AGE OF EMPIRES 3 FAQ / WALKTHROUGH
Guide author: Useless
E-mail: utuselessut@hotmail.com
Guide version: 1.5
Game version: 1.0
System: PC
Copyright: Useless 2006
This entire document is (c) 2006 Useless. All trademarks are property of
their respective owners. No section of this guide can be used without my
permission. This includes, but is not limited to posting on your website,
making links to my guide, including parts of my guide in your own, or making
reference to any material contained within.
Please do not email me to ask for permission to host this guide, as I will be
unable to give it to you. I don’t have enough time to manage and upload FAQ
versions at any sites other than the three listed below. These sites are
therefore the only ones permitted to host this guide:
GameFAQS.com
NeoSeeker.com
TheGameReviews.com
.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.
1. INTRODUCTION
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
1.1 INTRODUCTION
1.1.1 WELCOME
1.1.2 HINTS AND INFO
1.2 USING THIS GUIDE
1.3 CONTACT ME
2. WALKTHROUGH
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
2.1 ACT I: BLOOD
2.1.1 BREAKOUT
2.1.2 INTO THE CAVES
2.1.3 PIRATES!
2.1.4 THE OTTOMAN FORT
2.1.5 TEMPLES OF THE AZTEC
2.1.6 A PIRATE’S HELP
2.1.7 SPANISH TREASURE FLEET
2.1.8 THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH?
2.2 ACT II: ICE
2.2.1 DEFEND THE COLONY
2.2.2 STRANGE ALLIANCES
2.2.3 THE RESCUE
2.2.4 THE SEVEN YEARS’ WAR
2.2.5 THE GREAT LAKES
2.2.6 RESPECT
2.2.7 WARWICK’S STRONGHOLD
2.2.8 BRING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN
2.3 ACT III: STEEL
2.3.1 RACE FOR THE RAILS
2.3.2 HOLD THE FORT
2.3.3 THE BONEGUARD’S LAIR
2.3.4 THE LOST SPANISH GOLD
2.3.5 BOLIVAR’S REVOLT
2.3.6 JOURNEY THROUGH THE ANDES
2.3.7 LAST CITY OF THE INCA
2.3.8 LAST STAND OF THE BONEGUARD
3. CONTRIBUTIONS
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
4. VERSION HISTORY
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+==
.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.
-------------------------------¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬------------------------------
1. INTRODUCTION
-------------------------------¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬------------------------------
.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.
=+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+
-------------------------------¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬-----------------------------
1.1 INTRODUCTION
-------------------------------¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬-----------------------------
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
1.1.1 WELCOME
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
Hi, welcome to my guide to Age Of Empires 3. This is my eighth guide and I’m
beginning to run out of stuff to put in introductions. So I’ll try to keep it
short.
Firstly, I never bother checking if the games I write guides to already have
other guides available. For all I know, this guide is the billionth one for
AOE 3, or maybe it’s the only one. Whatever it is, thanks for picking this
one.
AOE 3 is an RTS (Real Time Strategy) game, but that doesn’t mean it’s not
possible to write a walkthrough for it. The idea of this guide is to tell you
what you should be doing and when, what the enemy will do, where they are, how
to get maximum points out of each scenario, etc. Obviously, you will play your
own way and build your own units, etc., but the guide can still help you to
know whether you’re doing well, or how you could maybe do better.
Though this is the third (kind of) instalment of the Age Of Empires series,
playing any of the previous games in the series is not required for learning
how to play this one. AOE 3 bears little resemblance to its prequels, and in
fact it’s more like a mixture of Settlers 5: Heritage Of Kings, Warcraft 3 and
very definitely Command and Conquer: Generals. It even reminded me of Icewind
Dale and Desperados in parts; and about the only games it didn’t call to mind
were the previous Age Of Empires releases.
I played the game on Moderate difficulty, since it’s the one most people will
choose.
I’ve tried to bung in as much story information as I can, which is hardly any.
All I can do is quote the map blurbs and objectives. My cutscenes don’t play
properly: the text skips past insanely fast and I can’t read it; and the
cinematics freeze, slow, speed up, jump, freeze again and then end. I have no
idea who the characters are, what they’re doing, or what’s going on beyond
what little I can glean from the mission progression, so you’ll have to view
the movies yourself to find out what the hell.
