bros having the time of his life

Elite conq on a black wood archer with no upgrades perhaps? Imperial skirm on a blackwood archer?

Fully upgraded cataphract on a karambit warrior?

Just curious on this all of a sudden

Finally I'm 1200 elo. It took me soo many days to get here. I hope to reach 1300 soon

Many of the campaigns, from Age of Kings to The Last Chieftans are excellent scenarios reflecting historical battles (sometimes not that accurately) in a range of gameplay.

However, there may be something in regards to a scenario that you may feel is not quite right. Is it gameplay or historical accuracy? Would you do something completely different or is it perfect?

102: Francisco de Almeida 4 - Estado da India

I find myself more and more intrigued with the Vikings, their infantry is beefy and free hand cart and wheel barrow are an amazing bonus.

As a Civ are they a MAA with archers kinda Civ? Or can they be played just straight archers? I assume they wouldn’t really use too much cavalry but this is just at a glance.

Lastly, does their Castle age tech give their spearman line even more bonus damage against cavalry? Or just swordsman and UU?

Hello guys, I finally manage to beat hard bot. Can I start ranked or will I get absolutely destroyed ?

Thank you

im happy by all means, it seems we have more nomad this week.. but just asking because it seems the rotation was due today at around this hour?

Hi, I am looking forward to play with smarter A.I. without resources cheat.

On ranked games, I am a 1300~1400 Elo player and I can beat 3 extreme AIs in smaller maps.

I think extreme AI is like 1000 elo player in early games and 1100 if fully boomed.

Currently I am looking for stronger ai to play with, any suggestions?

Isn't the new map pool supposed to rotate today? Is it delayed? We had the vote over the weekend, but I'm seeing the same stuff from the last couple weeks.

EDIT: NVM it's up now!

https://ageofempires.fandom.com/wiki/Petard_(Age_of_Empires_II))

Petards do 25 melee damage and +60 vs Siege Weapons. So 85 damage - melee armor.

So that should mean, that they oneshot all Siege Onagers, Heavy Rocket Carts, Heavy Scorpions, War Chariots, Mounted Trebuchets and Elite Organ Guns within a 0.5 tile radius.

Even bombard cannons only have 80 hp and 2 melee armor, so would get oneshot!

Sadly, you cannot delete manually delete petards like you can with demo ships. If you do, they won't do any damage.

I don't think, I have ever seen Petards used like that. Could this actually be viable sometimes, though?

Gotten back into AOE2 after about 15 years away, and for the first time playing difficulties above standard. When I increase the difficulty level, I usually give myself some kind of advantage, such as being able to see the whole map, or letting myself ally with one of the AIs. In general I see allying with one of the AIs as a form of cheating, because I can let my ally deal with the fighting while I hoover up all the resources. I just finished my first skirmish without any alliances on hard, which is nice. Do you guys also see alliances as a form of cheating?

I wanna get into ranking and getting better as a player while doing it anyone elo 500 wanna join?

I just saw another person's question about how to get the AI to truly be the hardest. And I know that there are competitions or at least there were in the past for individuals who could create the hardest AI to beat and I would love to see that happen again

So here's my thought: It would seem that you could program an AI to when if it's job was to be the ultimate laming program... The goal would be to attempt to always go forward with three to four to five vills and wall in everything and then you have a specific way to train them to go in stand on the edge of squares and wall in the enemy villagers if they attempt to attack you. Or since it's an AI it possibly can do these things at superhuman speeds and it's possible that it could walk up to woodlines and just wall in individual villagers and make it so the game would just be unplayable for the other civilization.

I'm sure someone's tried something like this already and if they have videos of it I would love to see it! Also I'm sure this has the ability to be better than what I'm saying but I think you get the general idea.

I've tried everything i can think of including DDU and full driver reinstall. It's a Gigabyte laptop ; G5 KC-5US2130SH. Very frustrating.

Help!!

