Honfoglalás

This scenario depicts the westward migration of the hungarian people at around 900 AD, for historical details check https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_conquest_of_the_Carpathian_Basin

Mind this is a rather unusual scenario, because you are NOT supposed to win as soon as possible, but instead you are required to loose several times in order for the scenario script to progress, so this can be seen as actually several smaller missions connected with cutscenes. You cannot advance to the next age(s), but they will be give to you automatically. As stated in the hints, making (and keeping) a number of saves is strongly advised.

Phase 1

You start with a bunch of military units and animals, but no villagers and no buildings but a few houses. The Pecheneg (yellow opponent) will charge you instantly with large amounts of units, so try not to fight them, instead move all units towards the east as soon as possible, then move down the river until you reach the Chazars.

Phase 2

You will eventually be given a towncenter with a few villagers. Build more villagers and gain ressources, but don't spend too much on military units. Try to hold off the attacking Pecheneg (they'll send only light cav and archers) with a palisade and a few towers, archers and spearmen. The wolves are quite useful since they heal themselves quickly. You can build a number of carts to trade with your ally, the Chazars.

At some point (I think by reaching a certain population count), the Pecheneg will launch a massive attack that you can at best slow down for a short while but not withstand at all, and you will be given the task to retreat with a number of units to the flag in the south. It is completely irrelevant which units you save, as they will be deleted completely anyway.

Phase 3

You start a bit further west with a well developed settlement, including three towncenters and a castle. The Pecheneg are still your enemy and keep sending units, but not many at first. You can hold them off relatively easily with castles and palisade walls. Mind that they can cross through the Chazar gates, so you need to guard both the north and the east fords. It is a good idea to rake in all ressources you can gain (it's not too hard to get to 5-digit levels in all ressources). Some players reported to have managed to defeat the Pecheneg at this stage. This seems to be an extemely hard endeavour, which is not necessary at all. Though it does not break the mission if you do so.

Phase 4

Again at some point they will launch a massive attack, this time with an even crazier amount of units. But before they reach you, the Byzantines will call you for help and demand that you attack the Bulgarians, and the Pecheneg will change to ally. This means that their attack is stalled and a bunch of their units may keep standing in your base. You will observe that the Bulgarians actually only attack the westernmost Byzantine castle until their units are used up, after that there will be no further exchange of hostilities. At this point you might think that you cannot trust the Pecheneg and therefore build a number of catapults and, by using terrain attack, destroy your new "ally" in a lenghty effort (e.g. wall in the hordes of units so they don't block your catapults, then wall in the towncenters so villagers can't escape, then destroy the towncenters, the villagers, the military buildings and then the military units, finally the rest). You may do so, but it is not required. Again, whatever you do does not break the mission.

However, you have to defeat the Bulgarians now. Don't get the idea to delete you transport ships, you will need them and there is no way to make more of them! The Bulgarians can churn out vast numbers of units quickly, so if you opt to build a base on their territory, you'll need several castles of fend them off. Check that you have gathered a more than enough amount of ressources and delete most of your villagers so that you can build a large army. It might be a good idea to build many Petards and attack all the military buildings plus towncenters simultaneously. No need to kill all villagers.

Mind that after the next phase, you will not anymore be able to access the lands you can access now, so gain all ressources you may need and more.

Phase 5

The Bulgarians will give up just before you defeat them completely, and the Pecheneg will switch from ally to enemy back again, as one probably expected. All their units that are standing around in your base or are nearing it (the halted unstoppable assault from earlier) will now defeat you quickly, while most of your military is in Bulgarian lands. No need to worry, you will be give the task to retreat towards the west and send a number of units to the flag there. Again, it is irrelevant what kind of units you try to save, they will be deleted automatically anyway, along with everything you have build.

If you managed to wipe out the Pecheneg before, in whatever way, then you will think your mission is stuck after defeating the Bulgarians. No need to worry, you can just delete the three town centers that you started with (see phase 3) to make the game progress.

Phase 6

You are tasked to bring an emissary and a horse to the Moravians, just a bit towards the west. When you return to your people, the Moravians switch to enemy, and you can build up a base and eventually defeat them. You should have a more than sufficient amount of ressources by now, so the rest of the scenario should be relatively easy.