Unconditional Loyalty is the second scenario of the Gajah Mada campaign in Age of Empires II HD: Rise of the Rajas. It takes place during the Kuti Rebellion in 1319, where Gajah Mada starts to rose to prominence.
Intro[]
My longstanding fear that quarrels within the court would threaten its collapse has come to pass.
A nobleman called Rakrian Kuti has betrayed the king and now lays siege to the royal palace. Fortunately, his treachery has not spread throughout the empire. The prime minister, Arya Tadah, remains loyal, and we have joined our forces to free the king and crush the rebellion.
Let us hope that there is still enough time to save our king.I've been suspecting it for a while now but today it became reality. Powers within the Majapahit Empire threaten to bring down our beloved king. While I was on an errands run, a nobleman called Rakrian Kuti has taken up arms and besieging the royal palace with the king still inside it. Things are looking grim but luckily the king still has many supporters, including the prime minister, Arya Tadah. Together we've decided to free the king before dealing with the rebellion. Hopefully we'll be in time to save him.
Scenario instructions[]
Starting conditions[]
- Starting Age:
Castle Age - Starting resources:
- Population limit: 150
Objectives[]
- King Jayanegara must survive.
- Reach King Jayanegara before the rebels overwhelm his royal guard.
- Bring King Jayanegara to the flagged area to the south.
Hints[]
- You are limited to a population of 150 but can now advance to the Imperial Age.
- Losing Gajah Mada will not make you lose the scenario.
- There is still a lot of support for the Majapahit king in this region, so it is a good idea to explore the area and search for those loyalists.
- King Jayanegara does not have much time, so you must hurry to his rescue before the rebels can kill him.
- There are three different gates close by that can get you into the city. Each of them can lead to a different path to reach the King, some are easier than the others. Arya Tadah will help you breach the gates, direct him by using taunts. Chat '105' to tell him to attack the western most gate, '106' to attack the middle gate, and '107' to attack the eastern most gate.
Scouts[]
Your scouts report:
- Gajah Mada and his army (1, Red) has arrived to the northeast of the city. He has few assets initially, but can rely on the support of the loyalists near the capital.
- Directly to the north, the prime minister Arya Tadah (6, Purple), has also arrived to help save the king and is awaiting Gajah's support to commence the attack.
- The Majapahit king, Jayanegara (3, Yellow), is trapped within the city walls and is surrounded by hostile rebel forces. His royal guards are staunch defenders, but eventually they will succumb to the rebels' attacks.
- The city of Trowulan (4, Orange) has been occupied by rebels. The rebels have assigned their strongest men to hold the walls against attacks from outside the city. These defenders include Arbalesters, Champions, Battle Elephants, Onagers, and Halberdiers. The rebel army under the command of Rakrian Kuti (2, Blue) himself will be attacking the king. He has swordsmen, Karambit Warriors, Light Cavalry, and Crossbowmen at his command.
- Outside of the walls, the remaining Majapahit Rebels (5, Cyan) guard the southern part of the city, making sure that nobody can escape. They train Skirmishers, swordsmen, Light Cavalry, siege engines, Cavalry Archers, and Battle Elephants.
Players[]
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Player[]
- Player ( Malay)
Ally[]
- King Jayanegara ( Malay): He is trapped in his Castle in the city alongside his small elite guard. The garrison is constantly under attack by Rakrian Kuti and can't hold out very long. After about 20 minutes, it will succumb to the siege from the south. If the King dies, the scenario is lost. All his remaining building and units (including the King himself) are transferred to the player if one unit of the player manages to reach the island in the middle of the city.
Neutral, then ally[]
- Arya Tadah ( Malay): King Jayanegara's prime minister and has a military camp in the north. Initially neutral to the player since he couldn't trust who is with whom, he immediately switches his stance to ally when his camp is approached (after knowing that the player is here to rescue the king). While he doesn't have any economy or production buildings, once the player finds him, he will regularly spawn small bands of troops in his camp and march on the city until the player reaches the King and the King's troops switch over to the player.
Enemy[]
- Rakrian Kuti ( Malay): The head of the rebellion. He has no economy but some production buildings within the city limits and regularly sends troops towards King Jayanegara's Castle, ultimately destroying it and killing the King, if the player doesn't intervene in time. While a threat to King Jayanegara, he doesn't seem to be very aggressive towards the player and his passing by units often ignore the player's units even if attacked. His army consists of Long Swordsmen, Karambit Warriors, Light Cavalry, Crossbowmen and Battering Rams.
- Trowulan ( Malay): The city taking up most of the space in this scenario. The city is fortified by Towers, most notably Bombard Towers, and garrisoned by a wide variety of units, including Arbalesters, Halberdiers, Champions, Elite Karambit Warriors, (Elite) Battle Elephants, Cavaliers, Onagers, Siege Rams and Bombard Cannons. While having a huge army initially, they can't replenish it and don't actively attack the player.
- Rebels ( Malay): The largest threat to the player in this scenario. They have a huge head start in military, technology, and economy and attack immediately and relentlessly. The player has to ward off droves of Elite Skirmishers, Long Swordsmen (later upgraded to Two-Handed Swordsmen), Battle Elephants, Light Cavalry, Cavalry Archers, Onagers and Battering Rams (also upgraded later). In the Definitive Edition, the Rebels will also train Trebuchets, making them a much larger threat.