Difficulty Ratings

• 0: A very minor threat that is easy to overcome
• 1: A fair fight that makes things interesting
• 2: A difficult situation that requires some outside the box thinking
• 3: A highly difficult situation requiring lots of micro-management, unit-countering and precise timing
• 4: A constant struggle in which focus and momentum must be maintained at all times, as well as proper tactics and timing
• 5: Nearly impossible. Every move must be flawless or aggressive save-scumming is necessary to win

Lautaro: (red)

I know nothing about this campaign, but quite a bit about the Persian nation. I’ve only played them once since I started these reviews (for the historical battle), but they were a favorite in the old days because of their elephants. They’ve gone through quite a few changes since then, and I’m pleased they’re finally getting their own campaign like they deserve. Hopefully, this campaign clears the high bar set by its two predecessors.

1. Gods of Death and Terror: Difficulty 1
   1. Mapuche Villages (orange), Pedro de Valdivia (dark blue), Spanish Patrols (purple), Occupied Villages (teal)
   2. This mission is strangely designed, and much easier than I first thought. It begins with the player in the southeast, under the control of a small town with a decent number of starting villagers and soldiers, as well as a choice of either skirmishes or spearmen (the chosen army will accompany and automatically upgrade for the rest of the campaign). The player is told to avoid Pedro’s castles in the north and west, though his camp in the south is a bit more vulnerable to early raids, until reinforcements arrive at the end of a 40 minute timer that quickly starts. The main thrust of the campaign is supposed to be a struggle against Pedro for control of the 5 Mapuche villages scattered across the map, each of which contributes population and resources to the player but additional soldiers in the form of occupied villages for the enemy. Capturing a village is as simple as attacking the central tower until it is sufficiently damaged. There are also patrols of mighty Spanish soldiers scattered across the map, and the player cannot build town centers, castles or any mounted units.
   3. Initially, I attempted to do some early raiding with my starting units but found myself overwhelmed by small patrols of knights, infantry and conquistadors. I restarted quickly, pumping all of my food into villagers while dispatching a few runners to scout the map. We didn’t get far, but we identified two damaged monasteries I could repair to improve morale as well as a few groups of survivors, mostly villagers with a couple of soldiers. I soon started researching the castle age and building any structures I lacked while sending a group north to repair the monastery in that direction. Half of my men were sacrificed holding back a patrol while a villager started reconstruction and a few guards protected him from several jaguars that moved in for the kill. We repaired it, but saw no immediate benefits, and one of the nearby villages soon fell to the enemy.
   4. None of that group returned, so I elected to wall off the northern approach to my base and launched another army west. The enemy conquered a village in the middle, along with two others in short order, and were moving on the last remaining one in the east. I surprise attacked the central one to keep them busy before moving west for the last monastery, clearing an enemy patrol and finding a few more survivors. These survivors mined significant amounts of gold while we held our ground against dozens of soldiers from the occupied villages and Pedro and our villager repaired the final monastery. I expected a bigger reward, but all I got was the loom research so my forces retreated and left the surviving gold miners to act as a distraction. I constructed towers on my western approach and massed about 2 dozen slingers, pikes and champis with a few monks as backup to hold back the enemy.
   5. I soon depleted my gold mines, but I had several thousand in reserve and my fortified soldiers died rarely while we cut down dozens of enemy troops every few moments. My slingers were more than a little important here, sniping enemy conquistadors the moment they appeared and luring masses of enemies into my pikes and warriors. We fought for 20 minutes while losing no ground, but gaining none either, eventually reaching the end of the timer which spawned a few dozen mixed infantry and ranged units in the south. I thought I would then be tasked with using this force to attack the enemy, but that was when Pedro received a massive influx of reinforcements in the west and mocked us. The scenario suddenly ended, and I was surprised when it did because I expected a different objective than just survive. I’ll take it.
