Barbarossa mission 4 "The Lombard League" is outrageous.

[Dayve]

I'm only playing on moderate difficulty and I can't win. Venice has infinite resources and controls the water with their infinite navy of fast fire ships, galleons and cannon galleons. There's nowhere for you to build a base that is safe from their cannon galleons, so every castle you put up will get taken out by them. There isn't enough wood on the map to keep a navy of your own to defeat the Venetian navy. Meanwhile you have 4 enemy AI's hitting you with 200 unit armies every 3 minutes, including trebuchets and paladins.

What the hell do you have to do to win?

[rvallach]

ok, maybe I'll give it a try. But once I had built the wall, they came in so strong, that I couldnt handle it and they wiped me of. I think it was the green. I started another campagin, so maybe after finishing that one, I'll come back to mr barbarossa :D

but thanks!

[Dayve]

Originally posted by rvallach:

guys, no matter how do I try, I cannot even properly start. When I start the colony on the souther Island, in couple of minutes the green come and they kill me. When I build the dock, wherever I build it, the purple come and destroy it. When I start on the eastern island, again the green come and purple whit their ships.... I did also the rush with the starting army to the yellow town, but maybe my micromanagement is bad, but I could succeed either there...I dont have enough time to even start to build the trash units...

Go north immediately, put down your TC and get a castle ASAP, get some Teutonic Knights and trebuchets and demolish the gate to the base of the closest enemy to your left, across the river, as well as their TC, castle and any towers they have, use your Teutonic Knights (or whatever unit you want to create) to protect your trebs.

Once you're inside build your own gate in the space where their old gate used to be but don't destroy any of their walls. The AI won't even try to get inside.

That's the only way I could finish the mission. I just couldn't defeat them by actually fighting them properly.

[rvallach]

Originally posted by Dayve:

Originally posted by rvallach:

guys, no matter how do I try, I cannot even properly start. When I start the colony on the souther Island, in couple of minutes the green come and they kill me. When I build the dock, wherever I build it, the purple come and destroy it. When I start on the eastern island, again the green come and purple whit their ships.... I did also the rush with the starting army to the yellow town, but maybe my micromanagement is bad, but I could succeed either there...I dont have enough time to even start to build the trash units...

Go north immediately, put down your TC and get a castle ASAP, get some Teutonic Knights and trebuchets and demolish the gate to the base of the closest enemy to your left, across the river, as well as their TC, castle and any towers they have, use your Teutonic Knights (or whatever unit you want to create) to protect your trebs.

Once you're inside build your own gate in the space where their old gate used to be but don't destroy any of their walls. The AI won't even try to get inside.

That's the only way I could finish the mission. I just couldn't defeat them by actually fighting them properly.

you mean destroy right away the henry the lion who later becomes again your enemy? sounds interesting

[Dayve]

Originally posted by rvallach:

Originally posted by Dayve:

Go north immediately, put down your TC and get a castle ASAP, get some Teutonic Knights and trebuchets and demolish the gate to the base of the closest enemy to your left, across the river, as well as their TC, castle and any towers they have, use your Teutonic Knights (or whatever unit you want to create) to protect your trebs.

Once you're inside build your own gate in the space where their old gate used to be but don't destroy any of their walls. The AI won't even try to get inside.

That's the only way I could finish the mission. I just couldn't defeat them by actually fighting them properly.

you mean destroy right away the henry the lion who later becomes again your enemy? sounds interesting

No no, ignore Henry. I mean go north to the top of the map. Maybe I mean east?

[kyrilocy]

Just finished this level on moderate. Venice didn't pose such serious threat like you said at all. Before elite your castle should be able to have cannon galleons in range. Even after they get elite cannon galleon they would attack with only one or two of them a time and it takes forever to bring down a castle which is enough for you to murder its entire fleet after which you can send your fleet to take it down. Also I found quite easy to out build venice's fleet. Just put two castle to guard the little inward port area so they cannot kill your ships before they are massed in numbers.

