Blood in the Water

Blood in the Water
Scenario information
Game	Age of Empires: Return of Rome
Campaign	Trajan
Civilization	Romans
Color	Red
Scenario no.	5
Previous	An Old Enemy

Blood in the Water is the fifth and final scenario of the Trajan campaign in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Return of Rome. It follows the latter events of Trajan's campaign in Parthia (115-117) against Osroes I.

Intro

The pages of history are littered with brilliant victors and foolish losers, but foolish victors and brilliant losers are in much more exclusive company.

I am not so arrogant as to call myself brilliant — others can do that for me, if they deem it just — but I am no fool, and my instincts have been sharpened by decades of fighting.

When a shark smells blood in the water, it attacks mercilessly. When news reached me of the civil war in Parthia, I resolved to do the same.

A pang of pity for Osroes struck me as I recalled the strife of my youth, but now that fortune has given me a chance to put a decisive end to an age-old rivalry, I cannot hesitate.

Rome knows two great seas today, but tomorrow it will know a third. We will seize Ctesiphon, the jewel of Parthia, and stride onward in the footsteps of Alexander until my legions glimpse the ocean.

If I succeed, I hope that history will remember Osroes as a brilliant loser — but how will I be remembered? How will Hadrian? How will Rome?

Scenario instructions

Starting conditions

• Starting Age: Iron Age
• Starting resources: 2,000 food, 2,000 wood, 1,500 gold, 500 stone
• Population limit: 100
• Starting technologies: Long Sword
• Starting units:
  • 1 Scout
  • 10 Broad Swordsmen (immediately upgraded to Long Swordsmen)
  • 2 Ballistae

Objectives

Main objectives

• Defeat Ctesiphon.

Secondary objectives

• Capture Mesopotamian enclaves (3, Grey) by defeating Parthian garrisons (4, Cyan).
• Destroy the Parthian garrison at Charax.

Hints

1. Trajan begins in the Iron Age and can support a population limit of 100.
2. Some buildings are initially unavailable to you. You can enable them by capturing Mesopotamian enclaves.
3. Roman buildings are cheap. Once you unlock more military buildings, do not be shy about constructing forward bases.
4. Build ships on the Tigris and Euphrates Rives to help your armies reach and attack Ctesiphon.
5. Nomadic bands scattered around the map will join your forces if you can locate them.

Scouts

• Trajan (1, Red) leads an army along the Euphrates River towards Ctesiphon from the west.
• Hadrian (2, Purple) attacks from the north. His infantry, mounted units, and siege engines will navigate along the Tigris River.
• Several Mesopotamian enclaves (3, Grey) lie along the Euphrates and Tigris and could serve as valuable launching pads for further attacks.
• They are guarded by a variety of Parthian troops (4, Cyan).
• The Parthian capital of Ctesiphon (5, Blue) dominates the southeast of the map. Its mounted units and elephants are the best that Parthia has to offer.
• The lucrative port of Charax (6, Yellow) lies to the southeast on the shores of the Persian Gulf.

Players

Player

• Player ( Romans): The player begins with an army in the western corner of the map.

Allies

• Hadrian ( Romans) leads his army from the north end, and will attempt to conquer the nearest enclave which then becomes his primary base.
• Charax ( Persians) is a trading port upon the Persian gulf in the southeast of the map, hosting a Parthian garrison. Once cleared of the enemy, Charax tributes both Roman factions 500 gold every five minutes.
• Mesopotamia ( Persians) consists of six enclaves (small villages) spread across the map. Their units and buildings can be captured once the enemy Parthian garrison is killed and tower destroyed. Three of them are near the player's starting position and always end up in the player's control once cleared, and the remaining three near Hadrian's and always go to his control if cleared. The two closest to the player and Hadrian's initial armies also contain a Town Center and Villagers.

Enemies

• Parthia ( Persians) controls several towers, and clusters of Swordsmen, Cavalry and Composite Bowmen set to defensive stance. Small groups hold the Mesopotamian enclaves, a larger force surrounds the trading port of Charax, and the biggest force guards Ctesiphon's economic town in the southeast.
• Ctesiphon ( Persians) is the capital of the Parthian empire, and must be defeated to emerge victorious. The city lies in the center of the map, accessible from land in the northwest, through shallows in the southwest, and over a bridge in the northeast. It features a double layered wall with towers, and fields Heavy Cavalry, Horse Archers, Catapults, Triremes and Elephant Archers. The fortress itself has few resources: Ctesiphon gains its gold from a mine just south of its walls, and most of its other resources from an unwalled town in the southeast of the map, which is defended by a large Parthian garrison and several towers.