   6. This mission is much easier than I first thought once I understood the main objective. The villages will contribute several hundred resources each to the player before the enemy conquers them, and there is more than enough near the starting base for pretty much anything one would need. Walls allowed me to completely control the battlefield, and even watchtowers were strong enough to deter enemy attacks and help pin them down in open combat. Slingers are both durable and damaging enough to dominate the battlefield with healers and the occasional warrior wall, and my limited population only restricted me from training an attack force, not a defensive one. The monasteries are a waste of time, but locating survivor groups early can pay in dividends if they are given ample time to work (one group in the east was farming from near the start of the game to the end). My one major complaint is that the mission doesn’t tell the player they only need to survive, and implies the castles will eventually be attacked which just isn’t the case.
2. Servant of the Crown: Difficulty 2
   1. Caupolicán (yellow), Mapuche Tribes (orange), Pedro de Valdivia (dark blue), Spanish Auxiliaries (teal), Spanish Guards (purple)
   2. This is a 2 (3?) phase mission which initially begins with the player in command of a mixed force of slingers, champis and skirmishers. These soldiers are led by a mounted hero that increases the attack speed of soldiers nearby, who must be kept alive. The player starts in the northwest, at the top of a strip of land divided by rivers running northwest to southeast. This land has 3 crossings at its southwestern edge, each of which is guarded by groups of mixed Mapuche tribe soldiers. These soldiers will attack on sight, and killing all at one crossing will give the player 4 workers and a foundation for a wooden fort, under the command of Pedro. This fort must be constructed while defending the workers from the forces of Caupolicán who charge from the other side of the river. Upon completion, several groups of Spanish soldiers and workers move in to construct military and housing buildings while the player moves on to the next. Each completed fort awards a few hundred resources for use at a player controlled market or blacksmith, but no training or construction can be done at this phase. The player also occasionally receives influxes of native troops, including a one-time burst of bola riders.
   3. Upon completing the third of these forts (I lost troops here and there but nothing too bad) I received a group of pikemen from a tribe and my villagers turned into champis, and I was ordered to kill Caupolicán by Pedro. Caupolicán himself offered me to join him, and my new objective was to capture at least 4 horses from enemy palisades and bring them to him with my hero alive. These palisades were under the command of the Spanish guards in the east, and there were 3 of them alongside a large stockade that held prisoners. I used my troops to clear the first pasture and then conquer the stockade (lost a lot of men in the process), but in return I was given 6 villagers, an infantry hero that heals my men and a permanent but minor mining buff for the rest of the game. I could’ve moved on after clearing the second palisade, but I chose to attack the third in case I received an extra bonus for extra horses (I didn’t) before meeting my ally.
   4. The nature of the map soon shifted, with the Spanish auxiliary native forces and Pedro’s own men attempting to kill me in the south and Caupolicán in the west, across the river from the three forts I helped build. I was given a large town and a castle, and my new objective was to level 2 of the forts, but only one was across from me while my ally faced the others. I spent a few minutes repelling an early raid from Pedro across the river and the auxiliaries at the southernmost crossing, which only happened once, before massing slingers and a few rams to attack. Pedro’s men who moved in when each fort was complete did not raid, and instead held their ground to only attack those that approached the forts. These men were cannoneers, conquistadors and longswordsmen, posing quite a threat to my forces beyond the forts themselves.
   5. Fortunately for me, my ally was absorbing the main brunt of both Pedro and the auxiliaries to my north, allowing me to move in directly. Though I lost many men, including my mounted hero (who I could retrain), we succeeded in bringing down the fort which leveled the entire enemy camp. We swiftly repositioned to the northwest, withstanding the incoming but fragmented armies of our enemies who had all but destroyed my ally (only a badly damaged castle and a few villagers survived). We spent a few minutes harassing and executing Spanish and Mapuche soldiers while training more slingers and rams, as well as some champis to garrison said rams. Before long we moved on the second fort, using my ranged men to act as a wall against enemy rams while my own closed on the fort. Once my rams were in position and surrounded by the enemy guards, I set the champis free to engage them, tearing the enemy troops off of us and destroying the enemy rams before they could hit mine. The fort fell amidst the chaos, and we claimed a fleeting victory from the mess.
