First off, I want to agree with you. If you are looking at this guide then I
assume you are having trouble playing "The Iron Plague." I agree that this
game can be frustratingly difficult. In fact so much so that I almost quit
playing it. Total Annihilation: Kingdoms is many times easier than IP.
The hardest mission on TA: Kingdoms is somewhat easier than the "hard" maps
here. Having totally enjoyed TA: Kingdoms I was looking forward to playing IP.
TA: Kingdoms had such a good flow and story that I couldn't wait to find out
what happens in IP. That excitement was met with constant gnashing of teeth
and reloading of saved games. I will say that IP does indeed have a good flow
and story to it as well. The problem is the early maps are quite difficult and
have no continuity to them. Everything is disjointed until you get past
Chapter 8. From then on, the designers began to create a good flow to the
game. You start to understand why one chapter is easy and then the next one is
hard. If you can make it past the early tough chapters then I promise you that
you'll start to love IP as much as TA: Kingdoms.
I wrote this Walkthrough just for the simple fact that there were none. Like
many players I started having trouble on the very second map. I would then
search the web looking for some hints or strategies. I then found out there
was never an "Official" walkthrough created for IP. No end user guides were
written either. The best I could find were a few forums that had
player's tips on them. Even some of the tips weren't that informative. I
became frustrated over the fact that I could possibly not even beat the game.
With no guides and not really anywhere to turn for help, I decided I would try
to beat the game and create a guide on my own. Fortunately, I succeeded.
Being such a fan of the game my only intent here is to help others enjoy it as
well. It simply started out as a basic walkthrough of how I beat a particular
chapter. Since you can play both games with complete strategic freedom I
decided to just write down what I did. In hopes that it would direct the
player into making a successful strategy for beating a tough mission. My
suggestions on how to beat a particular map are just that, my suggestions. Not
my dictations. There are a number of ways to beat each map. I just wanted to
make sure the player knew that there was at least one successful strategy if
he/she became disgruntled. So, if you're having trouble then read this
walkthrough, take what you need, and apply it.
I also noticed that at times in the campaign you get to control new units for
the original TA: Kingdom forces. While the IP manual is a pleasant read it
didn't include any info on these new units at all. I decided to include some
basic observations and tips on the new non-Creon units. Most of them are
very cool and my favorite was the Spirit Wolf.
Also just so you know what kind of TA: Kingdoms player I am. I am more of a
defensive player. I usually take my time and build up my bases. When I feel
confident that I can repel most enemy attacks I then send out troops. I also
don't go overboard with defensive structures. I usually stick with what will
work and get me through that particular map. Whenever I do have to attack on
multiple fronts I keep my hand near the pause button. I don't like being too
overwhelmed and unable to take care of all my troops at the same time. I also
don't mind taking my time. Sometimes this makes the map twice as long as it
should be. I also usually play the game at -3 speed. It only prolongs the
enjoyment of it though. At least that's the story I'm sticking with.
I hope my strategies help you if you're in trouble. I have tried to explain
everything in good detail. I know I can be a tad "wordy" so if you need to
find something quickly be sure to use the Find option under the pulldown menu
or press Ctrl+F. Good luck!
-------------------
New Expansion Units
-------------------
ARAMON-
Rolling Tower - Built by Keep - A mobile defensive structure. They have a
strong arrow attack and in groups can be a good
backup unit. They also have high hit points
and good armor. They move slow though and
can be hit easily.
Flying Builder - Built by Acolyte - They can build the same structures as a
normal Mage Builder. They have slightly
more hit points than a Mage Builder.
Their ability to fly and build Trebuchets
makes them a good strategic unit.
Grenadier - Built by Acolyte - Long range bomber. In large numbers they can be
very deadly. They move somewhat slow but are
not bulky. They have three modes of attack:
Explosive, Incendiary, and Stun.
VERUNA-
Lighthouse - Built by Priestess - A tall standing structure that has good
scouting range. Fires a shot that
momentarily paralyzes enemies. A perfect
complement to other defensive structures. It
has medium defense and does not take long to
build.
Ballista - Built by Priest of Lihr - Has very long range. Shoots an arrow that
does small damage. Moves slow and is
susceptible to fast firing units.
Centaur - Built by Citadel - A horse unit that attacks with a bow and arrow.
They are fairly cheap to create but move slow.
If they moved faster they would be a perfect
complement to the Berserker.
Mer Warrior - Built by Enclave - A very cool low level unit. They move at a
decent speed and have good attack abilities.
They can also swim and attack ships.
ZHON-
Swamp Beast - Built by Beast Handler - Slow land based unit. Has medium attack
power and good health. Moves too slow
and is susceptible to fast moving
units. Good back up unit when paired
with Jungle Orcs.
Spirit Wolf - Built by Beast Tamer - Very fun unit. Basically Zhon's version
of Veruna's Berserker. They are built
at a good speed so it is easy to make a
pack of them. They have medium attack
power but because they are small they can
easily surround an enemy. They have fast
walking speed and a decent amount of
health. They can also raise fallen troops
into weaker versions of Spirit Wolves.
Giant Orm - Built by Shaman - A very slow moving land unit. Looks like a
caterpillar. Has good amount of health. They
have a very strong attack and are probably best
used on fixed structures.
Giant Barracuda - Built by Shaman - Sea only creature. Same size as a ship.
Was not able to use it in battle so I don't
know its capabilities.
TAROS-
Kamikaze Rat - Built by Temple - A small unit. It can also cloak making it a
good spy unit. It has around medium speed.
Its must uncloak to attack but has wide attack
damage. Has enough hit points to survive a
few hits.
Rictus - Built by Abyss - A slow moving land unit. Its attack and range are
similar to the Fire Demon. Good support unit.
Darkhand - Built by Abyss - A mace wielding troop unit. Has good range. Kind
of slow though and only medium health. Its attack
is not too powerful.
Fallen Angel - Built by Dark Priest - A flying unit with a strong offense. Has
three modes of attack. Its group killer
attack is very powerful. Has low hit
points considering its cost. Best used
in fly by attacks.
--------------
Gameplay Hints
--------------
While playing the campaign, I discovered a few tips that were not explained in
the manual.
1. Dismiss\Kill a friendly unit: This tip goes along with TA: Kingdoms as well.
It is plainly written in both TA: Kingdom's and IP's manuals. I just never
realized it. To get rid of unwanted units\structures simply select them and
press Ctrl+D. You will get a "leaving your command" message and within five
seconds the unit will disappear. I'm not sure if dismissing units adds to
your loss total. Sometimes when I would dismiss a unit the attack warning
sound would play so I presume it does count as a loss.
2. Chief Engineer special skill: You can use a Chief Engineer to resurrect a
dead troop unit into an Automaton unit.
3. Better aiming with the Aerial Juggernaut: Sometimes you can do more damage
and aim better by moving the juggernaut beside the intended target instead
of actually targeting it.
4. Easier targeting with the Neo Dragon's "Freeze Storm" attack: Sometimes you
will target a unit and the Neo Dragon refuses to use the "Freeze Storm."
It is usually easier to manually target an area by pressing the A button.
This applies also to any attack that affects enemy groups.
Sometimes the attacker will try to lock onto its target instead of just
attacking and killing all the enemies. By manually targeting an area the
attacking unit doesn't have to try to lock onto a moving target. Also be
aware that not every unit can frozen. Examples are the Amazon, Knight, and
Swordsman.
5. Zooming around the map easily: It is good to remember that whenever you
select a unit you can center in on it by simply pressing the T key. So
if your #8 group is being attacked and you're at the #2 group simply press 8
and then T and the map will zoom in on group #8.
-----------
FAQ Section
-----------
I decided to include some questions\answers that I thought were interesting. I
have gathered them from various sources around the net. I'm not 100% sure
which ones only apply to TA:K or to both TA:K and IP. If any are incorrect
then please contact me and I will make the appropriate correction.
Q: How can I edit my own keys?
A: Edit the "Keys.tdf" file in the Kingdoms folder.
Q: How can Lokken cloak?
A: Press the K key.
Q: How can I disable the logo at the game's start?
A: Use the parameter "-skiplogo" in the Kingdom's shortcut.
Q: How can I create more than one unit while playing as Zhon?
A: Hold CTRL and select the unit to build. You will see +++ over the unit
picture. Also use SHIFT to que the building of different units.
Q: How can I maximize the minimap?
A: Toggle the TAB key.
Q: Is there anyway to build another side's buildings\units?
A: Yes, you can use Elsin to resurrect another side's builder units. The unit
won't be able to build Aramon structures but can help if an Aramon builder
starts construction first.
Q: Other than Elsin, what other units can resurrect dead units?
A: (Taros) Dark Priest can create Ghouls.
Q: How can I make my units attack enemy units while they're moving?
A: Make them PATROL to their destination instead of MOVING.
Q: What good is there to using the ALT+# formation command when creating
groups?
A: It makes the group move at the same speed as the slowest unit in that group.
Units will also be less likely to clutter up and are easier to
organize. I do not know which formations are assigned to each key.
Q: What is a good Aramon group structure?
A: Use the Mage Archers and set their attack to "paralyze" setting. Back them
up with Cannoneers and they become a strong attack force.
Q: How does unit experience work and how many levels are there?
A: Units gain experience when they get the killing shot on an enemy unit.
There are 10 experience levels. The higher tier a unit is, the more kills
it must receive to level up. At the fourth level their picture on the
status bar gets a bronze shield. At the seventh level they receive a silver
shield. Finally, at the tenth level they get a gold shield. Also at the
fifth and tenth levels, they gain visible changes.
Q: How does leveling work with Dragons?
A: Around the 50+ kill mark a dragon gains the ability to use its most powerful
spell twice in a row. 100+ kills it can use its spells almost at will and
is very hard to kill.
Q: I am not building
epairing anything but I am losing huge amounts of mana.
Why?
A: If your Monarch is healing itself or recharging its weapons it may be
draining away your mana supply.
Q: What is the very latest patch for the game?
A: Patch 3.0BB.
Q: Is there anyway to view the cutscenes without having to beat the game?
A: Yes, you can use the Bink and Smacker player from www.radgametools.com
Q: I want to create a CD of the game's soundtrack. I can't find the tracks on
the game's CD, where are they?
A: The game installs the soundtrack as numbered .wav files in the Kingdoms
folder.
Q: Boneyards, Cavedog's online service, is dead. Where can I go to play
multiplayer games?
A: You can connect to Gamespy's service and find players that way.
www.gamespy.com
Q: I finally decided to purchase TA:K and\or Iron Plague but none of my local
software stores still sell them. Where can I find them?
A: Some stores still sell TA:K brand new. However, finding Iron
Plague can be more difficult. There are still numerous places on the net
that sell both games new or used. An easy way to find them is to use your
favorite search engine and search for terms such as, "Iron Plague buy" or
"TA: Kingdoms purchase." You can also use bid sites such as ebay.com That
is where I purchased Iron Plague new and unopened. Email me for specific
stores that I believe still sell the games.
Q: Are there any "hidden" levels in TA:K or TA:K IP?
A: Unofficially I have heard there are three in TA:K and two in TA:K IP. I
cannot confirm this though. Please let me know if there are. There is
the "official" hidden level for TA:K IP called Creon Glory. See Below.
-------------------------------------
Complete Walkthrough of Chapters 1-25
-------------------------------------
CHAPTER 01-BLOOD AND GOLD-Your task here is to destroy all the Verunan
merchant ships before any of them pass the Lighthouse. The Lighthouse is on
the far west side of the big island left of your starting position. This is a
rather simple map as your ship is quite powerful. Just try to snipe at the
ships and whittle them down. There are too many to take on all at once.
Strategy I used to beat: You also start off with a Sky Knight that you can use
to scout. I sent him off to the west side of the island to make sure where the
Lighthouse was. I made my way to the lower right where a large number of ships
were. I picked them off several at a time and eventually destroyed most of
them. Once done here I proceeded to the left along the southeast coast of the
Lighthouse island. Again sniping and picking off a few ships at a time.
Eventually I made it around the corner and sailed up past the Lighthouse.
There are a few strong enemy ships sitting here. I turned around and waited
for them when they came after me. Picking them off one by one. Eventually I
got parallel with the Lighthouse, destroyed it, and waited for the rest of the
Transport ships to try to make it past me. After a few minutes the last one
was destroyed. Also, do not try to destroy every single ship. If you try to
then most likely you will take too long and a few Transport ships will slip
past the Lighthouse.
CHAPTER 02-DARK HULLS-Here you must attack the Creon navy and destroy all their
Shipyards. This map is not designed for you to kill every enemy unit.
Something that took me a few tries to discover. There are far more enemy units
than what you can build. The key is to wait for the main force to attack and
then swoop around to the southwest end of the enemy island and destroy the last
shipyard there. This map is medium\hard but if you know exactly what to do
it's actually not that tough.
Strategy I used to beat: You start at the east of an island. Near the lower
middle of the west side of the island is where a strong enemy fleet is waiting.
Unload your troops onto the island and immediately build up the Lodestones.
Then attack the enemy ships with your navy. It will be a somewhat hard battle
but you should not lose many ships. I then built two Sea Forts making mostly
Man of Wars. I was tempted to build some Trebuchet Ships but you actually
won't need them.
As soon as you can, take a few Man of Wars and a Skiff and head over
to the east side of the map and head south. Go almost to the bottom and then
head slowly to the west. The first enemy shipyard is located at the southeast
of their island. Use a Skiff to spot it then use your Man of Wars to pummel
it. Go back to your island the same way you came. If you go directly up you
will get sniped by a few Mirrors. There are also about three enemy ships near
the middle of the island on the east side. It would be a tough battle at this
point. One that can be avoided as well.
Afterwards, keep building up your navy. Another attack will be coming soon
from the west of your island. Pretty much where the first battle was. But
this time a few transports will go to the north end of your island and start
unloading enemy troops. It won't be that difficult of a land battle.
Especially since you will know to expect it. Take your navy and clear out the
ships that also will be attacking you from the west side.
After a little while you should have a nice sized navy. Take that navy
and head to the first small island directly north of the main enemy island.
There is another enemy shipyard located there. The resistance is a little
heavier and you will probably lose some ships. There are more enemy ships to
the northwest of the second shipyard. They didn't usually attack me so I
decided to attack first and clear out that area. Your main navy you were using
will probably be dwindled down by now. Keep building ships.
Now comes the last and HEAVILY guarded shipyard. There are two ways you can
destroy it. Neither way uses a head on battle tactic. The first way: After
some time a huge enemy navy (about 10-20 ships) will start pouring in and
attacking your forces at your main island. They will be coming in from the
same area the very first enemy ships were. You could have built a second
shipyard area at the north end of your main island. If you did then follow
this tactic. As that huge enemy fleet is attacking, sneak a few ships behind
them near the west side of the map and take them directly south. The third
enemy shipyard is near the lower left middle of the enemy island. Simply
destroy it and the map is over. The second way (what I did): Clear out the
northwest part of the map. Leave a few of your ships there. Then send a Skiff
down to the third enemy shipyard and engage the huge enemy fleet. This will
get them stirred up and they will attack your main island immediately. Wait
until you believe the way is clear and then take your northwest hidden fleet
down and destroy the last shipyard.
CHAPTER 03-JOIN US-Your orders here are to fend off the Veruna revolt and show
them you're staying. It will start off rather peaceful but near the end it
becomes quite intense. This map is between medium\hard. If you are having a
hard time remember you are not supposed to kill every unit. Just enough to
where the enemy will retreat.
Strategy I used to beat: You start off in the southeast corner. You will have
a Mechanic, Fire Wagons, Shock Troopers, and Barnstormers soon. I scouted
around the immediate area and it was clear. I spotted a Divine Lodestone
directly northwest of the starting position. I took some troops up and tried
to destroy the Divine Lodestone placed there. A Mortar from up above started
bombing my troops. Deciding to come back to it later, I scouted some more.
Directly below to the west of the starting area was a clear mana site. I then
headed left. The road was crumbled some and I decided to make the area left of
the debris my base. I then sent my Mechanic and some troops down to build up
the mana refinery. A short while later some Mer Warriors snuck up on the other
side of the mana site and attacked my refinery and troops. After a good battle
I killed them. I then built a Smithy next to the mana site. I then proceeded
to build up a Bomb Sprinkler and some Gatling Crossbows at my base on the road.
