โ | The Athenians continue their relentless raids along the Peloponnesian coast, striking town after town. Brasidas will require every ounce of his speed and courage to protect his people | โ |
—In-game summary |
Pyres on the Coast is the second scenario of the third act of the Battle for Greece grand campaign in Chronicles: Battle for Greece, and the seventeenth scenario overall.
Intro[]
The Spartans hailed Brasidas as a hero. In the early days of the war, when their futile occupation of Attica dragged on, and their expected victory never came, Brasidas was a rare figure of inspiration: the protector of Spartan honor against the vicious Athenian pirates.
But the Athenian raids endangered more than Sparta's honor: turmoil in the Peloponnese threatened the very foundations of Spartan society. Centuries earlier, you see, the Spartans had marched across the mountains into Messenia, conquered its entire people, and forced them into perpetual serfdom. Hereafter the Messenians were called Helots, and toiled year-round for their Spartan masters.
The Spartans were utterly dependent on these helots - as dependent as they were fearful, for they knew that given the slightest chance, the helots would gladly eat their masters alive. Like a field of dry heather, the Peloponnese would need only a tiny spark to burst into flames - and the Athenian raiders knew it. Brasidas donned his helmet, its horsehair mane swaying in the salty breeze, and marched down to the coast.
Scenario instructions[]
Starting conditions[]
- Starting Age:
Classical Age
- Starting resources: 600 food, 500 wood, 400 gold, 250 stone
- Population limit: 200
- Starting units:
Objectives[]
Main objectives[]
- Defend the coastal town against the incoming Athenian raid.
- Defend the Perioikoi coastal towns. At least 3 Perioikoi Trade Workshops must survive.
Trade Workshops left: 7/7
- Kill 0/200 Athenians.
Secondary objectives[]
- Stop Helot rebellions by killing all Athenians and rebels in the village.
5/5 Helot villages remain loyal
- Destroy Helot Offerings for resources at the risk of rebellion.
- Slay 0/3 lion packs.
Hints[]
- Athenian raiders will land along the coast and try to destroy the Perioikoi Trade Workshops. Stop them!
- You cannot build Ports of Shipyards; focus on creating a mobile defence force, which can respond to any threat along the coast.
- The Helot villages provide you with tribute. If the Athenians incite a village to rebel, you will lose that villages tribute. You can reclaim the village by clearing out the rebel helots and Athenian agitators in the village, or you can ignore the rebellion if you want to focus your efforts elsewhere.
- The Spartans have fearsome heavy infantry, including their tough-as-nails unique unit, the Hippeus. They can also create up to two Polemarchs at the Town Center. These increase the stats of nearby units, as well as being formidable fighters themselves.
- Find the local Helot Smith to start an aura quest for Brasidas.
Players[]
Player[]
- Player (
Spartans): The player begins with a decent base, with a military camp ready to produce units and plenty of resources to start off with. They must defend the Perioikoi coastal towns while killing Athenians.
Allies[]
- Helots (
Spartans): A number of small villages around the map that the player can recruit some units from. They tribute resources if kept from rebelling or recaptured after.
- Perioikoi (
Spartans): A number of large villages around the coast that the player must defend. They have walls, and some have towers, but their defenses are pitiful and they are reliant on the player for defense. They produce no units and cannot build or repair anything.
- Athenians (
Athenians): They represent the Athenian ships that transport the raiding parties to the Periokoi towns, and cannot be destroyed preemptively.
Neutral[]
- Helot Rebels (
Athenians): Hostile units that begin to spawn if a village rebels or offerings are destroyed. They also produce enough units to overwhelm and destroy the player's base if all offerings are destroyed.
Enemies[]
- Athenians (
Athenians): The Athenian faction consists of two players. One is an ally, only in so far as the ships landing the raiders cannot attack of be attacked. The main Athenian player attack the shores of the towns every few minutes with forces mainly consisting of Hoplites and Bowmen, but start bringing rams later.
Strategy[]
Invest most of the food into training Villagers to help build the economy, but make sure to research Blacksmith technologies earlier too. Send the player's forces, in attack march stance, to the first town. This has them fight off a Helot ambush along the way, then defend the town.
Meanwhile, send a Scout Cavalry around to find the Helot villages to the player's Forts west, the two to the south, and the one due east. There is another southeast of the furthest Perioikoi town too. Send the Helot units the player gets to the player's Fort, training a Polemarch from the Town Center to lead them. continue researching Blacksmith technologies, age up, and make sure the player has good food, gold, and stone income.
There are seven total Perioikoi towns along the coast. Starting from the first one the player defended, number them 1 to 7. The next attack strikes at towns 2 and 5. Move the player's initial force to 2, and the player's Helot force to 5. When the player has enough stone, send a Villager to build a Fort at town 6, making sure to build an Academy to research Murder Holes, and to protect the player's Villager in case the raid occurs too soon.
Continue to research technologies and reinforce the armies, while slowly building up Forts, one in each town. It is also very important to send units to reclaim Helot towns, as the tribute can be invaluable in building up the player's forces, trading for stone, and researching technologies.
The next attack strikes towns 3 and 7. The one after strikes towns 1, 2, and 6, and the one after that strikes towns 3, 4, and 6.
If played wisely, the player should have one Fort in most towns, if not all, and should build some Hippeis in each town to help counter rams. Around the time of this last attack, the player should reach the 200 unit kill count objective, meaning the next raid is the last.
During the last raid, Athens attacks every town simultaneously. If the player has a Fort with a few Hippeis, the player should hold out decently while the player's armies move along the coast to help wherever needs it most. Once this raid is defeated, the player wins.
If the player is struggling to manage the resources and defenses, the player only needs to keep 3 Trade Workshops alive to win the scenario, so the player might have more luck abandoning some towns to focus on others. 1, 2, and 5 are recommended to keep, due to their proximity to the player's main base. Just be sure to defend the player's base as well in case the Athenians march up.
Achievements - "Friend of the Helots" and "Tomb Raider"[]
Around the map there are several caves. Outside of each cave are two small buildings marked Helot Offerings. Destroying these nets the player resources, but also the ire of the Helots, spawning in Helot forces to attack the player at the caves.
To unlock "Friend of the Helots", simply do not attack these offerings and win the scenario.
To unlock "Tomb Raider", the player must destroy all of the offerings. This grants resources, but also causes a Helot uprising from every town, and allows the Helots to attack the player with rams. The player's main base can and will very quickly be overrun and wiped out by sheer numbers. The player can clear a few offerings early, stirring up resistance and spawning some hostile forces, but leave some offerings until the final Athenian attack. Wipe them out right near the end of the scenario, then focus on defeating the Athenians. Once the scenario ends, this achievement should unlock.