| “ | Tyre, a city upon an island, bars its gates to Alexander. A grand causeway must be built across the waves. | ” |
| —In-game summary | ||
Tyre Must Fall is the tenth scenario of the Alexander the Great grand campaign in Chronicles: Alexander the Great. It is based on the seven-month long Siege of Tyre in 332 BCE, one of the most important city-states of Phoenicia, which was at the time located on an island about one kilometer offshore. Today, it is a part of the mainland in southern Lebanon.
Intro[]
So confident was Darius that he would triumph at Issus, he had brought his mother, wife, and daughters to the battle. So hastily did he flee, they were left behind for Alexander to capture.
Like the women of Troy, powerless before their captors, Darius's family wept and lamented, imagining that their lot would now be misery and servitude; but Alexander treated them with perfect respect, and allowed them every comfort to which they were accustomed.
Alexander proceeded along the coast, until he came to Tyre, that great city of the Phoenicians, set upon an offshore island as though the whole marvellous edifice floated on the sea. Alexander demanded an entry to Tyre, wishing to sacrifice at the Temple of Melqart. The Tyrians refused – and when Alexander sent messengers a second time, they were hurled into the sea from the city walls.
An outrageous thing to do – but the Tyrians, their grand fortifications protected by the waves that lapped against them, held the entirely reasonable expectation that Alexander would give up and move on. Alexander rarely did what you and I might considered reasonable.
And so work began on a vast causeway, a bridge of earth and rubble between Tyre and the mainland; the world reshaped at Alexander's command.
Scenario instructions[]
Starting conditions[]
- Starting Age:
Classical Age - Starting resources: 1,200 food, 1,500 wood, 800 gold, 1,000 stone
- Population limit: 200
- Starting units:
Objectives[]
- Main objectives
- Take over the ruins of Old Tyre by killing all units near the town center
- Set up your economy while the bridge engineers prepare to start building the causeway to Tyre.
- Protect the builders as they construct the causeway to Tyre.
- Destroy the Royal Palace to exact your vengeance
- Side objectives
- Bring Alexander to the Temple of Melqart to unlock an aura upgrade.
- Use flares on the map to send Parmenion's forces to the specified location.
- Make progress to reduce Tyrian attacks on your base.
- Build 2 Helepoleis using villagers.
- Decisions
- Choose a new unit for Alexander's army:
Hints[]
- The Siege Engineers will construct a causeway across the sea to Tyre. Protect the builders against ships by using siege weapons and ships of your own. Use land units to defeat any attempted Tyrian landings.
- You cannot build Imperial Age ships until Nearchos arrives, so you are likely to be outmatched by the Tyrian navy. Use siege weapons to compensate for this. You cannot build Leviathans at any point.
- When available, Helepoleis are excellent at destroying ships. They can be built by villagers using the building menu.
- The Tyrians will dedicate most of their resources to attacking the bridge builders, but if you fail to make progress on the causeway, they will able to launch increasingly powerful attacks against your base. The longer you fail to extend the causeway, the more intense their attacks will become!
- The bridge builders will be continually replenished, but of course, allowing them to die will delay your progress.
- In this scenario, you may be able to select an additional aura bonus for Alexander. This will apply to any other allied units that his aura normally affects.
Players[]
Player[]
- Player ( Macedonians): Starts in Parmenion's camp with a decently-sized mixed army. The player must first defeat the garrison of Old Tyre to take over the town, and establish an economy to support the Bridge Engineers building the causeway. While this work is in progress, they must defend both their base and the Bridge Engineers against aggressive Tyrian Navy attacks, and also against landing parties of the Tyrian Army. Once the causeway is complete, the goal is to storm the city, and destroy the Royal Palace to win the scenario.
Allies[]
- Parmenion ( Macedonians): He has his base to the east of the map. At first, he is inactive, but after a while, he and his Phalangites will be available for the player to command, using the flare.
- Bridge Engineers ( Macedonians): The faction building the causeway to Tyre, they will build a Siege Workshop and a few tents before four Villagers start the construction. The Tyrian Navy will attempt to kill the Villagers to stall the Engineers' progress, with new Villagers being trained over time. After the causeway is complete, they play no further role.