By now I had received a good amount of support troops. Scouting to the left of
my base I saw there was another enemy Lodestone. I decided to destroy it and
build my own there. I succeeded and used the extra mana to build up more of my
forces. I had tried to scout out the water to the west but my Barnstormers
were always destroyed. After building up a good amount of Fire Wagons and
Shock Troopers I decided to take out the Divine Lodestone that was guarded by
the Mortar. I destroyed it and continued to head up and engage the Mortar, two
Bastions, and two Guard Towers. I also met some enemy troop resistance. After
clearing this area I then headed back down to the mana site. I built a mana
refinery and made this area my second base. I proceeded to make another Bomb
Sprinkler and more Gatling Crossbows.
After a while a good amount of enemy troops began to attack my first base. It
was a tough battle and I had lost the mana refinery to the west. I built it
back up again. By now I had created another Smithy at the second base. I made
some more troops and headed north from the second base. I engaged a few
patrolling troops. I then took over the mana site in that area. Now I had a
good supply of mana coming in. I made this area my third base. I again set up
a Bomb Sprinkler, Gatling Crossbows, and a Mirror. I also built two more
Smithies. I had scouted to the northeast and saw that most of the area was
clear. There was also a mana site. I built a refinery there.
I then started sending squads into the city. I cleared it out to the top right
bend. By now I was also under bombardment from an enemy Trebuchet Ship.
Fortunately it was trying to destroy the mana refinery at my second base. The
sacred stones were blocking it. Now I headed northwest just outside the city
to the right. I built up some Gatling Crossbows and three Mirrors. I was also
distracting the enemy by sending in squad after squad of troops. I had cleared
the entire city out except the northwest section. For the next 20 or so
minutes I fought hard against the enemy. I had a steady stream of troops
pouring into the city. Some of the city buildings were getting in the way of
my troops so I cleared them out. After a bit the enemy sent out a large force.
They attacked my Gatling Crossbow\Mirror station and my third base. It was
hard holding them back and now the Trebuchet Ship had picked other more
susceptible targets. It had destroyed my Smithy at the second base and another
Smithy at the third base. I had noticed another mana site to the top left of
my Mirror\Gatling Crossbow station. I proceeded to destroy the enemy Lodestone
and built a refinery. This seemed to stir the enemy up so after a while I just
left it alone. At this time an enemy squad had come onto the beach near my
very first mana refinery and caused havoc. Fortunately, I had left a small
force around my Smithy and they repelled the enemy.
It seemed like it was impossible to break any farther into the city. There was
an enemy Lighthouse positioned perfectly and anytime I got close to it enemy
Bastions, Mortars, and ships would tear my troops to shreds. I kept fighting
though and after some time I heard someone yelling, "Run Run" and the map was
over.
CHAPTER 04-SINS OF STATE-This is one of those trial and error maps. You try
five times, die horribly, and then finally learn the error of your ways and do
it right. Lucky for you I've already gone through the pain beforehand *tears*
On this map it is your duty to save the Veruna sailors before 15 minutes are up
or they will be slaughtered by the Aramon townspeople. The Aramon military
will also slaughter them if they get near. This map is hard unless you do
everything the right way. Then it is almost too easy.
Strategy I used to beat: As mentioned before this is a kind of puzzle map.
There are several routes your ships can take. All of them have their own traps
but I will show the most direct way. You start off on a small island all the
way on the east side of the map. If you also look directly west in town you
will see all the sailors you must save. I group selected all of them and sent
them directly east to the edge of the dock. Don't let them stray too far north
or south as enemy Strongholds will kill them. Back to your starting units in
the east. You start with a Priestess, a Skiff, and some military units. Leave
the military units on the island. Use the Skiff to transport the Priestess to
the top of the map and a little to the left. There is a mana reserve in that
area. Grab it quickly. After claiming it, I built a Sea Fort. You will be
using mainly Skiffs on this level so no need to have massive amounts of mana.
After the Sea Fort is built jump back onto the ship and head almost directly
south but a tad to the right. There is another mana reserve located here. And
then finally hop on the ship and head to the island directly at the southeast
corner. There is another mana reserve there. This will be all the mana
storage you will need to win this map.
By now you should have several Skiffs built. Perhaps a Man of War as well.
Now head to the castle island directly west of your starting island. It is a
good idea to build one Guard Tower on each hill. The enemy will send a Flying
Builder to put down its own Watch Towers otherwise. This way your Guard Towers
will kill the flyers and you won't be nagged by them. Also a few enemy War
Galleys might pop up sometime around the first mana site. By then you should
have plenty of ships to take care of them.
Once you have around 6-8 Skiffs head directly west. This will be the river
that is directly left of the castle island with your two Watch Towers. Almost
between the castle island and the dock will be a single War Galley. It will be
below your ships so ride past while shooting at it. You will normally lose one
or two ships so be sure you have made them expendable. DO NOT HEAD DIRECTLY
NORTH from that battle. There are two or three more War Galleys waiting above
and they will make quick work of your navy. Instead, keep heading west until
you reach the dock. There might be a Flying Builder trying to build an enemy
Stronghold on the docks. Quickly stop it. Once that's clear start loading the
sailors onto your Skiffs. You can leave six sailors behind if you want to.
Lose seven or more and you lose. By now, you should have at least three Man of
Wars. Send them to tackle those two or three War Galleys. And while they are
battling it out sneak your Skiffs past them. Head your Skiffs to the northeast
corner of the map and the map will end.
CHAPTER 05-TIN GODS-Finally, a stronghold map. Your mission is to flee to the
desert and establish a strong fixed defensive structure base. There are
hundreds of enemies in this map and many times you fight 20-50 at once.
However with the right mix of fixed structures it is rather tense but fun. You
must also last 45 minutes. I actually could have lasted a lot longer but it
was fun while it lasted.
Strategy I used to beat: At the beginning there are enemies at the gate
breaking through. It is best if you pull back most if not all your army to
where the white path ends near the middle of the map. That area is a really
good defensive position to take. While my forces were fleeing to the desert I
sent two of my builders, one to the east and one to the west, to build up some
mana generators. Ultimately the generators in the west were destroyed way
before the ones in the east were. I used that extra mana to build some Guard
Towers quickly where my main army was with the remaining builders. You
certainly need them since a strong force is chasing you. I built up two Guard
Towers along with my Musketeers in the back providing support while my main
ground force attacked. I only lost a few troops as the collective firepower
took care of the enemy force. Once that's finished start building up fixed
defensive structures and unit factories. Also, the desert seems to be somewhat
deserted around you so send out your builders to acquire more mana generators.
I even Walled in my Divine Lodestone and it lasted most of the map. However,
be careful around the mana sites near the corners of the map. They are guarded
by Mirrors\Gatling Crossbows\Bomb Sprinklers.
I then walled in the lower left of my base and that seemed to help a lot. At
the front of my base I had three Guard Towers on each side of the white path.
Along with a Lighthouse behind them and one Bastion for support. I then placed
one Mortar behind everything on each side. The enemy was also attacking from
the east so I built up my fixed structures there similar to how I did at the
white path.
The gameplay then consisted of waiting it out and repelling the various forces.
Random enemy forces will roam the desert and take out your various Lodestones
that are away from your main base. Simply let them pass and build them up
again. Later in the map it becomes more dangerous to do this. By then you
should already be well entrenched though. The enemy seemed to attack my base
mostly from the east and southwest. After a while I decided to try to clear
out the northwest corner just to make it a tad easier for my forces. Using
only Warriors (around 150-200 of them total) I eventually cleared it out and
built up my own Lodestones. The enemy didn't seem to send out forces to
destroy them so if you are running low on mana that may be an ideal solution.
Near the end a swarm of enemies start attacking you. This was definitely the
most thrilling part! They attacked mostly from the south. Since my defenses
were mainly armed for north and east engagements it was a little rough going.
Eventually I fought them back. Finally the Amazons will appear. They will
start running around and attacking the enemy. Afterwards the map soon ends.
Whew.
CHAPTER 06-ENEMY HANDS-This is fortunately a rather laid back map. Compared to
some of the other maps this one is about easy\medium. The main enemy camp is
at the beach around the Sea Shadow. There are also many ships in the nearby
ocean and a powerful one guarding the Sea Shadow.
Strategy I used to beat: Basically I just took my time building up my forces.
It seems the enemy doesn't attack until you attack first. Or at least until
they see you. I made sure their scouts didn't see me on radar as I built up my
base. So I didn't use any mana resources that were above the big pit in the
middle of the map. Once I did attack, the battle is pretty furious for the
first ten minutes. But nothing too hard. Just keep the units flowing and pull
Heligrin back when he gets severely damaged. Some of the units might try to
climb up and attack your base but if you have multiple long range defensive
structures they won't pose a threat. The enemy will then steadily drop
Mechanics on the beach to build more bases and mana refineries. Be sure to nag
them enough to where nothing substantial gets built. Taking out most if not
all their mana refineries will help a lot also. Always make sure you keep your
forces a healthy distance from the beach as the ships will pummel you quickly.
After a while it seems the enemy runs out of Mechanics and ground units so then
it's time to take out the ship guarding the Sea Shadow. I used 15 or so Ghost
Ships to do the job. Having a good sized Ghost Ship army will also help
tremendously in this map.
CHAPTER 07-CLOSE RANKS-This map was so laid back and easy I was sure Cavedog
had a nasty surprise for me when the island was cleared. Thankfully, there was
none. Your job is to unload your troops on the island somewhere and clear it
out of enemy forces. It says the enemy is entrenched so it makes you wonder if
it will be a very hard battle. In reality, it is more laborious than hard.
Strategy I used to beat: The area I dropped my troops off was near the middle
southwest part of the island. You can't drop them off at the very bottom
because there are Gatling Crossbows and a Bomb Sprinkler waiting on you. Once
you have a builder on the island go to the mana reserve at the lower right.
None of the weapons fired at me so I assume it is placed at a safe distance.
Meanwhile most of your attack forces should have already landed. Good thing
since very soon a large Automaton force will attack. However, you have PLENTY
of troops to easily kill them all. Just don't go near the middle of this area
as there are more Gatling Crossbows and a Bomb Sprinkler waiting for you.
Once you have defeated the Automaton force, try to take out the middle fixed
structure force (gatling crossbow and bomb sprinkler). I found that a Mortar
took care of the job quite handily. You can now relax and build up the other
mana sites in the area (however don't try to use the one near the cliff. There
is a Bomb Sprinkler there that has perfect range on you.) I then proceeded to
build my base up with some defensive fixed structures. I also put a Lighthouse
on the hill where the bomb sprinkler was. Then I built up a substantial navy
(around 13 War Galleys). Then I built two Trebuchets. Using my flying scouts
to find targets I then bombed away with my Trebuchets.
After destroying most of the enemy structures I then took my original yet still
very sizable army and proceeded to attack inland. There are a few Gatling
Crossbows and Mirrors you will probably have to take out by hand. Also most of
the Bomb Sprinklers here are surrounded by walls. So it will be much easier to
take them out with the Trebuchets. I built both of my Trebuchets to the lower
left of my Lighthouse on the hill. Their range included all the enclosed Bomb
Sprinklers. Also there are not many enemy troops that are created on this map.
From then on it is pretty much mopping up. A few enemy ships will ride by the
island shooting at you occasionally. But it was never more than one at a time
and my navy took care of them. Also all the ships that will attack you are in
the upper right portion of the map. If you fly a scout up there then all the
ships attack at once. There are around 6-9 of them. I suggest either just
wait and let them thin out over the course of the map or take the appropriate
number of heavy ships (around 15-20 I'd say just to be safe) if you want to
kill them at once. Once every enemy unit is killed then the map is over.
CHAPTER 08-DARK TEMPEST-Whoa Nelly! Talk about a bear of a level. This is
definitely one for the record books. I've read from several players that, in
their opinion, this level was the hardest in the game. It is a grueling "win
by inches" type map. This can be an overwhelming map at times. If you find
yourself getting slaughtered (like myself) over and over then turn the game off
and come back to it after a while. Fresh rested endurance is always a bonus.
It will most likely take you 2-4 hours to beat. Your mission is to take over
the Caora Island and show Aramon and Veruna who they are messing with. But
they will not go down without a furious fight.
Strategy I used to beat: Having read a few other player's strategies I decided
to incorporate them into my own. I definitely like to come up with my own
designs to win so I did a few things differently as well. You start off on a
medium sized island in the northeast corner. Immediately start making mana
generators and some fixed defensive structures. Place them near the northwest
and southeast tips of the island. During your exploration you will come across
random packs of Mer Warriors. They are hard to kill while they are swimming.
They will most likely make it onto your island and cause some havoc.
Almost directly to the south of your island are some enemy Bastions on circular
floating islands. They are pretty easy to kill as they will usually miss your
ships as you sail by firing. After you have cleared that section out you might
draw some enemy ships toward your island. If you do just sail back and attack.
By now you should have one or two Navy Yards constantly building ships. If all
is clear then head a little left from that first group of Bastion islands you
destroyed. There are some more islands and this one has a mana reserve on it.
I didn't put a mana generator here immediately thinking it would draw unwanted
attention. The enemy did destroy it once but it didn't seem to be a big
concern for them. Keeping a lone Mechanic on one Stern Wheeler and having him
unload and remake the mana generators when needed is a good strategy. That is
all of the small circular islands in the ocean around your starting island.
You may start getting some more enemy ship attacks by now.
Next, you can choose which western corner you want to take over first. Either
the northwest or southwest corners. Both are practically identical in their
design. You don't really have to worry about making land troops right now. I
headed to the southwest corner first. You will start to see some walls
dividing the ocean. They have some Bastions and Lighthouses on them as well.
On the other side are heavily fortified medium sized islands. They have a
couple of Bastions, Guard Towers, and a Mortar on them. Also with some
Floating Towers as well. If you head southwest first, right past the medium
fortified circular island is another set of the smaller Bastion islands. There
is another mana reserve on one of them as well. This area is well defended and
will take several passes to clear out. If you get close to the enemy mainland
then their beach Mortars and Bastions will open fire on you as well. You will
notice by now that you have come up to the enemy island. There is a canal at
the very bottom of the map under the enemy island. This is somewhat of a key
area. There are some enemy Sea Forts down there and taking them out will ease
the attacks on your island. You should also remember to sail through this area
from time to time as the enemy will try to rebuild its Sea Forts. At the end
of the canal is some land that you can actually drop some troops onto. Unless
you do this early in the game it won't give you any advantage. It is just a
clear area that you could build some Mirrors or Bomb Sprinklers on and snipe at
the enemy. Unfortunately the area does have some enemy fixed defensive
structures as well. If you can take them out and place a few Mirrors there
then you can slow the enemy down somewhat. I didn't bother with it since it
required a bit too much micromanagement to handle.
By now you will probably be getting steady enemy navy attacks and Mer Warrior
raids. The enemy also has a few floating Trebuchet Ships. They will snipe at
you forever if you don't take them out. They are VERY annoying. A trick I
learned was to take the ship they are trying to destroy and move it to the
eastern edge of the screen. The floating Trebuchets will follow it and you can
then easily draw them out and destroy them with your fleet. You will also
notice if you get too close to the southwest part of the enemy island that
enemy Dirigibles will start to trail you. Make sure you have a few Stern
Wheelers to take them out or the enemy fleet will have a much easier time
hitting you.
After you have cleared the southwest part it's time to clear the northwest
part. Again, it is designed similar to the southwest. Another heavily
fortified medium circular island and a few Sea Forts in the northwest corner.
After you have cleared both areas out it is time to clear the beach for the
impending invasion. Have some Barnstormers fly back and forth while your ships
tail them. They will spot the enemy emplacements and destroy them. Once that
is done then the hard part ensues. Making a beachhead. It is very advisable
to bring a lot of ships (15-30) as moving defensive structures. After a while
the enemy will start attacking in mass and the explosive nature of the ship's
armament really helps a lot.
You will notice four platform areas that are easily accessible for unloading
troops. On the enemy island they are located at: northwest corner, northeast
corner, one a little above the eastern middle, and then one a little below the
eastern middle. The safest place seems to be the northeast corner platform.
There are a lot of buildings there that you can use defensively. I walled a
few of them off so the enemy was forced to attack from two sides that had three
Bomb Sprinklers waiting for them. While I was building my base up I was also
attacking the enemy from the southeast corner of the enemy island. But not
with troops. With ships and Mirrors. I had two Mirrors on the small island
closest to the enemy mainland and a few more on the mana reserve island. Then
I made a Barnstormer guard the small island. The Mirrors did a good job of
pestering the enemy and drawing their attention from my invasion to the north.
