The Battle of Mansurah is the fifth scenario of the The Sultans Ascend campaign in Age of Empires IV: The Sultans Ascend, and the first scenario in the 'From Slaves to Sultans' chapter. It is based on the Battle of Mansurah (February 8–11, 1250) between the Mamluk Sultanate and the Crusaders.
Intro[]
Scenario description[]
Under Louis IX, the Franks stirred the sands of Egypt in their renewed quest for Jerusalem.
Opening cinematic[]
In rushing to their doom at Hattin, the Franks had emptied out the great garrisons of the occupied cities. Their gates were unguarded and their people without a blade to defend them. Trembling before Saladin's eminence, they submitted. Beirut, Acre, Ascalon, Bethlehem, until the victorious day came when the sultan entered Jerusalem itself. But the sacred city would yet see much bloodstained struggle for her hand.
More than sixty years passed in this way. The Franks again renewed their quest for Jerusalem. This time they believed - in their unending folly - that Egypt was the path to their glory. Had they not learned from their misfortune? Did they think our roars were mere whispers on the wind? Egypt unleashed her lions. The commander of the army, Baybars-al-Bunduqdari, assembled a host of Mamluk warriors so great that the whole earth shook beneath their step. At the ailing sultan's side, his beloved wife, Shajar al-Durr, our tree of pearls, ably took charge in his stead. With cleverness and caution, she directed Egypt's defense. The Franks would swing their swords at shadows, stumbling with all confidence ever deeper into the lions' den.
Loading screen[]
A new army of Franks attacked under King Louis IX, determined to seize Egypt as a gateway to Jerusalem.
Start of scenario[]
Making camp in the Nile Delta, the French King, Louix the Ninth, readied - some say - 50,000 men for his attack on Egypt. The sultan, now on the threshold of death, conferred all power to his wife, Shajar-al-Durr. Her trusted informants would now deliver the sultanate from the brink of conquest.
Scenario instructions[]
Starting conditions[]
- Starting Age:
Feudal Age - Population limit: 200
- Starting units:
- 1x Spy
- Resources: 200 food, 200 wood, 100 gold
Objectives[]
- Send for help
- Bring the Spy to the Messenger
- Defend Mansurah
- Destroy the Headquarters
- Optional: Eliminate the Grand Masters (0/3)
Gameplay[]
- Spies can instantly kill their targets by attacking while in stealth.
- Spies regain stealth when out of combat for 6 seconds.
- After sending for help, you will gain control of the city, and the enemy will begin to attack.
Hints[]
- If a Spy is spotted, use his Dash ability and hide him in a Farmhouse.
- When you kill the Grand Master of a Holy Order, his men will leave the battle.
- Enemy attacks will get stronger over time. Use Baybars to end the battle as soon as possible.
Players[]
- Shajar al-Durr (Mamluk Sultanate): The player starts out with a single Spy in the allied town defended by Stone Walls in the southwest of the map. After meeting with Shajar al-Durr's messengers, they will gain control of the town, which has one of each of the basic Feudal Age production buildings, a Blacksmith, a Mosque with one Relic, a Dock, a House of Wisdom, and various other economic buildings. They will gain 16 Villagers, 2 Fishing Boats, 6 Archers, and 6 Spearmen, as well as Shajar al-Durr. The player is limited to the Castle Age.
Allies[]
- Shajar al-Durr (Mamluk Sultanate): The player's eventual base and units starts out under allied control, as well as the group of messengers with which the Spy must rendezvous. While it may seem like the allied Villagers are gathering resources, they are not actually depleting any of the resources that the player will need to collect, so there is no rush to completing the initial stealth segment of the mission. Once the player gains control of the base, their allies no longer play any part in the scenario.
Enemy[]
- Franks (Kingdom of Jerusalem): The Franks occupy the large majority of the northeast half of the map to various degrees. Their primary Headquarters is located closer to the center, in a walled encampment surrounded by Outposts and Tents, and guarded by strong Templar Knights, Hospitallers, and Teutonic Knights. They also have another walled section in the north corner of the map with several production buildings and a Monastery. Much of the rest of the area is crawling with patrolling Scouts and other cavalry or stationed with large armies. Throughout the scenario, they will attack the player with all manner of units that get stronger as the scenario progresses. Attacks will start small with Militia and Battering Rams, but by the late stages of the scenario, they will field and constantly reinforce with large quantities of Knights, Men-at-Arms, Mangonels, and Trebuchets.
Strategy[]
Note: The below scenario conditions and strategy are written for the Hard difficulty. Lower difficulties may differ slightly from what is described below.
