Watch That First Step

Watch That First Step is the nineteenth scenario of the Fall of the Trident campaign in Age of Mythology. The main objective is to retrieve the final Piece of Osiris by defeating Kamos’ pirates.

Summary
Arkantos and Ajax overlook a channel crowded with Kamos’ Black Sail Pirate Ships. Knowing that Gargarensis would want the Minotaur to personally guard the final piece of Osiris, the heroes prepare to siege his stronghold. First, they will need to capture some Pirate Ships to make it past all of their defenses.

Objectives

 * 1) Capture the Black Sail ships to the east by destroying the forward base that guards them.
 * 2) Use the Black Sail ships to transport your army past Kamos’ defenses (to the blue flag) and claim a Settlement.
 * 3) Quickly build up a large force and siege Kamos’ base. Stay behind the large forest to remain undetected.
 * 4) Defeat Kamos. He has been found on the North side of the base.

Players

 * Arkantos (Isis) – Starts in the Classical Age with Arkantos, Ajax, twenty Hoplites, a Catapult and a Siege Tower.

Neutral

 * Colossus Builders (Zeus) – Initially start off as prisoners of the Pirates but if freed will periodically provide the player with Gold Colossi. They consist of four Villagers constantly praying at a Temple.

Enemies

 * Kamos (Ra) – Occupies the majority of the land across the channel, with many military buildings guarded by numerous Towers. The channel itself is patrolled by several Pirate Ships.
 * Kamos (Isis) – Consists of a couple of Monuments to the Gods protecting Kamos from God Powers.

Allies

 * Egyptian Refugees (TBA) – Are waiting across the channel with a Town Center, three Laborers, a Priest and a Pharaoh. Upon Arkantos’ arrival, they will convert to the player’s side.

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

Players should send their army down the path immediately to prevent the forward base from building a Migdol Stronghold. Ajax and Arkantos can be used to lure some of the enemy units rather than taking on the full force at once. When few units remain, the heroes can charge ahead to defeat the Anubites and Colossi while the Hoplites should focus on the War Elephants. The siege weapons should concentrate on the Migdol Stronghold under construction and then the Dock.

Once the forward base has been cleared on enemies, the army should garrison inside the captured Pirate Ships and sail to other side of the channel. The enemy will not attack unless provoked. Upon arriving to the Egyptian Refugees’ camp, they will convert to the player’s side and the Priest can begin healing units while the Pharaoh speeds up production of Laborers. A five minute countdown will begin immediately until Kamos scouts the area so players should make haste with the next steps. Some Laborers should be tasked onto the construction of Barracks, a Temple and an Armory to prepare advancing to the Heroic Age. A Dock can be built as well but fishing will be restricted to the shoals nearest to the beach which are out of range of the Guard Towers. Once the player is finished with their goats, farming will be the most important Food income. Once the Shaduf technology is researched, many Farms can be built at a low cost and the Rain God Power once cast will speed the Laborers’ farming rate. Houses should also be built upon reaching the population cap as well as a monument for Favor generation and protection from God Powers. It is also recommended to wall off the path between the trees and to build Towers behind the forest.

One Laborer will point out that there is little Gold available, with only one safe Medium Gold Mine within range of the Town Center. Players will need to send miners back across the channel before the countdown ends. When the countdown expires, Kamos will send some Camelry to scout and attack, which can be easily defeated with the Hoplites. However, this will cause the channel to no longer be safe for sailing. The Colossus Builders will have a Colossus built around this time but it won’t yet be possible to ferry it across. More daring players can immediately push forward to secure another Large Gold Mine just beyond the forest but will have to face many Spearmen and an enemy Colossi before getting to it. It is also guarded by enemy Towers and Barracks. A safer alternative will be to worship Hathor upon advancing to the Heroic Age as she grants the Roc Myth Unit which can avoid the defenses in the channel completely. If players chooses Nephthys, their Priest and Pharaoh will be much stronger against the many Myth Units encountered in Kamos’ stronghold but they will have to rely on War Barges to clear the channel to make it safe to sail again, which can be quite time consuming.

Kamos will regularly attack with Anubites, War Elephants, Scarabs, Slingers and Spearmen. Training Wadjets will provide excellent support and they can regenerate, making them are less reliant on Priest. The players’ can also train Spearmen of their own as they can handle War Elephants and Slingers whom they outspeed both. Arkantos, Ajax and some Priests can handle the Myth Units. While defending against Kamos’ units, a Market can be built to generate more Gold and to advance to the Mythic Age if needed. Also, the Sundried Mudbricks technology can be researched to lower the Gold cost of Migdol Strongholds that will be needed to secure the area near the forest. If the player manages to transport the Colossi across the channel, Siege Weapons will not be needed to destroy Kamos’ buildings.

Regardless of their Heroic minor goddess choice, players should begin training War Barges to destroy any enemy buildings within the channel and close to the shore. Once the channel is cleared, they can begin sending Pirate Ships back to collect Colossi or send Laborers to gather more resources if needed if they worshiped Nephthys. This also reduces the number of obstacles the player’s army will face one the siege of the stronghold begins. Once army is large enough, players can simply push forward and defeat everything encountered. Not every building needs to be destroyed so players may choose the shorter upper path. Once they have pushed far enough north, Kamos' presence will be revealed to the player. It is only a matter of defeating all Anubites guarding him and then concentrating all attacks on the Minotaur. Once enough damage has been dealt to Kamos, the player will be rewarded with victory.

Additional Tips

 * A Relic is available on a small island at the south side of the map not far from where the scenario begins. To reach it, another Dock must be built if the player does not worship Hathor.
 * If the Colossi generated use too much population and hinder the player’s operations, they can simply be deleted. They are free after all.
 * If the player destroys some buildings just beyond the forest, Kamos will begin sending Laborers to try and build Towers to re-secure the area. Without empowerment, their construction speed will be slow so they can easily be stopped.
 * Thoth’s Meteor will have little use in this scenario as a considerable portion of Kamos’ stronghold is protect by Monuments to Isis.

Closing Cinematic
With his pirates defeated, Kamos finds himself once more cornered by Arkantos but this time without a Leviathan to help him escape. Arkantos questions Kamos’ previous comment about how he said his head would hand from the mast of the Pirate’s ship. Kamos threatens that Arkantos’ head will still decorate a mast before lunging towards the Atlantean, but gets impaled on his spear. Arkantos watches as the pirate stumbles over the cliff and dies.