Lost is the third scenario of the Voices of Babylon campaign of Age of Empires. The primary goal of the Babylonians (blue) is to defeat the Hittites (brown) at the far east of the map. It was replaced by Vengeance in the Definitive Edition, but returned in Return of Rome.
Scenario instructions[]
Description[]
| “ | Euphrate River Banks, 1595 BCE Disaster has struck – a Hittite army has marched down the shore of the Euphrates River and sacked Babylon! Although your party is isolated among enemies in the marshlands, this is our only hope for exacting vengeance on the raiders. A Hittite force remains in the area, trying to gather more loot. Clear your enemies from the marshlands and burn the Hittite encampment to the ground! |
” |
| —In-game section | ||
Starting conditions[]
- Starting Age:
Post Iron Age - Starting resources: 500 food, 500 wood, 500 stone
- Population limit: 50
- Starting units:
Objectives[]
- Find a way off the island.
- Defeat the Hittite Army.
Hints[]
- The Babylonians begin in the Iron Age and can support a population of 50.
- You are stranded on a marshy island, but your Priest may be able to 'convince' your enemies in the area to help you escape.
- The old Priest saw an uninhabited island to the north full of resources before you ran aground. This could make a good base of operations.
- The Priest tells of a Hittite engineer in the western part of the swamp who could be convinced to change sides.
Tutorial[]
- When you convert an enemy transport boat that has units aboard, only the transport boat changes ownership. The soldiers on board will remain enemies, but will be trapped until you unload them.
Description[]
| “ | 1595 BC Disaster has struck. A Hittite army has marched down the Euphrates River and sacked Babylon. Although your party is isolated among enemies in a marsh area, it is the only hope for extracting revenge. A Hittite force remains in the area and intends to build a new city along the river. Clear your enemies from the marshlands and destroy the Hittite city before it becomes established. |
” |
| —In-game section | ||
Starting conditions[]
- Starting Age: Iron Age
- Starting resources: 500 food, 500 wood, 500 stone
- Population limit: 50
- Starting units:
Objectives[]
- Destroy the Hittites.
Hints[]
- Use your Priest to enlighten those you meet along your way - they may be useful to you.
- Once you establish a strong navy, you will be able to clear the region of enemies and prepare to invade.
Players[]
Player[]
- Player ( Babylonians): The player starts in the Post-Iron Age with six Composite Bowmen and a Priest, isolated on the southern island.
Enemies[]
- Hittite Scouts ( Hittites): Are only a small group of three Bowmen, a Priest, and a Heavy Transport, on a little atoll north of the player island. Shortly after being spotted, they board the transport and travel to the player's island.
- Hittite Engineer ( Hittites): This player controls two Stone Throwers or Catapults (depending on difficulty level) and a Villager on a lone island to the west. Ideal conversion target if the player intends to build a base, can otherwise be completely ignored the entire game.
- Hittite Army ( Hittites): The player that must be defeated in order to win the game. They have a Bronze Age base on the eastern landmass, protected by Watch Towers and a trio of Improved Bowmen. They can train Villagers, Fishing Boats, Light Transports, Axemen, Bowmen, Chariot Archers, and Scout Ships/War Galleys.
Player[]
- Player ( Babylonians): The player starts in the Post-Iron Age with six Composite Bowmen and a Priest, isolated on the southern island.
Enemies[]
- Enemy ( Greeks): Are only a small group of Bowmen, a Priest, and a Heavy Transport, on a little atoll north of the player island. Shortly after spotting the player, they board the transport and travel to the player's island.
- Enemy ( Babylonians): This player controls two Catapults and a Villager on a lone island to the west. Ideal conversion target if the player intends to build a base, can otherwise be completely ignored the entire game.
- Hittites ( Assyrians): The player that must be defeated in order to win the game. They have a Bronze Age base on the eastern landmass, protected by Sentry Towers. They can train Villagers, Fishing Boats/Ships, Axemen, Bowmen, Cavalry, Chariot Archers, and War Galleys.
Strategy[]
The player starts in the Post-Iron Age with a Priest and six Composite Bowmen. To the north is an atoll with a few Bowmen and a Priest belonging to Hittite Scouts. To the west is an island occupied by Hittite Engineer. The Hittite base is to the east. There is initially no way off the island, Hittite Scout's transport ship must be converted.
Start by leaving the Composite Bowmen where they are and move the Priest north, where his Line of Sight will show Hittite Scouts units in the island to the north. Those units will move north and board a Heavy Transport which will attempt to land. The player should order the Priest to convert the ship as soon as it becomes visible. With enough luck, the Priest will manage to convert it before it manages to land. If, on the other hand, the ship manages to land and the player loses the Priest before converting it, they will have to restart the scenario. In the original version of the game, the ship will immediately retreat after dropping off its cargo, so there is only a brief opportunity to convert it.
Although the transport is converted, the units inside still belong to the enemy. When the player's Priest fully restores his faith, unload the Scouts' Priest and convert it. The player can then load their Priest into the transport to protect it, and the Bowmen can either be dispatched by the player's own archers, or converted by transport-hopping Priests when their faith is back to 100%.
The player now has two options. It is possible to defeat the Hittite Army quickly by sending the existing troops northeast to the enemy base, or the Priests can sail west to convert a Villager and begin a traditional base-building process.
