Chapter 3 : The Pass

The name from the third map, The Pass, comes from a pass between two resource rich mountains. The terrain will force you north into gold deposits and then westwards through the titular pass. You'll stumble upon two enemies once you're through.

This map is easy and fast. I would even say it's unremarkable. Your enemies have almost no gold and will quickly run into productivity problems while you can expand at your leisure and train an extremely strong army.

After this map, the stakes will be raised considerably. Enjoy while you can.

Mission 2 : Initial Contact

First thing you'll notice is your Headquarters. After the first mission, the tent has now been upgraded to a Capitol Building. Rome may not have been built overnight, your Headquarters just needed a single mission. According to the ship log, about 1 year.

After expanding a bit into the north you'll find a tent. That's not another civilization of stranded settlers. It's just a single of your own settlers, stranded on another island. How fortunate to find him. How fortunate he happens to be a brewer. Life on any island sure gets dull without women or booze. This guy gives you the latter.

Beer is a necessary component in breeding soldiers. Fill them up with a fine lager and they'll happily sign up for the army. As for the brewer, he brews a lot of beer. I always managed to upkeep the draft with a single brewer throughout any mission, despite building 4 armories and iron smelters.

Once you start expanding, you'll soon find ruined buildings: a guardhouse, watchtower and fortress. The watchtower is nestled defensively into granite rocks, the others are out in the open. By having your builders analyze these, you'll learn to build them yourself. After experimenting with those buildings, you'll run into another civilization. They are friendly but the portal is an object of worship. To claim it, you'll have to wipe them out. Just as easily said as done since they pose little threat.

A bit further you'll run into their catapult. Burn it to the ground and you'll learn how to build it yourself. Apparently the ashes of a catapult produce blueprints much like the ruins of the fortress you found earler. This building will prove to be very valuable in the missions ahead.

Overall this is another easy tutorial mission. An easy ride with some unique scenery.