Good Advice

Good Advice is the sixteenth scenario of the Fall of the Trident campaign in Age of Mythology. The main objective is to safely navigate Arkantos’ dream and destroy Poseidon’s Wonder.

Summary
As Arkantos rests following the recovery of the Osiris Piece Box, he is greeted by Athena in his dream. She and Kastor guide the Atlantean Admiral through a series of obstacles, including fighting an army of Cyclopes and escaping the Underworld. Afterwards, Arkantos is joined by Kamos and Gargarensis and they sail across the sea to an island where a strangely familiar enemy is waiting.

Objectives

 * 1) Follow Kastor.
 * 2) Garrison the Relic into the Temple, and defend the Temple.
 * 3) Defeat the guardians of the Shrine just ahead.
 * 4) Destroy the large boulder to escape the Underworld.
 * 5) Safely transport Arkantos and Kastor to the beach marked with white flags.
 * 6) Train an army and destroy the enemy wonder.

Players

 * Arkantos (Zeus) – In the first and second part of the scenario, Arkantos is joined by Kastor as they navigate the dreamscape. They will find additional allies along the way.
 * Arkantos (Hades) – In the third part of the scenario, Arkantos’ colors change to red as he takes upon the role of the enemy.

Enemies

 * Enemy (Poseidon) – Consists of numerous Myth Units in the first two parts of the mission as well as Gargarensis and Theris. The boulder blocking the Underworld also belongs to them.
 * Evil Empire (Poseidon) – The main enemy located on the mainland in the third part of the scenario. Occupies a large heavily defended city with many familiar Heroes at their disposal.

Strategy
This guide is applied to hard difficulty. It is, of course, also applicable for the other grades of difficulty.

Favored by the Gods
Arkantos must follow Kastor to the nearby Temple of Zeus. Upon arrival, some Cyclopes will spawn to attack. Arkantos must quickly grab the Relic and garrison it into the Temple. Additional Cyclopes will also spawn along with Gargarensis. Arkantos cannot handle this fight even if they are Myth Units, but the Statues of Lightning will periodically strike and kill a few Cyclopes at a time. It is best to either have Arkantos in constant movement to avoid injury, or to place him between the trees so that he cannot be attacked from all sides. Kastor is unable to revive his father so if Arkantos is defeated or if the Temple is destroyed, the player will lose the scenario. If necessary, Restoration God Power can be cast to keep Arkantos healthy. Zeus will also cast this God Power to heal the Temple.

Once the Temple is safe, Arkantos can continue to follow Kastor to the nearby Shrine but may need to wait a few moments until his health is fully regenerated. The guardians of the Shrine consist of five Chimeras. Once Arkantos engages them, Ajax, Amanra, Chiron and Odysseus will spawn to assist in defeating them.

Escaping the Underworld
Arkantos and Kastor now find themselves in the Underworld and their only means of escape is blocked by a large boulder. By following the path, the player will be able to recruit ten Chariot Archers, six Catapults, six Priests, sixteen Spearmen and six Shades. Up ahead, the boulder is guarded by Theris, two Avengers, two Hydras and three Chimeras. The Shades granted have the same instant-kill power as the ones from Strangers so three can be sent to kill the Chimeras. The Catapults should remain directly behind the Heroes and Chariot Archers while they take the lead and attack Theris, the Hydras and Avengers. In doing so, more Chimeras and Avengers will spawn. The remaining three Shades should kill those Chimeras while Arkantos and the Priests shift their attention towards the Avengers. After that, more Hydras and some Scorpion Men will spawn but Zeus will assist in defeating them by casting Lightning Storm. When the threats are all gone, players should have all remaining units attack the Boulder. Once the path has been cleared, a loading screen to the third part of scenario will appear.

Invading Atlantis
Players begins on an offshore island with Arkantos, Kastor, two Minotaurs, Pirate Ships and numerous Transport Ships carrying additional Myth Units. There are three Relics on the island so Arkantos should grab one while Gargarensis and Kamos should exit their Transport Ship to claim the other two. When ready to sail across, players should send the Pirate Ships first as the Evil Empire will be waiting with a large Greek navy. The player will quickly receive reinforcements in the form of three Krakens that can sink ships instantly. These should target the Petekonters first as they are stronger versus Myth Units. During this diversion, the Transport Ships should head for the shore to unload their cargo.

