Populous: The Beginning
FAQ and Walkthrough
By Chris Morton
a.k.a. Steric Hindrance (steric_hindrance@hotmail.com)
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1 Copyright Info
1.2 Revision History
2. Gameplay
2.1 Controls
2.2 Tribes
2.3 Buildings
2.3.1 Trees
2.3.2 Hut
2.3.3 Guard Tower
2.3.4 Warrior Training Hut
2.3.5 Temple
2.3.6 Firewarrior Training Hut
2.3.7 Spy Training Hut
2.3.8 Boat House
2.3.9 Balloon Hut
2.3.10 Guard Post
2.3.11 Reincarnation Site
2.4 Followers
2.4.1 Shaman
2.4.2 Brave
2.4.3 Warrior
2.4.4 Preacher
2.4.5 Firewarrior
2.4.6 Spy
2.4.7 Wildmen
2.5 Spells
2.5.1 Blast
2.5.2 Convert
2.5.3 Magical Shield
2.5.4 Ghost Army
2.5.5 Swarm
2.5.6 Invisibility
2.5.7 Land Bridge
2.5.8 Lightning
2.5.9 Hypnotize
2.5.10 Bloodlust
2.5.11 Teleport
2.5.12 Tornado
2.5.13 Swamp
2.5.14 Flatten
2.5.15 Earthquake
2.5.16 Erode
2.5.17 Firestorm
2.5.18 Angel of Death
2.5.19 Volcano
2.5.20 Armageddon
2.5.21 Forge World
2.6 Worship Objects
2.6.1 Vault of Knowledge
2.6.2 Obelisk
2.6.3 Stone Head
2.6.4 Totem Pole
2.7 Combat
2.7.1 With Warriors
2.7.2 With Preachers
2.7.3 With Firewarriors
2.7.4 With Spies
2.7.5 With Boats
2.7.6 With Balloons
2.7.7 With the Shaman
3. Walkthrough
3.1 The Journey Begins
3.2 Night Falls
3.3 Crisis of Faith
3.4 Combined Forces
3.5 Death From Above
3.6 Building Bridges
3.7 Unseen Enemy
3.8 Continental Divide
3.9 Fire in the Mist
3.10 From the Depths
3.11 Treacherous Souls
3.12 An Easy Target
3.13 Aerial Bombardment
3.14 Attacked From All Sides
3.15 Incarcerated
3.16 Bloodlust
3.17 Middle Ground
3.18 Head Hunter
3.19 Unlikely Allies
3.20 Archipelago
3.21 Fractured Earth
3.22 Solo
3.23 Inferno
3.24 Journey's End
3.25 The Beginning
4. FAQ
5. Other Stuff
5.1 Contact Info
5.2 Acknowledgments
1. Introduction
Populous: The Beginning is a fantasy war game by Bullfrog Production Ltd.
Like in earlier versions of Populous, you play a demigod who uses mana and
magic to strengthen your own tribe and destroy others. Your avatar is the
Shaman of one of the tribes who aspires to godhood (and I throught just saving
the world in other games was enough of a power trip). wrote this guide because
I discovered that there really wasn't a very comprehensive Populous: The
Beginning (P:TB) guide on GameFAQs, and I hope that someone finds whatever
help I can offer on this game useful.
1.1 Copyright Info
This document is copyrighted by Chris Morton. This guide may be printed out
for personal reference, but it may not be copied, in part or in any form, for
any profitable purpose without my express consent. This guide may not be
posted to any website without my permission (just ask first, and I'll let you
if you want to put it on your site), and it must be posted in an unaltered
form. The sites that have my permission to post this guide are:
http://www.gamefaqs.com
http://dlh.net
1.2 Revision History
3-16-03: Began writing this Guide
6-13-03: Finished writing this Guide
2. Gameplay
Populous: The Beginning consists of 25 levels, where each level is one world
in the solar system. Once you conquer a world, you can move on to the next,
or replay any previous level. The goal of each world (with one exception,
level 19) is to destroy the other tribes on that world. Enemy tribes are
considered destroyed when all of their followers (including the enemy Shaman)
are dead or converted to your side (see 2.4.4 Preachers). See the section on
Combat for more details. This section gives a general overview on how to play
P:TB, though it may be helpful to refer to the in game help or the manual.
