Clearing the Road

Clearing the Road Is the third scenario of Act I: Japan in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties. The mission leaves off from the cinematic " A Dead Mans Pace" and revolves around General Kichiro marching his exhausted and weakened army to take control of the Tōkaidō Trade Route. Daimyo Mototada is absent in the mission as he was ordered by Tokugawa to return to Fushimi due to Ishida's forces eyeing and threatening his estate.

Objectives

 * Gain control of all 3 Trading Sites on the Tōkaidō Road.
 * Destroy Ishida's Tower by the Wokou Docks (Secondary)
 * Find and Destroy the Enemy Barracks and Stables(Secondary)

Strategy
Whereas in the previous mission time was of essence, here the player can take their time to get their economy working and outproduce the enemy.

Players start out in the southwest corner of the map in a village with a Town Center, 2 Shrines, 1 Barrack, and an Outpost provided. A handful of Villagers evenly gathering resources are also provided.

First, the players should head Northwest with their army to reclaim a treasure guarded by 3 Mongol Riders and then destroy the Outpost tower to gain access to the docks. Once the outpost is destroyed and the docks are controlled, the player will have Tekkousen warship provided. The player should use the Tekkousen with caution as it will become easy prey to the Castles guarding the Trading Posts.

In the meantime, the player should keep building villagers, upgrade the Trade Route and set it to produce Wood. Building a Market and research all items will also be beneficial in boosting Villager gathering rate. It would be advised to use the shipments on villagers at first, then some Ashigaru Musketeers and other military units. The player can use leftover wood to build Fishing Boats from the Docks. Players should focus their villagers to work mostly on berries and mines, so that they can get to Fortress Age. Aging up with the Golden Pavilion would be recommended due to the military bonuses. The player will be attacked, but they can take them out rather easily. The enemy's forces will have handful numbers of Flaming Arrows, becoming a threat to the players infantry. Kichiro's 7 spears special attack will help to take out flaming arrows swiftly, so you won't lose much infantry. The player should start producing more Ashigaru Musketeers and Samurai - muskets deal with pretty much everything once they're massed and Samurai demolish the buildings with ease.

Once in Fortress Age, the player should upgrade both their Ashigaru and Samurai and go attack the trading post - it won't be long until it's down. Once they have the area secured, the player can have some villagers build a couple of castles and barracks to establish your presence at that trading post. Set it to produce a resource you'll require - wood is a good choice, since you can then keep your villagers on food and gold.

If the player has been building villagers non-stop, they should have the resources to go up pretty soon. Don't stop building military either as your economy will be very strong and you should be able to afford it. The Shogunate is a good choice for going up. The players should upgrade their Ashigaru and Samurai and get ready to attack the last trading post - don't forget the upgrades at the Golden Pavilion! Keeping a bunch of Ashigaru ready at the middle trading post will prove to be useful, since the enemy will tend to attack there too. There will be some pieces of artillery, but with the Samurai the player will be able to cut through the walls easily. Bring some villagers up there too, so you can build more Barracks and Castles to support your troops - they will help you to keep the trading posts standing. The enemy has some Flaming Arrow artillery, but doesn't guard them properly against attacks, so the player can take them out with relative ease using Kichiro's special ability.

The Map
The map features a large landmass in the East covering 2/3 of the map, a very long and narrow shaped island is found west of the landmass. Players should send villagers to the island to gather the and other resources. Squid and Catfish can be found thriving in the ocean where the player may gather them.

Trivia

 * Historically, Tōkaidō was one of the 5 important highways that connected the capital of Edo(now Tokyo) with the outer provinces during the Edo period.