Throughout each level you will be given objectives, though you only get one
Primary Objective (PO), and possibly some Secondary Objectives (SO), at the
beginning of the level. I’ve listed each of the sub-objectives as they occur,
as well as what triggers them and what you have to do to complete them.
Primary Objectives must be completed in order to finish the level, but the
Secondary Objectives are just bonuses that you can skip if you want.
This game is designed to reward you for gaining lots of experience points,
which can be collected by killing as many units and buildings as possible,
exploring the fog of war, completing objectives, etc. Unfortunately the game
also has some bugs connected to completing objectives in ways that the
computer doesn’t expect, so sometimes the level won’t end if you try to
collect more experience by destroying an enemy’s entire base before getting
rid of that town centre or whatever. I’ve had to write the guide based around
letting you complete each level, so sometimes I’ve ended up with less
experience than I might otherwise have had - if you get far more XP than me
it’s probably because the game has let you do what you want.
Finally, there are no property tables or stats in here. This is just a text
walkthrough designed to take players through each level, and there’s no way in
freeze-dried buggery I can be bothered putting in every detail about every
building and unit, etc.
.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.¬=¬.
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
1.1.2 HINTS AND INFO
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
I’ve had this game since Christmas 2005, and it’s only in the last three weeks
(November to December 2006) that I’ve gotten into it and completed it, and
also written this guide for it. This was because I found quite a few things to
be off-putting about the game when I first tried it nearly a year ago. The
graphics were horribly grainy and high-colour; the tutorial missions were
unhelpful; the first campaign mission was intimidatingly hard; and my
experience of Age Of Empires 2 was little help in learning the menu system of
this instalment.
If any of the above is also true of you I wouldn’t be surprised, but if you
stick with the game and successfully get through the first mission, it gets a
lot better and more fun, and you do get used to the painful graphics after a
while. The game is worth playing, though you’ll probably find it to be less
like AOE 2 or 1, and more like C+C: Generals or Warcraft 3. There’s also none
of the educational history side of the previous AOE games, which I never
thought I’d miss but do.
Anyway, this is just a few notes about certain aspects of the game which you
might want to take particular notice of: either changes from the old AOE
format; or features which can make your progress through this game a lot
easier. These are things which I would have liked to have known when I first
played the game and gave up, because I would have been much more likely to
stick with it the first time.
If you have any other strategies or tricks which would fit into this section
please mail me and let me know. Cheers.
¬==¬
BUILDINGS
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
Don’t forget your town bell if your town is under close attack. It can very
often save your entire base from destruction if the computer’s units are daft
enough to get too close. It’s almost like another fort.
Speaking of forts, there are no castles (or stone) in this game, which really
gets noticeable around halfway through, when you start to realise how
basically simple every enemy base is to take out. No more prolonged sieges
outside enemy walls like in AOE 2. The best fortification you can have is a
fort, and once your fort is gone you can’t replace it - the same goes for your
computer enemies.
Actually you can replace a fort later in the game, since you get to choose
whether you’d like a fort or a factory when you advance to the Industrial Age.
Since you can also have a Fort and Factory card each in your Home City, this
means you get three shots at these buildings, allowing you to pick two of one
and one of the other. Choose based on whether you’re having a harder time
defending your base and building an army, or a harder time collecting
resources.
Factories are fantastic buildings - basically a means to get free resources
fast. If you have two factories you will quickly be rolling in money, and the
game will become extremely easy. They can also be made to constantly produce
artillery units (heavy cannon) for free, though you will have to watch your
population limit.
In the third Act of the game you will notice that you get an extra peasant
every time you build a house. This annoyed me at first, but it’s actually a
much cheaper way of producing peasants. The houses cost 150 wood instead of
the usual 100, but the fact that you get a peasant with each one means that
you’re spending 50 wood per new peasant, rather than 100 food each time. And
you’re also building houses at the same time. Remember this and don’t go
wasting tons of food on building settlers from the town centre.
Your peasants no longer have the task of repairing your buildings - now you
just wait until the building is no longer under attack and there are no
enemies in the vicinity, then click the Repair icon to slowly bring it back to
full health. It even tells you how much it will cost to complete the repair,
which is a much better system than the old thing of keeping peasants hanging
around just in case.
Walls repair in the same way. To build gates you no longer have to select them
with a peasant - now you just click on a section of built wall and click the
Gate icon to make a gate. It took me ages to find this. Enemy units can’t come
through your gates, even when they are open.
