The Defense of Tyre is the first scenario of the The Sultans Ascend campaign in Age of Empires IV: The Sultans Ascend, and the only scenario in the 'Invasion' chapter. It depicts the Siege of Tyre in 1111 by the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Intro[]
Scenario description[]
The First Crusade of the Franks claimed much of the Holy Land. But one city had yet eluded its grasp.
Opening cinematic[]
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. We called them the Franks. In unreckoned number, horse and foot, lord and commoner alike, they crossed the threshold to the East with a lust for war and plunder. Their ambition: to seize the holy city of Jerusalem, and all Bilad al-Sham beyond. Terror spread among the Muslims. City by city, we succumbed. The infidels prevailed, but their lawless conquest would be answered by the roar of our righteous lions. These pages tell the story of our struggle, of the courage of great leaders who fought for our land and our faith. With God's favor upon them, they unsheathed their swords and sharpened their spears, and earned their place in our eternal memory. I begin this story at the last bastion of the faithful, the ancient fortress of Tyre - may God protect her.
Loading screen[]
As refugees sought haven within its walls, Tyre prepared to face a Frankish war machine of unprecedented scale.
Start of scenario[]
The port of Tyre had yet held out against capture. But in this year, the king of Jerusalem attacked with renewed fervor. Foreseeing the city's demise, Tyre's governor beseeched the ruler of Damascus to hasten a vigorous force to his aid.
Scenario instructions[]
Starting conditions[]
- Starting Age: Dark Age
- Population limit: 200
- Starting units:
- Resources: 200 food, 200 wood, 100 gold
Objectives[]
- Your Landmarks must survive
- Your Horse Archers must survive
- Clear the Frankish Camps
- Eliminate Guards and Resource Gatherers
- Advance to the Feudal Age
- Build a House of Wisdom
- Build a Wing on the House of Wisdom
- Prepare to defend Tyre from the Frankish Attack
- Harvest Resources
- OR Produce Units
- A Frankish attack is mustering
- Position your army to defend Tyre
- Destroy The Beast
Gameplay[]
- Early on, raid as many Frankish Camps as possible to reduce the strength of their army later.
- When you gain the settlement, build a mixed force. Units that can throw torches are key to defeating The Beast.
- To stop the final assault and save Tyre you must destroy the Franks' superweapon known as The Beast.
Hints[]
- Turkic Horse Archers are great for high-speed raiding, but weak against buildings. Avoid direct fights against defensive structures.
- Your Leader, Tughtekin, has a unique ability. Make use of it in battle!
- If a Leader falls in battle, they will respawn at the Leader Tent. Get them back in the fight quickly!
Players[]
Player[]
- Seljuk Empire (Seljuks): The player starts off with a small army of horse archers with which they must raid the surrounding camps. After enough time has passed, or after clearing all the camps, they will gain control of the small Fatimid base by the coast and receive several Villagers and reinforcements of Horsemen, Spearmen, and Archers. The Seljuk civilization is similar to the Abbasid Dynasty, with the exception that they receive the Food Reserves technology from the Economic Wing instead of Fertile Crescent, can create Turkic Horse Archer instead of Camel Archers, and cannot build siege engines. The player is limited to the Feudal Age.
Allies[]
- Tyre (Fatimid Caliphate): The player's ally starts with a walled city on an island connected to the coast by a narrow isthmus. They field only a modest army of mostly Archers and Militia Archers, with some Spearmen, both guarding the isthmus and manning the walls near the gate. Inside their town, they have a Keep and Town Center. At the beginning of the game, they also the small settlement outside the walls which the player gains access to. The Fatimid Caliphate is based visually on the Abbasid Dynasty, but make no use of any of its bonuses.
Enemy[]
- Franks (Kingdom of Jerusalem): The Kingdom of Jerusalem civilization is a version of the campaign-specific Crusader civilization. The civilization is based off of the French but also has access to Early Man-at-Arms. The Franks have several small resource gathering camps around the map in the east of the map guarded by small retinues and sometimes Outposts. Additionally, they have a small staging camp outside the walls of Tyre with an Outpost and some tents, and a large base in the northeast which is unassailable. They attack with plenty of Horsemen, Archers, Militia, Early Knights (reskinned Royal Knights), and Early Man-at-Arms, with a smaller amount of Spearmen. Although they seem to be Feudal Age versions, they have both the Castle Age melee defense (Insulated Helm) and attack (Decarbonization) Blacksmith technologies, in addition to all the Feudal Age ones.
Strategy[]
Note: The below scenario conditions and strategy are written for the Hard difficulty. Lower difficulties may differ slightly from what is described below.
