difficult missions

[Leonardilox]

What are the most difficult missions according to your experience? Rank them from most difficult to least difficult.

[KaRma]

when AoE2 released, last mission of Joan of arc was inhuman.

[Terin]

Vortigern, Of Turncoats and Traitors, Blood of the Dragon, Roger in Sicily, and then special bonus of The Emperor Sleeping not being that hard but just tough to properly push out, and Saladin having the long-range monks up on the cliffs being very very annoying.

[BirbNotBird]

Plenty of HD campaigns. No seriously, they are brutal.

Tariq Ibn Zizaq due to my blind experience. It's frustrating moving a guy who "Not TIZ" in a really cold weather alone to bait some dudes.

Gajah Mada is another. They nerfed the last scenario so much.

Le Loi is fine by me somehow. I don't find many complaints against it.

Have never ever play any V&V scenario, so I cannot comment.

[James3157]

Originally posted by T.R. James - ¡Vamos Koffing!:

when AoE2 released, last mission of Joan of arc was inhuman.

Joan of Arc is actually one of the easiest campaigns on AoE II: DE after William Wallace similar to Montezuma, Ismail despite it being two sword difficulty, Suryavarman I, and Edward Longshanks. Even the last Joan of Arc mission at least on AoE II: DE does not seem like one of the hardest missions on hard difficulty if you use early aggression towards orange and purple and build up your economy quickly. El Cid is also one of the easiest campaigns overall besides the Black Guards mission. If playing Black Guards on hard difficulty you have to weaken green and especially yellow's economy while at the same time strengthen yours or else you will find yourself struggling with this mission and similar to me might have to restart the game from either the beginning or from a previous save, but despite it being a little difficult on hard difficulty I do not think that Black Guards is one of the hardest missions on AoE II: DE. The second most difficult mission in my opinion at least on hard difficulty is the Exile of the Cid in defeating Berenguer (purple), but you are only playing against one civ instead of three for the final part of this mission.

[James3157]

As for the hardest missions on AoE II: DE that is a little tricky, because there are so many missions and campaigns. I would say the hardest at least on hard and perhaps moderate difficulty are the Fall of Rome and The Pasunda Bubat Tragedy (which I find to be more annoying than fun because of that stupid timer). With Victors and Vanquished I am not sure, because they seem more like custom scenarios as opposed to actual campaigns/missions but some of them are definitely more difficult than others on moderate and hard difficulty and obviously historical battle do not count because they are labeled as historical battles instead of campaigns or missions. None of the missions from Chronicles: Battle for Greece seem like they are hardest to me, but with many of them I do find them to be fun and challenging even if not the hardest missions on this game. As for the rest I am not sure, but it is worth mentioning that some of the missions I have only completed on standard difficulty and not on moderate or hard difficulty.

[KaRma]

Originally posted by James3157:

Originally posted by T.R. James - ¡Vamos Koffing!:

when AoE2 released, last mission of Joan of arc was inhuman.

Joan of Arc is actually one of the easiest campaigns on AoE II: DE after William Wallace similar to Montezuma, Ismail despite it being two sword difficulty, and Edward Longshanks. Even the last Joan of Arc mission at least on AoE II: DE does not seem like one of the hardest missions on hard difficulty if you use early aggression towards orange and purple and build up your economy quickly. El Cid is also one of the easiest campaigns overall besides the Black Guards mission. If playing Black Guards on hard difficulty you have to weaken green and especially yellow's economy while at the same time strengthen yours or else you will find yourself struggling with this mission and similar to me might have to restart the game from either the beginning or from a previous save, but despite it being a little difficult on hard difficulty I do not think that Black Guards is one of the hardest missions on AoE II: DE. The second most difficult mission in my opinion at least on hard difficulty is the Exile of the Cid in defeating Berenguer (purple), but you are only playing against one civ instead of three for the final part of this mission.

Did u read my message well? When AoE2 released, last mission was totally inhuman. That mission was balanced after.

[James3157]

Originally posted by T.R. James - ¡Vamos Koffing!:

Did u read my message well? When AoE2 released, last mission was totally inhuman. That mission was balanced after.

I played Joan of Arc on the CD version but that was a long time ago and I do not remember it being too difficult at least on standard difficulty. Also, I was not even 13 years old yet when I first started playing the CD version of this game where I think I was 11 years old when I first started playing this game from the year 2001 (but I was almost 12 because my birthday month is January) when I got it for Christmas if I remember correctly (meaning that I got it for Christmas instead of as a birthday present), but even though I was so young when I first started playing this game I remember completing it on standard difficulty and do not recall it being too difficult at least on standard. As for moderate and hard difficulty I do not remember how difficult it was, because it was a long time ago when I last played the original AoE II. Important to keep in mind as well that the year 2001 was also 4 years before youtube which did not come out until 2005 meaning that you could not watch tutorial videos in how to play this game from way back then.

