Others
Asians
VICTORY CONDITION: Reconquer the entire swamplands!
DEFEAT CONDITION: You have been completely destroyed.
SITUATION: We had already heard about the Roman wimps and their problems with a horde of feral women, but we would have never even dreamed that even we, the sons of the mighty Ch'ih-Yu could become the target of their attacks. But, no sooner said than done, they had invaded a swampland. We, of course, couldn't tolerate that. Rice production in the hands of women ... a gruesome thought.
REPORT BY HELIOS: Jupiter had hardly recovered when we noticed that Ch'ih-Yu was now missing from our table. Almost immediately he sent word that the Amazons were trying to capture a swamp from his troops, but he was sure it wouldn't take long to defeat them. He asked us to put in an order for him for half an oxen, but Jupiter told us to hold off. "They are tougher than is fit for women", he declared; and his words were a portent. For days we heard naught of our friend.
Your first priority is adequately securing your settlement by building 3 - 4 large towers on the eastern borders of your territory. Your second priority is recruiting enough soldiers because an attack later will require a lot of soldiers. In addition to the coal deposits you find to the south of your colony, there is also a mountain in the east where additional deposits of coal can be found in case your first supplies run out.
Problem: How can I build up a good defense?
You won't need to build a long defensive chain of towers. 3 - 4 towers should be enough to counter enemy attacks. You should have enough soldiers to act as reinforcements though to keep your opponent occupied.
In order to carry out an attack later, you should concentrate on recruiting swordsmen and bowmen - the bowmen can deal with the enemy soldiers while your swordsmen deal with enemy towers.
Problem: There is no iron ore on the mountain in the south!
There is only coal on the mountain (2) in the south - iron ore and gold are only present in the north (1). You should, therefore, build your iron smelting works equally distant from both mountains to keep transport distances at a minimum.
Problem: I can't acquire manna without a swamp!
This is true, but there is a small swamp to the north of your starting position. You might be able to take control of the large swamp (4) but you shouldn't rely on too much divine support in this mission...
Problem: I always lose far too many soldiers during attacks!
The difficult terrain is to blame. The soldiers should be divided into groups (swordsmen, bowmen,...) with the bulk of the attacking troups consisting of swordsmen and bowmen since spearmen are relatively slow and as such are easy marks for the enemy troops. Your bowmen should be available in any case because they are very useful in large groups against attacking opponents. Swordsmen should be set loose on enemy towers to conquer them quickly.
Always concentrate your attacks on only 2 or 3 towers before moving on. Your soldiers should be guided through the swamps in an adroit manner so that they don't attract too much enemy fire.
As an alternative to attacking with a mass of soldiers, you could also make use of cannons. These can bring enemy towers under fire from a safe distance and render them harmless. The sulfur that you'll need for firing the cannons can be found on a mountain (5) in the south of the settlement.
© Blue Byte Software Inc.
Authors: Christian Haecker & Joerg Niesenhaus