Strategy

Both Roman players start with a small military force, and gain access to Villagers and buildings by clearing out the Parthian guards in the Mesopotamian enclaves dotted around the map. Below is a map of all the sites that can strengthen the Roman forces.

The Mesopotamian enclaves only have small enemy garrisons, and the buildings transfer to the Roman players after the Sentry Tower is destroyed. It doesn't matter which Roman player conquers the enclave, ownership always transfers to Hadrian in the north or Trajan in the south. Because the guarding units are set to defensive stance, they're easily picked off from a distance. Consider using Priests to convert them, especially the Cataphracts that guard Stables on Hard difficulty, which the Romans can't normally train. On harder difficulties, Hadrian may need help taking his Archery Range enclave. On any difficulty it's also advisable to block the nearby bridge with several layers of wall, as Ctesiphon will send a large force this way if its economic town in the east is attacked; they'll easily smash Hadrian's Archery Ranges.

The Parthians field much larger garrisons in the southeast, including swordsman-line units (Legionaries on Hard) as well as the Cavalry and Bowman-line units found at the enclaves. The southernmost force guards the trading port of Charax, including three Sentry Towers. When Charax is cleared, it will send a regular tribute to both Roman players, and its Markets and Ports become viable trade destinations. (Note though that the bridges are impassable to ships, so Merchant Ships to Charax's ports will have to come from the south side of the bridge.)

The toughest target outside the central fortress is Ctesiphon's economic town in the southeast, just north of Charax. This is Ctesiphon's main source of wood and food, so destroying it will slow his military production down to a trickle, and it has no military buildings. However it is extremely well defended, with an enormous Parthian garrison and several Guard Towers, and any attacks on it will bring Ctesiphon's troops swarming out of the fortress.

Ctesiphon has a couple more targets outside the fortress walls that are worth targeting, but keep in mind that any attacks will result in a powerful response. The most important is a Storage Pit next to the only gold on Ctesiphon's central island, just to the south of his walls. This is difficult to attack as it's within range of several towers and has a gate nearby, so will usually necessitate an attack by warships to avoid the towers and the flood of Cataphracts. If Ctesiphon's Villagers can be kept from this gold supply, it will leave the fortress economically crippled.

From the coast of Ctesiphon's economic town, it's possible to target the fortress's Docks across the river with siege weapons. It's highly recommended to bring these Docks down before building any warships, because Ctesiphon will immediately start churning out a swarm of War Galleys/Triremes as soon as Trajan recruits more than one warship. But if the Docks are destroyed, they won't be rebuilt, and Trajan can easily pick apart the fortress from the river.

It's a good idea to wall off the approaches from the central fortress early on. Ctesiphon will send out troops from the northern bridge if its eastern holdings are threatened, or across the southern shallows if its Gold Mine is attacked. But usually, Ctesiphon will send its forces overland to the west when it's ready, and neglect the other approaches. Expect to encounter numerous Catapults and fast units. To block these attacks, build multiple layers of wall outside the range of Ctesiphon's towers. When adding extra layers to the wall, don't add them right alongside the existing wall: leave 1 tile's gap, because the splash damage of Catapult shots will damage adjacent tiles. Keep Ballistae ready behind the walls to deal with Ctesiphon's Horse Archers and Catapults, with Priests to heal them up and convert enemy Cataphracts when they reach the wall. Any converted Elephant Archers will make excellent damage sponges when it's time to march on the fortress, too. Have plenty of military buildings close to the fortification, so reinforcements can arrive quickly.

Legionaries will be a little less useful here than in most of Trajan's scenarios. They're great for bringing down buildings and sweeping through the Parthian enclave guards, but in open combat they're very vulnerable to Ctesiphon's Heavy Horse Archers, Catapults and massed Guard Towers.

This scenario has a ticking clock, as eventually a Wonder will be built in the middle of the fortress, surrounded by Guard Towers. This happens regardless of Ctesiphon's economic state. If it's still standing at just over 53 game minutes, the Romans will lose. The easiest way to destroy the Wonder is with Catapult Triremes / Juggernauts from the river, but Trajan will need to establish naval superiority first (easiest-done by Catapulting down Ctesiphon's Docks in the southeast of his fortress). Remember, Ctesiphon will only start building a navy when Trajan does, and the bridges are impassable to ships.

Map of the main military targets for disabling Ctesiphon.

Walkthrough

This scenario is quite challenging, primarily due to the fact that the Romans are simply not very good at repelling large hordes of cavalry, while the Parthians almost exclusively targets the player with Heavy Cavalry, Cavalry Archers, Catapults and Elephant Archers. In addition, the player has only limited unit access from the start.

