Hello again,

Here's my issue: I can't complete AoW TWT campaign and I can't seem to find a soluce online.

I'm stuck on the first mission, fire, against Yaka.

The game is so hard even on easy difficulty. I keep training troops after I captured the first stronghold and the elven city but Yaka seems to have more troops and what's more, they are all ranged.

Thus resulting in HOURS of cat shredders throwing blades at my troops which is as interesting as watching a chipped mug doing a breakdance.

So I lose my hero and my troops against Yaka's HORDES of cats, meow.

Anything to help me?

Even though you have no idea what is beyond your sight because of the fog of war, the computer opponent has no such handicap. Consequently, whatever your weakness is, the game knows and will exploit it. So if, for instance, you leave your towns behind the line empty, they will be targets.

The best strategy is denial: to prevent Yaka from building up his forces. You need to expand rather than consolidate.

That said, the first two (mêlée) levels of troops are almost useless against the cats, it's a better tactic to use ranged weapons, which are not available early on.

My advice: take a few (dummy) games to explore the terrain. There are a surprising amount of troops and buffs just out of sight. Look for low-hanging fruit (easy wins), things that can be taken with no or little fighting. If you hang back and build big cities, Yaka will overrun you using his big cities and taking the ones in the middle area.

G'day to ya!

Thank you for your reply!

I just started another game for this mission and I'm impressed by how big the map is: there are at least 5 places to send your troops to and with them, the magic nodes like water and life ones.

It is rather unnerving however, that during my expansion, Yaka deals a blow to my elven city in which I didnt produce enough units or takes the surroundings mines, thus crippling my economy.

Now that I know the map better I think I'll go straight to the teleport gate (for the magic node) and the Independent cities behind the mountains.

Shame the first mission is really hard. I've heard that it gets easier after. I've also noticed most people would rather play Shadow of Magic than The Wizard"s Throne albeit, lorewise, it'd be more convenient to play TWT before SOM.


Well, thanks again !

Bonjour! Check out the littoral spaces — lots of allies and resources to plunder with the boat that Yaka can't re-take. :)

Crikey! I managed to pass the first mission!

Ok I was playing in easy and I thought I was gonna lose my mind as I kept losing against Yaka and his units as they kept slaying mine from distance and I couldn't do anything !

But now I'm on mission 2 and it looks much more doable with a Tigran hero nearby and ruins all over the place.

I am still traumatized by Yaka haha

Sacré dieu!
I haven't played the game past the second level, so my advice will be less helpful now. No doubt the alliances will be crucial to success.*

Naturellement, I was a little shy about the demands involving another alliance in the second game, i.e., level two. My (albeit limited) understanding of the series is that alliances are less a diplomatic solution than a tactical way of defraying the (evil if you play good) civilization.

The game generally rewards patient consolidation balanced against strategic denial, whilst attempting to entice the (neutral but not evil) other empire to an alliance.

The underground section (alternate map) is very important.

The game will, with omniscient oversight, punish greed and overcautious town-building, so remember not to overextend (the underground map provides strategic weaknesses in the overland map) nor fail to explore and capture resources in the vast expanses. Do not be caught in the classic trap: vouloir le berre, l'argent du berre et le cul de la cremiere!

As you have no doubt realized, a lot of the game is discovering which resources are the most important to take, which are the safest, and what towns to (re-) build and when. It's a lot of trial-and-error with unforgiving battles resulting from the incorrect strategy. (A very old-school difficulty like the early arcade games used; the benefit is the great feeling when you actually win, but the many many losses it takes to perfect the winning strategy can cause a lot of rage-quits along the way …. :o)

* I must admit, diplomacy was the reason I stopped playing the first game, since I had an alliance with the Frostlings that the elves didn't share, and I ended up being the no-man's-land for their battle. The only way to resolve the crisis was to play aggressively against the Frostlings, which meant rebuilding from a very early stage. Enough time has passed that I might be prepared to go back and do this, now.

Ha! I agree.
I thought that was cheesy (though I'm not above such tactics, let me tell you, when the game is an omniscient opponent) though I certainly did this. The bonus level bounce that the character enjoys when the next level starts is fruitful, and it makes the attribute choice, methinks, a little less confusing. (In a "did I opt for a offensive stat boost last time or not?" type of scenario, since I haven't reached the obsessive level of compulsive records for my character builds … yet. :)