The enemy finally came around to attacking my beach head but by then I had
already become entrenched and fortified. The key is to keep many many ships
around your base and to logically place Mirrors as long range backup. Your
ships will destroy a bulk of the enemy while the Mirrors will snipe the
stragglers. Any leftovers are for my fixed defensive structures and troops. I
did not bring a lot of troops onto the beachhead. Just around eight Mechanics
to build up the base and about eight Shock Troopers and Beast Riders each. I
did not use any Fire Wagons the whole map. With my Navy and Mirrors guarding
me and the distraction to the southeast area, I had a good amount of time to
build up. I built one Smithy and one Academy factory, three Bomb Sprinklers,
and a few Gatling Crossbows.
Now it was time to start invading inland. But where to first? I don't know if
there is a right way to go as it will be difficult no matter what you choose.
I chose to destroy the closest enemy mana generator just directly southwest of
my base. You will always draw many troops and Catapults to you so be prepared.
After a bit I decided to build a second staging area at the northwest platform
area. The enemy didn't seem to be that interested in my actions at first. I
only made one Bomb Sprinkler and one Gatling Crossbow the whole time there. I
placed another Smithy and started pumping out Automatons. I also brought over
around ten ships to protect me. At the same time queuing my other factories to
move new troops to my second base. When I would get a nice sized army (10-18
Automatons and 3-6 Beast Riders) I would head diagonally towards the next mana
generator near the very middle of the island. There is another enemy mana
generator directly right of it as well. If you head directly south of the
northwest platform, you will run up a hill with two Bastions and a Mortar.
This area is very hard to penetrate right now. My strategy wasn't to win by
brute force but to whittle down the enemy by knocking out their mana
generators. After a long battle of trying to take both middle generators out I
finally succeeded. I then used my Mirrors to make sure the mana generators
nearest to the middle east end were never built back up.
Now I decided to try to take out the heavily fortified raised metal platform at
the lower left of the island. Again, this is a hard battle. There are
numerous Mortars and Bastions on it. Along with very well placed Lighthouses
and enemy troops who seem to always get in the way of your troops. Patience
Patience Patience. You should also start expanding to the middle of the
eastern edge of the enemy island. The enemy Mortars can't hit you from there
but your Mirrors have a perfect shot at the fortified metal platform. From my
second northwest base I kept the enemy occupied with constant attacks in the
middle of the island. While I brought down some Mechanics and built up the
Mirrors as fast as I could. Keeping a nearby ship defense as well. After two
Mirrors were built I then sent Barnstormers on suicide runs to scope out the
platform. If some of your Mirrors can't hit some structures then build more
that can. Just don't build them too far inland or the enemy Mortars will start
hitting them.
Once the platform is mostly clear you can do one of two things: Either start
invading from the northwest base down or start working around the now clear
platform to the south and work your way west. Both ways will be tough. I
chose the first choice. Again the key is to build up some Mirrors and pick
away at the structures on the hill. They took out the Bastions and a few Guard
Towers but could not hit the Mortar. Now it's time to start sending in a
majority of your army. The Automatons will always be killed quickly but the
Beast Riders will do a splendid job of slowly wilting away at the enemy
structures. Just keep pumping out troops. By this time you will start to
break through down the hill to the opposite side of the now cleared metal
platform. There will probably be even more Bastions, Lighthouses, and Guard
Towers waiting for you. I did notice that while there were still plenty of
enemy troops that their numbers had diminished. You will be losing squad after
squad here. Just keep pushing. Now the enemy will be focusing most of its
attention on that area. Perfect time finally to build a third base at the once
dangerous lower middle right platform area. I built a Bomb Sprinkler and two
Mirrors. A Smithy and Academy factory as well. Also you should have upgraded
ALL of your non enemy island mana refineries into amplifiers by now. Again I
started pumping out Automatons and Beast Riders. The enemy will most likely
have built some Bastions and Lighthouses beneath the cleared metal platform as
well. Use the tried and true method of using a Barnstormer to scout. Then the
mirrors to whittle away. Your Mirrors won't be able to hit the more inland
structures easily.
Time to invade to the southwest. There is another mana generator below the
metal platform. Once the generator was destroyed it seemed the enemy was left
with a very low mana supply. Along the path to the south then west you will
find more Mortars and Bastions. Keep attacking them and finally they will
crumble. Your other campaign from the northwest base should be getting closer
to the southwest part of the island. You will now be hitting the last section
of enemy territory. It will be tough going since there will be many dead enemy
structures in your way. As well as most of the Bastions and Guard Towers
having Gold killing experience. Good news is that there will probably be few
to no troops attacking you. Keep sending in reinforcements and eventually you
will clear the island of the last enemy. Whoa, what a hard battle.
CHAPTER 09-THE TEST-This map is relatively easy. It's a good thing since your
nerves will probably be waning from that last map. This map takes a bit more
cautious exploring and relaxed tactics to beat. Your mission is to keep
pressing onward into Aramon. Here you are requested to assimilate the local
townsfolk. After you have killed the populace and raised them back up as
Automatons you are to assault the area Barracks. Here we go.
Strategy I used to beat: Fortunately as stated before this is a pretty calm
level. You won't have loads of troops pouring out after you. You start off
right at the top of the map. There will be a few Horsemen running around in
your area. Use your Chief Engineer to attack them. His taser weapon has long
range and once hit the enemy will give chase. Lure them back to your waiting
Fire Wagons and Shock Troopers. Once dead simply reanimate them.
I ventured eastward first. There are a few more Horsemen running in the
forest. When you come near a small mountain slightly below your starting area
some Archers and a couple of Barbarians will attack. Simply use the same
strategy against them. Have your Automatons slow them down while your long
range troops mop up. Below this area and slightly to the right you'll find an
enemy Watch Tower along with a Divine Lodestone. Use your Chief Engineer and
your Shock Troopers to sneak along the beach until you are in range of the
Watch Tower. If you go lower in the grass enemy Watch Towers and a Stronghold
in a castle will target you. Take your time and soon the Watch Tower will
fall. Afterwards walk to the area above the Divine Lodestone and destroy it.
Once finished head back to the small mountain where your main army is waiting.
Now start heading southwest around the other side of the small mountain. Below
the mountain will be another Lodestone along with a Watch Tower. Destroy both.
I then kept heading southwest. Another Watch Tower and a few troops were
waiting for me there. Keep moving until you reach the southwest corner. Head
back up to where the small mountain was. Head a little to the right and there
will be the castle again. At the lower left of the castle is another Divine
Lodestone. Take it out without drawing any attention from the Watch Towers.
Now head south and you will be about in the lower middle of the map. Watch out
in this area as there are a few more troops and another Stronghold. Spread
your forces out and take care of the Stronghold. Continue east and there will
be another farm and a few more Watch Towers. Once they are taken care up head
northeast and you will kill a few more lone Horsemen and other troops. Now you
should gather your troops under the castle. There will be another Lodestone in
this area. Take it out. Once that is destroyed the enemy will basically have
no mana left. This will make the destruction of the Barracks much easier.
Now time to head up to the castle. There will be two Watch Towers behind the
walls along with a Gate blocking your way. You can easily destroy the Gate
with your Chief Engineer and Shock Troopers. If you take any damage from the
Watch Towers just pull back and repair. Now some enemy troops will start
coming out of the castle. There were only about five of them in my game and
they are nothing to worry about. Kill them then start flooding in the castle.
I targeted the two closest Watch Towers first then the Stronghold. Then the
other two Watch Towers then finally the Barracks. I had a very sizable
Automaton army at the end of the map (55 or so). My advice is to just kill all
the villagers with your Chief Engineer and Shock Troopers to get them into Gold
experience (then resurrecting them into Automatons of course). Enemy
resistance will be light the whole map so take your time and build up.
CHAPTER 10-WAR TOYS-This map is quite a step up in difficulty from the last
map. This is an intense fast paced map with difficulty between medium\hard.
Be sure not to take too much time setting up your base. Take over the
surrounding area then head for the bridge to the east.
Strategy I used to beat: You start off with a nice army and some new Tortoise
units. Directly south of your starting position are an enemy Lodestone and
some Watch Towers. Use your Tortoise units to take care of the few enemy
troops, Watch Towers, and Lodestone. From the starting position, I then used
my Beast Riders and Automatons to head east and there were more Watch Towers
along with another Lodestone. The Watch Towers are spaced apart so try not to
rush in or they will do good damage against you. After I had taken care of
them, I then built a Smithy at the starting area. Build a few Mechanics and
send them to the various mana reserves.
I then headed farther east and came to a bridge. Stop there and build up some
fixed defensive structures. I first made a Bomb Sprinkler while logically
positioning my Beast Riders for support around the bridge. You can use your
Tortoise units to then head south (southeast from your starting position) and
there will be a few more Watch Towers and another Lodestone. Take over them
and you will have a nice flow of mana coming in. Also since it will be
somewhat calm now it is a good time to try to take out the enemy Watch Towers
and Strongholds on the other side of the bridge. Taking them out will take the
pressure off your Beast Riders and lets them shoot peacefully. Soon enough the
enemy will assemble a good number of troops and start sending them over the
bridge. They are usually Horsemen and Knights. This is the intense part of
the map. The fast moving units will try to swarm you and they will usually
have one or two Catapults at the other end of the bridge bombing away.
By now I had another Smithy and an Academy being built. Keep pumping out
whichever troops you want. Be sure to send out some "slow down" units like
Automatons so your fixed structures and Beast Riders can have ample time to
destroy the enemy. You may notice by now that there is a small strip of land
at the very bottom of the map. This is a key area in winning this map. You
will need to build a Navy Yard here sometime. But not now as there are two War
Galleys that will attack if you stray too far east. Simply send a Barnstormer
to that area and the War Galleys will start heading toward your troops at the
bridge. Your numerous Beast Riders will make short work of them.
You will probably be having mana problems now since you will have all your
factories making troops. If the fast enemy troops are starting to advance over
the bridge into your area then it is a good idea to have a Bomb Sprinkler
continuously attack the opening of the other side of the bridge. The enemy
will get tangled up for a few seconds when trying to cross, and this will
damage if not kill them before they come across. After I felt like I had a
good hold of the bridge I decided to upgrade a few of my mana refiners into
mana amplifiers. After the first one was made I then constructed a Mirror to
help kill the enemy troops that were crossing the bridge. I had tried to build
another Bomb Sprinkler closer to the bridge but it was too easy for the enemy
to bomb it. After the Mirror was finished, I built another mana amplifier.
Now I had a good mana supply flowing in. After I felt I had made enough troops
for the time being I then stopped all factories and built a Navy Yard. I built
it at the lowest left section of the river. Since ships are expensive I made
one more mana amplifier. It is best if you don't make an amplifier out of the
mana reserve closest to the bridge. As usual the enemy will easily bomb it. A
good method to stop the Catapults is to manually aim the Mirrors and see what
they are shooting at. Keep switching enemy blips until it says it is targeting
a Catapult or other long range unit. Once the third mana amplifier was built
it was time to make a navy. I built five or six ships and then looked for
targets. I immediately took out the enemy Divine Lodestone that was along the
water. There is also an enemy Barracks to the right of it as well. After
taking both out I then set a Barnstormer to guard one of the ships and sent
them on patrol below the enemy dock. This helped two fold. I was able to
destroy one of the enemy Barracks in the castle along with many of the bridge
bound units. It also distracted the enemy to the point that I was able to
build a few more Mirrors near my side of the bridge and to start moving my
units into enemy territory.
While my land units were starting to make some headway toward the enemy castle
I then sent some Mechanics to build more Mirrors on the small strip of land
directly below the docks. I didn't have to worry about enemy bombardment as my
patrolling ships were protecting me. After the Mirrors were built I then sent
a Barnstormer in to scout. I targeted and took out an enemy Trebuchet, another
Barracks, Stronghold, and more harassment of the enemy troops. By now I had
taken over all the mana reserves outside the castle. The pressure to defend
the bridge had passed as I was now approaching the castle entrance. I built
two Bomb Sprinklers and had a healthy supply of Beast Riders outside the
castle. Along with the Mirrors I had built on my side of the bridge I had firm
control of the entrance. I then used both Smithies to pump out Tortoise units.
As I made headway into the castle, I took out the enemy Keep along with more
Strongholds and other structures. I even had two Stern Vessels full of Beast
Riders to unload on the south dock. I never needed them. I kept pouring in
Tortoise units and after destroying most of the important structures I then
brought in my Beast Riders that were guarding the castle entrance. They made
quick work of the remaining enemy and cleared out the castle.
CHAPTER 11-KINGSBARROW HILLS-Hello! Talk about tense. This particular mission
is a hold out mission. Difficulty is either hard or near impossible, depending
on how well you play. You have been given orders to hold an area against the
Creons. Set up your base as fast and logical as you can. There will be packs
of enemies attacking you from all sides in this mission. The mission lasts
about 30-40 minutes. If you don't set your base up correctly then you are
going to be hitting the reload button a lot.
Strategy I used to beat: You are only given four mana reserves in this mission.
Two are above your starting position (left and right) and one is below your
starting position. I also upgraded the one directly left of the starting area
to a mana amplifier. It may not have been a good idea. I'll explain later.
For the first ten minutes or so, it is pretty much smooth sailing. You will be
confronted with packs of Automatons and Shock Troopers. Usually about six in
each pack. You have three major accesses to your base. Directly north,
directly west, and directly southeast. I walled in the southeast route.
Something I would advise to do as it made things considerably easier. I built
up Watch Towers on the west route first. One on each side of the road. Then I
headed to the north route and put two on each side. I then built some Spyhawks
and had them patrol so my Watch Towers had good vision. I then made a few more
Archers and put them all into one big group. I also set all the Mage Archers
to "Tracking arrow." This seemed to help a lot during the map. I then created
a Mage Builder and used him to wall in the southeast route. Then I walled in
the mana generators except on the sides facing my base.
After I built up four more Watch Towers (6 in total) on the west route I then
got another Mage Builder to start on a Stronghold behind the bottom three
towers. After it was finished I had him build another Stronghold behind two of
my towers on the north route on the right side. This position seems to have
quite a blind spot with the mana generator on the right corner. You should
make it a habit to group the Watch Towers and Stronghold on that side and
manually aim them when needed. I also was using Elsin and his earthen wave
attack to quickly get into Gold experience.
After a few minutes, I decided to build a Keep. A Keep will be worth the
effort if for only one unit.........the Knight. He is invaluable on this map.
After the Keep was built I then made two Cannoneers and placed them on the west
route. They performed admirably on that side and had well over ten kills each.
I placed one behind each Watch Tower row. I then decided to build a mana
amplifier on my starting mana generator. If I was to play this map again
I definitely would not have done that. It took too long and it drained too
much mana. And the benefits of the amplifier weren't that apparent. I would
have otherwise built some more Mage Archers or Knights.
After a bit you will start to get annoyingly sniped by Tortoise units. They
will use their shooting range to the maximum and stay far away from your base.
This is where the Knights and their speed comes into play. If you have
anywhere from 6-12 Knights at any given time you should be OK. You will also
be frequently ambushed by Neo Dragons. They are really hard to kill with just
two Watch Towers. I did all right since I had so many Archers but building 6-8
Watch Towers on each route would not be a bad idea. Eventually all but one of
my Watch Towers on the north side was destroyed. Luckily about 25 minutes into
the map you get a few minutes of peace and quiet to rebuild your base. I
struggled on the north side with just five Watch Towers, one Stronghold, and
Elsin guarding. However the west side with its six Watch Towers, one
Stronghold, three Catapults, two Cannoneers, and frequent hang out for the
Archer pack was virtually impenetrable. For some reason later in the map you
run completely dry of mana. Either it is being used to recharge Elsin's
weapons or automatically healing something. But it was very frustrating trying
to repair while something was draining away +500 mana while only gaining around
+90. Just keep on your toes and repairing structures and units when needed.
Use hit and run tactics with the swift Knights against the Tortoise units and
wherever else they are needed. And when the Neo Dragons attack, show them the
fury of your Archer group (I had a mix of Mage and non mage Archers from 8-12
units).
The last few minutes are very tough. You will get attacked by about 12 Neo
Dragons from all sides, a bunch of Beast Riders and Shock Troopers, and a good
number of Tortoises. After the last main battle and between breaths for
repairs the Victory text flashed. Whew.
