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The scenario is not hard at all, there's only one real enemy and it tends to play a mostly defensive game. That being said, it is pretty long winded, as your tributaries take time to gather resources and don't give too much with each tribute. Most of this level is won by smart unit choices rather than by strategy. | The scenario is not hard at all, there's only one real enemy and it tends to play a mostly defensive game. That being said, it is pretty long winded, as your tributaries take time to gather resources and don't give too much with each tribute. Most of this level is won by smart unit choices rather than by strategy. | ||
== | ==First Moves== | ||
You start with a sizable army consisting of all sorts of units. There are light cavalry, cavalry archers, camels and long swordsmen. The cavalry archers and light cavalry will serve you the best, while the camels can help as a stronger melee unit. Keep them away from any serious raids or charges though! The long swordsmen are predictably the weakest part of your army, but don't disband them yet, just keep them at your town for now. | You start with a sizable army consisting of all sorts of units. There are light cavalry, cavalry archers, camels and long swordsmen. The cavalry archers and light cavalry will serve you the best, while the camels can help as a stronger melee unit. Keep them away from any serious raids or charges though! The long swordsmen are predictably the weakest part of your army, but don't disband them yet, just keep them at your town for now. | ||
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Once this encounter is done, we can start thinking about capturing the themes of Byzantine. | Once this encounter is done, we can start thinking about capturing the themes of Byzantine. | ||
==The Themes== | |||
Take your light cavalry and start exploring around. You will notice that the theme closest to you, Cappadocia, has gates and towers to defend themselves. Since you're in the Castle Age and don't really have any castle yet, this suggests making a few rams to take them down. But hold off for now! Rams take up lots of resources and if you get surprised by Cappadocia's defenders, you will have wasted a bunch of gold and wood, which is really bad this early into the level. Besides, it doesn't hurt to scout a bit more yet. Cappadocia's towers are not much of a threat really, even though they have lots of them overlooking the area. Just ignore them and keep scouting. | Take your light cavalry and start exploring around. You will notice that the theme closest to you, Cappadocia, has gates and towers to defend themselves. Since you're in the Castle Age and don't really have any castle yet, this suggests making a few rams to take them down. But hold off for now! Rams take up lots of resources and if you get surprised by Cappadocia's defenders, you will have wasted a bunch of gold and wood, which is really bad this early into the level. Besides, it doesn't hurt to scout a bit more yet. Cappadocia's towers are not much of a threat really, even though they have lots of them overlooking the area. Just ignore them and keep scouting. | ||
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Eventually you find that Pisidia has a mangonel near its northernmost gate that can be baited into opening it, as well as a hole in their perimeter. This is your cue, get in and immediately rush towards the flagged area. Remember that you don't have to actually fight Pisidia's forces, which is good because they're too strong for your army at this point. Once you get there, Pisidia surrenders and becomes your ally. | Eventually you find that Pisidia has a mangonel near its northernmost gate that can be baited into opening it, as well as a hole in their perimeter. This is your cue, get in and immediately rush towards the flagged area. Remember that you don't have to actually fight Pisidia's forces, which is good because they're too strong for your army at this point. Once you get there, Pisidia surrenders and becomes your ally. | ||
==Counter Attack== | |||
The Byzantines are obviously not pleased with this turn of events. After capturing Pisidia, you need to quickly get some units fast and rush them back towards your town. Byzantine will be coming with a counter attack that consists of cataphracts, pikemen, longswordsmen and rams. Sometimes they send a few monks too. Cavalry archers kill most of their army as long as you keep micromanaging them, and light cavalry should break up their rams, with everyone else helping wherever they can. | The Byzantines are obviously not pleased with this turn of events. After capturing Pisidia, you need to quickly get some units fast and rush them back towards your town. Byzantine will be coming with a counter attack that consists of cataphracts, pikemen, longswordsmen and rams. Sometimes they send a few monks too. Cavalry archers kill most of their army as long as you keep micromanaging them, and light cavalry should break up their rams, with everyone else helping wherever they can. | ||
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At this point, you'll also notice that none of the other themes actually seem to send troops of their own. Byzantine will completely give up attacking once their counter attack has been crushed, and they will mostly stick to their base and their small centre camp. This gives you a lot of breathing room, and you can now turn your attention to building up and upgrading your army while planning to capture the other two themes. | At this point, you'll also notice that none of the other themes actually seem to send troops of their own. Byzantine will completely give up attacking once their counter attack has been crushed, and they will mostly stick to their base and their small centre camp. This gives you a lot of breathing room, and you can now turn your attention to building up and upgrading your army while planning to capture the other two themes. | ||