2.1 Controls
P:TB is a very mouse oriented game. Virtually the entire interface is
point and click. The solar system map is very self-explanitory, just click on
the world from the bottom of the screen, and then on the hand button at the
bottom right to start the level. In a level itself, the screen is divided into
two sections. On the right is the map window where the action takes place.
You can see only part of the world at a time, but if you move your mouse to the
sides of the screen, you can scroll over to other parts of the map. The left
and right arrow keys will rotate the map window so you're looking in another
direction. The up arrow key moves the view towards the direction you are
facing, and the down arrow moves away. If you left click on any of your
followers on the right side of the screen you will select them and be able to
issue orders to them. Left click and drag the mouse to create an illuminated
patch of ground, and when you release the left mouse button any followers
within that patch will be selected. Orders are given by moving the mouse
somewhere else and left clicking. If the spot is open ground or a building
that the selected followers can do something with, the followers will move to
the spot you selected. If you click on an enemy follower or building, your
followers will move to attack. If you click somewhere your followers cannot
get to, a message will tell you so and your selected followers will stand
still with thier hands in the air. Usually this happens when there's a hill
too steep to navigate or water in between the follower's location and where
you told them to go. Note that you cannot cross water without a boat or
balloon, and if a follower falls into water he instantly dies. To have a
follower do multiple things (i.e., move to certain points in order or do
multiple tasks) hold down the control key, a number will appear by your
cursor, and click on the things you want done. For example, if you select a
brave and click on a tree and then a building that is being constructed (with
control held down) the brave will chop some wood from the tree and then take
it to the construction. If you right click an object (follower, tree,
building, etc.) on the map screen you will query it. Queried followers will
display their health (a white bar) and an icon for thier current task.
Buildings will display how many followers are in them, or how many are working
on them plus the number of bales of wood needed for their completion if that
building is under construction. Query a tree to find out how many bales of
wood it contains and query a worship object (i.e. Stone Head) to find out how
many followers you need to worship at that object (discussed later). The left
side of the screen is the Control Panel. At the top is a mini-map which
displays a portion of the globe. Your follower's locations are given by blue
dots. If there are any enemy followers in sight of your people or Guard
Towers, other collored dots will be shown. Below the mini-map are three page
controls for (from left to right) the Buildings Panel, the Spells Panel, and
the Followers Panel. The Buildings Panel contains buttons for all of the
buildings you currently are able to build. Clicking on one of those buttons
will transform your cursor on the map screen to a white buidling plan cursor.
The size of the cursor depends on the size of the building to be built. There
will be a white arrow on one side of the plan, indicating the entrance of the
finished building. Pressing the space bar will rotate the plan so that the
entrance appears on another side (See the Buildings section for more info).
Left clicking on the map where the plan is all white will set that plan down
on the ground, while right clicking cancels. The Spell Panel contains buttons
for all of the spells your Shaman can currently cast. Spell buttons with red
or blue dots are spells that can be used immediately. See the Spells section
for more information. Lastly, the Followers Panel displays a table of what
all of your followers are doing. The columns of the table match up to the
follower type icons directly above the panel (these icons stay on the control
panel regardless of whether you have the Building, Spell, or Followers panel
on). The first line in the Follower's Panel is the number of followers of a
certain type that you have selected. The second line is the number of idle
followers. The third is followers in a building. The fourth line is
followers working, either construction or guard duty. The fifth and sixth
lines are followers in boats or balloons, respectively. If you click on any
entry in the table, you will select a random follower from that category and
be able to issue orders to him. For example, if you click on the braves
column in the idle row, you will select one idle brave. If you click on the
boat or balloon row, you will select the boat or balloon that that follower
is in. If there are more followers in that vehicle, regardless of type, you
will select them too. Also note, if you hold the control button and click on
an entry in the Followers Panel, you will select 5 followers in that category
(i.e. 5 idle braves). If you hold shift you will select all of the followers
in that category. Right clicking on one of the entries in the table will
center the camera on the follower that would have been selected. In between
the page tabs for the three panels and the panels themselves, are several
other features of the control panel. On the first line below the page tabs,
there is the Commandee Toggle Button, Shaman Icon, Query Button, and Enemy
Tribes Icon. The Commandee Toggle Button relates to the Total Followers, and
will be discussed below. The Shaman icon shows the status of your Shaman at a
glance, what direction she's facing, whether she's moving, casting a spell,
being attacked (the icon will flash red), or dead (in which case the Shaman
isn't displayed). You can immediately center the map on the Shaman by right
clicking on the Shaman icon on the control panel, and select her by left
clicking. Selecting the Shaman from the control panel automatically brings up
the spells panel. To the right of the icon is a white bar which shows the
Shaman's current health. If left alone she, and all of your other Followers
will eventually heal. Above the Shaman's health bar is the query button.