CHAPTER 12-SECRETS UNVEILED-This map is a welcome change of pace. This one
gives you a handful of units and you are to use them to win. You are given
some Archers, Barbarians, a Knight, and three Assassins. The map is not too
easy but it is very simple. Your mission is to investigate a Tarosian outpost
and destroy all its inhabitants.
Strategy I used to beat: You start of in the northwest corner overlooking a
cliff. The Tarosian outpost is down below the cliffs in the upper middle of
the map. If you rush right in you will most likely lose. There are a few
enemy Lichs that will use their life drain attack and quickly take your forces
out. What I did was use a cloaked Assassin to map out the area. The Tarosian
troops seem to be patrolling inside the outpost. We can use this to our
advantage. On the left side of the outpost is an area of fallen wall. Use
your Knight to lure some of the enemy into chasing you. Then have your Archers
shoot them from afar. I got a Skeleton Archer, two Fire Demons, and one or two
Executioners to follow me out. I killed them one by one.
Then I traveled over to the right side of the outpost. There is a Mage Tower
just behind the wall in the upper right of the outpost. It will try to shoot
you and eventually break down the wall and be able to hit you. After losing a
few troops I then ran to the right side. Since there is another break in the
walls I was soon spotted by a Skeleton Archer and two or three Lichs. The
Lichs really hurt my troops with their life drain attack and I lost most of my
Barbarians.
After taking care of them, I then headed to the southeast corner of the map.
There was a lonely Ghoul hanging around and I killed him. There are also some
wild boars loose in the map but they don't pose much of a problem. Then I went
to the middle bottom of the map. I began to slowly make my way up towards the
open bottom of the outpost. I was then greeted by two more Executioners and
one Fire Demon. After sustaining some damage I then waited until I was fully
healed. Now it was time to destroy the Mage Tower in the lower left of the
outpost. I hid one of my Assassins behind a rock column that was to the lower
left of the Mage Tower. Sure enough it took the bait and was trying to shoot
me. I then took the rest of my army and attacked from the other side. My
Knight got in two good swings until the tower targeted him. As soon as his
health started running low I drew him back and my Archers and one lone
Barbarian finished the tower.
Finally it was time to take out the upper right Mage Tower. This time I just
rushed the tower with everyone and when my Knight was low again I pulled him
back and the rest of the army finished the tower. Clearing the outpost was the
goal so the map is over.
CHAPTER 13-A BOLD AND RISKY PLAN-This map is similar to the last one. You are
given a finite number of troops with which to accomplish your mission. This
map is a little bit harder but only if you trigger its nasty surprise. You are
trying to find your way through the caverns and come out into Creon territory.
Rumor has it there are monsters living in the caverns. Sure enough there are.
Strategy I used to beat: This map is all clouded and you will have to explore
to find your way out. Fortunately I discovered the nasty surprise and mapped
out most of the level. So be happy you don't have to :-) The way out is
really simple. Just walk directly right from your starting position until you
are in the middle of the map. You will probably run across some Ghouls on your
way to the middle. They have high health but not that strong of an attack.
They won't pose much of a threat. Once in the middle, the way north should be
unobstructed. Keep heading north until you hit the top of the map. Then take
a right and keep going until you find a pair of Mummies. Defeat them if you
wish and they will laugh at you. This is your cue to know you are close to the
end. Keep heading right and you will come to the exit. Pretty simple.
Now for what you missed the first time around. If originally you kept on going
toward the middle and then down to the east border of the map you would have
come upon another path going up. There was another Mummy here that seems to
call a BUNCH of Ghoul friends. When you turn back and try to go the correct
way there are around 40 Ghouls and a few Devourers waiting for you. Also
slightly above the very middle of the map and to the right is another Mummy.
He seems to call out a few friends but it's only a couple Ghouls and one
Devourer. If you follow the correct path you will probably meet minimal
resistance. That sure is some cool looking green water.
CHAPTER 14-YELLOW JACKETS-This map is a rather fun one. It has a lot of good
battles. It is about medium difficulty. Your mission as the Yellow Jackets is
to destroy the loyal army's Keeps.
Strategy I used to beat: This one starts off rather calm. You are located at
the northwest corner on top of a hill. You are in a very dominant position
here. I quickly sent my Mage Builder to the mana reserve at the top right of
the base. I then sent another Mage Builder to acquire all three mana reserves
on the lower western edge of the screen on my hill. I then built another
Barracks thinking I would be swarmed soon. After it was finished, I built a
few more Watch Towers on the hill. I was also concentrating on making some
Archers and Horsemen.
After a while the enemy starting attacking. Nothing too powerful. Just a few
Horsemen and Knights along with one Catapult. The key to their attack was they
went straight after the mana reserves at the lower western edge of the hill.
Something they will frequently do the entire map. I then decided to start
walling in my mana generators. Keeping one side open but positioning the Walls
to where they would block any unit bigger than a soldier from getting in. You
cannot build Mana Amplifiers on this map so try to protect your generators as
much as possible.
I then built a Keep of my own. Like Chapter 11 the Horsemen and Knights will
help your effort tremendously here. There are a lot of trees and other
obstacles that will slow most other units down too much. Also the fact that
the enemy makes a lot of Strongholds. After building a nice Horsemen\Knight
army I then sent them out to the northeast corner. There were some enemy
factories up there but I was killed before I took them out. There were
beginning to be more raids on my hill so I decided to construct some more Watch
Towers. Also a Cannoneer. I placed the towers under the mana generator
directly below my hill. I then made two more Watch Towers to the left of the
mana generator and dubbed this my "Horsemen\Knight area." I kept the original
Barbarians as base guards along with all the Archers. This turned out to be a
pretty effective defensive layout. I never needed to build a Stronghold of my
own. I also made a small pack of Mage Archers for support on the hill. You
will get frequent attacks on all your mana generators so pay attention and move
your horse mounted army when needed.
After scouting out the enemy with Spyhawks I then decided to build a Trebuchet.
My first targets were back at the northeast corner. After a few minutes of
bombing and one Knight raid the entire area was flattened. I then took the
remaining Knights and went inside the enemy castle using the north entrance.
There is another enemy factory here and I took care of it. I then headed my
troops down to the middle exit of the enemy castle. I scouted out the area and
gave my Trebuchet new targets. By this time I started construction on another
Trebuchet. I then went after the enemy mana generator directly to the right of
my lowest mana site on the west edge.
After assembling more Knights\Horsemen, I entered the middle enemy castle
entrance and headed up again. Just making sure nothing was rebuilt. Nothing
was. Now I moved them down into the southeast corner of the enemy base. There
are several factories, a Trebuchet, and Strongholds littered here.
Unfortunately, my two Trebuchets were not able to target most of them. I then
decided to build a second base parallel with the middle entrance\exit of
the enemy castle. After moving down my horse army and making sure the area was
clear I then built three Watch Towers. Then having Spyhawks guard those
Watch Towers so I would have good vision. Now it was a matter of keeping
enough horse troops to protect the second base so I could build two more
Trebuchets. After they were built and a few minor skirmishes near the middle
enemy entrance I then scouted out the southeast corner again. This time I
could target everything. With Trebuchets flailing, I then invaded with my
horse troops. They harassed enemy troops and did a good job destroying enemy
structures. Eventually I destroyed the last Keep and the map was over.
CHAPTER 15-ALLIANCE-This map has you in charge of a single unit. Heligrin, the
priest captain of the Cult of Lokken. It is his job to find Thirsha somewhere
in the jungle. This map is easy\medium. Just take your time and know when to
attack and when to pull back. Since this is a rather nonlinear type of map I
will write what I generally did to win.
Strategy I used to beat: You start off at the very bottom middle of the map.
You will see a dirt road in front of you. Follow it up a little ways and it
will then split into two ways: Straight up or to the right. I took the right
road. As you venture along some wolves will start attacking you. They are
fairly strong and numerous. Either use Fire Ring or pull back until they quit
following you. After they were thinned out and killed I kept following the
road.
The road keeps going right until it has another branch going up. If you
keep going right then you will go to the eastern edge of the map and start
going down. There are some Bats and a Death Totem waiting for you here. I
then turned back and took the branch that was going up. I came across some
Jungle Orcs. I killed them and moved on. I kept moving up to the top of the
map until the road started heading to the left. I proceeded left. I saw a
bunch of enemy Swamp Beasts gathering at a pond below me, and when I ran down
to attack they all scattered. I then stepped back onto the road and kept
heading left. The road then started going down. It had a branch that turned
left but that only led to a mountain and some Drakes. Stay on the road and
take the second left.
I then passed by an enemy camp that was below me. A big group of Jungle Orcs,
Basilisks, Wisps, and Swamp Beasts came after me. Using a Fire Ring and
retreating I then spent the next 15 minutes thinning them out. Whenever I
would travel to that camp again there would always seem to be a few Jungle Orcs
patrolling. No matter how many I killed. I didn't know if there was an enemy
base there or if they simply would respawn. Perhaps there is just a large
number of them patrolling. In any case after 20 more minutes of sniping Jungle
Orcs, retreating, sniping again, retreating, I decided to just run past the
camp. The road kept traveling to the left until I came to another Jungle Orc
camp and some paved road. I attacked the Jungle Orcs and then had five chasing
me. Too many so I reloaded. This time I didn't attack and the Jungle Orcs let
me walk by. If I touched them they would attack but otherwise they were
docile. I then walked to the left of the Jungle Orc camp fearing there were
more enemies waiting at the top of the paved road. I then headed up and came
to some steps. Venturing further I came across Thirsha surrounded by more
docile troops and the map was over.
I have heard from a couple of players that this map was really hard for them.
I think they probably made the mistake of trying to kill every enemy unit or
venturing into parts of the map that are supposed to be too hard. Also, if
you're having trouble killing things then be sure to kill the wildlife
around the starting area. You can easily get up to 10-15 kills and build up
your Gold experience that way.
CHAPTER 16-NOCTURNAL HORRORS-This map is a nice stroll through the underground
cavern. It is pretty easy and has only one part where it can be a little hard.
Your mission is to continue to make it out of the caverns into Creon land. But
you are trapped by a river. You will have to build some War Galleys to get
across. There is also the fear that you have been found out by the Creons.
What lurks in the caverns ahead?
Strategy I used to beat: You start off with the same units you had in the other
cavern map. You are in the northwest corner. Move your troops east until you
hit the green river. Then make your way down until the river bends to the
right. Here is a good place to start building your War Galleys. There are
some Piranhas and Sea Serpents swimming in the water. They will attack your
units if you are close to the water and when you are building the boats. They
aren't really patrolling so if the area seems clear then start constructing.
Once four or five War Galleys are built then send them on a mission to clear
out the river. The Sea Serpents are very strong and have high hit points. You
will need a lot of firepower to take them down. The Piranhas on the other hand
are pretty easy to kill.
Once the river is cleared out I then headed to the top right corner of the
river and unloaded. I basically used my Knight to scout ahead and kill any
Ghouls that were lurking about. He ended up having over 65 kills for the map.
The exit to the map is at the southeastern corner. After unloading my troops
on the top right corner I then headed down. When the way was cut off I then
turned right and headed up. I then made my way back left and up and then
right. Once there I headed down and then left. Once at the left corner you
must go down and turn right. There is a small Creon army waiting for you here.
It's only a few Automatons, Shock Troopers, and a couple of Tortoise units.
Nothing too hard. Once they are beat keep heading right and the mission ends.
There is really no way you can get lost on this map and there are no nasty
surprise attacks anywhere. Just a few Ghouls and Devourers here and there.
Kudos to the Cavedog artists for making such cool water.
CHAPTER 17-SCIENCE ABOVE MAGIC-Hmm. This map is very easy. Not that it is
simple. It's just that it could have been really hard and it was anything but.
Your mission is to take over the main Veruna Island Vidara. Once again you
must make a beach head and clear the island. Just like on Chapter 08. However
this mission is as easy as chapter 08 was hard. I don't know if the designers
forgot to put any AI routines on this map or what. It just seemed like the
enemy didn't really do anything other than stare at their shoes. Anyway, here
goes.
Strategy I used to beat: You start off with a nice navy in the southwest
corner. I immediately headed north and took out the few Bastions that were
guarding the docks. Afterwards I unloaded my troops. I was moving them all
into the open beach through the entrance on the right while sending my ships
farther north. There are a Mortar and a Lighthouse on a small island above the
starting docks. It is easier to hit the units if your boats are at a distance.
Doing this drew the attention of a few boats which were easily destroyed.
I then took my ships back to the starting area. Now all my troops were
assembled on the beach. I then began looking for mana sites. From the
entrance to the right this is where they are: one directly south, one directly
north, another farther south up the hill, and another farther to the right of
the north site. Take all of them and you will have a nice mana supply flowing
in. I then built a Smithy by the first south mana site. After building some
Barnstormers, I scouted north and east. At the southeast corner is an enemy
factory, a Bastion, and a gate. I then built some Tortoise units and moved
them into the walled city. Along the way they destroyed two Watch Towers that
were guarding the entrance. I then led them south and cleared out the factory
area. I then took the mana site that was to the upper right of the Bastion.
Now I assembled more Tortoise troops by building another Smithy. I then
constructed a Bomb Sprinkler near the path uphill that was fed from the walkway
with the palm trees. I then took a Barnstormer and scouted the rest of the
water. In the northwest corner are a few more boats, one Sea Fort, and one
being built, and some Floating Towers. I then took my ships up and cleared the
area. Taking out a Trebuchet Ship and two more dock Bastions during the
journey. Now I started to head north with my tortoise units and Beast Riders
that were inside the walled in section on the east side of the map. Up ahead
and to the left was another mana site along with Watch Towers, a few troops,
and a Bastion. I took care of them but I did not go onto the docks. I headed
back into the walled in section. I then made around 12 Fire Wagons and moved
them to the docks where the enemy troops and Mortar were hanging out to the
left of the mana site. They killed them then headed to the right through the
entrance to the beach. I then moved them up the hill and attacked two more
Watch Towers and a Bastion. My units were killed. At this time I had built up
more Tortoise units and had them destroy the remaining enemy structures.
Now I moved them north to the next entrance and destroyed the Watch Towers
there. Up ahead is the entrance to the enemy base in the northeast section of
the map. I didn't go in yet though. I turned left and headed out onto the
beach on the upper dock area. I destroyed the few enemy structures that were
out there. Coming back to the base entrance I then destroyed the Gates.
Making my way in there I discovered a Divine Lodestone, Bastion, factory, and a
Sea Dragon was being built. I destroyed everything and then destroyed the next
Gates. Finally, I broke through into the northeast section and destroyed the
few enemy structures in there.
I will end this strategy with a warning. I don't know if perhaps my game
somehow messed up or if the map was meant to be this easy. The design of the
map with all the beach paths and enemy factories spread out gave me the
impression that it could have been A LOT harder than it was. Also the fact
that some of the enemy troops were standing around instead of attacking me.
Plus, the fact that not many troops were made at all. If this is how the map
was supposed to play then so be it.
CHAPTER 18-SHINING HOPE-This is a rather intense but overall easy map. Your
mission is to escort Kirenna and her elite guard to the eastern water pass. It
initially seems like it will be a hard map but turns out to be rather laid
back.
Strategy I used to beat: As stated earlier, the first five minutes or so are
really hectic and intense. Your forces are spread out with Lodestones
scattered everywhere. Along with enemy ships immediately to the right of
Kirenna. You will have some ships nearby but a little spread out. You can
easily defeat all the enemy ships with the navy you start out with. It's just
getting them together and concentrating their firepower. After the enemy ships
to the right of Kirenna's starting island are destroyed a few more ships take a
northeastern route and come out by the Lighthouse that is almost in the very
middle of the map. It seems they are taking that route to unload troops onto
the big island near the northeast corner. They unload Shock Troops, Chief
Engineers, and perhaps some other troops. That island is of no major concern
for this map. The enemy troops will shortly destroy the Lodestones that are
placed there.
After most if not all of the enemy ships are destroyed a bunch of Neo Dragons
will then fly around destroying your Lodestones in the other parts of the map.
One will destroy the Lodestone directly below Kirenna. I sent Kirenna down and
destroyed the dragon and rebuilt the Lodestone. I then proceeded to build a
Guard Tower but the dragons would not let me. They would keep flying by and
attacking Kirenna. There will also be a large pack of Shock Troopers on
Kirenna's island as well. I decided to try to take them on and destroy them
with a Water Blast attack. There are too many of them, and they are spread
out. They made quick work of Kirenna. I then reloaded and this time decided
to wait up at the Lighthouse with the two Priest of Lihrs and pick them off one
at a time.
