Noryang Point is the eighth scenario in the Battles of the Conquerors campaign in Age of Empires II: The Conquerors. The player plays as the Koreans (red), defending themselves from a Japanese invasion. This scenario is based on the Battle of Noryang.
Scenario Instructions
Starting Conditions
- Starting age:
Imperial Age (actually 
Castle Age, but the player advances as soon as the scenario begins) - Starting resources: 1000 wood, 1000 food, 1000 gold, 1000 stone
- Population limit: 75 (125 in the Definive Edition, 115 if the Wonder is destroyed)
- Starting units:
- 18 Villagers
- 5 Galleons
- 2 Fast Fire Ships
- 2 Cannon Galleons
- 18
- Gaia units:
- Starting technologies:
- On any difficulty:
- If the difficulty is standard:
Objectives
- OPTIONAL: Prevent the Japanese from destroying Korea's Wonder.
- Defend Korea from the Japanese.
Later objectives
- Find Admiral Yi and learn of his secret weapon.
- Use Turtle Ships to defeat the Japanese navy.
- Destroy all of the Japanese Docks to end their threat to Korea.
Hints
- Defend the Wonder if you can, but you can achieve victory without it.
- The Japanese navy is superior to the Koreans. You will need to figure out some way to even the odds.
- The Koreans are unable to construct Castles or train some of their most powerful units, at least initially.
Scouts
- Your scouts report: Korea (red) has an extensive town, but is vulnerable to the Japanese navy, particularly its Cannon Galleons.
- Expect Japan (yellow) to attack with everything they have, including ships and Samurai on Transports. You will need to play defensively until you have the means to bring the battle back to the Japanese homeland.
- Two potential allies may be found. Admiral Yi (green) is a brilliant Korean tactician who will certainly assist, provided you can locate him.
- The Chinese (orange) are no friends of Korea, but they may fear the Japanese even more. Might they be of assistance?
Players
Allies
- Admiral Yi (Koreans) resides at the northwestern part of the map, with two Light Cavalry outside. His gate is initially blocked by trees. Once you have met him, you will obtain all his three Castles, himself (a Turtle Ship hero), and another two turtle ships. Once you bring the three turtle ships out, the rocks blocking their way would be cleared together with the trees around the gate - giving you land access to these castles.
- Chinese (Chinese) reside on the small island at the southwestern part of the map, having a castle, a few watch towers, 10 Chu Ko Nu and 10 Bombard Cannons. Once the three turtle ships are brought there, all the 20 units become yours. Note that while they may be attacked by the Japanese Navy, they do not even retaliate because their stance towards Japanese Navy is 'ally'.
Enemies
- Japanese Navy (Japanese) spreads from the east to the south. They are the main enemy, and frequently invade by Galleons, Cannon Galleons, Fire Ships, and occasionally Demolition Ships and transporting Samurai. However they have no villagers (or even a Town Center) to gather resources.
- Japanese Raiders (Japanese) is at the northern tip of the map. They have no villagers as well and do not have a navy. They do not actively attack you unless being provoked, and might then attempt to destroy your wonder. They might destroy the Gaia Transport ship provided to find Admiral Yi as you spot the Transport.
Strategy
The simplest strategy is to concentrate on defending yourself from the Japanese Navy (yellow). Build ships to face theirs, but also have a few soldiers on hand, in case a transport ship makes it across. The best way to do this is to concentrate on Fire Ships, as the Japanese Navy doesn't build many Demolition Ships. You might be able to achieve sea superiority, which allows you to intercept most of the enemy transports, which is the most efficient way to defend against their land attacks. An alternative and maybe better way is to abandon the original settlements and build another well fortified town center inland, concentrating on fortifying this, the best location being near the central cliff where the two isolated allied green Admiral Yi light cavalry are. This strategy stops the problem of Japanese boat attacks (although you will still have to face the samurai and other raiders).
After some time has passed, you'll be given the task of finding Admiral Yi (green), who's developed a weapon to fight the invaders. If you send a unit up north (Scout Cavalry are perfect), you'll find a transport ship on the river, and a few soldiers from Japanese Raiders (purple). You can defeat these, but it's not required; just get the unit across the river, and head west to receive two Elite Turtle Ships and Admiral Yi himself (a Hero turtle ship).
As the ships head south, the Chinese (orange) residing on the small island south of the Korean peninsula will give you ten Chu Ko Nu and ten Bombard Cannons, but they'll be useless until you transport them somewhere. It would be advisable to send your Transport Ships there before you bring your turtle ships there, because once you own the 20 Chinese units, the Japanese Navy would immediately start attacking the island, and the Chinese castle and towers would not protect you (see section above "Allies").
After you've sunk the Japanese fleet (which shouldn't be too difficult, with a few Turtle Ships on your side), you'll be given instructions to destroy all of their docks. They are not located by the time you are instructed, so you will need to explore or research Spies in order to locate them,
Defending the Wonder ("The Wonder, the Wonder, the...Oh, Never Mind" achievement)
Although the objective is present in both the original version and the Definitive Edition, the Definitive Edition of the game introduces an achievement for successfully warding off the Japanese navy from razing the Wonder initially seen in the game. The Japanese Navy will attack the Wonder in the northern part of the base. The player must make an attempt to defend it with the surrounding Keeps (once advanced to the Imperial Age, the Guard Towers are automatically upgraded), and by sending Fire Ships and Galleons if necessary. Before the Definitive Edition, there is no consequence if the Wonder is destroyed, but the Japanese fleet will immediately start attacking the player's base to the south, which therefore makes it highly advised to protect it at all costs. In the "Definitive Edition" however, the Wonder generates a trickle of 1 gold per 2 seconds (the same rate as a Relic) and increases the population limit from 115 to 125.
However, some things of note, especially if one attempts to unlock the achievement, is that in the Definitive Edition, defending the Wonder in difficulties other than Standard will be difficult, as the Japanese will have additional Cannon Galleons at the start, and they will be upgraded to elite. Initially, there were 8 Cannon Gallons at all difficulty levels, but after certain updates, there are 10 Elite Cannon Gallons on Moderate and Hard difficulty. On standard difficulty, there are 6 Cannon Gallons (not elite). This will make defending the Wonder a difficult task. To prevent the Wonder from collapsing, send the navy immediately to the Cannon Galleons and simultaneously train more ships from both Docks to add to them and research Bodkin Arrow and Bracer as well. First focus on taking down the Cannon Galleons with both the ships and towers, as the other ships are much less of a threat to the Wonder. If done properly, the Wonder will remain standing and the initial attacking force of the Japanese will be defeated. After this, rebuild a few Keeps next to the Wonder and research the relevant technologies to strengthen them. This should enable, with some minor support from units, to keep the Wonder standing on any difficulty.
Trivia
- In history, Admiral Yi Sun Shin was actually killed in this battle. However, the turtle-ship itself survived since the nephew of the Admiral (dressed as his dying uncle) took the command and won the battle.
- Despite the presence of economic buildings and drop off points (Lumber Camp, Mining Camp) the Japanese Navy does not have any villagers to utilize them nor will they ever - lacking a Town Center. They only have Fishing Ships as gatherers. Destroy them to lower the cost of Spies, as it will be useful to achieve the last objective of this scenario.
- The Japanese Navy's stance towards the Chinese is 'enemy' while for the vice versa it is 'ally'. Therefore, the Japanese Navy may attack the Chinese without any resistance.
- The Wonder provides a small gold income and 10 population.
- Chronologically, this is the newest campaign scenario in Age of Empires II, being set on the eve of the 17th Century.
