++++++++++================================
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++===============++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"When the rain finally stopped, the Weather Machine was already broken. But
the land that Cleycourt was supposed to use for its development was already a
swamp..."
+++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++--++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ +++
Another one where an army is unnecessary. Your heroes can defend your base at
the western bottleneck merely by using their special abilities, and pretty
much all that remains is to get your resources up.
==============================================================================
VISIT LEONARDO
---
Send someone up to speak to Leonardo while you build a village centre and
explore the swamps: you should find a clay pit and quarry nearby, and an iron
pit farther south west. There's also a lot of trees and another village centre
site away to the west, and you'll want about twenty serfs helping to mine clay
and chop wood.
Leonardo needs to repair his machine, and he first needs 1000 wood to make a
start.
---
VISIT LEONARDO
BUILD WEATHER MACHINE: WOOD; CLAY; IRON; SULPHUR
---
Send all your heroes west, since any enemies will be coming from there.
Explore as much of the swamp as you can and you should find another iron pit
and quarry near the mountains. You'll have to cut down some trees, but once
the area just beside that second iron pit has been cleared out you can put a
barracks and archery on it. Stick three or four ballista towers at the bottom
of the mountain pass, and keep your three heroes parked beside them - this
should be enough to take care of any enemies coming down the mountains or
through that cave, but just keep your towers repaired.
Wait until you have 1000 wood, clay and iron, then send Helias to speak to
Leonardo. Tribute Leonardo his wood and you get another objective: you then
have to give him clay and iron, and after each he tells you about a trader in
the north who can help you out if you can't get enough together from your
village (you shouldn't need the traders).
Then he wants sulphur, but there's not much to be found around here. This time
you really do need to visit the appropriate trader, so send Helias all the way
north to meet him (the way should be safe; and even if it's not, Helias can
outrun any bandits). Your base should be about as fully upgraded as you can
get it, and you can start producing an army (if you want - you don't actually
need it here). You could also send Dario, Erec and some soldiers through the
mountain pass and take out the bandits camped beside the two towers - it's not
a tough battle, especially with upgraded soldiers.
Anyway, the trader tells you that he's lost his key, and until you find it
you're not getting any sulphur.
---
LOOK FOR THE KEY
---
Ari now comes under your control, so send her down to the cave mouth and
through into Cleycourt. The chest is in the north (typical) of the enclosed
area, and you'll have to use her Camouflage ability to let her escape without
getting killed.
Bring the key to the trader and give Leonardo his sulphur to finish the level.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TREASURE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
N/A
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++================+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
===============================++++++++++++++++===============================
3.6 BARMECIA
===============================++++++++++++++++===============================
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++================+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Now it was time to solve the problem of the second rivalling town: Barmecia!
According to recent information, they seemed to be very interested in building
a Cathedral. But till now, they did not get anywhere."
+++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++--++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ +++
Yet another non-barracks mission. Keep an eye on your stone and don't waste
any by going overboard on a needlessly huge base, and you can tie this level
up quickly and easily.
==============================================================================
HELP BARMECIA TO FINISH ITS CATHEDRAL!
---
You'll find a clay pit to the north and an iron pit to the south. There are
lots of trees too, and tons of little stone deposits (no quarries though). Try
not to build any unnecessary buildings or upgrades in this level, at least the
ones that involve stone. This is a very simple mission, and you don't need
every upgrade and building type - just the two pits, a college, and the
requisite houses and farms. Keep the spending of stone to a minimum, and get
all your spare serfs on stone mining throughout.
Send your heroes south to Cleycourt to reveal the entire town, then go west of
the town to talk to the serf beside the first marketplace.
---
FIND THE KIDNAPPERS!
---
The bandits' camp is south west, so head down there and talk to them.
---
FREE THE MERCHANT
---
Your heroes can do this by themselves if you use their abilities in the battle
- forget paying the stupidly high ransom. Delete the bandits to complete this
objective; and with the first trader freed the southern marketplace will start
operating. Pick up the chest from behind the eastern tower before you leave.
Head north to Barmecia and reveal that town too. Speak to the trader outside
the walls, next to the burning marketplace. He will ask you for 1500 thalers
and a new marketplace in the same spot.
---
HELP THE MERCHANT TO GET BACK TO WORK!
---
Build a storehouse at the marker, then upgrade to a marketplace (you'll have
to do some upgrading back in your village). The treasure chests can help with
the thalers if you're short - Barmecia will automatically take the thalers
when you have them (I think, though check the tribute menu if they don't).
With this done you'll get two new objectives.
---
SUPPLY 10,000 STONES FOR THE CATHEDRAL
TALK TO PILGRIM
---
Pilgrim wants a sulphur mine, so build one in the south, plus a farm and a
dwelling. With this done Pilgrim gives you all of his buildings, so you'll
need more farms and houses to support your new stone mines. It's a good idea
to have a farm and a house per stone quarry in place before Pilgrim gives the
mines to you, as well as having an extra stonemason hut built (Pilgrim gives
you one). This will greatly speed things along after the mines become yours.
There are two other quarries waiting to be found, but they must be demolished
first with Pilgrim's bombs. There is one hidden quarry east of your new
village centre, and another one north of the easternmost stone pit. Build your
own stone pits here, and upgrade all your pits to galleries if you can. There
are other such hidden resource clumps around the map - explode them open with
Pilgrim if you want to get at them.
Just sit back and let the stone roll in, though you might want to take care of
those bandits in the north. Send your heroes in alone to grab the chest and
run out again - don't try to take them on, as there are far too many. You
don't have to destroy the bandits and their tower - just get the chest and
leave, then guard the marketplace north of your new stone mines, as they will
periodically attack you.
Don't bother building a marketplace - you can't buy stone here.
Upgrade your houses, farms, stone pits and stonemason, but don't spend stone
on anything else other than a barracks sitting just south of Barmecia's walls.
Build swordsmen just in case, as Cleycourt will be building soldiers of their
own and ranging them along the central river. This is just a precaution
however, as you should be able to get up to 10,000 before Cleycourt attacks.
Once you have the required stone, donate it to Barmecia from the tribute menu
to complete the mission.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TREASURE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 / R3 - Behind the robbery tower
4 / R3 - North east of the sulphur shafts
5 / R3 - South of the sulphur shafts
6 / R3 - Behind Cleycourt castle
7 / R3 - Behind the eastern robbery tower
9 / R3 - Behind your own keep
10 / R3 - Behind the Barmecia brickmaker
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++================+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
===============================++++++++++++++++===============================
3.7 FOLKLUNG
===============================++++++++++++++++===============================
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++================+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"The rough regions of the Highlands are notorious for conflicts with the
barbarian people. Just like the next target: Folklung Castle is no
exception..."
+++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++--++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ +++
This is the first mission where the winter has a big effect. If you pick up
Pilgrim early you can open up the iron early, and from then on your only
problem will be the slow build-up of clay. You will need a vast army in this
one, even if you don't want to destroy every opposition unit.
==============================================================================
RESCUE FOLKLUNG
FIND A WAY TO GET TO FOLKLUNG!
---
There's everything in the immediate area except an iron pit, and to find
substantial amounts of iron you'll have to explore very far afield. There's
only one way in or out of your starting area, and that's to the east around
the mountains. Luckily you won't be coming under attack, at least not until
much later, so send your heroes immediately north to Folklung - quickly, while
the winter is there - while you start building your town.
Your heroes will find Folklung and then be told to go on to the castle in the
west.
---
TALK TO SALIM!
---
Get over there and pick up Salim and Pilgrim, plus a new objective.