Strategy[]
This scenario is a huge step-up in difficulty compared to the first one. The player starts with no base, very few resources, and only a few Crossbowmen, Karambit Warriors, Light Cavalry, and the hero unit Gajah Mada. After a few seconds, some fleeing loyal villagers are taken over. It is advised not to construct the base at the initial starting point, as the Rebels immediately start sending groups of units towards this location and the player's villagers would have to spend most of their time garrisoned inside the Town Center instead of gathering resources, and the starting resources don't even suffice to construct a military building in addition to the Town Center, let alone train a serious amount of military units (on "hard" difficulty at least). A better location would be either directly west by a gold mine (well hidden from the enemy, but the stone mine is exposed), south-east (where a Gaia Mining Camp, along with some gold and stone, can be found) or in the very eastern corner of the map (easily defendable, but no stone and limited resources, and it might be difficult to break out). In any case, the player should send a Light Cavalry towards the eastern corner and then slightly south, where a small army of Gaia Battle Elephants and Ballista Elephants can be recruited, and send any unit north towards Arya Tadah's camp, in order for him to attack the city and distract the Rebels.
The player is under constant attack and might find it difficult to defend their base until a Castle is erected. To top it off, the player is on a clock: after roughly twenty minutes, King Jayanegara's Castle will fall, and the passive King can be killed easily. By this time, hopefully Arya Tadah has breached the city walls, but most of the time he won't succeed in destroying the Bombard Tower at the gate, so the player might have to make a run for it with their remaining fast units like Karambit Warriors, passing by the towers and ignoring enemy units, to reach the King's island to take over him and his remaining units and towers. Once the King is reached he and his Arbalesters should be garrisoned in the towers and the player should wait for an oppurtune moment to sneak the King out of the city, as the towers will also fall shortly. Another option is to "hide" the king in the western corner of the island to stall time, however this is extremely risky, as he will be found eventually.
Once the King is in relative safety in one of the player's Town Centers or Castles, the new objective is to take the King to a flagged area in the very south of the map, and the player can focus on turning the tide. As mentioned before, a Castle does wonders in repelling enemy attacks, as long as their Battering Rams are taken care of, for example using Mangonels or (converted) Battle Elephants. The player basically has two angles of attack: Either plowing through the city, or circumventing it counter-clockwise through the Rebels' base, whereas the latter may be preferable because neither Trowulan nor Rakrian Kuti will behave aggressively in this case. The player can build a dock on the shallowed terrain. The player should send the King and a few other units onboard a transport ship to sneak out of the city. However, castles and towers get in the way. Since the player can advance to the Imperial Age, they should make four or five Cannon Galleons and obliterate towers and castles. The cannon galleons should also destroy the Sea Wall. The player can sneak the King out of the city via the river for less casualties!
However, there's a last stand of Trowulan to overcome in the very south, but once they are defeated and the King brought to the flagged area, the player is finally victorious.
Definitive Edition strategy[]
The strategy is similar to the HD Edition, except that it is now impossible to send transports out of the city, as the rivers are blocked by rocks. However, the player can still build a Dock in the 'moat' of the King's castle (near Trowulan's west gate), send a military unit over, capture the king, then ferry the king across on the Transport Ship. The king can then easily run across back to base, assuming the west gate is breached and the player is keeping a few military units nearby. Trowulan does have a few Canoe warships in the water, however, who may try to destroy the Transport Ship, so speed is paramount.
Unlike the HD Edition, where the rebels will go to Imperial Age shortly after the player does, the rebels themselves will advance to the Imperial Age, and they have Trebuchets. Because of this, the player has to build a instant Castle before they get overrun.
Since Trowulan's rivers are blocked by rocks, the only way to the goal area is defeating the rebels. As the rebels are the most annoying player, they needed to get defeated as soon as possible anyway. The player's army should consist of Arbalesters, Battle Elephants, Forced Levy Two-Handed Swordsmen, and a few Trebuchets to take down Castles. As soon as the rebels are defeated, the player can send the king to the destination at ease.
Outro[]
We crushed the rebellion and executed the leaders. To celebrate our victory, the king threw a great festival, and the poets sang of his courage and ferocity in the face of danger.
Nevertheless, I am beginning to doubt my king. He believes that he is untouchable and acts immorally, desiring the wives and daughters of his subordinates. Even his most loyal supporters have begun to hate him.
'Tribhuwana, the king's stepsister, has even told me that the king now shows a dubious interest in her.'
With such behavior, it is only a matter of time before something bad will happen to my king.We managed to crush the unlawful rebellion of that treacherous usurper and during the great festivities that followed I've been promoted to a higher position. However a part of me is starting to regret saving our king. Jayanegara believes he's untouchable now and his behavior is increasingly immoral. He desires the wives and daughters of his subordinates, making him very hated among the nobility. Some even call him a 'weak villain'. Tribhuwana, his stepsister who I've known since she was young has told me in confidence that the king is now also showing inappropriate behavior towards her. One way or another the king's actions has to stop.
Trivia[]
- The split gateway (gapura) where Gajah Mada and his army begin the scenario is the Wringin Lawang, which was probably the entrance to an important compound in Trowulan.
- A popular hypothesis claims that the Wringin Lawang was the entrance to Gajah Mada's residence.
- In the Definitive Edition, the 'No Royal Hair Touched' achievement can be unlocked by reaching the king in 10 minutes or less. One way of doing this is by garrisoning the starting Karambit Warriors in a Siege Tower.
