=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Microsoft Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion Teuton FAQ By: Firestorm Version 2.4 firestorm0033@netscape.net =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ******************************************************* Age of Empires, Age of Kings, and The Conquerors are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the US and/or other countries This FAQ is Copyright 2003 Shann Yu and may only appear in the sites shown below. If this FAQ is seen at a site not listed below, report to firestorm0033@netscape.net because it is illegal. If you want to use this FAQ for your site, notify me at the above specified email address. Do not use this FAQ for your own profit or sell it without my permission. This FAQ, being published in the Internet, is immediately protected by international copyright laws. In other words, don't even think about taking this work as your own. www.gamefaqs.com : A great site with thousands of FAQs for almost any game you can name. www.neoseeker.com : Another gaming advice site. DLH.net : A big gaming site in Germany. IGN.com : Newly started. ******************************************************* +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Version History 1.0 : April 14, 2002 First draft. A lot more to come. 1.1 : April 16, 2002 Authorized one site for this FAQ, update on acknowledgements. 1.2 : April 18, 2002 Changed various mistakes (technology tree) Another site for this FAQ 2.0 : May 10, 2002 Update on Offensive Strategies section. Corrected various typos. Major format revision (spaces and alignment). 2.1 : February 7. 2003 Added great tips from another gamer. 2.2 : November 24, 2003 After a long absence from Age of Empires II, I am back, better than before. More tips! 2.3 : December 10, 2003 New site where this FAQ 2.4 : December 31, 2003 Late X'mas treat for y'all: A gamer told me about the importance of the Keep and methods. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ------------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction 2. History 3. Teuton Tech Tree A. Teutons: General Data B. Technologies C. Units 4. Building your City A. Dark Age B. Feudal Age C. Castle Age D. Imperial Age 5. Defensive Strategies 6. Offensive Strategies A. Aztecs J. Koreans B. Britons K. Mayans C. Byzantines L. Mongols D. Celts M. Persians E. Chinese N. Saracens F. Franks O. Spanish G. Goths P. Teutons H. Huns Q. Turks I. Japanese R. Vikings 7. The Frederick Barbarossa Campaign Walkthrough 8. Other Tips and Hints 9. Contribute 10. Other Questions 11. Acknowledgements ------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------- | 1. Introduction | ----------------------- Age of Empires II is the amazing follow-up to the award-winning Age of Empires and Rise of Rome Expansion. Among the civilizations that were included in Age of Empires II were the Teutons. A lot of people around say that the Teutons are the best land civilization in the game. Personally, I agree. First of all, what is this FAQ for? If you are a beginner and started out using Teutons, let me remind you that this is a strategy game and that there are many different ways to play it. These tips and strategies that will be included below are basically tried-and-tested tips to make the most out of your gameplay with the Teutons. Also, this is my first shot at an FAQ, so let me know if there is something I need to improve, add, or etc. Everything needs improvement, and nothing will ever be perfect. Note: Please remember that the strategies below were tested on AI kings and not on multiplayer games. On multiplayer games, you will be playing among the best players there are in the world, so below strategies do not necessarily hold true on a multiplayer game. Also, this FAQ is based on version 1.0C of The Conquerors Expansion. Note 2: Ostera Gonzalez has provided this FAQ with tips on building a more economy-based empire. I think his tips are pretty good, with regards to strategy. My own strategies are more military-based. ----------------------- | 2. History | ----------------------- The origin of Germany traces back to the crowning of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor in 800. Upon his death the empire was split into three parts that gradually coalesced into two: the western Frankish kingdom that became France and the eastern kingdom that became Germany. The title of Holy Roman Emperor remained in Charlemagne's family until the tenth century when they died out. In 919 Henry, Duke of Saxony, was elected king of Germany by his fellow dukes. His son Otto became emperor in 962. The Holy Roman Empire that Otto I controlled extended over the German plain north to the Baltic, eastward into parts of modern Poland, and southward through modern Switzerland, modern Austria, and northern Italy. From the outset, the emperors had a difficult problem keeping control of two disparate regions-Germany and Italy-that were separated by the Alps. The Holy Roman Empire was successful at first because it benefited the principal members, Germany and Italy. The Germans were not far removed from the barbarian condition. They had been conquered by Charlemagne only a century earlier. They benefited greatly from Italian culture, technology, and trade. The Italians welcomed the relative peace and stability the empire ensured. Italy had been invaded time and again for the previous 500 years. The protection of the empire defended the papacy and allowed the city-states of Italy to begin their growth. The imperial armies were manned partially by tenants of church lands who owed service to the emperor. A second important contingent were the ministriales, a corps of serfs who received the best training and equipment as knights but who were not free men. These armies were used to put down revolts or interference by local nobles and peasants or to defend against raids by Vikings from the north and Magyars from the east. Because Germany remained a collection of independent principalities in competition, German warriors became very skilled. The most renowned German soldiers were the Teutonic Knights, a religious order of warriors inspired by the Crusades. The Teutonic Knights spread Christianity into the Baltic region by conquest but were eventually halted by Alexander Nevsky at the battle on frozen Lake Peipus. A confrontation between the emperors and the church over investiture of bishops weakened the emperors in both Germany and Italy. During periods of temporary excommunication of the emperor and outright war against Rome, imperial authority lapsed. The local German princes solidified their holdings or fought off the Vikings with no interference or help from the emperor. In Italy, the rising city- states combined to form the Lombard League and refused to recognize the emperor. Political power in both Germany and Italy shifted from the emperor to the local princes and cities. The ministriales rebelled, taking control of the cities and castles they garrisoned and declaring themselves free. During desperate attempts to regain Italy, more concessions were given to the local princes in Germany. By the middle of the thirteenth century, the Holy Roman Empire existed in name only. The throne remained empty for 20 years. The German princes cared only about their own holdings. The Italian city-states did not want a German ruler and were strong enough to defend themselves. Future emperors in the Middle Ages were elected by the German princes but they ruled in name only, controlling little more than their own family estates. Germany remained a minor power in Europe for centuries to come. ----------------------- | 3. Teuton Tech Tree | ----------------------- The technologies, upgrades, and units available to the Teutons will be shown below. For each technology, a short description will be given, in addition to their benefits and cost. Please note that technologies not available to the Teutons aren't included. Symbols: W: wood F: food G: gold S: stone LOS: line of sight -------------------------- |A. Teutons: General Data| -------------------------- Team Bonus: units more resistant to conversion Civilization Attributes: -Monks heal from twice as far -Towers garrison twice as much units, fire twice as much normal garrison arrows -Free Murder Holes -Farms cost 33% less -Town Center +2 attack, +5 LOS (without the Expansion, it is range) Unique Unit: Teutonic Knight and Elite Teutonic Knight Created at: Castle Strong vs.: Swordsmen, skirmishers, Stable units Weak vs.: Archers, scorpions, cavalry archers, mangonels, monks Cost: 85F, 40G Upgrade Cost: 1200F, 600G Attack bonus: vs. buildings Teutonic Knight Elite Teutonic Knight Hit Points: 70 100 Attack (without upgrades): 12 17 Armor: 5 normal, 2 pierce 10 normal, 2 pierce Unique Technology: Crenellations Researched during: Imperial Age Cost: 600F, 400S Benefits: +3 castle range, garrisoned infantry fire arrows ----------------------- | B. Technologies | ----------------------- Upgrades at the Town Center: Loom Researched during: Dark Age Cost: 50G Benefits: +15 villager HPs, +1 normal, +2 pierce armor Wheelbarrow Researched during: Feudal Age Cost: 175F, 50W Benefits: +10% villager, +25% villager capacity Town Watch Researched during: Feudal Age Cost: 75F Benefits: +4 building LOS Note: Useless in an "All visible" map. Hand Cart Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 300F, 200W Benefits: +10% villager speed, +50% villager capacity Town Patrol Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 300F, 200G Benefits: +4 building LOS Note: Useless in an "All Visible" map. Upgrades at the Blacksmith: Scale Barding Armor Researched during: Feudal Age Cost: 150F Benefits: +1 normal, +1 pierce armor for cavalry Fletching Researched during: Feudal Age Cost: 100F, 50G Benefits: +1 attack and range for archers, galleys, Town Centers, and Castles Note: For Fletching and Bodkin Arrow, the benefits to the Town Center are: +1 attack and LOS Forging Researched during: Feudal Age Cost: 