FAQ / Walkthrough - Guide for Age of Empires III

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|||	              AGE OF EMPIRES 3 FAQ / WALKTHROUGH                   |||
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Guide author: Useless
E-mail: [email protected]
Guide version: 1.6
Game version: 1.0
System: PC

Copyright: Useless 2006

This entire document is (c) 2006 Useless. All trademarks are property of
their respective owners. No section of this guide can be used without my
permission. This includes, but is not limited to posting on your website,
making links to my guide, including parts of my guide in your own, or making
reference to any material contained within.

Please do not email me to ask for permission to host this guide, as I will be 
unable to give it to you. I don't have enough time to manage and upload FAQ 
versions at any sites other than the three listed below. These sites are 
therefore the only ones permitted to host this guide:

GameFAQS.com
NeoSeeker.com
TheGameReviews.com

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 1. INTRODUCTION
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	1.1 INTRODUCTION
		1.1.1 WELCOME
		1.1.2 HINTS AND INFO
	1.2 USING THIS GUIDE
	1.3 CONTACT ME

 2. WALKTHROUGH
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	2.1 ACT I: BLOOD
		2.1.1 BREAKOUT
		2.1.2 INTO THE CAVES
		2.1.3 PIRATES!
		2.1.4 THE OTTOMAN FORT
		2.1.5 TEMPLES OF THE AZTEC
		2.1.6 A PIRATE'S HELP
		2.1.7 SPANISH TREASURE FLEET
		2.1.8 THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH?
	2.2 ACT II: ICE 
		2.2.1 DEFEND THE COLONY
		2.2.2 STRANGE ALLIANCES 
		2.2.3 THE RESCUE
		2.2.4 THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR
		2.2.5 THE GREAT LAKES 
		2.2.6 RESPECT 
		2.2.7 WARWICK'S STRONGHOLD
		2.2.8 BRING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN
	2.3 ACT III: STEEL
		2.3.1 RACE FOR THE RAILS
		2.3.2 HOLD THE FORT 
		2.3.3 THE BONEGUARD'S LAIR 
		2.3.4 THE LOST SPANISH GOLD
		2.3.5 BOLIVAR'S REVOLT
		2.3.6 JOURNEY THROUGH THE ANDES
		2.3.7 LAST CITY OF THE INCA
		2.3.8 LAST STAND OF THE BONEGUARD

 3. CONTRIBUTIONS
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 4. VERSION HISTORY
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                                1. INTRODUCTION
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                                1.1 INTRODUCTION
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 1.1.1 WELCOME
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Hi, welcome to my guide to Age Of Empires 3. This is my eighth guide and I'm 
beginning to run out of stuff to put in introductions. So I'll try to keep it 
short.

Firstly, I never bother checking if the games I write guides to already have 
other guides available. For all I know, this guide is the billionth one for 
AOE 3, or maybe it's the only one. Whatever it is, thanks for picking this 
one.

AOE 3 is an RTS (Real Time Strategy) game, but that doesn't mean it's not 
possible to write a walkthrough for it. The idea of this guide is to tell you 
what you should be doing and when, what the enemy will do, where they are, how 
to get maximum points out of each scenario, etc. Obviously, you will play your 
own way and build your own units, etc., but the guide can still help you to 
know whether you're doing well, or how you could maybe do better.

Though this is the third (kind of) instalment of the Age Of Empires series, 
playing any of the previous games in the series is not required for learning 
how to play this one. AOE 3 bears little resemblance to its prequels, and in 
fact it's more like a mixture of Settlers 5: Heritage Of Kings, Warcraft 3 and 
very definitely Command and Conquer: Generals. It even reminded me of Icewind 
Dale and Desperados in parts; and about the only games it didn't call to mind 
were the previous Age Of Empires releases.

I played the game on Moderate difficulty, since it's the one most people will 
choose.

I've tried to bung in as much story information as I can, which is hardly any. 
All I can do is quote the map blurbs and objectives. My cutscenes don't play 
properly: the text skips past insanely fast and I can't read it; and the 
cinematics freeze, slow, speed up, jump, freeze again and then end. I have no 
idea who the characters are, what they're doing, or what's going on beyond 
what little I can glean from the mission progression, so you'll have to view 
the movies yourself to find out what the hell.

Throughout each level you will be given objectives, though you only get one 
Primary Objective (PO), and possibly some Secondary Objectives (SO), at the 
beginning of the level. I've listed each of the sub-objectives as they occur, 
as well as what triggers them and what you have to do to complete them. 
Primary Objectives must be completed in order to finish the level, but the 
Secondary Objectives are just bonuses that you can skip if you want.

This game is designed to reward you for gaining lots of experience points, 
which can be collected by killing as many units and buildings as possible, 
exploring the fog of war, completing objectives, etc. Unfortunately the game 
also has some bugs connected to completing objectives in ways that the 
computer doesn't expect, so sometimes the level won't end if you try to 
collect more experience by destroying an enemy's entire base before getting 
rid of that town centre or whatever. I've had to write the guide based around 
letting you complete each level, so sometimes I've ended up with less 
experience than I might otherwise have had - if you get far more XP than me 
it's probably because the game has let you do what you want.

Finally, there are no property tables or stats in here. This is just a text 
walkthrough designed to take players through each level, and there's no way in 
freeze-dried buggery I can be bothered putting in every detail about every 
building and unit, etc. And this is a guide only for the campaign, not 
multiplayer, skirmishes vs the computer or map editing.

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 1.1.2 HINTS AND INFO
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I've had this game since Christmas 2005, and it's only in the last three weeks 
(November to December 2006) that I've gotten into it and completed it, and 
also written this guide for it. This was because I found quite a few things to 
be off-putting about the game when I first tried it nearly a year ago. The 
graphics were horribly grainy and high-colour; the tutorial missions were 
unhelpful; the first campaign mission was intimidatingly hard; and my 
experience of Age Of Empires 2 was little help in learning the menu system of 
this instalment.

If any of the above is also true of you I wouldn't be surprised, but if you 
stick with the game and successfully get through the first mission, it gets a 
lot better and more fun, and you do get used to the painful graphics after a 
while. The game is worth playing, though you'll probably find it to be less 
like AOE 2 or 1, and more like C+C: Generals or Warcraft 3. There's also none 
of the educational history side of the previous AOE games, which I never 
thought I'd miss but do.

Anyway, this is just a few notes about certain aspects of the game which you 
might want to take particular notice of: either changes from the old AOE 
format; or features which can make your progress through this game a lot 
easier. These are things which I would have liked to have known when I first 
played the game and gave up, because I would have been much more likely to 
stick with it the first time.

If you have any other strategies or tricks which would fit into this section 
please mail me and let me know. Cheers.

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BUILDINGS
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Don't forget your town bell if your town is under close attack. It can very 
often save your entire base from destruction if the computer's units are daft 
enough to get too close. It's almost like another fort.

Speaking of forts, there are no castles (or stone) in this game, which really 
gets noticeable around halfway through, when you start to realise how 
basically simple every enemy base is to take out. No more prolonged sieges 
outside enemy walls like in AOE 2. The best fortification you can have is a 
fort, and once your fort is gone you can't replace it - the same goes for your 
computer enemies.

Actually you can replace a fort later in the game, since you get to choose 
whether you'd like a fort or a factory when you advance to the Industrial Age. 
Since you can also have a Fort and Factory card each in your Home City, this 
means you get three shots at these buildings, allowing you to pick two of one 
and one of the other. Choose based on whether you're having a harder time 
defending your base and building an army, or a harder time collecting 
resources.

Factories are fantastic buildings - basically a means to get free resources 
fast. If you have two factories you will quickly be rolling in money, and the 
game will become extremely easy. They can also be made to constantly produce 
artillery units (heavy cannon) for free, though you will have to watch your 
population limit.

In the third Act of the game you will notice that you get an extra peasant 
every time you build a house. This annoyed me at first, but it's actually a 
much cheaper way of producing peasants. The houses cost 150 wood instead of 
the usual 100, but the fact that you get a peasant with each one means that 
you're spending 50 wood per new peasant, rather than 100 food each time. And 
you're also building houses at the same time. Remember this and don't go 
wasting tons of food on building settlers from the town centre.

Your peasants no longer have the task of repairing your buildings - now you 
just wait until the building is no longer under attack and there are no 
enemies in the vicinity, then click the Repair icon to slowly bring it back to 
full health. It even tells you how much it will cost to complete the repair, 
which is a much better system than the old thing of keeping peasants hanging 
around just in case.

Walls repair in the same way. To build gates you no longer have to select them 
with a peasant - now you just click on a section of built wall and click the 
Gate icon to make a gate. It took me ages to find this. Enemy units can't come 
through your gates, even when they are open.

Trading posts are another great new addition to the AOE games. Posts built in 
Native American villages will allow you to train Native units and buy unique 
upgrades. Posts built on trading routes will generate food, wood, gold or 
experience every time a vehicle hits the station. Trading posts are a bit like 
UT Domination control points - they never go away, but they can be controlled 
by you or your enemy. Take them if you see them - they can only help.

Try to put unit production building rally points near your town centre or 
outpost towers. If you are building troops from a barracks which is under 
attack, you can let your newly produced units act as decoys, drawing the 
enemies towards a building which can damage them.

Always use your defense buildings as much as possible, especially when 
attacking an opposing army. Running out into the middle of a field to engage 
an enemy is pointless if you have seven towers back at your base. Let the 
enemy come to your fortified base, where you will have an enormous advantage - 
you can save a lot of units and money this way.

UNITS
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It's always best to find a unit you like and stick with it, instead of 
building enormous armies with bits of everything. It's too annoying to have to 
rebuild very varied armies: I tend to just build and upgrade musketeers, 
grenadiers and dragoons, with falconets and mortars for support. You'll have 
your own preferences, but bear in mind that upgrading every type of unit is 
expensive and unnecessary. Often two mortars and two falconets can delete a 
base nearly on their own, so massive armies are superfluous and a waste of 
time.

Falconets, in my opinion, are the best units in the entire game. Fully 
upgraded they are better and more versatile than any other unit (except maybe 
the excellent monitor ships you get in the final level of Act III) hands down 
at killing both enemy units and buildings. If you build nothing other than 
grenadiers and falconets you can make your enemy's life complete and utter 
hell. Heavy cannon are great too, since they can fire outwith a tower or 
fort's range; but they are harder to come by than falconets.

Units are repaired by using a priest to heal them - this includes artillery. 
The only units not repaired by priests are ships, which can be repaired by 
sending them to a nearby dock and keeping them still while their health bar 
climbs.

Some ships have the capacity to build units and store them on board. This 
saves you from having to ferry units back and forth across the seas, and also 
protects any new units from being ejected into danger on land.

I suggest that you enable two things through the Options menu: Advanced 
Formations and Enable Easy Drag Military. Advanced Formations will allow you 
to form your grouped units into certain stances, depending on what type of 
combat they're engaging in - it's much better than just charging in. And Easy 
Drag will let you just select combat units and heroes when you bandbox select 
a large group at once.

HEROES
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Your heroes can't die but they can be disabled if they lose nearly all their 
health. Until you approach an unconscious hero with another friendly unit, he 
or she will remain lying on the ground, incapable of doing anything. You can 
save a lot of units by sending your heroes in first as decoys: while the enemy 
units are all battering at your indestructible heroes the rest of your army 
can wipe them out without suffering any casualties.

Heroes also have unique attacks and other abilities, which can very often 
swing battles in your favour if used properly. This is especially true in the 
RPG-ish missions, where you're trying to get a few units from one end of a 
perilous map to the other.

HOME CITY
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You can choose cards from five different areas of your Home City by clicking 
between the five tabs on the upper left of the lower window. I played the game 
all the way through without realising this, and the only cards I picked were 
the ones on whichever tab was open at the time.

The more experience you pick up during the levels, the faster your Home City 
will advance and the more cards you will be able to choose from. Try to 
complete as many secondary objectives as you can; also explore as much of the 
maps as possible, and pick up the treasure items. Killing off more than just 
the required enemy buildings and units is another good way to get your points 
up. It all helps.

The game makes a big deal about picking the cards to suit your own playing 
style and civilization, but this is bollocks. A lot of the cards pick 
themselves. It should be obvious that a card which gives you two falconets is 
better than a card which increases the speed at which villagers gather food 
from hunting. Since every building and upgrade in the game exists to provide 
you with units with which to defeat your enemy, always go with the free units 
cards first. The Fort and Factory cards are extremely valuable too.

IMPERIAL AGE
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Advancing to the Imperial Age is just a luxury in this game. Instead of 
allowing access to better units it just allows access to more upgrades - 
hitpoints increases, better armour, etc. There is no mission in the game 
where the Imperial Age is necessary, and if you do it you'll just spend more 
time clicking on needless upgrades. It could have been so much better, but as 
it is it's just an expensive waste of time. Especially when you finally do 
beat the computer and realise that you could have killed off their base with 
one mortar and ten dragoons.
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______________________________V1.1 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

Derrick Herman  

"whether its in multi-player or just against the stupid comps using capital 
building in the imperial age pays BIG TIME as it gives you the blockade 
upgrade that cuts-off all enemies from recieving shipments from thier home 
cities. the spy ability they also provide pays even more as it lets you see 
everything they see which helps to pick major gaps to pretty much stick a 5 
foot thorn in thier side as it'll eliminate thier ability to launch suprise 
attacks and show you every one of thier gaps. This also gives you the ability 
to cut down thier supplies and send them packing by showing you all of their 
supply zones, gather points, whatever you want to call it." 

"For any map where water is a must the imperial age can help as it gives you 
upgrades for your ships but can be costly to just go for upgrades, like you 
said, but i think it pays from the capitol building."

---

Yep, all of the above is appreciated, and in multiplayer it will surely come 
in handy. But, as I said, when playing against the computer, especially in the 
campaign, nothing in the Imperial Age is necessary. 

Cutting off Home City supplies to your enemy is surely useful, but you'll 
expend a lot of resources to do it, and are they really so powerful with 
shipments that this will be the difference between beating them and getting 
beaten? 

The spying thing is pretty worthless if you've played a campaign map before, 
since you know where all the buildings are, and you also know what units the 
computer will be sending against you and the precise areas they will be 
attacking at. The computer doesn't know the meaning of surprise attacks - 
every one of them can be predicted, or this wouldn't be much of a guide :P

In the few campaign maps where water plays a big part the Imperial Age is 
either still totally unnecessary or unavailable anyway. Water isn't a big 
feature of the single player campaign, and if you really need to get to the 
Imperial Age to win the maps where it does play a part, you're surely doing 
something wrong.

The Imperial Age has its good points, of course, but it's still a total 
luxury. I can see myself using it in multiplayer, since my opponents certainly 
will; but in the campaign... nope. It's too expensive and it's complete 
overkill. You just don't need it.
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______________________________V1.1 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
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______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

Guy Becker 

"You write that the "Imperial Age is just a luxury."
 
You make an excellent point by saying that all units can be created before the 
Imperial Age.
 
However, it has been my experience that every possible "upgrade" for any and 
all units is highly valuable. Units can add a significant portion of health 
and damage by research, which means less resources to build them later. Please 
also consider that while they die less often because they're stronger, it 
means that more of them stay alive to do more damage in a smaller amount of 
time. This means that even more of them are saved because they have less time 
to die. I hope this makes sense.
 
I'd like to add that a strong military should always be funded by a strong 
economy.
 
I thought very highly of the creators for decreasing research time, and I 
think that particular gain is put to good use.
 
I couldn't go without "Spies": the ability to see the enemy's movements before 
they gain momentum. I've lost many a colony from "suprise attacks". Knowledge, 
in this sense, is power. Another writer makes an excellent point that noting 
vulnerabilities is especially useful. You also make the excellent point that 
uncovering the map provides experience; this goes a long way in that regard.
 
You also note that Shipments are very useful. It is an excellent advantage to 
take from the enemy."

---

People seem to forget that this guide is for the single player campaign. The 
Imperial Age may be very useful in multiplayer, but it is definitely NOT 
NEEDED offline. I'm not saying it's no good, I'm saying it's just not needed. 
It's a waste of time against a computer enemy who is dumb as a tree at the 
best of times. In a game where two falconets and a bunch of dragoons can own 
an entire enemy base, spending all that money and time on an upgrade like the 
Imperial Age is laughable. To conclude: online, yes; offline, no.

Now, please, no more emails about how wonderful the Imperial Age is...
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______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
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______________________________V1.6 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

jeroen jonkhoff 

"sometimes i like to play a skrirmish game and doing well, but after some 
hanging in ages to lvl 3 or 4 i am stuck, i cant change/upgrade my age. what's 
is there a problem? or what am i doing wrong?"