While waiting for the Shock Troopers to come up to that area I started
building some Sea Forts over where my elite troops were. I built two of them.
Then started pumping out War Galleys thinking there would be more enemy ships.
There will be no more enemy ships made during the map. I then started making
some Guard Towers near the Lodestone on the elite island. By now the Neo
Dragons will probably start taking out some of your other Lodestones. Your
mana supply will probably start getting a little low now. Nothing to worry
about too much as the few dragons are the only enemies you will have to worry
about.
By now the Shock Troopers had made their way to where Kirenna and the
Lighthouse were. Sure enough the Lighthouse would stun the Shock Troopers and
I could easily destroy them with Kirenna's long range attacks. Be sure not to
use her third Wave attack just yet. After killing about five Shock Troopers
they then started to congregate more. There were about six or seven together
and this is when I used the Water Blast attack. After killing all of them, I
then headed back to the Lighthouse and waited for the remaining 5-7 Shock
Troopers to make their way up. I then picked them off again and the island was
clear.
By now I was pretty low on mana. After making a healthy supply of ships I felt
ready for any further enemy ship attacks. I then decided to load a Priestess
onto a War Galley and head south from the elite island. I was going to rebuild
my Lodestones. The small island southeast of the elite has two mana sites on
it. I built them up without any resistance. I then sailed to the small island
with one mana site at the southwest area. There was a Neo Dragon waiting for
me there. Since War Galleys can't attack air units I retreated. I then sent
three Flagships down and they destroyed the Neo Dragon. I then unloaded the
Priestess and she built up the Lodestone. I then built some Guard Towers to
protect the Lodestone. Meanwhile I had also rebuilt the Lodestone that was
directly below Kirenna and the Lighthouse. Along with a few Guard Towers and a
factory. I then sent her to all the mana sites on the island and built more
Lodestones. On my way to the Lodestone at the western edge of the island there
was a lone Shock Trooper patrolling. I quickly killed him. By now I also
started making some Mer Warriors from the factory. During that period, I had
also made a Trebuchet Ship to destroy any structures and troops on the
northeastern island. I was content to simply snipe the troops at this point
since it seemed nothing substantial was being built there.
After making a big navy and many Mer Warriors to help out I decided to load up
the elite troops and head east. If you are not sure which units are elite or
normal just load up all the troops on the elite island. I then loaded up
Kirenna and sent most of the navy to the east waterway. I met no resistance
and the map ended.
CHAPTER 19-TREACHEROUS UPDRAFTS-This map is much like Chapter 06. You are
tasked with moving Heligrin and Thirsha through the area to the northwestern
area. This map is relatively easy with only one really strong opponent. That
being the Aerial Juggernaut. Take your time and build up your forces. Be sure
to admire the wonderful cold scenery too.
Strategy I used to beat: You start off near the middle eastern edge. Head
immediately north and there is a mana site there. Then directly south is
another one. Don't head too far south as there is a single Mirror there. You
won't have to worry about that section as there is nothing down there other
than the Mirror. I then built a Bat and scouted the area. To the lower left
of the starting area is an open section. I made this my base of operations. I
built two Death Totems and two Sacred Flames there. I then started making some
troops. The new Spirit Wolf unit made by the Beast Tamer is much like the
Veruna Berserker. Swift with a good attack. I mainly used them and Hunters as
my attack force.
I then scouted the area to the lower left of my base. I spotted another mana
site. I decided to head there first. Some Beast Riders, Shock Troopers, and
two Gatling Crossbows were in this area. Using Thirsha and her Wind Wave
attack I cleared out some of the enemy. Then shortly afterward attacked with
my Spirit Wolf\Hunter army. Once that is clear, do not head too far west of
the mana site as the Aerial Juggernaut is patrolling. It will make quick work
of your troops. There are Shock Troopers south of the mana site. I again used
Thirsha's Wind Wave attack to take them out. When this area was clear I then
used the Bats to scout more of the area. It is hard sometimes to scout very
far as the patrolling Aerial Juggernaut and Neo Dragons to the northwest will
usually kill them. I then took some more time and built up some Shamans.
Afterwards I used them to make Divine Lodestones out of all three mana sites.
Now with a healthy mana supply I made around 12 Stone Giants along with more
Spirit Wolves\Hunters. I then proceeded to the northwest area across from my
main base. There was a patrolling Neo Dragon along with some Tortoise units.
I killed them with my main army and headed west. There is another mana site
there along with an area with two Gatling Crossbows and some Shock Troopers.
There are also a few Automatons which my Stone Giants saw fit to kill. However
soon enough the Aerial Juggernaut arrived and quickly killed my Spirit
Wolf\Hunter army. I then decided to build my own Ancient Dragon.
During this time, I then headed to the area southwest of the third mana site.
There are some more enemy units there. After clearing the area of them and two
more Gatling Crossbows I then headed Thirsha back right as once again the
Aerial Juggernaut arrived and killed the smaller army I had made. Once it had
left I moved Thirsha to the southwest corner and was greeted by a lot of Shock
Troopers and a Neo Dragon. There are too many Shock Troopers (about 12) to
take on at once so I then let Thirsha help out with the Ancient Dragon. Once
it was made I then headed to the northwest of my main base. Here I made a
stand against the Aerial Juggernaut and it quickly fell under the firepower of
12 Stone Giants and the Ancient Dragon. I then moved my Stone Giants to the
southwest corner to take care of all those Shock Troopers. Heading there, I
destroyed two more Gatling Crossbows that are near the middle of the map and to
the left. Once the Stone Giants arrived they made quick work of the enemy.
Now I moved Heligrin, Thirsha, and my Spirit Wolf\Hunter army to the northwest
area. The way was clear. When you come to a small dirt road in the northwest
area with both Heligrin and Thirsha the map will end.
CHAPTER 20-MONSTROUS VIOLATIONS-Your mission is to go to the center of the map
and retrieve the Soul bottle. This map is a calm medium difficulty. You will
be winding your way through the Creon laboratory. The environment textures are
very cool. You are on metal walkways and grates venturing forth over bright
orange lava. Time to get that bottle!
Strategy I used to beat: You begin at the very bottom center. You also start
off with a very high mana supply. I immediately built a Beast Handler. After
which I built a Beast Tamer. While I had the handler making Bats, I used
Thirsha to build a Death Totem. Once built I placed a Sacred Fire behind it.
I then scouted to the left with a Hunter. At the far left he entered a room
and was frozen by a Mechanic. Now with some Bats built I started scouting with
them. By that time some Mechanics from the north walkway came down and my
Death Totem killed them. I then flew Thirsha up and at the end of the walkway
was a Chief Engineer. I took care of him then headed right to follow the
walkway some more. There were a few Mechanics in another room and I killed
them. This way is a dead end.
By now I had scouted with the Bats. There are some mana sites out in the lava
on islands. They are to the left and right slightly above the starting area.
I made some Lodestones. Now I flew to the lower left where my Hunter had been
frozen. After clearing that room out I flew up and to the right. Following
the walkway, I came across another Chief Engineer and mana refinery.
Destroying both, I then made my own Lodestone. I then proceeded to move
Heligrin and my army to the room at the southwest where the frozen Hunter was.
My army mainly consisted of Hunters, Spirit Wolves, and the starting Taros
units.
I then headed north on the walkway and came into another open room with
more Mechanics. Ridding the map of them, I then set up another base. I built
another Sacred Fire and a Shaman. I used the Shaman to build a Divine
Lodestone at the mana site directly to the southeast of the second base. I
then created three Death Totems to guard it. I then created a Roc and flew the
Shaman over to the southwest mana island. Here I made another Divine Lodestone
along with three more Death Totems. Having a good mana flow now I flew Thirsha
up to the second base room. Following the walkway on the right took me to
another mana site. Putting a Lodestone there, I then headed over to the left
walkway from the second base room. Heading up took me into another room with
some enemy units. Clearing it out I then made this my third base. Building
another Sacred Stone and Death Totem near the eastern walkway. Some Mechanics
tried to walk over to my third base from the east and the Death Totem showed
them the error of their ways.
Flying to the east now the way split to the north and I followed. There were
some Chief Mechanics here and I killed them. Coming back down I then cleared
the island mana site to the lower left. I then headed to the right on the
walkway. A few more Mechanics and another split walkway heading up. It led to
another mana site. I came back down and cleared another island mana site to
the lower left. By now I was moving the rest of my army east over the walkway.
Finally flying all the way to the right and up I came across some Automatons
and enemy builder units. I then followed the walkway south and came into
another big room. There were some enemy units in there and I destroyed them.
I was now just to the right of the center area. There are about ten Shock
Troopers and several Gatling Crossbows inside the center room. The Shock
Troopers were patrolling near the right entrance and I used my Wind Wave attack
to kill them. This alerted the other Shock Troopers and they came to attack
me. I then used Heligrin's Fire Ring and killed all of them. Now it was time
to storm in the center room with my army and clear it out. Once it was cleared
I sent Heligrin in to the center and Lokken was brought back to life. Then the
map ended.
CHAPTER 21-THE NECROMANCER RETURNS-Now that Lokken is back it is time to break
out of the laboratory. Problem is the Creon force has blocked the way out.
This map's layout is exactly the same as Chapter 20. You also have the choice
of using either Taros or Zhon forces. I decided to use Taros. This map is
slightly harder than the last one.
Strategy I used to beat: You start off in the middle of the map. Now you have
control of Heligrin, Lokken, and Thirsha. Like the last map, I used Thirsha to
do a lot of the scouting and killing. I immediately took Thirsha north. There
are now enemy mana generators on the islands. I used my Hunters to target the
one on the right. By then some Mechanics came across the walk way above and
started building a Gatling Crossbow. I quickly stopped them. I then headed
farther north along the walkway and disposed of the enemy units that were in
the top area. Flying back to the northeast corner you will find a group of
Shock Troopers guarding the mana site. I used Thirsha's Wind Wave attack to
kill all of them. My Hunters had destroyed the enemy generator by then. I
flew back to the mana island to the left of the now destroyed one and there was
another generator there. I then used Thirsha and the Hunters to destroy it.
Meanwhile I had Lokken construct Lodestones on two of the four mana sites at
the starting position. I then built an Abyss factory. After the island mana
generator was destroyed I used Thirsha to build Lodestones on both islands. By
now some enemy Tortoise units from the big room to the right of the starting
position were shooting at Lokken. I then sent Heligrin and the Hunters over
and they took care of them. Now the Abyss was built and I started making two
Dark Masons. While they were being built I used Lokken to cover the other two
mana sites in the starting area with Lodestones. Once the Dark Masons were
built I had one start building a Mage Tower above the center pit and the other
mason to wait. I also ordered Lokken to start building Caged Demons around the
mana sites. I feared a big attack from Neo Dragons was coming soon. One that
never came.
By this time I had Thirsha fly over and clear out the big room to the
right of the starting room. Again, I met minimal resistance. Once I had made
a nice army of Fire Demons and Skeleton Archers to complement my starting force
I then headed up. In the northeast corner is more Tortoise units. I killed
them. Now I started moving my army to the left. When they got almost to the
western edge of the map I sent Thirsha in to investigate. There were about
four Fire Wagons and some Shock Troopers waiting for me in the room. I once
again used the Wind Wave attack and killed them all. I then moved all my army
into the area and cleared it of the remaining troops. Then I sent Thirsha down
the western edge walkway and met some Beast Riders and Mechanics. After taking
care of them, I then moved into the big room that was the location of my second
base in the last map.
Meanwhile I had created two more Fire Demons and used them to snipe the Gatling
Crossbows and mana generators that were directly west and south of the starting
area. By now I had moved Lokken and Heligrin to my army. I then used Thirsha
to head south down the walkway and to the right. She met a few more enemy
units and destroyed the enemy mana generator. Now I moved the whole army to
the southwestern room and cleared it. Then I sent my army into the exit area
which was the entrance on the last map. While Thirsha, Lokken, and Heligrin
were moving towards that area the map ended.
CHAPTER 22-SON OF GARACAIUS-Ooooooooook. You know how I said Chapter 08 took
the title of being the hardest map? I think its successor has been found.
Within 20 minutes of my first play, I had my army's head handed to me. I tried
again. This time it took five minutes. Which got me to thinking. Maybe you
should not do certain things or it will trigger an enemy assault. See the end
of this strategy for some warning hints. I can't lie about the map's
difficulty. It's either hard or impossible. Not calm hard but tense to the
point of having a knot in your stomach hard. You basically struggle the first
25 minutes and then things start to turn around. Near the end of the map I was
clearly the dominant army. So much so that I even had thought about invading
into the enemy's territory. The map lasts 45 long arduous minutes. Your
mission is to hold out in the Creon city. The Mage King's children have
arrived in force. It's time to hunker down and repel them.
Strategy I used to beat: You start the map in the middle western area.
Immediately start building a Smithy. I built it to the right of the middle top
mana site. Once it was built I then started building another Smithy next to it
on the left. I also queued up five Mechanics in the first Smithy. Once the
first Mechanic was built I sent him to the upper left near the blue roofed
Senate building on the western edge. I then queued Walls until they almost
reached the end of the city above the Smithy area. When the next Mechanic was
built I sent him to the lower left where the building to the top right of the
Palace was. Again I queued up Walls until they touched the middle bottom mana
site. My plan now was to Wall myself in and force the enemy to attack me
directly from the east. Walling from those two buildings out gives you plenty
of space within to work and build. I actually didn't move too far inward. I
built up my base around the two middle mana sites. OK then. When the next two
Mechanics were built I sent one to help build the second Smithy and the other
to wall in the northwest mana refinery. After I had walled in most of the
refinery I decided to keep the bottom entrance open. I then connected the
Walls to the Senate. Effectively blocking the refinery off from enemy attack
and if it was destroyed I would have safe access to rebuild it. After the last
Mechanic was built I sent him to the southwest mana refinery and Walled it in
as well. Using the same method of keeping the base side open. Then Walling up
to the Palace building. Once that was completed, I then used him to seal off
any other openings among the buildings and main base Wall. Once both Mechanics
were finished with their area I sent them off to build up the other two mana
sites that were near. I Walled them in also. Leaving the base side entrance
open.
By this time the other Smithy had been built. I had made a couple more
Mechanics to help guard the other Wall building Mechanics and used both
Smithies to create a few Barnstormer and Tortoise units. After I almost
completed the entire "Walling in" process I decided to build a Mirror to the
lower left of the Smithies. While it was being created I built more
Barnstormers. I created enough to guard all but the base mana refineries. I
already had a Barnstormer patrolling over the base. Using this method gives
you good radar range. Being able to scout and see the enemy early is crucial
to winning this map (Neo Dragons have a long radar range and help make spotting
the enemy easier too).
All through the map the enemy will move Knights and Catapults to the original
clear mana site areas then move toward the middle to attack. Also note that
the Knights will usually head straight for the mana refineries in the starting
position area.
By the time the first Mirror was finished a large enemy force approached
directly from the middle east. It is also essential to use your Tortoise's
long attack range effectively. Send in a few Tortoise or Automaton units to
slow the enemy down and snipe with your Beast Riders, Tortoises, and Shock
Troopers. The enemy Knights are immune to the Mechanics freeze ray so use
their Taser attack also. I say that because around 55% of the total enemy
troops that will assault the base will be Knights. It is also imperative that
you space your troops out. Enemy Grenadiers will cause absolute havoc on your
forces if they are all squeezed together. Spacing them out causes you to lose
usually one unit from Grenadier fire instead of five. I also did not make any
Automatons or Fire Wagons the entire map.
By now the base was completely walled in (if you're having trouble picturing
the walled in base then I will explain in detail here. The Palace building has
two buildings above it. The building on the right was Walled all the way right
near the middle lower mana site. Then the Walls went diagonally up to touch
the mana site's Standing Stones. Then the Senate building was Walled right
until the wall was diagonally going down touching the Standing Stones of the
middle top mana site. Then the Palace was Walled down to the mana site
directly below it. The Senate was Walled up to the mana site directly above
it. Completely sealing in the base). The only way in and out was the well
spaced middle mana site\Smithy starting position.
I noticed that I had placed my first Mirror a little too far back so
I decided to build once closer to the Smithies. Still to the left of the
Smithies and inside the base though. By now I was effectively dealing with the
enemy. I also learned a few valuable strategies. I left the initial Shock
Troopers above the middle top "base" mana site. There they would pick off any
enemies that made it through the front lines and also destroy the Knights that
would come down from the north. I also kept a group of two Tortoise units to
destroy the catapults from the north. I also did the same with the south end.