Click on this and a little question mark cursor comes up. Left click on
anything to bring up the in game help for that topic. (Side Note here, I of
course used the in game help as my primary source and had it open while
writing this. If this guide sounds in part a little like the help text, it is
because I'm trying to keep the names and notation consistent and not confuse
people. My appologies to Bullfrog if it looks like copy and paste, I'll have
some real original thoughts later in the guide.) Lastly, the enemy tribes
icons are (up to) three red/yellow/green bars on the right side on the control
panel. They flash when followers from that tribe are dying (hehe) and when a
Shaman dies there's a little magical flourish that involves those icons to
show who killed whom. Below all of that stuff are the total follower icons.
These icons are the ones that show you which type of follower you're selecting
in the Followers Panel. The icons are (from left to right) overall followers,
Braves, Warriors, Firewarriors, Preachers, and Spies. The overall followers
icon is a red/green bar, which is full and red if you have more followers than
allowed by your housing, full and flashing red and green if you have the max
followers for your housing, and low and green if you have fewer followers than
what your housing allows (in which case your huts will start churning out
Braves, more on that later). The numbers beneath each of the total followers
icons is the number of followers of that type. The overall followers icon
will, of course, show you how many people you have, and the other icons will
display how many followers of that type you have. The changeup to this is the
aforemention Commandee Toggle button, which looks like a little globe to the
left of the Shaman icon. If you click on the Commandee Toggle button then the
numbers beneath the Total Followers icons changes to represent the numbers and
types of followers that are currently on the screen, not just those in
existence. This may be useful when selecting people, since like with the
Followers panel, left clicking on one of the Total Followers icons selects
that type of follower, and right clicking centers the camera on them. (I
prefer the Followers panel for selecting people though, since it lets you
select the idle ones and not yank people away who were doing other stuff that
you wanted done, like building buildings.) Finally, below the Total Followers
icons is the Spell Charge Rate bar. This bar measures how much mana you
currently have to charge spells and train followers. If the bar is full with
green on the right, that means your mana is at the maximum, spell charge and
training will proceed at the maximum rate. If the bar is mostly black, the
things that require mana will go slower. If you want to increase your mana,
you have to put followers in huts, send braves to do work, stop charging some
spells, or stop training followers. If the bar is full and flashing red, that
means that you are wasting mana, and should start charging some more of your
spells. A flashing bar only happens when you have maximum mana and aren't
using it.
Whew. That is the control panel and map screen. However, there are a few
more things to know, starting with the world view. The world view is an
extremely wide zoom map of the current world where you can see all people,
yours or the enemy's, as well as buidings. Get to the world view by pressing
enter, or using the zoom out key (-) a few times. Moving around the world
view can be done with either the mouse (just like the world map) or with the
arrow keys. The left and right arrow keys do not rotate the world view like
they do the map screen. On the world view, buildings and followers are color
coded by tribe, and buildings are shown by their icons from the Buildings
Panel. Trees are green triangles, wildmen are grey dots, Braves are small
circles, the Shaman is a large circle, Preachers are diamonds, Warriors are
crosses, Firewarriors are squares, Spies are large triangles, boats and
balloons have their own like shaped icons. When you move your cursor over an
avalible spell on the Spell Panel while in the world view, the range of that
spell will show as flashing blue circle around the Shaman. Also, when you put
a follower in a Guard Tower, the type of follower is visible from the World
View, along with the range of its attack (blue circle, Preachers and
Firewarriors only). To return from the world view, press enter again, or zoom
in with the + key. Note that while on the map screen the + and - keys can be
used to use the three zoom types that are not the world view.