Similar to the last scenario, the fist part of this scenario serves as an introductory section to the scenario's unique mechanics, in this case stealth. During this section, the player has as much time as they need to complete the objective. There are three paths out of the player's town - north, northeast, and east. While the player may instinctually want to to head directly east to rendezvous with the messenger, it is also possible to explore the whole map with the starting Spy without having to worry about enemy attacks. There is a section on the path out of the north (leftmost) exit where the Spy can sneak between the forest and the first mountain to bypass a Scout, and from there the Spy can proceed into the enemy camp. The risk, of course, is that there is a greater chance of being caught and the Spy being killed, which will instantly lose the scenario. While progressing to the messenger, there are several resource crates which can be picked up to later jump-start the player's economy. Care is required when picking them up, since this will cause the Spy to exit stealth. With the first one it is straightforward to assassinate the guard, but there is a treasure chest along the beach that requires a very narrow dash between the treeline and the Scout to kill the Knight guard, after which the Spy can defeat the Scout even while out of Stealth. The last crate can be grabbed and then followed by an immediate dash to the messenger to avoid the enemy soldiers.
After the player gains control of Mansurah, they will have to multi-task between building up their own defenses and economy, and using the Spies that Shajar al-Durr can appoint to assassinate Grand Masters and weaken the enemy's defenses. As is usual at the beginning of any base-building scenario, it is necessary to immediately start creating Villagers and, in this case, Fishing Boats. New Villagers should focus on wood, then gold, then stone while Fishing Boats gather the food. It is useful to build a second Dock, but the number of fish is limited, so building too many Fishing Boats will leave many of them idle in the later stages of the scenario. Researching Fresh Foodstuffs and Blacksmith technologies should be a priority, as should advancing to the Castle Age. The Composite Bows technology will significantly improve the player's Archers, which are a good option for early defense, as the Franks initially attack with mostly unarmored units, and the player can take advantage of the Stone Walls. The Culture Wing is likely more useful than the Economic Wing, since Preservation of Knowledge can provide a nice gold discount and Medical Centers can provide good synergy with a defensive Keep. While an Archer/Horseman or Archer/Spearman combination works well at the start, later the player will need to begin adding Crossbowmen, as well as a tanky frontline unit such as Men-at-Arms, since the Franks will attack with many of their own Men-at-Arms as well as Knights. Springalds will also be useful to take down the prevalent enemy siege, as will Mangonels be for general purpose damage dealing.
While defending at home, the player should simultaneously be hunting Grand Masters with Spies. This is easier to do earlier, when enemy attacks are less threatening. Leaving an unattended Spy in the enemy camp to focus on a battle at home is the fastest way to get it killed, since enemy Scouts patrol nearly every inch of the enemy camp and navigating in between their detection auras (which are smaller than a typical Scout's Line of Sight) requires constant attention and regular use of the Dash ability. When focusing back on the base, it is therefore useful to take advantage of the Farmhouses spread throughout the enemy camp. The Teutonic Grand Master is typically stationary in the north corner, the Hospitaller Grand Master patrols behind the Headquarters area, and the Templar Grand Master will be either by a pond in the east corner or patrolling in the same area. It is well worth it to lose the Spy if it means getting rid of one of the Grand Masters, and for this reason, bringing more than one Spy and leaving the rest in Farmhouses can save time. It may also be useful to take a few military units to get rid of any Outposts or Scouts along the path to the enemy camp to make the Spy's journey slightly safer.
The player should attack the central Headquarters camp as soon as they feel comfortable that they have a strong enough military and economy to reinforce it. The Headquarters does not have a lot of hit points, so it is possible to focus it down and quickly destroy it, paying less attention to enemy soldiers, which will constantly reinforce the defenses, regardless of how many are killed. Baybars will arrive with his army 25 minutes after obtaining control of Mansurah, but it is by no means necessary to wait to attack until he arrives, especially if the Grand Masters have been killed. By then, in fact, the Franks will have significantly stronger armies, especially large numbers of Mangonels which can completely wipe out unsuspecting infantry armies, and the resources in the walled base and in the sea will have depleted, making it more difficult to replenish high-value units, since there are no other significant gold, food, or stone deposits on the map. The player's best bet is to eliminate the Grand Masters as soon as possible to get rid of the strongest Headquarters defenses while building up to 200 population, and then attacking.
Achievement[]
Killing all three holy order leaders within 30 seconds of each other grants the 'Saving the Day Early' achievement. To do this, the player should bring three Spies at once to infiltrate the enemy camp, and position each one close to a leader before trying to assassinate them somewhere where they cannot be detected. For the Teutonic Grand Master, the Spy can be placed behind the Monastery; for the Hospitaller Grand Master, they can be garrisoned in the Farmhouse behind the main camp; and for the Templar Grand Master, they can be garrisoned in one of the Houses in the eastern corner of the map. Using Falcons if necessary for greater vision, the attack should be launched when all Grand Masters are visible and in a vulnerable position, going from one to the next, and not worrying about saving the Spies. This achievement is much easier to achieve right after gaining control of Mansurah, when enemy attacks are still weak and there is less to distract from achieving it.
Outro[]
End of scenario[]
With their commanders captured or slain, those Franks still breathing abandoned their assault. From this moment, the nearby city would be named in honor of our triumph: Al Mansurah, the victorious.
Post-game screen[]
The Franks turned tail and aborted their ill-fated quest. The mighty Mamluks had felled the once-feared enemy and now prepared to grasp power for themselves.
Unlockable content[]
- Video: Battle of Mansurah
- Page from History: Tree of Pearls
