Lost Ships

Lost Ships is the third scenario of Act II: China in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties.The scenario starts off with the cinematic "Strange Shores" and centers around Captain Huang's ship sailing west from India into the New World. Since the Americas weren't discovered at the time, neither Lao Chen nor Huang know where they are headed to and question Admiral Jinhai's orders to sail west. The fleet some finds themselves braving a storm out in sea before eventually arriving to an unfamiliar land. Compared to the previous two, the scenario isn't itself very difficult but very time consuming due to limited resources to start out with. The map will once again feature new terrain, similar to that from the map Bayou.

Primary

 * Find and secure your beached Treasure Ships (2500 XP)
 * Destroy the Native village (15000 XP)

Strategy
Players start out in Northern edge of the map with an extremely limited supply of 2 Villagers, Captain Huang, Lao Chen, 4 Chu Ko Nus and 4 Qiang Pikemen provided from the fleet. The Treasure Ship will be beached nearby and will provide a constant supply of resources. There will be 3 sites where the player will have to rescue the other beached Treasure Ships, with one of them being very close by to the West. The player can then start to head west to to attack the first guarded Treasure Ship, a small band of Jaguar Prowl Knights and Eagle Runner Knights will ship out of the site and will attack the player. The player should attack the units and use Lao Chen's and Huang's special abilities to defeat them. While the player is in this stage, they will receive a shipment and should spend it on troops of military benefit.

Once the band of first natives are killed, the Player can now attack and destroy the War Hut guarding the site, the starting troops the player has provided will not be enough and they will need to the Old Han army from the War Academy provided to complete the task. Once the War Hut is razed down, the player can move their troops into the Signal Fire. Once they reach the Signal Fire, the player will have rescued the first Treasure Ships and will be rewarded with 2 Villagers, 3 Chu Ka Nus, and 2 Qiang Pikemen. As soon as they are rescued, another small band of Native warriors will flood in and at this point the player will be able to take them out with relative ease due to their new reinforcements.Now the player can head down further South of the map to rescue the next Treasure Ship, however this site will be more heavily guarded by the hostile Natives. As the player brings their troops into the next closest ship, they will be attacked from both sides from a small band of Jaguar Prowl Knights and Eagle Runner Knights and will slay a couple of the Player's troops. Once they are defeated however, the player will approach the Signal Fire where they receive an additional reinforcements of 3 Flamethrowers and 3 Changdao Swordsmen; with an additional Villager also provided. The Flamethrowers should be well protected once received as they will be immediately attacked by a large number of enemy Eagle Runner Knights and Jaguars.

Now the player can rescue the Medicine Man from the treasure and shortly stop to add reinforcements if shipments are available. If shipments are not available or spent on economic benefit, then the player can train Banner Armies from the War Academy to prepare their troops for further Native attacks further South. The player can then proceed to move their troops into a thin passage in the West leading further South. While heading down the passage, there will be enemy Eagle Runner Knights atop cliffs attacking the player and giving them an advantage from the player's Cavalry and melee units and most infantry.

While this is happening, the player should start to produce another army from the War Academy of either Standard Army or Ming Army, as the enemy will attack the Treasure Ship in the North, the player will be able to defeat them. Simultaneously while the player defeats the enemy in North, The player can move their main army further south down the passage where they will confront another army of hostile Natives, they will also receive reinforcements of Keshiks, Iron Flails, and Hand Mortars to fight the natives. At this point the can bring their troops defending the North into the South where they can merge them into a vast military army.

At this point the player can use the Hand Mortars to shell the remaining enemy War Huts around the area, the remaining War Huts inside the inner passage will be very easy to manage and destroy at this point. They will reach the last Treasure Ship at the end of the cliff passage and will defeat the Natives guarding the site. They will receive a Covered Wagon and 2 Villagers once defeating the Natives in the site.

At this point the player is very close to completing the mission, their last objective is to destroy the Native village in the Southeastern corner of the map. The Natives will have an immense amount of troops stationed in the village, besides taking out the enemy Arrow Knights (which are a grave threat to artillery) the player should not worry about dealing with them as it will be time consuming and result in many casualties and should head straight to take out the center temple. The center temple will take sometime to destroy but once razed the player has completed the mission.