The Battle of Falkirk is the seventh and last scenario in the William Wallace learning campaign in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. It is more open-ended than the rest of the campaign and serves somewhat as a review of the first six scenarios, as well as teaching the player about important features of the Castle Age such as siege units, Castles, and unique units.
The scenario is named after the Battle of Falkirk (July 22, 1298).
Intro[]
The only way we can hold the boggy lowlands around Falkirk is to build a castle and as many walls as we can construct in a short time.
These fortifications will serve to protect our camp as we construct siege weapons with which to assault the English castle.
Once the castle is constructed, Wallace himself has sworn to join our forces. Together we will attack Longshanks and his English troops.
The only way we can hold the boggy lowlands around Falkirk is to build a castle and as many walls as we can construct in a short time.
These fortifications will serve to protect our camp as we construct siege weapons with which to assault the English castle.
Once the castle is constructed, Wallace himself has sworn to join our forces and together we will attack Longshanks and his English troops.Scenario instructions[]
Starting conditions[]
- Starting Age:
Feudal Age - Starting resources: 1,000 food, 500 wood, 500 gold, 500 stone
- Population limit: 100 (75 before the Definitive Edition)
- Starting units:
- 10 Villagers
- 6 Crossbowmen
- 4 Men-at-Arms
- 2 Knights
- 10
- Gaia units: None
Objectives[]
- Build a Castle.
- Destroy the English castle.
Hints[]
- The Scots are restricted to a population limit of 100.
- This scenario uses the advanced commands interface. Although you do not need to use this interface to play Age of Empires II, it does provide access to some more powerful ways to control your civilization.
- Different civilizations have different strengths. For example, the Scots, who are represented by the Celtic civilization, have fast and powerful infantry. The Britons have long-ranged archers.
- This scenario uses the advanced commands interface. Although you do not need to use this interface to play Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, it does provide access to some more powerful ways to control your civilization.
- Different civilizations have different strengths. For example, the Scots, who are represented by the Celtic civilization, have powerful infantry. The Britons have long-range archers.
Scouts (Definitive Edition)[]
- The Scots (1, Blue) will fight one final battle against the English at Falkirk. Their independence relies on it.
- News has spread that William Wallace (2, Yellow) is on his way with reinforcements. He is expected to arrive by ship.
- The English (3, Red) have a strong presence to the south and will launch raids on your land. They are bringing infantry and their fearsome Longbowmen to the field of battle.
Players[]
Player[]
- Scots ( Celts): The player starts with a fortified town in the north of the map, and all buildings necessary are up at the game start.
Ally[]
- William Wallace ( Celts): Wallace is the player's ally, but will not actually play. Once the player has constructed a Castle, his ships land on the riverside and join in the player's army. The four Transport Ships deliver 14 (15 in the Beta) Elite Woad Raiders, five Cavaliers (five Paladins in the Definitive Edition and in the Beta), and William Wallace himself (except in the Beta). All of the units are fully upgraded.
Enemy[]
- English ( Britons): The English are once again the only enemy. They have a town south of the river that can only be reached with ships or by crossing the river in the west of the map, where there are shallows. The river crossing is protected by Stone Walls and Watch Towers. In their town, the English have a Castle. They field an army of Longbowmen, Spearmen, and some Battering Rams.
Dialogue[]
The English could attack at any time. You have some walls already, but you should complete them as soon as you have enough stone.
You also can build towers to defend your city. Units can garrison within a tower for defense and protection and archers can even fire out of a tower.
To build a Castle, you must first advance to the next age: the Castle Age.
If you have surplus resources of one type, you can sell them for gold at your Market. You can then use the gold to buy what you need.
The advanced buttons let you set combat states for your soldiers. A defensive soldier will be less likely to attack an enemy that comes near him. Click a military unit, then note the combat stance buttons in the lower-left corner of the screen.
Using the advanced buttons, you can also command a soldier to patrol an area between two points and guard or follow another unit.
The advanced buttons allow access to a new type of formation. For example, with a box formation, you can protect a weak unit such as a Monk.
After accumulating 800 Food and 200 Gold:
You have enough resources to go to the Castle Age—you should do that soon.
After advancing to Castle Age:
Congratulations. You are going to find lots of things to do in the Castle Age. For starters, try building a Siege Workshop to make Battering Rams and other siege weapons.
You may need to assign extra villagers to gather stone so you'll have enough to build the Castle and all of the fortifications you need.
After building a Siege Workshop:
Good job. With your new Siege Workshop you can make Battering Rams. Rams are slow, but they are resistant to arrow fire and excellent at knocking down walls. You may need some rams to attack the English castle.
After building a Castle:
Great! You have completed the Castle. Sir William should be here soon, and then it will be time to attack the English!
Wallace has come!
One of your most powerful units is created at the Castle. Create 10 more Woad Raiders.
With William Wallace and his Woad Raiders on your side, the English may be in trouble. Once you have a large army with plenty of siege weapons, go destroy the English Castle!
Trebuchets are massive siege weapons with a great range, available only in the Imperial Age. Remember that Trebuchets must be packed to move and unpacked to fire.
After destroying the English Castle:
The English castle at Falkirk is no more! The English pretensions in Scotland are surely at an end. The forces of Wallace are triumphant!