150F Benefits: +1 attack for infantry and cavalry Padded Archer Armor Researched during: Feudal Age Cost: 100F Benefits: +1 normal, +1 pierce armor for archers Scale Mail Armor Researched during: Feudal Age Cost: 100F Benefits: +1 normal, +1 pierce armor for infantry Chain Barding Armor Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 250F, 150G Benefits: +1 normal, +1 pierce armor for cavalry Bodkin Arrow Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 200F, 100G Benefits: +1 attack and range for archers, galleys, Town Centers, and Castles Note: For Fletching and Bodkin Arrow, the benefits to the Town Center are: +1 attack and LOS Iron Casting Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 220F, 120G Benefits: +1 attack for infantry and cavalry Leather Archer Armor Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 150F, 150G Benefits: +1 normal, +1 pierce armor for archers Chain Mail Armor Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 200F, 100G Benefits: +1 normal, +1 pierce armor for infantry Plate Barding Armor Researched during: Imperial Age Cost: 350F, 200G Benefits: +1 normal, +2 pierce armor for cavalry Blast Furnace Researched during: Imperial Age Cost: 275F, 225G Benefits: +2 attack for infantry and cavalry Ring Archer Armor Researched during: Imperial Age Cost: 250F, 250G Benefits: +1 normal, +2 pierce armor for archers Plate Mail Armor Researched during: Imperial Age Cost: 300F, 150G Benefits: +1 normal, +2 pierce armor for infantry Upgrades at the University Ballistics Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 300W, 175G Benefits: scorpions, archers, galleys, and towers fire more accurately Treadmill Crane Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 200W, 300F Benefits: +20% villager build speed Masonry Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 175W, 150F Benefits: Increased building HPs and armor Heated Shot Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 350F, 100G Benefits: +50% tower and Castle attack vs. ships Note: If your map doesn't have any large body of water, don't research this technology. If you start playing in the Imperial Age or post-Imperial Age then it has already been researched. Murder Holes Researched during: Castle Age Cost: free Benefits: No minimum range for towers and castles Note: This technology doesn't need to be researched. It is already given at the beginning of the game as a result of the civilization attributes. Chemistry Researched during: Imperial Age Cost: 300F, 200G Benefits: +1 attack for missile units (e.g. scorpion), allows Gunpowder units to be researched Siege Engineers Researched during: Imperial Age Cost: 500F, 600W Benefits: +1 siege range (except rams), +20% siege unit attack vs. buildings Upgrades at the Market Coinage Researched during: Feudal Age Cost: 150F, 50G Benefits: Decreases tribute fee to 20% Cartography Researched during: Feudal Age Cost: 100F, 100G Benefits: Allows you to see lands explored by your allies Banking Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 200F, 100G Benefits: No tribute fee Caravan Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 200F, 200G Benefits: Trade Carts and Trade Cogs gather gold faster Guilds Researched during: Imperial Age Cost: 300F, 200G Benefits: Decreases trading fee to 15% Upgrades at the Lumber Camp and Mining Camp Double-Bit Axe Researched during: Feudal Age Cost: 100F, 50W Benefits: +20% wood-chopping speed Gold Mining Researched during: Feudal Age Cost: 100F, 75W Benefits: +15% gold-mining speed Stone Mining Researched during: Feudal Age Cost: 100F, 75W Benefits: +15% stone-mining speed Bow Saw Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 150F, 100W Benefits: +20% wood-chopping speed Stone Shaft Mining Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 200F, 150W Benefits: +15% stone-mining speed Two-Man Saw Researched during: Imperial Age Cost: 300F, 200W Benefits: +10% wood-chopping speed Upgrades at the Mill Horse Collar Researched during: Feudal Age Cost: 75F, 75W Benefits: Farms +75 food Heavy Plow Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 125F, 125W Benefits: Farms +125 food, +1 villager food capacity Crop Rotation Researched during: Imperial Age Cost: 250F, 250W Benefits: Farms +175 food Upgrades at the Monastery Fervor Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 140G Benefits: +15% monk speed Heresy Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 1000G Benefits: Converted units die instead of being converted into the enemy's color Sanctity Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 120G Benefits: +50% monk HPs Redemption Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 475G Benefits: Buildings (except Town Center, Castle, Gates, walls, Farms, Fish Traps, Monasteries, and Wonders) siege units can be converted Atonement Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 325G Benefits: Enemy monks can be converted Illumination Researched during: Imperial Age Cost: 120G Benefits: +50% monk rejuvenation speed Faith Researched during: Imperial Age Cost: 750F, 1000G Benefits: +50% conversion resistance Block Printing Researched during: Imperial Age Cost: 200G Benefits: +3 conversion range Theocracy Researched during: Imperial Age Cost: 200G Benefits: If a group of monks convert the same unit, only one Monk must rest after the conversion Upgrades at the Barracks, Stable, and Dock Tracking Researched at: Barracks Researched during: Feudal Age Cost: 75F Benefits: +2 infantry LOS Bloodlines Researched at: Stable Researched during: Feudal Age Cost: 150F, 100G Benefits: +20 HP for mounted units Squires Researched at: Barracks Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 200F Benefits: +10% infantry speed Husbandry Researched at: Stable Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 250F Benefits: +10% cavalry speed Careening Researched at: Dock Researched during: Castle Age Cost: 250F, 150G Benefits: +1 pierce armor of ships, +5 transport ship capacity Note: None of the Archery Range technologies are available to the Teutons. Upgrades at the Castle Sappers Researched during: Imperial Age Cost: 400F, 200G Benefits: Villagers +15 attack vs. buildings Note: This technology is pretty useless. Villagers aren't effective military units, so leave attacking to the army and navy. Conscription Researched during: Imperial Age Cost: 150F, 150G Benefits: +33% unit creation speed at Barracks, Archery Range, Stable, and Castle Hoardings Researched during: Imperial Age Cost: 400W, 400F Benefits: +1000 Castle HPs Note: I'm not sure if it is actually 1000 HPs. Once, it was more than that. Spies Researched during: Imperial Age Cost: 200G per enemy villager Benefits: See enemy LOS and exploration Note: In a regicide game, this is called Treason and works in a different way. Treason Researched during: Imperial Age of a Regicide Match Cost: 400G per use Benefits: See enemy kings' location. Research multiple times to be notified of new position. ----------------------- | C. Units | ----------------------- Please note that the figures for the attack and armor written below are before the technologies above are researched. Infantry Swordsmen line: Militia, Man-at-arms, Long Swordsman, Two-handed Swordsman, and Champion Created at: Barracks Strong vs.: skirmishers, camels, light cavalry Weak vs.: archers, scorpions, cavalry archers, mangonels, and Cataphracts (Byzantine unique unit) Cost: 60F, 20G Attack bonuses: vs. buildings Comments: Basically, the Teutonic Knights are slower but beefed up Champions. Use more of those Teutonic Knights in battle than this line of infantry except in earlier ages Militia Man-at-arms Long Swordsman 2H Swordsman Hit Points 40 45 55 60 Attack 4 6 9 11 Normal Armor 0 0 0 0 Pierce Armor 0 0 0 0 Upgrade Cost 100F, 40G 200F, 65G 300F, 100G Champion Hit Points 70 Attack 13 Normal Armor 1 Pierce Armor 0 Upgrade Cost 750F, 350G Pikemen line: Spearman, Pikeman, and Halberdier Created at: Barracks Strong vs.: skirmishers, stable units Weak vs.: swordsmen, archers, scorpions, mangonels Cost: 35F, 25W Attack bonus: vs. cavalry and War Elephants (Persian unique unit) Comments: Teutonic Knights are good against stable units. You have no need for these units except if you are attacked by War Elephants. Don't even bother with these units unless you have a Persian enemy. Spearman Pikeman Halberdier Hit Points 45 55 60 Attack 3 4 6 Normal Armor 0 0 0 Pierce Armor 0 0 0 Upgrade Cost 215F, 90G 300F, 600G Archers Archer line: Archer and Crossbowman Created at: Archery Range Strong vs.: Barracks, cavalry archers, monks, Teutonic Knights, War Elephants Weak vs.: skirmishers, knights, mangonels, Woad Raiders, and Huskarls Cost: 25W, 45G Attack bonus: None Comments: Use at earlier ages but don't even think of hitting that Upgrade button. It's not worth it. Stick to Paladins and Elite Teutonic Knights. If you like to use archers, go ahead and use it, but I don't recommend it. Archer Crossbowman Hit Points 30 35 Attack 4 5 Range 4 5 Normal Armor 0 0 Pierce Armor 0 0 Upgrade Cost 125F, 75G Skirmisher line: Skirmisher and Elite Skirmisher Created at: Archery Range Strong vs.: archers, monks, cavalry archers Weak vs.: Barracks units, mangonels Cost: 25F, 35W Attack bonus: vs. archers Comments: Unless you are being attacked by a whole battalion of Longbowmen, Chu Ko Nu, or Mangudai, it isn't a good idea to send these guys into battle. Leave these guys at defense unless you are going to attack any of these units said above. Skirmisher Elite Skirmisher Hit Points 30 35 Attack 2 3 Range 4 5 Normal Armor 0 0 Pierce Armor 3 4 Upgrade Cost 250W, 160G Cavalry Archer Created at: Archery Range Strong vs.: swordsmen, monks, Teutonic Knights, War Elephants Weak vs.: archers, skirmishers, light cavalry Cost: 40W, 70G Attack bonus: none Comments: Go ahead and use this unit if you feel like it, though I recommend the heavy cavalry archer if you want a unit which does hit-and-run attacks. Once again, use of this unit is not recommended. It's up to you. Hit Points 50 Attack 6 