---

Again, this is a multiplayer / skirmish question, not a campaign question, but 
because so many people seem to come out with this same problem I might as well 
answer it once and for all.

You have to set the maximum Age attainable in each skirmish game, so if you 
haven't bumped it up to Imperial you won't be allowed to go there, as it 
defaults (I think) to Industrial. So there.
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______________________________V1.6 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
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______________________________V1.6 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

thomas doyon 

"I have Age of Empires 3, all all the expansion.I was messing around with the 
editor. But I could not figure out how to play on that mape at which I have 
created. Could you please help me, and give me step by step instruction on how 
to play the map."

---

Nope. It's a campaign guide, I never go near the editor.
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______________________________V1.6 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

ENEMIES (COMPUTER)
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Mostly, your computer enemies suck. And the thing that they suck is arse. 
Their strategy is that classically stupid standard of all RTS games: build 
units and send them at the nearest hostile building. If you can get some 
towers and falconets in place quickly enough, and a fort or two if possible, 
you need never worry about defense for the remainder of the level.

Since the enemy sends out bunches of units and then takes time to build 
another bunch before attacking again, the optimum time for you to attack their 
base is when they have no military units of their own. This means that you 
should counter-attack as soon as your own defenses have killed off the latest 
of the enemy's attacks. The enemy base will be badly protected and unguarded, 
and your army will meet much less resistance on the way in.

Another thing about your enemies is that their bases are generally crap. A 
mass of red dots on the minimap might look intimidating, but mostly what 
you're seeing there is buildings, not troops and fortifications. There will 
usually be three or four towers scattered around, and a fort if you're really 
unlucky. Once the towers and town centre are gone no enemy base can stand up 
to an attack from a decent-sized army. Don't be intimidated by enemy bases - 
they're nowhere near as tough as you think.

The computer only targets your walls if there is no way through or past them. 
This means that you can use walls to channel your enemies into areas where you 
can focus a concentrated attack on them. Instead of building seven towers 
ranged along an outer wall, build four towers in one spot and build walls 
around every other part of your base. You will then always know where your 
enemies are going to be, and a couple of falconets behind your towers gives 
you total safety.

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                              1.2 USING THIS GUIDE
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Please view this guide in a text viewer / editor with a set fixed-width 
font, or else it might look a mess. I use Courier New, Size 10.

Use the Find command (CTRL + F) with the numbered contents menu at the start 
of the guide, in order to quickly jump to the section you want.

I have put the main walkthrough section of the guide towards the end, after 
all the other game information. This is not a design flaw - it's deliberate.

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                                 1.3 CONTACT ME
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I always appreciate feedback for any of my guides, so if you want to send 
strategies, thanks, blame, criticism or applause feel free to mail me your 
comments. I consider all suggestions (and playtest them if possible) and I 
often revise and rewrite based purely on reader contributions. All feedback is 
welcome, unless it's to tell me I suck.

              =================================================
              PLEASE, CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING BEFORE MAILING ME:
              =================================================

- Check whether your suggestions or questions are already covered in the 
guide.

- Check whether there is a more recent version of the guide available - I 
revise and update a lot after a first release.

- To email me, please, send your message to '[email protected]' and put 
'AOE 3 guide' and the guide version number in the subject line.

- I don't edit contributor emails (unless they're obscene), so, please, make 
sure you won't mind seeing what you've written appearing in a future version 
of the guide, spelling mistakes and all.

- Let me know in your mail whether or not you want your name and email address 
to be included with your contribution - if you don't specify then I'll assume 
you want it included.

- Send text emails only, please. No attachments (unless they are specifically 
related to the game), no endless sigs and no putting me on your list of spam 
forwards. If your email is not about the game you get ignored and then you get 
blocked.

- I want to stress that, even if I don't reply to your email, I will 
definitely read it and decide whether to put it in the next version of the 
guide. Hotmail is unfortunately a lump of toss which makes it very hard to 
tell whether or not you have already replied to an email. On the bright side, 
I will deal with every question I have an answer to, so if you don't get a 
reply via email you still may see the question answered in the next version of 
the guide anyway. Please, be patient with me, I get far too many emails about 
these bloody FAQs...

- Finally, please, don't try to get me on MSN Messenger, as I am really sick 
to the back arse of people spamming me and failing to get even the largest 
hints to leave me the hell alone. If you have MSN Messenger then you have 
email and there should be no problem contacting me there, so if you have 
questions or comments then please send them via email only. Trying to use MSN 
even after reading this warning will only get you immediately blocked. I don't 
want to be a dick about this, I just hope you'll respect my wishes, thanks.

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                                 2. WALKTHROUGH
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This section will take you through each episode of the game's three Acts. I've 
included the experience points I had gained by the end of each level, and the 
cards I chose to put in the Home City. My choices are based on my playing 
style, but you'll get different experience and therefore will choose different 
cards. 

Sorry about the lack of storyline, but as I mentioned before I haven't a clue 
what's going on...

Good luck.

-------------------------------¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬-----------------------------
                                2.1 ACT I: BLOOD
-------------------------------¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬-----------------------------

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¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
 2.1.1 BREAKOUT
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

"In the late sixteenth century, the Knights of St. John defended their last 
stronghold on the Mediterranean island of Malta from an Ottoman invasion."

¬==¬

DEFEND THE FORT COMMAND POST

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

DEFEND THE FORT COMMAND POST

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

COLLECT ALL THE TREASURES ON THE MAP (300 XP)

¬==¬

Keep building units and attacking the enemies outside your gates; and the only 
real problems you'll come up against are the bombards.

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First of all, drag your men inside the walls and close the gate, and split 
them into two groups: one of crossbowmen (buy the upgrade from the barracks)
and the other of everyone else. You have tons of resources so just get all 
your barracks to pick the same rally point then just keep building mostly 
crossbowmen and a few pikemen. Don't be put off by the number of enemy units 
- your walls and gate are very tough, and you have the two fort towers to dole 
out a lot of damage.

You might want to upgrade that lone tower to the south, but it will always 
fall eventually anyway. I brought a peasant down from the north to build four 
more outpost towers inside the gates - this made things much easier.

Your peasants are fine where they are in the north, but you might want to put 
a few more on gold. You may also want to go for that sec. objective. Pick a 
peasant and target him / her on one of the marked treasures, then get a second 
peasant on the second treasure, etc. This objective's effect is minimal, but 
do it for the sake of it.

Try to keep at least twenty crossbowmen and twenty pikemen, at least until the 
first bombard arrives, and keep replacing any lost units (don't bother with 
the rodeleros). When the cavalry start coming at you, follow the game's advice 
and send your pikemen out to kill them. Then pull them back inside and use 
your crossbowmen until more cavalry appear.

When the bombard comes you have a new problem and a new objective.

¬==¬
PO: USE SETTLERS TO GATHER THE WOOD ON THE HILL TO LIGHT THE SIGNAL FIRE
¬==¬
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.3 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

john SMITH 

"when the large cannon appears i send my pikemen out to sort ..they destroy it 
but i dont get any new message about new objective as in light the fire.....im  
repelling the attacks to the point where ive exhausted my resources its then i 
get a small window appear from morgan saying light the fire but this is well 
after ive destroyed the cannon...by then resources are that low i cant repell 
attacks and all ends.....any advice pls... "

---

The objective doesn't necessarily appear right after the cannon falls, so it's 
just a case of holding out until you get the objective message. It's timed 
from the start of the level, I believe, which means it's independent of the 
cannon's appearance.

If you're losing too many units then you're not controlling them right. 
Concentrate on repairing your fortifications every chance you get, and 
building more and more crossbowmen - pikemen are only there to take care of 
the cannons when they infrequently appear. Your peasants should be bringing in 
mostly resources which help you build crossbowmen, so if you end up with far 
too much of a resource you're not using you might as well get those peasants 
working on something else.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.3 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

Carmine Arpaia 

"Hi...I read your faq on AOE III and have what I'm sure you'll regard as 
really dumb questions, but ...here goes...

1. In Breakout...I destroy the first great bombard cannon, but after well over 
an hour I never see any other cannons, and game just keeps on going and going, 
til I run out of resources (and i get bored to tears) Obviously I never get 
the message to light the signal fire...can you help?
 
also..at the barracks, in Breakout, I cant upgrade my crossbowman and 
pikeman.... program glitch? or am I just too stupid to live?"

---

Having replayed this mission to check this, I've found that the second PO 
sometimes appears before the cannon does, which is a bit odd. This mission 
seems to be buggy and that's all there is to it. Restart and try again.

As for the upgrades, they are underneath the unit selection buttons. I don't 
know why you can't see them, but bear in mind that if you choose the pikeman 
upgrade (for example) from one of the barracks that upgrade option will 
disappear from the other three barracks, since the game knows it's already 
being built.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

Grab a huge handful of your peasants - the more the better - and send them to 
the north west, where they can start gathering the piles of wood (just right-
click them on the woodpiles in the revealed area). Once it's all gone they'll 
light the fire, and you'll have to wait a tense thirty seconds or so before 
Alain's cavalry appear in the north and head to the fort.

Do not let that first bombard cannon destroy your gate - run out and batter at 
it as soon as you see it approaching.

¬==¬
PO: DESTROY ALL THE GREAT BOMBARDS
¬==¬

More will appear soon after you take out the first one, but Alain and his 
imperial hussars will have made it to your base and will be waiting at the 
north wall. Send them charging out heroically to smash the cannons fast, and 
with the demise of the last of them you are victorious.

.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.

HOME CITY LEVEL: 2
XP: 7400

CARDS
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N/A

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¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
 2.1.2 INTO THE CAVES
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

"As Sahin is driven from Malta, Morgan and his men regroup and prepare to push 
the surviving Ottomans from their camps."

¬==¬

FIND THE OTTOMAN BASE AND DESTROY THEIR WEAPONS CACHES

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

DEFEND THE BASE FROM THE OTTOMAN ATTACK

¬==¬

An early assault can make this level yours in record time - just keep your 
bombard cannon healthy and the reinforcements coming from the barracks.

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Eliminate the Ottomans (Ottomen?) using your bombard and the towers. Try to 
stick close to the field hospital for healing. With the Ottomans gone you'll 
get some proper objectives.

¬==¬
PO: DESTROY ALL THE OTTOMAN WEAPONS CACHES

SO: BUILD AN ARTILLERY FOUNDRY AND TRAIN AT LEAST 10 HOOP THROWERS (500 XP)
¬==¬

There are eight caches, most of which are in the north east caves. But before 
you do that you'll want to build your first ever real base, and also claim 
that treasure you can see north of your base. Send some combat units up there 
and kill off the two wolves to get another objective.

¬==¬
SO: CLAIM THE NEARBY TREASURE (300 XP)
¬==¬

Get Morgan to claim it to get the points.

Speaking of which, you begin with ten peasants, but you'll want to train more 
to hurry things along. I went with ten for food, ten for wood and ten for 
coin, and used any random peasant to build the few buildings I needed, bearing 
in mind that I had two barracks already.

Now for an early attack which will win you the level with ease. Send your 
bombard east, accompanied by all your surviving military units and your 
priest, and build some more crossbowmen and pikemen from the two barracks 
while your peasants are starting to bring in the resources.

You might meet a tiny squadron of reds on the way east, so wipe them out and 
keep going until you find the arsenal. Use the bombard to destroy it while 
your other units protect the cannon. Beyond the arsenal you should find a town 
centre and barracks, plus a prison to the north. Destroy the prison to free 
the pikemen, and get them to help you clear away the red units beside the two 
buildings.

When you attack the town centre your enemies will ring the town bell, so make 
sure your bombard is not within range of the town centre's fire. With those 
two buildings gone the Ottomans are crippled, so head east and south to get 
rid of the remaining buildings, as well as to pick up more prisoners and 
another treasure item.

You should have been building more crossbowmen and pikemen, so send them over 
to join your army and take everyone north. You will find a couple of towers, 
another barracks (probably), mills farther north past the cave mouth, and that 
northern weapons cache beside a third prison. There's nothing tough up here, 
though there will probably be a few more Ottoman military units. By now your 
army should be pretty large, and the Ottomans have no town centre and little 
else outside the caves. Destroy the first weapons cache, park everyone outside 
the cave mouth, and get Morgan to run around picking up any remaining treasure 
items.

For that mystery secondary objective, build a caravel and stick Morgan and a 
peasant on it. Send the boat east until you find the tiny island and the 
objective.

¬==¬
SO: FIND A SHIPWRECK AND GATHER ANY SUPPLIES NEAR IT (300 XP)
¬==¬

Kill off the guardians with Morgan and your caravel (use Morgan's special 
attack), and don't forget to pick up the lovely Boots of El Pollo Guapo, which 
increase their user's movement speed by 25%. I gave them to Morgan as the 
slower of the two heroes.

Now head back to the cave entrance and go inside. There's nothing dangerous in 
here, so advance your vast army north to find the next two caches, east for 
another two, then south east for the last three. The last three caches are 
guarded by a second red town centre and a big bunch of stationary units, but 
your bombard and legions can make short work of them.

Try not to destroy the caches yet - there's a mosque farther south which can 
be destroyed for 500 XP, and some red ships guarding their dock. I wiped them 
out with mortars and my bombard. You could have sneaked some peasants in here 
earlier to pick up all those supplies, but it's not really necessary.

Killing off the last three caches opens a new route through the caves and 
hands you victory.

.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.

HOME CITY LEVEL: 4
XP: 20246

CARDS
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N/A

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¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
 2.1.3 PIRATES!
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

"Seeking to beat the Ottomans to the mysterious Lake of the Moon, Morgan sails 
for the New World... but is forced to make an unexpected stop."

¬==¬

SAIL TO THE NEW WORLD

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

BUILD A TOWN CENTER

¬==¬

Unlike in the previous mission, this one is easier if you take your time. You 
can use towers and free ships to erase the pirates' navy and docks; then it's 
just a case of building up a land army bigger than theirs.

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Move your wagon up to between the tapirs and the silver and build your town 
centre south of the trees, away from the beaches. Make sure the St. Elmo 
flagship doesn't get attacked and sunk while you're busy.

¬==¬
PO: BUILD A BARRACKS AND A DOCK
¬==¬

Do this while your combat units erase all the enemies from this island, 
including the jaguars in the west. A peasant can then go in to retrieve a tame 
jaguar called Janey, as you do. There are also crates to collect on the beach, 
and a red house to destroy on the southern cliffs, behind which are more 
resources.

Start building your base up, and put your dock at the top of the east coast. 
Make damn sure you repair and keep Morgan's flagship while you're at it 
(select it and right-click on the dock). Build all seven towers at the extreme 
points along the coast - you definitely want one at the westernmost point, 
overlooking the little island; another one on the long beach at the west, 
where you should build another dock later; and another two on the curved 
prongs overlooking the little bay at the south of your island. Upgrade the 
towers fully when you can afford it.

¬==¬
PO: FIND AND COLLECT THREE NAVIGATION CHARTS
¬==¬

You get this objective once your barracks and dock are built, and you can see 
the marked area to the south east. Another nice bonus is the free ship you'll 
get from Malta, soon after you build your dock and barracks. This will keep 
happening occasionally, and some will drop free land units on the beach.

You will periodically come under attack from pirate ships from the west, but 
your towers can fend them off, and you'll keep getting those lovely free ships 
to build your navy up with. You don't need to build your own ships, and just 
let your towers bear the brunt of the pirates' attacks.

Send some ships down south east to scout out the area of the next objective. 
You can take out the buccaneers easily from the water, and around about now 
you should reach enough resources to be able to advance to the Fortress Age (I 
went with Admiral of the Ocean Sea for the caravel and wood).

Don't get ambitious and start exploring the seas with your three or four 
galleons - you'll get owned. Just advance your town slowly and surely, then 
stick all your combat units and a peasant on one of your caravels and go over 
and get the first navigation chart from the north of the two little islands. 
There are also two treasure items (make sure all guardians are dead), one of 
which will get you another objective.

¬==¬
SO: BUILD A SECOND TOWN CENTRE (200 XP)
¬==¬

Don't build your second town on this north island - instead send everyone over 
to the neighbouring island, clear the place out of Native Americans, outlaws 
and jaguars, and collect the three treasure items. Now stick everyone back on 
the caravel and send them back to your main island.

Hang around forever, upgrading everything you see and waiting until you've 
been handed six or seven free ships. Now send them north (your towers should 
have destroyed a lot of the pirates' fleet up here by now) and get them to 
kill the treasure guardians and peasants on that tiny island at the edge of 
the map. Next send them south to the tip of the big island, and get them to 
wipe out the two docks (one of them is round to the west). Park your ships 
here from now on, and they will prevent the pirates from building new docks.