---
FIND A PATH TO THE BESIEGERS!
---
The ice will thaw and your heroes are now stuck beside Folklung, so while you
wait for the winter to return, get Pilgrim to blow up the iron shaft just
beside the lone green hut, south of Folklung's eastern gate. There are another
two iron shafts waiting to be burst open in your own base, so open them when
you finally get your six heroes back home.
Don't worry about your allies in this mission - they can hold out forever
against the raids. Your only concern right now - at least until you decide to
progress - is the bunch of bandits hanging around to the north east of your
town. Take your heroes up there during winter and get rid of them early - it's
not hard. Pull down their single tent and no more should be spawned.
Now you have tons of time to develop your town and build an army. You have
plenty of resources: you should be able to build a couple of sawmills
somewhere around your base; there's a hidden sulphur shaft north of Folklung;
and there are clay deposits near where you killed off those bandits (you won't
have loads of clay with just one shaft, so build brickmakers' huts and a
marketplace to help out). The village centre site just north of your starting
quarry can be built on, as well as the one next to your eastern quarry.
Once you've built and upgraded everything in sight, and built up an army to
fill out your population limit of 375, get Pilgrim to blow up the southern
pass through the mountains on the west side of your base. You will get a new
objective.
---
CAPTURE THE LEADER OF THE BESIEGERS
---
This objective doesn't appear if you go through the other pass, so make it
easy on yourself and choose this one. Opening the southern pass also means
your base won't be attacked from the west, which isn't true of the northern
one.
Wait until it's winter and then approach the purple tents. The leader should
run down to the tents alone, and you can approach him with a hero to capture
him. Whichever hero approaches him first is the one he will follow around, at
least until that hero is knocked out. If all of your heroes are knocked out,
or move too far away from him, he will escape and you have to approach him
again to recapture him. The easiest way is to capture him with a weaker hero
(I chose Ari), then send everyone else in first to keep the red army occupied.
While the battle rages, slip your hero past and up to the prison, pulling the
purple leader behind them.
You need a big army to beat the reds, and you need to do it now, because your
base is being attacked from the east. You can also win by just killing off all
of the besiegers in their camp, though there are a lot of them.
If you return the leader to the prison successfully, you win: if you kill all
of the besiegers except the leader himself, you win.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TREASURE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 / R3 - On a tiny island on the edge of the map - cross in winter
5 / R1 - North of your northernmost stone shaft, among the thick trees
6 / R1 - North of your northernmost stone shaft, on the other side of the
mountains
8 / R3 - Next to the eastern purple tent of the besiegers' leader
9 / R3 - South of the western robbery tower
9 / R2 - North of the eastern robbery tower
10 / R2 - Behind Folklung Castle
12 / R3 - North of Folklung
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++===============++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
===============================+++++++++++++++================================
3.8 NORFOLK
===============================+++++++++++++++================================
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++===============++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Horrible news reached the companions: not only the barbarians, but also
Mordred's troops are gathering themselves for an attack on Norfolk, which is
still feeling secure."
+++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++--++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ +++
Though you have two potentially very strong enemies in this level, one of the
enemy bases can be crippled early, and the other can be nullified by just
avoiding it. Act fast and control the level from the start, though it does
take a bit of micro-management.
==============================================================================
PROTECT THE MESSENGER
---
Use your heroes to escort the messenger to Norfolk, and build a village centre
in the meantime. Once the messenger reaches the princess you get two new
objectives.
---
DEFEND NORFOLK!
SAVE THE SCHOLAR
---
Bring your heroes home and get Pilgrim to open up the clay pit to the south.
Build a mine and so on, and start producing serfs to get mining the stone and
clay clumps nearby, as well as cutting down some trees.
This next part is crucial to your success and to your enemies' failure. The
barbarians in the north west are about to start exploiting the nearby iron
pits to the north (four of them), and if you move very fast you can make sure
they never get their hands on the pits, and that you get them all instead.
North of your keep is a serf who will tell about what the barbarians are up
to. Head north to the top of the hill and check that no pits have yet been
opened up. If you're unlucky the barbarians will have begun mining, and may
even have built a ballista tower to protect their house, farm and pit. Use
your heroes to get rid of these buildings - if they're not there then you're
in luck.
Now head west to the other iron pit, south of the lone yellow hut. This one
will almost certainly be occupied, so get rid of anything and anyone you find
there, then keep your heroes hanging around that yellow hut until the
barbarian attacks calm down (you should have no trouble fending them off).
Once your heroes are holding position just south of the yellow hut, bring up
some serfs and start building your own mines (don't open the two closed pits
yet - just mine the two open ones), and build farms and houses alongside them.
The barbarians now have big problems - they have very little iron (actually
they should have none, though they still cheat by producing soldiers
eternally) and therefore cannot produce anywhere near the numbers that they
would be bringing out if you had let them get at the shafts. As I said, do all
this as soon as you've got the horsed messenger through to Norfolk, because if
you leave it even a little while you will have serious trouble with the
barbarians later, and may never progress.
Once all this is taken care of it's time to find more resources. Send some
serfs east of your keep and down the mountain pass. The way is blocked by
logs, but the nearby serf tells you that your own serfs can chop the wood out
of the way. Do so and explore all the way around to the south, east, and then
north again, until you meet Brother John at his church.
Now bring Pilgrim down from the north west and get him to blow up three
things: the stone mine just at the south end of the first mountain range; the
sulphur shaft to the east of that; and the single rock blocking the way
through to the big waterfalls. Get your serfs to start building, including
onto the new village centre site, while Pilgrim talks to Brother John.
---
TRANQUILLISING POTION: CHEST
TRANQUILLISING POTION: WATER
---
I recommend that you don't do this sub-quest; but if you do this is how, and
what will happen.
The monk wants these two ingredients, so send Pilgrim through to the
waterfalls you just opened to pick up the water. Now you just need the
ingredients from the chest away to the east, so bring Ari up to the outer
walls of Kerberos's town and camouflage her (though you can just run any hero
through - they should make it alone). Grab the ingredients from the chest and
then get Pilgrim to talk to Brother John again.
The monk will open up the gates leading through to Leonardo's hut, which you
would otherwise have had to reach by charging through Kerberos's base with
your fingers crossed. Send your heroes (or some soldiers) through the gap and
erase the tower and the mines, then get serfs to put your own mines down
there.
Opening that gap lets Kerberos's troops attack your town, which you probably
don't want. If you don't do the monk's quest the gap remains closed and the
barbarians are the only enemies you have to worry about defending your base
from.
Anyway, once your heroes have managed to capture a few of the barbarian
squadrons with Helias's Persuasion, you can easily charge into their base and
destroy it early. You don't need an army here - just your heroes and their
special abilities will do, plus a few captured reds. They have a couple of
cannon towers at the gate which are easy to bring down fast, then you can
progress north east to get rid of the garrison, and finally go north west to
destroy the keep. Taking out the keep stops those annoying serfs from spilling
out and repairing every building you attack. Now erase the rest of the red
buildings while you bring your own serfs in to get at the village centre site
and the two mines.
This takes care of the barbarians and you can concentrate on developing your
base in peace. Build up whatever you want, especially a laboratory (upgraded
alchemist). You don't need an army in this one, or even any new military
units, but you may want to build a big army just in case you make a total
trousers of the level.
You'll want to talk to Leonardo, the scholar, when you think you're ready, so
take all your heroes east and through the grey base (just click them on the
fenced area in the south east and they should all make it through Kerberos's
base without dying). Once you reach Leo he will tell you about Kerberos's
sulphur mines farther south, and you get a new objective.