Other 3 ai are more troublesome as they often join forces and could destroy your castle even without siege weapons (they have treb at first but didn't seem to rebuild them). There are so many units that it's hard to advance out of your defense. But once you control the sea you can just park your fleet at coast and easily block their reinforcement. Ai just don't understand they can attack ship with land units (except some of the siege units) so it's all free shot. Also your cannon galleons can completely destroy two of ai cities. At this moment you can just pick a spot and have your wonder.



ps. Also some trivia

If you retreat some of your villager to the southern island behind your initial base and build a base there ai would mostly ignore it for some reason and focus on you northern base.

Since this level is indeed a bit annoying I decide to force all four of those jerks to surrender. Turn out if you defeat them all you don't need to build the wonder.

Henry is the last to fall but at this point he seems get a infinite stockpile of resource and keep pumping out teutonic knights. Also he only has a single castle but for some reason he can produce those tk faster than my castle on his door step kills them. Thought new ai don't cheat but maybe it's just for campaign.

[Noocher]

Yeah this one had me looking for a strategy on google lol. After numerous failed attempts i tried going north and it worked.
- I started by ringning the bell to get the villagers to safety then manually putting the archers and soldiers iun the towncenter, then immediatly put the two knights on a ship. After the towncenter arrows killed most of the opposition knights all the garrisoned units flee cause the towncenter is about to collapse so i got all the units in the transport ships and headed north
- You will cross all the reinforcement units (lots of ships) by going up north.
- I started building houses then towncenter then built a castle on the north west corner of that island so it delt with most on-foot-attacks but i still had to send knights once in a while to deffend agaisnt occasionnal trebuchet or ram attacks.
- Built university to get the bombard towers to deffend ships but before that i built a dock and fire ships to deffend it , then later on cannon gallons. Once i had the bombard towers, the galleon cannons and the fire ships i was ok to deffend agaisnt the ship raids but you do have to pay attention and micro a little or you can wake up with all your fleet gone. Multiple saves helped cause it did happen a few times.
- Built a stable, a blacksmith and a church to heal my defending troops. Got like 3 trebuchet and once i had a nice gang of knights i went north west to attack.
- trebuchet delt with the towers and the catapult from the begening attack ground right in front of the gate to deal with any defending units coming out.

At that point it was super easy, that town has almost no deffense expect a couple of towers near the walls wich trebuchet delt with easily while knights were guarding. Once i raze the town i only had a few raids while i was building the tower, wich the knights delt with easily.

Im thinking i didnt need to ring the bell at the start of the game cause i never went back south, i could have just board the ships with all my units right away.

Thanks for the tips guys!

[NARKATAN]

It took me a day and a half to figure this out (Moderate Difficulty) I won it in a match of attrition


1. Navigate north with your fleet to the island at the top of the map.
2. Destroy fishing boats and transport to have more pop space right away
3. Build Town Center and begin mining stone and wood right away
4. ASAP build walls by the marshes to the west, also with time build two castles to protect each path from the enemy.
5. In the future build towers on the coast, and build 2 more castles and bunch of towers by the docks. (I set them in the middle of the island, in the bay)
6. Begin farming for food and mine gold, build a stable and produce knights (upgrade to paladin) you don't need a lot of them 6 -8 should be enough. You will need this cavalary to quickly get out of the gates and destroy any siege equipment that enemy might have (mostly rams and cannons)
7. Build fire ships, fight off enemy navy, it will get weaker with time if you fight it. Try to fight it by your towers or castles for extra damage.
8. After some time (might be an hour or more) enemy will get weaker. Yes you will lose a lot of ships, towers, walls, time, energy, and nerves before that happens.But the Enemy doesn't have unlimited power.
9. You will be out of resources as well by this time. Try to build a large navy, it might take some time because by this time the only resource you are left with, will be food, trade it in the market. (fire ships and a transport ship)
10. Destroy the rest of now should be weak enemy navy, and transport couple citizens, cavalary and a priest to a land down south, walk all the way to the end of the map (south) build a town center, later a castle, and mine gold, stone and a lot of wood down there. Enemy will attack but in small forces, you should be able to hide in town center, or fight off them with couple of units.
11. Grow cavalary and siege unit in settlement up north, also build up strong navy, with bombard ships and fire ships to protect them.
12. Attack the Island with towers North East and set up towers of your own there, and you can also mine gold from the island. This will strengthen your power over the sea.
13. Slowly attack Venice (purple) destroy their towers, castle and docks with your bombard ships, protect them with fire ships. Later you can destroy the whole city this way
14. Get your cavalary and siege units and attack Green, then finish off purple.
15. You can build your wonder on the place were Green Castle was or in Venice, and win the match.