   6. This mission is somewhat hectic but very manageable, with a solid early start and some good rewards. The hero that heals units is a big deal, and extra starting soldiers and villagers in this scenario is huge, even if the carryover benefit is minor. I was disappointed there was no extra reward for more horses, but it’s no big deal, and the moment I saw I could research slinger passthrough damage I knew what my army could be. Not building walls or castles is always an annoying restriction, but I imagine it will be lifted going forward, and I hope I can soon actually use the cavalry the Mapuche civ is supposed to excel with.
3. The Battle of Tucapel: Difficulty 3
   1. Caupolicán (yellow), Cuncos (orange), Poyas (green), Fort Tucapel (dark blue), Yanacona Auxiliaries (teal), Spanish Guards (purple)
   2. This is an interesting mission with quite a few moving parts, and a couple of frustrating design choices. It starts with the player in the south, in command of a decently sized starting army, a new fast attacking infantry hero and a small base with a castle. This base has no villagers, and the player doesn’t have access to a town center throughout the entire mission. Alongside the player is Caupolicán with his own camp, and he will occasionally launch raids on enemy points when the player does, but is otherwise nothing except a potential shield. These bases are separated from the rest of the map by 2 crossings, each of which is guarded by a force of enemy auxiliary units which must be bypassed.
   3. The center and western portions of the map are home to many Cunco villages, groups of deserters and Spanish corrals. Destroying a corral palisade releases horses which increase mounted unit training speed and provide free horsemen if returned to base. Approaching deserters with the hero I acquired the previous mission brings them to my side, and the villages can be completely converted to my control by destroying the tower or fort within them. Clearing a village gives some new buildings and a few soldiers, but more importantly they are the only source of villagers, and that source is very limited. 
   4. In the eastern portion of the map are 5 Poya camps, each requesting a different task which mostly involves killing guards or enemy buildings in a specific nearby location. They offer no soldiers, but instead give specific upgrades and, sometimes, large resource dumps. Most importantly, one upgrades rams and gives the siege engineer tech, and another grants elite champi warriors. As for enemies there are only 2, but they are quite threatening. The first are the auxiliaries, who have a base beyond a river in the north that can only be accessed by breaching an enemy fort. They send out raiding parties of weaker units from the start, but their use of slingers and capped rams later make them rather dangerous. South of this base is Fort Tucapel, the destruction of whose castle is the primary objective of the mission. Though initially passive, they will eventually launch raids of halberdiers, champions, light cavalry and conquistadors every few minutes once antagonized.
   5. Right from the start I spent most of my limited starting funds researching the passthrough tech at my castle and training a few slingers before crossing the water. We killed the enemy auxiliaries and brought down the guards in the easternmost village, using our starting ram to destroy the tower before moving west for the other 3 villages. The locals started gathering various resources for us, and did quite well for themselves as we found soldiers and corals around them. We soon hit the village nearest our ally who deployed an army to help, using a small number of capped rams we had gained from deserters to avoid much in the way of casualties. The auxiliary forces used my absence to launch a raid and kill the villagers in the eastern village, but I met them when they moved west and halted their attack, saving those villagers. Only one survived the initial village attack because I used her to construct a monastery and university in my base.
   6. My men continued their slaughter, tearing apart more corals before hitting the village north of the last. This one was guarded by a fort, but our rams tanked the damage while our burgeoning army supported them, felling the structure without losing even one ram (it had 1HP left). While I repaired and recouped my losses, my ally was repelling an attack from the auxiliaries that was hitting our bases. I was soon threatened by the enemy fort which launched its first attack of many. We lost some men but held our own, moving on the last town and tearing down its fort as well. Though I couldn’t build any more throughout the mission, I was able to construct 2 castles in place of the enemy forts, giving me an easy way to train more mounted units.