Strategy[]
The player starts with a solid base, with enough Houses to support the maximum population along with every important Feudal Age building. They also start with a ring of Outposts surrounding the base, though the English will soon destroy them one at a time. Begin by building Stone Walls to finish enclosing the base, along with Gates where appropriate. Also start collecting resources and advance to the Castle Age right away. After advancing, the player may build a Siege Workshop to create siege weapons as well as a University to research important technologies (Murder Holes, Fortified Wall, Guard Tower, and Ballistics should be a priority). Also, towers may be built near the walls, as the English will begin attacking them soon enough. Their forces include Longbowmen, Pikemen, and Battering Rams. The English will not advance beyond the Castle Age.
The ideal location for the own Castle
Once the player has enough stone, they should build their Castle. The perfect place for it is at the north end of the river crossing. Bring several Villagers to build it, along with troops to protect them. A Castle provides excellent defense, pelting any unit that dares go near it with a volley of arrows and being able to outrange Longbowmen. Its only major weakness is Rams, but they can easily be destroyed with Castle-trained Woad Raiders.
Upon building the Castle, Wallace will give the player some troops: 14 Elite Woad Raiders, five Cavaliers, four Transport Ships, two Galleons, and William Wallace himself. These units are essentially enough destroy the English Castle and finish the final objective. If a few Battering Rams are added to this army, the Castle falls even more quickly. It is easiest to use the Rams to destroy the Gate at the entrance to the English base and the other units to deal with enemy units. Once the Gate is gone, go south. Just ignore the towers as the damage they deal is negligible. Soon the army will encounter the Castle, the objective of the scenario. Directly attack it with the rams. The other units may also attack the Castle or kill defending enemy units. Once the Castle is destroyed, the scenario is won.
Alternative strategies[]
The English Castle is not able to withstand a quick raid
Alternatively, immediately after the start of the scenario, the player can advance to the Castle Age and send all Villagers to gather stone. Once the Castle Age is reached, a Castle can be constructed right away. Once the Castle is up (no matter where), the ships of William Wallace arrive and drop their units on the shoreline. Garrison them back inside and sail to the coast in the south and drop the units off. Locate the Castle and attack it with all of Wallace's units. The Castle is gone in less than seven minutes of play.
AoE2 HD - William Wallace 7
Feudal Age rush and Town Center douche strategy
In another alternative strategy, the player can also win this scenario without advancing to the Castle Age, building a Castle, or (consequently) using Wallace reinforcements. The player can rush the enemy at the start with all starting units, along with trainable units from the buildings (Archers are recommended). Once the player manages to get in into the English city (they will open the Gate and send their units on the player if the player rushes intensively by the start). Build a Town Center in range of the enemy's Town Center (by deleting the initial Town Center). Killing all the Villagers will make the path safe to the Castle (they will simply stop training new units once their economy is neutralized). Make sure to raid all of the Mining and Lumber Camps in the city, as shown in the video.
Outro[]
It looked certain that we would be defeated at Falkirk. Yet somehow, though outnumbered and outranged by English longbows, we were victorious.
The English castle was torn down, and a Scottish one shall be built in its place.
William Wallace has shown us the path to victory. Although he is but one man, he inspires great deeds in others. Many of the Scottish knights and lords have drawn their swords with his.
Wallace's own sword is a five-and-a-half-foot beast, forged of course in Scotland.
He has sworn not to rest until his sword finds the neck of Edward Longshanks. The struggle will continue, but we have learned the ways of war. Now it is the English who will know true fear.
It looked certain we would be defeated at Falkirk. Yet somehow, though outnumbered and outranged by English longbows, we were victorious.
The English castle was torn down and a Scottish one will be built in its place.
William Wallace has shown us the path to victory. Although he is but one man, he inspires great deeds in others and many of the Scottish princes and lords have drawn their swords with his.
Wallace's own sword is a five-and-a-half-foot beast, forged of course in Scotland.
He has sworn not to rest, until his sword finds the neck of Edward Longshanks. The struggle will continue, but we have learned the ways of war. Now it is the English who will know fear.Trivia[]
- This is the only William Wallace scenario with two objectives.
- The player can also win this scenario by advancing to the Imperial Age and building a Wonder, though it is faster and easier to simply destroy the Castle.
- There is a lone Champion on the allied Wallace team hidden in the woods west of the English base. This is done because giving all of their units to the player would cause Wallace to be defeated.
- Throughout the scenario, the speed cannot be changed.
- The starting Mill takes up a 3x3 space, compared to a normal Mill's 2x2 space. This isn't because its base is increased to a 3x3 base, but because its 2x2 base doesn't correctly correspond to the grid.
- As opposed to most other campaigns, the death of its main hero has no consequences whatsoever.
- If the player destroys the English Gate and builds their own Gate in its place, the English will not attack the new Gate, and will be unable to launch any further attacks against the player's base.
- The English will only resign after having their Castle destroyed (the fate of the rest of their base is uninfluential).
Historical comparison[]
- In the scenario, the Scots and English begin each with a base separated by the Firth of Forth, which the Scots must cross to attack the English. In reality, both armies were south of the Forth (the Scots in Falkirk and the English in Temple Liston), and it was the English who attacked the Scots. The Scots had left the cities and were avoiding battle, intending to strike when the English left due to running out of supplies, but the English learned the Scots's location before this happened.
- Wallace arrives with additional forces by the sea. This did not happen, but it could be an allusion to Wallace traveling to France after the battle, to ask for support.
- Most crucially: The Scots were decisively defeated at Falkirk, and Wallace resigned as Guardian of Scotland shortly after.
- The real outcome of the Battle of Falkirk is revealed in the intro of the last Edward Longshanks' campaign scenario, Hammer of the Scots, in which one of the objectives is to kill William Wallace.
Gallery[]
