All Is Not Lost

All Is Not Lost is the thirtieth scenario of the Fall of the Trident campaign in Age of Mythology. The main objective is to defeat Gargarensis after surviving his attacks for twenty minutes.

Summary
As Kemsyt berates Gargarensis for not killing Arkantos when they had the chance, the Cyclops and Skult reveal they still have a plan and that Kemsyt plays an important part of it. Meanwhile, Arkantos and the other heroes regain consciousness in Midgard following the explosion and Amanra reports that Gargarensis’ large army is on its way to their location. Their best chance of survival is to claim Draupnir, a nearby abandoned fortified mining town and build up their defenses to resist the attack.

Objectives

 * 1) Find the abandoned mining town and build a Town Center there.
 * 2) You have 10 minutes to build up your defenses before Gargarensis attacks.
 * 3) Survive for 20 minutes until help arrives.
 * 4) Fight your way to Gargarensis, located near the yellow flags.

Players

 * Arkantos (Thor) – Starts in the Classical Age with Arkantos, Ajax, Amanra, Reginleif, Brokk, Eitri, seven Ulfsarks, six Gatherers and an Ox Cart.

Neutral

 * Mining Town (Thor) – Consists of Sentry Towers that once guarded one of the passes to Draupnir, as well as some houses.

Enemies

 * Gargarensis (Loki) – occupies a part of the large base to the east that will produce a variety of Norse units throughout the duration of the scenario.
 * Gargarensis (Hades) – occupies a part of the large base to the east that will produce a variety of Greek units throughout the duration of the scenario.
 * Giants (Odin) – Occupy a small town outside of Gargarensis’ main base. Will send Ravens to confirm the player’s location at the beginning of the scenario.

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

Preparations
Players should send all starting units towards the Settlement in Draupnir and use the Ulfsarks to build a Town Center. There are a handful of bears and wolves in the area that the heroes can kill immediately so that they do not harm the Gatherers who in turn can start gathering food from them. Next, the Healing Spring God Power can be cast between the Town Center and the path with the Sentry Towers so that injured units can quickly retreat to heal. Once the Town Center is built, the Towers and Houses will convert to the player’s colors with the Towers receiving the Guard Tower technology. Players have now ten minutes to prepare themselves before Gargarensis begins attacking.

A Temple should be built while some campaign heroes can be tasked into grabbing the Odin’s Wand Relic which is located directly west of the Town Center and the Trojan Gate Hinge Relic located to the south next to an additional Settlement. As always, Gatherers and Dwarves must be trained to get strong economic income, with Brokk and Eitri assisting with mining Gold. The Ulfsarks should be tasked to build walls to seal off the middle and right-most passes completely. The left most pass should only be partially walled off beyond the towers to force the enemy to squeeze through, making it easier for players to fight them off. When that’s finished, the Wooden Walls can be upgraded to Stone Walls. Some Longhouses should be built to train additional Ulfsarks as well as a Dwarven Foundry to access useful upgrades and to advance to the Heroic Age. More defensive players should worship Skadi for her Frost God Power if they fear being overwhelmed, while more aggressive players should worship Bragi for his Flaming Weapons God Power and Swine Array technology, which will be useful when fighting off Gargarensis’ units later on. If there is still time and resources permit it, the Ulfsarks should build a second Town Center on the Settlement to the south as well as begin building some Hill Forts.

Defending the Town
When ten minutes have passed, Arkantos, Ajax and Eitri will climb up onto the cliff that was originally blocked off by large boulders. To the east on the opposite cliff, Gargarensis and his army made up of various Norse units as well as Myrmidons will gather. Skult offers the heroes a chance to surrender so that they can receive a quick death rather than a painful one. Ajax orders their Ballista to shoot a Huskarl instead and taunts Skult into moving a little closer. With their offer rejected, the army pulls back and prepares to attack.

Gargarensis will begin sending units in small waves, ranging from small groups of Myth Units to decent sized armies of soldiers, usually made up of Hippikons, Jarls and Toxotes. Players should simply continue to train Hersirs to support their campaign heroes, as well as soldiers that can counter whatever is attacking. Jarls can handle both Myth Units and archers while Ulfsarks are the closest unit the Norse have to a counter cavalry, so these can be mass produced. Throwing Axemen may also be used as they can attack from behind the safety of walls but are not effective against these types of units. Once ready to advance to the Mythic Age, players should worship Baldr to train Fire Giants. Their ranged attack makes them better support than Throwing Axemen. Meanwhile, additional technologies should be researched to improve units and increase their longevity. Gargarensis will eventually train Portable Rams to take out the player’s defensive buildings but the Jarls and Fire Giants (and any other melee unit as a matter of fact) will be able to counter these.

There are plenty of Gold Mines in Draupnir but should players run out of Gold, they can cast Dwarven Mine to prolong mining operations. If needed, a small Market route can be set up. Sometime after the attacks begin, Gargarensis will attempt to cast Pestilence if they can get a glimpse of the player’s buildings. He may train Pegasi to scout the player’s base to accomplish this. Even more alarming is that Gargarensis may also cast an Underworld Passage to bring three waves of attack behind the player’s defenses, not far from where Odysseus is due to appear. If he is successful, players should waste no time to defeat them and destroy the passage. The campaign heroes will be especially useful for this task as one of the waves will consist of Cyclopes, which are extremely dangerous to human soldiers.

Attacking Gargarensis
Before the timer runs out, players should make sure that their population limit has been reached. After twenty minutes have passed, Odysseus will arrive with an army of Myrmidons, Hetarois and Centaurs. The player’s final objective is now to gather all their units and head directly for Gargarensis’ revealed position. Ragnarok may also be cast if the player wants a higher chance of success. However, the path to Gargarensis, marked by a breached wall belonging to the Giants, is almost completed undefended with only a few enemy units that will be encountered along the way. Otherwise, Gargarensis is literally sitting in the open only protected by two Cyclopes who will be easily overrun by the player’s army. Once Gargarensis has received enough damage, the player will be rewarded with victory.

Additional Tips

 * Defensive structures can be built atop the cliff where the cinematic that follows the ten minute countdown takes place. They should remain safely out of range of enemy attacks as Gargarensis does not have access to any ranged siege units.
 * Players should spread out their unit production buildings to mitigate the effects of Pestilence.
 * Additional walls can be built around the ice terrain where Gargarensis will attempt to cast his Underworld Passage. This will hold off attacks long enough for the player to retaliate. A gate can be created if Odysseus’ army appears within so they can pass through.

Loophole
The ten minute countdown does not start until the Town Center has been built. If players are patient, they can instead task their Gatherers into collecting resources and build all necessary buildings before building the Town Center, granting the player a head start. This will result in a very slow game however. Players can also build all ten houses first, that way when the Town Center is built, they will granted extra population when the Mining Town’s existing houses convert to their color.

Closing Cinematic
Odysseus explains that he was almost home when he dreamt of his home in ruins and Athena spoke to him. This helped him decide to turn around and follow Arkantos to assist him in the Norselands. With Gargarensis’ army defeated, Arkantos decides it is best to find ships and sail back to Atlantis. Meanwhile, Ajax stands beside a bound Gargarensis asking Arkantos if the Cyclops isn’t better off a prisoner. When the Atlantean admiral declares that their foe shall never set foot on Atlantis, Ajax beheads the Cyclops as revenge for Chiron’s death.

Trivia

 * This scenario marks Reginleif, Brokk and Eitri’s final appearance in the Fall of the Trident.