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This article is about the scenario in Age of Empires II HD: The Forgotten. For other scenarios, see Honfoglalás. |
Honfoglalás (literally meaning "settling of the fatherland" in Hungarian) is one of the scenarios of the Battles of the Forgotten in Age of Empires II HD: The Forgotten. It depicts the westward migration of the Hungarian people at around 900 AD. It was reworked in the Definitive Edition.
Intro[]
"Are you still working? Why do you work so much?" the young Romanos asked his father, who was sitting in his dark workroom next to a candlelit table. Constantine smiled, and answered: "The life of an emperor is very busy. The Byzantine Empire is big and strong, but it does not function just by itself. Problems always occur that you have to solve in order to keep everything in order. You will see for yourself later."
"Are you writing laws?" asked Romanos, pointing at the large book lying in front of his father. "No, I am compiling all of my knowledge and experience about governing the empire in a book for you and the next generations of emperors to come." "That is interesting." Romanos observed. "Can I have a look?" Constantine smiled again. "You should be in bed now, but after all, I am writing it for you. Come here... for an Empire as grandiose as ours, deft diplomacy is vital.
To make your empire survive and thrive you always have to know with whom to maintain peace, and whom to conquer. To make such decisions you have to know the surrounding peoples well and understand their culture and history. Right now I am writing about a very interesting group of people. They are called the Hungarians, but are also known as the Magyars.
They live in Central Europe, near the Danube River, yet their language and customs are utterly different from those of other Europeans. They are pagans, not Christians and have a very warlike nature. They are fierce warriors who fight from horseback and master the skill of archery. With their constant raids all over Europe they have caused many problems for the feudal rulers.
"Why are they so different? Where did they come from?" inquired Romanos. "They came from as far as the Ural mountains in Asia. There you could still meet their relatives, who speak similar Ugric languages. Originally, they were a nomadic pastoral people, but climate change and the appearance of the aggressive Pechenegs forced them to migrate westward. After a long and arduous migration, they reached the Carpathian Basin..."
Scenario instructions[]
Starting conditions[]
- Starting Age:
Dark Age - Starting resources: None
- Population limit: 200
- Starting units:
- 2 Light Cavalry
- 3 Scout Cavalry
- 7 Archers
- 3 Spearmen
- 3 Skirmishers
- 6 Hunting Wolves
- 12 Sheep
- 10 Cows
- 8 Horses
- 2
Objectives[]
Act 1 (Location: Levédia - Ca. 7th century AD)[]
- Main
- Voivod Levedi must survive.
- Gather the Magyar tribes and migrate southwest towards the Khazar Empire.
- (Then) Send a messenger to the Khazar Khagan (Leave your livestock outside the walls, otherwise they may get converted).
- (Then) Build up your new home and defend it from the Pechenegs.
- (Then) Evacuate your town. Bring at least 30 units to the flag.
- Secondary
- Sell your horses to the Khazars by bringing them to the pen next to the castle.
Act 2 (Location: Etelköz - Ca. 830 AD)[]
- Main
- Álmos must survive.
- Build up the first principality of Hungary, and defend it from the Pechenegs.
- (Then) Help the Byzantines by defeating the Bulgars.
- (Then) Evacuate the principality. Bring at least 60 units to the flag.
Act 3 (Location: Carpathian Basin - 895 AD)[]
- Main
- Árpád must survive.
- Bring Kusid and the horse to Svatopluk.
- (Then) Bring Kusid back to Árpád.
- (Then) Conquer the Carpathian Basin by defeating the Moravians.
Hints[]
- IMPORTANT! You cannot advance through ages normally-clicking the icon will not have any effect. You will advance instead by achieving certain objectives.
- Avoid the Pechenegs as much as you can.
- The Pechenegs may defeat you several times. Keep moving on and do not give up, in the end you will find a safe home for your people.
- If you have to cross a river to attack an enemy, it is a good idea to build a military base on their land, so you can reinforce your army more easily.
- This is a long scenario, save often.
Scouts[]
- The Magyars (Red) start in the eastern part of the map with a yurt village, a few troops, hunting wolves and livestock. You are surrounded by Pecheneg warriors. Do not fight them, for you are hopelessly outnumbered. Try to minimize your losses and save as many units and animals as you can.
- Pechenegs (Yellow) reside in the northern part of the map and are the mortal enemy of the Magyars. Their army is very strong, avoid them as much as you can.
- The powerful empire of the Khazars (Orange) lies to the south. They are allied to the Magyars, and enemies of the Pechenegs. It might be a good idea to contact them.
- The Kabars (Cyan) are people living under the authority of the Khazar empire. They are friendly towards the Magyars.
- The Byzantines (Blue) are a strong empire far to the southwest. They are friendly towards the Magyars.
- The Bulgars (Purple) live far to the west. Not much is known about them, except that they often have border conflicts with the Byzantines. They seem to be skilled warriors.
- The Moravians (Green) live far to the west, north of the Bulgars.
