Just Enough Rope

Just Enough Rope is the fifth scenario of the Fall of the Trident campaign in Age of Mythology. The main objective is to destroy Troy's military buildings after rescuing Ajax from a raid.

Summary
After breaking through one of Troy's large gates, Arkantos and Odysseus receive word that Ajax is surrounded by Trojan cavalry. They must abandon the gate in order to rescue their ally. Once Ajax is safe, they will need to fall back to his camp and train an even stronger army to take out Troy's military production buildings.

Objectives

 * 1) Defeat the cavalry attacking Ajax.
 * 2) Bring Arkantos and your army to Ajax’s Town Center to the southwest.
 * 3) Build up a stronger army and destroy all the buildings in the Trojan forward military base area.

Players

 * Arkantos (Zeus) – Begins in the Heroic Age with Arkantos, Odysseus, eight Hippikons and eight Hoplites.

Enemies

 * Troy (Poseidon) – They will continue to resist attacks from Arkantos and the Greek troops but is beginning to resort to sending villagers outside their walls. Troy will regularly raid the player's camp.

Allies

 * Ajax (Zeus) – Ajax’s troops is made up of a few Hoplites, Toxotes and himself. Once rescued, his units and buildings will convert to the player’s side.
 * Green Town Center (Zeus) – Consists of one Town Center located in a dead end. It is an ideal candidate to be part of a trade route.

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

To lower casualties, the player should send all units to defeat the Trojan raid. Arkantos should be the first to attack as his moral boost will strengthen all friendly soldiers. Once the cavalry units are defeated, Ajax will guide Arkantos to his camp and convert to his side. Players should immediately start Villager production and focus entirely on their economy rather than on their military. However, Ajax has no military buildings to offer so an Academy, a Stable and Temple should be built to train soldier replacements and gather Favor. Rushing to the Mythic Age to worship Hephaestus is recommended to benefit from his Plenty God Power and technologies. Players may also focus on their military and defense instead as Troy will attack regularly. There are lots of Pigs available so player may either gather Food from them right away for a fast Mythic or begin farming/hunting and let the pigs fatten up for a slower advancement. Either way, researching Husbandry is recommended. If the player advances quickly enough, they will be able to research the Forge of Olympus technology and then fully upgrade their soldiers with all Armory technologies at low cost.

There is one safe Gold supply by the Town Center but it will run out quickly. While there are two large Gold Mines atop the cliff to the northwest, Troy will attempt to guard it with a Watch Tower and will regularly send units to raid it, so it is not a safe Gold source. Instead, the player can mass produce Donkey Caravans to trade with the allied Town Center located in the southern dead end. Trading with allies creates a higher Gold income and the cliffs will protect the caravans from attacks.

Troy will raid regularly with mixed armies of Hoplites, Hippikons and Toxotes. Later on, they will also produce Petroboli, up to four at a time. Producing archers will not be necessary seeing how the goal is mainly to destroy buildings. Rather, the player’s army should consist of Hoplites and Hypaspists who not only are good against Cavalry and Infantry respectively, but will also do bonus damage against buildings thanks to Zeus' benefits. Hippikons should also be trained to deal with the archers and petroboli. Troy will also send lone Hippikons to scout the player’s base and even lure soldiers away. In this scenario, micromanaging will be critical to ensure the right soldiers are attacking their counters and not wandering off away from the battlefield. There are two passes that lead to the player’s base. Walling off one of these will help funnel the enemy in one predictable area. Dionysus has already been worshiped so the player will not have access to any form of healing aside from one cast of Restoration. That God Power should be saved for prior to an attack against Troy’s buildings as it will ensure the army is at full health and will repair any buildings damaged by the raids, enabling them to stand longer in the event of a surprise attack. Before that happens, many of the players soldiers will fall to repeated attacks so keeping units away from their counters is especially important to prevent unnecessary losses.

Troy also worships Poseidon for a change, so they will attempt to send groups of villagers to build Stables close to the player’s base (made easier by their reduced cost). Standing beyond the passes, especially the east one, will be necessary to prevent surprise raids that will take little time to arrive. It also means that whenever Troy’s buildings are destroyed, Militia will spawn from them, which the Hypaspists will also need to defeat. Much to Arkantos’ surprise, Troy will also attempt to send Villagers outside their walls to gather from farm and other resources. Raiding these will slow down Troy’s unit production.

Before attacking Troy head on, it is best to begin production of Colossi. This building killer will quickly tear down Troy’s military buildings while the soldiers take care of Troy’s armies but can also fight soldiers if cornered. The Colossus can also heal itself by eating trees if it is injured and is easier to produce thanks to Zeus’ increased Favor generation. One of the Relics on this map also reduces Myth Unit training time. Once the player bypassed the Trojan Stone Wall, they can cast Bronze to make them more resistant against attacks from Troy’s military while units that deal high crush damage focus on Troy’s Town Center. When destroyed, it will not produce Militia but still slow down their unit production. It is best to avoid attacking the Towers if possible as only the military production building (Academies, Archery Ranges, Stables and Temple) need to be destroyed. Once all those buildings are destroyed, the player will be rewarded with victory.

Additional Tips

 * On top of having three campaign heroes, the player has access to Zeus’ additional heroes, including mighty Bellerophon, so research Olympic Parentage may be useful to grant them all more HP.
 * It is not recommended to capture Troy’s farms as that area is poorly defended from attacks. It is best to keep all villagers near the safety of the Town Center.
 * Extra measures should be taken to protect the many tents the players begins with as these provide valuable population. Surrounding them with walls and towers is recommended.

Closing Cinematic
With all the military buildings destroyed, Arkantos advises Ajax that it is time to resume the attack on the Trojan gate. However, they receive word that Agamemnon himself has been attacked so they must fall back to the main camp and see how bad it is.