You still need a standing army to assault the pirates' base with, so start 
building an army of over fifty strong. You'll want three or four mortars and a 
couple of priests, but fill your troops out mainly with hoop throwers, 
crossbowmen and lancers. Send them all down to the bottom of the pirates' 
island at once on caravels, and unload them on the beach.

Pick up the treasure to the west, and the second covered wagon, then build one 
or two unit production buildings. You don't need anything big here, and you 
can just use your army as it is, without bothering with a new town (check 
whether the extra ships you've been receiving have dropped off any new land 
units on the beach - I had some hoop throwers and a mortar). Launch a quick 
attack on the few pirates to the north east, and recover the second chart once 
they're dead.

With that mini-base cleared away you now have more space to build, so put up 
one of each building on your new island if you're not confident that you can 
kill off the pirates with the army you have; and build up a decent army to 
assault the remains of the pirates' base. There's not much in there, and you 
can let them empty their base at your new town by attacking their gate and 
outpost with mortars.

Once you see very few or no units in that revealed circle, run your army 
through the ruined gate and start hitting the buildings. Use mortars to wipe 
out the towers and barracks, then everything else can be erased with ease.

Once you've tied up everything else in the map, pick up the third and last 
navigation chart from the pirates' main island.

.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.

HOME CITY LEVEL: 5
XP: 38326

CARDS
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N/A

.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.

¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
 2.1.4 THE OTTOMAN FORT
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

"Morgan catches up with Sahin in the jungles of Central America - but are the 
Ottomans too powerful to defeat?"

¬==¬

FIND AND DESTROY THE OTTOMAN COMMAND POST AND TOWN CENTER

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

BUILD A TOWN CENTRE

¬==¬

This level has an obvious bottleneck, so defend that and take control of the 
three trading posts and you're laughing.

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Explore the surrounding area and discover the sites for trading posts, while 
you plant your town centre at the north end of the beach. The ship you arrived 
on is now almost useless, though it is possible to defeat the two red ships to 
the south with just that one ship. If you lose it's no big deal, and if you 
win you can then sink the ships anyway, since it's just taking up room in your 
population.

Once your centre is up you get a new objective.

¬==¬
PO: GO TO THE HOME CITY AND SEND A SHIPMENT
¬==¬

I went with the settlers and food. Once they arrive, another objective.

¬==¬
PO: FIND AND ALLY WITH AT LEAST TWO LOCAL NATIVES
¬==¬

Get Morgan to build a trading post in the village to the south, and in the 
other one to the west.

¬==¬
PO: FIND AND DESTROY THE OTTOMAN COMMAND POST AND TOWN CENTER
¬==¬

Research everything from the Caribbean and Mayan trading posts while you 
slowly build up your town (pick the Native American Lore card from the Home 
City before you buy these upgrades). Explore the area further and find the 
treasure items to the north and to the south east. Farther south east is a red 
dock and a new objective.

¬==¬
SO: DESTROY THE OTTOMAN FISHING DOCK (500 XP)
¬==¬

Do this now with your flagship - land units may come under attack. Speaking 
of ships, there are whales in the sea which your fishing boats can get gold 
from.

You will soon be able to advance to the Fortress Age - I went with Sergeant At 
Arms, as this is not really a naval sort of level. Keep exploring and you'll 
find that you're irresistibly led south, where there is another village and 
two more treasure items.

It's important to take and defend this third village trading post, as the 
Ottomans will certainly try to do so too. Train up a decent-sized army, and 
try to get a wagon from the Home City, so you can site a second town down 
there to stop the Ottomans from getting to it. Once your army gets rid of the 
main Ottoman army they won't have much left.

It's a good idea to time your relocation to coincide with the Ottomans' 
attempt to go for that southern silver mine, since the Ottomans will keep 
sending settlers out of their base from then on, allowing your ranged units 
and outposts to mop them up easily. Be very sure to buy the excellent upgrades 
from the Aztec trading post too.

To attack the Ottoman outpost you can either take out the two towers and the 
gate with mortars and then charge in, or you can go around to the west, past 
the southern tower, and work your way around past the treasure item to find a 
mosque tucked into the north corner of their base.

Whatever you do you should have no difficulty in getting rid of the Ottomans, 
especially if you've let them empty more and more peasants through their gates 
to try to get to that silver.

.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.

After you complete this mission you finally get to customise your Home City, 
as well as choose the cards which will become available in future missions. 

.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.

HOME CITY LEVEL: 6
XP: 50760

CARDS
¬¬¬¬¬

NEW WORLD TRADING COMPANY - 4 SETTLERS, CRATES OF 600 FOOD
THE KNIGHTS' GARRISON - 2 FALCONETS, 1 MORTAR
THE GRAND MAGISTERY - ROYAL DECREE TO CLAIM THE NEW WORLD

.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.

¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
 2.1.5 TEMPLES OF THE AZTEC
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

"With the Ottomans defeated in the New World, Morgan and his men head into the 
jungle, seeking the location of the Lake of the Moon from the Aztecs - only to 
encounter new enemies."

¬==¬

PROTECT THE AZTEC TEMPLES

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

BUILD A TRADING POST AT THE AZTEC VILLAGE

¬==¬

It's frustrating that you have to keep constantly swapping between defense and 
development here; but easier if you free the prisoners to build up your army. 
Make sure your units are divided into numbered groups and focus most of your 
defense on the two temples closest to each other, at the east of the village.

=¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬= =¬_¬=

Ignore the objectives for now: instead send your guys east to free the first 
lot of eagle warriors, who then show you the locations of all the other 
prisoners around the map.

¬==¬
SO: RESCUE MORE AZTEC PRISONERS (300 XP)
¬==¬

Build a trading post in the village, then head north west to the first lot, 
picking up the treasure and destroying the reds and the barracks while you're 
at it. This gives you more eagle warriors, and you can also research the 
upgrades from the trading post before building more Native warriors to add to 
your army. 

When the trading post is built you get a covered wagon, a caravel and some 
peasants. Don't open the wagon yet, but you can start collecting resources. 
Get started on the mine and trees to the east while your army continues north 
from that red barracks.

¬==¬
PO: BUILD A TOWN CENTER
¬==¬

You should find more treasure, then two Huaminca warriors in the northern 
alley, and another bunch of prisoners to the east. Don't go for the treasure 
up to the north - it's too close to the Spanish base. Head south, through the 
middle of the map, and east to get the prisoners beside the red house. South 
of here are more prisoners guarded by horsed units. Head south again, over the 
river, and west to find the last group of prisoners. Take out the goons first, 
then the tower, and with this last group of eagle warriors freed it's time to 
get on with the level.

Don't build it yet - instead max out the warriors from the trading post. Then 
move every combat unit you have up to the north east temple. Move the covered 
wagon down to the north of the little river crossing, then build a mill nearby 
with your seven peasants. Once your settlers are farming open your town centre 
up.

¬==¬
PO: AT LEAST ONE AZTEC TEMPLE MUST REMAIN STANDING
¬==¬

You should now have four or five shipments lined up, so start shipping in 
military units and resources, while you build peasants from the town centre.
The first major attack will immediately come from the north east, and you must 
fend it off with every unit you have, including destroying the fort wagon 
which will turn into a fort if you don't take it down first. This is why you 
should have everyone at the east of the north east temple - to block the 
cart's way. Then you get ANOTHER sodding objective.

¬==¬
SO: SAVE MORE THAN ONE TEMPLE
¬==¬

Keep an eye on the timer at the top of the screen while you work towards 
building and upgrading your army. Use your multiple Home City shipments to 
bring in as many peasants as you can (I had six shipments, which got me 
fourteen peasants), and build another ten or so to go with them. You need 
resources fast and constantly to replace units, build buildings and get into 
the Fortress Age.

The Aztec temples are tough, but the Aztecs themselves aren't great at moving 
to engage the enemy. The only units the Spanish will send that can really do 
the temples big damage are the falconets (and later one or two heavy cannons), 
and they only send these once in a while; but of more concern are the large 
numbers of Spanish horses and foot soldiers appearing from north east and 
north west. They will sometimes target your buildings and peasants, so if you 
see them approaching your town centre just ring the town bell until your army 
can get back to support. Use that caravel too - it can target enemies from the 
water and will often save your arse.

Build a barracks in the Aztec village and keep producing crossbowmen and 
rodeleros. Keep all combat units you have in the middle of the village, so 
that your army can respond quickly to the various red attacks (rodeleros are 
fast and they don't require wood, which is good because there's not much 
around).

Getting into the Fortress Age quickly is a good move too, because you can 
bring in the excellent falconets from your Home City.

Once the counter reaches 0:00 (hopefully you managed to save two of the 
temples), you get masses of reinforcements and a new objective.

¬==¬
PO: FIND AND DESTROY THE SPANISH TOWN CENTER
¬==¬

That really is a hell of a reinforcement you just got handed, so park all your 
units just east of the eastern temple, then work towards upgrading to the 
Fortress Age. There's not much point trying to build a huge army to assault 
the Spanish with - you've just been given one. Build a foundry and some 
mortars, and ship another one in from the Home City.

The Spanish base has two gates, and if you take either gate down the Aztecs 
will start running into the red base to attack on their own, which serves as a 
good decoy for you. The Spanish won't be going for the temples any more, which 
means that your ranged units can sit south of their eastern gate and mop up 
anything the Spanish send out. Buy upgrades, heal your units, and attack.

Get mortars to bash down the towers while you steamroll your massive army in 
and delete the town centre.

I've experienced a bug in this level, where I destroyed the town centre and 
completed every other objective, but the level wouldn't end because my own 
town centre was under attack when the Spanish one fell. Make sure you save 
before attacking the red base, unless you like starting again...

.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.

HOME CITY LEVEL: 6
XP: 63788

CARDS
¬¬¬¬¬

N/A

.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.

¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
 2.1.6 A PIRATE'S HELP
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

"Morgan heads for Florida, hoping to beat the Spanish to the Lake of the Moon, 
but a hurricane drives his ships off course, forcing him to land in Cuba."

¬==¬

IMPRESS LIZZIE TO GET A RIDE TO FLORIDA

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

GAIN 8000 EXPERIENCE BEFORE LIZZIE SAILS TO FLORIDA

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

STOP THE RAIDING NATIVE AMERICANS FROM ATTACKING THE SETTLERS OF HAVANA 
(300 XP)

¬==¬

Move quickly in this one, as there's a timer on it. You have to make sure you 
build up lots of cheap units fast, and replace any that die. If you do that 
you should have no trouble, especially when you get to the point where you can 
go for the easiest objectives.

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Take all your starting units and head west, in time to stop the blowgunners 
from killing too many of your future peasants. Kill the last of the Natives 
and you get your base and two objectives.

¬==¬
SO: REOPEN TRADE WITH THE REST OF CUBA BY BUILDING A SECOND TRADING POST
(800 XP)

SO: BUILD THE FIRST STABLE IN HAVANA (500 XP)
¬==¬

Since the idea is to gain experience you probably want to do these, and fast. 
But first you'll have to build a few more peasants (there are farmers at the 
mills, and miners and lumberjacks to the north), and build that stable for the 
experience (your points are gradually going down while you're not doing 
anything).

You could also take your combat units south to get that treasure item at the 
west edge of the map, though not before they've defended the base against the 
first lot of elite blowgunners heading their way.

Upgrade from the market you've been given, and start building an army while 
you protect your base. Don't underestimate the size of the guard force at the 
trading post, but don't hang around for too long either. You should be able to 
field an army of about thirty units and send them to clear the trading post 
out. Build a post there with Morgan as soon as possible, as it will start 
generating experience points for you. 

With this done you should have managed to get over 4000 XP, at which point you 
get a new objective from Lizzie.

¬==¬
SO: TAKE LIZZIE'S NATIVE AMERICAN FRIEND TO HIS FAMILY ON THE NEARBY ISLAND 
(1000 XP)
¬==¬

You can't build docks, so you'll need to find the gimp's canoe. It's over to 
the east of the trading post, but collect the two treasures nearby first. If 
you hug the south edge of the map as you head east to the beach you will also 
find some livestock and another objective.

¬==¬
SO: RETURN THE LOST HERD TO HAVANA'S LIVESTOCK PEN (750 XP)
¬==¬

Ignore them or send them back, and send your army east to find more Natives 
standing on the beach. They're tough if you've just fought the bunch around 
the trading post, so you might want to fill out your army again before you 
engage them. The Natives will keep dropping blowgunners off in canoes 
throughout this level, and it's just a matter of timing if you meet a big 
bunch here or not - if not then there's probably a load of them headed to your 
town centre, so be prepared to ring the bell. Anyway, once any reds around 
this beach are dead Lizzie's friend's canoe sails over and comes under your 
control. 

Send it south along the beach while you station your ranged units on the sand, 
ready to pick off any Natives' canoes chasing it. If there are none, bring 
Lizzie's boy to the canoe, or bring it to him, and send him east across the 
sea and into the village on the island.

Once he arrives you get another objective and some free units.

¬==¬
SO: RETRIEVE STOLEN ARTIFACT (1500 XP)
¬==¬

By this point I had over 7000 XP, so if you do too you might want to just 
return the livestock to your livestock pen and be done with this toss. If not, 
send those free combat units south and fight the Natives in their camp. There 
are a couple of falconets to the east, which will probably succeed in wiping 
out the last of this bunch of soldiers, so you might want to send some more 
over on the canoes to finish them off. Then just grab the gold from the 
artifact with Morgan.

If you can't be bothered with that, or you still don't have enough XP 
afterwards, or if you get owned, you could try the last objective for those 
points. Send your army west of the trading post this time, and find more 
Natives guarding some gold.

¬==¬
SO: FIND AND GATHER THE STOLEN GOLD (900 XP)
¬==¬

Nothing hard here - just delete the reds and send peasants in to grab the 
moolah. 

You really must have reached 8000 by now: if not you suck. Once you reach 8000 
you just have to send Morgan back to Lizzie to complete the mission.

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HOME CITY LEVEL: 7
XP: 78414

CARDS
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NEW WORLD TRADING COMPANY - CHESTS OF 300 COIN

.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.

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 2.1.7 SPANISH TREASURE FLEET
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"Morgan sails for Florida with the pirate Lizzie, hoping to catch up with the 
Spanish conquistador Delgado before he reaches the Lake of the Moon."

¬==¬

CAPTURE THE SPANISH TREASURE FLEET

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

CAPTURE THE SPANISH TREASURE SHIP

¬==¬

This mission is a stroll if you don't automatically build your base the second 
you hit land. Always be sneaky in computer games: that's my motto. It used to 
be "never trust a eunuch", but that was just the testicles talking.

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Immediately move your three ships north, away from the Spanish ships. Find the 
prison camp on the beach due north, smash down the walls of the camp with your 
ships' guns to release the prisoners, then pull your ships out of range of the 
tower while your new Incan Huamincas kill the wolves and destroy the tower.

¬==¬
PO: PLACE A TOWN CENTER TO ESTABLISH YOUR BASE
¬==¬

With this objective you also get your first treasure ship: you can't move it 
so just leave it alone while the gold filters in. The Spanish can't recapture 
it.

Anyway, offload the units onto the beach from your ships, and explore the area 
north and south. There are good open spaces in both directions at which to 
site your base, but the northern one is probably better, since it's farther 
away from the red base and the coast.

Forget about building a town centre for now: instead take all your units 
north, free the guy up the tree, and free the prisoners farther north, guarded 
by dogs. The prisoners show you the locations of the rest of the treasure 
ships.

Before you think about building a base, you'll want as many of the treasure 
ships as possible. You could start a base now and do it the very hard way, but 
I don't really fancy it. Good luck though.

Separate your troops into groups, with the mortar in its own group, and the 
wagon in its own too. Take them west to the nearest ship and get your mortar 
to destroy the outpost. Some Spanish might react, but you have plenty of 
soldiers to fend them off with. With the tower down you get control of the 
ship.

Take everyone farther west until you are due east of the fort. When you see it 
you get another objective.

¬==¬
SO: DESTROY ANY SPANISH FORTS (300 XP EACH)
¬==¬

Start hitting the fort with your mortar again. This time a lot of Spanish will 
come to attack you, but your falconet and soldiers should win easily, so long 
as you stay away from the fort. Eventually your mortar will destroy the fort 
and gain this third ship, at which point you can leave. When the fort falls 
you get another objective.

¬==¬
SO: KILL DELGADO (1000 XP)
¬==¬

Head north east again, back to where you rescued the second batch of 
prisoners. Now take everyone slowly west along the north edge of the map. You 
will run into another tower, and when your mortar attacks it some Spanish will 
come at you with a falconet. Target the falconet with your own and get rid of 
the soldiers. Head farther west, through the gap in the walls, until you meet 
another tower to the south and a barracks and prison to the north.

