Deeds of the Father is the second scenario of the Rajendra campaign in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Dynasties of India.
Intro[]
As the great tiger falls, the scavengers come out to feast on its corpse.
The empire is in turmoil after my father's death. To the west, the Chera and Pandya dynasties are rattling their sabers. In the north, the Chalukyas talk of vengeance, even as they lick their wounds from the last war. Yet my greatest worry is the island of Sri Lanka.
My father invaded the island decades ago, forcing its king Mahinda to escape into the untamed south. Now, Mahinda has returned to reclaim his old domains.
All but a single town have fallen to his rebellion. If we lose Sri Lanka, it will embolden dissenters in every part of the empire to rise up against me.
That cannot be allowed to happen. I must finish what my father began.
Scenario instructions[]
Starting conditions[]
- Starting Age: Feudal Age
- Starting resources: None, then 800 food, 800 wood, 800 gold
- Population limit: 150
- Starting technologies: Man-at-Arms, Fletching, Scale Barding Armor, Scale Mail Armor
- Starting units:
Objectives[]
Main objectives[]
- Land troops in the Chola harbor.
- Repel the Sri Lankan attacks.
- Find King Mahinda.
- Capture King Mahinda by reducing him to 100 HP.
- Pacify Mannaram by destroying its Watch Towers.
- Pacify Polonnaruwa by destroying its Castle.
- Find King Mahinda.
- Repel the Sri Lankan attacks.
- Rajendra must survive.
Secondary objectives[]
- After a town has been pacified, bring Rajendra to its Town Center to capture it or destroy it to receive resources and free advancement to the Castle Age.
- Raze enemy buildings for resources. Certain buildings give greater rewards: Markets (gold), Trade Workshop (wood and food) and Town centers (all resources).
- Liberate local villages to receive tribute from them. It you destroy any of a village's buildings, it will refuse to pay tribute.
- Improve army morale by using Rajendra in combat. This takes he form of extra attack points all of your soldiers, which are lost it Rajendra is unhorsed (killed).
- Capture the Crown Jewels (Relic Cart).
Hints[]
- Rajendra is limited to the Castle Age and a population of 150.
- Your enemies will not wait to get settled in, so strike out quickly.
- You will not be able to produce Villagers until you capture a Town Center from either Mannaram or Polonnaruwa, or defeat both players.
- Most of the island is overrun by Sri Lankan rebels, but pockets of Chola loyalists can still be found hiding in the jungle.
- Local villages can be persuaded to supply you with resources by killing the garrisons guarding them, but their buildings can also be raided for immediate resources.
- Dravidian Skirmishers and Elephant Archers fire faster. Complement them with infantry for a low-budget yet effective army!
Scouts[]
Your scouts report:
- Rajendra (1 , Red) is landing on northern Sri Lanka with a small force of soldiers and must battle his way across the island in order to reestablish control.
- To the west lies the weak enemy town of Mannaram (3, Yellow). It will remain in the Feudal Age, but having been supplied by King Mahinda, it will still produce Elephant Archers in addition to their Archers and infantry.
- At the heart of the island lies the fortified town of Polonnaruwa (4, Purple). It will be a fierce opponent with armies consisting mostly of cavalry, heavy infantry and Armored Elephants.
- A distant enemy exists in Ruhuna (5, Orange) in he southern part Of the island. Its navy will harass your coastline, and should its army be provoked into action, it will send heavy infantry, Elephant Archers, and cavalry your way.
- The Chola Forces (2, Green) remain in control of only one small town in the north. Once you have secured a foothold, you can expect them to send reinforcements and resources to support you.
- The villages in the area (6, Grey) want to avoid the war if they can, and destroying the local garrisons will force them to supply you with resources. Doing so, however, could make them a target for King Mahinda (7, Blue).
- The Sri Lankan rebel king Mahinda is rumoured to be in the northern half of the island, but your scouts have been unable to uncover his hiding place.
Players[]
Player[]
- Player ( Dravidians): The player starts out with a small landing force on transports and a few ships in the north, guarded by Chola Forces navy from the attacks of ships under King Mahinda. Landing all the troops at the northern Chola base and defeating the initial naval attack leads to gaining additional troops: 6 Urumi Swordsmen, 11 Pikemen, 6 Crossbowmen, 1 Elephant Archer, and 1 Armored Elephant. Defeating the first three terrestrial waves of enemy attacks leads to gaining control of the buildings in the Chola base, their ships, and some resources.
Allies[]
- Chola Forces ( Dravidians): They initially control the northern base and a significant armada, which is eventually turned over to the player's control. They periodically send more reinforcements in form of troops in transports as well as ships (including Thirisadais), and also tributes of resources.
- Local Villages ( Dravidians): 4 villages dot the northern half of the island. As the player destroys Mahinda's garrisons and Towers in each they receive more in tribute from the villages, and the Sri Lankans less.
Enemies โ Neutral[]
- Mannaram ( Dravidians): They occupy the west side of the northern half of the island, and can be forced to relinquish control to the player by destroying their Towers and bringing Rajendra to their Town Center.
- Polonnaruwa ( Dravidians): They have a defensible base in the east side of the northern half of the island, and can be forced to relinquish control to the player by destroying their Castle and bringing Rajendra to their Town Center.
Enemies[]
- Ruhuna ( Dravidians): They control nearly the whole southern half of the island and carry out regular attacks, initially only by water, and eventually by land as well.
Enemies to Allies[]
- King Mahinda ( Dravidians): He makes initial attacks both nautically and on land, but eventually hides away in one of his Castles, one located at the centre of the island and another in the southern Ruhuna base.