---
HELP NORFOLK!
---
Destroy everything you find in the south, though you needn't bother trying to
get serfs through the grey base to build on the mines. Kerberos now has no new
sulphur coming in, and therefore cannot build artillery. This will make his
attack on Norfolk much weaker when it comes. Send your heroes back through his
base and home again, but not before you've found the chest south of the mines
and spotted the one on the mountainside to the south west (you may want to
leave one of your heroes here so that he / she can pick this chest up when
winter comes).
After about ten minutes of waiting, Kerberos will manage to change the weather
into winter, and he will start amassing his hordes in the north east, ready to
attack Norfolk. He will always win if you don't help, so you need to be ready
for him.
---
BUILD THE WEATHER MACHINE!
---
You have about twenty minutes before his troops attack from the north east, so
research the appropriate things from the laboratory to allow you to change the
weather, now that Leonardo has told you how. You want a weather tower and a
weather centre in order to change the climate back to summer.
This is a good opportunity to attack Kerberos's base while his troops are
away, though it's not necessary. Only do it if you've bothered building an
army.
Once the timer runs down you will see Kerberos's army start to move in on
Norfolk. This is the perfect time to trigger a weather change from your
weather tower. Wait until all the grey units are on the ice together, then
switch to summer from the weather tower and watch Kerberos's men and artillery
drown in the swamps. The barbarians would also be attacking from the opposite
direction, if only you hadn't already destroyed them. It might be a plan to
move any combat units you have up into Norfolk, just in case the water doesn't
catch all of Kerberos's goons.
With Kerberos's gimps dead the level is won.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TREASURE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 / R1 - Next to the ruined church near Kerberos's base
2 / R3 - South of Kerberos's rally point
5 / R3 - South of Kerberos's sulphur mines
5 / R3 - South west of Kerberos's sulphur mines - reach it in winter
6 / R2 - On the mountainside in the river valley - reach it in winter
11 / R3 - On the peninsula leading north from the barbarians' base
12 / R3 - Behind a tree at the northernmost tip of Norfolk's base
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++==============+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
===============================++++++++++++++=================================
3.9 KALOIX
===============================++++++++++++++=================================
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++==============+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"The bad reputation of the Countess Mary de Mortfichet had spread far beyond
her borders. But what would the fellowship really find on her estate?"
+++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++--++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ +++
Do everything fast in this level and you'll find it much easier, especially
when you realise how simple attacking Mordred's base really is.
==============================================================================
PORT KALOIX IS IN DIRE STRAITS
PROTECT PORT KALOIX
MORDRED'S OUTPOST
---
Build a village centre while you take your heroes east to kill the first bunch
of red bandits. Destroy their tower on the hill north of the clay pit next,
then start building up a base slowly. There is a stone quarry just east of
that tower, another quarry north of your keep, and another clay pit to the
west of the keep.
Next to the western clay pit is an alchemist who will tell you about lightly
guarded resources to the far west, as well as another village centre site. Get
your heroes over there as soon as possible to grab the resources - you'll have
to fight off a few bandits and destroy a tower, but it will be easy with just
the heroes and archers you started with. Now start building more serfs to pick
up the resource clumps.
Move your heroes to the east again, and explore the path north of your eastern
stone pit. It leads up to the grey base, so park your heroes here from now on
- they should be able to deal with lots of future attacks, even when Mordred's
guys start throwing bombards at you. Just make sure you keep an eye on them
and use their abilities whenever they are attacked.
You should tribute the resources to Port Kaloix as soon as you have them, then
hang around for about ten minutes until you get a new objective. Work towards
getting the clay and wood by building sawmills and mining from the two clay
pits, and help out with at least fifteen serfs.
Once you tribute Kaloix you get a message about Helias negotiating with Mary
de Mortfichet; and after about ten more minutes you will receive a new
objective.
---
COUNTESS MARY DE MORTFICHET
---
Visit her with a hero, and she will donate four mines to your cause, though
they are not yet under your control. You'll have to buy the four mines from
her through the tribute menu, and also buy off the hordes of Tourte in the
north west. Pay Tourte the thalers immediately (you should have them if you've
been doing all of the above fast). This is far easier than fighting them, and
much less expensive. The only downside is that you don't get their village
centre site for yourself, but you won't actually need it if you're following
my strategy.
So, pay Tourte and upgrade your two village centres to maximise your pop.
limit at 200. This is more than enough. Now build up your base as quickly as
you can: you'll want a barracks halfway up that northern path, and a few
ballista / cannon towers to defend it; one or two treasuries for thalers; a
cannon factory to build three or four siege cannons; and a weather tower and
weather centre, in order to change the season to winter.
Once you have built four or five more squadrons of soldiers to help out your
heroes, they can easily mop up every grey attack from the north, especially
with the help of upgraded towers. You can greatly speed up the development of
your town by building a marketplace and just buying what you need - with the
combination of Mary's mines, all your other buildings, a couple of treasuries
and a marketplace, you should be rolling in dough altogether.
All that remains is to attack Mordred's base. You could do it the hard way by
charging past his horrible towers and guards; but there is a much easier way.
Research your way to building the weather tower and centre, build an army of
three of four siege cannons and a bunch of swordsmen, then amass your troops
just north of the fence around your allies' base in the south east. Change the
season to winter and take everyone east, across the ice to the far side, where
you should find a path leading up the hill to Mordred's keep.
He will probably send one or two squadrons of goons down the path at you, but
your cannons can wipe these guys away easily. Now just roll up the hill and
destroy the keep at the top: Mordred is defeated and you've won the mission.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TREASURE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
N/A
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++===============++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
===============================+++++++++++++++================================
3.10 THE GREAT PLAGUE
===============================+++++++++++++++================================
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++===============++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Even more estates of the Countess Mary de Mortfichet are in despair and still
she is keeping absolutely quiet about the whole thing. And the disappearance
of the young Robber-Knight Ari is just another mystery..."
+++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++--++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ +++
This isn't easy, thanks to the many and constant attacks on your base, but if
you know where the enemy is coming from and know how to channel them, your
army can hold them off indefinitely while you develop your town. You'll need
two armies though.
==============================================================================
FIND AND ELIMINATE THE CAUSE OF THE PLAGUE
---
Talk to the villager at your keep. He tells you he'll show you the way to
Pilgrim for 100 thalers, but sod that. Send your six serfs north of your
college and start building an iron mine. Start your other trios of serfs
mining the resource clumps nearest them, and take your heroes south to talk to
Tugor, beside the green tower. He gives you a new objective.
---
FREE ARI AND PILGRIM
---
He can also sell you reinforcements in three one-off deals. This is well worth
the price, but you'll have to get your thalers up first. Now take everyone
east to Verino, past the stone quarry and the lump of rock.
In Verino you can find an alchemist, who will tell you about pirates hiding
treasure under that big rock; a miner who'll tell you what you already know
about the castle; a trader who'll sell you sulphur; and of course Pilgrim, who
will join your band. Get the chest east of the town before you leave.
Go back to the first rock and blow it up with Pilgrim's bomb - underneath is a
chest. There's another explodable rock on the hill above that quarry - blow it
up for another chest. Now send Pilgrim way up to the west of your base, where
there is a clay pit waiting to be burst open. Start building and developing:
the idea is to have a weather tower and centre up as soon as possible, as well
as a good-sized army with which to defend your base.