Open the prison first and kill its canine guards; then knock down the tower 
and barracks, still fending off more Spanish. You should still have plenty of 
soldiers, and your wagon should be kept at the rear of each battle, though 
still close to your other troops.

With these buildings gone you can head farther west to the next tower, which 
is guarding the fourth ship. Destroy it, claim the ship, move south west 
again. Take out the next tower and kill off any stray Spanish, and you should 
now have five ships, one hell of a lot of gold, and not even a snifter of a 
town in the area.

Though you haven't been told yet, the idea is to capture six ships to win the 
level - and to get five without placing a building is pretty good going, 
especially from a gold point of view. At this point it's up to you whether you 
want to start building a town away in the east, or if you want to try to get 
that sixth ship.

If you want to get the sixth ship and leave, here's how. Take your units all 
the way over to the east coast and put them on the ships. Now send your ships 
all the way around the south curve of the sea, and drop your land units off on 
the tiny island where the westernmost ship is, guarded by a tower. Your ships 
will be taking heavy fire, but if you can knock out the tower with your land 
units before everyone dies it won't matter. With that sixth ship captured you 
win the level.

If you want to build up a base and attack Delgado by land, just choose a 
likely spot with plenty of space (gold is not a problem), and make sure you 
have a few towers and falconets about for base defense.

¬==¬
PO: CAPTURE SIX TOTAL TREASURE SHIPS
¬==¬

I suggest building a large army, since the red base has a lot of units and 
buildings. I went with four mortars, four falconets, and loads of shipped 
units, crossbowmen and pikemen. Upgrade everything and fill out at least a 
population of 110 (including twenty or so peasants).

Instead of just charging into Delgado's base, destroy the second fort 
beforehand. It's in the south, surrounded by walls, but it's lightly guarded 
and your mortars can delete it easily if you keep everyone else around them 
for protection.

This area is a good place from which to attack the main base, so send everyone 
north west over the swamp and start hitting those buildings with the mortars. 
It's not hard, and the only difficulty comes in avoiding destroying any of the 
towers before you kill Delgado, since getting the sixth ship wins the level.

.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.

HOME CITY LEVEL: 8
XP: 93923

CARDS
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NEW WORLD TRADING COMPANY - CHESTS OF 600 COIN

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 2.1.8 THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH?
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

"Morgan, Lizzie and Sahin press on to the Lake of the Moon. Has Alain betrayed 
the Knights of St. John?"

¬==¬

DESTROY THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

DESTROY THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH

¬==¬

Yup, he has, and he has a pretty impressive base from which to do it. This 
level is shaped like a wreath wrapped around a lake, with the Fountain of 
Youth sitting in the middle. Once you get past the initial onslaught and get 
your base started, you will probably find it nice and easy.

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Don't move your fire ships: just send all your starting units up the hill to 
the east.

¬==¬
PO: KILL THE GUARDS NEAR THE FIXED GUN
¬==¬

The cannon will fire at your guys as you approach, doing big damage, so get up 
there fast and kill the guards. You then get control of the gun and your 
covered wagon arrives.

¬==¬
SO: DESTROY THE CIRCLE'S BASE TO THE EAST OF THE FIXED GUN
¬==¬

Plant your town centre west of the orange walls, against the edge of the map. 
Start shipping in military units (mortar and falconets if you have them) and 
building peasants to get resourcing. Build the usual numbers of peasants and 
get them to resource to the west, where it's safe.

Begin using your new gun to clear out the nearest of the orange buildings, and 
meanwhile get building one or two galleons from the dock. Make sure your gun 
gets the two orange towers within its reach, and move the rest of your army to 
just outside the gates until your gun has done most of the work on the 
westernmost buildings.

While your gun is hammering on the orange base you have to bring any ships you 
have to the little beach just south west of the gun - this is where all your 
ships (except one fire ship - the Spanish will sometimes attack your lonely 
dock, and it would be nice if you could immediately sink their ship with your 
fire ship) should stay from now on, in order to protect your cannon and defend 
that beach.

As your army proceeds to take down the orange base they will meet more 
Boneguards and some Circle goons. The Boneguards will stop coming when you're 
nearly done taking down the orange base, but the reds will keep coming 
periodically from the north. 

At around the same time as you're bringing down the orange buildings around 
the Boneguard's northern gate, the Circle will launch an attack from the west, 
dropping lamers off on transports and sending them to try to grab the cannon 
for themselves. If you've parked your ships where I told you to they should be 
able to catch most of the red units running to the cannon, and you will have 
pulled some of your land army back to the cannon when you got the warning 
anyway. Even if they do get the cannon briefly, you just have to kill the reds 
off to reclaim it.

Now take all your land units to the north end of the orange base and begin 
bringing down the walls and gates. Get peasants up there fast and start 
building unit production buildings and towers, since the reds will keep 
attacking along that north pass. If you can keep your army sitting there and 
soak up the first few red attacks while you build and develop your base and 
army, you will be set for the rest of the level. Get some priests in for 
healing, and get all the falconets you can from the Home City. Watch out for 
Circle war wagons and the solitary fort wagon - take them down straight away 
when you see them.

Your ships should be safe where they are, especially if you've built the 
maximum number of galleons. Don't bother building fire ships - you'll be 
getting them for free, and they're not that effective against the Fountain 
anyway. Just keep your ships stationary to protect the cannon, and build 
another dock on that little beach, so that you can quickly heal any damaged 
galleons. If any red ships approach the cannon and come too close for it to 
return fire, use your own ships to take them out.

Your gun will be busy sinking most of the red ships on its own (check its 
health and repair it if needed), and there is an extremely nice upgrade in the 
church which will let it reach the ships at the far dock, parked next to the 
Fountain. Researching Gas Lighting basically ends any hopes the Circular 
armada may have had.

By the way, the Circle won't attempt to retake the cannon until much later, so 
don't bother protecting the western approach to your base - your parked 
galleons can handle it.

For base defense I went with three outpost towers at the north approach 
(destroy the orange gates and walls, as they're hindering you, not your 
enemies), and just built and stationed my army behind the towers. This was 
plenty to fend off every attack the Circle threw at me, though I did have to 
keep healing occasionally. I also bunged two upgraded towers on the corner of 
land north of my starting dock - they did me big, big favours versus the red 
ships throughout the level.

Throughout the mission you will keep getting free fire ships: don't send them 
against the Fountain, send them against the red ships and the dock. Once you 
have six or seven upgraded galleons send them all the way along your own beach 
to the north east, exploring the area and killing off any enemy ships. As they 
work their way around the shore they will find some Circle buildings near the 
Fountain. Pull them away to the safety of the cannon, and try to bait the 
Circle's ships into following them. It's important to try to kill off as many 
of the ships around that dock as you can, in order to make your later land 
assault easier.

There's another thing: you can send some units (plus Morgan) on a transport 
ship over to that section of land to the west of your base. There are some 
treasure items here, as well as a trading post site.

¬==¬
SO: BUILD A TRADING POST AT THE NATIVE VILLAGE (300 XP)
¬==¬

I tend not to bother with this, as I don't like splitting up my land units and 
weakening my base defense. But if you do set up a trading post you can build 
the excellent elite sharktooths, who can do some damage to the nearby ships, 
towers and dock. There's the added bonus that the max of fifteen Natives don't 
count towards your pop. limit, so you might feel that the trading post is 
worth the effort.

Anyway, once your army is pretty much built, ship in a covered wagon from the 
Home City and send it north along the stretch of land, accompanied by your 
troops. Park everyone at the very top, beside the treasure hut, and start 
building a mini-town - you don't need much, just one or two towers and one of 
each unit production building. This will be the launching site for your 
assault on the Fountain.

Explore to the south and take out any red buildings with mortars (you'll have 
to get rid of the town centre before you can put down towers) while your 
army deals with the units the Circle sends out to get rid of you. This is 
really easy and is nothing you haven't done before. You should manage 
comfortably to erase everything outside the stone walls, and your mortars are 
now free to launch an attack from the north beach on the Fountain, with your 
galleons attacking from the south.

The Fountain will really start suffering with four mortars and seven galleons 
hitting it, and the Circle will send out a few puny units (don't bother trying 
to attack the Circle's base by the way - you will not survive). Stay away 
from the walls and let the mortars and galleons work, and pretty soon the 
Fountain will be almost dead.

At this point the Circle will launch a last attempt on the cannon, sending 
Alain himself and some horsed goons all the way around the coast, through your 
base and over to the cannon. If you're attacking the Fountain like I did this 
won't matter - it will be down long before Alain reaches the cannon. But if 
you've merely been picking away at it with fire ships and galleons, you will 
definitely want to recapture the cannon before it decimates your entire fleet 
and then starts on your base.

It's probably a good idea to send every horsed unit you have back to base to 
stand by the cannon as soon as your mortars start hitting the Fountain from 
east of the Circle's walls. Your ranged units and falconets can handle any red 
units coming through their gates, and your horses can intercept and cut Alain 
and his mob down before they get at the precious cannon.

Once the Fountain is finally gone you win the mission and the first Act of the 
game.

=+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+

--------------------------------¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬-----------------------------
                                 2.2 ACT II: ICE
--------------------------------¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬-----------------------------

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 2.2.1 DEFEND THE COLONY
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"By the middle of the eighteenth century, many thriving colonies had been 
founded in the New World. But European conflicts would soon explode in the 
Americas..."

¬==¬

DEFEND YOUR COLONY AT ALL COSTS

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

DEFEND THE TOWN CENTER FOR 15 MINUTES

¬==¬

This is a typical siege level, with lots of crap happening all at once. It's 
not an easy mission but you can actually do it without training any new units.

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Let your troops delete the first assault, then take them outside the walls. 
Upgrade your towers right away, and start building peasants to chop lumber to 
the north. Send your army west in preparation for your next objective.

¬==¬
SO: STOP THE CHEROKEE ATTACKERS FROM DESTROYING THE VILLAGE TO THE SOUTHWEST
(500 XP)
¬==¬

If you get the great cannon over in time you can stop them with ease, at which 
point you get a load more peasants whom you can use to mine with. Start 
upgrading at the market, and build a barracks, stable and foundry just inside 
the circle of towers. Produce nothing but crossbowmen and falconets from now 
on; though you should probably have a priest or two for healing.

¬==¬
SO: ESCORT THE REFUGEES BACK TO THE COLONY (300 XP EACH)
¬==¬

You'll get this objective the first time a bunch of whimpering colonists 
appears from a random spot in the south and begins high-tailing it to your 
base. Run out and help them if you want, though they often make it on their 
own, at which point they become militia for you to add to your army. It's 300 
XP per group of colonists - not per colonist - so if even one gets back safely 
you get the points.

From now until the timer runs down it's just a case of building tons of foot 
soldiers and five or six falconets. Keep your towers in repair and keep 
everyone together, lingering near the towers. When you spot the Cherokee 
cannons take them down quickly with your own siege weapons, as they can do big 
damage to your army.

You should be able to last fifteen minutes easily, as long as you don't get 
sucked around the map looking for treasures or 'helping' refugees. Don't try 
to go south to take out the Cherokee bases - they have tons of units, and 
you're not missing any wonderful treasures anyway.

When the timer runs out a bunch of jaeger appear and you win.

.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.

HOME CITY LEVEL: 10
XP: 120406

CARDS
¬¬¬¬¬

FANEUIL HALL - 4 SETTLERS, CRATES OF 600 FOOD
MILITARY ACADEMY - 2 FALCONETS, 2 MORTARS
CATHEDRAL - ADVANCED ARSENAL, FORT, ROYAL DECREE TO CLAIM THE NEW WORLD
HARBOR - HIRE GERMAN BLACK RIDERS, HIRE HOLY ROMAN ARMY

.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.

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 2.2.2 STRANGE ALLIANCES
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

"With the Cherokee driven off, John and Kanyenke assemble their men in the 
colony and prepare to counter-attack."

¬==¬

DEFEAT THE CHEROKEE WAR PARTIES AND NEGOTIATE PEACE

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

DESTROY THE CHEROKEE WAR HUTS

¬==¬

This is as simple as this game gets, which isn't to say it's easy. You're just 
building an army and moving them forward, while making sure your own base 
stays standing. The longer the level goes on the easier it gets, since the 
British take a multiplicity of yonks to increase the size and frequency of 
their attacks.

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Take everyone you have west in one big group. Pick up the treasure item, the 
Shield of El Pollo Guapo, which increases a hero's hitpoints by 30%. I gave 
it to John, since he has more hitpoints and so will get more of a bonus. 
Work your way around the perimeter of the map, picking up all the other 
treasures; then head into the middle and wipe out the red units, all not very 
many at all of them.

When you attack the huts they will spit out a few units, but nothing tough. 
Get rid of the huts first, then the units (use your heroes as bait). When both 
huts are gone you get a new objective.

¬==¬
PO: BRING JOHN AND KANYENKE TO THE MAIN CHEROKEE VILLAGE TO NEGOTIATE A PEACE
¬==¬

If you don't smell an ambush here then you've never played a computer game 
before. Unfortunately the British jump in and grab Stuart and some settlers 
while you're busy, and once you kill the four British in the huts you get two 
new objectives.

¬==¬
PO: ESTABLISH A NEW COLONY AND DEFEAT THE BRITISH

SO: RESCUE ALL SETTLERS CAPTURED BY THE BRITISH (500 XP)
¬==¬

Take your wagon all the way to the south, where you found that weird cow. The 
British are establishing their own base, and will soon be sending masses of 
land units your way, whether you're ready or not. Build your town as far away 
as you can get, just to give yourself a bit more room - don't bother building 
near your free mill and houses.

This is where this level subsides into the realms of suckage, since all you're 
doing is trying to build enough units to be able to cope with the enemy's 
army. There's not much strategy here - just concentrate on building and 
shipping in units fast, rather than buying upgrades and building one of every  
building. Get chopping lots of lumber too, so that you can build the maximum 
number of towers around the north edge of your base; and if you can bring in a 
fort wagon from the Home City that would greatly help.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

J.N.Phadke 

"Hi
This is Manas from India.
In the 2nd act in the scenario Strange Alliances I had this experience.
After destroying the huts I quickly built my town center near the farm, built 
the barracks, arsenal & got all the resource upgrades from the market.
I then got to the colonial age asap.
In the meantime I shipped 3 falconets from the home city & built around 6-7 
musketeers.
I got the upgrade for the musketeers & skirmishers from the arsenal. 
Then I attacked the British base with my original units plus 3 falconets & the 
musketeers.
I got lucky since the British also attacked my base at the same time & their 
castle was still being built.
I destroyed the castle & then moved onto the base destroying the farms & 
villagers & the towers.
The British troops were busy attacking my base so it was easy at their base 
with the 3 falconets.
The troops did return but I could easily get rid of them.
After the houses were destroyed it was just a matter of time.
The British have a huge no of villagers so it was important taking them out.
Do try my strategy out & let me know what u thought of it.
Let me know if it worked or if I just got lucky."

---

It was a little too specific for me to playtest, but it sounds to me like you 
got lucky with the timing. It's worth remembering but I doubt you'll be that 
fortunate every time.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

You really need to move fast here, because the British will launch a big 
attack on you when you think you're fine, then they'll launch another big one 
very soon afterwards. I relocated to the south and left my market and houses 
to get destroyed, since this would give me adequate warning of the first 
British attack. Sometimes they'll get taken out, sometimes they won't.

Have at least ten lumberjacks, ten farmers and ten plantation workers, since 
you need resources fast here. Develop and upgrade steadily, but don't waste 
your money on upgrades you won't use. Work towards reaching the Industrial 
Age, as you're not taking the British base down without the brilliant mortars 
or howitzers. As long as you keep enough units in and around your base to 
protect them from the large double attacks from the British, you should easily 
be able to heal and fill out your army, progressing towards launching your own 
assault.

There's not much else to say here - just build a big, upgraded army and 
attack. Go with mainly ranged units, but send any special units you got from 
the Home City along too. 

The fort at the front of their base won't give you problems if you hit it with 
mortars and / or field guns, and there's a few towers scattered around; but my 
mortars had no difficulty erasing all the defense buildings while the rest of 
my units protected them. Wait until the British have launched their latest 
attack, then quickly send your own army in once the danger has been dealt 
with. This is when the British are at their weakest, having just thrown 
virtually every combat unit they have at you. 

Try to hit them before they reach the Industrial Age, or at least attack as 
soon as you get the message that they've reached it. You should have easily 
reached it before them.

The secondary objective is easy enough - just kill the guardians of the five 
sites dotted outside the red base and free the pairs of settlers -  but I 
completed it just before I killed off the last of the peasants, which is what 
you'll have to do to finish this level off once and for all.

