Outlawed is the first scenario of the Thoros II campaign in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - The Mountain Royals. It's about the return of Thoros to his home in Cilician Armenia, and the expulsion of the Byzantines occupiers in 1141.
Intro[]
It is folly that we are ruled by a class of firstborns, men whose sole claim to lordship is being first to crawl out of their mother's womb. Most of them do nothing but squander their opportunities.
Sometimes, it is a second son's duty to depose his incompetent brother and rule in his stead. I am one such man, and you, young squire, might one day become one as well.
Yet even I do not compare to Thoros the Great.
The second son of the Cilician Armenian king, Thoros supplanted his older brother and became the heir of his father's kingdom. Yet it was a frail inheritance, as the Byzantine Empire had its sights set on the realm.
The Byzantines still nurtured the vain Roman dream of ruling all of the Mediterranean, and Cilician Armenia – weak and divided after years of internal strife – was an easy target.
The Byzantines took the kingdom easily, and threw Thoros and his father into the deepest dungeon in Constantinople.
It is said that the Cilician Armenian king was brutally executed on the emperor's orders, but Thoros was not his father. Using the charisma that the latter had sorely lacked, he managed to sway his captors into postponing his death.
Some even whisper that Thoros seduced a Greek princess into helping him escape the prison and board a ship to Cilicia.
Having met the persuasive man on a few occasions, I am inclined to believe that the stories are actually true.
Now an outlaw with no following, Thoros found his homeland overrun and his family seat occupied by Byzantine forces. The once-proud kingdom was in a sorry state – one which the landless prince was determined to change.
Scenario instructions[]
Starting conditions[]
- Starting Age:
Castle Age - Starting resources: None
- Population limit: 125
- Starting units:
Objectives[]
- Main objectives
- Thoros must survive. (only until the first Castle is taken)
- Retake your family home, Vahka Castle, by eliminating the Byzantine forces guarding it.
- At least 10 of your starting troops must survive.
- Drive out the Byzantine occupiers by destroying at least 2 of their 3 Castles.
- Secondary objectives
- Send a Mule Cart to each group of idle Villagers so that they can start gathering resources.
- Destroy the Byzantine stockade to free the Seljuk Trade Cart, then return it to the Seljuk trading post – or declare the Seljuks an enemy and attack them instead to loot their camp.
- Visit both of your brothers, Stephan and Mleh, to ask them for support against the Byzantines.
- Stephan will aid you in battle if you provide him with at least 10 Barracks units.
- Mleh will assist you if you destroy the Byzantine camp in his territory.
Hints[]
- Thoros is restricted to the Castle Age and a population limit of 125.
- If Thoros dies before Vahka Castle is recaptured, the mission is lost, but do not hesitate to send Thoros into combat after you have taken the castle. Should he be wounded, he will retreat to his castle to recover and fight again after he has recovered.
- Thoros' brothers Stephan and Mleh were never captured by the Byzantines and are both hiding in the nearby mountains. Visit them and convince them to join the rebellion.
- The sea offers plenty of food for your Fishing Ships, but beware of Byzantine vessels patrolling the coast.
- Instead of Lumber or Mining Camps, Armenian Villagers construct and deposit resources at mobile Mule Carts.
Scouts[]
- Thoros' (Orange) return is not yet known to the Armenians. However, as soon as the prince reveals himself, fighters willing to help retake Cilician Armenia should appear.
- Near the beach where Thoros disembarked is his family's old seat, Vahka Castle (Grey), which a Byzantine garrison of infantry and archery units (Blue) occupies.
- To the north are other Byzantine-controlled castles (Purple) held by swordsmen, Light Cavalry, and Skirmishers. Should the Byzantines be attacked, they will likely send Cataphracts into battle as well.
- Thoros' brothers, Stephan and Mleh, could be of help against the occupiers. Stephan (Yellow) has retreated to a hidden mountain monastery to the west, while Mleh (Red) resides in a village to the east.
- The Seljuks (Green) claim the Armenian territories to the southeast, but it may be possible to temporarily come to terms with them.
Players[]
Player[]
- Player ( Armenians) - Starts with just Thoros. When he is brought to the Barracks area near the Dock, many Men-at-Arms and Spearmen rally to serve him. He can then storm the nearest Armenian Castle held by a Byzantine garrison to gain control of the town.
