An Old Enemy

An Old Enemy
Scenario information
Game	Age of Empires: Return of Rome
Campaign	Trajan
Civilization	Romans
Color	Red
Scenario no.	4
Previous	Heads Will Roll
Next	Blood in the Water
Achievements
You Have No Power Here!: Lose less than 5 units to conversion

An Old Enemy is the fourth scenario of the Trajan campaign in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Return of Rome. It follows the initial events of Trajan's Parthian campaign (113-115) against Osroes I.

Intro

Many past emperors buckled under the weight of ruling such a large empire because they tried to micromanage it all. From them I have learned a crucial lesson: In Rome, to govern is to delegate.

Fortitude, ambition, and resolve paved the road to the imperial palace, but it is honor, diligence, and respect that keeps one there. My people respect and care for me because I do the same for them.

Yet, above all I hold the virtue and dignity of Rome herself most dear. Her prestige grew once more when I incorporated Nabataea as her newest province, but recently came under attack from a predictable direction.

For decades, an uneasy peace between Rome and rival Parthia was hallowed by joint influence over Armenia, a state that served as little more than a buffer to defuse tensions. Now, the Parthian king Osroes has broken this agreement and seized the land for his own.

The Parthian army is formidable, but I did not become emperor by building shields after arrows were shot my way. The frontier legions are clamoring for action, and it is about time that we put our nefarious eastern neighbor in its place.

Scenario instructions

Starting conditions

• Starting Age: Iron Age
• Starting resources: 1,500 food, 1,000 wood, 1,000 gold, 200 stone
• Population limit: 75
• Starting units:
  • 2 Scouts
  • 6 Cavalry
  • 10 Broad Swordsmen
  • 2 Stone Throwers
  • 2 Helepolis
  • 3 Fishing Ships

Objectives

Main objectives

• Defeat Armenia.
• Defeat Parthia.

Secondary objectives

• Destroy Nabataea's Town Center.

Hints

1. Trajan begins in the Iron Age and can support a population limit of 75.
2. Aggression is crucial. If you do not crush Armenia in time to help Hadrian against Parthia, he will be overwhelmed.
3. When limited resources are available, it is best to try and specialize in a couple of troop types rather than trying to field everything.
4. The client kingdom of Nabataea will feed you and Hadrian with much-needed supplies.
5. Protect your siege weapons. Towers will be a big problem if you cannot.

Scouts

• Trajan (1, Red) leads an army against Parthian Armenia from the north.
• Hadrian (2, Purple) attacks from the west, fielding his trademark army of infantry and mounted units, as well as some siege engines.
• Nabataea (3, Yellow) lies to the southwest and has been tasked with keeping the Roman army supplied.
• Armenia (4, Orange) controls several fortresses in the highlands and mountains dominating the center and northeast of the map. These are defended by infantry, archers, and Priests.
• Parthia (5, Blue) dominates the south and southeast of the map with mounted units and siege engines.

Players

Player

• Player ( Romans): The player begins with an army and a military base in the northern corner of the map, along with a Dock on a pond with fish. The player can eventually access an economy and Villagers near Hadrian's starting position after passing through Armenia.

Allies

• Hadrian ( Romans) leads his forces from the west where he has set up a base, and will skirmish with Parthian soldiers over the territory of Nabataea.

Allies → Enemies

• Nabataea ( Palmyrans) lies in the southwest of the map, between Hadrian's base and Parthia, Despite fielding many Camel Riders, they'll initially stay out of the fighting, but instead tribute resources to both Roman players: 500 food, 500 wood, 500 gold, 100 stone every five game minutes. After 30 game minutes, they rebel and ally themselves with the Parthians.

Enemies

• Armenia ( Persians) consists of several settlements in the Caucasus mountains that the player must pass through before they can rendezvous with Hadrian's forces. Each of their settlements are defended with several towers, and the last one is a walled city. They will not attack beyond their territories, but will defend it with Broad Swordsmen, Priests, and Composite Bowmen.
• Parthia ( Persians) is ruled by King Osroes commanding from a large fortified city in the south of the map, and fielding a large army of Cavalry, Horse Archer, and Stone Thrower lines. They will initially focus their attacks on Hadrian.

Strategy

It is advisable to not create too many Fishing Ships at the beginning, as there is limited fish in the pond. The starting resources can be utilized to upgrade and train more Long Swordsmen, Ballistae, and Catapults, and research important technologies like Engineering and Ballistics. Catapults are devastating to enemy buildings, while upgraded Ballistae can rapidly eliminate enemy troops, including the long-ranged Armenian Priests.

To obtain the achievement, "You Have No Power Here!" (where five or less units are converted), the player can use Helepolises to out-range the Armenian Priests and mow them down as soon as they come into view, and use Chariots / Scythe Chariots for melee work as they have a far longer average time to convert. After defeating the Armenians the player can rest easy, as no other faction uses Priests.

When reaching the southeastern edge of the map, the player will have a choice: move south across the shallows / bridge to the Parthian fortress, or through the mountain pass to the northwest to wipe out what's left of Armenia. It's strongly advisable to leave Parthia alone for now, as it fields hordes of advanced troops.

