Sunday, May 30, 2010

Human Campaign: Map 6

These next missions are the two most frustrating missions in the entire human campaign. If you can get past these, you can get past anything.

Northshire Abbey is under attack by rebels who wish to overthrow the crown. No, these human warriors clad in red aren't the nation of Stromgarde or some precursor to the Scarlet Monastery (although that would be cool). There's just a bunch of humans who decided to fight against you and give you the opportunity to not have to fight orcs for once.

Northshire Abbey is under attack!

The mission begins with Northshire Abbey under attack by two knights, two footmen, and two archers. The first thing you'll want to do is turn your game speed all the way to the lowest setting. Time is of the essence and depending on how many buildings they destroy, it will determine how difficult the rest of the mission is.

Your soldiers clean house.

Immediately start to train a peasant. You'll need one to start mining and there's no time to waste. Meanwhile, grab your starting units (four footmen, four knights, four archers) and send them to engage the rebels. There's nothing you can do to prevent the lumber mill from being destroyed. But if you're fast enough, you can save the blacksmith (barely) and the stables.

Secure the mine to the north.

The good thing about this map is there are a lot of gold mines. The closest one is immediately north of the destroyed lumber mill. Your peasant should be ready so start work on a second peasant and send the first one into the mines.

The enemy has conjurers...  you don't.

The enemy will attack from two locations: the north or the east. Not only that but they'll send swarms of scorpions to antagonize your peasants. Be sure to put your archers next to the mine so they can fend off the scorpions. The enemy conjurers like to stay outside your town to summon scorpions. So take your surviving knights and kill any that show up.

Evil humans.

Once you've built up substantial funds, you'll want to train a cleric and learn far seeing to spy on the rebel base. It's pretty well guarded. But the intel will be valuable because you'll be able to see if they've built catapults.

Your mine is depleted; time to move on.

Enemy catapults will be your worst nightmare in this mission. Luckily,  you can build catapults of your own. The location of the first gold mine (which might be depleted by now) is a good area to set up your defenses. The catapults and archers will kill any enemies that come from the north with the exception of enemy catapults. When you see the latter, use your knights to take them out. The eastern entrance to your base is your weak side. But the catapults you've stationed by the lake should be able to alert you to any attack so you can bring your knights down to intercept them.

Attack the enemy peasants to cut off supplies.

Eventually, the red base will run out of gold in their mine and start sending their peasants south. This is where you should send your forces.

Their mine is now yours.

You'll end up eliminating 10-15 peasants here. The red base will continually train peasants and you'll keep killing them. Meanwhile, you'll notice the scorpion attacks and catapult attacks slowing down.

The traitors fall.

The final attack on the base is just a full-on clash. Make sure you have at least eight knights and some clerics. Bring your remaining archers and catapults in. Then, just swarm the base.

Try to heal the knights with your clerics for as long as you can. Sometimes, the red base will be sneaky and send some troops to attack your base which is unguarded. If that happens, just finish off the red base and then send your remaining knights to mop up. Your town hall can take quite a beating before it falls and the red base loves to attack your farms first.