   7. We had soon gathered as many deserters and cleared as many corrals as we could, so I brought a few monks at my base around to meet my army which was now stuck in an endless loop of repelling raids from both the auxiliaries and fort in the northernmost village. I spent the next 10 minutes or so completing 2 side quests for some Poya villages, gaining some blacksmith upgrades and gold in exchange for killing a few guards and sacking a monastery. We were then told of an incoming convoy from the northwest, and I massed some cavalry who struck it as it arrived, capturing it and gaining us the ability to construct siege cannons. I then completed the remaining objectives for the other tribes, gathering as many upgrades and as much strength as I could.
   8. With a combined army of several dozen elite champis, both ranged and melee cavalry, slingers, skirmishers, monks, 3 heroes and 4 cannons, we marched across the northern crossing and attacked the enemy fort. It had bombard cannons at its perimeter, but only palisades as barriers which we swiftly tore down. Enemy missionaries, monks and cavaliers that had not attacked before were suddenly deployed, trying their hardest to halt our advance. My ally eventually intervened when my own forces dwindled, and though he wasn’t enough to defeat the Spanish, he did distract them for long enough. 3 of my cannons fell, but the last one finished the enemy castle and completed our primary objective. Even as my army was crushed, the enemy was no more.
   9. This mission definitely leans into the spammy nonsense of the African campaigns, and reminds me a bit of a Tariq mission. Fortunately, the Spanish don’t obnoxiously throw out endless monks or cavaliers until attacked, making it feel much more manageable. I think it would be better if the auxiliaries could be destroyed prior to attacking the Spanish, since it only makes sense they would use them as living shields instead of guarding them with the entire fort. This would be so much worse if it weren’t for the inclusion of bombard cannons, but I also wish I had a way to direct my ally to attack, or at least have him be a bit aggressive or give tributes. As it is, he does almost nothing the entire game. Regardless, this is definitely not the worst offender as far as unfair design goes.
4. The Elusive Snake: Difficulty 3
   1. Mapuche Rearguard (yellow), Mapuche Tribes (orange), Fort Quiapo (green), Fort Arauco (purple), Concepión (dark blue), Yanacona Auxiliaries (teal)
   2. This is a decently challenging and well-designed mission which I enjoyed quite a bit. It starts with the player in the southeast with a reasonably sized base in the castle age. This base doesn’t have a siege workshop, monastery or university, but has most all other buildings one needs including a castle at its northern flank. In the south corner is the Mapuche rearguard with a small and poorly fortified base that has a handful of soldiers it constantly trains. These men act purely defensively and never advance very far. Across a river from the main base to the northeast are the Mapuche tribes, who are practically if not completely defenseless. At the northwestern approach to both Mapuche factions is a watch tower with a barracks and a few player units to act as guards. The allies have a morale system that relies on not losing many people or, more importantly, buildings. The rearguard contributes regular cavalry support under player control and the tribes give hundreds of resources every few minutes, if morale is kept high.
   3. There are 4 enemies on this map, some minor and some major. The first are the Yanacona auxiliaries who train small numbers of Inca troops that conduct early raids. These men guard almost the entire map across the center from southwest to northeast, preventing the player from approaching without fighting through them. They also hold a relic in the hands of a monk in the southwest. They can be defeated early if a relic is given to a neutral monastery in the eastern corner, with another relic in a monastery belonging to the Spaniards north of the local tribes and a third on an island in the water to the northwest. This water has abundant fishing opportunities, including whaling for gold, but reaching it would mean securing a coastline from an enemy fort.
   4. Speaking of enemy forts, there are 3 and they make up the main opponents of the map. The weakest is Quiapo, sitting on the westernmost shore in the northwest. They have only a wooden fort on the exterior of their walls, and they train comparatively small numbers of infantry, archers and rams that will raid the rearguard and attempt to defend themselves. Further northeast is Arauco, with a walled fortress boasting bombard towers and a central castle. They will train light cavalry, conquistadors, onagers and bombard cannons to assault the Mapuche tribes. Lastly there is Concepión in the furthest northeast, commanding a sprawling fortress with a castle inside, several town centers and multiple docks. Their impressive defenses include many bombard towers and hordes of conquistadors, cavaliers, infantry, hand cannoneers and bombard cannons. All forts will train ships if given a reason, but I never had them try to conduct coastal raids. Concepión will also attempt to raid the tribes, and has a small shipyard on a peninsula between the other two forts. Destroying the three bombard towers here will give the player 3 elite cannon galleons for free, and these are the only ones in the entire mission.