[KaRma]

Originally posted by James3157:

Originally posted by T.R. James - ¡Vamos Koffing!:

Did u read my message well? When AoE2 released, last mission was totally inhuman. That mission was balanced after.

I played Joan of Arc on the CD version but that was a long time ago and I do not remember it being too difficult at least on standard difficulty. Also, I was not even 13 years old yet when I first started playing the CD version of this game where I think I was 11 years old when I first started playing this game from the year 2001 (but I was almost 12 because my birthday month is January) when I got it for Christmas if I remember correctly (meaning that I got it for Christmas instead of as a birthday present), but even though I was so young when I first started playing this game I remember completing it on standard difficulty and do not recall it being too difficult at least on standard. As for moderate and hard difficulty I do not remember how difficult it was, because it was a long time ago when I last played the original AoE II. Important to keep in mind as well that the year 2001 was also 4 years before youtube which did not come out until 2005 meaning that you could not watch tutorial videos in how to play this game from way back then.

I mean AoE2: DE.

[hankshandy]

here is my personal list of the hardest single missions on aoe2 de. all played on hard, without cheats, but with liberal use of micropausing to get lowest lost units or buildings (ideally 0). i have played all campaigns up to chronicles, and many (10+) custom campaigns.

i never play blind; i like to watch tutorials and refer to aoewiki first so i know all the best strategies to win from the start. even with all this help, these are the 5 missions that easily stand out as being the most difficult, and resulted in more than several restarts or abandoned strategies.

disclaimer: with one glaring exception, these ratings are in no way a complaint, they are all missions that range from good to excellent, as difficulty can still be fun, challenging and rewarding for when you (finally!!!) beat them, and if done well, can balance extreme difficulty with still being fun to play, surely one of the hardest things for a developer to accomplish. i thouroughly recommend the jang bogo campaign, and apranik and jadwiga are my 2 favourite campaigns, both are excellent throughout. so don't be deterred - just be warned.....

that being said, the tariq campaign suuuuuucks. F you to heck!

so, in order:

5. mstislav (vic & vanq)

unless you get the perfect unit composition (i used elite skirms+ onagers) camped behind allied gates (which you can't lock) and suicide snipe the mongol seige units, you will get obliterated. i won with only 44 units lost (which im quite proud of), and the ocd part of my brain asked if i wanted to try again, until i decided that life was too short and moved on. i understand that recent patches allow more freedom to villagers now, so this mission may now be easier.

4. jadwiga 4 (The Siege of Vilnius - from dawn of the dukes dlc)

great mission in an all time great campaign, but daaaamn the teutons are relentless! unless you suicide snipe the early bcannons, convert a mango, and secure trade, you'll get steamrolled. the attack waves don't actually get harder, so once you've weathered the first one you should be ok. great fun though!

3. tariq 5 (razzia)

Ugh. endless infinite frankish pal spam from 2 enemies. no ecos to raid. no side quests. no allies. just find a safe corner of the map, wall up, and grind, grind, grind. again, F this mission (and campaign) to heck.

2. admiral jang bogo 5 (custom korean campaign)

ends a great campaign about pre-gunpowder koreans. a naval map that plays like a combo of York and Attila 6: multiple win conditions (retain 5 relics, defend wonder, reach 20k gold, or defeat 5 enemies incl kor, japan & chinese factions) but enemies will start building their own wonders before you can.

Good: you start with 3 bases.
Bad: you'll lose 2 of them almost instantly.

Good: your last base is a big island that can easily be fortified with 13 range keeps.
Bad: it's in the middle of the map and you'll be constantly attacked from all sides.

Good: enemy has no turtle ships.
Bad: neither do you, but enemy can still build anachronistic demo ships and 'catapult ships' that are just renamed cannon galleons, that will eventually outrange your super keeps.

Good: you can buy catapult ships.
Bad: only 2, and cannot be replaced.

Good: side quest can grant your galleons +50 bonus damage to buildings.
Bad: quest only appears at 30 min mark by which time game may already be lost.

basically defending alone won't work, you'll have to strike out at some point to even get a foothold into winning, otherwise forget it. very tough, but still highly recommended mission (and campaign).

1. apranik 5 (custom persians campaign)

talking about getting a foothold, if you can't eliminate one particular opponent by around the 27 min mark, forget it, as you'll be trying to defend your wonder with savar cavalry against imp camels, counterweighted trebs, war eles, seige rams and seige onagers. to give you an idea of how many units you'll get thrown at you, i had a good trade set up and was killing 15+ units with demo ships in the moat around my base, and i was still running out of money!! very tough, and took me the most attempts, but an a++ campaign.