Buy Tugor's squadrons of greens as soon as you can afford to, as they will
greatly help defend against the constant attacks. You will be warned each time
Mary's troops are preparing to assault you, then a few minutes later they will
appear from the south, having cheated their way there from the northern castle
(pff...). Station all your combat troops south of the pass leading south from
your base (the pass with the iron clumps), and don't bother building a mine in
that nearby quarry. You want to be able to channel all of your enemies up that
mountain pass, but when you try to mine the stone it becomes very difficult to
control your defenses. You'll have enough stone without two mines, but get
serfs to mine the southern quarry slowly if you want.
Mary's attacks get stronger and stronger, until eventually you're fighting off
siege cannons late in the level. Keep everyone guarding the south entrance to
your base, and try to keep the green allied units healthy - if you keep Dario,
Erec and Salim hanging around (the green units follow them) and trigger Erec's
Aura Of Strength ability every time enemies approach, you can hold them off
for ages, especially if you get up five or six cannon / ballista towers.
Buying that sulphur from the trader in Verino can help speed your base along.
Build it up fast and use the marketplace to bring in resources you need
(always pay with thalers). Treasuries will help a lot too, but focus on the
weather buildings primarily.
When you are ready to change the weather, change it to winter and build
another town centre on the tiny island just next to that peninsula to the west
of your base, the one with the clay clumps on it. Dario can find it with his
falcon, and you can send a serf over the ice to build on the site.
Also send Pilgrim over to pick up the chest next to the site; then send him
north to cross the ice north of your base. Here he should find a miner and
some purple towers: talk to the miner to be told of a mountain range with lots
of treasure to the north. Only Pilgrim can batter through the rocks with his
bombs, so send him exploring. He will find lots of chests but he will also be
jumped by some bands of purples, so it's up to you whether you want to try to
run him in alone or to pick up all this stuff later.
If you have managed to build a few towers south of your base, you should build
up swordsmen quickly and send them down there to guard the towers against the
constant purple attacks. At the same time, send your heroes and their green
escorts (you should still have lots left) up to join Pilgrim where he met that
miner (you may want to leave Salim south of your base - the cannons following
him are slow, and are more use in the defense of your base). This is a good
place from which to assault the purple towers and buildings down to the east.
Send a serf across the ice as well, and he can build a barracks and foundry
around the miner's hut, once the towers are gone. Get those chests in the
mountains with everyone if you didn't want Pilgrim to do it himself.
The ice will turn back to water when the summer comes back automatically, so
get your heroes' half of the army up there and build your military buildings
in preparation for the attack on the purples. You shouldn't need anything
other than swordsmen if you still have most of the green units. Send your army
south east along the path, knocking down the towers and buildings and getting
rid of the purple units on the way. They have a lot of towers, but they're not
tough if you stay out of the way or hit them fast. The bunch of cannons down
in front of the infested town will give you problems, but hopefully you have
enough units remaining to get them out of the way.
Throughout all of this you should be keeping watch over the soldiers defending
your town in the south: six towers and nine squadrons of swordsmen were more
than enough for me, and just keep repairing the towers with a nearby serf.
Now go into the town and kill off the towers and cannons in there. Talk to the
forger about Mary de Mortfichet; talk to the trader inside the graveyard; pick
up the chest in the ruined church; and finally go north of the village and
pick up Helias, who gives you a new objective.
---
DESTROY THE CASTLE OF MARY DE MORTFICHET
---
A few things about the infested town. Build another village centre on the free
site, and run around the side of the town to pick up the chest just over the
fence on the east. There is another chest south of the town, which can be
reached by sending a hero through the bottleneck between the walls of Verino
and the walls of the infested town. And there are some sulphur clumps inside
the walls of the town.
There are three more enemy towers in that pass leading south between the
infested town and your own base - knock them out so you don't have to keep
freezing the water every time you want to go anywhere. Now you can pass back
and forwards and you have more space in your pop. limit for a bigger army.
You won't really need one, to be honest. I built another foundry and archery
in the infested town (there's an iron shaft waiting to be burst open by
Pilgrim), and then bolstered my army before attacking to the north. I went
with five siege cannons (upgraded from the alchemist), and a bunch of
arbalests, as well as my heroes. There are mostly ranged units up there, so
you'll want to be able to hit them just as quickly as they can hit you. You
definitely need a few cannons for the many towers.
Freeze the river whenever you're ready and cross to the north, working your
way around the mountain pass. You'll meet a lot of units, but your guys should
be able to charge past eventually. There is also a chest on one of the hills,
though you won't be needing whatever's in it by now. When you reach the castle
just smash it to half health to complete the mission.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TREASURE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 / R3 - On a cliff above the path leading towards Mary's castle
3 / R3 - On a cliff outside the walls of the infested town
5 / R3 - At the eastern end of Verino
5 / R3 - At the end of the bottleneck between the walls of Verino and the
infested town
6 / R3 - Under a rock, on the hill north of the green tower
6 / R3 - Under a rock, east of the green tower
8 / R3 - On the island with the village centre site
10 / R3 - In the mountains - blow up the rocks (12)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++================+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
===============================++++++++++++++++===============================
3.11 OLD KING'S CASTLE
===============================++++++++++++++++===============================
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++================+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Finally! The Old King's Castle - former centre of the Old Empire - is lying
directly ahead of the heroes. Many years ago, everything started here, but
now, the Old Castle was left to decay..."
+++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++--++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ +++
This one seems a lot harder than it is once you get your base up and running.
If you know where to build - and definitely where not to build - you can
predict where your enemies will be and fend them off with just your heroes. Do
everything you can to build those weather machines as early as possible.
==============================================================================
REACH ANDALA
REACH THE OLD KING'S CASTLE
---
Send Helias and Ari east to the edge of the map, at around the four o'clock
position - look for the river in the fog of war. They should find a locked
chest at the riverside which will take Ari nine seconds to open. Send Helias
in first to decoy the nearby bandits away, and then run both heroes north of
the camp when they have the key - don't bother fighting the bandits, just run
like hell. You will find a gate and the key will open it for you when Ari
approaches it. Now shift your view to the area circled on the minimap and send
Ari and Helias up there blindly, through another bandit camp, past another
chest, until they reach Andala. Speak to the governor there to get a new
objective.
---
GAIN THE TRUST OF ANDALA'S INHABITANTS
---
Ari and Helias are now useless until you can let them through to the other
side of the map, so sit them in Andala and get over to the other four.
Forget the objective for now and take your other four heroes north of where
they are. They will meet some of Ari's followers, and they may get attacked by
bandits. Ignore the bandits and run up the ridge to the east. You will come to
a rock on the hill, which can be blown up by Pilgrim to let your heroes
through. Keep running from the bandits and head all the way around this ridge
to the west, where there is a chest on the edge. Now run up the next ridge to
the east and through the gates, past more bandits.
Dario will talk with Garok, and you get another objective.
---
FREE THE VILLAGE!
---
Dario now has spiffing new armour, though you'll have to add him to your
numbered group again. Run your four heroes down to the village revealed in the
west, and when they arrive you can turn around and fight off the bandits.
---
BRING FORTH SUMMER
---
Now you have the beginnings of a base but there's a lot of work to be done
here. First you want clay and wood, so build a college in your town and then
farms and houses for the miners in your two mines, as well as the scholars.
Produce up to twenty serfs at the next tax day, and send half of them north
west with Pilgrim, while the other half build, chop wood or mine stone in your
town.
You will find a green abbey to the north west, and nearby is plenty of wood,
some clay and stone, a stone quarry, and an iron shaft waiting to be blown
open. Open it with Pilgrim and build your first iron mine, while you wait to
research Construction from the college. This will let you build sawmills, so
put one in your town and one near your iron pit in the north west. And build
on that village centre site in the north west too. This area will rarely come
under attack, if ever.