   5. In order to win, the player must destroy all 3 Spanish forts while keeping at least 1 ally alive. This is made a bit easier than it first appears since destroying a central fort or castle will destroy surrounding fortifications and units and give the player all other buildings inside a fort. I started this mission by allocating soldiers to each separate front while also dispatching my healer hero to the east where she wanted to talk to a priestess. I set about developing a powerful economy with my significant starting resources, and split up my heroes between the different armies. I launched an early raid against the auxiliaries in the southwest, reloading a few times until I had a favorable early outcome that resulted in us securing the relic (maybe not necessary but I wanted to move on instead of getting roadblocked here). While my monk brought the relic to the monastery, the mightier two of the enemy forts attacked.
   6. Both of their armies converged on the tribes like a wave, tearing through most of our soldiers like a scythe despite not having many upgrades yet. A few cavalry eventually managed to kite most of them and earned us a win, but it was very close. Despite having a castle in my base, it never came under attack once. I knew I needed stronger defenses, so I set some villagers to gather stone in allied territory and eventually built a castle near the tribes while fending off a minor attack against the rearguard. I soon had returned the relic to the monastery, and the screen darkened for a few minutes while the auxiliaries disbanded, clearing the roads for us.
   7. While we advanced to the imperial age and trained a proper army, I assembled a strike force in the west. This group marched to the outskirts of Fort Quiapo where bola riders harried enemy troops from a distance and other soldiers killed those that drew near. I lost men in droves further east, burning significant food and gold stores on cavalry and infantry to protect the castle from large waves, but the castle continued to hold. I soon had a trebuchet outside Quiapo which swiftly tore it down, giving me access to the oceans which I immediately exploited for gold, food and a relic. I scouted the nearby terrain while building a castle of my own to defend the fort, which now suffered around half of the raids from Arauco, and determined it would be impractical to attack the shipyard before dealing with the fort. I destroyed the monastery near the tribes in the hopes that it would slow Concepión’s production, but it didn’t (though I did get another relic out of it).
   8. Though Arauco’s constant raids were annoying, they gave a solid opportunity I was happy to take advantage of. While one army was occupied with the tribes, my own army was able to hit their western flank, holding the small garrison at bay while my trebuchets felled the bombard towers. We closed into the city and opened fire at the castle, taking constant attacks from the ever-training soldiers, ships and a few remaining bombard towers inside, and I lost all but one or two soldiers in the fight. Fortunately, all my trebuchets survived, and the castle fell just moments before they could be targeted. I didn't have much use for the fort itself, but it was a solid buffer against Concepión’s raids which now targeted it, and my trebuchets immediately redirected towards the shipyard. With the cannon galleons in my possession, I constructed a backup fleet of 30 galleons to support them and sailed on Concepión.
   9. The final enemy fort had a few galleons but not enough, and we had soon torn down their bombard towers and docks, along with their town centers and many military buildings. My entire army congregated on the southwestern gate which our ships destroyed, surging inside and obliterating the remaining enemy forces in spectacular fashion. As the castle fell, however, we did not win, but were instead shown a cutscene where Valdivia invaded the rearguard in the south with a massive army, massacring them all. Like the first mission, our victory was meaningless in the grand scheme of things.
   10. This mission is fun, or at least can be, despite a few flaws. First, the enemy relies on actual economy here, though raiding them can be difficult since they have secure forts for most resources as well as ocean access. On the other side, the player has plentiful trade, access to early relics and bountiful resources as well, making it a reasonably fair fight. Second, the player and allies are pretty well-established from the start, making a direct slugfest feel both fair and possible. Third, the enemy targets the south and north, but leaves the player’s main base alone. It makes the castle there feel useless, but it’s one less place to worry about fending off siege weapons. Lastly, the auxiliaries can be completely eliminated early and Fort Quiapo is actually very easy to sack, making early momentum easily achievable. This is definitely my favorite mission of the campaign so far, and I hope to see more of this type of design philosophy moving forward.