Once at the flags, players will be granted a Town Center guarded by two Statues of Lightning and a generous amount of resources. Before training more Villagers, the available ones should build a Temple south of the Town Center while one Hero is sent southwest to collect the Sistrum of Bast Relic which lowers Villager cost as well as any Goats hidden in that area. Once their cost has dropped, players can begin training more Villagers to get their economy going and start building additional Temples to accommodate the many other Relics found. The existing Myth Unit army can be stationed near the cliffs to protect the player from enemy attacks. The enemy will not take long to send three Helepoli to destroy the player’s Statues of Lightning. These statues will prove to be invaluable as they can deal heavy damage to all units and so must be protected.

When constructing necessary buildings, players should make sure to spread them out as much as possible and avoid building them north of the Town Center. The Evil Empire will regularly scout the player’s base with a Pegasus and will attempt to cast Earthquake in that spot to destroy the player’s buildings. The Evil Empire will also attack periodically with mixed armies of Cavalry, Infantry and Petroboli or Ballista. During their first attack, they will cast Bronze, but as long as the player has trained enough Cyclopes, they can instantly kill enemy soldiers despite their boost in armor. The enemy will also attempt to cast Pestilence, another reason why military buildings should be spread out to mitigate its effect.

There is a safe Settlement located in the west corner of the map which the player can claim for additional population and to increase Villager production. As the player already has Cyclopes, they can research the Will of Kronos technology to strengthen them and continue training more. The player cannot rely entirely on Myth Units as the Evil Empire will train several powerful Greek Heroes, including Bellerophon and Perseus and even has Priests at their disposal. As the player’s Major God is Hades and Artemis has already been worshiped, it is recommended to train and upgrade Archers, especially Gastraphetes who deal extra damage to the many buildings of the Evil Empires and to the Militia that will spawn from them when destroyed. The enemy will also produce a lot of Cavalry units so the player should train Hoplites to counter them as they can benefit from technologies provided by Ares. Fortresses should be built both for protection and in other to train Helepoli who are efficient at destroying the Statues of Lightning guarding the gates to the Evil Empire, although the Gastraphetes can also easily reduce those to rubble. Finally, a Dock should also be built to gather fish from the sea and maximize food income.

Once the player is satisfied with a fully upgraded army, they can follow the path to the enemy gates and break it down. The best approach is to first focus all attack on the Statues of Lightning as they are a threat to everything, and then onto any Heroes encountered. Once these are dealt with, the player can proceed in entering the city and destroy buildings as they see fit. Players also have access to the Earthquake, which can be cast onto enemy military buildings within the city or even on the Gates and Statues of Lightning to reduce casualties. Casting it on the Wonder will speed its destruction but is not recommended because by the time the player has reached the Wonder, there should be few enemies remaining to harass their army anyway. Of course, the player only needs to destroy the Wonder to be rewarded with victory.

Additional Tips

 * Although the Evil Empire has a Wonder, it does not generate a ten minute countdown like in a Supremacy match so players can take their time in building up their forces.
 * Once all units have been transported across the sea and the relics from the initial island have been gathered, all Transport Ships can be deleted as only use up valuable population.
 * The Sentinel God Power should only be cast after the Evil Empire has used their Earthquake God Power, otherwise they will simply be destroyed.
 * The scenario already grants the player with a 180 population slot, so building Houses is not a priority.

Closing Cinematic
Athena advises Arkantos that Zeus cannot interfere directly with Gargarensis’ activities otherwise it will touch off a war among the gods. She also warns that if Kronos manages to escape Tartarus, Atlantis will suffer the same fate as the city from his dream. When Arkantos awakens, he joins the other Heroes in a meeting where Setna explains that reuniting all the Pieces of Osiris will allow the God to be resurrected enabling him to protect the Underworld Passage located below his pyramid. To retrieve the remaining three pieces, Chiron, Amanra and Arkantos divide their troops with Ajax joining the Atlantean.

Trivia

 * In this scenario, Athena reveals the nature of the Hades Gate to Arkantos, that they are large doors that keep the Titan Kronos imprisoned.
 * This is the only scenario where the player assumes the red team color.