==Gold Mine Towers== | |||
Shortly after capturing Pisidia, you may have noticed a bunch of light blue structures being revealed on your minimap. These are certainly not the colours of any theme, nor of Byzantine. This is a Saracen encampment, and looking at that part of the map triggers a side objective to destroy their towers so that Pisidia can mine more gold. | Shortly after capturing Pisidia, you may have noticed a bunch of light blue structures being revealed on your minimap. These are certainly not the colours of any theme, nor of Byzantine. This is a Saracen encampment, and looking at that part of the map triggers a side objective to destroy their towers so that Pisidia can mine more gold. | ||
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You probably didn't do this earlier since you had to prepare for the Byzantine counter attack, but now you can choose to do this early with rams, or later with trebuchets. The only trick here is that one tower is inaccessible by foot, but a mangonel can break it easily. Doing this early lets Pisidia mine longer, but there's not a big consequence to delaying this later as you effectively have infinite gold through market trade, and you'll have tons of every resource except stone before long. | You probably didn't do this earlier since you had to prepare for the Byzantine counter attack, but now you can choose to do this early with rams, or later with trebuchets. The only trick here is that one tower is inaccessible by foot, but a mangonel can break it easily. Doing this early lets Pisidia mine longer, but there's not a big consequence to delaying this later as you effectively have infinite gold through market trade, and you'll have tons of every resource except stone before long. | ||
==The Other Themes== | |||
We can now choose to capture either Galatia, or Cappadocia. Scouting will reveal that Galatia has one entrance, but it's very well guarded, with two castles on either cliff, swordsmen in front of the gate, and scorpions firing behind it. | We can now choose to capture either Galatia, or Cappadocia. Scouting will reveal that Galatia has one entrance, but it's very well guarded, with two castles on either cliff, swordsmen in front of the gate, and scorpions firing behind it. | ||
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Capturing Galatia gets you to the Imperial Age and gives you three castles and a monastery, among other things. This is a big game changer. Your army will easily dominate the field and you finally have long range artillery to seriously deal with any fortification. Monks are not as useful here since everyone else has Heresy researched, but you can make a few for some quick healing. | Capturing Galatia gets you to the Imperial Age and gives you three castles and a monastery, among other things. This is a big game changer. Your army will easily dominate the field and you finally have long range artillery to seriously deal with any fortification. Monks are not as useful here since everyone else has Heresy researched, but you can make a few for some quick healing. | ||
==Defeating Byzantine== | |||
At this point, this is very easy to do. Cavalry Archers destroy most of their army while hussars break up the rams sent to destroy your trebuchets or distract your archers. Get a sizable army, smash down their fortifications, have massed archers kill armies, massed hussars kill rams, rinse, repeat. The only things which might give you trouble at this point are monks, but massed archers kill them fast as long as you spot and react to them. It might be prudent to research Faith(makes it harder for monks to convert your units) and Heresy(kills units upon conversion) but it's not necessary. | At this point, this is very easy to do. Cavalry Archers destroy most of their army while hussars break up the rams sent to destroy your trebuchets or distract your archers. Get a sizable army, smash down their fortifications, have massed archers kill armies, massed hussars kill rams, rinse, repeat. The only things which might give you trouble at this point are monks, but massed archers kill them fast as long as you spot and react to them. It might be prudent to research Faith(makes it harder for monks to convert your units) and Heresy(kills units upon conversion) but it's not necessary. | ||
Once Byzantine's walls and defenses have fallen, rush your troops in and focus on the town center. Have your archer units kill any stragglers in between. Once it's fallen, hunt down every villager and then destroy the rest of the production buildings, starting with the monastery. Byzantine is adamant and won't resign on its own, so it will take a while but they're merely delaying your inevitable victory. | Once Byzantine's walls and defenses have fallen, rush your troops in and focus on the town center. Have your archer units kill any stragglers in between. Once it's fallen, hunt down every villager and then destroy the rest of the production buildings, starting with the monastery. Byzantine is adamant and won't resign on its own, so it will take a while but they're merely delaying your inevitable victory. | ||
'''Note''' Pisidia tends to attack Cappadocia if you didn't capture them first, so they're the only other enemy to attempt an assault on this map. Just another reason to capture them first. | |||
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