Players[]
Player[]
- Player ( Magyars) - The player begins in the first phase of the scenario with military units, horses, and 22 Yurts spread across four camps.
Enemy → Ally → Enemy → Ally[]
- Pecheneg ( Turks): Will actively harass the player during the early phase of the game with lots of Scout Cavalry and Archers. During the middle phase of the game, they will attack the player with a huge army which consists of Heavy Cavalry Archers, Hussars, Heavy Camel Riders, Cavaliers, together with Trebuchets and Siege Rams, which may seem impossible to defeat.
Ally (Possible Enemy）[]
- Khazars ( Persians): Owns a large city with a large army south of the player's starting position. The player must seek refuge within their city during the early phase of the scenario. However, if the player builds any building within the premises of the city (particularly the area where Khagan is), they will switch their diplomatic stance with the player to Enemy. If they become the player's enemy, they will only attack the player with their initial force, as this AI is not triggered to gather resources or train units throughout the game.
Ally[]
- Byzantines ( Byzantines): Has a large city at the south of the map but lack a large military unlike the Khazars. Their peninsula can only be reached with Transport Ships. They do not actively take part on the scenario except their front gates being destroyed by the Bulgars during the middle phase of the scenario. They serve as a decorative player in the game for story and plot purposes.
- Kabars ( Turks): Has a small encampment and decent sized Post-Imperial Age army somewhere at the middle of the map (southwest of Khazar's main city. At one point in the game they will give all of their army to the player, leaving only buildings under their possession
- Magyars (colored red between patch 3.6 and an update[When?], colored grey between an update[When?] and an update[When?], and colored red since an update[When?]) ( Magyars): A scattered army across the map and buildings at the middle of the map (referred to as the first principality of Hungary) which comes under the player's possession as the game progresses. Some of their units (notably Svatopluk and the docks near the Moravian island) are given to the Moravians.
Ally → Enemy → Ally[]
- Bulgars ( Huns): Has a heavily defended city west of the Byzantines city. Will initially attack the Byzantines but after reaching the latter's front gate they will stop attacking the Byzantines and wait to fight the player during the middle phase of the scenario.
Ally → Enemy[]
- Moravians ( Slavs): A heavily defended city on an island west of the map, which can only be accessed by the player during the final phase of the scenario.
Strategy[]
This is a rather unusual scenario, since the player is not supposed to win as soon as possible, but instead required to lose several times in order for the scenario to progress. It can be seen as several smaller scenarios connected with cut-scenes. The player cannot advance to the next age(s), but they will be aged up automatically. As stated in the hints, making (and keeping) a number of saves is strongly advised. In each phase, the player receives a strong Hero-like mounted unit which must be kept alive.
- Phase 1
The player starts in the Feudal Age with an assortment of military units and animals, but no Villagers and no buildings, except for a few Houses. The Pecheneg (yellow opponent) will charge immediately with large amounts of units, so do not try to fight back and resist them. Instead, move all units towards the east as soon as possible, then down the river until they reach the Khazars.
- Phase 2
After sending a messenger within the vicinity of the Khagan, the player will eventually be given a Town Center with a few Villagers. Build more villagers and gather resources, but do not spend too much on military units. Try to hold off the attacking Pechenegs (they will send only Light Cavalry and Archers) with a Palisade Wall and a few Towers, Archers, and Spearmen. The Wolves are quite useful since they heal themselves quickly. The player can build a number of Trade Carts to trade with their ally, the Khazars. The player can also train Sheep and Cows at their Town Center, for 25 food and 35 food respectively. The player gets a strong regenerating unit called Voivod Levedi, who looks like a Tarkan but can attack at range, and needs to be be kept alive.
At some point (possibly after reaching a certain population count), the Pechenegs will launch a massive attack that can at best be slowed down for a short while, but not withstood, and the player will be given the task to retreat with 30 units to the flag in the south. It is completely irrelevant which units are saved, as they will be deleted completely anyway. Then the player will receive auto Castle Age upgrade.
Note: it actually is possible to defend until the Pechenegs can no longer send units as they have no resources left, however it takes around 3-4 game hours and quite a lot of Towers (a dozen with units inside them will do). Then the player can almost wipe out the enemy with a huge (100+) army (preferably Man-at-Arms type as they have attack bonus vs buildings). However this will break the scenario (even if the player destroys their own Town Center, they will not be able to switch to Phases 5 and 6).
- Phase 3
The player starts a bit further west with a well developed settlement, including three Town Centers and a Castle. The Pechenegs are still the enemy and keep sending units, but not many at first. The player can hold them off relatively easily with Castles and Palisade Walls. Mind that they can cross through the Khazar gates, so the player needs to guard both the north and the east fords. It is a good idea to rake in all resources gathered (it is not too hard to get to five digits in all resources). Some players reported to have managed to defeat the Pecheneg at this stage. This seems to be an extremely hard endeavor, which is not necessary at all. Though it does not break the scenario if they do so.