Trading posts are another great new addition to the AOE games. Posts built in
Native American villages will allow you to train Native units and buy unique
upgrades. Posts built on trading routes will generate food, wood, gold or
experience every time a vehicle hits the station. Trading posts are a bit like
UT Domination control points - they never go away, but they can be controlled
by you or your enemy. Take them if you see them - they can only help.
Try to put unit production building rally points near your town centre or
outpost towers. If you are building troops from a barracks which is under
attack, you can let your newly produced units act as decoys, drawing the
enemies towards a building which can damage them.
Always use your defense buildings as much as possible, especially when
attacking an opposing army. Running out into the middle of a field to engage
an enemy is pointless if you have seven towers back at your base. Let the
enemy come to your fortified base, where you will have an enormous advantage -
you can save a lot of units and money this way.
UNITS
¬¬¬¬¬
It’s always best to find a unit you like and stick with it, instead of
building enormous armies with bits of everything. It’s too annoying to have to
rebuild very varied armies: I tend to just build and upgrade musketeers,
grenadiers and dragoons, with falconets and mortars for support. You’ll have
your own preferences, but bear in mind that upgrading every type of unit is
expensive and unnecessary. Often two mortars and two falconets can delete a
base nearly on their own, so massive armies are superfluous and a waste of
time.
Falconets, in my opinion, are the best units in the entire game. Fully
upgraded they are better and more versatile than any other unit (except maybe
the excellent monitor ships you get in the final level of Act III) hands down
at killing both enemy units and buildings. If you build nothing other than
grenadiers and falconets you can make your enemy’s life complete and utter
hell. Heavy cannon are great too, since they can fire outwith a tower or
fort’s range; but they are harder to come by than falconets.
Units are repaired by using a priest to heal them - this includes artillery.
The only units not repaired by priests are ships, which can be repaired by
sending them to a nearby dock and keeping them still while their health bar
climbs.
Some ships have the capacity to build units and store them on board. This
saves you from having to ferry units back and forth across the seas, and also
protects any new units from being ejected into danger on land.
I suggest that you enable two things through the Options menu: Advanced
Formations and Enable Easy Drag Military. Advanced Formations will allow you
to form your grouped units into certain stances, depending on what type of
combat they’re engaging in - it’s much better than just charging in. And Easy
Drag will let you just select combat units and heroes when you bandbox select
a large group at once.
HEROES
¬¬¬¬¬¬
Your heroes can’t die but they can be disabled if they lose nearly all their
health. Until you approach an unconscious hero with another friendly unit, he
or she will remain lying on the ground, incapable of doing anything. You can
save a lot of units by sending your heroes in first as decoys: while the enemy
units are all battering at your indestructible heroes the rest of your army
can wipe them out without suffering any casualties.
Heroes also have unique attacks and other abilities, which can very often
swing battles in your favour if used properly. This is especially true in the
RPG-ish missions, where you’re trying to get a few units from one end of a
perilous map to the other.
HOME CITY
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
You can choose cards from five different areas of your Home City by clicking
between the five tabs on the upper left of the lower window. I played the game
all the way through without realising this, and the only cards I picked were
the ones on whichever tab was open at the time.
The more experience you pick up during the levels, the faster your Home City
will advance and the more cards you will be able to choose from. Try to
complete as many secondary objectives as you can; also explore as much of the
maps as possible, and pick up the treasure items. Killing off more than just
the required enemy buildings and units is another good way to get your points
up. It all helps.
The game makes a big deal about picking the cards to suit your own playing
style and civilization, but this is bollocks. A lot of the cards pick
themselves. It should be obvious that a card which gives you two falconets is
better than a card which increases the speed at which villagers gather food
from hunting. Since every building and upgrade in the game exists to provide
you with units with which to defeat your enemy, always go with the free units
cards first. The Fort and Factory cards are extremely valuable too.