I know there might be quicker way, but this is how I did it.

[Dayve]

Originally posted by You mad bro ?:

It took me a day and a half to figure this out (Moderate Difficulty) I won it in a match of attrition


1. Navigate north with your fleet to the island at the top of the map.
2. Destroy fishing boats and transport to have more pop space right away
3. Build Town Center and begin mining stone and wood right away
4. ASAP build walls by the marshes to the west, also with time build two castles to protect each path from the enemy.
5. In the future build towers on the coast, and build 2 more castles and bunch of towers by the docks. (I set them in the middle of the island, in the bay)
6. Begin farming for food and mine gold, build a stable and produce knights (upgrade to paladin) you don't need a lot of them 6 -8 should be enough. You will need this cavalary to quickly get out of the gates and destroy any siege equipment that enemy might have (mostly rams and cannons)
7. Build fire ships, fight off enemy navy, it will get weaker with time if you fight it. Try to fight it by your towers or castles for extra damage.
8. After some time (might be an hour or more) enemy will get weaker. Yes you will lose a lot of ships, towers, walls, time, energy, and nerves before that happens.But the Enemy doesn't have unlimited power.
9. You will be out of resources as well by this time. Try to build a large navy, it might take some time because by this time the only resource you are left with, will be food, trade it in the market. (fire ships and a transport ship)
10. Destroy the rest of now should be weak enemy navy, and transport couple citizens, cavalary and a priest to a land down south, walk all the way to the end of the map (south) build a town center, later a castle, and mine gold, stone and a lot of wood down there. Enemy will attack but in small forces, you should be able to hide in town center, or fight off them with couple of units.
11. Grow cavalary and siege unit in settlement up north, also build up strong navy, with bombard ships and fire ships to protect them.
12. Attack the Island with towers North East and set up towers of your own there, and you can also mine gold from the island. This will strengthen your power over the sea.
13. Slowly attack Venice (purple) destroy their towers, castle and docks with your bombard ships, protect them with fire ships. Later you can destroy the whole city this way
14. Get your cavalary and siege units and attack Green, then finish off purple.
15. You can build your wonder on the place were Green Castle was or in Venice, and win the match.

I know there might be quicker way, but this is how I did it.

Your first three points are right but after that it's just gonna make it take longer than it needs to. Once you get your TC and a castle up, don't wall off the marshes, send an army over the marshes to immediately eliminate that civ. All you need to do it is two trebs and a handful of whatever to defend them. Wipe their base out, claim it for yourself (use their walls, build your own gates where their gates used to be), collect their resources and build the wonder :D

[SeeRedBull]

Originally posted by Dayve:

After failing the mission 6 times I had to just cheese it.

Loaded all of my units on ships, took them to the north-most base you can build on (right next to Padua), immediately put down a town center, a bunch of houses and began mining tons of stone. Then I built 2 castles outside the walls of Padua before they had a chance to get an economy going. Built 2 trebuchets and 20 teutonic knights to protect them, took out their gates, got inside their city with everything I had, wiped them out, then built my own gates on the holes in the wall. After this the AI didn't attack me because it couldn't figure out how to get past the walls of its ally (which I was using as my own).

Couldn't do it any other way. Had to cheese it.

I just needed to see your reply to get the idea!! Fantastic mate :D

Thanks a lot for this

[Dayve]

Originally posted by SeeRedBull:

Originally posted by Dayve:

After failing the mission 6 times I had to just cheese it.