5. A Taste of Freedom: Difficulty 4
   1. Mapuche Tribes (orange), Santiago (grey), Pedro de Valdivia's Army (dark blue), Yanacona Auxiliaries (teal), Spanish Guards/Pedro de Valdivia (purple)
   2. This mission was pretty brutal, but some early luck and rushing was extremely beneficial. I reloaded almost immediately after starting once I did some initial scouting and let the game explain its mechanics. The scenario features a battle almost entirely between the player and two dangerous opponents. The player is in the south with a relatively safe economic base, no monastery or university, a castle in the north and a decent starting army. Many villagers have to be trained immediately, and there’s a significant amount of llamas in the surrounding land that should be grabbed for quick food. The main objective is to defeat Valdivia’s army, which holds 3 castles and military bases in the center of the map, guarding access to the north. This faction will train conquistadors, paladins, champions, hand cannoneers and bombard cannons in droves to assault the player after just a few minutes have elapsed.
   3. Aiding the army is, of course, the auxiliaries. These enemies have a sprawling base in the west, divided from the rest of the map by a river with crossings at its north, south and center. They have a castle of their own, and will launch invasions of Incan unique units, slingers, arbalests, rams and trebuchets. These enemies can approach from the west or north, and will attack a bit earlier and more often than the army. Both of these enemies use the annoying AI that targets the largest concentration of units, but both of them do have actual economies (just protected behind their lines). Defeating the auxiliaries isn’t strictly necessary, but I would be hard pressed to ever win without doing so.
   4. In the east is the only potential ally on the map, the Mapuche tribes. I started with my healer hero and a relic cart, and was told I could convince the tribes to join me by either killing 125 men from the enemy army or by delivering the hero and cart to their town center. Delivery isn’t particularly easy, as Spanish guards patrol the space between and have palisades blocking some of the only paths through the mountainous terrain. If appeased, the tribes will send groups of diverse units to aid the player when attacked, but these men are quite limited. It won’t be long after they’re allied that they will deplete most of their resources since they only collect wood, leading to nothing but 1-6 bola riders on the field at a time. They will still, however, be good for trade.
   5. In the north is the city of Santiago, which is neutral and filled with military, economic and fortified buildings. The city is divided into 5 squares, with one in the north, 2 southwest, 1 southeast and one directly south of the corner. The one directly south is a large fort with bombard towers and wood forts that remains neutral, but the others are more diverse and have a central mining camp in the middle. Clicking on this camp shows a percentage, and the district is complete when the percentage reaches 100. When completed, a district turns over all of its buildings to the army, and builds a castle in the center, making them much harder to eliminate. To prevent this, 4-6 foremen around the construction site have to be killed, each being a hero with significant health but no ability to run or defend themselves. Though no buildings are active in this area, it is filled with patrols of Spanish guards, mostly halberdiers and hand cannoneers.
   6. I started this mission by immediately training more villagers for all resources. My stone mines were quite limited, but I acquired what I could with the intent of building more castles near my original. My army did not wait around, and instead rode directly for the southwestern approach to the Mapuche tribes, clearing the way well before the first enemy raids arrived and allowing us to recruit them. They provided crucial aid early on, intercepting enemy raids and distracting their soldiers while I deployed just a few mounted units at a time to handle enemy siege weapons. In no time at all I had 3 castles and a small army of mounted units which I rode through the tribes’ base, coming up on the southeast entrance of Santiago. The first attack cleared an entire district and a half around the 45% mark, and I immediately set about making another one, though things were already getting difficult.
   7. In no time at all, my enemies had constructed massive armies that ceaselessly descended on us from several directions. I had to be careful, using my mounted units to kite enemies between castles, target siege weapons and form armies to try and raid Santiago while I had the chance. This continued for quite some time until I had another raid prepared, which I figured could at least clear the north corner. We did better than expected, and I managed to both massacre the northern foremen but also all but one in the nearest southwest district. The district was 80% done, but I knew I had a chance and I took it. A small party of 12 cavalry darted beneath enemy units, with less than half of them reaching the foreman alive. The last one barely killed him before dying to the enemy guards, sacking 3 of the 4 districts while the last completed. The enemy gained a small advantage, but this was a major blow.