The Knights from the south would usually kill a few Tortoise units since they
didn't have the Shock Troopers to help out. I could afford to lose them
though. Also it's better if you move your Tortoise units towards the Catapults
instead of targeting them. When the Tortoises stop to fire the Catapults will
fire also and hit them. If they are moving and firing at the same time however
the Catapults can't aim at them. I had both factories pumping out Tortoise
units. One factory moving them to the right of the middle top "base" mana site
and the other factory moving them to the right of the middle lower "base" mana
site. I then would designate one Tortoise as the scout and move it out between
the two concrete raised platforms near the middle. If he spotted anything the
other Tortoise units would bomb away. I didn't go to the middle though. I
feared I would awaken more Grenadiers and other units. I then saw that I could
use some more Tortoise units so I built another Smithy. Using it exclusively
to pump out Tortoise units.
Also around the 15-20 minute mark a big squad of enemies, Rolling Towers, and a
Gold Dragon will attack. The troops are not that big a problem. The problem
is the Rolling Towers and Gold Dragon. Make sure you keep a healthy supply of
Tortoise units at all times. When the towers and dragon start to attack try to
move a few more Tortoise units around them. This will slow them down and
distract them, allowing your Mirrors (I had three at this point) to slowly
snipe the towers. Of course while you are doing this the Golden Dragon will
snipe at your blocking Tortoise units. Eventually the Tortoise units will die
and the towers and dragon will head toward your base. How do you kill the
dragon quickly? SHOCK TROOPERS! I kept my original Shock Troopers the entire
map. Using all of them at once will allow you to kill the dragon quickly. The
dragon might retreat if he is taking lots of damage. You can't send your Shock
Troopers after him as they are too fragile and slow. Keep them back and just
wait until the dragon comes back. If he won't then see if you can lure him
back with a Tortoise unit. Once the dragon is killed use the troopers to take
out any remaining towers.
The enemy attacks will now slow down for a few minutes. Not too long though.
Try to create more units and repair any that are damaged that you want to keep.
After doing that I then had a choice to make: Do I build another Mirror or an
Academy? Mana was getting kinda tight with three factories pumping out troops.
I decided to build an Academy then a Chief Engineer. Once they were built it
was a matter of holding out and saving up enough mana to build an Amplifier.
During the next ten minutes or so my Tortoises got beaten down to around four
units. Then three minutes later they were back up to around 15. I kept
fighting and holding out until I felt I could make the Amplifier. There will
also be a few cloaked Assassin attacks during the map. I decided to make a few
more Shock Troopers to act as inner base guards. Keep guarding your Mirrors as
well as sometimes the Catapults will target them.
By now I noticed that the enemy didn't seem too inclined to try and destroy any
of my other mana refineries. They mainly went after my middle "base" mana
sites. After another calm period I built up the Amplifier at the middle top
"base" mana site. Ironically, the mana sites the enemy seemed bent on
destroying were also the safest. They were well protected by the Mirrors in my
base. If they ever got damaged they received immediate repairs. Once the
Amplifier was built I had a good steady mana flow. I thought it was time to
make another Smithy so I could have a healthy supply of Tortoises. The battle
kept going back and forth and I was tired of losing so many Tortoise units. I
also did not use the Academy to build troops. I just made sure I had a
constant amount of Shock Troopers (around 15) and Beast Riders (3).
Eventually more Rolling Towers will attack. These are tough battles. The
towers will then start targeting the north and south area mana sites. Becoming
fed up with the cheap tactics of the Knight\Catapult raids I decided to build
two Neo Dragons. This proved very helpful. Instead of constantly baby-sitting
the north and south areas I just flew the Neo Dragons around. They easily
destroyed the Catapults. The Knights were then easily destroyed near my base
from the combined firepower. I just kept flying the Neo Dragons back and
forth. Eventually they got 40 kills each and became quite powerful.
Around the 35-40 minute mark another big enemy squad\Rolling Tower\Gold dragon
attack will ensue. This time I was more prepared. I used both Neo Dragon's
Freeze Storm attack to freeze most of the units. I then handily destroyed the
Rolling Towers with my large number of Tortoises and Mirrors (4 at this point).
Finally the Gold Dragon had a good number of Shock Troopers shooting him.
Afterwards the enemy seemed to stop the Knight\Catapult attacks and started
using a few Grenadiers. The Grenadiers specifically went after the north\south
area mana sites. I easily spotted and killed them with my Neo Dragons.
For the remainder of the map the enemy will send high volumes of troops through
the middle east route. It became almost laughable how many enemy troops were
being slaughtered by the now well sized Tortoise squad. I had around 30
Tortoises. I also had three Barnstormers patrolling near the middle of the map
where the small circle is located. This gave my Mirrors and Tortoises perfect
range to bomb away. Anytime a lot of enemy troops congregated I would use the
Neo Dragon's Freeze Storm attack. Eventually I didn't need to make anymore
troops so I started work on an Aerial Juggernaut. While it was being
constructed I thought about invading into the enemy territory. Around then the
45 minutes were up and the map ended. Finally!
Warning hints: Since I was easily killed the first two times I played this map
I thought I would point out some things that you should not do. The first time
I played I tried to Wall the white concrete elevated platforms from their tips
to the north\south edge of the screen. Thereby making the only entrance to my
base the very middle and having the whole left side of the map to myself. This
proved costly. It seems when you start building Walls in that area the enemy
will send out a large Knight army to counter. This makes it impossible to beat
early in the game and too time\mana consuming later in the map. Therefore I
walled in a base in MY city. The city being everything to the left when you
start the map. The white stone covered section. I also read a few other
players strategies on how they beat this level. One person said they just
built a lot of factories and pumped out Tortoise and Beast Riders while
shunning the Shock Troopers. Another said they built a lot of Mirrors and
walled them in. Yet another said their entire base was destroyed so they hid
their last two units in the corner for the remaining minutes and won :-P
CHAPTER 23-MARCH AT DAWN-This map isn't nearly as difficult as the last one.
However if you do not act somewhat fast then the enemy can become entrenched
and it will be a nightmare. Also contrary to what the objectives say you can
also win this map by killing all the enemies. This will be difficult without
an Aerial Juggernaut though. There are three Veruna ships in the southwest
corner that have been seriously upgraded. I believe that similar to the last
map if you build at a certain place it will trigger the Veruna ships into
unloading their troops. What are their troops? Tough elite Amazons and a
builder. I will explain how to avoid triggering the unloading too soon. As
stated this map is pretty calm most of the way. The enemy seems to start off
slow but things are so spread out that if you take too much time then the map
will only get harder. Your mission is to build 12 Mana Amplifiers then last
ten minutes with all 12 intact. Creon will need this mana in upcoming battles.
Strategy I used to beat: Things appear to start off pretty grim. You have one
lone Mechanic in a huge city with a huge countryside as well. The mana sites
are spread out all over. Where to build first and which buildings are the
enemy troops hiding behind? Don't worry you are alone for the time being. I
immediately built a Smithy to make some Mechanics, Barnstormers, and Tortoises.
After scouting the immediate area and seeing it was clear, I decided to build
up the two mana sites directly below the starting position. I then headed to
the south to the next mana site by the white concrete raised platforms. It was
the mana site to the left. However, I had a suspicion that if I built a
refinery on the site directly to the right near the platform edge that some
troops would attack. I believe this is a trigger for the Veruna ships to
unload. Later in the game I was scouting the Veruna ship area and I built a
refinery on that mana site. Sure enough the ships started unloading. I'm not
100% sure if it will cause the ships to unload every time but you can do
without that one mana site the whole map.
After being paranoid from the last map I decided to wall in the openings of the
white raised platforms. I Walled in the entry ways and the ramps on the raised
platforms. Back at the base, I had already built another Smithy and started
making Tortoises. By now my Barnstormer had flown over to the next two mana
sites directly east of the starting position. There were some troops there and
the Barnstormer stirred them up and they started heading toward my base. By
then I had a good supply of Tortoises. I took them over and engaged the enemy.
There are Mage Archers stationed behind certain buildings that will stun your
troops. They are more annoying than dangerous. I kept my Tortoises there and
put mana refineries on the mana sites. Pulling my troops back after clearing
the immediate area I then constructed a Bomb Sprinkler at the starting base.
Back at the raised platform area I decided to completely Wall my entire city
in. There are enough buildings in the city's southeast section to place Walls
between each one. So, I thought it wouldn't take too long. From the edge of
the right raised platform I started walling directly east until I came to a
brown house. Then I connected that building to a blue Embassy to the right.
Then to a green Institute. I then saw the lowest row of buildings in the city
was too close to the unexplored countryside. From the Institute I headed up to
a brown building and then starting walling in to the right on that row of
buildings. When I got farther to the east a Knight and Mage Archer were
stationed by one building and they killed my Mechanic.
Since the "walling in" didn't draw too much attention I then took my sizable
Tortoise army and headed farther northeast between the next two mana site
sections. A Mage Archer and Rolling Tower were behind another building. After
disposing of them, I then headed to the northeast corner of the map. Disposing
of a few enemy troops along the way. Some Grenadiers and an Acolyte guarded
the corner. I then decided to keep my Tortoises there and build up another
Bomb Sprinkler at my base. Once that was built I then began scouting out more
to the lower east. I didn't scout any to the south in the countryside as I
didn't want to stir up any troops there. I was also slowly walling between the
buildings sealing in the city from the countryside.
Now an enemy squad came to attack my base. There were also a few Rolling
Towers with them. The Rolling Towers were easy to kill since the Bomb
Sprinklers were able to hit them consistently. Once that was clear I kept
walling farther east until my Mechanics were being constantly harassed. I then
decided to build an Academy and create some Neo Dragons to guard my Mechanics
in that area.
Now a few more Rolling Towers had made their way over to the starting base.
After killing them and building up more Tortoises, the Neo Dragons were finally
built. I made two and sent them to guard my Mechanic that would be making
walls. The Neo Dragon's extended radar really helps in this level. I also
sent another squad of Tortoises to destroy the Rolling Tower in the southeast
corner of the city. The southeast city corner was now clear too. I then
noticed that some enemy troops were coming into the city from the countryside.
I used my dragons to dispose of any that were too close to my Mechanic. I now
also noticed that an enemy Golden Dragon was flying towards my base. I had
already made around ten Shock Troopers at my base so I was ready for him. He
didn't seem to attack anything but just flew around. Lucky me.
After clearing the southeast part of the city I decided to raid into the
countryside using the Neo Dragons. I came upon more troops which I used Freeze
Storm on. Heading to the southeast corner of the map I found some Priests
building a Stronghold. I froze the Priests. I then noticed two Trebuchets
nearby. I destroyed both of them. Fortunately, there were only two Watch
Towers built here so my dragons had free reign. Moving more into the southeast
corner I found two enemy Barracks and a Keep. I destroyed them. I now
continued west and destroyed a few more Lodestones, Watch Towers, and a
Stronghold. I felt relieved to have cleared out the countryside. During the
raid into the countryside I had also finished walling in the city.
I then moved my Tortoise troops in the northeast corner down to see if there
were any enemies there. There were a few more Grenadiers and a Flying Builder
was making a Stronghold. I quickly destroyed them.
Also note that I had noticed that if I destroyed all the Lodestones in the
countryside that it would trigger the Veruna boats to unload. I reloaded and
left the remaining countryside Lodestones alone.
I then flew my dragons north. In-between the last two vertical mana site
sections in the eastern part of the city is an enemy walled in base. There are
around six Watch Towers, four Strongholds, and a Keep. The enemy had also
built up the Lodestones nearby and another Barracks. I scouted the enemy base
and pumped out Tortoise units. I sent in around three squads of Tortoises
(about 12 each) and finally destroyed the enemy base with the help of the Neo
Dragons. Now I didn't have to worry about enemy troops in my city.
I started to build up the remaining mana sites when I flew my Neo Dragons back
to the southwest corner to see if the boats had unloaded. Sure enough, they
had unloaded and a Priestess was building a Lighthouse with all the elite
Amazons around her. I used the dragon's Freeze Beam attack on her and on a
Priest as well. This stirred up the Amazons and they attacked the dragons.
Since I knew they couldn't follow me into the city I flew to my base and had
the Mechanics heal them. I had noticed a new Enclave to the left of the
Lighthouse. After making two more Neo dragons I then flew back and destroyed
it. Along with the rest of the Lodestones.
Now the enemies were numbered and had no way of building anymore units. Since
the enemy Amazons and Veruna ships were so tough I decided to build an Aerial
Juggernaut. After it was built I flew it down to attack the roaming Golden
Dragon. After it was destroyed I then flew farther south and saw all the
Amazons at the white raised platform entryway. Fortunately I had walled it in
and they couldn't enter. I attacked with the Aerial Juggernaut. Having most
of the Amazons attacking me made the juggernaut's health drop quickly. I
retreated and healed. Then came back and destroyed them. Bypassing the 12
mana amplifier requirement I decided to destroy the ships. They are very tough
and I had to destroy them one at a time (there are four) then head back and
repair. Amazing how much damage a few upgraded Skiffs and Transport can do.
Finally after a few minutes I destroyed the ships and the map ended. (I also
went ahead and reloaded and beat the map by creating the 12 Amplifiers. I left
the Veruna ships in the southwest corner alone. During the ten required
minutes there were no surprise attacks or anything. Once the ten minutes were
up the map ended.)
Warning hints: It is suggested not to take too long getting things
accomplished. The first time I played the map I took my time and the enemy in
the countryside had built up a lot of structures and troops. I reloaded from
an earlier saved game and played more diligently. I don't know if walling in
the city is exactly the best overall idea. If I had built a lot more Tortoises
and took out the walled in enemy base in the east of the city first then it
probably wouldn't have been as tough as it was for me. If you don't wall in
the city then be sure to build up a good defense around your base. I'd suggest
walling in the entire white raised platform section though as this will slow
down troops trying to enter that way. Putting a scouting Barnstormer there
will give you plenty of time to prepare for the enemy attack. However with a
good number of troops you can use that entry\exit to clear the southeast
countryside. Whether or not coming through the raised platform entry\exit will
alert the Veruna ships I can't say.
CHAPTER 24-A SAGE DETERMINED-Looks like we have another 45 minute hold out
mission. This one is about the same in difficulty as Chapter 22. However it
has different challenges than the previous one. You won't be so overwhelmed
with large numbers of enemy troops as on Chapter 22 but you will be attacked
more frequently. Fortunately if you beat Chapter 22 then you most definitely
have the skills to beat this one. Again, the key here I believe is Walling
yourself in where the enemy can only attack from one direction. The difference
here is there are more flying attack units. You will also have Golden\Ancient
Dragon attacks as well. Your mission is to show the combined forces of Aramon,
Veruna, and Zhon that you can repel them. Hold out for 45 minutes and that
will show them they can't win this battle. There are 45 long minutes ahead of
us. Here we go.
Strategy I used to beat: You start off above the middle of the map. You have a
strong starting army as well as a healthy mana supply. A Smithy and an Academy
have already been built. Along with all the mana refineries you will need.
Don't try to take over any of the other mana sites. They are heavily guarded
and you already possess enough refineries to make it through the map.
Immediately I made some Barnstormers to scout the surrounding area. All the
enemies are south of you. There aren't any hiding around you or in the
northern corners. This gives us time to start Walling in the base.
I sent the starting Mechanic down to the lower right of the starting area.
There are four small brown houses at one section. From the bottom house I
started Walling east and connected to a Manor. From there I Walled a little
more until a roaming band of Hunters started attacking. I then headed back up
to my army and used my Shock Troopers to kill the Hunters. A few also attacked
the single mana refinery in the northwest area. There will also be a similar
Hunter army on the lower west mana site section. I decided to send the Sage
over to dispose of them.
After all the Hunters were killed I resumed the walling in process. I sent the
Mechanic back to the lower right as well as sending the Sage south to a green
Great Hall. From the Great Hall, I walled west to a blue Embassy. Then to a
brown building then to a Distillery. These buildings are directly below the
lower left mana site section. I was going to wall all the way to the west side
of the map and seal that section off. By now I had made a few more Mechanics
from the Smithy and had them go guard the Mechanic to the lower right as well
as the Sage. I also had moved all of my army between the two middle mana
refinery sections. I decided to use a few more Mechanics to build some Gatling
Crossbows at the lower left mana section.