You'll only ever have one clay pit in this level (there's another one in
Kerberos's territory, but by the time you can get to it you've won anyway), so
you have to get the most out of it. Your next priority is building
brickmakers' huts near the mine, though you'll also have to do lots more
researching and building of farms and houses. Building up your base can take a
while in this level, especially once you start coming under attack.
Kerberos will be sending troops from his outpost in the south west, and they
will cross the ice to hit your base at the village centre. Keep your four
heroes here and do your best to fend them off, which is really all you can do
for a long time. Don't build an iron pit on the hill to the south, as it is
far too hard to defend. If you want more iron there are two more shafts down
south somewhere, but you have to clear away any lurking bandits and also
somehow defend them from continuous attack, which is impossible in such a big
area. Leave them alone and be happy with one - the other three are just too
much trouble.
You have to keep a constant eye on your heroes and village centre while your
base is developing. Forget building the towers mentioned in the objective, and
forget tributing Andala for now. The towers may come under attack at some
point, and once they fall your base defence will get easier, not harder.
Anyway, build your base as fast as you can, with the idea being to produce a
few soldiers to help defend your town (you don't need a big army - the
emphasis here is on speedy development), while also working towards building
the weather buildings. The sooner you do this the better, as Kerberos's
Outpost will be completely cut off as soon as you melt the ice. Keep using
your heroes' special abilities at your village centre and you should be able
to hold the greys off. Move fast though, because they'll be sending cannons
and cavalry later. Get a barracks built whenever you can afford it, and keep
the iron coming in.
There is a sulphur shaft awaiting you on the hill east of the castle, but it
will be easier to defend once the nearby tower has been attacked and
destroyed, since your enemies should not come up that side road from then on.
You should end up with two stone quarries, one clay pit, one iron pit, one
sulphur pit, and two sawmills (plus smithys, brickmakers, etc.) - this should
be enough to let you succeed here.
If you still need more sulphur you could try talking to Leonardo in the west,
as he can sell you some. I didn't bother with this though - I just built my
sulphur mine and an alchemist's hut pretty early, so that I had lots of
sulphur by the time I needed it later on.
Eventually, after spending a lot on upgrades, you will have your laboratory
and be able to build the weather tower and centre. Turn winter to summer as
soon as you can, but make sure you tribute Andala before you trigger the
season change.
---
DRIVE KERBEROS AWAY
---
The routes to Kerberos's base in the north east are now open, and it will be
much easier to protect your base at the northern pass if you've given Andala
their money. Kerberos is very likely to pour lots of troops through the pass
leading into your base if Andala are not yet your allies, but if Andala is on
side then you will see far fewer units, and will be able to build up your army
in relative peace.
Start upgrading everything relating to your soldiers and cannons - I built
seven siege cannons and filled out the rest of my 250 pop. limit (two city
centres) with broadswordsmen. Since this is the maximum you can have, this
will be enough to attack Kerberos with.
Once your army is in place and is as big and tough as you can make it, pour
everyone down the hill into Kerberos's territory, and start hitting his towers
and units. Keep all of your troops together, keep using your heroes'
abilities, and keep a close eye on your cannons - protect them from sneak
attacks and you surely can't lose.
Your ultimate aim is to head east and find Kerberos's stronghold on the hill,
beside the garrison. You'll have to roll over a lot of his troops (as usual,
far more than a base that size could possibly support), but once the
stronghold's down he surrenders and you are safe, with a new objective.
---
DARIO MUST REACH THE CLOUDY MOUNTAINS
---
Now that you're free from danger, there are a few things you could do if you
feel like wasting time. You could explore to find all the chests; you could
try bringing back winter so you can attack Kerberos's Outpost; or you could
explode the rock behind Leonardo's workshop to allow you to get down there by
land.
If you do feel like attacking the Outpost guys, you should know that you will
definitely lose. They have impossible numbers of units for such a tiny base,
and more and more keep spawning from thin air. One village centre and three
hundred plus troops? I don't think so...
Another thing: you can restore the castle to its former glory through the
tribute menu, though I fail to see the point. Pricy as hell too.
Anyway, send Dario north to the stone gate to finish this horror show off.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TREASURE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 / R2 - Among the trees west of Kerberos's cannon towers
2 / R3 - On a mountaintop north of Andala
4 / R2 - South west of the fire in the bandit camp
4 / R3 - On the southern riverbank, near the chest containing the gate key
6 / R3 - Among some trees behind a curved mountain
7 / R3 - On the mountainside south of the end of the river
7 / R3 - Beside Kerberos's Outpost's university
8 / R2 - On the ridge leading to the castle
9 / R3 - On the mountain behind Leonardo's workshop
11 / R3 - On a tiny island north of the north west stone quarry - reach it in
winter
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=================++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
===============================+++++++++++++++++==============================
3.12 CLOUDY MOUNTAINS
===============================+++++++++++++++++==============================
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=================++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"A stony path to the Cloudy Mountains lies ahead of the heroes, but after the
early obstacles, a surprisingly settlement-friendly region reveals itself
before their eyes..."
+++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++--++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ +++
This mission can be done without going anywhere near your enemies, or even
leaving your starting territory. Do it the hard way if you want, but the city
planning way takes a bit more thought.
==============================================================================
You now have Kerberos instead of Salim - use his abilities whenever you're
surrounded by enemies, and just pray that he's not the one who responds when
you're moving your heroes around.
Blow open the first rock to speak to Leonardo, who gives you your first
objective.
---
BUILD A PROSPERING VILLAGE
---
You get a keep and four serfs, so take everyone north to blow open the next
rock. Get your serfs to build a college and a village centre in here, while
you send your heroes exploring. Pilgrim has another rock to blow up in the
north (the logs can be chopped out of the way by serfs), and there are some
hidden shafts waiting to be opened by his bombs. Don't open the rocks at the
miner yet.
Build a clay pit in one of the shafts, and start building serfs to help with
early resourcing. Research Construction when you can afford it, then build a
sawmill to go with your clay pit. This will help you get wood and clay from
the start, so build the farms and houses and keep resourcing with the serfs.
It's a good plan to work towards building a university and stronghold, then
researching Standing Army, using the 200 iron you have available. The little
batch of 200 iron at the northern exit will let you research Gear Wheels
later, which will come in handy. You have no sulphur yet, but there is an all
important batch next to the north west clay shaft - pick it up with serfs so
you can research Alchemy, allowing you to upgrade your college to get to the
next lot of researches.
Build mines at each of the five shafts too, and upgrade your village centre to
a town centre once you've researched Trading. To get over 100 civilian workers
and fulfil the quota, you'll have to have a city centre and a lot of
buildings, which will take quite a while. It's still easier and calmer than
doing anything else, however.
It should be obvious what to do from here. Build as many civilian buildings as
you can, but avoid building any military structures. You don't need soldiers
if you're never leaving your base, but you do need over 100 civilians (check
your stats menu to keep up with the tally).
Break through the rock leading west and fight off the purple bandits. Destroy
the two tents and the tower, then talk to the trader. He will sell you 1500
iron for 2000 clay, and 1500 sulphur for 2000 more clay. This will be very
useful for your purposes, so build two brickmakers' huts to go with your clay
mines.
To cut a long story short, you can complete the mission without going anywhere
near Mordred or finding a second village centre. By the end of the mission I
had at least one of every non-military building, except a chapel; I had bought
every upgrade except Architecture, Horse Breeding and Tactics, and the smithy
upgrades; I had upgraded every building to the highest level except my pits
and brickmakers; and I had two treasuries to bring in the thalers.