Allies[]
- Armenian Peasants ( Armenians) - They represent passive peasants in the region whose control can be taken over by the player. They consist of the Castle and town nearest to the starting location, several groups of Villagers in the mountains near the town who will join once a Mule Cart is provided to the group, and a Fortified Church complex at the northwest of the map.
- Stephan ( Armenians) - Thoros' half-brother is in the mountains in the west. Once he is found and provided with ten infantry from the Barracks, he joins the player's fight against the Romans, attacking their fortresses with infantry, Crossbowmen, Warrior Priests, Battering Rams, and Mangonels.
- Mleh ( Armenians) - Thoros' younger brother is in the eastern farmlands. He joins only when the small Byzantine garrison east of his base is cleared, and after that sending only small squads to help in the fight, consisting of Crossbowmen, Composite Bowmen, and Battering Rams.
Neutral → Ally → Potential Enemy[]
- Seljuk Trading Post ( Turks) - The Seljuks have a small trading post in the southeast, and have a greater enmity with the Byzantines than the Armenians. They do not participate in the conflict directly, but helping them by retrieving their Trade Cart captured by the Byzantine garrison in the west earns their goodwill in the form of two Trebuchets, which the player otherwise cannot obtain in this scenario.
Enemies[]
- Byzantines ( Byzantines) - The Eastern Roman Empire controls three Armenian cities in this region, and initially trains just infantry, Skirmishers, light cavalry, and Battering Rams. They can be expelled from a city by tearing down their Castle in it. Doing so also prompts them to retaliate harder by training Cataphracts.
- Byzantine Garrisons ( Byzantines) - They control the small Armenian town near the starting area. They also have a small camp in the west where they are holding the Turkish Trade Cart, and a military base in the east which holds sway over Mleh. Some of their War Galleys also roam the waters in the south, but they do not have any Docks there to construct more ships.
Strategy[]
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The first enemy base has a Scorpion, so the player must keep their infantry in staggered formation or send in Thoros first to destroy it. It is vital to keep both Thoros and at least 10 infantry alive before the first Castle is taken. Failing to do either leads to instant loss. Since the first Castle does not feature enemy cavalry, the player can keep their ten Spearmen idle at the starting position, and skip upgrading to Pikemen. Doing so saves resources for upgrades and creating Villagers after the Castle is taken. The player receives only enough resources to research Long Swordsman, Squires, and Pikeman upgrades, amongst which the latter should be skipped. After defeating the garrison, the player receives some more resources. The food must be used to create Villagers, while the player receives just enough wood to create four Mule Carts, all of which are needed to fulfil the side objectives to gain more Villagers.
The sea in the south has many schools of fish, and also some Byzantine War Galleys, which do not reinforce. The player can either use a few Fire Ships to clear these, or build a tower (with Heated Shot or Guard Tower researched) and lure the enemy ships in.
If the player destroys the eastern Byzantine Garrisons, they gain the aid of Mleh. They also gain the Capped Ram upgrade, Bracer, and Blast Furnace.
The player can help the Seljuks in order to obtain two Trebuchets, which the player has no means of otherwise obtaining in this scenario. The player can instead turn their stance to the Seljuks to enemy and destroy their camp, looting it for for their stockpile of a few hundred food and gold, using Capped Rams for any siege purposes.
As the Armenians, the player can obtain Champions and Halberdiers in the Castle Age. An army of these two is enough to fight any opponent army, including Byzantine Cataphracts, as they are all in the Castle Age.
Outro[]
Thoros must have felt invincible as he and his brothers raised the fearless lion banner of his Rubenid dynasty atop the battlements of Vahka Castle. Against all odds, he had managed to liberate a sliver of his lost homeland.
The Byzantine emperor was humiliated. Fuming with rage, he dispatched his agents to contact the Hethumids, old rivals of Thoros' family.
Just as the emperor had hoped, Cilicia plunged into civil war as the two families vied for control of the kingdom.
Trivia[]
- When Thoros reaches Mleh base, Mleh does not seem to be happy about Thoros being alive and mistakenly refers to the Byzantines as friends, thus hinting at a future betrayal. Such betrayal happens in the campaign's last scenario, even though the player will not be fighting Mleh then.