Loaded all of my units on ships, took them to the north-most base you can build on (right next to Padua), immediately put down a town center, a bunch of houses and began mining tons of stone. Then I built 2 castles outside the walls of Padua before they had a chance to get an economy going. Built 2 trebuchets and 20 teutonic knights to protect them, took out their gates, got inside their city with everything I had, wiped them out, then built my own gates on the holes in the wall. After this the AI didn't attack me because it couldn't figure out how to get past the walls of its ally (which I was using as my own).

Couldn't do it any other way. Had to cheese it.

I just needed to see your reply to get the idea!! Fantastic mate :D

Thanks a lot for this

After almost 3 years it's still burned into my brain. Total bull**** mission lol.

[K1tt3nM4ng0]

Yeah, that mission is indeed very hard, in my first playthrough on Hard I had found it impossible to achieve a military victory, so I also basically pushed Padua out of the game right away and just built the Wonder in its base for victory...

However, I just tried to play way differently, certainly would count as cheese since it requires an advance knowledge of the map. What I did is that, instead of migrating to either the Eastern or Northern islands, what I did was to go establish my main base just right in between Venice and Padua, which, I'd have to admit, doesn't sound optimal.

However, by placing your first castle just in between Venice's northernmost gate and Verona's easternmost gate, you can basically both of their economies to prevent them from building up (all the AIs in that scenario, except possibly Padua, are certainly not on infinite resources in that scenario). Venice surrendered almost immediately, and I was able to cripple Padua beyond the ability to get back on its feet (it only surrendered once I destroyed every last one of its buildings, including markets). I think it's optimal to eliminate both of these early, since Venice is tough to counter with its navy, and Verona's paladins aren't to be trifled with. From there, only Padua produces trebuchets (so would likely be your next target), only to finish with that Henry bastard (possibly keeping markets alive until the last minute if you need the income - I almost did), who only sends infantry and the occasional bunch of rams against you (easy to defend with a castle and a small punch of cavaliers/paladins for the rams). (And you can also use your navy to assist in your defense, especially the initial attacks from Henry the Lion, before you get your second castle in your main base.)

It's kinda cheesy in some way, but I think it's no coincidence that it is very possible to do so with your starting resources.

This is what I love about this game, there are so many options with which to complete a mission, and it is one of the few games where I'm totally willing to go and try a mission only for the funsies even when there are no achievements involved!

[Flakstruk]

Dont play it like MP
As soon as you close the opening menu hit pause on the keyboard and withdraw.

Dont give up you main base and lure the enemy into you castle to kill them. Wall the northern ford and build up forces to expand out

[RePence]

This mission was god awful on Hard. I figure they must have seriously changed things since this thread because some of the tips I've seen like pushing out with your navy just don't seem feasible on Hard right now, since you aren't permitted to age up or produce fire ships which easily devastate galleons, and even castles aren't enough to keep the navy at bay after a while since they have very long range Dromons and build too quickly.

Thus, after many fails, trying south and north, I decided I would have to avoid the navy altogether. Purple doesn't make many grounds troops so you have little to worry from them on land. I went West, cleared Green's buildings around the stone and gold deposits, set Henry the Lion to Neutral which allows you to destroy his buildings without backlash and set up base there (he has the best natural defenses on the map, plenty of trees and cliffsides).
First I made two castles just outside his base where the gold and stone deposits are, making sure they wouldn't be within distance of ships and walled it up. It is vital to procure those deposits early, my first attempt at holing up in Henry's base failed because I didn't clear out Green and my resources started dwindling.

Once I secured the area just outside Henry's base, I sent a trebuchet to Yellow's Western wall to destroy Yellow's Town Center and surrounding buildings which will shatter his economy.
Then only Green provides a serious threat provided you always make sure you're out of distance of Purple's navy.

Finally, when you've built up enough resources to make a Wonder, build a castle near Yellow's Western wall, use Onagers to clear the trees, break through the wall, and build a Wonder in the corner. Do not go through their gates as that will put you in range of Purple's ships.

Short version: Stay away from the sea, wall up the West.