- Phase 4
Again at some point, the enemy will launch a massive attack, this time with an even larger amount of units. But before they reach the player, the Byzantines will call for help and demand that the player attack the Bulgarians, and the Pecheneg will change to ally. This means that their attack is stalled, and many of their units may keep standing in the player's base. The Bulgarians actually only attack the westernmost Byzantine Castle until their units are used up, after that there will be no further exchange of hostilities. At this point the player might think that the Pecheneg cannot be trusted and therefore build a number of catapults and, by using terrain attack, destroy the new "ally" slowly (e.g. wall in the hordes of units so they do not block the catapults, then wall in the Town Centers so Villagers cannot escape, then destroy the Town Centers, the Villagers, the military buildings, the military units, and the rest). It is possible to do so, but not required. Again, whatever the player does will not break the scenario.
However, the player have to defeat the Bulgarians now. Do not delete the transport ships, they will be needed, and there is no way to make more. The Bulgarians can churn out vast numbers of units quickly, so if the player opts to build a base on their territory, they will need several castles of fend the enemy off. Check that the player has gathered more than enough resources and delete most of the Villagers to build a large army. It might be a good idea to build many Petards and attack all the military buildings and Town Centers simultaneously. There is no need to kill all Villagers.
- Phase 5
The Bulgarians will give up just before they are defeated completely, and the Pecheneg will switch from ally to enemy again, as one probably expected. All their units that are standing around in the base or near it (the halted unstoppable assault from earlier) will now defeat the player quickly, while most of the military is in Bulgarian lands. There is no need to worry, as the player will be given the task to retreat west and send a number of units to the flag there. Again, it is irrelevant what kind of units are saved, as they will be deleted automatically anyway, along with everything the player has built. Then the player will receive auto Imperial Age upgrade.
If the Pecheneg were wiped out before, in whatever way, then the scenario might be stuck after defeating the Bulgarians. No need to worry, just delete the three Town Centers that the player started with (see phase 3) to make the game progress.
- Phase 6
The player is tasked with bringing an emissary and a horse to the Moravians, just a bit towards the west. When they return to their people, the Moravians switch to enemy, and the player can build up a base and eventually defeat them. The player should have more than enough resources by now, so the rest of the scenario should be relatively easy.
Outro[]
"It would seem that they are a resilient people if they managed to survive such hard times and still claim a new homeland." observed Romanos. "Yes, and today the entirety of Europe is experiencing that toughness. They have conducted several raids into Byzantine lands as well." "But why did they turn against us, and why is it so difficult to defend against them?" Romanos asked. "Well, this is diplomacy- you still have a lot to learn."
Secondly, it is their sly tactics that make them so difficult to deal with. They wear light armor, which makes them highly mobile. They launch their attacks without warning, raid the countryside and leave quickly before a defensive force can be mustered. If they are forced to fight a pitched battle, then they prefer to avoid melee combat. They feign a retreat instead, and then cast a rain of arrows at their pursuers.
Their preferred weapons are the scimitar, lances and the dreadful recurve bow." "This is terrifying! Will anyone be able to stop them, or will they conquer Europe?" "I am sure that sooner or later someone will defeat them. Their tactics are already known. They will have to adapt to European customs or else disappear from the map." the wise emperor concluded, snuffing out the candles.
Trivia[]
- The map shows the Caucasus area, the "virtual" border between Europe and Asia. Prominent geographical objects like the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, the Crimean peninsula, the Balkans (where the Byzantine base is located), and Asia Minor to the south are visible. In contrast, the map in the Definitive Edition version of the scenario represents the plains enclosed by the Danube and Tisa rivers.
- This is the only scenario in Battles of the Forgotten where the name of the battle is not a location or city.
- Due to the size of the map, players may experience a significant amount of lag.
- In later patches, if the player manages to defeat the Pechenegs, the scenario will automatically progress to the last phase, without requiring them to evacuate the first principality with 60 units. (even if the player receives the specific scenario instruction to do so)
- This scenario is one of the few where the player can train Sheep and Cows at their Town Center, something that normally cannot be done in custom maps or any other scenarios. This is can be done in the scenario editor with the "Research Technology" trigger effect by enabling "Enable Cows/Sheep/Llamas/Turkeys". Even though it costs food to train the cows and sheep, the food will be a surplus regardless. This is meant to highlight the "nomadic" nature of the Magyars.
- If the player uses the marco/polo cheats at the start of the game, they can see:
- Richard the Lionheart on an island (below the blue Byzantines).
- The Bulgars start from scratch, almost similarly to a random map player, except they have a few Tarkans and Battering Rams near the Byzantine gates.
- The Moravians start from scratch, almost similarly to a random map player, except they almost immediately start with Svatopluk (after being converted from the Magyars player).
- The Pechenegs, Khazars, and Kabars are Turkic tribes that are related to the Cumans. However, they are represented by the Turks and Persians due to the Cuman civilization not being introduced until The Last Khans. Additionally, the Bulgarians are represented by the Huns because their namesake civilization was not introduced until The Last Khans.
