| “ | That sound is becoming familiar... | ” |
| —Arkantos | ||
Beneath the Surface is the twenty-eighth scenario of the Fall of the Trident campaign in Age of Mythology. The main objective is to defeat Gargarensis' Fire Giants guarding the Giant Gate Ram.
Summary[]
The heroes pass through the Well of Urd and enter Niflheim. Shortly after, they hear a familiar sound indicating that Gargarensis has already begun breaking open the gate. Now aware of who hides beyond it, Arkantos and the others must attempt to stop the ram, starting by eliminating the Fire Giants guarding it.
Scenario instructions[]
Starting conditions[]
- Starting age:
Classical Age - Starting resources: 500 food, 210 wood, 200 gold, 30 favor
- Starting population limit: 55
- Starting units:
- Starting technologies and upgrades: Pickaxe, Hunting Dogs, Hand Axe
- Starting god powers: Dwarven Mine, Healing Spring
Differences between difficulty levels[]
- On Easy, the player will start in the Heroic Age (worshipping Skadi) and will have Iron Shields, Iron Armor, Iron Weapons, and Heavy Infantry researched. Gargarensis will have fewer Fire Giants guarding the path to the Giant Gate Ram.
- On Moderate, the player will start in the Heroic Age (worshipping Skadi), but will not have any additional upgrades researched.
- On Hard, the player will start in the Classical Age, and Gargarensis' forces in Midgard will start with more resources.
- On Titan, Gargarensis' forces in Midgard will start with even more resources and will have Watch Towers defending their camp.
Objectives[]
- Kill the Fire Giants that guard the Gate Ram before the Tartarus Gate opens.
(Build up a base around the entrance to the Well of Urd and send troops through the Well into the Underworld. Plenty of gold can be found in the Underworld, but buildings cannot be placed there.)
Players[]
- Arkantos ( Odin; Thor before Retold): The player begins with their forces divided in two, with Arkantos, Amanra, Ajax, Chiron, and Reginleif in Niflheim, near the Underworld exit of the Well of Urd, while their other units and starting base remain on the surface in Midgard, near the Well's other exit. They must quickly build up their forces to defeat the units guarding the Giant Gate Ram before the Hades Gate is broken. Their starting base consists of four Tents and a Town Center.
Neutral[]
- ErebusGate ( Loki): This player consists of the Tartarus Gate, gradually losing hit points as it is being struck by the Giant Gate Ram, as well as two statues of Loki at the entrance to the Well of Urd at the surface.
Enemies[]
- Gargarensis ( Loki): Consists of the Giant Gate Ram and six Fire Giants, as well as the many other units that will protect them, mainly Trolls and Throwing Axemen.
- Gargarensis ( Loki): This enemy is located on the surface and starts in the Archaic Age. After aging up, they will regularly scout the player's base with Berserks to look for raiding opportunities and harass the player as they try to build up their forces.
Strategy[]
This guide is applied to hard difficulty. It is, of course, also applicable for the other grades of difficulty.
The first goal is to get a solid income so the player must immediately train more Gatherers and Dwarves and task the existing ones onto hunting the nearby wildlife. Farming will not be necessary in this scenario so it is best to research Pig Sticker to increase food income. A few Gatherers can gather wood which will be needed to construct a Dwarven Armory. The Healing Spring god power should also be cast on the surface. Meanwhile, the Dwarves and one Ox Cart should be sent to the Underworld to begin gathering the only safe supply of gold. As Chiron is the fastest hero, he should pick up the Relics found in the Underworld.
Both ends of the Well of Urd must be protected from attacks so for the time being, the campaign heroes can stand guard in Niflheim to protect it from myth units, though Gargarensis' forces there will not attack unless provoked. There is an enemy town in Midgard located north of the player's Town Center which will train Ulfsarks and Raiding Cavalry. To prevent harassment throughout the scenario, the player can begin training Ulfsarks of their own as well as Throwing Axemen to get rid of it. After advancing to the Heroic Age through Skadi, a Hill Fort should be built to train a couple of Portable Rams. Once a decent sized army is available, the player can send it to wipe out the enemy camp in Midgard. Once finished, the Portable Rams can be deleted and all other available troops can be sent to the Underworld. There should still be plenty of time left until the Tartarus Gate is broken.