Range 3 Normal Armor 0 Pierce Armor 0 Hand Cannoneer Created at: Archery Range Strong vs.: Barracks units, monks, Teutonic Knights Weak vs.: archers, mangonels Cost: 45F, 50G Attack bonus: none Comments: Use this unit for defense and for attack. For offensive tactics, please see the Offensive Strategies section. Hit Points 35 Attack 17 Range 7 Normal Armor 1 Pierce Armor 0 Cavalry Scout Cavalry Created at: Stable Strong vs.: archers, mangonels, cavalry archers, bombard cannons, monks Weak vs.: pikemen, knights, camels Cost: 80F Attack bonus: none Comments: Use only for recon missions in a map where in the map is not set to "All Visible" in the game settings screen. Otherwise, do not use these guys to attack. Their HPs and attack aren't high enough, and they wouldn't last long. Unless you are out of everything but food and want to run a desperate attack, using this unit in a full-scale battle event is suicide. Hit Points 45 Attack 3 (+2 attack in Feudal Age to make 5) Normal Armor 0 Pierce Armor 2 Knight line: Knight, Cavalier, and Paladin Created at: Stable Strong vs.: Archers Weak vs.: pikemen, camels, Mamelukes Cost: 60F, 75G Attack bonus: none Comments: This is one of several units you should spend your resources on. It's worth the cost and could help chase down those pesky archers that your Teutonic Knights are weak against. Read more in the Offensive Strategies section below. Knight Cavalier Paladin Hit Points 100 120 160 Attack 10 12 14 Normal Armor 2 2 2 Pierce Armor 2 2 3 Upgrade Cost 300F, 300G 1300F, 750G Siege weapons Scorpion line: Scorpion and Heavy Scorpion Created at: Siege Workshop Strong vs.: Barracks units, archers, monks Weak vs.: Stable units, Woad Raiders Cost: 75W, 75G Attack bonus: none Comments: Good defensive unit. Place around the city behind walls for the best results. Especially effective in defense against Goths. Scorpion Heavy Scorpion Hit Points 40 50 Attack 12 16 Range 5 5 Normal Armor 0 0 Pierce Armor 6 7 Upgrade Cost 1000F, 1100W Mangonel line: Mangonel, Onager, and Siege Onager Created at: Siege Workshop Strong vs.: Barracks units, archers Weak vs.: Stable units, Woad Raiders Cost: 160W, 135G Attack bonus: none Comments: The area of effect damage makes it dangerous. If you plan to use these on an attack, don't let them attack the same thing your Teutonic Knights, Paladins, and Battering Rams attack, because the results could be devastating. Also don't use these for defense, because you'll end up destroying your own walls. Mangonel Onager Siege Onager Hit Points 50 60 70 Attack 40 50 75 Range 7 8 8 Normal Armor 0 0 0 Pierce Armor 6 7 8 Upgrade Cost 800F, 500G 1450F, 1000G Battering Ram line: Battering Ram and Capped Ram Created at: Siege Workshop Strong vs.: archers, cavalry archers Weak vs.: Barracks units, Stable units Cost: 160W, 75G Attack bonus: vs. buildings Comments: Good offensive unit. Garrison with Teutonic Knights. Send to a Town Center. Attack the Town Center until villagers are released. Release your Teutonic Knights. Send the Rams to other buildings. Destroy. Destroy. Destroy. Battering Ram Capped Ram Hit Points 175 200 Attack 2 3 Normal Armor 0 0 Pierce Armor 180 190 Upgrade Cost 300F Bombard Cannon Created at: Siege Workshop Strong vs.: Barracks units, archers, skirmishers, monks Weak vs.: Stable units, Woad Raiders Cost: 225W, 225G Attack bonus: vs. buildings and ships Comments: Nice defensive unit. Refer to Defensive Strategies below for more information. Be careful when sending infantry or cavalry through shooting zone, because there is some area of effect damage. Hit Points 50 Attack 40 Range 12 Normal Armor 2 Pierce Armor 5 Trebuchet Created at: Castle Strong vs.: archers, skirmishers Weak vs.: swordsmen, Stable Units, Mangudai, Woad Raiders Cost: 200W, 200G Attack bonus: vs. buildings and ships Comments: Remember to unpack when the target is within range and to pack when you want to move it. The Trebuchet is inaccurate against moving targets. Use against buildings only. Hit Points 150 Attack 200 Range 16 Normal Armor packed: 2, unpacked: 1 Pierce Armor packed: 8, unpacked: 150 Petard Created at: Castle Strong vs.: buildings, walls, siege weapons Weak vs.: archers scorpions, cavalry archers, mangonels Cost: 80F, 20G Attack bonus: vs. buildings Comments: Waste of resources. It's a one-time only unit and you're better off spending 80F and 20G on Champions or Teutonic Knights. Hit Points 50 Attack 25 Normal Armor 0 Pierce Armor 2 Units created at the Dock Fishing Ship Special: Builds Fish Traps (like a Farm but only in water) Cost: 75W Hit Points: 60 Armor: 0 normal, 4 pierce Trade Cog Purpose: Trades by sea with other docks Cost: 100W, 50G Hit Points: 80 Armor: 0 normal, 6 pierce Transport Ship Purpose: Transports units over water Cost: 125W Hit Points: 100 Armor: 4 normal, 8 pierce Fire Ship and Fast Fire Ship Strong vs.: galleys and longboats Weak vs.: demolition ships Cost: 75W, 45G Comments: Use only to hunt down and destroy enemy warships. Fire Ship Fast Fire Ship Hit Points 100 120 Attack 2 3 Range 2 2 Normal Armor 0 0 Pierce Armor 6 8 Upgrade Cost 280W, 250G Demolition Ship and Heavy Demolition Ship Strong vs.: fire ships Weak vs.: galleys, Longboats, Bombard Cannons Cost: 70W, 50G Comments: Similar to the petard, only that this is a navy version. You shouldn't even be using these, since they are one time only and therefore, a waste of resources. Demolition Ship Heavy Demolition Ship Hit Points 50 60 Attack 110 140 Normal Armor 0 0 Pierce Armor 3 5 Upgrade Cost 200W, 300G Cannon Galleon Strong vs.: buildings Weak vs.: galleys, fire ships, demolition ships Cost: 200W, 150G Comments: Use cannon galleons to strike seaside towers and castles before landing your troops. Remember to send escorts as the resistance might send in fire ships or other ships to sink your cannon galleons before much damage is inflicted. Hit Points 120 Attack 35 Range 13 Normal Armor 0 Pierce Armor 6 Galley line: Galley, War Galley, Galleon Strong vs.: demolition ships, cannon galleons Weak vs.: fire ships, bombard cannons Cost: 90W, 30G Comments: These should be among the escorts of cannon galleons if an attack such as the one described above were to be planned. Galley War Galley Galleon Hit Points 120 135 165 Attack 6 7 8 Range 5 6 7 Normal Armor 0 0 0 Pierce Armor 6 6 8 Upgrade Cost 230F, 100G 400F, 315W Other units Villager Created at: Town Center Cost: 50F Hit Points: 25 Attack: 3 Armor: 0 normal, 0 pierce Comments: Do not even think about attacking with villagers. Use villagers ONLY for building and economic purposes. Monk Created at: Monastery Cost: 100G Hit Points: 30 Range: 9 Comments: Send a couple of these with the attack group. If left unharmed your battalion would be invincible. Send Teutonic Knights to attack a Castle, then let the monks follow behind. Whenever a soldier gets hurt, he gets healed. Trade Cart Created at: Market Cost: 100W, 50G Hit Points: 70 Purpose: Trade over land with other markets. ------------------------- | 4. Building Your City | ------------------------- This section will cover how to lay out your city, including tips on what to build during each age. If you are already an intermediate player or know what you want and when, then you can skip this section. This section is meant for beginners only. Note to beginners: The object in the earlier ages is to get to the Imperial Age as fast as possible. You should spend some time in the Castle Age to upgrade units and research technologies, because in the Imperial Age, more technologies and upgrades will be available. Note that the first two ages might pass through quickly as written below. [From: Ostera Gonzalez I disagree with your strategy of "reaching imperial age as soon as you can", as when you reach the castle or imperial age, most of the time, a small-sized or medium- ized army, any group of rams and a big infantry from castle age, or if we are talking about castle age, any group of about 30 or 40 man-at-arms, will destroy your town in minutes.] *********************** | A. Dark Age | *********************** First, build a house and a Barracks. For a Random Map game, send villagers to work picking berries or herding sheep. Begin mining some stone and gold, as these will be extremely in demand in later ages. Create several villagers once the House is complete and build more houses to support more villagers. Build a Mill beside forage bushes to speed up foraging. Research Loom from the Town Center as soon as there is enough food. If you are playing a water map, build a Dock and build some fishing ships to help collect food to support more villagers. For defense, it would be to your best interest to create some Militia from the Barracks, but only is your resources are enough. Once you have about five to ten militia, start stockpiling resources to upgrade to the Feudal Age. [From: Ostera Gonzalez - First, create 2 houses, by using 2 villagers for the first house and 1 for the second one. Use the last villager to gather wood from trees near the T.C. - Use the first mentioned villager and the other villager that you should have to build a mill near bushes, and start gathering food. Meanwhile, create 4 villagers. Send 3 of them to the bushes and the last one to chop wood. When you reach 100 wood, create a lumber camp near the trees. Keep creating villagers until you have 12 of them gathering food. -You should have sheep, brought by the scout cavalry -Create 6 villagers and send them to wood chopping -Create 2 more and send them to mine gold. When natural food runs out, create farms. Remember that about three lumber support four farmers. You should now have about 550 or 600 food. Advance to feudal age. Note: this is done about 1 minute after the cpu in the third difficult level advances to feudal age, but you`ll do it with far more resources.] *********************** | B. Feudal Age | *********************** The first thing you must do is to build a Blacksmith. Then send a couple of villagers to a forest to cut down wood. Upgrade to Man-at- arms at the Barracks and