Back to the Sage he had walled in about half way to the western edge when I saw
a pack of enemies below me. I decided to keep the guarding Mechanics walling
in and sent the Sage down to confront the enemy. It was just a few Goblins,
Basilisks, and Trolls. I took care of them with the Energy Blast attack. I
then headed him back to help wall in. The Mechanics on the lower right side
had made it all the way to my bottom mana refinery. I walled the bottom side
in then I headed diagonally up to the right to the next mana refinery. By now
I thought I might also draw some enemy attention so I sent one Mechanic to a
house that was northeast of the lower right mana site section. I started using
him to Wall to the east. He walled right to a Manor (it has another Great Hall
above it, just so you know exactly where I'm talking about) and then to a few
more buildings until the eastern edge of the map. I then had another Mechanic
diagonally wall up from the middle mana refinery up to that first building that
has the Manor to the right of it. This whole walling in process went totally
undisturbed. After a little while longer the entire east portion was sealed
off. Since there was still a huge gap in the middle section below the starting
area I decided to start walling in some more. From those four close houses
where I originally starting walling in I walled diagonally down and to the
left. I wanted to make a nice choke hold section between the bottom left Great
Hall and walls from the four houses area.
Meanwhile the enemy had become interested in what my Sage was doing. When
there were about five more walls to build to seal off the west section he got
attacked by another squad. It was basically the same army I killed last time
but they also had a Stone Giant sniping me from afar. After killing the squad
I then headed to the right to draw the Stone Giant's attention away from the
western wall process. He followed and then I headed back left and helped
finish the walls. I now had a few weaker enemies chasing me so I had to
move the Sage all the way to the middle where it wasn't walled in. This was
fine as by now the Sage's Energy Blast attack was fully charged. I then headed
the western Mechanics to the lower left mana refinery section to build several
more Gatling Crossbows. By the time the Sage came to the right of the bottom
left Great Hall I decided to place four more walls to the right of the Great
Hall's right side.
By now I could start to see some enemy activity below me to the south. I then
moved my Tortoises, Shock Troopers, and Automatons near to where the Sage was.
I then used the Sage to help wall in the remaining queued walls from the four
houses area that were heading diagonally to the lower left near the Great Hall.
I kept about a 20 Wall opening from the bottom left Great Hall to the
diagonally made walls from the four house area.
By now I started to get bigger enemy groups attacking. I did not make any
Automatons the entire map. I exclusively made Tortoises, Mechanics when needed
(around five at all times), Shock Troopers, and Neo Dragons. By then I also
had most of my mana refineries being guarded by Barnstormers. I also always
kept a few patrolling around the base choke hold opening. I felt confident
since my side of the map was totally sealed off. I knew any enemies that would
be attacking must come through the bottom middle choke hold section. That was
until the Gryphons, Harpies, Wisps, and Drakes started attacking. Their first
attack wave totally caught me off guard. My Shock Troopers were fortunately
not too far out of position. It seems for about the first 15 minutes of the
map the aerial assaults will be against the bottom left mana refinery section.
There will also be some Stone Giants below it bombing away with boulders.
They can usually throw over the Walls. They weren't always accurate but the
giant's attacks were something I always kept an eye on.
I now had started work on a Mirror. I placed it in the middle left between the
two nearby mana sections. This gave me a good angle on the base opening and
also to kill any aerial assaults on the left mana section. Also, at this time
I decided to make more Shock Troopers and build a few more Gatling Crossbows to
defend the lower left mana section. After around six troopers were made I then
made a few more and sent them to guard the lower right mana section.
Around the 12-15 minute mark a Golden Dragon appeared on the scene. He was
more annoying than dangerous as I used my good supply of Shock Troopers to take
care of him. About two minutes after he died an Ancient Dragon then attacked.
Both dragons caused some damage but nothing severe. They also both attacked
either the lower left mana section or the opening of my base. Once again I
used the Shock Troopers to kill the Ancient Dragon. I always kept a healthy
squad of Shock Troopers slightly above the lower left Great Hall. This was to
kill anymore dragon attacks and to halt the aerial attacks. For the rest of
the map about every four minutes you will get some sort of aerial attack.
Usually it was nothing too hard to repel. Though sometimes around seven
Harpies attack and they will usually turn one or two of your troops against
you. They will also try to turn your Barnstormers against you. I assumed this
was because there were some Trebuchets somewhere. If they took over your
Barnstormers and flew into your base then they could scout for the Trebuchets.
However, I don't know if this is true since I never saw or heard a Trebuchet
attack. I probably had a total of five units switch sides. Nothing too
harmful.
I had made another Smithy by now and was pumping out Tortoises. I then would
use the same strategy as on Chapter 22. I would send a few Tortoise units out
to scout and the other units would bomb away. By now I had also made another
Mirror. I placed it near the other one.
Around the 18-22 minute mark, the enemy will start sending squads of Knights,
Mage Archers, Catapults, and Grenadiers to attack the lower right mana section.
Since the walls are blocking their advance, they will usually just attack the
most southern mana refinery. Always keep a Mechanic in this area so he can
quickly rebuild it. Afterwards the enemy squad will head left towards the
base. I saw that they usually had to go down and to the left to where the
opening of the base was. It was fortunate since the Catapults didn't try to
bomb away from a great distance. They also would try to go through the base
opening. I saw that this was a great opportunity to build a Bomb Sprinkler
that could snipe the enemy in this area. I built two Bomb Sprinklers in the
four close houses area. This proved to be a very good spot as they can easily
take out the Rolling Towers that come from that direction later in the map.
By now I had started work on some Neo Dragons. I also had built up
more Gatling Crossbows (around 7) in the left mana section. Once they were
finished there I headed over to the lower right mana section and built a few
more Gatling Crossbows. Feeling confident in my defenses, I then decided to
build a few Chief Engineers to make mana Amplifiers. Around then my two Neo
Dragons had been created. I then used them to great effect near the lower
right mana section. I reaped havoc on the slow moving Archers, Grenadiers, and
Catapults. I was constantly freezing units. Which would block new enemy units
and slow them down. By the end of the map there were dozens upon dozens of
frozen enemy troops in that area. Later in the map I made two more Neo Dragons
but by then both of my original ones had over 50 kills each. Anytime there was
a great congregation of enemy troops near my base opening I would use Freeze
Storm on them. Also if you have three of more dragons then it becomes quite
easy to kill the Stone Giants. Overall, the dragons made the map a lot easier.
After the 25 minute mark I started to notice that some of my walls near the
base opening were starting to crumble. The constant bombardment of fire was
wearing them out. I made sure I kept a few Mechanics nearby to rebuild any
destroyed walls. Around this time the enemy will start sending a good amount
of Berserkers to attack. They will run through the gaps in the walls and be
really annoying. There will also be a good amount of Knights\Horsemen that
will do the same thing. It seems they didn't like the Bomb Sprinklers all that
much. I decided to partially wall in the Bomb Sprinklers and it seemed to help
a lot. I also made a few Fire Wagons and used them as guards in the Bomb
Sprinkler area.
From this point on in the map there will be some calm periods. I used these
periods to build a few mana Amplifiers. I built up all three on the lower left
mana section. I then headed over to the lower right mana section and built two
more. I did not build one on the lowest mana site since it was the main focus
of the enemy in that area. Instead I headed to the northeast mana section and
upgraded all the of sites there to Amplifiers. I also built up some Gatling
Crossbows to add defense in the northeast mana site section. The enemy never
attempted any aerial attacks on any of the northern mana sites. Once the
Amplifiers were all built I then headed back to the starting area and starting
building an Aerial Juggernaut. I had four Chief Engineers at this point.
Around the 30-35 minute mark you will get another Golden\Ancient Dragon attack.
This time I was ready for them. The Ancient Dragon flew up from the southwest
and attacked the opening of the base. With my Shock Troopers I killed him in
15 seconds. The Golden Dragon was attacking some Tortoises I had scouting
below the base opening. I led the Tortoises to the upper left where the Shock
Troopers were. The troopers killed the Golden Dragon in about 20 seconds. I
had also built up another Mirror. Around this time, I started to notice that
the enemy was sending Dirigibles near the base opening. Again, I figured they
were trying to scout out for some hidden Trebuchets. None of the Dirigibles
ever got too close to my base. I would easily kill them with the Mirrors. I
had also tried a few times to attack the enemy bases to the south. There are
many fixed defensive structures and enemy troops there. I could almost go to
the very bottom of the map but never to the southeast or southwest. I decided
I would just hold out until the 45 minutes were up.
Around the 40 minute mark the Aerial Juggernaut was built. I sent it on patrol
around the opening of the base. I then moved most of my Tortoise army past the
base opening. This is where the map became fun. Literally no enemy troops
could even get close to my base. The juggernaut's huge range combined with the
Tortoise's firepower made it very hard for the enemy. The next five minutes
passed quickly and the map was over.
CHAPTER 25-PERILOUS BALANCE-This is it. The final chapter in the game. It has
been a long yet fun path leading here. The children of Garacaius have formed
an uneasy alliance to fight the Sage of Creon. The Sage is completely
surrounded by all four Monarchs. It is simply a matter of waging battle to the
middle of the map and slaying him. However, this will be more difficult to
accomplish as the Sage has many elite troops and structures guarding him. The
difficulty is hard to very, very hard. I would not say impossible since there
are various ways you can beat this chapter. If one way is not working then you
are able to change your tactics and try again. Something I had to do three
times. Also the longer you take the harder it will be to beat the map. More
enemy structures and troops will be constructed. Since your goal is to only
kill the Sage this gave the designers reason to make it so hard to get to him.
This map took me around three hours to beat. I tried two strategies to kill
the Sage and both were met with failure. The third one however proved to be
successful. You start with all four Monarchs including Heligrin with Lokken.
Which force should you build up and use exclusively or does a mix of units work
best? There are many choices to make ahead. Now it is time to take out that
Sage.
Strategy I used to beat: You start off with all four Monarchs in each corner.
Lokken also has Heligrin with him. Since I had so much reserve mana and good
starting armies I didn't know what to do first. I sent my fast units to the
surrounding area. There are three mana sites directly around each Monarch. I
noticed this and starting building mana generators. Also, the mana sites that
are closest to the center of the map are where your main bases should be. Take
Elsin for example. He has mana sites directly to the southeast, northwest, and
southwest of his starting position. The southwest mana site is where he should
place his fixed defensive structures. When the enemy attack they will always
come out of the opening in the white raised platform area that is farther
southwest of the starting mana sites. Apply the appropriate direction for the
other Monarchs.
I will go ahead and explain what I found to be the two best defensive
structures in this map. The Stone Giant and the Death Totem. The Stone
Giant's long range and strong attack help take out the strong enemies well. I
used Watch Towers, Guard Towers, and Caged Demons at the other Monarchs areas
but eventually I made around 8-10 Stone Giants in each Monarch area. It seemed
the Bastions, Strongholds, and Mage Towers just didn't have enough effective
range to keep the enemy far enough away from the bases. If I play this map
again I will immediately make Beast Lords and transport them on a Roc to the
other Monarch areas and build the Stone Giants. The Death Totems seemed to be
the best fixed defense structure. They have a nice range and can take some
damage. Build up your respective Monarch's own defenses if you want some
immediate protection but then dismiss the structures when you start making the
Zhon units.
I did not get attacked for about 8-12 minutes. I had plenty of time to build
up my forces in each corner. I then sent out scouts. You will see more mana
sites around the white raised platform areas. Building on these sites later in
the game seemed to draw some attention. There are patrolling elite Neo Dragons
in those areas though so I didn't feel the need to build them up. The starting
mana sites are the only ones I used.
Fast moving troops are key to winning this map so I started construction on two
Citadels to make Berserkers. I actually never used any of the starting troops
except Lokken's. He seemed to meet lots of heavy resistance the entire map.
Feeling like each corner was adequately protected I decided to start building
Trebuchets at Elsin's corner. I built two then scouted near the middle of the
map to look for targets. The entire game I could not scout directly into the
center of the map. There are too many Shock Troopers, Beast Riders, and elite
Mirrors that will kill scouts quickly. The best I could scout out were the
edges of the middle section. I eventually started sending in five of each
scouting unit at a time to see a little farther into the unexplored areas.
There will be some middle border area Mirrors, Bomb Sprinklers, and mana
Amplifiers you can bomb. They won't be rebuilt but the enemy will just build
more behind them. When they did rebuild the mana sites they usually put
refineries instead of amplifiers.
By this time I had also made three Dark Priests and flew them around to all the
mana sites and upgraded them to Divine Lodestones. The Monarchs can help in
the building of ANY unit or structure. They just can't make any other units
or structures than their own. I didn't upgrade the mana sites that were at the
corners of the bases that faced the center of the map. So, I ended up with
eight Divine Lodestones and a nice mana supply. By now I had also started
walling in each corner. I used the map edge mana sites and walled inward
toward the mana site at the front of the base. Walling myself in was a waste
of time. Like stated earlier the enemy always attacked me from the same
direction and never tried to flank my base. Eventually after noticing this
fact, I then had troops attack the Walls to bring them down. I presume that
the more Walls you have the less units\structures you can build since the unit
limit is 200.
While building the Divine Lodestones I decided to construct a Fallen Angel.
While it was being made I then started building an Ancient Dragon. Around this
point I was getting somewhat frequent enemy attacks. I would always start each
attack off by moving my Monarch near the enemy troops and using their "group
killer" attack. Then head back and while the enemy was following me the base
defenses would bomb away. Since Lokken's corner got a lot of attacks he had
well over 45 kills.
Around this time I had also made some more Trebuchets in Lokken's corner
and Kirenna's corner. You won't be able to win this map by staying in your
corners though. You will have to make another base closer to the center of the
map. More on that later. Soon you will be receiving an attack from a highly
upgraded Aerial Juggernaut. They are very strong and have high defense. The
juggernaut attacked Elsin's corner first. It took out around five Watch Towers
and a few troops before being destroyed. If you haven't had a chance yet to
build Stone Giants then build Strongholds\Bastions\Mage Towers. They help out
with the Aerial Juggernauts and usually are not targeted by it. This is where
you will start to see how superior the Stone Giants are in destroying the
juggernauts. The giant's long range and strong attack help out tremendously.
They are also strong and can take several shots from the juggernauts before
being destroyed. It is also recommended to place a Sacred Fire in the middle
of all the Stone Giants to help out with their repair. It is also advised to
use Dirigibles to guard the base corner mana sites. This way the Dirigibles
long scouting range complements the Stone Giants long attack range.
By now I had completed the Fallen Angel and Ancient Dragon. I then decided to
use them in defending some bases from enemy attacks. They weren't all that
useful. The Fallen Angel's "group killer" attack is amazing but takes too long
to activate. Likewise the Ancient Dragons "group killer" attack was too weak.
I was going to have to storm the center of the map someway. I had already made
two Citadels in the Veruna corner. I was going to try to swarm the enemy with
Berserkers (I made around 35 of them). After a few failed swarm attempts I
abandoned that plot. I had the right idea though, just the wrong unit. The
Berserkers are swift but lack hit points. I hardly made it up the center hill
before all of them were destroyed. The enemy also started paying more
attention to Veruna's corner. For the next 30 minutes or so, I received wave
after wave of enemy units. I was able to fend them off but I was having
trouble. This is when I thought about placing Stone Giants around the other
three Monarch's bases. Once I placed around eight giants at the Verunan corner
it became almost fun defending the base. All the Stone Giants quickly got into
Gold status. Which also helps them kill the Aerial Juggernauts more quickly.
I was now using both a Dirigible and the Ancient Dragon to guard the Veruna
base. The Ancient Dragon has even more scouting range than the Dirigible but
his guarding pattern is erratic. I had to set him to passive mode so he
wouldn't chase after the enemy.
By now I had started work on a Black Dragon. For the next 40 minutes or so I
kept trying to scout and build up Trebuchets. Then bomb away with the
Trebuchets and try to storm the center section with troops. It simply was not
working. The troops I was using just weren't fast enough and died too quickly.
I then had another idea. Perhaps I could send in some Knights as scouts and
send in a large wave of Wisps and kill the Sage that way? While this is always
a good strategy to use it doesn't work well here. I actually did get the
Knights to the Sage. He is located near the very middle in a fenced\walled in
area. He also hangs around the big white Tomb of Garacaius. Feeling good
about spotting him, I then sent my large Wisp squad (about 20-25) to kill him.
