Strategic Objectives: Cryptic Lakes

Description
Strategic Objectives: Cryptic Lakes

This scenario is for both “AOE 3: Original” (Vanilla) and “AOE 3: TWC”.

This scenario requires the latest patch.

“Strategic Objectives” is a scenario that qualifies as a new game type.

It allows to capture neutral buildings that are guarded by guardians (such as Forts and Barracks), and even re-capture them from the AI and vice versa.
Captured buildings offer either economic bonus or military bonus (free units).

Players can also capture Great Cannons and use them to construct Fixed Guns anywhere on the map.

WARNNING
This scenario MUST be executed via one of the Scenario Launchers (see list bellow).
Executing one of the scenarios directly may cause AOE3 to crash under certain circumstances.
This issue has been notified to Ensemble and hopefully it will be resolved in the future.
In the meantime please execute only the Scenario Launchers and everything will be working fine.

Do NOT execute the “Launcher” from the Editor – That won’t work.
Execute the “Launcher” from the Main Menu.
Click on “Single Player”, then on “Custom Scenario”, and then look for one of the “Launch” files.

The following is the list of the “Scenario Launchers” that you can execute:

TWC
xStrat Obj Launch Lakes Moderate.age3Xscn
xStrat Obj Launch Lakes Normal.age3Xscn
xStrat Obj Launch Lakes Hard.age3Xscn

Vanilla
Strat Obj Launch Lakes Moderate.age3scn
Strat Obj Launch Lakes Normal.age3scn

These scenario launchers will allow you to select the civ that you want to play with and launch the appropriate scenario.

Game Play

This map has a few lakes and three narrow land passages between the two players.

There are 20+ neutral structures around the map such as Forts, Barracks, Stables, Mills(with villagers) that are guarded by guardians (who are hostile to anyone who passes by) and any of these structures can be captured by any one of the players.

In addition to that players can re-capture them from each other.

Since every building offers either economic bonus or military bonus it is crucial to capture as many of these structures in order to achieve victory.

There is also one Fixed Gun on top of a hill that can be captured, and 2 Great Cannons that can be captured as well.
Once a player captures any one of the Great Cannons he can use it to build a Fixed Gun anywhere on the map after he reaches the Fortress age.

For more information about the game play and new features see \"Strategic Objectives: Cryptic Lakes\" Scenario.

Scenario Versions

I have made several versions with different civs to play with and different difficulty levels.

For Vanilla:
There are 3 different civ versions and 2 difficulty levels for each civ (Moderate and Normal).

For TWC:
There are 4 different civ versions and 3 difficulty levels for each civ (Moderate, Normal , and Hard)

“Moderate”, and “Normal” versions are utilizing “Moderate” AI.
The “Hard” version utilizes “Hard” AI.

For average players I would suggest to play the “Moderate” version first.
Very good players can start with the “Normal” version.

No cheating codes are allowed with these scenarios

In the event the cheat codes are being used the AI will receive 100 mercenaries with 20,000 HP.

So just play the level that fits your level the most.

Installation Instructions

Please note that these scenarios don’t mod your game in any way.

Installation Instructions for AOE 3: TWC

Copy all the “Xstrat Obj….age3Xscn” files to
\"My Documents/My Game/Age of Empires 3/Scenario\"

Copy all the \"HomecityX…….XML\" files to
\"Program Files/Microsoft Games/Age of Empires III/Campaign/War Chief\"

Copy the music file The_Saga_Age.mp3 to the C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Games\\Age of Empires III\\Sound

Installation Instructions for AOE 3: Vanilla

Copy all the \"Strat Obj…….age3scn\" to
\"My Documents/My Game/Age of Empires 3/Scenario\".

Copy all the \"Homecity_……XML\" files to
\"Program Files/Microsoft Games/Age of Empires III/Campaign/Blood Ice Steel\"

Copy the music file The_Saga_Age.mp3 to the C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Games\\Age of Empires III\\Sound

Message for the Reviewers

Please review either the “Moderate” or “Normal” versions of the scenario depending on your skill level.
The “Hard” version was made only for the contest.

Please keep in mind that despite the fact that the AI has more units than the human player, the human player can counter that with superior strategy and tactics, especially with a good use of Fixed Guns.

Special Thanks

I want to thank Schildpad (also known as Furby_Killer) for helping me test the various “Strategic Objectives” scenarios and for his important advice.
Schildpad’s help and feedback was most valuable.

I want to thank pftq for his great “Advanced Effects” that helped me enhance the AI to a new level, and to introduce the “Building Fixed Guns” feature.

I also want to thank somme for his brilliant “Villager Second Calculator” which I used for the free units balancing, and to kjn for making the screen shots for me.

Thank you,

Moshe Levi