Enemies[]
- Tyrian Army ( Achaemenids - Phoenicians): The Tyrian Army controls the city of Tyre on an island northwest of the player's coastline, a large, sprawling city with seven Forts, many military production buildings, and fully enclosed by walls, centered on the Royal Palace in the northwestern part of the map. The Army will attempt to stop the player's and Bridge Engineers' effort with regular and increasingly powerful landing parties. Their units include Bactrian Archers, Camel Raiders, Mercenary Peltasts, Scythian Axe Cavalry, Sparabaras, War Chariots, rams up to and including Siege Rams, Scorpions, and Siege Ballistae. When defending, they will defend with the above units until the production building in question is destroyed.
- Tyrian Navy ( Achaemenids - Phoenicians): The Tyrian Navy will attempt to directly impede causeway construction with attacks on the builders, which include all available ship types, starting with Biremes, Galleys, Incendiary Rafts, and War Lemboi, and will quickly upgrade these units. As the construction progresses, they will also send Catapult Ships and Leviathans. Their production can be crippled if the Ports and Shipyards are destroyed in the two harbors south and east of the Royal Palace; however, some units will spawn depending on the causeway construction progress.
- Old Tyre ( Achaemenids - Phoenicians): A small town southwest of the initial player's position with several military production buildings and some economic structures, a garrison of Bowmen, Macemen, Scythian Axe Cavalry, and Sparabaras defends the approaches. When it is killed, all the buildings become the player's, and Old Tyre as a faction is defeated.
Strategy[]
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This section is most likely incomplete and may need expansion. You can help by adding to it. |
This guide is applied to Hard or Legendary difficulty. It is, of course, also applicable for the other grades of difficulty.
Do not start to defend the bridge builders yet, as the Tyrians have landing parties and very nasty naval attacks that will grow tougher as the construction progresses, and the player's starting ships and siege may not be enough to stop them head-on. And as for the Transport Ships that the Tyrians send, they have many more hit points, making them harder to destroy.
Instead, the player should erect two Forts and at least three Shipyards. Do not worry about the construction stalling and Tyrians coming to attack the player, as the bulk of their attacks can be fended off by Companion Cavalry, even if they send in Siege Rams in the later stage of the game. Alternatively, the player can use a cheese strategy, and stop the threat of Tyrian landing parties altogether by building Palisade Walls on the whole coastline, and preferably Stone Walls close to the causeway, optionally only leaving a small gap blocked by the player's ships, and well-defended by Forts.
During the scenario, the player will be given the choice of a Slinger or a Mercenary Archer to add to the roster to train at the Macedonian Command Post. Both are viable ranged options that have their own unique advantages, with the Slinger basically serving as a weaker and cheaper Gastraphetoros that specializes against infantry and only takes half of the population space, whereas the archer has a very long range and a powerful charged attack, being a better generalist. Both provide a niche the Macedonian technology tree does not intrinsically have (anti-infantry specialist or strong generalist archer).
As the main threat to the construction comes from the Tyrian fleet, the player should focus on destroying all of their Docks and Shipyards, which will totally stop them from building new ships. However, when the bridge is 70% complete, a huge army of Tyrian vessels will spawn on one side of the map and sail towards the bridge. To prevent this from happening, the player should have a huge enough fleet to take them head-on, or build Helepoleis to defeat the ships, as they have high attack. Another thing to watch out for is that the Tyrian Army will continue to have a Transport spawning in their base and sending landing parties even if their Docks are destroyed. Some of the islands close to the bridge are just large enough to build towers on, which will help fend off enemy ships. If the player paid off the pirates in the previous scenario, they will send a powerful fleet of their own to support the player, which includes strong hero ships. It will greatly aid in taking control of the water.
Once the bridge is complete, Companion Cavalry, Phalangites, and Palintonons should be the bulk of the player's force. The player wins when the Wonder is razed, but before doing so, they should make sure to bring Alexander to the Temple of Melqart, where he will gain an aura that can either increase attack power or movement speed of Phalangites, Companion Cavalry, and all units trainable from the Macedonian Command Post.
Gallery[]
