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Where the One-Eyed Man is King is the fifth and final scenario of the Ivaylo campaign in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. It is based on Ivaylo's exile to the Mongols under Nogai Khan, where he eventually met a tragic end.

Intro[]

Betrayed by Georgi Terter, Ivaylo returned to Tarnovo, but the gates were barred to him. His men finally gave up hope. They returned to their fields, their uprising and Ivaylo's brief reign just a memory, to be lost and forgotten.

But Ivaylo could not forget. As he stood powerless before the city's walls, the weight of his fate as a mere pig herder finally weighed upon him.

He had defied all odds. He had not just challenged a tsar, a khan, and an emperor, but had upset the very order of the world. He, a swineherd, had dared to overthrow kings and make men free.

With these thoughts, Ivaylo took the greatest risk of his life. Perhaps blinded by his ambition, or blinded by his hope, Ivaylo turned to his enemy for help. He sought redemption in the land of the blind, where the one-eyed man is king.

Scenario instructions[]

Starting conditions[]

Objectives[]

  • Escape the church courtyard.
  • Find Radu Negru.
    • Kill the Hungarian Roland Bursa to clear the way to Nogai Khan.
    • Convert a Hungarian Villager to organize a revolt.
  • Go to Nogai Khan.
  • Reclaim the sacked village.
  • Destroy the Polish Wonder.
  • Destroy the Genoese Feitorias in Gazaria.

Hints[]

  1. You are restricted to a population limit of 200.
  2. Ivaylo's horse waits beneath a tower. On harder difficulties, Ivaylo will need to figure out a way to reach it.
  3. Collect resources near the Hungarian town, but be cautious when constructing buildings. The Hungarians will become suspicious if you build too close to their Town Center.
  4. In the mountain, only build enough to defeat the Hungarians. Once they are defeated, any resources or units you have accumulated will not follow Ivaylo to Nogai Khan.
  5. Consider who to defeat first: the Poles are an immediate threat, but the wealth obtained from defeating the Genoese would help to defeat the Poles.

Scouts[]

Your scouts report:

  • Ivaylo has disguised himself as a monk, but Georgi Terter's men have found him. He must escape into Romania to reach Nogai's court at Saqchi.
  • Ivaylo will need to cross the Carpathian Mountains, held by the Hungarian oligarch Roland Borsa (6, Red). A Vlach prince named Radu Negru desires to kill the oligarch and free Wallachia from Hungarian domination. He could be a useful ally.
  • Nogai Khan's Golden Horde (3, Yellow) has enemies on its borders, but Nogai is preoccupied with finding a successor to Mongke Temur, the recently deceased Khan of the Golden Horde.
  • The Poles (4, Purple) hold the city of Kiev in the north while the Genoese (5, Green) defend their Black Sea trading post in Crimea with a strong navy. The Genoese Feitorias are the source of the Italian's income.

Players[]

Player[]

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  • Player (CivIcon-Bulgarians Bulgarians): The player starts with a dismounted Ivaylo, and immediately needs to escape from soldiers loyal to Georgi Terter.

Allies[]

  • Nogai Khan (CivIcon-Mongols Mongols): He asks Ivaylo to destroy the Polish Wonder and the Genoese Feitorias and gives Ivaylo a sacked village for that purpose. He also has some Heavy Cavalry Archers and Elite Mangudai scattered around the map, which will pass to the player's control once a unit gets close enough.
  • Radu Negru (CivIcon-Slavs Slavs): He asks Ivaylo to kill Roland Bursa and gives his base to Ivaylo for that same purpose.

Neutral[]

  • Bulgarians (CivIcon-Bulgarians Bulgarians): They chase Ivaylo with Konniks in the beginning. For the second part of the scenario, they only have a few Konniks, some scattered around the map and others guarding two bases, each with one Relic each. Despite having a Krepost and a Monastery, they do not train more units.
  • Hungarians (CivIcon-Magyars Magyars): The main enemy for the first part of the scenario. They train Two-Handed Swordsmen, Light Cavalry, Cavalry Archers, and Magyar Huszars. Destroying their Town Center will entirely halt their economic production and killing their leader, Roland Bursa, will allow the player to move to the second part of the scenario.

Enemies[]

Strategy[]

First part[]

Ivaylo must escape from the church yard. The player must convert a nearby Villager and repair the damaged tower if on moderate/hard difficulties.