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HOME CITY LEVEL: 11
XP: 139418

CARDS
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MANUFACTURING PLANT - STONEMASONS

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¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
 2.2.3 THE RESCUE
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

"Stuart has been kidnapped, and John suspects his family's old enemies, the 
Circle of Ossus. The mercenaries head north, fearing Kanyenke's sister 
Nonahkee may be in danger."

¬==¬

DESTROY ALL THE BRITISH BUILDINGS TO UNITE KANYENKE AND NONAHKEE

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

TRAIN AN ARMY AND ATTACK THE BRITISH FROM THE SOUTH SIDE

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

ALLY WITH ANY OTHER IROQUOIS IN THE AREA (200 XP)

¬==¬

This one can be tricky, but if you keep bringing in the resources and postpone 
putting together your southern army you can quickly swing it in your favour. 
Just make sure the southern base doesn't stop advancing while you're dealing 
with Nonahkee's problems.

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Your first aim here is to build as many units from the northern trading post 
as you can, because if Nonahkee's base gets destroyed the level is over. You 
also have to keep the trading post intact, and it would be a good idea to save 
the lone tower too.

Immediately dump your town centre and get your starting peasants to build and 
work on a mill. Start producing lumberjacks and miners with the food they 
bring in, and fill in your northern squad with the maximum units when you can 
afford to.

The British will regularly send out squadrons of foot soldiers to attack 
Nonahkee. The first lots will be longbowmen and pikemen, but later they send 
grenadiers and musketeers which are much more dangerous. Spend any spare 
resources you have on your northern units, and make sure your peasants bring 
in the Home City shipments as soon as they arrive to help out. You're 
basically juggling the steady development of your southern base (with the 
priority being to advance through the ages) and fending off the attacks on the 
northern one - the bigger and better your southern base is, the more 
improvements and units you can build in the north.

Have at least ten peasants on each of the three resources, and don't even 
bother building a single military unit in the south until you know your 
northern bunch can handle the British assaults. Your southern base won't come 
under attack at all if you don't provoke the British, so keep advancing and 
producing resources to help the northern base. You'll have to mine the silver 
until you reach the Industrial Age, at which point you can build one or two 
plantations.

When defending the northern base there are a few things which you should take 
care of:

Always make sure you have the maximum number of units from the trading post. 
This threshold starts off low, but if you build trading posts at the other two 
sites - north west and north east of your southern base - you can get a lot 
more units in the north. Do this as soon as you have the wood - it makes a 
huge difference, and also ticks that secondary objective.

In the north, keep everyone around the tower in one big group, and manually 
negotiate each battle. I didn't bother with the healers but maxed out 
everything else, and kept Nonahkee healing her companions by herself. Let the 
British approach the tower, then pull everyone out from behind it and hit them 
one by one. Don't let the British all attack the tower and ignore your units, 
since they can bring it down and then you're down one great defensive 
building. Make sure they target your units first, but stay within the tower's 
range.

Once your units are sorted in the north, make sure you research Iroquois 
Morning Wars and Iroquois Lacrosse when you can afford them from the trading 
post. In the Fortress Age you get Iroquois Warrior Societies, which is pretty 
damn useful too. By the time you get to the Industrial Age you should have 
thirty-seven units up there, including Nonahkee, and you can basically stick 
them in Defend mode by the tower.

Heal and replace units when each battle is over, and keep an eye out for the 
next bunch of reds. And make sure you repair those two crucial buildings 
(upgrade the tower when the options become available).

Anyway, when you're sure that Nonahkee is safe, start building up an army in 
the south. You really don't need much, though I suggest you hit the Industrial 
Age before attacking. I went with three mortars and a mixture of about thirty 
other upgraded units, which was more than enough. Once you get to the stage of 
building mortars it's game over for the British, and if you're cheeky enough 
to use the Fort card to build a fort just south of the red gates, it makes it 
even worse for them.

Hit the gates and towers with your mortars and the British will empty their 
base at you and begin prioritising your southern base. Nonahkee is now pretty 
much safe, so send her army south to meet up with your main army. When the two 
meet in or near the British base you should get a new objective (though 
sometimes it doesn't appear).

¬==¬
PO: DESTROY ALL THE BRITISH BUILDINGS TO UNITE KANYENKE AND NONAHKEE
¬==¬

You know what to do, and it's pretty easy now that the entire map is revealed.

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HOME CITY LEVEL: 12
XP: 155322

CARDS
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CATHEDRAL - ADVANCED DOCK

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 2.2.4 THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

"War! The Seven Years' War has begun, and the British and the French are at 
each other's throats - but John is focused on finding the British governor 
Warwick, whom he believes kidnapped his uncle Stuart."

¬==¬

HELP THE FRENCH DEFEAT THE BRITISH

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

HELP DESTROY THE BRITISH ON YOUR SIDE OF THE RIVER

¬==¬

At first you'll think your allies should make this one a stroll, but no. They 
stink. Units and towers are the way to go to make sure that your - or your 
allies' - base doesn't fall early; and for attack it's just a mass brawl with 
howitzers doing the damage. Hoard that lumber though.

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Help get rid of all the red units with your own starting army, making the 
falconets a priority. With this done you get some coureurs (peasants), a base 
and two new objectives.

¬==¬
PO: FIND AND DESTROY THE BRITISH FORT COMMAND BUILDING

SO: FIND AND CONTROL THE ONLY TRADE ROUTE (300 XP)
¬==¬

Same as usual - start building and developing. The British will periodically 
be sending units over that southern crossing, but don't just let your allies 
deal with them. Pitch in when you can and take your fair share, since you 
don't want your allies' town destroyed just because you couldn't be bothered 
getting off your arse.

You have quite a few buildings and you're already in the Fortress Age. I 
suggest getting into the Industrial Age as soon as you can, because there's 
not much in the way of mining around here, and you need a plantation.

Another thing you need is units, and lots of them. The British attacks seem to 
almost always come across the southern part of the river, and they always have 
lots of units. I got towers up at that crossing sharpish, because I couldn't 
get units together fast enough to fend off the British on their own: I also 
had the brilliant Fort card, and a fort, a few towers and a trio of falconets 
will take care of your defense forever. 

To defend against the first few attacks you should really ship in a falconet 
if you can, and use towers until your army is in place. Let your allies lend a 
hand, of course; and try to bring in as many military units as you can find 
from the Home City. Things will get easier once your plantation is up and 
you've bought all or most of the town improvements.

Once you've dealt with a few of the British attacks near your barracks, they 
may launch a big one on your allies' town over the north crossing. Keep an eye 
on the yellow town, and if you see a big sea of red moving in there, shift 
your army over there fast, as this attack can easily wipe out your allies' 
whole base.

Anyway, as usual the howitzers change everything, and with two or three of 
them along with your legions of grenadiers, halberdiers, etc., you can begin 
your attack on the red base.

Wait until you've killed off another British attack, then let your mortars or 
howitzers take out the two towers at the far end of the southern crossing. 
They shouldn't come under attack, and your allies might be sending units over 
beside yours anyway, so let them take the flak while you get busy. Beyond the 
towers is the town, with mills, houses and a town centre. There's another 
tower to the west, and two or three more dangerous towers north, behind the 
walls.

It's important to take these towers out with your mortars while the rest of 
your army backs them up: but it's more important to hit the artillery foundry 
just behind that southern gate as soon as you see it. Otherwise the falconets 
can make your life difficult.

While you're away your town should still be bringing in the resources, but you 
may well have run out of wood. Buy what you need from the market, and set your 
lumberjacks up in a new plantation to compensate. Replenish your army with 
more units, since your attack will probably have been a success, but will have 
left you with far fewer units to continue with.

Once your second army is in place, and your allies have suddenly got their 
fingers out, it's time to smash down the walls and head inside. Clear out the 
towers first, and use your crossbowmen to chase down any stray peasants.

You have to destroy the Command Post, which is just west of that southern 
gate; but to get that secondary objective you could head farther north and 
destroy the trading post that the British have set up. Get John to build his 
own in its place, then batter the Command Post to the floor, winning the 
level.

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HOME CITY LEVEL: 13
XP: 171942

CARDS
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MANUFACTURING PLANT - RUM DISTILLERY

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¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
 2.2.5 THE GREAT LAKES
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

"John and Kanyenke head west, following Warwick's trail - and Nonahkee, 
Kanyenke's strong-willed sister, goes with them. Washington has promised help, 
but will his ships arrive in time?"

¬==¬

DESTROY WARWICK'S NAVY AND HIS TOWN CENTER

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

ADVANCE TO THE FORTRESS AGE AND BUILD AN ARTILLERY FOUNDRY

¬==¬

This mission seems more frantic than it is, and none of the objectives ever 
live up to the difficulty you might have expected. Try to move fast with the 
development of your base, but other than that this mission is pretty relaxing. 
As far as I know, there is no time limit on it - you keep getting handed free 
ships and so does Warwick.

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Take your starting military units to the village to the north east and build 
the trading post. Then get them to pick up the nearby treasures - you should 
be able to get away with it if you stay out of the range of the outpost.

Meanwhile start building your base. The idea is to get through the Fortress 
Age to the Industrial Age as quick as you can, since mortars remain the only 
decent anti-building unit you can produce. Get ten peasants on food, ten on 
lumber and ten on coin. Use the trading post to build Iroquois to bolster your 
forces, and keep shipping in combat units from the Home City.

When you reach the Fortress Age and build an artillery foundry you get a new 
objective.

¬==¬
PO: DESTROY THE THREE BONEGUARD OUTPOSTS BEFORE WARWICK'S NAVY REACHES LAKE 
ERIE
¬==¬

You should be able to get to the Industrial Age with very little difficulty - 
the British attacks are weak and pathetic, especially if you've already 
visited the Home City a few times. You'll know you're doing really well if the 
British hit the Fortress Age just as you're leaving it and heading into the 
Industrial Age.

You can't build docks (or outposts) here, by the way, but you can build a 
small to average army and assault the British base to the north. Get your 
mortars to knock out the first tower, north of your base, and Washington sends 
reinforcements to your town centre.

Quickly destroy the red base, including all the peasants, and with the second 
tower gone Washington will send transports for you to use to reach the third. 
Bring a covered wagon or a fort in from the Home City, and start piling it and 
your armies onto the boats. Send them west to find the dock south of the third 
tower, and unload your army to destroy the tower.

¬==¬
PO: DESTROY WARWICK'S NAVY AND HIS TOWN CENTER

SO: AVOID LOSING ANY OF WASHINGTON'S FLEET (300 XP)
¬==¬

Washington has sent his navy, such as it is, to help you erase the red ships, 
but you still have to work your way up this second island to the base and kill 
off the marked town centre. Forget the ships for now and move your army up the 
land. Stick whatever buildings you have next to the south dock, as you might 
need reinforcements later.

Your land army becomes useless once that town centre is gone, so send your 
faster units in first to draw fire, then your howitzers in behind to hit the 
town centre above all else. If the town centre falls you've succeeded, no 
matter if you lose your entire land army. This is unlikely to happen, however 
- I went with four field guns, four howitzers and a bunch of grenadiers and 
musketeers, and the whole base fell easily.

Now you can just collect all your free ships together and head north upriver - 
it's hard to imagine Washington's fleet ever losing against the red ships, 
especially if you stay away from the west coast and use the broadside attacks 
cleverly.

You could also do it the other way round: send your navy north first and get 
rid of the ships, then drop your army off at the north of the island, from 
where it's easier to hit the town centre. I've tried this but I got a message 
saying that Warwick had escaped, and the level failed to end. Do it the long 
way.

With the town centre and all the red ships gone you win the level.

.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.

HOME CITY LEVEL: 15
XP: 192310

CARDS
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MANUFACTURING PLANT - SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE, TEXTILE MILL

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¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
 2.2.6 RESPECT
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

"Seeking revenge for Stuart's death, John and Kanyenke chase Warwick across 
the plains, into the vast, uncharted wilderness of the West."

¬==¬

EARN EXPERIENCE TO HELP THE PEOPLE OF THE GREAT PLAINS

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

EARN 10,000 EXPERIENCE BEFORE THE CIRCLE KILLS ALL FIVE CHIEFS

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

BRING THE WHITE BUFFALO FROM WARWICK'S PEN TO THE LAKOTA VILLAGE (550 XP)
DESTROY WARWICK'S TRADING POST ON THE TRADE ROUTE (550 XP)
CLAIM THE LOST GOLD ON OWL ISLAND (650 XP)
FIND AND RETURN THE LAKOTA CHIEF'S DAUGHTER TO THE LAKOTA VILLAGE TO THE SOUTH 
(600 XP)
HERD FIVE WILD HORSES TO THE LAKOTA VILLAGE TO THE SOUTH (550 XP)
BUILD A TRADING POST AT THE LAKOTA VILLAGE (400 XP)
DESTROY WARWICK'S OUTPOST ON BARREN HILL (500 XP)

¬==¬

This is similar to the sixth mission from Act I, but a little harder. Just let 
Warwick do what he wants, while you build up your base and army and take down 
at least five of the secondary objectives. You never have to go near your 
enemy's base to win this one.

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Take your wagon north and set up your town just above the Lakota village, 
below the bottleneck between the two areas of water; and while you're 
producing more and more peasants send your heroes and their escorts scouting 
around the area.

First of all there's a trading post you can build in the Lakota village, which 
takes care of one secondary objective. Send your fastest units to the Comanche 
village in the north east, then due north to find four wild horses. Send them 
back to the Lakota flags, followed by your own units; and pick up another 
horse on the direct way back to make five. You should pass Warwick's outpost 
on Barren Hill, but you can come back later.

Now approach the water north west of the Lakota village - you should find the 
Lakota chief's daughter in the middle of the U-shaped pond - return her to the 
flags to complete a third objective. Next send all your military units west to 
find the red trading post. Delete its guards and destroy it (slowly). Watch 
out for a few more reds coming to see what's happening from the north - use 
your heroes' special attack to clear them out. Build your own trading post in 
the same spot for an experience generator worth 103 points, and stick one or 
two towers there just in case, though the trading post should hardly ever be 
attacked.

The white buffalo is in a pen to the north of the trading post. It's lightly 
guarded and easy to claim - send it to the flags. That's the easiest five 
secondary objectives: if you want to try for the other two then do so by all 
means, but you can complete the level easily without them (in fact I tend to 
ignore the buffalo too).

If you are going for the other two objectives, here they are: farther west of 
the buffalo's pen is Owl Island, which can be reached by piling your units 
onto the canoe on the water. Kill off the pirate guardians and get the two 
free settlers to pick up the gold (you might want to put this one off until 
you have a few more combat units).

Warwick's outpost is just one tower guarded by a few red units. I tend to 
ignore this one, since I only ever attack buildings with mortars or howitzers, 
and you can complete this level long before you ever even build either. That 
makes all seven secondary objectives, which takes you a long way towards 
10,000.

I recommend you do at least the four or five easiest objectives if you can at 
the very beginning of the level, as all that experience also gives you a lot 
of Home City shipments you would otherwise have to wait longer for.

There are also lots of treasures sprinkled around, but only two you'll want to 
take particular notice of. There's a Map to the Fourth Lost City of Cibola, 
worth 285 XP, north of the buffalo pen; and the Armor of Arkantos due north of 
the Comanche village, which supposedly increases a hero's hitpoints by 40% 
(though it had no effect on John Black for me).

Anyway, back to your main base and the battle with Warwick. Warwick will 
occasionally be sending out big squadrons to hit some of the Native villages, 
but when I completed this level I never bothered my arse helping any of them 
except my Lakota neighbours. 

There are five tribal chiefs, but by the time Warwick has killed two or three 
you should be hitting 10,000 XP, if you're doing it my way. That trading post 
is giving you good experience; and once you've built and upgraded a whole lot 
of things and shipped in a ton of free stuff from the Home City, you will be 
nearly done.

For base defense you just need a mobile army and a few towers. You might want 
to put your town in some southern corner, but I prefer being in the middle of 
the villages, so that I can provide support quicker. If you do stick your town 
north of the Lakota village you should put two or three towers to the west, 
below the water. The reds are fond of sneaking big armies around that side, so 
let your upgraded towers bear the brunt of their attacks until you can get 
your army down there. This also helps defend the Lakota village. Stick a fort 
there too if you have one.

Let Warwick kill off two or three chiefs as long as you know you're getting 
your points up fast. Use your Home City to bring in the main bulk of your 
army, but fill it out with a bunch of grenadiers and a few falconets (the 
best defense unit for this level). A smallish army and a few towers should 
be enough to see off Warwick's first two big attacks on your base, after which 
you can just piddle about, exploring the map and picking up treasure to push 
your score over 10,000 and win.

