| “ | Defend! Troy will never fall! | ” |
| —Trojan soldier | ||
A Fine Plan is the fourth scenario of the Fall of the Trident campaign in Age of Mythology. The main objective is to destroy one of the Trojan Gates after cutting off the city's resource income. Odysseus is also introduced in this scenario.
Summary[]
| “ | The Greeks and their Atlantean allies prepare to lay siege to the mighty Trojan gate. | ” |
| —Scenario description | ||
With Arkantos and Odysseus' forces now combined, Agamemnon decides to put his plan in action to attack the Trojan gate head on to rescue Helen. Before going forward with the destruction of the Trojan Gate, they must find a source of Gold and cut off Cyzicus' trade route with the city of Troy.
Scenario instructions[]
Starting conditions[]
- Starting age:
Classical Age - Starting resources: 800 food, 650 wood, 65 favor
- Starting population limit: 80
- Starting units:
- Starting technologies and upgrades: Medium Ranged Soldiers, Medium Infantry
- Starting god powers: Bolt, Restoration
Differences between difficulty levels[]
- On Easy, there are fewer units guarding the Trojan Gold Mines. The Trojans also do not have a Petrobolos positioned on a cliff guarding their main gate. Cyzicus does not have a Watch Tower guarding its Docks. Cyzicus waits longer before building Triremes and attacking the player's ships.
- On Hard and Titan, the Trojans have more units guarding their Gold Mines. Troy and Cyzicus attack sooner and more often. The player does not begin with any Watch Towers in their base.
Objectives[]
- Find and take a Gold Mine from the Trojans.
(Be prepared to fight for any Gold Mine that you find, and then defend them from Trojan counter-attacks once captured.) - Train an army and destroy the Trojan West Gate.
(Build siege weapons from a Fortress building to add to your army.)
Spotlight[]
In addition to using Villagers to hunt or farm, Fishing Ships can also be used to gather Food from fishes. Each school of fish can only be worked by one Fishing Ship at a time, but the Fish supply will never go away. You must sink enemy Fishing Ships in order to use their fish. Fishing can produce Food quickly, but your ships may be vulnerable to enemy warships.
Players[]
- Arkantos ( Zeus): They begin in the Classical Age worshipping Athena, with Arkantos, Odysseus, a Kataskopos, several Hippeis and Hoplites and a Helepolis, as well as numerous military buildings and two Docks.
Neutral[]
- Ruins ( Zeus): Consists merely of a single Shrine and some Fallen Columns. Solely decorative function, but there are Relics near them.
- Odysseus ( Zeus): Certain units belong to this player during the cutscene. During the gameplay, all this player has left are some fences near the tents.
Enemies[]
- Troy ( Zeus): Though their primary city is protected by mighty walls, they have fortifications on the outside. They will harass the player throughout the scenario.
- Cyzicus ( Zeus): An ally of Troy that supplies them with gold and sends Toxotai to harass the player from land. They may also raid the shores with Triremes.
Strategy[]
This guide is applied to hard difficulty. It is, of course, also applicable for the other grades of difficulty.
Although the player starts with no gold at all, they have all the units they'll need for their first objectives. To make the scenario easier in the long run, they must immediately send their troops ahead to seek out the two Gold Mines occupied by the Trojans. These are guarded by Toxotes but the Hippikons are effective against them. By killing the Trojan villagers, the Gold can now be claimed and the next objective will be given. Stopping Troy from mining gold will also reduce the number of soldiers they'll train. Destroying their storehouses will grant additional gold. Additional gold mines guarded by enemy Hippikons are found further North East but the Hoplites, supported by the two heroes will easily take them out. After having all the Villagers tasked to gather resources, it will be very important to keep an eye on them as Troy will regularly attempt to raid them.
An additional Medium Gold Mine is located on a small island not far from the docks and is guarded by Trojan Toxotes. The Trireme can reach and kill it before transporting villagers over once the Gold on land runs out. Troy has a Town Center North West of the starting Town Center that has Donkey Caravans trading Gold with their Market. The Helepolis can tear it down but it will need an escort for protection from nearby soldiers. Once destroyed, the newly available Settlement can be claimed for more population. Not far from it is a Relic guarded by a Medusa. Sending Arkantos or Odysseus will make it easy to retrieve.
There are plenty of fishing spots to exploit at sea but Cyzicus will eventually send Triremes to disrupt all fishing operations and may even transport Toxotes to attack. Towers can be built or Toxotes can be trained to counter these attacks, but it may be best to forfeit the docks in order to concentrate on the raids. Players can always attack Cyzicus to stop them but only destroying the Trojan Gate is needed to secure victory.
Troy and Cyzicus will regularly attack with Hippikons, Hoplites and a Petrobolos. The player can train their own Hoplites to handle all three as they receive excellent bonuses from Athena and Zeus. Training Minotaurs is easy as they primarily cost Food which plentiful on this map and they will add considerable bulk to the army and aid with the destruction of buildings. It is recommended to research Labyrinth of Minos to lower their cost. Interestingly, Troy will also regularly send Pegasi and Kataskopos to lure the player's units into chasing it and wander away from the Town Center.
Players should advance to the Heroic Age as quickly as possible to strengthen their soldiers. Dionysus is an ideal choice as he grants Bronze and the Hydra, another myth unit that deals considerable Crush Damage. Troy will continue to attack the player base even if Cyzicus or their own buildings are under attack so it is recommended to have some troops remain back to defend. Walls can even by built in some of the passes to delay the attacks and to focus them in an area where they can be intercepted by the player's awaiting army. Once the player's army is strong enough, they head straight for the Trojan Gate to destroy it. Troy will cast Ceasefire, or even Lightning Storm if they're allowed to reach the Mythic Age, so casting Bronze will need to be timed carefully as to not waste its potential.
The player can actually breach Troy without destroying the objective Gate, by choosing Apollo as the Heroic Age minor god and invoking Underworld Passage with one end just inside Troy. The player should also have a powerful army to clear the enemy buildings nearby to prevent them from destroying the passage. Once this is done, the player can simply wipe out Troy from the inside.
For Titan difficulty[]
- Their naval forces are quite strong and attacks are frequent; creating a war on the sea is not advisable. A few towers around the northern harbor should be enough to withstand these attacks.
- Walls around the settlement on the left will provide a safe and steady income of gold.
- Advancing to the Heroic Age through Apollo is a good idea, as the player can travel to the pink site (on the right) and launch an attack, their defense are weak and they only have Toxotes to defend, so cavalry is very useful here.
- Once the player has taken their base and destroyed their docks, the player can start to spam Fishing Boats and send Villagers to the small adjacent island (Warning: there are 2 Toxotes guarding there)
- Keep launching attacks on Gold Mines and destroy their market to impact Troy's economy massively.
Trivia[]
- Troy's Kataskopos respawns near their Main Town Center when killed.
- Although Arkantos strongly suggests destroying Troy's caravans, killing them only provokes attacks, as the Troy player is given near-limitless resources in this scenario, and in fact allow Troy to train more units with the freed population.
- This is the first scenario in the game where a secondary opponent is present in a different color, which is purple. (Cyzicus in this case)
- Cyzicus's appearance is a blatant anachronism, as the city was founded during the Archaic Age, not during the Bronze Age.
- Also, the place Cyzicus is sited isn't correct, as it was founded further, to the eastern parts of the Hellespont, than Troy.
- A more accurate allied town would be Colonae, or Pedasus, although an even more accurate choice would be Zeleia, a town at the foothold of Mount Ida, and allies of the Trojans according to Homer.
Gallery[]