IMPERIAL AGE
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
Advancing to the Imperial Age is just a luxury in this game. Instead of
allowing access to better units it just allows access to more upgrades -
hitpoints increases, better armour, etc. There is no mission in the game
where the Imperial Age is necessary, and if you do it you’ll just spend more
time clicking on needless upgrades. It could have been so much better, but as
it is it’s just an expensive waste of time. Especially when you finally do
beat the computer and realise that you could have killed off their base with
one mortar and ten dragoons.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.1 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
Derrick Herman <darkrole05@yahoo.com>
"whether its in multi-player or just against the stupid comps using capital
building in the imperial age pays BIG TIME as it gives you the blockade
upgrade that cuts-off all enemies from recieving shipments from thier home
cities. the spy ability they also provide pays even more as it lets you see
everything they see which helps to pick major gaps to pretty much stick a 5
foot thorn in thier side as it’ll eliminate thier ability to launch suprise
attacks and show you every one of thier gaps. This also gives you the ability
to cut down thier supplies and send them packing by showing you all of their
supply zones, gather points, whatever you want to call it."
"For any map where water is a must the imperial age can help as it gives you
upgrades for your ships but can be costly to just go for upgrades, like you
said, but i think it pays from the capitol building."
---
Yep, all of the above is appreciated, and in multiplayer it will surely come
in handy. But, as I said, when playing against the computer, especially in the
campaign, nothing in the Imperial Age is necessary.
Cutting off Home City supplies to your enemy is surely useful, but you’ll
expend a lot of resources to do it, and are they really so powerful with
shipments that this will be the difference between beating them and getting
beaten?
The spying thing is pretty worthless if you’ve played a campaign map before,
since you know where all the buildings are, and you also know what units the
computer will be sending against you and the precise areas they will be
attacking at. The computer doesn’t know the meaning of surprise attacks -
every one of them can be predicted, or this wouldn’t be much of a guide :P
In the few campaign maps where water plays a big part the Imperial Age is
either still totally unnecessary or unavailable anyway. Water isn’t a big
feature of the single player campaign, and if you really need to get to the
Imperial Age to win the maps where it does play a part, you’re surely doing
something wrong.
The Imperial Age has its good points, of course, but it’s still a total
luxury. I can see myself using it in multiplayer, since my opponents certainly
will; but in the campaign... nope. It’s too expensive and it’s complete
overkill. You just don’t need it.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.1 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
Guy Becker <primas_4@yahoo.com>
"You write that the "Imperial Age is just a luxury."
You make an excellent point by saying that all units can be created before the
Imperial Age.
However, it has been my experience that every possible "upgrade" for any and
all units is highly valuable. Units can add a significant portion of health
and damage by research, which means less resources to build them later. Please
also consider that while they die less often because they’re stronger, it
means that more of them stay alive to do more damage in a smaller amount of
time. This means that even more of them are saved because they have less time
to die. I hope this makes sense.
I’d like to add that a strong military should always be funded by a strong
economy.
I thought very highly of the creators for decreasing research time, and I
think that particular gain is put to good use.
I couldn’t go without "Spies": the ability to see the enemy’s movements before
they gain momentum. I’ve lost many a colony from "suprise attacks". Knowledge,
in this sense, is power. Another writer makes an excellent point that noting
vulnerabilities is especially useful. You also make the excellent point that
uncovering the map provides experience; this goes a long way in that regard.
You also note that Shipments are very useful. It is an excellent advantage to
take from the enemy."
---
People seem to forget that this guide is for the single player campaign. The
Imperial Age may be very useful in multiplayer, but it is definitely NOT
NEEDED offline. I’m not saying it’s no good, I’m saying it’s just not needed.
It’s a waste of time against a computer enemy who is dumb as a tree at the
best of times. In a game where two falconets and a bunch of dragoons can own
an entire enemy base, spending all that money and time on an upgrade like the
Imperial Age is laughable. To conclude: online, yes; offline, no.
Now, please, no more emails about how wonderful the Imperial Age is...
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
ENEMIES (COMPUTER)
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
Mostly, your computer enemies suck. And the thing that they suck is arse.
Their strategy is that classically stupid standard of all RTS games: build
units and send them at the nearest hostile building. If you can get some
towers and falconets in place quickly enough, and a fort or two if possible,
you need never worry about defense for the remainder of the level.
Since the enemy sends out bunches of units and then takes time to build
another bunch before attacking again, the optimum time for you to attack their
base is when they have no military units of their own. This means that you
should counter-attack as soon as your own defenses have killed off the latest
of the enemy’s attacks. The enemy base will be badly protected and unguarded,
and your army will meet much less resistance on the way in.
