A Promising Warrior is the first scenario of the Prithviraj campaign in Age of Empires II HD: The Forgotten. This scenario does not exist in the Definitive Edition, having been replaced by Born of Fire.
Intro[]
My name is Chand Barhai, court poet of the Chauhan Dynasty. This is a chronicle of the greatest king of Punjab, Prithviraj Chauhan, and his love Sanyogita of the Gaharwar Dynasty. I want to ensure that people will remember the story of my friend. Prithviraj and I were born in the same year. I believe destiny chose me to be the one to chronicle his story. I will make sure this tale will be passed down through the ages.
Prithviraj's courage came from his love. All people are born with the ability to love, though they must learn it at first. The hatred in some men's hearts overwhelms their love and they become fearful. When we were children, we knew no fear. We were so carefree. I was a child poet assigned to a child prince, and I would accompany him on his adventures. How else was I to write about the life of Prithviraj Chauhan?
Even in those days, Prithviraj was a courageous prince, always fighting in battles for his father. The people loved him, and he took great care to help the commoners. He would always ask me to exaggerate his feats, but he was indeed noble. There was one particular adventure, a hunting trip, that turned into a battle against the Solanki king, Bhimdev. Listen well, my friends, to my chronicle, to the Prithviraj Raso!
Objectives[]
- Prithviraj must survive.
- Chand Bhai must survive.
Main objectives[]
- (subsequently) Visit the teal village.
- (subsequently) Witness the village source of wealth.
- (subsequently) Tread into the jungle and meet someone.
- (subsequently) Beat Sanyogita's champion to gain her love.
- (subsequently) Master the art of shooting blindly.
Secondary objectives[]
- Bring Pirthvi to the horse to mount him.
- Bring Chand Bai to the donkey to mount him.
- (subsequently) Bring the ships to the drydock to the west.
- (subsequently) Slay the tiger.
- (subsequently) Slay the wolf pack's leader.
- (subsequently) Liberate the Town (yellow) across the river.
- (subsequently) Finish the watch tower to protect the town.
Hints[]
- Always keep your troops together. Spreading out is of no advantage.
- Protect your healer.
- There is no need to limit yourself to one quest. But eventually, as you go along a questline all other quests will be locked.
- All quest lines have different endings, resulting in three different ways to win the scenario.
- If you are going to hunt, keep a lot of archers alive. If you are going to attack Bhimdev Solanki, keep a lot of melee units alive.
- During the hunt you can heal Prithvi byeating berries from forage bushes.
Scouts[]
- You are a young prince (Orange) eager to prove yourself by hunting.
- Your father, the king (Green) thinks you should visit the guru Ram Purohit (Yellow) in the mountains.
- Talks of a new foe (Red) have reach Delhi. This new foe has an encampment south of the river.
- There are bridges across the river - one at Delhi Harbor and one at the Mining Town to the east.
- In this scenario you are limited to the Feudal Age and can't advance further.
Players[]
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Player[]
- Player (
Indians): The player will take control of Prithvi and Chand Bhai.
Allies[]
- Chauhan Army (colored orange before patch 4.1) ( Indians): A placeholder player holding the player's units whenever not allowed to be used.
- Indian Village ( Indians): Located in the east, known as the "teal village" in the game. Prithviraj must pass by this village before visiting Guru Ram Purohit. The villagers will invite Prithviraj to go south and see their wealth, but Prithviraj will be ambushed by Bhimdev Solanki's troops there.
- Indian Towns ( Indians): Consists of two Solanki-occupied towns. The player is recommended to liberate the west town (across the river) and take over nearly the entire town after building a Watch Tower before defeating the Solankis. The player may liberate the mining town in the east to repair the two bridges - one leads to the west town, another leads to the teal village.
- Raja Someshwar ( Indians): Prithviraj's father, and the ruler of Ajmer, located at the northern tip of the map. He is possessing some Chauhan possessions (such as the dry dock) as well as the military units which will join the player later.
Enemies[]
- Bandits (colored cyan before patch 4.1) ( Indians): Effectively a placeholder player possessing three Archers in Indian Towns.
- Bhimdev Solanki ( Indians): The main enemy of the player, at war with the Chauhans. As Prithviraj bring his troops out of Ajmer, they will encounter invasion by the Solanki troops. There are Solanki troops at various spots, some occupying Indian towns. The player may opt to win the game by destroying the Solanki Castle in the southwest.
- Koteshwar Temple (colored yellow before patch 4.1) ( Indians): Effectively a placeholder player possessing Sanyogita's champion (would be transferred from "Indian Village") to be defeated by Prithviraj, if he chooses to meet the Guru and meets Sanyogita. There are two "Koteshwar Temples" in the game - one in the southeast (where the Guru resides), another near the middle of the map (in the town to be liberated from the Solanki occupation).
Strategy[]
Map upon player obtaining initial units
The player is playing as Prithviraj. After a chat with his father, Raja Someshwar, the player will take control of Prithvi and Chand Bhai- a healer. While Prithviraj wishes to go hunting, his father would like him to meet the Guru, Ram Purohit, to seek for advice and get ready for marriage.
As they move out of Someshwar's Castle, the player will collect some troops consisting of spearmen, crossbowmen and cavalry archers. As they leave Someshwar's base, the player will face Bhimdev Solanki's invasion and must defeat the invaders. Chand Bhai will wonder why there was no alert or warning from the tower. Once Prithvi arrives at the "withering bacon" near Someshwar's Watch Tower, the player receives a secondary (optional) objective to investiGate the matter by going northeast and meeting some soldiers whom the player will obtain. These soldiers say that they are thirsty after being surrounded by the enemy and are grateful for the rescue. Note that they have lost some hitpoints which can be recovered by Chand Bhai.