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HOME CITY LEVEL: 15
XP: 203818

CARDS
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N/A

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 2.2.7 WARWICK'S STRONGHOLD
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

"In the snow-capped mountains far to the west of the colonies, John and 
Kanyenke finally catch up with Warwick - and his Boneguard minions."

¬==¬

DESTROY WARWICK'S TOWN CENTER INSIDE HIS STRONGHOLD

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

DESTROY WARWICK'S TOWN CENTER INSIDE HIS STRONGHOLD

¬==¬

For a penultimate Act level this is extremely easy. This is one where you can 
ignore the secondary objectives and just go for the primary with no problems.

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You brilliantly start off in the Industrial Age, but you have very few 
peasants and no means of building more, so get them started on farming, 
chopping and mining, as if it will make a difference. You have enough 
resources to build up a good few units anyway, so get a move on, since there's 
a countdown here.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

Larry N

"It seems that the game developers run out of either budget or time for 
playtesting at about level 2.2.7. This level is a real cakewalk if you put 
most of your starting units at the western edge where the treasure carts 
appear. I had to fight off some reds from north of my town, but having 20 
units or so where the carts appear pretty much took care of itself. My troops 
would blow away most of the reds before they could really wake up. Just had to 
go there once in a while and tell the carts to go to my town center. This spot 
is also conveniently close to the red fortress when you go up there later. 
Catching the carts may also starve the reds - they seemed underpowered."
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

Forget about the supply wagons - you can do fine without bothering to go for 
them. All you really need to complete this level are a few Home City 
shipments. Though obviously you should send them back if you happen to get 
any.

Take one peasant off work and get him to build an artillery foundry right next 
to your barracks. Either build or ship in some falconets and mortars (you 
don't need many, but spend as much as you want. Build a lot of grenadiers 
while you're at it, and upgrade your siege weapons.

You will soon be hit by a small attack from Warwick's men, so fend it off 
while you keep building your units. Send a unit just north of your barracks to 
find a tower and a new objective.

¬==¬
SO: DESTROY ALL OF WARWICK'S OUTPOSTS (700 XP)
¬==¬

By now you should have some mortars, so wipe out the tower and let your other 
units kill any investigating reds.

You've destroyed one tower, so go east to kill off the second one, then north 
to hit the third. The third will have some red units near it, so send the rest 
of your army along in support. The counter should not even be at 15:00 yet, so 
try to pick up any nearby trading carts while you wait around for the next 
objective.

¬==¬
SO: DESTROY WARWICK'S TRADING POST AT THE COMANCHE VILLAGE (500 XP)
¬==¬

You have plenty of time, so why not. Mortar it quickly for the points.

Your army should be sitting at the junction south east of the red base, so 
move your mortars forward and start hitting the gate and any buildings they've 
put outside their walls. The reds will react, so introduce them to your field 
guns while everyone else mops up. There should be no way that Warwick can win 
this battle - just keep everyone out of range of the towers until they're 
gone.

With the gate down it's simple enough to advance until the town centre is 
revealed - you don't even need to bother with the towers. Mortar the town 
centre and win, to the tune of Warwick's blubbering. The timer should not yet 
have reached 13:00. Easy peasy.

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HOME CITY LEVEL: 16
XP: 210382

CARDS
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MANUFACTURING PLANT - SAWMILLS

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¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
 2.2.8 BRING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN
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"John and Kanyenke learn why Warwick has traveled so far to the west. Can they 
stop the Circle's plan, or is it too late?"

¬==¬

BEFORE 10 GREAT CANNON GET THROUGH, FORCE THE RUSSIAN'S THROUGH THE NORTH 
[their typo]

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

USE YOUR MINERS TO COLLAPSE THE ROCK BRIDGES

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

DESTROY A GREAT CANNON

¬==¬

This one's a horrible balance between defending your base, attacking the 
Circle's units, and getting the miners to work as fast as they can. It can be 
a nightmare if you fanny around too much with building up a town and an army.

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______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

Larry N

"This was the first level where I got tired of it and tried to end-run the way 
the level was meant to be played. I never touched any units other than the 
miners. Just walked them over to the bridges and knocked them down. Had to run 
them away from the Russians once in a while and one persistent bunch of 
Russkians followed and wiped out one group of miners but the rest got the job 
done after 5 cannons had escaped. Didn't get the bonus for destroying a 
cannon. Also don't get any experience for doing other stuff since I didn't do 
any other stuff."
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

Send the three miners west and right-click them on the near side of the rock 
bridge. They will begin hacking at it, and you can check their progress by 
clicking on the section of ice. When the gauge fills the miners will 
automatically cross to the far side and start on that section.

Make sure the peasants at the north town centre are all chopping lumber, but 
get one of them to pick up the resources sitting in the cave mouth. Get your 
other peasants to build a mill, then build some more from the town centre - 
you don't need many peasants here but try to have five or so on each resource.

Now move your artillery and John over to beside the miners. Some Circle guys 
will be coming up that pass soon, under the bridge, so you'll want to be able 
to kill them off quickly. By the way, your miners are brilliant at taking out 
bunched groups of enemies, including the great cannons - use them as offensive 
units whenever they come under attack. Make sure you kill off the first cannon 
and its escorts while they're going under the bridge, then resume working on 
destroying it. It's very nice if you can time the bridge's fall to land on the 
heads of your enemies, though it's pretty rare.

Build a couple of houses back at the southern town centre, but don't bother 
with any other buildings. Your northern town centre will soon be attacked by 
cavalry, so when you see the reds approaching it get your peasants out of 
there and back to the southern town centre, where they can continue chopping 
lumber. The reds attacking the top town centre will take ages about it, so 
leave them to it.

The most important thing to do in this level is to bring in a fort wagon from 
the Home City (on your first shipment if possible) and deploy it at the end of 
the long pass leading north west, up from the bridge your miners are working 
on (more miners will periodically appear at that northern cave, so send them 
to whichever bridge you're currently working on as soon as you see them - you 
can have max of ten, I think). You want the fort in the middle of the end of 
the path - where it widens out at the treasure item - in order to catch any 
passing cannons. The fort is tough as hell, and it can take down one cannon 
and its escorts before you'll have to repair it. Resources in this level are 
merely a means to get your experience up, so that you can ship in more units 
and spend money on repairing your fort.

Once your fort is shipped in your next shipments should all be units - 
falconets being ideal, followed by any mercenaries or other combat units you 
have in your deck. Send them to join your army out in the field as soon as 
they arrive.

Anyway, your miners will eventually bring down the first bridge, though the 
Circle's units can still use this northern pass by going around the wreckage 
(thanks a bunch). When your miners are nearly done on both sides send your 
falconets and other troops south to sit beside the next one, on the upper 
cliffs. Send your miners down after them once the north bridge is gone, and 
get them working on the next one.

This second bridge is pretty popular, especially since the squads going north 
have to turn around and come back. Use your miners' bombs and quickly replace 
any miners you lose from the northern cave. Use your falconets to block the 
lower pass leading east, and you should be able to catch all the red units 
coming your way. Your miners will take a long time on this bridge again, but 
keep shipping in all the falconets you can, and build a foundry and some more 
houses. Falconets are all you want to build for units.

The second bridge will finally fall, even though one or two cannons might have 
slipped through. Send the miners and everyone else down to the next bridge, 
and make sure you check on the health of your fort. Heal it up if necessary, 
as it can't deal with two cannons without aid.

With eight or nine miners going at the last bridge, your bunch of troops 
backing them up, plus your fort defending the northern pass, you should be 
able to relax. By this point only two cannons had gotten past me: one of them 
was the second one the Circle sent, and I just wasn't ready for it; and the 
other one just slipped through while I was busy manually targetting my fort on 
a different cannon. Bastard. Anyway, the point is you should hardly be one 
cannon away from defeat or anything, and it's not hard to get your miners to 
drop the last bridge while everyone else protects them.

When the third bridge goes you win the level, so long as fewer than ten 
cannons have given you the slip.

=+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+

-------------------------------¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬---------------------------
                                2.3 ACT III: STEEL
-------------------------------¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬---------------------------

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¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
 2.3.1 RACE FOR THE RAILS
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

"After the Revolutionary War, Americans pushed westward into the wilderness. 
It was a time of great change and technical progress - the dawn of the 
Industrial Age - and nothing would ever be the same."

¬==¬

BUILD AND CONTROL THE RAILROAD WEST

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

BUILD TRADING POSTS ON ALL THE SITES ALONG THE TRADE ROUTE

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

ALLY WITH ANY NATIVE AMERICANS IN THE AREA (200 XP EACH)

¬==¬

This level is a lot simpler than it looks. You can own the Americans with a 
handful of falconets and musketeers behind three towers; and your 'attack' 
will be so short and sweet it may put you to sleep.

If you have your base defence in order you can end this one as soon as you 
have enough firepower to bring down one single outpost tower.

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______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

Larry N

"Another cakewalk if you don't do what the game wants you to do. Take your 
heros and military units to the first outpost place and build one there. I 
wasn't bothered there. Didn't do anything to grow my economy - just took 
whatever resources came in from the starting peasants. While there, have the 
general summon as many cavalry as you have resources for. This freezes him in 
place so he will lag behind. Go to the second outpost place and knock it down. 
Some reds will come by - kill them off. Bring the general once he is done 
summoning troops. Once he gets there, put him close to the new outpost (you 
did build an outpost there, didn't you). Kill off the second wave of reds that 
might show up and run all but the general to the final outpost. Have the 
general summon more cavalry but otherwise leave him there. More reds may come 
to the party but he and his cavalry can usually hold them off long enough. 
Once you get to the third and final outpost place, knock down the red one and 
build yours. If the reds are heavy at the second outpost, send everybody but 
Amanda back up there to protect it."
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

Build a trading post at the site to the south, and send your heroes due south 
of your town centre, all the way to the bottom of the map, to find the Boots 
of El Pollo Guapo, which boost a hero's speed by 25%. North and then west of 
your town is a free outpost wagon, guarded by some goons.

When building your base keep all your buildings to the north, north west, 
behind the ones you start with. Your enemies have a habit of passing the 
southern front of your base from the west and then attacking from the south 
east, so don't spread your buildings out. If you build three or four outpost 
towers south west of your base you will be able to catch every one of the 
enemy's attacks.

Oh and make sure you're getting your peasants from the houses rather than the 
town centre - it's so much cheaper.

Advance quickly and chop lumber in the south, beside where you found the 
Boots. You want to have four or five falconets (upgrade to field guns later) 
behind your three or four towers: these siege weapons, accompanied by a few 
musketeers, your brilliant railwaymen and a priest or two, can hold the 
Americans off forever.

When heading into the Industrial Age make sure you choose the Factory Wagon so 
that you can build your first factory (a fort is also good for defense, and 
bear in mind that you have those trading stations bringing you resources). 
Upgrade the trading wagons to trains at the trading posts, and just keep your 
falconets and other units healthy. Don't bother advancing past the Industrial 
Age unless you really want to - it's unnecessary and only prolongs the time 
given to the Americans to build congreve rockets, which you don't want.

You can ally with the Natives if you want: they have one site due west of your 
base, very close to the Americans; and another a little north west of the 
southernmost trading post. I didn't bother, as I just don't get the point. The 
northern one will get wiped out fast.

Once this is done and your peasants and factory are bringing in the resources, 
all you have to do is build two or three mortars or rockets and send them 
south to the first American trading post. It may have some guards, so send 
some dragoons along with your mortars, then knock down the tower and other 
buildings. Build your own trading post in the ruins.

West of here is the fourth site, and it should not be guarded at all (if it is 
it will be very light). Your falconets and co. can easily defend your base 
while you're away, especially if you've upgraded your towers; but it doesn't 
really matter, since all you have to do is build a fourth blue trading post to 
win the level.

Wipe out the red base from the south if you want the experience points - it's 
really standard and doesn't even have towers.

.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.

HOME CITY LEVEL: 20
XP: 238190

CARDS
¬¬¬¬¬

FANEUIL HALL - CRATES OF 700 FOOD, CORDS OF 700 WOOD, CHESTS OF 700 COIN
MILITARY ACADEMY - CAVALRY DAMAGE, CAVALRY HITPOINTS, 2 FALCONETS, 1 MORTAR, 2 
MORTARS, ADVANCED ARTILLERY
CATHEDRAL - VIRGINIA COMPANY, FORT, FACTORY, ROYAL DECREE TO CLAIM THE NEW 
WORLD, ADVANCED ARSENAL, ADVANCED MILL
MANUFACTURING PLANT - STONEMASONS, SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE, RUM DISTILLERY, 
TEXTILE MILL

.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.

¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
 2.3.2 HOLD THE FORT
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

"With the other railroad companies beaten, Amelia is ready to continue the 
work... until an unexpected event forces a change of plans."

¬==¬

DEFEND FORT OLOMA

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

SURVIVE UNTIL COOPER'S MEN ARRIVE

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

UPGRADE BOTH TRADE ROUTES TO TRAINS

¬==¬

At first glance it looks like hell, but you should find no problems here. 
Build and heal your siege weapons and make proper use of the six trading 
posts, and this level will be a pleasant stroll from start to finish.

And "Fort Oloma"? Pfff...

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______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

Larry N

"Move Amanda up to the north as far as possible and go eat dinner in a nearby 
room. The reds *cannot* wipe out that base during the countdown - I gave them 
3 chances and they just couldn't do it. Maybe if I delete some of the cannons 
they could. Since all you need to do is 'survive' I think that having any unit 
or building left at the end of the countdown works. Once your new armies show 
up you can mop the reds up any way you want."
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

You'll be a bit confused about what the hell you're meant to do - I know I 
was. Get any starting peasants you have working on a mill which you can build 
in between the curves of the tracks; but don't make any more peasants. Keep 
one peasant standing by your town centre, ready to pick up any shipments you 
bring in, or run outside and rebuild any broken walls which will be taking 
damage throughout the level.

You will be wanting primarily wood and gold with which to build rockets and 
falconets (upgraded to field guns). Pick wood in one of the trading posts, and 
gold in the other. Send Amelia out to each of the four empty sites dotted 
around the map, and get her to build a trading post at each one - they won't 
be attacked and they can bring in lots more resources. Choose experience at 
one, food at another, and wood and gold at the remaining two, so you're now 
getting double the wood and gold.

From now until Cooper arrives it's just a case of building siege weapons and 
ranging them along the inside of your walls. I had four at each length of 
wall, in between the gates. Just leave them where they are, and build a 
mixture of field guns and rockets (or ship them in). Beaumont's brilliant 
organ guns will also do a great job for as long as they stand. Try building a 
priest to heal up your siege weapons when they take damage - much cheaper than 
having to replace them. If you keep at least one field gun and one rocket at 
each corner of wall I can't see you ever losing this level.

As for the walls, some parts will be destroyed, but it's not hard to send your 
lone peasant out to rebuild them, or to repair them if they're still standing. 

The Mexicans will throw more and more units at you, but nothing your siege 
weapons can't handle from the safety of your walls. Just keep an eye on the 
health of the walls, and make sure none of the gates get destroyed.

Cooper appears with loads of units when the timer runs down, and just when you 
thought you were going to win the level you get a new objective instead.

¬==¬
PO: DESTROY ALL THE MEXICAN ARMY'S TOWN CENTERS
¬==¬

This is really easy too: just send your new army to the north west base and 
wipe it out. It's really that simple, especially if you wait for them to throw 
another attack at your fort. Wipe out all the other buildings for the points, 
then hit the town centre with the mortars while your soldiers protect them 
from the - argh! - peasants. They don't even have towers...

The south east base is different only by virtue of the fact that they have two 
town centres instead of one. Same thing again: wait for an attack and then 
send your enormous army in, all guns blazing. With the fall of the third town 
centre the level is won.

.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.

HOME CITY LEVEL: 21
XP: 258772

CARDS
¬¬¬¬¬

CATHEDRAL - EXTENSIVE FORTIFICATIONS

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¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
 2.3.3 THE BONEGUARD'S LAIR
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

"Amelia follows the strange Frenchman Beaumont to his gold claim in the 
mountains, where a surprise - and an old friend - awaits."

¬==¬

CHASE BEAUMONT AND THE BONEGUARD OUT OF THE MINES

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

FIND BEAUMONT

¬==¬

This game is becoming more and more like a cross between Icewind Dale and 
Desperados. This is a rare RPG-ish mission, and they're never difficult in RTS 
games. The only tough RPG missions in an RTS game came in Dungeon Keeper: The 
Deeper Dungeons. I have spoken.