Once the scenario starts, the player is instructed to clear the Frankish resource gathering camps. The Franks will attempt to gather 5,000 resources, at which point, the scenario will advance to the next phase, even if not all the camps have been cleared. The resource counter will begin as soon as the player begins attacking the first camp. Because the counter ends as soon as the last camp has been cleared, the player should clear the camps in order of proximity to the starting location. Each camp also has several resource crates that the player should grab to jumpstart their base building in the next phase. The first camp, just up the road, is only guarded by a few Militia, which should easily fall to the Turkic Horse Archers. To have all the Horse Archers survive, using hit-and-run tactics is essential. The Horse Archers fire while moving, like Mangudai, so it should be easy to kite infantry units. From the first camp, collect the resource crates and head east to clear the second camp, which is also guarded by only a few Militia and should be straightforward to clear. The third camp is guarded by only a few Spearmen, which are even more important to kite than the Militia due to their anti-cavalry damage. This camp also has an Outpost which will be difficult to avoid to get to the Villagers behind it. It can be helpful in this case to use Tughtekin to soak up Outpost fire, since he has more hit points. Note that not all the Villagers need to be slain to clear the camp, so as soon as the notification is given that the camp is cleared, move on to avoid taking more unnecessary fire. Finally, the fourth camp should be approached from the left, through the back of the third camp, since an Outpost guards the entrance on the road from the second camp. Several groups of Horsemen guard this camp, and they are slightly trickier to hit-and-run due to their speed. Take advantage of the fact that they do not pursue the soldiers past a certain point, and will return back to their original positions once they reach the edge of this guarded area. Therefore, the player can bait them back and forth while taking little damage. Once they are defeated, the Villagers should be easy pickings. The resource crates in this camp are somewhat hidden in the forest to the east of the Mining Camp, and are guarded by a few Archers and a Scout. If at any point the soldiers have taken too much damage, there is an allied Mosque visible on the map that will spawn three Imams to heal the units once the player defeats the guard of Militia and Horsemen. Realistically, it should be possible to clear all the camps with somewhere between 3,000-4,000 resources collected and without needing to heal.
Once obtaining ownership of the camp, it is important to immediately start collecting resources, creating Villagers, and creating an army, as otherwise it is easy to get overwhelmed by enemy attacks. Enough Villagers should be placed on food at first to maintain Villager production and advance to the Feudal Age, but otherwise the rest should be tasked to gather wood to start creating Fishing Boats, from which the player will get most of their food. The player should have at least 2 to 3 Docks with several Fishing Boats gathering at each, and it is most efficient to build these along the coastline closest to the Deep Water Fish, not just all clustered by the base. When advancing to the Feudal Age, the Military Wing is by far the best option, since the extra food from Food Reserves should not be needed with a good fishing economy, and there aren't enough technologies to benefit from Preservation of Knowledge. Conversely, Boot Camp will significantly improve the survivability of the necessary infantry. Wheelbarrow and Double Broadax are other especially important technologies to research. As the player builds up their base, they should create a balanced army of Spearmen, Horsemen, and Archers. Spearmen and Horsemen are needed to combat enemy Knights and Archers respectively, but are also needed for their torch attack vs The Beast. Archers are a valuable damage dealer to enemy infantry and Men-at-Arms especially, so a healthy number should be created as well. Turkic Horse Archers are expensive and don't offer much in direct combat, especially since the Frankish Archers can easily defeat them, so they should be avoided. Only enough gold should be gathered to research the Blacksmith technologies and other technologies, at which point Villagers should focus on food and wood. Continue building production buildings, as a large number of them will be needed to keep up with unit losses during the Frankish attack and reinforce the army.
During the buildup, the Franks will attack with groups of Archers and Militia, and Archers and Horsemen, which should be repelled relatively easily if the player has been creating units, with the aid of the Town Center fire. As their army grows, the player should consider advancing towards the entrance to Tyre and taking out the forward Frankish base there, while walling their base and preemptively stopping raids to secure their economy from attacks. By the time the Franks begin advancing with The Beast, it should be possible to have a full population of 200, with a large army guarding the isthmus. Before the attack, it is extremely helpful to send some Villagers into Tyre to build additional military buildings. This is because once they start advancing, the Frankish attacks will be relentless and nonstop, with large groups of Knights, Archers, Militia, and Men-at-Arms, and they will be able to block off reinforcements coming from the player's base if The Beast has already advanced onto the isthmus. Defeating the Frankish Army should not be the goal, since this can easily deplete the player's own population and not leave enough army to take down The Beast. The Beast is large and clunky, and can easily be blocked by positioning units in front of it, so use this to delay its advance. Do not rely on Tyre's defenses to help very much, since their army is weak and The Beast can easily take down their Keep and Town Center. Once The Beast is destroyed, the scenario will end.
Outro[]
End of scenario[]
The wicked tower erupted in splinter and flame. Its accursed architects fled, tail turned and ashamed in their failure. Tyre, city of the Ancients, gateway to the middle sea, and now, fortress of refuge, rejoiced in its hard fought victory. The Tyrians wept and thanked God for his fearless Damascene deliverers.
Post-game screen[]
The alliance forged by Tyre and Damascus ruined the efforts of the Franks on this day. The victory was small in scale, but mighty in spirit.
Unlockable content[]
- Campaign Video: The Defense of Tyre
- Page from History: Witnesses to History
- Portrait: The Chronicler
Gallery[]