Another thing about your enemies is that their bases are generally crap. A
mass of red dots on the minimap might look intimidating, but mostly what
you’re seeing there is buildings, not troops and fortifications. There will
usually be three or four towers scattered around, and a fort if you’re really
unlucky. Once the towers and town centre are gone no enemy base can stand up
to an attack from a decent-sized army. Don’t be intimidated by enemy bases -
they’re nowhere near as tough as you think.
The computer only targets your walls if there is no way through or past them.
This means that you can use walls to channel your enemies into areas where you
can focus a concentrated attack on them. Instead of building seven towers
ranged along an outer wall, build four towers in one spot and build walls
around every other part of your base. You will then always know where your
enemies are going to be, and a couple of falconets behind your towers gives
you total safety.
-----------------------------¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬---------------------------
1.2 USING THIS GUIDE
-----------------------------¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬---------------------------
Please view this guide in a text viewer / editor with a set fixed-width
font, or else it might look a mess. I use Courier New, Size 10.
Use the Find command (CTRL + F) with the numbered contents menu at the start
of the guide, in order to quickly jump to the section you want.
I have put the main walkthrough section of the guide towards the end, after
all the other game information. This is not a design flaw - it’s deliberate.
--------------------------------¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬------------------------------
1.3 CONTACT ME
--------------------------------¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬------------------------------
I always appreciate feedback for any of my guides, so if you want to send
strategies, thanks, blame, criticism or applause feel free to mail me your
comments. I consider all suggestions (and playtest them if possible) and I
often revise and rewrite based purely on reader contributions. All feedback is
welcome, unless it’s to tell me I suck.
Please consider the following before mailing me:
- Check whether your suggestions or questions are already covered in the
guide.
- Check whether there is a more recent version of the guide available - I
revise and update a lot after a first release.
- To email me, please send your message to ’utuselessut@hotmail.com’ and put
’AOE3 guide’ and the guide version number in the subject line.
- I don’t edit contributor emails (unless they’re obscene), so please make
sure you won’t mind seeing what you’ve written appearing in a future version
of the guide, spelling mistakes and all.
- Let me know in your mail whether or not you want your name and email address
to be included with your contribution - if you don’t specify then I’ll assume
you want it included.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+==
.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.
--------------------------------¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬------------------------------
2. WALKTHROUGH
--------------------------------¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬------------------------------
.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.
=+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+
This section will take you through each episode of the game’s three Acts. I’ve
included the experience points I had gained by the end of each level, and the
cards I chose to put in the Home City. My choices are based on my playing
style, but you’ll get different experience and therefore will choose different
cards.
Sorry about the lack of storyline, but as I mentioned before I haven’t a clue
what’s going on...
Good luck.
-------------------------------¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬-----------------------------
2.1 ACT I: BLOOD
-------------------------------¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬-----------------------------
.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
2.1.1 BREAKOUT
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
"In the late sixteenth century, the Knights of St. John defended their last
stronghold on the Mediterranean island of Malta from an Ottoman invasion."
¬==¬
DEFEND THE FORT COMMAND POST
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
DEFEND THE FORT COMMAND POST
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
COLLECT ALL THE TREASURES ON THE MAP (300 XP)
¬==¬
Keep building units and attacking the enemies outside your gates; and the only
real problems you’ll come up against are the bombards.
=¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬=
First of all, drag your men inside the walls and close the gate, and split
them into two groups: one of crossbowmen (buy the upgrade from the barracks)
and the other of everyone else. You have tons of resources so just get all
your barracks to pick the same rally point then just keep building mostly
crossbowmen and a few pikemen. Don’t be put off by the number of enemy units
- your walls and gate are very tough, and you have the two fort towers to dole
out a lot of damage.
You might want to upgrade that lone tower to the south, but it will always
fall eventually anyway. I brought a peasant down from the north to build four
more outpost towers inside the gates - this made things much easier.
Your peasants are fine where they are in the north, but you might want to put
a few more on gold. You may also want to go for that sec. objective. Pick a
peasant and target him / her on one of the marked treasures, then get a second
peasant on the second treasure, etc. This objective’s effect is minimal, but
do it for the sake of it.
Try to keep at least twenty crossbowmen and twenty pikemen, at least until the
first bombard arrives, and keep replacing any lost units (don’t bother with
the rodeleros). When the cavalry start coming at you, follow the game’s advice
and send your pikemen out to kill them. Then pull them back inside and use
your crossbowmen until more cavalry appear.