Once Ivaylo is on his horse, the player must take him north to meet Radu Negru, who will lead the way to his base. At the base, the player will find a Monastery and a Monk. Convert the first Hungarian Villager and build a Palisade Gate to the left of the player's base. There are two Stone Mines (with an Hungarian Mining Camp next to them) to the right of the player's base and the 700 stone provided by them is almost enough to build a Town Center and Castle. A second Hungarian Villager will attempt to mine stone and so the player should convert him. Build walls there. Since the enemy units will never attempt to destroy the walls, the player is safe from enemy attacks from now on. When the player has enough stone, build a Town Center in the woods southeast of the camp.

Destroying the Hungarian Town Center will halt all Hungarian economic production (all of their Villagers will disappear) and the quickest way of doing this is by sending Petards. In addition, the player will get 500 food, 500 wood, 500 gold. Lure the remaining enemy units into the player's Castle and from now on, Hungary will train few to no units. While the player will lose all units, buildings and resources after killing Roland Bursa, they will get to keep all researched technologies and upgrades, so the player should use this to their advantage to freely boom (to at least 30 Villagers) and research all technologies and upgrades (with the exception of the Galleon upgrade, which requires a Dock).

Build another Town Center in the northwest near a large gold deposit and some Forage Bushes. Boom to at least 30 Villagers and build all necessary buildings to research all technologies and upgrades (the player can save wood by converting the Hungarian buildings). When everything is researched with the exception of the Galleon upgrade (the player can confirm this by checking the technology tree), recruit a couple of Trebuchets (do not forget to protect them in case the Hungarians still have military units) and take down the Hungarian Castle. Kill Roland Bursa when he runs out.

(Hint - Transferring resources: before sieging the base and killing Roland, be aware that completion of the objective will result in all of the player's resources emptied out to zero and in their army being relinquished for the next phase. There is, however, an exploit that allows players to transfer some resources to the next phase. All one must do is build any number of buildings but do not have them completed or even let the completion progress of the buildings go beyond 1%. Once the next phase starts and Ivaylo does not have anything again before meeting Nogai, the buildings that were under construction in the former base will still belong to the player and canceling construction of these buildings will refund the resources used. This can be very useful, especially when preparing to siege the Poles and the Genoese, as it will give a head start in resource management, but be aware that this will only work with either the stone or wood resources and not the food or gold resources. Also, do not forget researching essential technologies in the latter battles, since the researched technologies are beneficial for later in the game.

Alternatively, follow the alternative strategy of the second part.)

Second part[]

Now Ivaylo is alone again. Take him to the Mongol base where he will be given four Kipchaks and told to reclaim a nearby Mongol village which has been sacked. He meets a few Bulgarian horsemen en route to the village, and notes that there is a Relic sitting loose in the courtyard of the little Bulgarian base.

When the player gets to the sacked village, there is a small army and a few Villagers; the player's resources now include exactly 650 stone. Immediately have the Villagers build a Castle on the north edge of the village, while recruiting many more villagers and building up the army. Build 2-3 more Town Centers and boom to at least 60 Villagers. Take a Trebuchet and a Monk with a small army and capture the Relic in the Bulgarian base. The player should also scout the map to find the remaining Nogai's soldiers who will join the player, as well as two more Relics: one guarded by Nogai's Heavy Cavalry Archers and the other in a Bulgarian base with a Krepost.

While each Genoese Feitoria gives the player 2,000 food, 1,500 wood, 1,500 gold, it is not recommended to try building a navy to destroy the Feitorias yet, as the Genoese navy is very strong and there are plenty of resources on land. On the other hand, the Genoese rarely attack the player by land, and when they do they only bring small armies without siege weapons. Hence the player should focus on destroying the Polish Wonder first, as the Poles attack constantly and relentlessly, and they bring Trebuchets in their attacks.

While the Poles were originally represented by the Lithuanians, with the release of Dawn of the Dukes, they are represented by their namesake civilization. This change made the Polish units weaker as they lack several upgrades and bonuses the Lithuanians had. However, they still have mostly unlimited resources and quickly replace military losses, so the player sound send a big army of fully upgraded Two-Handed Swordsmen, Cavaliers, Heavy Cavalry Archers, Elite Konniks, and Trebuchets. The player does not need to entirely wipe out Kiev, destroying the Wonder will be enough to make them change their diplomatic stance to ally, becoming mostly inactive.