research Tracking. Build more houses and create more villagers to work on gold mines and stone mines. Start building farms after you research Horse Collar at the Mill. Build the Stable. If the map isn't "All Visible" then it would be a good idea to build a Market and research Cartography. Also, create some Scout Cavalry to explore the map if this is the case. If you feel that you need to, start setting up Watch Towers around your land. Give some space for expansion. You don't really need to build Watch Towers near to your Town Center, but if you feel more secure in doing so, go ahead. Before going on to the Castle Age, make sure that all the technologies at the Blacksmith, Mining Camp, and Lumber Camp have been researched. [From: Ostera Gonzalez Immediately after you get into the Feudal Age: -Create 8 villagers, send them to cut wood, while 1 builds 2 blacksmiths, 1 builds the market, 1 builds a stone wall, and 2 build 2 barracks. -Develop the tech at the mill -After creating the 8 villagers develop the infantry attack and armor technologies (blacksmith). -Now, create 8 farmers, in order to get 20 (added from Dark Age). -You should have by that time 4 to 6 man-at-arms. -Create 4 more villagers and send them to mine stone. -Know that an infantry-making economy has been established. Create two more barracks and start producing units, setting a meeting point near the enemy base. -Attack when you have them or when your enemy advances to castle age, as they will have not many resources. As soon as you can, advance to castle age.] *********************** | C. Castle Age | *********************** Immediately start upgrading technologies once you arrive at the Castle Age. Build a University and Start by researching Ballistics, so your towers and defenses can fire more accurately. If your map isn't a water map, don't, and I mean DO NOT upgrade Heated Shot because it is a waste of resources. If you already have 650 stone, build a Castle. Then build a wall around your land. Give yourself reasonable space to expand and build up an army and more defenses. Build up a larger army during the Castle Age. Upgrade the units at the Barracks and Stable. Start producing Teutonic Knights, as these will be the heart of your army. However, do not make too large of an army, as the main point of the Castle Age is to research technologies and make your soldiers stronger. At the Blacksmith, do not research archer armor technologies unless you have many archers in your army. If you want to build an Archery Range, this is the best time to do it (there aren't any technologies to research here, so it isn't really smart to build this building in the Feudal Age unless you want archers in the army). Once most of the useful technologies have been researched (pay attention to the technologies above which have a "Note" below them), it is time to go to the Imperial Age. Stockpile resources and create villagers if more help is needed in gathering resources. If you have an ally, try asking him for tribute. Use the "Food, please" button because "Give me your extra resources" usually doesn't work. [From: Ostera Gonzalez as soon as you get ther, develop long swords men, and the next two infantry tech at the black smith -With your enemy weakened, very weakened (most of the times killed, as they provide no resistance), create cavalry archers, or crossbowmen, and attack the remaining villagers. The aim of this is to kill as many villagers as u can, and stopping them from gathering resources. Create an infantry army again. -Create villagers to gather gold until there are 14 of them. Build a monastery and a university. -Keep attacking in groups of 30, in flash attacks. Advancing to the Imperial Age should be very easy now, as you should be full of resources... (most enemies don't survive this)] ************************ | D. Imperial Age | ************************ The first thing to do is to upgrade Chemistry at the University. Immediately after the research is complete, research Bombard Tower. The Bombard Tower is an important defense structure. See the Defensive Strategies section below for more details in how to defend your city. Next, start getting more resources to upgrade your Teutonic Knights and Cavaliers. Build a Siege Workshop and start creating Bombard Cannons. Keep an eye on your resources, though. If they run out in the middle of an invasion, then you are good as dead, especially if you are being attacked by twenty something enemy troops. Anyway, concentrate on researching University, Castle, and Blacksmith technologies. Upgrade your Stone Walls into Fortified Walls if you have not done so yet. Once all of the useful technologies are upgraded, start building up your army. Build up your defenses as described in the Defensive Strategies section below. Once you have reached population limit, start your attack. For more tips on how to fight each civilization, see Offensive Strategies. Just one last tip. Never stop creating troops. Once you run out, it would take some time before you can get a large army again. [From: Ostera Gonzalez Improve your army and use trebuchets, created at the castle, to finish your enemies. Most enemies are at Feudal or Castle Age at this point, so winning is fairly easy)] --------------------------- | 5. Defensive Strategies | --------------------------- Four towers and the Castle are available for the Teutons' defensive needs. In earlier ages, defense relies completely on the Watch Tower. Once you can upgrade to Guard Towers, do so immediately. [From: Ostera Gonzalez In earlier ages, if you build your buildings close enough to the TC, most attacks could be repelled easily.] Start building Stone Walls when you get to the Castle Age. Build some Guard Towers certain intervals away from each other. Make sure they are behind the walls and about 3-4 tiles away from the walls. You'll see why later (Especially against Mongols and Celts and people who utilize a lot of Siege Onagers). [Version 2.2 Update: I later realized that walls were just a waste of resources. I was able to construct a decent defense with a centralized army (protecting the core of my town), at least four Castles, and a lot of Bombard Towers. A lot of them. And I mean one bombard tower for every, say, ten tiles?] Don't upgrade to Keep immediately after you get to the Imperial Age. Research the Bombard Tower first. Start building Bombard Towers directly behind the walls. Leave the land behind the Gates clear so that passage will be faster and unhindered. To back up the towers, place a Castle if you have the stone. Also station Heavy Scorpions and Bombard Cannons. This kind of a defensive line creates a "no- man's land" for attackers and most attackers die prior to arrival. This has been tried and is especially effective against the Goths, who attack in numbers. [From: Nick Klein One of the biggest advantages is the insanely powerful keeps/guard towers the Teutons can put up. They get to garrison 2x the units in towers, get 2x normal garrison arrows, free murder holes (which is expensive and critical if you're building lots of towers), and their unique tech allows garrisoned infantry (i.e. Teutonic knights) to fire garrison arrows. Now, if I did my math correctly, if you were to garrison to the maximum (10 units) with archers/crossbowmen, your towers would churn out 8 arrows (the equivalent of two ungarrisoned castles). Now, if you've played Teutons before, I know you're thinking, "Hey wait, Teutons have pretty crappy foot archers--why would I want to waste population and resources on building 10 per tower," which is true. However, if you're playing against a particularly infantry-heavy civ, keep in mind that several 8-arrow-firing towers have a tendency to mow down infantry especially and also anything else besides siege weapons and huskarls. So what would I propose? A tower full of infantry fires a still very sizable 5 arrows (no other civilization can pull this off, even with a tower full of archers) build a tower at a strategic location (somewhere where you can maximize its line of sight and firepower) and garrison it full of Teutonic knights. As you well know, t-knights have the ability to mow through any non-ranged (and some ranged) unit like a hot knife through butter. You will also want a handful (as in 5 or so) paladins nearby to handle siege. So here's the picture: incoming infantry, cavalry, and archers are mowed down by the tower. Any rams or remaining infantry or cavalry are then cut down by the (now ungarrisoned) Teutonic knights, and any mangonels, cannons, or trebs are open for surgery by the paladins. This tactic works well as a first-line defense, but can be adapted to mainline defense by using several t-knights garrisoned towers, some bombard towers, a larger group of paladins, and a wall in front of the towers. Anywhere you can put a tower, you can have a pretty comprehensive defense unit. It works great by town centers! Repels those pesky Goth infantry hordes! It slices! It dices!] If you are attacked by Longbowmen, Bombard Cannons, or Trebuchets, immediately send a group of Paladins out to destroy them. Since their range is greater than those of your Bombard Towers, results could be devastating if you leave them alone. Lock all gates that you build and unlock them only if you are sending people outside the city. Do not build Bombard Towers near the Town Center or where villagers are, because they have an area of effect damage, and you can end up killing your own villagers instead of defending them. [Version 2.4 Update: Actually, I have been playing around with Byzantines recently, and it seems as though my report that Bombard Towers have that area of effect damage is unconfirmed. Be on the lookout, though, and tell me if I'm wrong.] If you are attacked by Siege Onagers or Heavy Scorpions, leave the work to your defensive line. The range of these units are less than those of Bombard Towers and Castles. These above strategies were tested in a one-on-three match with the difficulty set to Hardest. The three