When the bombard comes you have a new problem and a new objective.
¬==¬
PO: USE SETTLERS TO GATHER THE WOOD ON THE HILL TO LIGHT THE SIGNAL FIRE
¬==¬
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.3 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
john SMITH <westmidlands1@hotmail.co.uk>
"when the large cannon appears i send my pikemen out to sort ..they destroy it
but i dont get any new message about new objective as in light the fire.....im
repelling the attacks to the point where ive exhausted my resources its then i
get a small window appear from morgan saying light the fire but this is well
after ive destroyed the cannon...by then resources are that low i cant repell
attacks and all ends.....any advice pls... "
---
The objective doesn’t necessarily appear right after the cannon falls, so it’s
just a case of holding out until you get the objective message. It’s timed
from the start of the level, I believe, which means it’s independent of the
cannon’s appearance.
If you’re losing too many units then you’re not controlling them right.
Concentrate on repairing your fortifications every chance you get, and
building more and more crossbowmen - pikemen are only there to take care of
the cannons when they infrequently appear. Your peasants should be bringing in
mostly resources which help you build crossbowmen, so if you end up with far
too much of a resource you’re not using you might as well get those peasants
working on something else.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.3 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
Carmine Arpaia <carmine@pimlicogroup.com>
"Hi...I read your faq on AOE III and have what I’m sure you’ll regard as
really dumb questions, but ...here goes...
1. In Breakout...I destroy the first great bombard cannon, but after well over
an hour I never see any other cannons, and game just keeps on going and going,
til I run out of resources (and i get bored to tears) Obviously I never get
the message to light the signal fire...can you help?
also..at the barracks, in Breakout, I cant upgrade my crossbowman and
pikeman.... program glitch? or am I just too stupid to live?"
---
Having replayed this mission to check this, I’ve found that the second PO
sometimes appears before the cannon does, which is a bit odd. This mission
seems to be buggy and that’s all there is to it. Restart and try again.
As for the upgrades, they are underneath the unit selection buttons. I don’t
know why you can’t see them, but bear in mind that if you choose the pikeman
upgrade (for example) from one of the barracks that upgrade option will
disappear from the other three barracks, since the game knows it’s already
being built.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
Grab a huge handful of your peasants - the more the better - and send them to
the north west, where they can start gathering the piles of wood (just right-
click them on the woodpiles in the revealed area). Once it’s all gone they’ll
light the fire, and you’ll have to wait a tense thirty seconds or so before
Alain’s cavalry appear in the north and head to the fort.
Do not let that first bombard cannon destroy your gate - run out and batter at
it as soon as you see it approaching.
¬==¬
PO: DESTROY ALL THE GREAT BOMBARDS
¬==¬
More will appear soon after you take out the first one, but Alain and his
imperial hussars will have made it to your base and will be waiting at the
north wall. Send them charging out heroically to smash the cannons fast, and
with the demise of the last of them you are victorious.
.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.
HOME CITY LEVEL: 2
XP: 7400
CARDS
¬¬¬¬¬
N/A
.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
2.1.2 INTO THE CAVES
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
"As Sahin is driven from Malta, Morgan and his men regroup and prepare to push
the surviving Ottomans from their camps."
¬==¬
FIND THE OTTOMAN BASE AND DESTROY THEIR WEAPONS CACHES
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
DEFEND THE BASE FROM THE OTTOMAN ATTACK
¬==¬
An early assault can make this level yours in record time - just keep your
bombard cannon healthy and the reinforcements coming from the barracks.
=¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬=
Eliminate the Ottomans (Ottomen?) using your bombard and the towers. Try to
stick close to the field hospital for healing. With the Ottomans gone you’ll
get some proper objectives.
¬==¬
PO: DESTROY ALL THE OTTOMAN WEAPONS CACHES
SO: BUILD AN ARTILLERY FOUNDRY AND TRAIN AT LEAST 10 HOOP THROWERS (500 XP)
¬==¬
There are eight caches, most of which are in the north east caves. But before
you do that you’ll want to build your first ever real base, and also claim
that treasure you can see north of your base. Send some combat units up there
and kill off the two wolves to get another objective.
¬==¬
SO: CLAIM THE NEARBY TREASURE (300 XP)
¬==¬
Get Morgan to claim it to get the points.