While heading south, the player will encounter some enemies to be defeated, before being requested by a Mahouts to liberate an Indian Town southward from Bhimdev. At this point, the player has three main objectives to choose - hunting, meeting the Guru, or defeating Bhimdev.
In the western-central area, there are three badly damaged transport ships which the player is asked to bring them across the river to be repaired at the dry dock. While this is considered an associated objective with the hunting one, it can actually be used to fulfill the other two major objectives, as there are two broken bridges - one to the Indian Town mentioned above, another to the Indian Village ("teal village"). There are three soldiers ready for the player. No matter what, the three transport ships will be damaged again at some point, and if the player did not send them for repair, the ships would be sunk at this point.
The player may opt to move east to fulfill another secondary objective, which is to liberate a mining town from Bhimdev's occupation, in order to repair the two bridges and obtain some troops.
Another associated objective for hunting would be killing a tiger, upon a villager's request. The player would encounter Bhimdev's troops before reaching this.
Liberating the Bhimdev-occupied Indian town across the river is an associated objective with defeating Bhimdev. The player shall kill all the enemies in the town. As the player killed all the existing occupying forces, there will be a band of light cavalry from Bhimdev marching in the town, and the player must kill them all in order to liberate the town.
Visiting the teal village in the east is the first associated objective with meeting the Guru. The villagers will invite Prithvi to travel further south to explore their source of wealth, and the player would be ambushed by Bhimdev's troops. After defeating them, the player would be suggested to make Prithvi ride on a horse (becoming a cavalry archer) while Chand Bhai rides on a donkey (turning into a missionary).
Go hunting[]
If the player has decided to go for hunting, go to the hunting ground in the west, and the player will only retain control over Prithvi, the crossbowmen, and cavalry archers, while the rest (including Chand Bhai) are transferred to the "Chauhan army". The player must kill a bear before proceeding to kill wolves, before killing the King of the Wolves. Along the way, Prithvi may eat berries to replenish his HP.
The player will encounter an Iron Boar after crossing the river on top of a waterfall. The player should lure the Iron Boar into the river by retreating, instead of attempting to kill it; The boar will drown at the waterfall. Finally, as the player meets the King of the Wolves, only Prithvi will remain under the player's control. If Prithvi was riding on the horse which he obtained at the south of the teal village, he will dismount and return to his crossbowman form. The player may need to deploy a hit-and-run strategy while killing the great wolf, and eat berries around there to heal. Once the King of the Wolves is killed, Prithvi will then meet his future wife Sanyogita who was waiting for him there. The scenario is won.
Meeting the Guru[]
If the player chooses to meet the Guru the player will lose control over all units, except Prithvi, to the Chauhan army. Prithvi will have to meet the Guru (Ram Purohit) alone at the Koteshwar Temple. There he will instruct Prithvi to go north, where he will meet his future wife, Sanyogita. She will ask him to defeat her champion (similar to the first objective in the Brother against Brother scenario of the El Cid campaign). Then Prithvi will go back to the Guru and follow him to the riverside to master the "art of shooting blindly". Prithvi must shoot the three dolls across the river in 9 seconds. Failure in doing so will require repeating the training until successful, thus winning the scenario.
Defeating Bhimdev Solanki[]
If the player chooses to defeat Bhimdev Solanki, build a Watch Tower with the three villagers temporary obtained by the player. The foundation would be laid there by the system, and this Watch Tower has exceptionally strong attack. Once completed, the player would take control over the whole newly liberated town (except the trade workshop) and receive tributes from the Indian Towns. The player may create troops from Barracks, Archery Range and Stable. Bhimdev would keep attacking with a fixed routine of sending a cavalry archer and a light cavalry together, and then send a Long Swordsman.
In order to defeat Bhimdev, the player must destroy his Castle, and this would require siege units. There are three Siege Rams which the player will obtain after killing all of Bhimdev's soldiers there, consisting of Eastern Swordmen and pikemen. The player may load spearmen and pikemen into the three rams and quickly destroy the Castle. Once the Castle is gone, Prithvi's future wife, Sanyogita, would appear, and if Prithvi was there, she would tell Prithvi that she was looking for him and got captured by Bhimdev's forces. The scenario is won.
Outro[]
Even with Bhimdev's soldiers hammering at the gates of the temple, "Nandini" and "Prithnanni" were calmed when they looked into each other's eyes. Love at first sight. We came to learn that Nandini was actually the princess Sanyogita of Kannauj, daughter of Raja Jaichand. Jaichand and Sanyogita's clan, the Gaharwars, hated the Chauhans. It was as if the two were not meant to be, yet love finds a way.
Trivia[]
- In this scenario, there are three Furious the Monkey Boy appearances, where they are actually the three "dolls" which the player must shoot in 9 seconds to master the "art of shooting blindly" (if the player has opted to meet the Guru).
Bugs and changes[]
- Orange color for Chauhan Army player was used, replacing the color gray from the The Forgotten version in Rise of the Rajas.
- Yellow color for Koteshwar Temple player was used, replacing the color blue from the The Forgotten version in Rise of the Rajas.
- Gray color for Bandits player was used, replacing the color purple from the The Forgotten version in Rise of the Rajas.
- All of these changes were reverted in a later update.
