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Goal: Destroy the Tang. The Skinny: As befits the final campaign and final scenario, this one is especially tough. The map for this one is divided by small rivers into three strips that run east to west. The northernmost strip is where the Tang are located, and they have a large army. Your troops are in the southernmost strip. The middle strip contains several hills chock full of the resources you need. Some of these hills are only accessible from the north, which means you'll have to go dangerously close to the Tang to climb them. Worse yet, they are guarded by Tang towers and shortly after the scenario begins, the Tang start moving military units into the middle strip. As you might guess, controlling these resources becomes the key to victory. Each strip is accessible by a few shallows. As the scenario starts, your settlement is quite spread out, which only augments your problems. Before long, the Tang will begin dribbling attacks at you: chariot archers, catapults, short swordsmen - the works. While none of them are especially difficult to stop, they are designed to wear you down by attrition. You have groups of short swordsmen guarding the shallow crossings. After dispatching your villagers to their respective tasks, augment your short swordsmen with your other troops and send a villager up there as well (keep building villagers to find the stone and gold deposits to your south and mine the stone). Use the villager to build a dock to build some scout ships, then upgrade them to galleys. They will help you guard the crossings. Build towers, as well, as soon as you have enough stone. Keep building up your forces and upgrade to the Iron Age. The easternmost hill in the center strip has an opening that faces your side of the map. You will have to destroy a tower on it. After you get rid of the tower, run some villagers in there and start mining the gold. Be sure to build some defensive towers and send some troops, and even better, a siege weapon, over there as well. You are going to need that westernmost hill in the middle strip. This one opens toward the Tang, though, and is tricky to get to since the Tang are running around a lot. You just have to ease a catapult up the slope to take out the tower, though. Move cautiously. Once you take it out, you need to run some villagers in and they need to build some defenses. The Tang will probably stumble upon you soon. Build towers and even consider building a wall to seal the entrance. Then mine like the dickens. Throughout all of this you of course need to keep gathering resources and building your army. Your army should be near the northern edge of your strip. Now you need to take over the other two hills in the middle. Once you do so, the Tang will come at you pretty hard, so be prepared with good defenses. Now is a good time to have some priests heal and do the odd conversion. Also, be on the lookout for a good spot to build a dock on the river that borders the Tang territory. You can harass the Tang with catapult triremes and juggernaughts if you upgrade. At this point you should have firm control of the middle of the map. Now it's brute force time - you know the drill. Push into their land with siege weapons, cavalry, archers, etc. Nothing less than their total destruction will be satisfying (or bring you the victory you crave). Congratulations! You've just finished the last Age of Empires campaign! "And Alexander wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer." Dangers: Let's see - how about constant and unremitting pressure from the Tang and a middle-ground no-man's-land that is very difficult to control, while having to manage your workers and grow your empire. Is that enough, or do you want to juggle lit torches while riding a unicycle as well?
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