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______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

Larry N

"Just for fun, I did this whole level using only Kenyanke. Couldn't quite get 
Amanda to survive doing it all herself. Apparently Beaumont has all of his 
troops wearing those invisible fence dog collar things. They can only get so 
far from their post before they yelp and turn around and run back it. Once I 
found where the invisible fence was for a group I could hit one with the big 
arrow to bring him charging at me. Once he hits the fence run runs yelping 
back to home. Unless you hit him with another arrow before he gets out of 
range, then he turns toward you again. Kenyanke's range is long enough that 
you can keep a Circle guy running back and forth like an anxious poodle. Don't 
even need to stay at the computer. Just go back every minute to snipe another 
Circle jerk until he dies. Ranged circle troops are a bit harder - you have to 
stand further back so that they can't fire at you from invisible fence. Takes 
a long time to do it this way, though, but more challenging than collecting 
the troops the other way - I ended up with such a horde that I had trouble 
herding them through the caves."
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

Don't bother going north from the starting point - go east instead until you 
find the other cave entrance, where Beaumont is standing with two Boneguard 
eejits.

¬==¬
PO: DRIVE BEAUMONT AND HIS MEN OUT OF THE MINES
¬==¬

Right then. Kill the two goons and head west for another objective. When 
fighting the Boneguards, send your unkillable heroes in first to draw their 
fire - in this way you can get through every fight except the final one 
without losing any soldiers.

¬==¬
SO: DESTROY THE WEAPONS CACHES (500 XP)
¬==¬

Destroy the cache, kill the next two Boneguards to the north west, take down 
the stockade for three free doggies, kill the next two Boneguards to the 
north, and send the wagon back to Kanyenke's camp for reinforcements.

There are three camps along the southern pass: the western one gets you five 
Cree trackers per wagon; the northern one gives you five clubmen; and the 
eastern one gives you two medicine men. You only need two healers, so divide 
the rest of the wagons between the other two camps. I like the trackers best 
because I'm a Baldur's Gate style ranged weapons whore, but the clubmen are 
surprisingly effective.

You can now bring Kanyenke up to join your other guys. Send your Cree trackers 
into the mines too, then head west for more goons, another wagon and another 
stockade, just north of the first mine entrance. Send the wagon to the camp 
for more guys, then head north once you've brought your new units up.

North of here is another weapons cache and more Circle gimps, then another 
wagon up beyond them. You may have noticed that the caches are guarded by 
wolves, but so what. There's another one to the east, plus a couple of 
Boneguard pistols which can boost someone's hitpoints by 30% - I gave them to 
Amelia.

Go east and meet with Beaumont; then east and south for some Boneguard armour 
(you might want to leave this for later, once you have more troops), and some 
clubmen in a prison cell. There's only one way to go now, so go south to where 
you met Beaumont the first time, then north east into the next part of the 
mines.

Up here is another guarded wagon, and north of this are some Boneguard muskets 
(leave them till later), another wagon and the Eye of Ornlu (piss off with 
this Ornlu rubbish) worth 200 XP. The fights are getting bigger by now, so 
split your troops up into three groups - healers in one, Cree trackers in one 
and everyone else in the third. Wait until your wagons' units reach you and 
proceed.

To the east is another wagon and a few imprisoned skirmishers, and south of 
here is the mine's exit and another cache beyond it. That's the last cache, 
and the explosion will have destroyed the trees next to it, which means your 
last wagon can get through quicker. Collect any treasure upgrades you have yet 
to pick up, then head north, back inside the mines.

More Boneguards in here, but by this time your army is frighteningly large. 
Free the musketeers and send the wagon to one of the camps, if you can be 
bothered waiting for it. North of here is the biggest fight yet - save before 
you head in, though you should win pretty comfortably.

Of the two treasures, the western one gives you a new objective once its 
guardians are dead.

¬==¬
PO: FIND AND COLLECT THE SEMINOLE MAP
¬==¬

Collect that Seminole map, collect it a good 'un! Sorry, this mission bored me 
to bits. You've won. And there's nothing farther north, by the way.

.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.

HOME CITY LEVEL: 22
XP: 267272

CARDS
¬¬¬¬¬

CATHEDRAL - COLONIAL MILITIA

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¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
 2.3.4 THE LOST SPANISH GOLD
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

"Reunited with her granduncle Kanyenke and Major Cooper, Amelia is determined 
to pursue Beaumont - and recover the Spanish gold her ancestors lost."

¬==¬

STOP BEAUMONT AND HIS THEFT OF THE SPANISH GOLD

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

DESTROY THE THREE OUTPOSTS GUARDING THE RUINED TREASURE SHIPS

¬==¬

The sooner you get the big gun the better, so get it as soon as you start. 
Falconets and towers for defense; a factory and some upgraded peasants for 
resources.

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Get building a base. Pretty soon you'll get another objective.

¬==¬
SO: BUILD TRADING POSTS AT THE NATIVE VILLAGES (500 XP)
¬==¬

Send Amelia east to build a trading post at the nearest site, and once it's up 
you get a new objective.

¬==¬
SO: BRING KANYENKE TO THE REVEALED FOREST ALONG THE SOUTHEAST EDGE OF THE 
SWAMP (300 XP)
¬==¬

Send your troops east along the cliff north of the nearest treasure ship 
(where the pirates are guarding the sweet potatoes treasure item), then head 
farther east along this cliff until you reach the second trading post, having 
avoided the first red outpost. Build a second trading post with Amelia, then 
take everyone south along the cliffs beside the swamp. Just north of the third 
trading post you will find a huge gun on the cliff, which will come under your 
control and cause Beaumont's legions to suffer serious headaches from now on.

Knock down the trading post that the reds may have built down here, and build 
your own in its place. It and the gun may come under attack later, but the gun 
is very tough and you can easily send help. Or you can just build and upgrade 
the excellent sharktooths from the trading post itself. That big gun will 
start hitting the red fort and other buildings within its range, and it's a 
joy to behold.

Anyway, send everyone back along the route they used to get to the third 
trading post, since your own base will soon be attacked from the south west. 
You should now have ten peasants on farming and ten on lumber, with a few more 
working on the first shipwreck just beside the first trading post. There may 
be a couple of pikemen guarding it, so get them out of the way and start 
mining the gold. Build all your subsequent buildings north east of your town 
centre, tucked into the back of the map.

By the way, you might want to send your troops south west to sit on the cliffs 
directly north of the red base. They will try to build a fort here pretty 
soon, and if you're there waiting you can kill it off before it has a chance 
to exist. This will obviously make life a lot easier for your base.

Back in your base, the idea is to get a factory as soon as you can, and the 
only way to do that is to advance to the Industrial Age and choose the Factory 
card. Even though the reds will occasionally be attacking in numbers, you 
don't really need much by way of defense: a few falconets and musketeers 
behind two or three towers will suffice, especially since your big gun is 
doing a great job of eradicating most of Beaumont's armies in the south.

Once you have your factory up you can get your gold miners to chop lumber or 
something, and it's time to start upgrading stuff left, right and centre. 
Start with the factory and market upgrades, then go on from there. Build one 
or two more towers on the south west face of your base for the sake of defence 
and start constructing a mini-army. The plan is to get a few siege weapons 
(the two rockets from the Home City will suffice), a bunch of about twenty 
military units (I went with musketeers and dragoons), some falconets (four did 
me fine); and a little squadron of sharktooths in the south, just to protect 
the cannon.

With this little lot it's easy to destroy the red outpost in the north east of 
the swamp. The big gun will already have dropped the one in the south east, 
and all that remains is to take out the one beside the red base. With the 
above army it's a walk - just destroy the tower with your rockets or mortars 
while everyone else protects them.

¬==¬
PO: DESTROY BEAUMONT'S TOWN CENTER
¬==¬

The town centre is now revealed, so send rockets or mortar shells over the 
walls and erase it fast. Beaumont will send more units from the town centre 
when it gets heavily damaged, but by that time it's too late for him.

There is a medium base behind the walls and a fair amount of experience to be 
gotten from smashing down the buildings and killing all the units. It's easy 
to do, but there is a bug that means the level won't end if you take out the 
other buildings first. If you can get rid of the base and leave the main town 
centre for last and still complete it, great: but if not you'll be stuck.

.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.

HOME CITY LEVEL: 23
XP: 281879

CARDS
¬¬¬¬¬

CATHEDRAL - PIONEERS

.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.

¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
 2.3.5 BOLIVAR'S REVOLT
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

"Learning that there may still be water from the Fountain of Youth hidden high 
in the Andes, Amelia and Kanyenke set sail for South America, where they find 
themselves caught up in the rebellions against Spain."

¬==¬

DESTROY THE SPANISH FORT'S COMMAND POST

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

HELP GENERAL BOLIVAR FREE THE TOWN TO THE NORTH

¬==¬

For once your allies are very useful, and if you keep making and spending 
money, and also get the most use out of your siege units, this level is a 
cinch.

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Head north and help the yellow guys destroy the goons and the tower, then you 
get some buildings, ships and peasants, and a new objective.

¬==¬
PO: HELP GENERAL BOLIVAR FREE TWO MORE TOWNS
¬==¬

Immediately forget everything except putting Amelia on the galleon to the 
south. Take the ship up the coast, past the cliffs, and drop Amelia off next 
to the Indian village. Build a trading post here while your peasants 
automatically collect the resources around the town centre. Once they're all 
picked up and the trading post is built, research the three upgrades while you 
stick Amelia back on the boat and send her back to the town centre. You have 
to do all this quick, as enemy ships are coming for you, and if you don't get 
Amelia over there and back you won't get the Natives' upgrades (at least not 
until later).

Start building peasants and get them working on the mill, the mine and the 
trees. Let the enemy ships appear and attack the dock - they'll destroy it and 
your ship, but your town centre should manage to wipe them all out (keep your 
miners away until the ships are dead).

Before the timer runs down you'll want to have built at least ten musketeers, 
plus ship in some military units or resources (a falconet would be good). Your 
and Bolivar's troops will be attacked from the east at one point, but it's not 
hard to beat them away, especially with the help of the yellow cannon (keep it 
safe). Bolivar will continue to gain more and more reinforcements all through 
this level.

Bolivar and his men will head south east to the first village, so help him 
clear away the towers and falconets. Try to keep your own falconet safe. If 
Bolivar dies you just have to kill off the enemies near him and then approach 
him again, as with any other hero.

¬==¬
SO: RESCUE BOLIVAR (300 XP EACH)
¬==¬

You get more houses, an arsenal and an artillery foundry when this town is 
safe, plus a free mortar which you should move north west straight away, as 
some reds will try to attack it.

Keep building up your forces, including some more falconets and some 
grenadiers. There will be a few more attacks coming from that north east path, 
but the falconets and troops can hold them off with no problems. Your peasants 
will run out of coin at the first mine (if you have ten miners anyway), so 
move them to the one in the far south.

Build up as much of an army as you can afford before the next attack, and send 
your army around to the south east, where they can sneak around and up to find 
a tiny little ranch protected by three towers and some Spanish units. If you 
have plenty of grenadiers, musketeers and your heroes you should have no 
difficulty in erasing the units and the towers, then you can run into the 
fenced area to get some free dragoons and the two stables.

Fend off any Spanish attacks on the stables, and when the timer runs down 
again you'll see Bolivar head north from where he is. Let him go first, as 
usual, then send your own units at the third town in a lovely pincer movement. 
Your siege units can start on the towers while your army moves into the middle 
and picks a fight. It's really easy with a big army, and you'll then get a 
church, a barracks, a missionary, and some surgeons. You also get more 
peasants at the northern mills - move them out of danger quickly.

¬==¬
SO: FREE ALL FOUR VILLAGES FROM THE SPANISH (1000 XP)
¬==¬

Take your army to the two stables and sit here while the next timer runs down. 
Build a field hospital while your troops battle with the red attacks coming in 
from the north. Get your mortar to destroy the two towers on the cliffs to the 
west, above the mills; the falconet sitting north of the south east gates; the 
tower next to the falconet; and finally the gate itself. You can also send 
Amelia north west to that trading post if you haven't got the upgrades 
already; and a hero due north of the stables to find a trapped missionary.

You've got lots of time here to replenish your troops, so get in some more 
falconets and grenadiers while your healing units heal up your existing 
troops. By the time Bolivar moves you should have a few falconets and a big 
army of other stuff, plus you should have cleared away all the Spanish 
defences standing between you and the outpost (you could pretty certainly have 
destroyed the outpost long ago if your army is a good size, but it's more fun 
to let Bolivar's noobs go in first).

Again, wait until your yellow allies move, but this time just watch. This is 
because they're idiots, and they'll stand attacking the walls at the gate, 
blocking your way and messing your attack right up. Bolivar will soon gain the 
upper hand, however, which is your cue to stroll in to the chaotic Spanish 
base and raze the outpost to the floor.

.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.

HOME CITY LEVEL: 23
XP: 291307

CARDS
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N/A

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 2.3.6 JOURNEY THROUGH THE ANDES
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"With Bolivar's guides, Amelia and Kanyenke head into the mountains, seeking 
the lost Inca in Pacamayo Valley - but the army of the Circle of Ossus is 
right behind them!"

¬==¬

BEAT THE BONEGUARD ARMY TO PACAMAYO VALLEY

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

REACH PACAMAYO VALLEY

¬==¬

This level is a gigantic pain in the arse, and the secondary objective is 
pretty misleading. It should be a primary, since you have no hope of 
completing it if you let even one scout through. 

The scouts are always in the form of cavalry archers by the way, and to kill 
them you need to hit them once or twice with every one of your starting units, 
or just once with one of your heroes' unique shots. It's crucial to keep all 
your units alive, which means finding caves and treasure items.

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______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

Larry N

"You can actually rush this level - just be sure to kill the *first* scout. 
Since you have to keep moving or die, you may as well keep moving forward. The 
Circle army won't catch up if you keep rushing. Stop briefly in the shelter-
caves. Your troops don't heal until they stop moving briefly so watch for 
that. Most of the individual reds will just run past - kill the ones who stop 
to bother with you. You'll have to kill the wolves - but not the treasure-
guardian wolves. The Red Army moves fast, but they keep stopping for a piss or 
something. You can finish the level in about 10 minutes this way. Don't know 
if you can pause to collect the treasures and stay ahead. If you want to try, 
kill maybe the first 3 scouts you run across to get a better head start."
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

Your bunch of guys will lose health for as long as they're standing on snow, 
so send them north to find the grass-floored cave. There are various such 
sanctuaries dotted through the level, and they will fully heal your units 
immediately when they reach them.

Soon you will see a scout run up from the south, and you'll get a new 
objective.

¬==¬
SO: DON'T ALLOW A SINGLE SCOUT TO REACH THE BONEGUARD ARMY (1500 XP)
¬==¬

This is very important (just watch what happens when you let one get by), so 
snipe him down with one of your heroes, then proceed south to find two wolves 
and another running scout. Always prioritise the scouts, even above getting 
your units to the nearest cave. Kill the scout, then the wolves, and continue 
south. 

You will kill off another scout near a cave to the west, and your guys will be 
low on health. Don't go for the cave yet, however, as you are almost certain 
to let the next scout slip by you. Wait in the snow at the junction leading 
east, and only go for the cave when the fourth scout is dead.

Now quickly jump into the cave, then immediately pull Amelia out again, as 
there is another scout trying to run past from the east. Use the double-
barreled attack to kill him, and pull everyone else outside and through the 
shortcut, killing the two wolves on the way, and then another scout just 
around the corner.

There are more wolves here, and another scout will pass by while you're 
fighting them - again, get the scout first. When you take your guys into the 
cave to the north another scout will appear - kill him.

Now take Kanyenke south to the two-way cave, heal him up and send him south to 
find the treasure item. Take out one of the wolves with Kanyenke's unique 
attack, then try to fight the other two by baiting them into following 
Kanyenke into the healing caves. While he's fighting keep an eye on your other 
units, as there might be one more scout trying to pass. Pick up the Boneguard 
armour to boost Kanyenke's hitpoints, then send him to rejoin everyone else.

By the way, you will probably have come under attack by an uhlan or two - 
these are different to the scouts, though they look the same, so don't get 
confused and target the wrong ones. Uhlans seem to always be heading in the 
same direction as you, whereas the scouts (cavalry archers) are going west.

Anyway, come out of the cave and head north, killing off the wolves and 
picking up the muskets while you watch out for more scouts. Farther north are 
some ruins and more scouts, and you will see some Circle geeks appear on the 
path to the west, where you were a while ago.

Work your way north and east to the next safe cave, keeping your eyes open for 
more sneaky scouts all the time. Pass by the Boneguard armour and duck into 
the cave, taking out the one or two scouts who'll try to nip past. Now go out 
and get the armour with everyone healed, and take out any scouts who try to 
run through while you're fighting the wild animals.

