Age of Mythology/Scratching the Surface


 * Difficulty level: Titan
 * Key strategies:
 * Build a Temple and recruit one Cyclops as soon as finances permit.
 * Most of the battles will be based around the northern gold mine. Protect this area with all of your troops, keeping your economy safely rolling along to the south.

Walkthrough
Lead Arkantos, Ajax and your troops south to the unclaimed village. Immediately place the “Lure” ability to have wildlife come toward the town as the Villagers build the Town Center.

The wildlife north of the village is too far away and will waste time getting your village set up. Have your troops slaughter a bear or other wildlife so the Villagers can gather food.

Build a Temple as soon as possible so you can enter the Classical Age.

A single ship will attack the shore. Have your troops attack it and then don’t worry about threats from the sea.

Build up your economy in a reasonable, balanced manner, sending four or five Villagers north to build a Storehouse and harvest the gold mine.

Most attacks will come from the direction of this gold mine, so put the majority of your troops here. If you are careful, you shouldn’t lose the Storehouse you have built near the gold mine.

Although it will slow down your economy, recruit a Cyclops early on to help protect the gold mine area.

When resources allow, build a tower by the gold mine and west of your village. Place the Toxotes in the tower by your gold mind as soon as you upgrade to Watchtowers.

It’s going to be dicey, but you should be able to survive the assaults from the north.

One trick is to run around with the Villagers that are mining in the area in circles to distract some of the enemy troops while the Watchtower and troops thin out their ranks.

Build an Armory to advance to the Heroic Age, the highest level you can reach in this mission.

Don’t forget to get the food gathering upgrades from the Granary. It takes a lot of grain to feed a growing economy and army!

Keep recruiting Myth and Hero units to protect the northern border. The attacks will continue to get more advanced and you need to stay healthy in this area.

During most of these battles, your economy can keep running down to the south. Of course, garrison your Villagers if necessary.

When you are confident of your strength to the north, build a Fortress and recruit a few Heliopolises. Start attacking some of the Watchtowers to the north, which will bring on additional conflicts. You will have to deal with these attacks sooner or later, so you might as well deal with them now. Pull back to the safety of your Watchtowers, when possible.

(This strategy does not cover a possible sea assault on the docks.)

Be sure to build houses to reach maximum population possibility.

Once you feel comfortable with your troop levels, head to one of the docks. Use the Heliopolises to knock down Towers and the Dock.

Once you destroy one Dock, you will receive reinforcements and you won’t be able to recruit any more troops. (Not that you will need any.)

It should be reasonably easy to now take down the second dock. You will definitely be in control by now and it should be lots of fun.