The player will be able to set up camp after defeating Armenia, when they can access the area northwest to the last Armenian stronghold, northeast of Hadrian's base. This grants access to a Town Center, a Temple, ten Villagers, two Priests, and several other buildings. Therefore, the faster that Armenia is destroyed, the easier it will be to deal with Parthia, which can then be faced before they fully upgrade their entire army.

The Parthians rarely launch raids from the northeast gate of their fortress, but a single stray Cataphract can ruin the player's economy, so it's advisable to wall up that approach - far enough back that it won't draw attention from the waiting Catapults. By the time Trajan has set up camp, Hadrian will likely be coming under pressure from Parthia. Send Villagers and troops urgently to fortify Hadrian's unwalled base; while the game will still continue if Hadrian is wiped out, it does make things harder. The player can then decide whether they want to attack Parthia from the western route, past Hadrian and Nabataea, or from the eastern route, near Armenia's former stronghold. Set up military buildings near the battle line ready to rapidly reinforce.

The Parthians are arguably the toughest enemy in Trajan's campaign. On Hard difficulty they send out swarms of Cataphracts, Heavy Horse Archers and Catapults, which is a versatile combination capable of eliminating most of the player's military options. Its Horse Archers are very mobile and will use hit-and-run tactics, so they are best countered with ranged units such as Helepolises. However even a death-ball quantity of Helepolises can still be sniped by Catapults or mobbed by the sheer number of Cataphracts. At the very least, give them an infantry meat shield: Legionaries can swamp enemies with numbers (as they're cheap, trained quickly and can be fielded in double numbers with Logistics), but Centurions will be far more durable to Catapult and Cavalry damage. Catapults can be dealt with by out-sniping them with Heavy Catapults, or keeping a mobile squad of Scythe Chariots ready to close the gap and take them out in melee.

After Nabataea rebels, destroying its Town Center transfers the control of all its remaining units and buildings to the player (except buildings under construction). It's possible to betray them first by changing diplomacy to Enemy or Neutral and wiping out their Town Center early. However the units and buildings still won't transfer to Trajan's control until 30 game minutes, and Nabatea will continue sending tribute until that point even if it's defeated. If the player would prefer to beat Nabatea without betraying them, try baiting their Camel Riders away from the towers and wiping them out with infantry and Helepolises, then destroy their northwestern tower to be able to position siege weapons to safely attack the Town Center from the west. Alternatively simply sit a horde of elite infantry next to the Town Center ready for the 30-minute mark.

Even once all other threats are eliminated and the player is sitting across the river from the Parthian fortress, the scenario can still pose a challenge. No matter how powerful its raids may seem, the city will still keep reserves behind to defend its fortress - and the walls are thick, the gates double-layered, and the entire perimeter is bristling with Guard Towers. One potential strategy is to set up several layers of walls with Priests behind them. Walls on their own are vulnerable to Catapults, Priests without walls are vulnerable to Cataphracts. But if the player can halt and convert the incoming Cataphracts, they can be sent out to attack the Catapults. Any Cataphracts remaining can then be pulled back through layers of gates and healed, ready for later. Conversions can swell Trajan's force beyond its normal limit, making the eventual push on the Parthian fortress more likely to succeed. Another approach that the player can do to defend their holdings is to build a Dock and train Triremes to intercept the Parthians attempting to cross the river. When the time finally comes, it may be worth launching a diversionary attack on the opposite side of the fortress, drawing Parthia's defenders away while the main attack begins. Once inside, send fast units to wipe out the Catapults, Villagers and Town Centers, but don't forget to keep up a stream of reinforcements.

Outro

Despite my hostility towards Parthia, it pains me to fight Osroes. His skill as a commander would be the envy of any leader, yet the discord tormenting his realm overshadows his talents. As he struggles in vain to stave off my invasion, he does so with one hand tied behind his back.

I see much of myself in him, and he offers a haunting glimpse into an alternate reality where I was born in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Seizing Armenia was an ambitious move. One could argue that it was an overstep, but did I not do the same, from another point of view, when I took Dacia and Nabataea?

I am no warmonger, and I have never loved it, but I cannot lie: on the battlefield, the anxieties of governance fade into the shadows as the simplicities of present survival come to the fore. Life just makes sense out here - and that is a notion that terrifies me.

Am I a hero or a monster? A genius or a madman?

Sometimes, the sole difference is success.

Trivia

• The use of Persian civilization for the Armenian player can be considered historically accurate, as various Persian kingdoms not only had a strong influence in the region (which includes the adoption of Zoroastrianism in Armenia), but also the Kingdom of Armenia during antiquity was historically known to have fielded heavy cavalry in the battlefield known as Ayrudzi, which the Persian civilization have all important upgrades on.
  • Despite Armenia's reputation for cavalry, the Artificial intelligence trains Broad Swordsmen, Composite Bowmen, and Priests (units that are considered average or suboptimal for the Persian civilization). This is possibly done so for gameplay purposes, as this army composition is relatively easy for the Roman player to deal with (as opposed to a more threatening army composition of cavalry and Catapults from the Parthian player).
• Upon reaching the second Armenian base, a legate will say he "heard of a Greek who walked the opposite way five centuries ago". He is actually talking about Xenophon and his participation to the Ten Thousand expedition, depicted in the Xenophon's March scenario.