At the beginning, the player has to conquer the first village with the starting army. The Ballistae can work wonders here, outranging the enemy towers and shooting bolts on the defenders which are also set to Defensive unit stance, and so eliminated from a distance safely. After the conquest, the player should immediately start building an Academy and Siege Workshop, as well as continuously training Villagers. The player should also try to seal off the next two entrances with walls. Otherwise, Hadrian will send Trade Carts to the player all the time, which can provoke the enemy army in a very unhealthy way.

For starters, the player should only train Ballistae and Hoplites or their upgrades. The Hoplites can kill the melee cavalry and the Ballistae everything else. Monks are also highly recommended - especially for converting the occasional enemy melee cavalry unit or quickly eliminating Elephant Archers. It is advantageous to pause regularly in order to be able to keep up with the "hit-and-run" tactics of the AI.

There are three Gaia nomad camps: one in the northwest consisting of six Camel Riders, one in the southern corner consisting of six Horse Archers and a Priest, and lastly five Horse Archers among the cliffs in the east.

While building up the economy and army, the player should quickly cross over with a couple of troops and the starting army and conquer the camp in the north. After that, the player will be able to train cavalry. While Roman cavalry isn't particularly good, chariots or scouts can do quite a bit in bulk or against Catapults. After conquering the northern camp, the player can tear it down completely - if they don't do this, this increases the danger of a Persian attack from this front. In addition, the gold and stone there cannot otherwise be mined safely. The player can also launch the big attack from here, but there's a better spot to do it. There are also Gaia camels above the camp, which can be of good service.

After a good ten minutes, the main Persian opponent starts attacking the player or Hadrian or both. These attacks will not stop until the end of the scenario. Frequent saving and pausing to coordinate is highly recommended, as the Ballistae and Centurions form the backbone of the army. If too many Ballistae die, the scenario is practically over. Advance towards the lower right camp. There, the player will not only find additional gold and access to archer units (which the player should only build in moderation - Ballistae are preferable). The conquered camp should now be massively expanded; this will become the assault base against the main fortress.

It should now be about the 30th minute when the AI starts building a Wonder. This ends the player's own victory time. The key to victory lies just across the shallow waters to the south of Ctesiphon - the Gold Mines just below the wall. These gold deposits are the enemy's only sources of gold. In terms of quality, the Romans can only win this game with great difficulty, but without gold, the AI will bleed out after a good 5-10 minutes without gold replenishment and will no longer be able to train units. Therefore, it is important to constantly fight at the gold wells at the south gate by any means. Ballistae and Catapults can destroy nearby towers and some buildings - Chariots and Centurions can also sometimes penetrate the city through speed and armor respectively, but the mass of towers and mounted archers will severely limit their options. With good micromanagment, the player can now advance very slowly, or wait for the AI to run out of gold. After that, Catapults and Ballistae make small wood out of the city and the Wonder in a very short time.

Alternate strategy

An alternate and likely easier strategy is massing Helepolises, along with a few Priests to heal them and some Legionaries to protect them, and to distract the enemy. The player does not need the Gaia villages and does not need to build walls. 15 Helepolises with Government Center upgrades can shoot down enemy cavalry before they approach, take out towers, and punch through the main enemy's gates. Catapults can still be a threat, so make sure to have Siege Workshops nearby to continue producing.

Outro

Someday, parents will tell children of the age of Trajan, the emperor who found Rome a city of marble, and left it one of gold.

Ironic, then, that I have no children of my own to tell this tale. I have a loving wife, but in truth, Rome herself has always been the love of my life. Perhaps the gods, in their infinite wisdom, deemed the care of children too much for an entire empire as his family.

Perhaps, as I lie on my deathbed, they are indirectly showing me the way.

For years, Rome suffered under the yoke of cruel emperors with no merit other than their bloodline. Like Nerva, I will now choose my successor by merit...

...and what better choice than Hadrian, the loyal man who walked in my footsteps, learned from my example, and did it all without a single treacherous though?

The afterlife is timeless, immaterial, and boundless. I gaze towards the men tending my funeral pyre, and hear them now call me a god. I look out over the form that I built, the carved column that tells my story, and the city that is an empire's beating heart.

I smile, knowing that I have left these people a better Rome than the one that I found.

Yet, at the same time, doubt and dread gnaw at me. Now that I have raised the bar, others will try and match it — and their vain ambition, conceit, and impossible expectations could drag Rome towards the same familiar decline from which I rescued it.

Was I Rome's savior, or its doom?

Trivia

• Charax Spasinu was the capital of a semi-autonomous hellenized state, Characene, with a mixed cultural makeup consisting of Greek, Arab and Persian influences. It was absorbed by Rome as part of Trajan's Parthian campaign.

Gallery

A section of Ctesiphon where the Wonder is built as seen in this scenario