Option 1: Immediate assault[]
While the player can disembark on Hittite Engineer's island and attempt to convert their Villager, this is very risky as Yellow has two Catapults which can easily kill the player's Priests. Hence it is arguably a safer option to rush the Hittite Army's base with the Composite Bowmen.
To do this, sail to the northeast landmass and disembark in the northern part, just before the cliffs, where the Hittite towers cannot reach the player's units. While staying away from the towers, kill any military units with the Composite Bowmen first and then kill the enemy Villagers. When there are no land units left, deal with the production buildings. The fastest way is to convert them, but if this would bring the Priests within range of a tower, the buildings will need to be whittled down by the Composite Bowmen instead - this takes a long time, so set the game speed to maximum. While the Composite Bowmen outrange the Hittite towers, destroying them is not necessary and will only make the scenario last longer.
After most production buildings are destroyed, the Hittites will resign and the player will be victorious.
Option 2: Base building[]
To create a base, the player will need to convert a Villager, and the most vulnerable target on the map is the one belonging to Yellow (Hittite Engineer in Return of Rome) on the western island. However, it is not defenseless, being guarded by two Catapults, or Stone Throwers on Return of Rome's lowest difficulty setting. Set the diplomacy setting to Neutral, so the Villager isn't accidentally targeted in the upcoming fight.
The player can either shoot the siege weapons down with the Composite Bowmen (in which case, stagger from far apart to protect against the Catapults' splash damage), or convert them with the Priests. This is a tricky process, as Stone Thrower projectiles kill Priests with a single shot. One option is to draw their fire with the Composite Bowmen, as they can outrun the projectiles, and the Catapults aren't upgraded with Ballistics, so can't track the units' movement trajectory. Ensure the archers keep moving, while the Priests move into range and perform the conversions. Another option is to just use the Priests, and when one is targeted by the Catapults, loading it back onto the Heavy Transport before the projectile lands.
With the Catapults dealt with, the Villager can now be safely converted. There are few resources on this western island, the best location for a Town Center is on the northern island. This island has Gazelles, an Elephant, Stone Mines, plentiful trees in the west, space to build in the middle, and a cluster of Gold Mines in the east. However, the Gold Mines are perilously close to the Hittites' shoreline, so mining Villagers are likely to come under fire from War Galleys and Chariot Archers. In Return of Rome, there's also a much safer source of gold on the player's starting island in the south.
All technologies (except Zealotry) have already been researched, so all that needs to be done is gather resources to muster a suitable army. The majority of the Hittites' base is within range of the shore, so most of the fighting can be accomplished with a fleet of War Galleys, plus a couple of Fire Galleys to wipe out enemy ships and shoreline towers. The bulk of the enemy force by this point should be Chariot Archers, so on land these are best countered with Scythe Chariots or Horse Archers. The Babylonians' best counter to towers is the Heavy Catapult, just be sure not to hit friendly troops attacking the same target.
History[]
Historical notes[]
| “ | The Babylonian Empire of Hammurabi diminished gradually over the next 150 years. First the Elamites across the Zagros Mountains reestablished their independence, and then the Gutian tribes in the mountains reestablished theirs. Then Akkadia and Sumer split away. Babylon remained a rich city, however, thanks to its trade connections along the Euphrates River. In 1595 BC, the Amorite dynasty of Hammurabi suffered a death blow. In a lightning campaign that is difficult to understand today, a Hittite army marched down the Euphrates and sacked Babylon. The purpose of such a raid so far from Hittite areas of influence is a mystery, unless tales of the wealth of Babylon even then proved irresistible to an army looking for plunder. | ” |
| —In-game section | ||
Historical outcome[]
| “ | Whether the Hittites hoped to settle along the Euphrates is not clear. They apparently withdrew quickly after sacking Babylon and returned to their traditional sphere of influence along the upper reaches of the river. Remnants of the Babylonian army or guerrilla-style warfare may have convinced them to return whence they came. | ” |
| —In-game section | ||
Trivia[]
- It is unknown why the Hittites are not represented by themselves in the original version. This was fixed in Return of Rome.
Changes[]
The version of Lost in Return of Rome has the following changes:
- Player names and civilizations: red player changed from Enemy (Greeks) to Hittite Scouts (Hittites). Yellow player changed from Enemy (Babylonians) to Hittite Engineer (Hittites). Brown player changed to purple, and from Hittites (Assyrians) to Hittite Army (Hittites).
- Red player: the Bowmen and Priest of the red player (now Hittite Scouts) board the transport after the player spots them, rather than when they spot the player.
- Stranding: the red player's Heavy Transport now remains stationary after unloading, instead of sailing back to its starting point. This makes it a lot less likely for the player to be stranded. If the transport is destroyed, a message now displays: - Without the Transport Boat, you can no longer escape the island! - and the player is defeated.
- Yellow player: on Standard difficulty, the yellow player (now Hittite Engineer) has Stone Throwers instead of Catapults.
- Purple player: from the start of the scenario, the purple player (now Hittite Army) has a trio of Improved Bowmen, and an extra tower - but the towers are now Watch Towers rather than Sentry.
- Gold: the player's starting island has five Gold Mines. In the original scenario, the only mines outside the Hittites' landmass are on the northern island.