Now only the Genoese Feitorias are left and, by now, resources should not be an issue. Now the best location to build a Dock is near the third Polish bridge (counting from the left). Since that Dock will most likely be under attack very soon, the player should build a Castle to its right and garrison it with Cavalry Archers, as the Castle will sink any enemy ships. Build more Docks (eight should be good) and build 10 Cannon Galleons and as many Galleons as resources allow (at least 40). While Fire Ships counter enemy Galleons, they are hard to micromanage and the Genoese also build Demolition Ships, so Galleons should be preferred. Keep queueing Galleons and Cannon Galleons to replace losses. Use the Cannon Galleons to destroy the Genoese Feitorias, while the Galleons protect them from enemy ships. Once the three Feitorias are destroyed, the Genoese will change their diplomatic stance to ally and then resign.

(Note: the Feitorias cannot be converted: a successful conversion just results in them being instantly destroyed, even though the Italians do not have Heresy in their technology tree.)

Alternative strategy[]

There's a way to access resources from the right side of the map without finishing the first part. The plan is to keep all resources from the first part to get a boost for the right side of the map, and let the Villagers from the left side of the map safely collect resources (mainly wood and food).

Close to finishing up the first part, leave Roland Bursa alive. Then, create an Onager, and start destroying the forest to the right of the bridge near the beginning of the scenario. Once the tree is cleared, the player will see some Bulgarian Konniks, a Monastery, and a Krepost at the other side of the cliff (As a bonus, the player will also see some Pigs on this side of the cliff, as used in the secret "Pigs Level" that is mentioned in the Trivia section), The immediate objective is to convert a Konnik safely and let the converted Konnik pick up the sacked village.

Bring a Trebuchet to destroy the Krepost. Then, build a Krepost near the edge of the cliff to protect the to-be-converted Konnik. Finally, bring a Monk and convert one of the Konniks. Use the Krepost as the protector of the converted Konnik. Once all the other Konniks are killed, let this converted Konnik ride northward along the cliff. The Konnik will encounter the sacked village soon.

Now either follow the guide above or use another strategy to destroy the Poles' Wonder and the Genoese Feitorias. The player will be granted victory without finishing the first part โ€” they have kept all resources from the first part, plus safe resource collectors on the left side of the map.

The only thing to be careful of is not to kill Roland Bursa, as the player will lose all buildings and units, including the ones on the right side of the map.

Outro[]

The one-eyed khan ordered a feast for Ivaylo and Ivan Asen, where he listened to their arguments on why he should support one over the other. Then, having heard enough, Nogai rose and pointed to Ivaylo.

In that moment, it is said that Nogai's guards seized Ivaylo and murdered him. The body was taken away as Nogai returned to his seat and finished his meal.

But I am not so sure that was the end of our hero. In the years since, Ivaylo have appeared again in many places and many times. Wherever the downtrodden have the courage to fight for freedom and justice, Ivaylo seems to appear. He lives in all of us and especially in you, my child.

I can see you are confused. I know you are thinking, 'What does this pig herding tsar have to do with me?' Don't you see, my dear? I lived in Bulgaria then. So did you, in fact.

You were very young, then. A mere baby when I wrapped you in your swaddling clothes and carried you here. It was on the day when the emperor, my uncle, took us from Tarnovo and from your father, Tsar Ivaylo.

Trivia[]

  • In reality, there is no historical evidence that Ivaylo ever fought on Nogai Khan's behalf in the few months he spent under his lordship prior to his execution. While the Mongols did war with Gazaria, the second and third invasion of Poland took place in the decades before and after Ivaylo's reign and eventual demise.
  • There is a secret "Pig Level". After Ivaylo reaches the second part of the game, a cave with two bears can be found just to the right of Nogai's camp. Entering the cave will transport Ivaylo to the south of the map with about a dozen pigs and a Forgotten Empires flag. The scenario can still be completed normally.
  • The reason that the player cannot convert the Feitorias is that once player has access to at least one, a trigger will destroy it at once.
  • This scenario is the only time that Ivaylo speaks, after being told to by Nogai Khan. Until this scenario he was treated as a silent protagonist, with narration and exposition done by other characters.
  • The Poles were represented by the Lithuanians at release, since the Polish civilization had not been introduced. The Poles got their own civilization in the Dawn of the Dukes expansion, thus appearing in all scenarios involving Poland.

Gallery[]

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