   8. My economy was strong enough that I could field enormous armies in only moments. I had most upgrades since I was in the imperial age, and I put some resources into both elite bola riders and kona, making my army as strong as it could be. My men soon numbered in the dozens, and they marched west across the southern river crossing with 3 trebuchets and several monks at their backs, determined to finish off the auxiliaries. We managed to punch through some starting military buildings and towers, but we were eventually stopped at the feet of the auxiliary castle as reinforcements from the army arrived to attack us.
   9. Realizing my garrison was unused at the moment, I dispatched my locals to the western front, reinforcing my invasion and ending the Spanish soldiers that attacked us. Once the threat was passed, I dispatched my melee units to destroy the town center while my trebuchets battered the castle, razing both in short order. It took around a minute afterwards but the auxiliaries finally surrendered, ending one of our opponents completely. The Spanish waylaid our army on its return trip, but my most valuable units returned alive and met with a new army I had already been training. After withstanding another Spanish attack, we moved north.
   10. What followed was a long and brutal battle, punctuated by a more tricky AI than I was used to. While the auxiliaries (and all enemies in prior scenarios) would constantly send trained units to attack, allowing us to kill them one by one, the army had a few rally points it sent most troops to, attacking from flanks and en masse when the groups were large enough. This made them difficult to predict, but it also made them slower to stop us, and I had more than half-a-dozen trebuchets bearing down on them. We tore through their three frontal castles, pushing forward and leveling a few town centers and many towers and military buildings while facing a still burgeoning army. I had amassed an enormous stockpile in the meantime, and used it to funnel reinforcements onto the field that were sorely needed. We eventually finished the army, leveling the district I failed to stop and relegating Valdivia to his fort in the one remaining district that had a fort.
   11. My mission was now to kill Valdivia himself, along with a small retinue of guards he had between his wooden forts and bombard towers. I carefully lured them to the walls and killed them all while tearing down the fortifications, even riding about Santiago to ensure no stragglers escaped us and arrived to reinforce him. Eventually, he stood all alone with a whopping 2,000HP, but it was no match for our army. My men descended on him like a plague of locusts, felling him in his fort and winning the final mission.
   12. This mission is pretty brutal, and could be reminiscent of a few more frustrating missions since it pits the player, basically alone, against 2 extremely aggressive and well-developed AIs. Unlike other similar missions, this one is a lot more fair. First, the enemy army can be weakened if the player focuses on raiding Santiago, significantly reducing their impact later on. This isn’t easy, but it has an extremely tangible and long-lasting impact that cannot be ignored. Second, the player has a strong starting position with good resources, a somewhat developed base and army and only one “real” direction from which enemies attack. Third, of course, is the ally who provides crucial early game support but is more importantly available for trade throughout the entire scenario. All of these elements make the mission feel multi-phased, engaging and sort of fair, even on legendary difficulty, while still keeping things difficult and tricky. I am impressed.

I was far too much of a downer when going into this campaign. I’ve had bad experiences with a lot of the American Indian missions and campaigns in the past, and I figured this one would be the same. AOE2 has learned from their past mistakes, and has made these civs feel balanced and fun to play, even if up against poor matches (there is a reason the Spanish conquered all of South America). Balancing narrative difficulty vs in-game difficulty using gameplay and cutscenes makes it feel less rigged but still impactful, and most scenarios felt like they were designed to present a challenge but still be winnable. This makes me feel a bit better for the remaining two campaigns than I did initially, and I hope they don’t prove my feelings wrong.

Just wondering if any mac players have tried on GPTK-4 and can give a signal of what they experienced?

Much love

It would be nice to be able to scrub through/rewind the replays: : r/aoe2