Anyway, once you get over 100 civilian workers, Leonardo congratulates you by
giving you the weather technology for free.
---
LET IT SNOW!
---
You should already have your alchemist built, so get a weather tower and
centre up next and wait for the gauge to charge. If you can't fit engineers
into your pop. limit of 125, just destroy certain other buildings or kill some
serfs.
Freeze the place to get the next objective.
---
OBTAIN THE RELICT!
---
Now just sit back and wait for your thalers to hit 20,000 - you should be
pretty close, especially with a couple of treasuries. Sell some stuff at the
marketplace to hurry things along.
I also tried this level the long and interesting way: it involved building
statues, grabbing iron mines, looking for sulphur clumps, building cannon
towers, and putting together a big army. Since the xenophobic way is easier, I
won't bother going into detail about breaking through the rocks and into
Mordred's territory.
Paying the thalers to Glenhill via the tribute menu wins you the level.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TREASURE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 / R3 - On the mountain road east of the sulphur clumps
9 / R3 - North of the trader
11 / R3 - In a corner on the edge of the map, north west of Glenhill's gates
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=================++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
===============================+++++++++++++++++==============================
3.13 EVELANCE
===============================+++++++++++++++++==============================
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=================++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Almost unreachable, Evelance Castle sits on top of sharp cliffs in this
gloomy and almost surreal environment. Finally, Dario would meet his
antagonist Mordred, or would he?"
+++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++--++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ +++
Your enemies here are insanely powerful, and it's a mystery why they don't
just charge through the mountains and crush you. As it is, all you need is a
bunch of cannon towers and the help of your allies to keep them at bay.
There's a huge portion of the map which you never even need to enter.
==============================================================================
DARIO MUST VISIT THE REGENT OF TENDREL!
---
Talk to the miner - he'll tell you about unclaimed towers up in the north.
There's a clay pit already dug at the south east of your base, so build a farm
and hut near it with two of your serfs; get another two serfs to build on the
clay shaft just north of your town centre; and get the last two started on a
college near your keep. There's also an iron shaft west of your keep, which
you should exploit as soon as you can.
Send Dario west and then north until you find water, then follow it along and
up to find Leonardo standing by his yellow gates. Speak to him for another
objective.
---
REBUILD THE 4 BURIED SULPHUR MINES
---
Just east of Leonardo are two stone quarries waiting to be mined. You can
build his sulphur mines later, but right now start producing serfs and
building up your base. Instead of building sulphur mines (which you can't
really do right now), send some serfs to the little area revealed in the west,
where there's a chest and some piles of stone and sulphur. Start your serfs
collecting the sulphur here, and there will be plenty in your stores by the
time you need it.
Send Dario over to speak to the regent of Tendrel while your civilians get to
work on the basics. Talk to the regent with Dario for two more objectives.
---
RESCUE THE DAUGHTER OF TENDREL'S REGENT!
REBUILD THE CATHEDRAL OF EVELANCE
---
These are both objectives that you should do as soon as possible, for a couple
of reasons. To rescue the princess you will need an army; and to reach the
building site of the cathedral you will need to change the weather to winter
(surprise surprise).
Explore the southern half of the map just so you know what there is around
you. There are no hostiles farther south than Tendrel, so you're safe that far
up all along the map. There's another village centre site south east of
Tendrel.
You may also want to look for those towers the miner mentioned: there are
twelve of them - six pairs. Once you've got them all, park your heroes at the
western four, since you'll want to let these towers stand as long as possible
- they're great early warnings. Don't worry if you lose some - or even all -
of them eventually, but try to keep at least a few safe until you're capable
of building your own cannon towers. Keeping a serf nearby to conduct repairs
might help, but the towers aren't essential.
By the way, there's also a forger in between the two middle bunches of towers,
just desperate to tell you about the hill he's found. Pick up the chest on top
of it to shut him up. Don't go too far north here - you're very close to
enemies and you can't beat them by attacking them first.
At some point during all of this Pilgrim will start wondering where Kerberos
is. This is your warning that an attack is imminent. Hopefully you've
collected the twelve towers, so hang around the westernmost ones and wait for
your enemies to appear (don't bother upgrading the towers). Your heroes can
hold the enemy off with the help of the ballistas, but you should be heading
towards building at least a barracks, in order to produce soldiers to help out
(though you probably won't need any).
When you do build the barracks, put it in a specific place - your northern
clay pit has a bit of land just north of it, where the mountain curves between
the two wooden walls at the four ballista towers. Put the barracks just north
of the clay pit, and protect its northern walls with six to ten cannon towers
as a priority - this will be enough to defend your base forever once those
ballista towers are downed. Move your heroes down behind your new towers and
keep them there, ignoring the free ballista towers and letting them get
destroyed. Don't upgrade your barracks or spend any money on swordsmen or
spearmen if your towers are up - your barracks is just a safety net.
Stone is vital for building and upgrading your own towers, so try to have a
couple of stonemasons to go with your two quarries. You should have tons of
resources coming in, and once your base is safe you can get a move on with
building the weather tower and centre. Once they're done and you can change
the weather, switch to winter and take Pilgrim and a few serfs south east to
the now accessible island.
Get Pilgrim to pick up the chest, talk to the alchemist, and blow open the two
iron shafts. Now get your serfs to build two mines and a village centre, then
build a chapel and upgrade it to a cathedral. Build houses and farms to go
with the new buildings. When the cathedral is up you've completed that side of
the regent's objective (though you also lose the cathedral).
Now would be a good time to build Leonardo's mines, so send Pilgrim up there,
along with a handful of serfs. Open all four shafts with Pilgrim's bombs, then
get your serfs to build four sulphur mines. Don't bother building houses or
farms - you lose the mines as soon as they're built. As far as I know,
Leonardo sends his cannons to hit a nearby robbery tower, thereby slightly
reducing the danger your base is in. This seems a bit crap...
Anyway, now to rescue the princess. Not hard: just build a bunch of light and
heavy cavalry (build an enclosure behind your barracks, and build only cavalry
from now on), then send everyone up to destroy the robbery tower and the two
ballista towers, clearing out all enemy units you meet on the way. Once the
tower falls the princess comes out - talk to her with a hero.
---
SAFELY RETURN THE PRINCESS TO HER FATHER IN TENDREL
---
Head over to the regent of Tendrel (the governor in front of the town centre)
with whichever hero she talked to (pick up the chest behind the tower and the
one in the nearby graveyard first). If you lose her she tends to follow the
next nearest hero, so try checking the rest of your army for an idiot with an
exclamation mark over her head.
Once you return her safely home you've completed both the regent's objectives
(if you've built that cathedral), and he gives you a new objective.
---
ORGANISE GUNPOWDER!
---
Run over and talk to Leonardo again. You've already built his mines, so quite
a lot happens here. Leonardo delivers the gunpowder to Tendrel, the governor
gives you 200 thalers, the pass to the north opens up from Tendrel's north
gate, Tendrel gives you a barracks and an archery, and they also start
producing their own military. Now you have your final objective.
---
FIND THE LAST PIECE OF THE ORB!
---
At this point I like to build and upgrade another enclosure at the place where
the easternmost ballista towers were, up on the hill west of Tendrel. Protect
it with a few cannon towers, as it will come under attack. Your base will be
fine while you're away, if it's protected by enough cannons.