enemies were Goths, and you might know how much of a pain Goths are. --------------------------- | 6. Offensive Strategies | --------------------------- If you have played for sports teams, you might have heard that the key to victory is defense. But a strong offense is also essential to wipe those adversaries off the map for good. This section will cover offensive tactics against each civilization. Other tips will be covered in Section 8: Other Tips and Hints. Anyway, you should be basing your army on Paladins, Teutonic Knights, and Capped Rams. Capped Rams can garrison Teutonic Knights and keep them protected from archer fire, and Paladins chase down those archers and tear them apart. Meanwhile, when Halberdiers come at your Paladins, you retreat your Paladins and send a Teutonic Knight right at him. Usually, a Halberdier gets killed when the Elite Teutonic Knight has just lost 3 HPs. To take down Castles, Keeps, and Town Centers, you send in the Capped Rams or Trebuchets, then ungarrison troops when the villagers are ungarrisoned or send the Paladins at them. It's a perfect way of destroying enemies quickly. Other things to consider are Trebuchets and Bombard Cannons, which are hard-hitting building destroyers that can quickly reduce a town to ruins. Which one is better, though? I'd say the Bombard Cannon. First of all, it doesn't need to waste time packing and unpacking. At the same time, its range is far enough to destroy Castles without getting hit by archer fire, and Bombard Towers without getting hit by stones from the sky. Trebuchets, though, have to pack and unpack, and fire at moving targets inaccurately. Despite the higher attack and range, I think it's better to stick to Bombard Cannons. [Version 2.2 Update: Against Goths, I finally realized that Capped Rams are not the best option. Go for Trebuchets and Bombard Cannons. Remember to keep them defended by units, though! Huskarls come in swift and furious once they realize they are under attack by long range units!] Hand Cannoneers can also be brought into battle. However, keep them behind Teutonic Knights and Paladins in battle so that they wouldn't be the first ones to die. Hand Cannoneers pack a nice punch while at the same time, providing fire support when a battle is about to be won. Keep them close to the battle though, as Hand Cannoneers can't fire accurately at range. ----------------------- | A. Aztecs | ----------------------- The Aztec unique unit, the Jaguar Warrior, has an attack bonus against infantry, and that includes Teutonic Knights too. Aztecs attack in numbers, including Siege Onagers and Trebuchets in a battalion. When you attack an Aztec, make sure that a big part of the group is made up of Paladins. Keep Teutonic Knights in the group too, as Aztec Pikemen can be real pains for Paladins. Bring along Trebuchets and Capped Rams garrisoned with Teutonic Knights. The first target should always be the walls, keeps, and siege workshops. Castles are usually in the middle, and those should be destroyed first to prevent more Jaguar Warriors from being created. Target the Town Center next. Then release your Teutonic Knights from the Capped Rams and trash the city. Target villagers when you see them, because they can build more Town Centers. Whenever you see a villager building something, kill it immediately, and usually, it would run away and destroy the building it was constructing. After you trash the city, the king should have resigned. A king would resign if most of the villagers have been killed and all Town Centers and Castles have been destroyed. Sometimes, they resign earlier, before you destroy the last Town Center, Castle, etc. ----------------------- | B. Britons | ----------------------- Creampuff. You just send a group of Paladins, Capped Rams (garrisoned with Teutonic Knights), and one or two Trebuchets. Create a hold in the defense by destroying keeps outside the walls. Break open the walls. Target the castles first. Kill any Longbowmen with your Paladins. Send your Capped Rams to the Town Center, then sweep outward, killing any villagers. The Briton king should give up really soon. ----------------------- | C. Byzantines | ----------------------- ----------------------- | D. Celts | ----------------------- Not much to it. City layout is usually advantageous to enemies who bring along Siege Weapons and a big army. The Town Center is usually amid a big group of houses. All you have to do is take down the Town Center and destroy the houses in sight to lower the amount of things the enemy can build. Next, search for the Castles, using a Scout. Usually, the Castle is outside the city walls, but near enough to reinforce it. When the Castles are sighted, you know what to do already. However, remember to keep the rest of your army in the area to protect siege weapons, as Halberdiers or Woad Raiders can come anytime. ----------------------- | E. Chinese | ----------------------- ----------------------- | F. Franks | ----------------------- These guys aren't much of a problem, as their special unit is a Throwing Axeman. The problem, though, is the Bombard Cannons that appear all over the place in the beginning. Franks usually use these for attack. Sometimes, the Siege Workshop is outside the city walls, and thus, you have to destroy the walls to kill Bombard Cannons (once you are in the city). There are several solutions to this, but the fastest way is to bring Bombard Cannons of your own instead of Trebuchets. Bombard Cannons move faster and fire more accurately at moving targets, when compared to Trebuchets (which need to pack/unpack). The strategy? Same as for the Britons. Clear out all Guard Towers within range and destroy the Town Centers, Castles, and major military buildings. It will take some time, as Franks are pretty creative in finding escape routes where they could rebuild all over again. This, though can be avoided, through many ways. The better way is to surround the city with Paladins, Hand Cannoneers, or Siege Weapons (advisably Heavy Scorpions) on a Stand Ground stance. This way, any villager that wanders too far will be taken down. [Version 2.2 Update: (In response to question by Zephyre Amakir) A gamer asked me how to use the Teutons effectively against Throwing Axemen. I have never actually experienced difficulty against Throwing Axemen in battle when I send in Hand Cannoneers or Teutonic Knights en masse. The point is to get the Castle down, while at the same time getting the Throwing Axemen from a distance whenever possible. When the Castle is down, it should be no problem cleaning up the place.] ----------------------- | G. Goths | ----------------------- The Goths are pretty tough to attack, especially considering that they build many Town Centers and Castles. The army is basically everywhere, and you can't go many places without a small fight. To attack Goths, you will need many Capped Rams, Elite Teutonic Knights, and Paladins. Bring some Trebuchets along, as more fire support is desirable. Start by looking for a weak point. All Gothic kings have a point in their city where defense is especially weak. Usually, there are several Watch Towers here. Remember not to attack where there are many Castles. Create an opening here in the "weak point" and let your Capped Rams charge to the Town Center. Use the Paladins to kill any military unit that comes too close. Get siege weapons out of the way as soon as possible. Release some Elite Teutonic Knights to help kill Halberdiers, which are a big pain for Paladins. Send Trebuchets to destroy Castles. Let the Capped Rams comb the area for Town Centers. When one is sighted, eliminate it. If any Huskarls come close, release some Elite Teutonic Knights, and garrison them once the fight is won. Usually, you would need several "waves" of attack groups before the Gothic king resigns. For example, it took me four attack waves to defeat King Euric the Visigoth. The first one was defeated because I sent it in immediately after defeating another Goth (without getting the guys healed). The second one got creamed because the Paladins charged to the middle and swept outwards, so many were killed by Castles and Halberdiers. The third one destroyed a Town Center and several Castles before getting creamed by an army of Huskarls, and the last finished him off. [Version 2.2 Update: Forget garrisoned Capped Rams. Teutonic Knights die way too fast against Castles, and the Castles will tend to go for them whenever they are around (when you send garrisoned Capped Rams to attack Castles). Go for Trebuchets and Bombard Cannons to hit key buildings. Use Teutonic Knights against Watch Towers and Huskarls. Use Paladins to strike at villager work areas.] [Version 2.4 Update: On defending against attack by Gothic Huskarls and stuff, please review the defense strategies section, where valuable advice has been provided by gamers like Nick Klein and Ostera Gonzalez.] ----------------------- | H. Huns | ----------------------- The key is defense. The Huns pack a strong punch by attacking in numbers and using Siege Rams and Trebuchets to their advantage. Halberdiers and Tarkans aren't something to be feared, for Tarkans are bad against knight line troops and Halberdiers are very easily taken down by Teutonic Knights. However, be prepared to wage a relentless battle. It will take a while to bring the Huns' economy to its knees. In other words, you'll have to force the enemy to keep on making troops to battle you. Eventually, he will run out of resources, and then, it will be easy to invade his land and break apart his whole empire. Once again, target Town Centers and Castles (especially Castles), to slow down the enemy's army building potential. By the time that you have finished off and cleared out the land protected by the walls, the Hunnic king should surrender. ----------------------- | I. Japanese | ----------------------- Japanese surrender very easily. Although Samurai are good against all unique units and your Teutonic Knights will die faster than they normally