Gargarensis' Underworld forces will consist mainly of Trolls and Fire Giants but also of Throwing Axemen and Jarls. Therefore, Raiding Cavalry and Hersirs should be trained to assist the campaign heroes in pushing towards the Giant Gate Ram. Frost Giants may also be trained using the favor accumulated while fighting on the surface as their breath will make it easier to defeat the Fire Giants. Once a large force is assembled, the army can follow the path to the Gate with Arkantos in the lead to grant the other units a morale boost when fighting. Upon arriving near the Gate, all units should focus their attacks on the six Fire Giants. Random units will come charging in from nearby and myth units may even spawn in large numbers in retaliation. Frost can be cast to stop them from disturbing the player's army as they take out the Giants one by one. Once all the Fire Giants are killed, the player will be rewarded with victory.
Additional tips[]
- The speedrun strategy for this scenario is to gather enough resources to advance to the Heroic Age with Skadi, run all the player's starting units to the ram, cast Frost on the large defending army, and kill the six fire giants while the rest of the army is frozen.
- The player's base in Midgard can be raided from either side of the well so it is best to keep all worker units on one side to make it easier to monitor their activity.
- The player may advance to the Mythic Age to strengthen their units further but it is not necessary. If they do, they should choose Baldr in the event that they must cast Ragnarok to supplement their army with Heroes of Ragnarok.
- The Erebus terrain prevents the construction of buildings so everything must be built in Midgard.
Loopholes[]
Even on Titan difficulty, the cyan player starts in the Archaic Age with few units, so raids on the player's Midgard base can be entirely prevented by sending the player's five heroes to pre-emptively destroy the cyan player at the beginning of the scenario.
Closing cinematic[]
Due to the sudden appearance of multiple Einherjar and Fire Giants, Arkantos orders an immediate retreat to the Well of Urd. Seeing how the Fire Giants are in close pursuit of the heroes, Chiron suddenly turns around to face them. Despite protests by Arkantos, the Centaur orders them to continue and proceeds to knock down a giant boulder. This stops the Fire Giants in their tracks but ultimately traps him with the giants, who take no time in burning him. As Arkantos watches Chiron die, Amanra urges him to continue as there is no more they can do for their friend.
In Retold, an exclusive upgraded Fire Giant is already very close to the heroes. When Chiron goes back to bring down the rock, the Fire Giant throws a fireball at Chiron, but misses. Confused, Chiron takes the opportunity and causes the rock to collapse, crushing and killing the Fire Giant.
Trivia[]
- This is one of three scenarios where the Giant Gate Ram makes an appearance. The other two are Revelation and Unlikely Heroes.
- The two statues to Odin previously seen in The Well of Urd have mysteriously turned into two statues to Loki.
- Gargarensis' forces on the surface may have been deliberately set with the cyan team color as a way to warn the player that there are unseen enemies in this scenario when they advance to the Classical Age.
- This is Chiron's final appearance in Fall of the Trident.
- The player may opt to destroy the Giant Gate Ram before eliminating all Fire Giants. This, however, will not result in victory, but the Hades Gate will stop losing hit points.
- This is not likely to happen, since killing all Fire Giants is much easier than destroying the Ram.
- In Retold, the player's major god is now Odin instead of Thor.
- At least in the Extended Edition, there are traces of a "Phase 2" of this scenario that can be discovered via the editor. After killing all the Fire Giants and retreating, the player was supposed to actually defend the Well in Niflheim against the countdown timer and from the enemy forces seen in the cinematic outro. Some free reinforcements would be sent from the surface to assist. Instead, the scenario cuts to victory after completing the only objective.
Video[]