If you're at all interested in exploring all that space up north and west, you
should know that there's not a lot of point. There's a few chests dotted
about, and there's a nice place in the west - just north of Leonardo's base -
which contains lots more resources for free. But there are also tons of enemy
units, robbery towers, cannon towers, siege cannons, etc... And even if you do
battle all the way through and find and destroy the three reachable village
centres and the stronghold, you are locked out of the main base, as it's
surrounded by walls, closed gates and cannon towers. Not worth the effort -
just do things the easy way.
Build up an overkill-sized army of horses, and send them and your heroes north
from Tendrel's gates. You'll pass through a swamp, up the hill to the east,
past the closed sulphur shaft, all the way around to the north west, past two
more chests, and finally arrive at the outpost, guarded by a bunch of units
and a few ballista towers.
There should be zero up here that can cause you trouble if you sent nothing
but horses and heroes, so kill off the outpost to complete the level.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TREASURE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 / R1 - In the graveyard east of the princess
1 / R2 - Next to Mordred's easternmost village centre
1 / R3 - Due south of the outpost
2 / R1 - In the ruined church
2 / R2 - On the curving mountain road south east of Mordred's easternmost
village centre
2 / R3 - On the north east mountain road leading to the outpost
2 / R2 - North of the easternmost ballista towers
3 / R3 - Beside Tendrel's treasury
9 / R3 - In a graveyard on the mountain, due east of the northern area of
Leonardo's base (3)
5 / R1 - On the viewpoint hill, near the forger
4 / R3 - On the cathedral site island, next to the alchemist
8 / R3 - Next to the sulphur clumps revealed from the beginning
10 / R2 - Under the stronghold in the cannon tower enclosure
12 / R1 - Behind the robbery tower containing the princess
12 / R2 - Between two ruined houses
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=================++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
===============================+++++++++++++++++==============================
3.14 WASTELANDS
===============================+++++++++++++++++==============================
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=================++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"There are quite a few outcast villages and communities in the Wastelands
longing for revenge for Mordred's and Kerberos' nefarious deeds."
+++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++--++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ +++
This is quite a peaceful level after the previous one, and you can take it at
your own pace. There are no difficult objectives, and if you plan it properly
this mission should give you no problems at all. An easy penultimate level.
==============================================================================
SAVE THE RESIDENTS!
LOOK FOR ALLIES!
---
Talk to the two serfs near your gates first - they tell you about some
prisoners to the west. Forget this for now. Explore the area where you'll be
building your base, and with Pilgrim's help you should end up with two clay
pits and one of each of the other three. There is also a serf near the
graveyard in the west, who can give you a new objective.
---
LIBERATE KILLARNEY!
---
He wants you to freeze the swamp, so go and talk to Brother John in the north
of your territory, just west of the northern clay shaft. He wants 2000 thalers
to change the season to winter. Forget this for now (switching to winter at
this point is a big mistake) and just build up your base, while your heroes
hang around inside your city walls. Your base will (as far as I know) never
come under attack until you do something, so don't worry about that.
You only have one village centre around here, and it will be a while before
you get another one. Start getting serfs, wood and clay in fast to develop
with speed, then begin upgrading, etc. By the time you've upgraded to a city
centre you should have lots of resources.
Once your population is near its current limit you have two options. One will
get you another village centre site early, which you would otherwise have had
to wait a long time for. The other lets you attack Kerberos's nearby base and
free the prisoners before doing anything else, though it can be a tough
battle. Having tried both options, I'm going to go with the one which gets you
the second village centre.
You should be prepared for a couple of battles first. You'll also need lots of
stone, so build at least two stonemasons' huts to go with your quarry. You
could try a marketplace too for even more stone. Build a weather centre and
tower too, and wait until the engineers are ready to change the weather before
you progress.
Build three or four cannon towers as close to your northern clay pit as you
can, and build another few down at your sulphur pit. The sulphur pit area will
come under only one attack once winter appears, though it can cause trouble:
the clay pit area will be attacked over and over by Kerberos, as long as the
ice is there. It's up to you where you put your heroes, but just put them at
either battle area to make sure your towers stay up.
Once you're ready tribute 2000 thalers to Brother John, at which point he will
give you some resources, tell you of someone in the north west, and freeze the
water to ice. Ring the town bell and keep watch over both the areas of battle.
By the way, you have just liberated the first town, simply by freezing the
water.
If you successfully deal with both of these attacks on your base, move your
heroes and soldiers to the northern clay pit, and send some serfs north over
the ice to explore around where the reds came from (go due north from your
westernmost clay pit to find the little beach area). They should find an
unoccupied village centre site on a small area of land, surrounded by two
quarries and a closed clay shaft. Send Pilgrim over there to open it, and
begin colonising this area. This gets you a lot more resources, as well as
much more room in which to put soldiers into your army. This area should
always be safe from attacks, so don't bother defending it.
Presumably you don't want to have to deal with numerous attacks on your
northern towers, so change the weather back to summer as soon as your serfs
arrive at the second village centre. Now you have a lot of space in your
population, so fill out your army with whatever you like (I just went with
broadswordsmen, since this isn't a level where you need a huge, expensive
army).
Once your army is ready, change to winter again and send them north from your
clay pit (you might want one or two siege cannons if you can be bothered).
They will find a grey keep surrounded by towers, and there will be a few serfs
and possibly some military units up here. Get rid of the towers quickly, and
be aware that the grey military units actually come from the keep itself.
Clear out the keep and the serfs, then head north to find the first town,
sending a few of your own serfs north after your heroes.
Talk to the serf beside the town centre for a new objective.
---
HELP DURING CONSTRUCTION!
---
All you need to do is build six huts near the town centre and upgrade them all
to houses. You then get given all the buildings nearby, but you should
probably destroy them all except the treasury, keep and town centre. Build a
farm next to the treasury to keep the bankers happy.
You've now liberated two towns, and this would be a good time to change back
to summer, if it hasn't already happened automatically. Kerberos can still
send troops over from his keep in the west, so cut his units off by thawing
the ice.
Now take your army south and east until they arrive at the third town, the one
near where those prisoners are being held. Move west through the town until
you find the walls and the cannon towers. It's not hard to charge your
enlarged army through here, deleting every grey building and unit you see.
Build a cannon factory nearby to help out if you want (try to build it closer
to your northernmost, newest city centre, since your workers won't be able to
get through the grey enclosures if they come from either of the other two
centres).
Destroy the prison wall with artillery, Ari's arrows, or Pilgrim's bombs and
spring cannons, then send a hero in to collect the prisoners. You get some
more soldiers and four serfs, and the third town is now liberated.
All that remains is to get up to the fourth town (revealed in the north west)
and talk to the man in charge. Freeze the water again and send a hero up along
the extreme west of the map to avoid any more enemy installations. Don't worry
if your town is attacked or any heroes are knocked out - as long as you get
one hero through to the north west town you can't lose.
Talk to the serf at the town centre.
---
LET IT RAIN!
---
Just bring on the rain with the weather tower to complete the level.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TREASURE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
N/A
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++==================+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
===============================++++++++++++++++++=============================
3.15 BATTLE OF EVELANCE
===============================++++++++++++++++++=============================
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++==================+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"The time had finally come: the Great Battle lay ahead of them. It won't be
long till the allies of the Wastelands have recruited their troops and send
them out for the fellowship's support in the final battle against Evelance."
+++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++--++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ ++++-++++ +++
This final mission is less difficult than it might have been, and instead of
you launching futile attacks on the enemy base, you can easily turn it around
so that they're wasting troops on yours. Exploration is crucial here, and
Kerberos is presenting you with a lot of golden opportunities to grab his base
right out from under his nose, weakening his army while strengthening your
own.