do, you still have Paladins and Trebuchets. In addition, samurai are easy to convert. So, you bring Capped Rams, Trebuchets, and Paladins. Break open a gate and let your Paladins charge inwards. Concentrate on killing all the Samurai first. Then send the Capped Rams to the Town Center and make the Trebuchets destroy the Castle (usually very close to the Town Center). After the Town Center and Castle are down, kill all the villagers. The king should resign by then. If not, destroy any military buildings and houses (prevents them from producing more units) until the king resigns. ----------------------- | J. Koreans | ----------------------- ----------------------- | K. Mayans | ----------------------- ----------------------- | L. Mongols | ----------------------- ----------------------- | M. Persians | ----------------------- The hard part is the War Elephants. But luckily, they are easy to convert and Persians can't research Heresy. Therefore, send five to ten monks along with an attack group of Capped Rams, Teutonic Knights, and Paladins. Use Trebuchets to destroy a Castle, and when the War Elephants charge outwards towards the Trebuchets, then CONVERT AS MANY OF THEM AS YOU CAN!!! It is more difficult to kill a War Elephant than to convert them and send them against their own creators!!! Once again, you charge into the middle with your Capped Rams, finishing off any Towers that come into sight and releasing Teutonic Knights if any opposing army units come too close. Then attack the Town Center. Let the Paladins charge to the middle and sweep outward from the middle, killing all villagers and military units. Destroy any Barracks, Siege Workshops, or Archery Ranges that you see because they can still create units if their resources allow. ----------------------- | N. Saracens | ----------------------- ----------------------- | O. Spanish | ----------------------- ----------------------- | P. Teutons | ----------------------- ----------------------- | Q. Turks | ----------------------- ----------------------- | R. Vikings | ----------------------- Like the Britons, what makes them easy is that defenses are outside the walls. All you do is you create a hole for yourself to get into without getting hurt. Then charge in, destroy all Castles and Town Centers in the middle, release ALL Teutonic Knights, then sweep outward. Then, if all villagers are down and there are no Town Centers or Castles standing, the Viking king should surrender. [Version 2.2 Update: Teutonic Knights do not always fare well against Guard Towers. Be sure to bring a lot of fire support- Bombard Cannons and Trebuchets are welcome additions to your invading army.] ---------------------------------------------------- | 7. The Frederick Barbarossa Campaign Walkthrough | ---------------------------------------------------- Once again, there are many different strategies you can employ to finish each mission. The walkthrough below is based on the Standard difficulty and are just suggestions on how you can beat each mission easily. ********************************************************************* Mission 1: Holy Roman Emperor Objectives: Capture 4 of the 6 relics from the surrounding German duchies ********************************************************************* The game starts with you in command of a small army and several villagers. Start by sending the villagers to work collecting wood, food, gold, and stone. Send the light cavalry near the eastern edge of the map, where there are Mongols who are willing to help you with the cost of 200 gold. Send the light cavalry back home before he attacks the Mongolian army. Immediately build a market and create a monk (more if you like) and give the Mongols the gold. When the army becomes yours, send them to the direction of home. Along the way, they should come across shallows. Turn to the north, where Bohemia (cyan), one of the duchies, is situated. Attack the villagers first, as without villagers, the Town Center couldn't be garrisoned, and thus, pose a threat to your army. Use the Siege Onagers to destroy any buildings in sight. Kill any monks and villagers that you may come across. Then lay the Town Center and the Monastery to waste. Send your monk here to pick up the relic and go back home. When resources allow, start creating Teutonic Knights. Build a Siege Workshop and several Battering Rams where you can garrison the Teutonic Knights. Then, bring two monks along with the battering rams and Elite Mangudai to the northern bridge. Cross it, and you should be in Swabia (orange). Do it later in the game, as Swabia will be in control of two relics then. Lay waste to their city the same way you did with Bohemia, then pick up the relics and go. The last target will be Burgundy (purple), across the western bridge. Don't send your Mangudai in first. There would be a Watch Tower guarding the path to the town. Instead of killing the villagers first, kill off the resistance. There should be several archers, skirmishers, and etc. around. Once the Battering Rams are done with the Watch Tower, proceed to the Town Center, then to the Monastery. Pick up the relic and go, but make sure your Mangudai "cover" him, or go to the area first to kill all opposition. Make sure that your army is healed between attacks. Nothing is worse than sending a group of injured soldiers into a battle. ********************************************************************* Mission 2: Henry the Lion Objectives: Defeat Poland ********************************************************************* You are in charge of a small army and a small town without villagers or a Town Center. Poland is to the east, with Watch Towers, three Castles, and a Siege Workshop scattered around the eastern side of the map. Saxony and Bavaria are feeding your armies and those of Henry the Lion, so what you do is you send your knights to Saxony and the pikemen to Bavaria. Then start creating Teutonic Knights, Knights, and two or four Battering Rams. Leave the Crossbowmen and light cavalry behind to defend your town. Then garrison the Teutonic Knights in the Battering Rams and move them, along with the knights currently in your town, to your northernmost outpost. Nearby, there is a Polish castle, which you can destroy with no resistance at all, except for Watch Towers nearby. Immediately after you do this, there is a message saying that Henry the Lion has become your enemy, since he wants to become the Holy Roman Emperor. A new objective is added: "Defeat Henry the Lion." Do not attack him yet. Just kill any enemy Teutonic Knights that go into Saxony with your Knights. Don't go one-on-one, though, as Teutonic Knights are difficult to kill with even just one Knight. Send five in at the same time to kill the Teutonic Knight before much damage is inflicted. Eventually, the Polish will attack and defeat Henry the Lion, and all you have to do is send Knights and Teutonic Knights into the area to destroy. the Polish army. At the western edge of the map, there would be a small walled-n area with villagers and a relic trapped inside. Destroy the gate, and with the villagers, build a monastery and a Town Center. Create a monk to capture the relic and heal everybody and send the villagers to work gathering resources to build up an army. With tributes from Saxony and Bavaria, create a larger army of Knights and Teutonic Knights. When you think your army is big enough, send several monks with a attack group to Bavaria. It would be better to leave Knights in your Town, because the Polish do not remain idle and can attack at a moment when your army is elsewhere attacking Poland. Cross the river east of Bavaria and head north. Soon, you should see a castle and watch towers. Destroy them with your army, and with monks following closely behind. Any damage inflicted on your army will be healed quickly (quicker with more monks). Sweep across the map from the east to the north, destroying buildings with the same technique as above and destroying onagers with your knights. If there is a point where many Huskarls come right at you, convert some of them (they are really easy to convert). Once you have cleared up the northern and eastern parts of the map, victory should be yours. ********************************************************************* Mission 3: Pope and Antipope Objectives: Convert the cathedral in Milan ********************************************************************* Do not underestimate this mission. You will be under attack by the River Guard early in the game, and the Milanese don't have a small army to guard their Cathedral. The battle will be tough, but of course it is possible. Start off by leading your army down the shore, exploring the area. You should come across a relic sometime during the trip. Immediately charge north. Capture the relic with a monk and send him back home. Let the other monks follow your army north. You should soon come across Crema (green) and several villagers. Convert as many of them as you can and send them home to build a Town Center and houses. Lay waste to the Town Center and the opposition (there are supposed to be pikemen and archers defending Crema). Convert as many villagers that come into sight. Sweep through the whole town until Crema is defeated. Then send your army back home. Start concentrating on your economy. Send some villagers to collect stone, while some others collect food and wood. Stone mines should be near the dock. When there is enough stone, build a castle, then create more villagers to collect gold (there should be gold mines northeast of the stone mines). Next, build a Barracks, a Stable, and a Siege Workshop. Start building a larger army. Build several Watch Towers near the dock, as enemy Galleons will often attack it. Create several Fires Ships to help guard it. When there are enough resources, go to the Imperial Age (1000F, 800G). Upgrade all of your troops and research Cannon Galleon at the Dock. Then create a Trebuchet and proceed down the riverbanks until this point