Strategy[]
Establishing a Foothold[]
The first choice the player needs to make is whether to seize the Mannaram Town Center or destroy it. Mannaram is weaker than Polonnaruwa, so it is tempting to seize it first, then deal with Polonnaruwa later. However, destroying Mannaram is preferred, since the Mannaram Town Center is within the range of the player's ships, and hence can be destroyed from the sea. Doing this not only allows the player to consolidate all their land forces against Polonnaruwa's Castle, but gives the player an easy and free advancement to the Castle Age.
Polonnaruwa is defended by a Castle, thus it would be necessary to recruit a few more Armored Elephants before attacking. Note that it is not necessary to destroy Polonnaruwa's military. The player only needs to destroy Polonnaruwa's Castle and bring Rajendra to its Town Center. The player might, however, need to use the other military units to distract Polonnaruwa's military in order to give the Armored Elephants time to take down the Castle.
Countering the Armored Elephants[]
Once the player seizes control of a Town Center, and the Villagers they possess, the player will need to develop an economy and defense. Ruhuna and King Mahinda send significant forces regularly towards the player's base, and their Armored Elephants, if not destroyed in time, are able to level at least one Castle within a wave of attacks, even when the base is defended by two or three Castles firing upon them.
As the enemy uses a mixed composition of units, and because the Armored Elephants can quickly tear down the player's defensive buildings faster than the player can accumulate enough stone to build them up, it is probably necessary to make use of both static defenses (walls and Castles/towers) and a modest number of melee units.
Additionally, to maximize the defensive potential of the walls, the player can leave an opening in the wall and build a maze outwards from it. This will force enemy forces to walk in a zigzag pattern until they reach the gap in the wall. Even so, the Armored Elephants sometimes decide not to make that trip, and directly tear down the maze instead. Hence, the player needs to have melee forces on standby.
Regardless of whether or not the maze is built, fast melee units (such as the Urumi Swordsman or Scout / Light Cavalry) are probably necessary. The former is smaller and hence more suited to a maze defense, while the latter is cheaper. Additionally, if the player wishes to use the maze, but improve troop movement, the player could build a few gates into the maze to facilitate the movement of cavalry.
Building an economy[]
The player has three sources of income. The first is the Villagers who harvest/mine for the player. The second is trade income, and the third is in the form of tributes sent by the villages liberated by the player. Note, however, that tributes from a village end if even one of the buildings in the village is destroyed. It does not matter whether they are destroyed at the hands of the player or the enemy.
Fortunately, trade income is easy to obtain. Simply build a Castle near one of the Docks belonging to the Local Villagers, and Towers to defend the trade route, and it should suffice. To make base management easier, the player may consider moving their base closer to the Dock the player wishes to trade with.
Once the economy is firmly established, the player may choose to proceed on to taking on the enemies.
Secondary objectives[]
Completing the secondary objective of capturing the Sri Lankan crown jewels (by destroying the blue Castle at the center and capturing the Relic Cart behind) is very beneficial, as it reduces all enemy units' attack by 4 and disables Ruhuna from training any more elephant units.
Completing the scenario[]
Two strategies are available to the player. The first is to destroy everything via land until they reach King Mahinda. The second is to use the navy to clear out all enemy ships and Docks, and assassinate King Mahinda. Note that Ruhuna will try to rebuild the Docks periodically, so patrol the southern coast if they do not intend to end the scenario quickly.
Achievement[]
In order to get the achievement "No Rest for the Wicked", the player has to destroy both Mannaram and Polonnaruwa's Town Centers. The problem here is the population limit of 55, so the player has to rely on reinforcements. First thing is to secure the local villages for resources and then get at least 4 Armored Elephants. After fending off the first Polonnaruwa assault, the player should attack Mannaram first from the east. After Mannaram is defeated and the Castle Age is reached, the player can attack Polonnaruwa's Town Center from the sea with whatever ships they have. With both Mannaram and Polonnaruwa down, the player will receive Villagers so that they can start building up their forces. However, Ruhuna will attack more aggressively, so the player has to be on their guard as not to lose any Villagers to their attacks.
Once the player has a sizable army of Elephant Archers and Armored Elephants and then Mahinda is captured, the scenario is won, with the achievement.
Outro[]
Order has been restored, but at a high price. My armies slaughtered thousands of rebels and pillaged their cities. The people here have suffered, but the fires of Sri Lanka will ensure that the rebellion does not spread, causing suffering on an even greater scale.
I tell myself this... yet, in my heart, I feel tainted. My hands are red with the blood of these innocent people. This is not how I imagined the beginning of my reign.
I find myself retracing my father's steps, walking where he walked, seeing what he saw. Did he once suffer the same qualms that I do?
It is a strange image: the ironfisted Rajaraja, struggling to balance the necessity for violence with a will to do good. It does not seem like the man that I knew.
Then again, I never thought that these bloody hands could be mine, either.
Historical comparison[]
This scenario is part of a larger overall period of when the Chola Empire invaded and controlled a large portion of Sri Lanka. Although Rajendra claimed to have taken complete control over the island, the southern half of Sri Lanka did not have settlements large enough to warrant occupation by Chola soldiers.
Trivia[]
- Deeds of the Father deals with Rajendra's military campaigns, after his coronation, in southern India and Sri Lanka between 1015 and 1019.
- After the player captures the northern half of the island, Rajendra will inquire to the location of King Mahinda to which a scout replies "The king is in another castle". This appears to be a reference to Super Mario Brothers.