Most of them never even made it that far. There are too many elite Neo Dragons
and Mirrors around the center area. I then decided I needed to get closer to
the center. I had already made one Keep to build the Knights. I decided to
build two more Keeps and pump out Knights. I would collect the Knights
slightly to the bottom right of the Aramon base. They would then enter the
center map area through the northeast opening of the raised white platform
areas.
If you look you will notice two white paths that lead to the center of the map.
One is near the very top of the map and the other is almost at the very bottom.
They both lead towards the center of the map and end at the top of hills. I
chose to build my new base a little to the north of the top path. The bottom
path seemed to have more troops patrolling and more Mirrors guarding it. The
top path only had minimal enemy defenses. I planned to build up a lot of
Trebuchets in that area and fortify them against attacks. I immediately built
around ten Stone Giants and five Death Totems. A Lighthouse and some Watch
Towers as well. I then used either Elsin or Kirenna along with Thirsha
guarding to build up Walls around the square end of the white path. It is a
little hard to build walls at that exact area so I built them a few steps
before the path's square end. However, I was still on the hill. I made the
Walled in space big enough for two Trebuchets. While building the Walls I drew
more enemy attention. The Stone Giants did a good job of killing enemies on
the hill. None ever made it down the hill actually. There is also a Bomb
Sprinkler directly below the end of the white path. It will be attacking while
you are trying to build up the Walls. I also noticed that Kirenna seemed to
build Walls faster than Elsin. Eventually I made around four Trebuchets at the
base and one in the walled in section. I was now waiting for some targets.
This is when I attacked with my big Knight army.
Using squads of around 12-15 Knights I would then head up the center hill and
go near the top of the hill. This would give the Trebuchets targets that were
fully in their target range. I targeted an enemy Smithy, Mirrors, Bomb
Sprinklers, and Gatling Crossbows. I destroyed them all. Also please note
that the Aerial Juggernauts DO NOT seem to be constructed. Once one is
destroyed another one is built instantaneously. Usually they don't attack
until after some time. Now though since you are attacking near the Sage if you
get in the Aerial Juggernaut's range it will immediately head toward one of
your bases. When the Knights attacked the first time the juggernaut headed for
the Aramon base. Every time after that it headed toward the new Trebuchet base
at the top white path. A few times the juggernaut destroyed all of my
Trebuchets. I then would build them back up and attack immediately with more
Knights. Since this would trigger the juggernaut to attack my base I would
lose all my Trebuchets again before I could bomb with them. I eventually made
more Stone Giants to help attack the juggernaut as well as more Death Totems.
I also built around seven Trebuchets and spaced them apart.
By now I had also built all four Sacred Dragons. I then had them rest by the
Trebuchet base and attack the juggernaut when it would attack me. Pretty soon
the juggernaut would only destroy two Trebuchets at most. I was then able to
destroy most of the surrounding enemy defenses that were guarding the Sage.
Problem is there were always a large supply of enemy troops around him. It's
not so much that the enemy troops would quickly kill my Knights. It was the
fact that there was so much debris in the way for my Knights to get around that
by the time they made it to the Sage most were already severely damaged if not
dead. I then tried targeting the Sage with my Trebuchets. This didn't really
work too well as it seemed the Sage always kept moving around. However, I did
have hope because more Knights were getting through and at least getting a few
swipes on the Sage. During the last few Knight attacks I was constantly
rebuilding Trebuchets and healing structures from juggernaut attacks.
Eventually I decided to make a lot of Knights at once. I would then send in
three squads one after another. When the first squad was almost dead I would
immediately send in the next squad. Fortunately, the Sage was in perfect
position when I decided to do this. Unfortunately, he also had dozens of units
around him. Enough Knights got through to him though and caused some damage.
I then sent in the second Knight squad. While they were making their way to
the Sage I sent in the third squad to attack the enemy troops that were around
the Sage. When the second squad began to surround the Sage I then sent in all
four Sacred Dragons to attack the Sage. I had the dragons use their middle
attacks. Sure enough the combined firepower whittled the Sage down and he was
literally two Knight swings away from dying when "Defeat" flashed on my screen.
I was so enthralled in the Sage battle that the Aerial Juggernaut had attacked
my Trebuchet base and killed Thirsha. UGH!! I reloaded and moved
Thirsha to a safe distance. This time the Sage was destroyed. Whew!
Hints: This map literally took me all night to beat. There were a lot of
choices to make. With so many units to use which ones are the most effective?
Where do I place the Trebuchet base? How do I make sure I won't get swarmed by
strong enemies? To answer these questions I will say what I would do if I were
to play this map again. I would immediately start making Beast Tamers and
Beast Lords. Then move them to all the corners and build 8-12 Stone Giants and
4-6 Death Totems. I then would upgrade the Lodestones into Divine Lodestones.
Once the bases were secure I would start making Sacred Dragons. I would then
head to the top white path. I would bring along a healthy supply of Stone
Giants. I then would build Walls at the square end of the white path. While
also making a good number of Trebuchets. Back at the Aramon base I would build
3-5 Keeps and make large amounts of Knights. I then would attack with the
Knights and bomb away any enemy structures. Something to keep in mind is with
a healthy Stone Giant\Death Totem defense you will need minimal ground troop
support. The enemy simply won't make it close enough to your base. Keep a few
troops around though for the enemy Tortoises as they like to snipe sometimes.
Also, Thirsha is probably the best overall unit on this map. She can help
build anything and her Wind Wave attack is very strong against the enemy.
-------------
Hidden Levels
-------------
Yes, that's right. There are two hidden levels in IP. Well, perhaps not two
as they may both be the "Creon Glory" level. At first I was curious to see if
it was in fact true. I downloaded the "Creon Glory" map and looked at its .hpi
file in a .hpi viewer. I then looked at the Cavedog .hpi files. Sure enough
there is a level 26 in the "IPMission.hpi" file. It has the same objectives as
"Creon Glory." Where the second hidden level comes from is the name of this
map is not "Creon Glory" but "Father's Day" in the "IPEnglish.hpi" file. In
"Creon Glory" you can build the Ghost of Garacaius unit. Perhaps "Father's
Day" meant you would build the Garacaius unit and he would kill all of his
monarch children. I also read that Cavedog included all the information for
the map in IP. Just not the actual map. I don't know if there are any hidden
levels in the original TA: Kingdoms. "Creon Glory" is the exact same map as
Chapter 25. The only difference is now you are the Creon Sage and you must
defeat all the monarchs. If anyone wants this map then email me and I will
send it to you. The file is only 88KB so it is a very small download. These
are the instructions on how to play the level:
1. Copy the file into your Kingdoms folder.
2. Modify your TAK shortcut with
"C:\Cavedog\Kingdoms\Kingdoms.exe -disablecavedogverification"
3. Now you will see "Creon Glory.tdf" on the campaign screen.
4. You will probably have to insert your original TA: Kingdoms CD to play it.
You can also download it from this site as well:
http://www.offlinegames.de/files/creon_glory.hpi
CHAPTER 26-CREON GLORY-As stated earlier this map is the same as Chapter 25.
The only difference is now you are the Creon Sage. You are surrounded by the
pitiful magic wielding Monarchs. I thought it would be an easy map since I
thought I would start off with all the elite Creon troops. You don't. You
even have to build the Aerial Juggernaut. Oh well I always like a good
challenge. Please note that the objectives say to destroy all the enemy
forces. I did just that but the map did not end. However, if I killed the
Sage then the map would end. I don't know if the map is not supposed to end
after you kill all the enemy units. Perhaps it was a bug in my game. I did
notice that I fought only three deities. The Taros deity was the one I did not
fight. Maybe the game messed up and put three instead of four? Thereby I
couldn't "technically" kill all the units. It was a bit of a let down but
otherwise I would say that I did beat the level. I did have to restart the
level once as early on I got the Aramon deity mad at me, and he destroyed my
entire base. I'd have to say he is the toughest unit in the game that I played
against! Anyway, it is time to fight off these intruders and show them the
glory of Creon!
Strategy I used to beat: You start off in the very center of the map. You also
have a small army around you. Your mana supply is pretty low and there are no
walls or defensive structures already built. I immediately built two Smithies
to the lower left of the Tomb. I was going to build plenty of Mechanics to
Wall myself in. After the Smithies were built I then built up the four mana
sites that are around the tomb. I had also sent the Mechanics to start Walling
in the outer mana sites. The upper Mechanics would wall in the mana site and
wall down to the middle of the hill. The lower Mechanics would wall in the
mana site and wall up and meet the other Mechanic. You don't have to worry
about walling in the north or south end as they are both blocked by the hill's
incline.
During my first game I had built up a lot of Tortoises and headed to the
northeast corner to take out Aramon first. I didn't want any Trebuchets being
made. I totally wiped Aramon out except for one unit. The Aramon deity. He
has a super strong "group killer" attack that recharges in about three seconds.
He also has very fast healing powers. He destroyed all my Tortoises and nearly
the Sage. He then headed for my hill base and proceeded to wipe it out. I
then reloaded.
This time my plan was to Wall myself in then build the Aerial Juggernaut. I
would then use it along with Neo Dragons to slowly clear each corner. So I
restarted and did just that. After I had completely walled myself in I built
an Academy. I built some Chief Engineers and upgraded the refineries into
amplifiers. I also started building several Mirrors around each inner mana
site. Once I had a nice mana flow coming in, I started on the juggernaut.
Along the way the enemy forces will try to attack the four outer mana sites.
Since the mana generators were walled in it made the enemy forces start to
congregate. I then decided to build two Bomb Sprinklers at each outer mana
site. Since I was on the hill it gave the Bomb Sprinklers good attack range.
They pelted the enemy and racked up lots of kills.
Now the enemy started sending in lots of Harpies and Ghost Ships. My Mirrors
did a good job of destroying them. I then decided to build up four squads of
around ten Shock Troopers each to help with aerial attacks. I placed them
around each corner. They helped out a lot and especially against the enemy
Sacred Dragon attacks. After a while I started making lots of Neo Dragons. I
also used a few of them to guard the mana sites. This gave me good scouting
range so I could see where the next enemy attack would come from. I also
started using some of the Neo Dragons to freeze the enemy. Again racking up
more kills and getting them into Gold status.
Eventually I started having trouble at the northeast and southwest
corners. The enemy will use Catapults and Trebuchets to target any structures
there. I would have to rebuild
epair walls, refineries, and the Bomb
Sprinklers frequently.
Finally, the juggernaut was completed. I sent it out to face Lokken's force
first. Moving to the very south of the map and clearing it out, I then headed
to the southeast corner. There were a lot of entrenched Mage Towers and Caged
Demons. Along with the slow fire rate of the juggernaut, it meant I had to
keep retreating and sniping from a distance. Eventually after using "hit and
run" tactics the area to the southeast corner was clear. After destroying some
inner elite Mage Towers I found Lokken and Heligrin in the corner. I quickly
killed both of them.
By now I had decided to start building the Ghost of Garacaius. The good news
is he is very powerful. The bad news is the Sage is the only one that can
build him and it will take him over an hour.
I then kept heading the juggernaut from the southeast up. Aramon was next. By
now I had created around ten Neo Dragons. I used them in combination with the
juggernaut to take out structures. Eventually I made it to the northeast
corner. Facing off with some elite Watch Towers I then found Elsin in the
corner and disposed of him. Aramon was really built up so it took me longer to
clear out the northeast corner.
By now the gameplay at the base consisted of repairing damaged walls and
freezing any approaching enemy troops with the Neo Dragons. I was also happy
that I hadn't run into the Aramon deity.
Now from the northeast I headed to the west and to the middle of the map.
After clearing the upper middle section out I decided that Zhon would probably
be the toughest side to take out. With all their Death Totems, Stone Giants,
and perhaps the Zhon deity. I then flew back to the very bottom of the map and
headed west. Time for Veruna. I made my way almost to the southwest corner
when the Aramon deity showed up. He had walked around the northwestern white
raised platform area and headed for my base. The Bomb Sprinklers had caught
his attention. They continued to bomb him and he then attacked them and
destroyed the entire northwest section of my base. Reload. This time I would
set the Bomb Sprinklers to passive until I saw there were normal troops at the
northwest wall.
The Ghost of Garacaius was now around 60 percent finished.
I then proceeded with my attack on the Verunan corner. Again resistance was
fairly heavy and there were a good number of troops running around. It made
the juggernaut miss a lot of the time. I then sent the Neo Dragons down to
help. Eventually the juggernaut found Kirenna in the southwestern corner. I
had almost killed her when she started fleeing to the northwest. I sent the
juggernaut and Neo Dragons after her and thankfully they caught up to her. At
this time the Aramon deity along with the Veruna deity came around the
northwestern platform section. Earlier the Aramon deity had left when I quit
attacking him with the Bomb Sprinklers. Now he was intent on destroying it and
wouldn't leave. He would not attack though as I had set the Bomb Sprinkler
back to passive.
I slowly made my way up the northwest corner with the juggernaut
and Neo Dragons. As expected there were good amounts of Zhon defensive units.
I kept attacking and eventually made it to the northwest corner. Thirsha was
nowhere to be found. I then headed from the northwest corner east to the top
middle of the map. Thirsha flew by and I sent the Neo Dragons after her.
There were still a good number of Stone Giants and Death Totems around so I
gave up on trying to kill her. I headed the dragons back to help the
juggernaut. The remaining Aramon and Verunan forces had built the northeast
corner back up. I advanced slowly taking out new Trebuchets, Keeps,
Lighthouses, and Strongholds.
By the time I had cleared out the northeast corner again, Thirsha started
attacking me from the northwest of my base. She used her Wind Wave attack and
destroyed a large number of structures and units. I quickly killed her though.
Now the Ghost of Garacaius was finally finished. He is a massive unit that has
a very strong attack. My plan was to destroy a few walls and send him outside
the base. Then build the walls backup and support his attacks with the Neo
Dragons and Aerial Juggernaut. The Aramon and Verunan deities were still
around the northwest of my base so I headed the dragons, juggernaut, and
Garacaius to the northeast of my base. At this time the Zhon deity decided to
attack the east side of my base. Its Tornado attacks did a lot of damage. I
sent most of my Shock Troopers and Neo Dragons after it. Along with all my
Mirrors targeting it. Eventually I killed it. I then quickly rebuilt up all
my walls so no enemy troops or deities could enter.
By now the other two deities had split up and the Verunan deity was heading for
Garacaius. I used him along with the dragons and juggernaut to attack the
deity. I took it out but it killed Garacaius as well. I was not going to
spend another hour rebuilding him! I reloaded. This time I got the Aramon
deity to attack by itself. He killed Garacaius, all the dragons, and the
juggernaut in about ten seconds. I reloaded. Now I was going to lure him into
my base but have all my Mirrors shooting him while I had Tortoises distract
him. Sure enough it worked and the Aramon deity was destroyed. Now the
Verunan deity started attacking my base from the east side. I sent everything
after it and quickly destroyed it. There were no more enemies left. The map
did not end though. So I searched with Garacaius' huge range. Still no
enemies were found. I then presumed either it wasn't supposed to end or the
game had messed up. Either way it was a fun long map and I got my enjoyment
out of it.
-------
Credits
-------
www.tauniverse.com - I went there for help and found a few older posts on their
forum. There was also an IP guide wrote there but the page it was on did not
exist. However, there is a TA:K guide there.
www.planetannihilation.com - I also went to their forums for help. This is
where I learned of the hidden levels as well.
Aerisk's "Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict" FAQ for the inspiration and
design.
Deathspork's "Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight" FAQ for the inspiration and
design.
Special thanks to www.stratosgroup.com and their excellent TA:K guide for the
inspiration to my FAQ section.
Special thanks to Swordfire, Edge107, and the other posters at the GameFaqs.com
TA:K forum for the inspiration to my FAQ section. Head there and drop a line!
Special thanks to ambient musician Jeff Pearce for his soothing, endearingly
cold, and spacious song "Through Darkened Halls." One that I listened to
around 100 times while creating and fixing this FAQ.
----------
Disclaimer
----------
Anyone may use my FAQ for any purpose as long as there is no profit involved
and this document remains unchanged. There's no need to email me asking for
permission to use my FAQ. However if it is used on a forum or other type of
help site I'd like to know so I could help out other players too. Informing me
is not mandatory though. www.ign.com is permitted to post this FAQ. All
future updates to this FAQ\Walkthrough will always be posted at
www.gamefaqs.com first. Thank you for using my FAQ. I hope it helps someone.
This FAQ copyright 2003 by Greyson.