on the south side of the bridge where you might see a Castle. Destroy the castle, then destroy the dock with the Trebuchet. Keep some Fast Fire Ships handy so that you can destroy any resistance. Next, send villagers on a Transport to the northern edge of the map. Start traveling down that edge of the map until you reach land. Send your villagers southwest along the map until they reach a road. Then follow the road until you come to a part where the road has forests on both sides. Build a Castle, Stable, and Monastery here, since Milan (blue) is expecting you and it would be better to have a reserve of troops handy in the area. Break the gates (follow the road and you should see them) and charge your forces in. Don't send your monks in though, since the Milanese troops would be charging very soon. Instead, stay in the area and wait for the Milanese Teutonic Knights to charge. There are going to be tens of them, accompanying hand cannoneers or mangonels, so send your Paladins to the mangonels and cannoneers and let your Teutonic Knights do the rest. The battle will last minutes until the Milanese run out of resources. Destroy important military buildings and destroy the Milanese Castle (follow the road farther southeast), just to ensure that the Milanese can't create anymore Teutonic Knights. Once the coast is clear, send the monks to the Cathedral (I think its position was already revealed in the beginning of the game). Destroy the Archery Range and Stable beside it just so that no military units can be created anymore. Victory should come soon. ********************************************************************* Mission 4: The Lombard League Objectives: Construct a Wonder within the walls of Venice, Padua, or Verona ********************************************************************* When the game starts, you are already being attacked by enemies. Send your villagers to the shore to the south and board transports. Then follow the river east until you see a large fleet. There are more villagers and even military units in transports that you see here, so just take the transports, escorted by fire ships, to he north. Follow the coastline and you should arrive at this river that heads north. Follow that river until you see villagers on the left side of the river mining stone. Release your villagers on the right side and build a Town Center, Castle, several houses, a Stable, and a Monastery. Get to work mining gold and use the Siege Onagers that come along with the captured transports to kill villagers mining stone across the river. Start collecting stone from this place too, as a Wonder needs 1000W, 1000G, and 1000S. Venice is the nearest town (their gates should be shortly to the east of the gold mines where you set up camp), and their Castle is near the gates facing your encampment, so you better be prepared to defend yourself if you decide to attack his Castle. Start creating villagers and expand your economy across the river, where there is more land for farms. Build Watch Towers around the land that you use, so that you'll be alerted when enemies come through. If you have enough resources, start building up an army, upgrading necessary technologies. Be sure, though, that you'll have enough things in your stockpile when it is time to build a Wonder. Collecting resources can be really slow and irritating when you need 1000S but find that you have only, say 100S. Next phase, is the attack. Use Trebuchets to destroy the gate and create an opening for your troops to rush into Venice. Next, use a Scout Cavalry to run into the opening and look for the Castle, if you haven't seen the position of the Castle yet. Attack the Castle with a Trebuchet and destroy the nearby buildings. You are now within the walls of Venice, and this should be the place to build the Wonder- close to home. Soon, there should be a note saying that Henry the Lion once again has betrayed Barbarossa and changes his diplomatic stance with you to enemy. Don't concentrate on attacking now. Get some villagers to a transport and ship them to the place near your outposts far east. There should be stone mines nearby, in case you don't have enough stone. In case you haven't done so already, build walls to close out invasion points and then build more Castles as Stone allows. Eventually, people will start coming to invade you. Before you build a Castle, make sure that the Town Center, Docks, and Siege Workshop at Venice are all destroyed. Otherwise, Bombard Cannons can be created from the Siege Workshop, and warships can be created at the Dock. Keep troops on stand in the area to make sure that nobody tries to invade your newly acquired land and destroy your Wonder. While your villagers are busy building the Wonder, keep your economy up and running, or an invasion can reduce your town to ruins without any resistance at all. Send at least 5 villagers to build the Wonder, as it may take only several minutes if you do so. Victory comes immediately after the Wonder is completed. ********************************************************************* Mission 5: Barbarossa's March Objectives: At least 10 troops must survive to reach the Hospitaller camp ********************************************************************* Pretty easy mission. There are two alternatives to what to do first. The first one, and the more time-consuming but action packed one, concerns going to Gallipoli (cyan), in the western point of the map. First, head to the western point of the map, killing any Mamelukes, Onagers, and Camels that you meet with the appropriate troops (e.g., no Paladin vs. Camels match-ups). There should have been a point where you saw an abandoned house, which soon released several Mamelukes. This is where you should send all your troops to wait until the next segment. Send the Onagers to the west, until you see Gallipoli. Capture the Transport Ships and wait for the Saracen Navy to attack. Finish off as many ships as you could. About 75% of them should be downed in several seconds. The second segment, and the alternative, is to look for Constantinople, which is a short walk west. Find the gate, and make sure all of your troops stay far from it. Send the Scout Cavalry in to locate the Castle and the position of as many Bombard Towers as possible, the Castle, and the Wonder. Constantinople should soon send a reply that they will not accept any more Crusaders and becomes your enemy. Use the Trebuchets to destroy the gates and Bombard Towers, then the Castle. As for the Paladins, wait for the Cataphracts to charge out before killing them. Finish off Pikemen with your Crossbowmen or just ONE Elite Teutonic Knight. Though there are a handful of them, Pikemen don't do much damage to Elite Teutonic Knights, especially with three monks nearby. Once the Castle is down, send your Scout Cavalry (if they haven't been killed yet) or Paladins to the Wonder. Move your whole army to the boarding area near the Wonder once the Byzantines surrender, then locate your newly acquired ships. Send the Galleons out to the sea, where there should be several enemy ships. Board the ships, and make sure many of them survive because every unit counts! Without scouts, you won't know where Seljuk Turks are hiding or where they are waiting. Without Onagers, you can't get an easy way to the Hospitallers. Without Pikemen or Elite Teutonic Knights, Paladins would be devastated by Camels. Without Paladins, there is no cover for foot soldiers from Cavalry Archers. Without Monks, you can't heal. Most of all, without Trebuchets, don't expect to destroy any Turk Castles. Once you are ready, move your Transports across the river (just directly across) and there should be desirable landing grounds nearby (especially an inlet where there is lots of open space). Land your troops here and make your way south. You WILL come across Keeps if you move north, including a Monk and a small band of Seljuk Turks. Destroy all, and move east, then south when you near the edge of the map. There should be mountains here, and several more Keeps just south of the mountains. Send your Paladins in first to locate the Keeps and kill the resistance. Move the Trebuchets nearby and let loose your destruction! As you move south, there should be a certain opening like this: (C: Cliffs, T: Trees) CTTTTC CTTTTC CTTTTC CTTTTC CCCCCCCCC CCCCCCCCC If your Onagers are not dead yet, destroy the Trees and send your Scouts in immediately. There should be a band of Seljuk Turks (with Bombard Cannons) nearby. Once you locate them, send your Paladins in. Move your troops nearby just in case the guys get smart and begin to get the edge on your Paladins. Once they are dead, send your Scouts looking out for more passages south. There should be this place where there is a huge pack of wolves waiting. When they are revealed, it is time to let your Onagers do the attacking. Use attack ground, and don't right click on a wolf, because it may come after you. Anyway, once they are all dead, continue south. The Hospitallers should be nearby. If you don't have any more Onagers, you will have to continue south along a "straight" path from your direction earlier. You might come across a wall with Bombard Towers and a Castle reinforcing it. Send your Trebuchets to attack a Bombard Tower. There should soon be an earthquake, leaving the whole encampment in ruins. Charge through the hole and clear out all opposition. There should be a mountain to the east, and another Castle some distance behind it. Destroy it, and continue south, where there should be another Castle to destroy. When this is done, head east. You should see a land-bridge and soon, a Teutonic Knight (orange) and gates. You have reached your destination. Enter the encampment and send everybody to the Castle. Victory should be achieved soon. ********************************************************************* Mission 6: The Emperor Sleeping Objectives: Bring Barbarossa's body (in a barrel) to the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Don't