This next bit is tricky - it's a long run of snow with two or three scouts 
along it. It's just possible to make it all the way down and then into the 
cave just south of the first east turn. Scouts will again try to get past, so 
use the heroes to catch them in the head.

Now head through that passage to the north, killing off the cougars and wolf 
and another passing scout. Farther east is another big cave, so heal up in 
here and then send your guys south to the bottom of the map, once they've 
killed off another scout.

Down in the south is a medicine man behind a rock, whom you can save by 
killing off the cougars. There should be no more scouts while you're rescuing 
the healer, so put everyone back in the cave before you proceed north. The 
medicine man doesn't take damage from the snow (though he can use the caves 
for healing if hit by an enemy), so it might be an idea to send him north a 
little on his own to explore, just so you know what's coming. He's actually 
much more use for recon than as a healer, especially this far into the 
mission.

The Circle's army will now have made some progress along the path, but they're 
still far behind.

You will pass two more caves and a couple of scouts, and there is a treasure 
item up in the north - the Eye of Ornlu (sigh). East is another cave, but here 
quite a few scouts will pass while you try to heal and grab the treasure. Post 
your medicine man down the next path to give you advance warning of incoming 
scouts while you pick up the Eye, then heal up again before you progress down 
the last pass.

Nothing much in this last stretch - just a couple more cougars and two or 
three scouts. The final cave is at the bottom - head inside to end this 
nightmare.

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HOME CITY LEVEL: 24
XP: 296556

CARDS
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CATHEDRAL - IMPROVED BUILDINGS

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 2.3.7 LAST CITY OF THE INCA
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"Having forced their way through the storm, Amelia and Kanyenke find Pacamayo 
Valley at last - but the Circle is close behind."

¬==¬

DESTROY THE BONEGUARD FORT

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

GATHER EIGHT TOTAL ARTILLERY UNITS INTO THE FLAGGED AREA BEFORE THE THREE 
INCAN TEMPLES ARE DESTROYED

¬==¬

This is probably the best level in the third Act, which isn't saying much. 
What makes it better than the previous mission is that in this one you get to 
build up a base.

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______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

Larry N

"I didn't bother with the Russians at all. It helps to realize that you 
probably have at least 8 artillery units in your home town. Upgrade to 
Industrial, ship in the artillery and you have that part done. You will need 
to build some economy and build some troops to run around killing stuff. So 
you can get experience. So you can get shipments. So you can get free 
artillery from home. I didn't grow any more peasants, just used the starting 
ones and make sure they kept busy. Did I mention that having a ton of 
artillery in the flagged area pretty much kept destroying the bad guys who 
came into town? You'll need maybe 20-30 troops for the second half to guard 
the artillery. Take the southern route and stomp the fort."
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

Right. First things frickin' last, as they say in Tripoli. You have two 
enemies here: the Russians in the north are trying to hassle the Incas and 
destroy their outposts; while the Circle in the south are actively attacking 
the Incan temples, and your base in the process.

Two of the Incan temples are behind your walls, so you have no pressing need 
to worry about them for the time being. The Incas are also doing what they can 
against both sets of enemies, and they're actually a pretty big help 
throughout the level.

You have to get eight artillery units into the flagged area all at once - you 
can't just send eight different ones in at different times. New free artillery 
units are appearing away along in the west, at the end of the northern path, 
and you can stick them among the flags when they arrive, just so long as you 
can get them back safely.

Anyway, more about all this later. Take all your peasants and build a mill. 
Start building more peasants and target them to chop the trees outside your 
northern gate, and while you're waiting for them take all your military units 
through that gate and west to find the first Russian gate.

¬==¬
SO: DESTROY THE RUSSIAN TOWN CENTER
¬==¬

At the same time bring the first heavy cannon from the west to the same gate, 
and take out that tower it will meet on the way. The cannon can easily destroy 
the tower, and the Russians stupidly ignore the cannon, which means you can 
bring it to your other combat units at the Russians' eastern gate and begin 
attacking the gate with the cannon alone, while your other units sit beside it 
and protect it. 

The Russians will empty their base at you, but there's nothing your starting 
troops can't handle. Use the cannon to quickly knock out any artillery the 
Russians send out, though there should only be one or two. Also important is 
the fort wagon which you should see coming through that gate at one point - be 
sure to destroy it before it can deploy. If you miss it don't worry - your 
cannon can destroy the fort slowly but surely.

By the way, be sure to duck home to check up on your town every now and then. 
You want a fort up as soon as possible, and peasants working on every 
resource. There's plenty of opportunity to speed your town's development along 
while you're waiting for your cannon to destroy the gate, and the Incas can't 
hold off the Circle's attacks on your gate forever. Priority one is protecting 
your south west gate, so use your cards wisely. If you do manage to get in 
some falconets from the Home City, sit them behind your south west walls, as 
they'll be very useful versus the Circle, especially while you're waiting for 
your first fort wagon.

Anyway, once the gate is gone hit the tower beyond it, then head inside and 
start attacking the Russian buildings one by one with the cannon, with your 
other units staying nearby for protection. It's possible to decimate the 
entire Russian base with just these troops, though a falconet should join you 
soon from the extreme west. Hit the town centre to complete the secondary 
objective, then proceed west until the last building is down and the last unit 
is dead. You should receive a free mortar from the west a little later, giving 
you three artillery units so far.

Before you leave the Russian base, sit your troops in the middle, against the 
north edge of the map. The Russians will sneak in more troops from outside, 
including falconets, and maybe even a covered wagon. You don't want them 
setting up shop again, so it might be an idea to bring a peasant or two up 
here to build two or three outpost towers - these can make short work of any 
more units the Russians bring in, which means the Russians are basically 
defeated. Shift your lumberjacks up here to get started on the trees, since 
supplies elsewhere are pretty thin.

This will all take a lot of time, and you will probably have been able to 
flick back to your main base to keep up with its development once or twice. 
You should have managed to get at least eight peasants on each resource (there 
is a very valuable mine due south of your town centre, on the bordered path).

Advance to the Industrial Age and bung two forts (choose Fort when you 
advance, and use your fort card from the Home City - two forts) at your 
southern walls, where the Circle are making a constant nuisance of themselves. 
The Incas can deal with the first few Circle attacks on your base, but this 
won't last long, and at least one fort down there is pretty necessary. The 
Circle will probably have destroyed one of the temples, but this isn't a 
worry.

You should have taken care of the Russians by now, which is good because you 
need to get your falconets and cannons back to your base in order to defend 
your southern walls better. Get everyone home once you're sure that the 
Russians have been nullified, and with two forts, a few anti-infantry 
artillery, and a couple of towers, you are safe from the Circle. Upgrade your 
buildings when you can afford it.

You have also probably reached eight artillery units, thanks to the freebies 
and your own cards. Dump eight of them among the flags to complete the 
objective and get a new one.

¬==¬
PO: DESTROY THE BONEGUARD FORT
¬==¬

Another thing to do is bring in a factory from the Home City. Use it to help 
build up your base much more quickly, then you can start spending money on 
upgrades and units. Once your army is in place and the Circle are just 
throwing armies mindlessly against your forts, it's time to attack their own 
fort inside their base. They actually have two, but the easternmost one 
doesn't count.

Take your artillery through the gate at the southern wall of your base, and 
into the little path (or just go onto the path at the wider bit to the west). 
Follow with every other combat unit you have, though they may not be necessary 
(I went for dragoons and grenadiers, plus my heroes). Take everyone slowly 
along the path until you reach the walls of the Circle's base.

Start chucking bombs over the wall to destroy that fort, and once it's deleted 
you win the level.

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HOME CITY LEVEL: 25
XP: 315591

CARDS
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CATHEDRAL - HEAVY FORTIFICATIONS

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 2.3.8 LAST STAND OF THE BONEGUARD
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"The Circle has assembled in the Ossuary, their stronghold in Cuba. Will 
Amelia and Kanyenke be able to stop Beaumont, or will the Circle win at last?"

¬==¬

DEFEAT THE CIRCLE OF OSSUS

¬==¬

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

BRING AMELIA TO HAVANA'S TOWN CENTER

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

ALLY WITH THE CARIB NATIVE AMERICANS (2000 XP)
DESTROY THE CIRCLE'S NAVY (2000 XP)

¬==¬

This final level looks impressive on first sight, but it's extremely simple 
once you get your base defences sorted out. That's the only hard bit, and the 
whole thing might leave you wondering whether that's all really all there is 
to it.

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______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

Larry N

"The key facts to this level is (1) you need to survive a timer, (2) the bad 
guys cannot possibly destroy Havana on schedule, and (3) once you survive the 
timer you basically get an infinite supply of Monitors. The hardest part is 
getting past that first ambush. And that isn't hard. After doing that I ran to 
Havana, triggering that countdown. Then built a dock at the north near the 
Spanish docks, and suicided everything except Amanda and Kenyanke. Had Amanda 
hide off in a corner. Hiding one unit in a forgotten corner counts as 
'survive'. The dock is nice since you can build a third Monitor there. The 
Spanish will keep you well supplied with enough resources to build your 'third 
monitors'. The Americans ship in 2 monitors and some other ship every time you 
lose the other ones. I like to build a third monitor as your monitors get 
taken out pretty fast by the giant cannon. Having three rush a cannon lets you 
get in a few extra shots before the cannon takes them all out. Then the 
Americans ship in a couple more - you can build a third. Rinse and repeat. 
Despite rumors to the contrary, the monitors *can* reach the temple. For a 
while I thought you couldn't possibly lose this level. Finally found a way to. 
Suicide everything that can be deleted then get Amanda and Kenyanke both dead 
at the same time. Sinking the ship they are on might let you lose too."
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________

You'll have to use the land route, since there's no way your ships are getting 
past the Circle's cannons. Take your three ships east and drop everyone off on 
the beach.

Work your way around the area, picking up whichever treasures you feel like 
going for (try to at least get the two settlers). Farther north is a bunch of 
Circle tits, and once you remove them you can head up to the yellow base. 
Don't go in until the yellows have fended off the Circle's attack on their 
own, and pick up the other two settlers being held prisoner south of Havana.

When you get Amelia to the yellow town center you get given your own covered 
wagon. You could base your town away down to the south, but I prefer dumping 
my town centre close to Havana, both for their support and for those three 
mines. When your town centre opens you get two new objectives.

¬==¬
PO: SURVIVE UNTIL THE US NAVY ARRIVES

SO: ADVANCE TO THE IMPERIAL AGE
¬==¬

The Circle will be sending squads of troops at Havana, and at you if your base 
is close enough to be targetted on the way. It's an excellent idea to do what 
you can to save your yellow allies, so there are two things you need to do to 
defend the two bases: build towers along the southern edge of Havana; and 
produce five or six falconets.

But to get all this done you need resources and settlers, so move quickly to 
get at least ten peasants on each resource type. Havana will occasionally 
tribute you with 300 of each type, which will definitely help.

The reds will pretty much always send falconets along with their smaller 
troops, and the best things for killing off falconets are other falconets. 
Unfortunately you're building a base from scratch, so bring in some 
intelligent Home City shipments (peasants if you have them) while you use your 
meagre few starting units to help Havana kill off the first two or three 
Circle attacks. Havana can probably take care of all the Circle units except 
the falconets, so prioritise them with your own units.

You probably don't need to be told what shipments to bring in by now, but I 
definitely found a fort to be a good idea, especially for picking off those 
falconets. There are not a lot of trees about, and both Havana and the Circle 
are going for what wood there is, so a Factory card upon progression to the 
Industrial Age is also a good idea.

You might also want the cuirass (haven't heard that word since Morrowind) of 
El Pollo Guapo which can be found south of your base, guarded by some goons. 
It will effectively double a hero's hitpoints, though I can't help feeling 
this would have been more valuable earlier in the game, especially since 
you'll hardly be using your heroes on their own in this final level.

Other than the above, there's not much else to talk about until the timer runs 
down and the American ships turn up. This is where things definitely swing in 
your favour.

¬==¬
PO: DESTROY THE OSSUARY SHORE GUNS AND TEMPLE
¬==¬

You now have two utterly brilliant monitor ships, whose ranged special attacks 
can decimate most of the Circle's buildings with one or two shots. You can 
also send Amelia over to that small island in the west, in order to build a 
trading post in the Carob village - Amelia should be able to kill off the 
guards with the help of the ship.

By now you're probably in the Industrial Age, and you may even have or two 
factories or forts. There's nothing much else to say about this level - just 
build up a standard army and assault the Circle's base, and fend off their 
attacks with your towers, forts and falconets while you're building it. The 
monitor ships can do you a big favour in wiping out the Circle's defenses and 
fortifications, and in fact the temple is about the only building they can't 
drop from the safety of the sea. Just make sure you've gotten rid of the 
surrounding cannons before getting too cavalier with the precious ships, 
though they will be replaced later if you lose them (the ships, not the 
cannons).

To finally take down the red base, let the Havanananianians (?) head in first, 
ideally right after you've soaked up the latest Circle attack on your base. 
They should do pretty well if you've destroyed the Circle's cannons and 
outpost towers with your ships (make sure you get the tougher fort towers 
too). Then send in your own massed troops while the Circle are busy dealing 
with your allies, and get busy knocking out the unit production buildings and 
town centre.

There are some Circular frigates and other ships down in the south which might 
give your units problems, but you can build a dock of your own and send in 
your monitors, frigates and galleons to rid yourself of the red fleet.

To finish the Circle off once and for all, head inside the last enclosure 
where the temple awaits. Beaumont is lurking in here, with grenades that can 
kill off one heavy cannon per shot; plus various wild animals and Boneguards. 
By this time your army should be ludicrously overblown, and it's a case of 
just hammering away at their tough temple with everything you have in the 
area. Once the temple's down it's bye-bye to the Circle and hello to the 
ending movie.

Congratulations on completing the game. Now try it on Hard difficulty and cry 
when you reach Temples Of The Aztec.

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                               3. CONTRIBUTIONS
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Version 1.0 -

11 December 2006 - Michael Sarich: Copyright Disclaimer

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Version 1.1 -

21 December - Derrick Herman 
Contributed to section 1.1.2 HINTS AND INFO

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Version 1.2 -

N/A

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Version 1.3 - 

17 April 2007 - john SMITH 
Contributed to section 2.1.1 BREAKOUT

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Version 1.4 -

N/A

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Version 1.5 -

05 December 2007 - J.N.Phadke 
Contributed to section 2.2.2 STRANGE ALLIANCES

03 January 2008 - Guy Becker 
Contributed to section 1.1.2 HINTS AND INFO

03 January 2008 - Carmine Arpaia 
Contributed to section 2.1.1 BREAKOUT

27 January 2008 - Larry N
Contributed to sections 2.2.7 WARWICK'S STRONGHOLD; 2.2.8 BRING DOWN THE 
MOUNTAIN; 2.3.1 RACE FOR THE RAILS; 2.3.2 HOLD THE FORT; 2.3.3 THE BONEGUARD'S 
LAIR; 2.3.6 JOURNEY THROUGH THE ANDES; 2.3.7 LAST CITY OF THE INCA; 2.3.8 LAST 
STAND OF THE BONEGUARD

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Version 1.6 -

09 March 2008 - jeroen jonkhoff 
Contributed to section 1.1.2 HINTS AND INFO

26 April 2008 - thomas doyon 
Contributed to section 1.1.2 HINTS AND INFO

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                         THANK-YOU TO ALL CONTRIBUTORS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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                              4. VERSION HISTORY
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Version 1.0 completion - 11 December 2006

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Version 1.1 completion - 06 January 2007

Section 1:

Section 1.1.2 - Added notes about advanced formations; heroes; Imperial Age

Miscellaneous:

Corrected typing and formatting errors

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Version 1.2 completion - 01 February 2007

New disclaimer

Section 1:

1.2 USING THIS GUIDE - Improved information
1.3 CONTACT ME - Improved information

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Version 1.3 completion - 19 April 2007

Corrected typing and formatting errors

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Version 1.4 completion - 04 August 2007

Corrected misnamed version number
New disclaimer

Section 1:

1.3 CONTACT ME - Updated information

Corrected typing and formatting errors

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Version 1.5 completion - 30 March 2008

Section 1:

1.2 USING THIS GUIDE - Improved information

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Version 1.6 completion - 12 July 2008

Section 1:

1.1.1 WELCOME - Added notes about absence of guide help for multiplayer, etc
1.2 USING THIS GUIDE - Improved information
1.3 CONTACT ME - Revised and corrected

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Thank-you for using this walkthrough. I hope it helped you out, or at least 
taught you how _not_ to play the game. At the very least, I hope you found it 
entertaining.

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This guide was written and formatted with the excellent Metapad:

http://www.liquidninja.com/metapad/

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Useless - [email protected]

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