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STORM THE LAST BASTION
OPEN THE GATES TO THE INNER FORTRESS
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The opening cutscene makes this level sound a lot harder than it is. You
should have zero trouble defending your base at any point.
Get two of your serfs started on the quarry near them, at the west of your
base, and send another two south west of the quarry, over the mountains, to
find an iron shaft. There's another quarry in the north, just west of the area
where your reinforcements are going to appear, and south of that, across the
ice, is a sulphur shaft. That's quite a lot of mines, but you still need
sawmills, so research Construction as soon as possible.
Meanwhile send your heroes to talk to the alchemist due south of your
stronghold. He wants 5000 thalers to change the weather, but ignore this for
now. Send your heroes west to beside your iron mine - you should find a miner
willing to tell you about a certain road into Kerberos's base. Follow the
western edge of the map south and you'll find a village centre site.
Your heroes now have little to do except explore, but I suggest you park them
by the cannon tower next to the alchemist, as this is where the first attack
will come from. Build up your base while you wait for Kerberos to attack and
for your reinforcements to arrive. You will eventually be warned of your
reinforcements' imminent arrival, soon after which the first attack will be
launched on the south of your base. It's easy to clear up, and now you can
just wait for the reinforcements.
You get four bunches of troops - wait until the second pair has arrived, then
send everyone south of that third village centre, including your heroes. Once
the reinforcements are on the mainland, pay the 5000 thalers to the mute
alchemist through the tribute menu. From now on (until winter comes back),
Kerberos can only attack up the western area of land. By the time winter does
reappear you will probably have your weather tower and centre up anyway, which
puts you in control. The alchemist's summer will last a long time, but not
forever, though this might be superfluous since I never got attacked from
anywhere other than the south west from this point onwards.
Farther south is a little enclosure containing a forger, a scholar and an
alchemist. I found the alchemist to be useless, and the scholar to be only
slightly better. The forger can provide you with three iron cannons through
the tribute menu, but 5000 thalers is a lot for that.
Anyway, keep your guys hanging around here, since Kerberos's next attack is
imminent. Again, there's nothing major, but watch out for the bombards in the
background. Now run uphill until you find the small area with the three closed
shafts, just west of the Tree Of Life. Bring serfs up and build on whichever
of the mines you want (I went with iron and sulphur). You should be able to
fit in farms and houses and so on, but try not to extend your construction too
close to the Tree.
Once this area is secure, start building tons of cannon towers at the
crossroads where the Tree is. Most enemy attacks will pass here from now on,
and if you have ten or more cannon towers you can give Kerberos big headaches.
Meanwhile build a cannon factory and stables just south of your third city
centre - this isn't actually a good place for them, but it's the closest you
can get until you find somewhere better. Start reinforcing your army with
horses and a few siege cannons, and send them all up to where you're building
your cannon towers.
Your main base should be pretty much complete by now, with all upgrades bought
and resources flooding in. It's time to make a start on Kerberos's base, but
not by going through the main entrance. In fact, even attacking the stronghold
first is a bad idea - much better to let Kerberos throw his troops uselessly
against your new towers, while your own army sneaks around the back.
Take your troops south east from the Tree and continue as far south east as
you can go, past a graveyard with a chest next to it. Farther south east is a
ruined keep, and east of this is a gated wall with two ballista towers. Knock
out the towers fast and head north east to another wall and gate, this time
with two watchtowers (probably). Get rid of those towers.
At this point you can take a hero east until he finds the second
reinforcements area - if you don't explore the edge of the map you will never
receive the extra units from here, and you definitely could use them. Pick up
the three chests down there too.
There's a torched path leading north from the place where you just knocked
down the watchtowers, but ignore it and head north east again, past a
graveyard, until you find another gate. This one has cannon towers behind it,
and once you take them down you can proceed up into the easternmost area of
Kerberos's base. This place was very thinly guarded when I arrived, and I had
no trouble knocking down all the buildings, including the valuable city
centre.
This is a great area in which to site another stable and cannon factory, so
bring your serfs along the same roads your army just carved out, and start
building a little town. Take the two iron shafts if you want, but I didn't
bother, as I had plenty already.
Through all of this Kerberos will have been attacking your cannon towers, but
they should still be OK, though one or two might be downed. Keep a serf there
for repairing and rebuilding. Your new staging point in the east should only
rarely come under attack from the south west entrance, but don't stray too far
down there until your army is filled out again, using the increased pop. limit
a fourth city centre will bring you. Protect this area with a few more cannon
towers too.
Once you're satisfied that this place is clear, send your army south west and
leave your new mini-base protected by more cannon towers, mostly at the bottom
of the torched hill with the closed gate at the top. Your troops will run into
a couple more cannon towers before arriving at the foot of the hill leading up
to the stronghold. A lot of grey units will begin pouring out from behind the
walls, guarded by a couple of cannon towers, so try to overwhelm them with
your siege cannons and light cavalry, while your heavy mob run inside and hit
the towers. Fend off a few attacks and get rid of all the buildings, grabbing
the chests once the area is clear.
With the stronghold down the gates to the castle open, and your eastern
settlement will now come under attack from that small hill. Lucky you put
those cannon towers there.
Don't head north yet; instead go back out of the stronghold gates and west to
find a stone quarry being mined by Kerberos. Farther north west are a bunch of
siege cannons and a couple of cannon towers - you might lose quite a few units
here, but these are the only guards in this area. Knock them out of the way
and proceed north, erasing more and more buildings, including the stables and
a couple more towers in the north west, beside another city centre.
Clear out the whole area, including the clay mining operation down the north
west hill leading towards your main base. Park your troops beside the fifth
village centre site and bring some serfs over to begin building in this area.
Kerberos now has not much left to throw at you, though the castle and the
surrounding hills are well guarded.
Once you've got your cannon factory up it's just case of charging up the
nearest hill and deleting the two towers behind it. Send all your troops in to
protect your cannons, then just start firing on the castle from the area just
north of it. Your cannons can shoot from safety and your non-artillery units
can defend them while they work.
With the castle down you've won the final mission and completed the entire
game. Congratulations.
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TREASURE
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1 / R3 - North of the waterfall
3 / R1 - On the mountain path east of the castle
3 / R1 - In the graveyard under the castle
3 / R2 - Next to the university
5 / R3 - In between the high and low graveyards, south west of the village
centre site
5 / R3 - In the ruined keep next to where your south east reinforcements
appear (3)
6 / R2 - In front of and behind the stronghold (3)
7 / R3 - At the graveyard south of the Tree Of Life
9 / R2 - Next to the westernmost cannon tower
9 / R2 - South west of the westernmost stables
12 / R1 - North of the westernmost storehouse
12 / R2 - West of the sulphur shaft
12 / R3 - West of the quarry
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4. CONTRIBUTIONS
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03 January 2007 - Michael Sarich: Copyright Disclaimer
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THANK-YOU TO ALL CONTRIBUTORS
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5. VERSION HISTORY
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Version 1.1 completion - 01 February 2007
New disclaimer
Section 1:
1.2 USING THIS GUIDE - Improved information
1.3 CONTACT ME - Improved information
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New disclaimer
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3.12 CLOUDY MOUNTAINS - Corrected error about smithy
Miscellaneous:
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Guide is now considered complete
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Thank-you for using this walkthrough. I hope it helped you out, or at least
taught you how _not_ to play the game. At the very least, I hope you found it
entertaining.
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This guide was written and formatted with the excellent Metapad:
http://www.liquidninja.com/metapad/
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