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| Author |
File Description |
| rakovsky |
Posted on 08/22/20 @ 02:26 AM (updated 08/18/21)
| File Details |
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| Difficulty: |
Hard |
| Version: |
Rise of Rome |
Mission Name: The Eagle, Version 2.0
Mission Designer: westcoastcustoms, glitches fixed by Rakovsky
Scenario Version: 2.0
Date: 8/22/20
Rise of Rome or AOE: Rise Of Rome.
Single Player or Multiplayer: Single Player
Acknowledgements by Rakovsky:
I would like to acknowledge westcoastcustoms for their excellent Scenario.
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Summary by westcoastcustoms:
Marcus Aquila and his slave have stopped on a small island off the coast of Caledonia to get ready for their quest to get back Marcus's families war emblem - The Eagle
In 2nd-Century Britain, two men – master and slave – venture beyond the edge of the known world on a dangerous and obsessive quest that will push them beyond the boundaries of loyalty and betrayal, friendship and hatred, deceit and heroism.
In 140 AD, the Roman Empire extends all the way to Britain – though its grasp is incomplete, as the rebellious tribes of Caledonia (now Scotland) hold sway in the far North. Marcus Aquila arrives in Britain, determined to restore the tarnished reputation of his father, Flavius Aquila. It was 20 years earlier that Rome’s 5,000-strong Ninth Legion, under the command of Flavius and carrying their golden emblem, the Eagle of the Ninth, marched north into Caledonia. They never returned; Legion and Eagle simply vanished into the mists. Angered, the Roman Emperor Hadrian ordered the building of a wall to seal off the territory; Hadrian’s Wall became the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire – the edge of the known world.Hearing a rumor that the Eagle has been seen in a tribal temple in the far north, Marcus is galvanized into action, and sets off with Esca across Hadrian’s Wall. But the highlands of Caledonia are a vast and savage wilderness, and Marcus must rely on his slave to navigate the region. When they encounter ex-Roman soldier Guern(you may run into him and his army of centurions in your travels), Marcus realizes that the mystery of his father’s disappearance may well be linked to the secret of his own slave’s identity and loyalty – a secret all the more pressing when the two come face-to-face with the warriors of the fearsome Seal Prince.
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EDITING NOTES by Rakovsky:
In 2012, westcoastcustoms created the adventuresome Scenario "The Eagle" based on the 2011 movie by that name. The basic goal in the Scenario is to either (A) recapture a Roman battle standard in the form of an eagle (The War Chest unit) and bring it back to the Roman-controlled territory south of Hadrian's Wall in northern England, or (B) defeat the Seal Prince (Brown Player 4).
When the designer released their first version of this Scenario, it had two basic problems or glitches:
1. The war chest could not really fit through the entrance of Hadrian's Wall for you to return it to the Romans because the entrance was too narrow and typically blocked by a few of Hadrian's Wall's units (the Red units).
2. Westcoastcustoms put in the instructions that you can either return the War Chest or destroy the Brown enemy (Player 4) to win. And probably to set these two alternate goals as potential victory conditions, the designer set your allies' victory conditions to "Destroy Player 4" and checkmarked "Allied Victory" in the Diplomacy menu. That is, probably the Designer thought that the "Allied Victory" setting would give you a victory if you either brought back the war chest or accomplished your allies' goal of destroying Player 4. But this is not what actually happened, since checking "Allied Victory" when your Player has a unique Individual Victory Condition of bringing an object someplace operates differently than when all allied players share the common goal of a "Global Victory." The Allied Victory setting requires you to either (A) achieve your Individual VC of bringing back the war chest as well as your Allies' VCs, or (B) achieve a Global Victory by destroying your team's enemies. However, the original Designer did not give your Allies any VCs, when he should have given your Allies the VC of bringing the war chest back to your base. As a result, you are forced to achieve the Global Victory Condition of conquering your team's enemies (in this case only Player 4) to win.
I tried emailing westcoastcustoms, but the email that they listed on their AOE Heaven profile page "bounced" and they did not leave any other contacts or personal information.
So I have fixed these two problems to make the Scenario winnable and am presenting my fixed version as Version 2. First, I widened the northern entrance of Hadrian's Wall so that you can fit the war chest back in. Next, I added an explanation in the Hints section about the exact area that you need to get the War Chest to, because one reviewer complained that the designer didn't make it clear enough. I also put the designer's background summary from their original file webpage into the Scenario's History section. Their background summary actually serves as a good "History." Finally, I fixed the Victory Conditions by giving your allies the same Victory Condition as you: bringing the eagle back to Hadrian's Wall. This makes the Scenario give you a "Victory" if you bring the War chest back to your base.
In my playtesting of my fixed version, I could alternately win by bringing back the war chest or by using the "Kill 4" Command to Destroy Player 4. The alternative option of destroying Player 4 is not very practical, but it's actually achievable. Player 4's Wonders and most of his base were protected by a ring of Zenobia's Towers and my mass of heavy infantry got wiped out while trying to fight them. To give you an idea of how strong Zenobia's towers are, I sent two chariots against the ring of Zenobia's towers and they took out four hitpoints from the towers. By comparison, each of those towers has a total of 1000 hit points.
ACHIEVING ALTERNATE GOAL #2 (WARNING: SPOILERS):
The map only gives you about 400 gold in a pile near the base that you get south of the main red base. This is hardly enough to replenish your heavy infantry destroyed by the Zenobia towers. But there is one more way to get gold. If you destroy enough of Brown's base and forces that are out of range to the northeast of their Zenobia's towers, you have enough space for a dock that you can make merchant ships with and trade wood resources with Brown's dock for gold. Of course you will have to protect your dock, but you can get a conveyance of gold for each of your ship's little trips. After enough time you can get enough gold to advance to the iron age and train centurions, catapult triremes, and monotheist priests to take out the Zenobia's towers.
After making Version 2, I realized that I could use the trading method to get gold and win by defeating Player 4 (Victory Option #2 in the Instructions) by making centurions and catapult triremes. So I replayed a savegame from the original version and used priests to capture an enemy siege workshop in the Brown base and then make catapults from the siege workshop. I won with this method.
After you wipe out Brown's main base and any enemy units like rafts wandering around the map, the enemy might resign. If he doesn't, then there are still a few strong towers in the middle of the map blocked by trees that you have to destroy. This is where the catapults come in handy. If you weren't able to capture any enemy siege workshops, maybe you could build triremes or juggernauts and then shoot the towers behind the trees because they are near water. The only other options that I can think of are to use archers to shoot the towers, or to use villagers to chop a path through the woods to the towers for your centurions. The latter method would take alot of villagers though because of the towers' fire. |
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HGDL v0.8.2 |
| Statistics |
| Downloads: | 178 |
| Favorites: [] | 0 |
| Size: | 167.48 KB |
| Added: | 08/22/20 |
| Updated: | 08/18/21 |
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