---

but wait, there is still one mission even more difficult to come, albeit on HD not DE (which is the only reason ive omitted it from the above list). my nomination for the hardest ever aoe2 mission is a custom scenario called.....

..... the rockspring revolution.

a sequel to the excellent Gwyndlegard mega-epic scenario, this mission seems to abandon all attempt at layered and unique gameplay by hurling a mission at you where you had to defend against post imp franks..... for HOURS.....as celts.....who are limited to the F'ing FEUDAL AGE !?!?!?

that's right, not just one age behind an opponent, but 2!! that's like playing with all limbs tied behind your back, blindfolded, with a spike up your ringpiece. your archers, palisade walls and watchtowers against FU paladins and seige rams!?!?! come on, be serious. take everything i said earlier about tariq 5, times it by ten, and hurl it at this abomination that consumed weeks of my life. suffice to say it's probably been about seventeen years since i 'played' this monster and it still gives me shudders. for that reason alone, i name it the hardest aoe2 mission ever. avoid at all costs!

[James3157]

Originally posted by T.R. James - ¡Vamos Koffing!:

I mean AoE2: DE.

I did not know this, because I did not play AoE II: DE when it first came out in addition to me never playing the HD version from Steam. While the final Joan of Arc mission was perhaps one of the hardest missions at one point it is not anymore. I think that it is somewhat challenging on hard difficulty, but a breeze once purple and orange are taken out and you only have to fight against red.

[James3157]

Originally posted by hankshandy:

5. mstislav (vic & vanq)
unless you get the perfect unit composition (i used elite skirms+ onagers) camped behind allied gates (which you can't lock) and suicide snipe the mongol seige units, you will get obliterated. i won with only 44 units lost (which im quite proud of), and the ocd part of my brain asked if i wanted to try again, until i decided that life was too short and moved on. i understand that recent patches allow more freedom to villagers now, so this mission may now be easier....

Mstislav I think might be harder now instead of easier, because on hard difficulty villagers can get attacked now before the Mongols invade instead of ignored. The point of villagers on this custom scenario or historical battle (because Mstislav does not seem like an actual "campaign") is that their usefulness is supposed to be quite limited in what they can actually do. I think that the dlc version of Mstislav is better than campaign mod version of this overall, but I do not think that villagers getting attacked who cannot be replaced even before the Mongols invade is necessarily a good thing.

As for the rest you mentioned with numbers 1 and 2 it is worth mentioning that Leonardilox did not specify if custom campaigns count as missions as well meaning it is unclear if he is only referring to dlc plus basegame or if this includes campaign mods as well. I already mentioned earlier from a previous comment for example that I do not think that historical battles count as missions since I consider campaigns to be missions and not historical battles. I would also like to include Lake Poyang with the Chinese to this list for hardest, but Lake Poyang is a historical battle and not a mission.

[hankshandy]

Originally posted by James3157:

it is worth mentioning that Leonardilox did specify if custom campaigns count as missions as well meaning it is unclear if he is only referring to dlc plus basegame or if this includes campaign mods as well

no he didn't. he just asked what are the hardest missions from experience, and rank them, which i did. some are base game, some dlc and some custom, and the last one is ancient.

[Silver]

usually any mission that puts you on a timer.
any mission that doesnt expect you to explore the map at your leisure or go and conquer the enemy but "survive", or defend a wonder.

[Plokmijnuh]

For original Age of Kings campaigns,Saladin campaign has some tough levels and I also always thought Genghis Khan 3 and 4 were tough. Also the Frederick Barbarossa final mission is tough.

Alaric campaign final level is hard and the only silver lining is that Saurus will fight the cities you are supposed to conquer and destroy them for you. Also if you can manage to kill Saurus he resigns and stops attacking you making the level much easier.

Siege of Vilinius is also a hard mission

[James3157]

Originally posted by Plokmijnuh:

For original Age of Kings campaigns,Saladin campaign has some tough levels and I also always thought Genghis Khan 3 and 4 were tough. Also the Frederick Barbarossa final mission is tough.

There is a way to win the last Fredrick Barbarossa mission quickly which I would recommend especially on hard difficulty, but basically it requires a pacifist approach where you do not necessarily have to kill anyone besides maybe with castles to distract Persians when trying to deliver Barbarosa's body to Jerusalem by destroying walls with friendly fire from mangonels or onagers. However, doing it this way may require restarting the game a few times before someone finally gets it done correctly. I won by using this pacifist approach on hard difficulty, but I had to restart the game a number of times from a previous save before I finally won.