destroy the Dome of the Rock. ********************************************************************* This mission begins with you in command of a small army and villagers. Start by building a Castle with five or six villagers. Build a Monastery and create a monk to grab the relic just south of your Town Center. The Saracens under Saladin will give you only ten minutes until they attack. Get some villagers to work mining gold, herding sheep, and cutting down trees for wood. Once the Castle is done, send a Paladin and the builders near to the western point of the map. There you will find stone deposits, which can supply you for quite some time. In this mission, the key is economy. You will need a lot of wood, gold, and food to build up an attacking force. Do not even think about attacking Saladin because it will be very costly. Attack and clear out Damascus instead. By clearing up their city and destroying the southern walls, you will have access to the southeastern edge of the map. Jerusalem is on the southern point of the map. It will be difficult to attack Damascus, not to mention costly, but it is definitely easier than attacking Saladin. Convert as many War Elephants as you could. Your first targets once you enter Damascus should be the Town Center, Siege Workshops, and the Castle. The Town Center is southeast of the northern ate and the Castle is further southeast. Once these targets are done for, sweep the whole place clean, and convert any remaining War Elephants. Then clear out the southern walls (not the walls bordering Saladin's encampment, but the strip of wall near that place) and work your way to the eastern edge of the map. Once this is done, make for the southern point. There should be several monks in Jerusalem, so use Trebuchets to attack and open a hole in the walls before you charge in to the city and reduce most of it to ruins. This is the time when you should muster up a few troops to guard your Emperor in a Barrel on his journey to Jerusalem. Use a box formation, as the Emperor in a Barrel would be more easily defended that way. Use the same route that you did with the previous attack group and make your way to the Dome of the Rock. Attack any enemies that get too close, and make sure that all archers nearby are down or they can cause some trouble. Victory should come if you can get your Emperor in a Barrel to the walls of Jerusalem safely (as long as all resistance inside has been erased). Hospitaller --------------------------- | 8. Other Tips and Hints | --------------------------- 1) TARGET THE MARKET ONCE THE TOWN CENTER(S) ARE DOWN. Markets allow the enemy to pay tribute to their allies if there are any and thus, provide them with resources for battle with you. It is better to deny the opponent resources and to leave them without anything to build up an army than to attack them while they are still high on resources. 2) LOOK FOR WHERE ENEMY VILLAGERS ARE COLLECTING RESOURCES AWAY FROM THEIR HOMELAND. Once again, denying resources. You have to look for gold mines, stone mines, forests, and deep pastures where enemy villagers get their resources and take them out. It will hamper their economy and will inspire their army to attack you. If your defenses are ready, then it will be easy to take down the attacking party. 3) THE MAIN TOWN CENTER IS USUALLY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY. If you can destroy the main Town Center(s) (Goths have several of these), identified by the many villagers, farms, and houses around it, then it will heavily hamper your enemy's economy. Usually, most of the villagers run to this Town Center when the Town Bell is rung (villagers garrisoning the Town Center), and thus, when less than 25% of the Town Center's HP is left, villagers will immediately ungarrison the building. It will be easy for your Paladins and Teutonic Knights to chase the villagers and clear them from play. 4) START A GAME BY BUILDING YOUR DEFENSES, NOT YOUR ARMY. Yes, you heard me right. Nothing is worse than enemies charging into your town before towers are up. It is hard to erect towers late in the game because then, your villagers can be killed more easily. Start off by building a Castle, a House, and Towers. Create more villagers to assist in building more towers. Once they are up, then start building military buildings, and an army. Remember that the key to a strong defense is a lot of men. 5) TAKE OUT ANY TREBUCHETS OR BOMBARD CANNONS IMMEDIATELY. And not with Teutonic Knights, but Paladins. These guys can wreck buildings really fast, and your defenses will be down before you know it. Paladins are faster and therefore, destroy Bombard Cannons and Trebuchets before a lot of damage is inflicted. 6) THE FIRST THING TO TARGET IN AN ATTACK IS THE CASTLE. The Castle produces unique units. Unique units are produced faster than normal units are, and inflict more damage. In addition, Castles are defensive buildings. They inflict a lot of damage, and it is best to take them out of play before they kill many of your troops. 7) ALWAYS BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR RELICS. IF ONE IS SIGHTED, LEAVE A SOLDIER IN THE AREA TO GUARD IT WHILE A MONK COMES TO RETRIEVE IT. KILL ANY ENEMY MONKS THAT TRY TO CAPTURE THE RELIC. Relics automatically produce gold for your empire. More relics produce more gold faster. So capture as much of these early in the game. 8) IF YOU HEAR THE SOUND OF CONVERSION, SEARCH FOR THE ENEMY MONK IMMEDIATELY AND TAKE HIM DOWN. Even if Teutons have Heresy, Teutonic Knights are easy to be converted. If a soldier is converted, he dies. Any loss early in a battle, especially by a monk, weakens your army a little, in terms of attack strength. 9) IN A RANDOM MAP GAME, START UP YOUR ECONOMY BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE. You start with a very small stockpile in a random map game. Therefore, get to work gathering resources immediately so that you can produce more villagers and build up your city. 10) NEVER STOP TRAINING TROOPS. Among the tips in the Microsoft Inside Moves: Age of Empires II book. And I completely agree. If you even stop creating troops for a little while, it will give the enemy enough time to rebuild and prepare for your next attack. No opposition at all is always better. ----------------------- | 9. Contribute | ----------------------- If there are any comments or anything you would like to contribute or add to this FAQ, please send an email to firestorm0033@netscape.net , and you will get the proper credit. Once again, everything needs improvement, and there will be no final version of this FAQ until I receive no suggestions or tips. The Offensive Strategies section is currently incomplete (obviously), because the civilizations which I more often played were the Goths (I once played a solo versus three teams of two players each except one team with three, in which all were Goths, just to get the ideas for the Goth section), Britons, Vikings, Aztecs, and Japanese. Therefore, I didn't deeply "study" the other civs' tactics enough to write about them here. In addition, there might be upcoming sections on tactics and tips on playing each map. But I will definitely need a lot more suggestions and feedback from you, the readers, to fill that in. One section definitely to be coming will cover combat tactics regarding single enemy units. It will cover match-ups such as how to kill a Cavalry Archer with 2 Elite Teutonic Knights, or such match-ups that put you at a disadvantage (Teutonic Knights bad vs. archers). ------------------------ | 10. Other Questions | ------------------------ If you have any other questions regarding gameplay or this FAQ, feel free to ask. Once again, the email is firestorm0033@hotmail.com and I believe I have placed it all over this FAQ already. Once I receive questions, this section will become the FAQ section and not the "Other Questions" section. In addition, if the directions I used on this FAQ (north, south, east, west) are confusing, tell me. I'm not sure if everybody interprets compass directions the same way I do. Anyway, this is how I see it: Top /N\ Left Right \S/ Bottom ------------------------ | 11. Acknowledgements | ------------------------ ********************************************************************* - Most of all, God for having given me my talents. I wouldn't be writing this if I didn't have the talent to do so. - Microsoft and Ensemble Studios, for producing the great Age of Empires series. I big part of my holidays, vacations, and weekends has been devoted to playing Age of Empires, Rise of Rome, Age of Kings, and now Conquerors. If one of you guys happen to read this FAQ, keep 'em coming!!! - GameFAQs (CJayC) for posting this FAQ. The first update will always be at GameFAQs. - Neoseeker (Peter Judson) for asking me to put this up. - DLH.net (Bernd Wolffgramm) for asking me to put this up. - IGN.com (Stephen Ng) for asking me to put this up. - My parents for supporting me for many things I do. - , an alliance of Age of Empires players with me as the leader. To all other members of , thanks a lot for playing online with me. - Martin (Ostera Gonzalez), from Argentina, for telling me that my strategy of getting to Imperial Age as soon as I can is wrong, and for giving me other alternatives to doing that. Somehow, he's right. Thanks, man - Nick Klein for giving me a way to put murder holes and the Teutonic unique tech to advantage (see Defensive Strategies). - Kevin Yen, for introducing me to Age of Empires about 5 years back. Also, for being like a brother to me. - Christopher Lin, for helping me learn Age of Empires basics when I first played it. Secondly, for being like a brother to me. - Eric Huang, for lots of laughs in playing Age of Empires II. A lot of my tips here came from crazy mistakes that you made while playing Age of Empires II. My loyal friend, you are like a brother to me. - You, for having taken the time to read, study, or use this FAQ. *********************************************************************