Fires of Calcutta is the second scenario of Act III: India in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties. It shows the ever-increasing violence and bloodshed from the revolting Indians. The scenario features waves of constant attacks by small groups of revolting Indian troops.
Objectives [edit | edit source]
Primary[edit | edit source]
- Move east to the Company Town Center (1000 XP)
- Destroy the 8 Barracks of the resistance fighters (10000 XP)
- Protect the Company Command Post (4000 XP)
Strategy[edit | edit source]
Players start out in Calcutta with Nanib and Edwardson as well as a small band of Sepoy, Urumi, and Sowar. Enemy units will quickly start attacking the player's forces shortly after and the player's starting army will considerably shrink from fighting the many units. The players main focus should be on reaching East towards the center of the map where a village lies without dying; use the heroes' abilities to help but try not to fight early on.
Once the players forces reaches the village Town Center, they will automatically be granted control of the colony as well as the Villagers. 10 Villagers on wood will be important to sustain production. There are berries, but huntables are available and faster to collect from. Due to the lack of Villagers and resources, building a Market may be helpful in distributing and receiving wood, coin, and food. A deck will available and 6 free Home City Cards will be generously gifted. A Caravanserai will also be provided. Wood shipments will be important until the base is set up and the northern forest is secure.
Once the player starts massing an army, small bands of Arsonists and Chakrams will resume their raids on the village from both the north, south, and possibly east, and will put players on constant alert. Due to the majority of the enemy units in the scenario being infantry based, an army of Sowar and Gurkha units will be crucial for the victory of the game. Sepoys are no longer as effective due to the Chakram's damage bonus against them; Castles can be helpful for garrisoning villagers, but several barracks will be more important for producing defenders.
The Northern crossing should be guarded first, as it is a chokepoint for most of the barracks on the west of the map. If aging up, the coin from the Taj Mahal can help produce more units.
When the player's army becomes large enough, they can start to advance south in the plains or west across the river (there is one along the riverbank under the cliff as well as one in the northwest) towards the nearby isolated barracks and stop them training raiding units. In the south, the Trade Routes are near each enemy settlement and once the player takes out each base, they can build the Trading Posts for extra resources (although it is not necessary). It may be helpful to use Siege Elephants for the base in the east. Once the 8 Barracks are destroyed and the last remaining rebel troops are killed, the player will finally complete the scenario.
Strategy (no town)[edit | edit source]
On the easy and normal difficulties, the various Barracks the player must destroy are lightly guarded and only spawn one final group of units when near destruction. If one knows the locations, they can micro the starting units and exploit the heroes' regeneration to destroy many Barracks before claiming the town, significantly reducing the challenge, but increasing the time to beat the scenario.
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