Now for a few other keyboard shortcuts. P pauses the game. H takes the
camera to your Shaman's Reincarnation Site. S displays the status screen for
the current level. B makes the Call to Arms message appear on the screen (I
have no idea what this does, so if any of you do, please email me). G orders
all selected followers to guard the Shaman, they circle around her and attack
any enemy followers that get near. The '.' key centers the map on your
Shaman. Esc pauses the game and brings up the save/load/options/quit menu.
The last important control to mention is the assigning of battle groups.
When you have a follower or group of followers selected, hold shift and press
the number key 1-5 to assign that group to the key 1 through 5. Pressing the
number key again will instantly select that group. Selecting another group of
followers and doing the same thing will reassign that group to the that number
key. Be warned though, certain combat conditions can prevent you from
selecting your followers, and if that occurs you will not be able to select
them either manually or with the battle group number.
Not strictly connected with controls, but messages should be mentioned here
because they fall on the map screen. Message icons appear on the left side of
the map screen right next to the control panel. Text messages are given by an
'i' icon, and will display a popup box when you click on them. Most other
messages are recenter camera commands, and will take you to where the even is
taking place. For example, when your followers engage enemy followers off
screen, a crossed swords message icon will appear. If you click on the
message, the camera will center on the fighting. There is a color code on the
message icon, indicating which tribe is involved.
2.2 Tribes
In the levels of P:TB your tribe (unnammed, so I'll just refer to them as
'your tribe') will face one to three enemy tribes: the Dakini (red), the Matak
(green), and the Chumara (yellow). These tribes do not have any systematic
difference from yours, they can build the same types of buildings and use the
same types of followers. In short, this is not Starcraft with real unit
differences between the tribes (good thing, because you can't play as the
other tribes in single player). However, on many occasions there will be
tactical differences between your tribe and the others, such as new
buildings/followers/spells (that you will have to aquire probably in the same
level), a better starting position, or a prebuilt settlement. There are a few
levels with the Fog of War enabled, which restricts your vision over most of
the map until you send a follower to explore that part of the world. In these
levels, the enemy tribes operate in secrecy, since typically you can pause the
game and move the map screen or the world view over any part of the level and
see what buildings they have (enemy braves resting in huts are invisible to
you), generally what their army is like, where their patrols are, and if
you're lucky to catch it early, where an attack is coming from. With the Fog
of War, you can still see the general outline of the landmasses, but followers
and buildings are hidden from you. A few hints on dealing with that, first
the world view is much better for looking at the lay of the land in a Fog of
War map. Second, you'll see rectangular dark spots on the world view which
indicate that enemy buildings are there, so you can get a rough idea of what
thier settlement looks like. Lastly, if you're looking for secret Stone
Heads, move around the map screen and their sound effect should play when you
get close. Send some of your followers to find it.
2.3 Buildings
Even though victory over an enemy tribe (or defeat of yours) involves
elimination of followers, Buildings are important to victory too. Without
huts, your population will be small, without training centers you'll just have
braves, and without Guard Towers the Dakini, Matak, and Chumara will sneak up,
slaughter the six braves you do have, and do a little dance on the ruins of
your Reincarnation Site. The first thing you'll want to do in a level is
start building stuff so you can amass your army and do a little dance on THEIR
Reincarnation Sites. As mentioned above, you can select which type of
building you want (of the ones you know how to build) from the Buildings Panel
on the Control Panel. Your cursor will change to a building plan, which you
can place on the map wherever the plan is all white. In general you need a
fairly flat surface in the right shape (not all buildings are 4x4 squares).
When you left click on an acceptable plot, the plan is laid down. If you
change your mind, hold shift and left click on the plan to remove it.
A few things about building buildings. First, only Braves can build
buildings. Once a plan is put down, idle braves in the area of the plan will
automatically head over and start construction. You can select Braves
manually and left click on a plan to send them over immediately. A single
Brave can build anything in the game, it'll just take him awhile. Conversely,
every building has a maximum number of braves that can work on it, assign any
more and they'll just become idle again. Second, buildings have to be near
other buildings. Your settlement can't be too far flung, so you have to start
by building near your Reincarnation Site, and then spreading out from there.
The exception to this rule is with Guard Towers, which can be placed just
about anywhere (water or mountain slopes excepted). After the tower is built,
other buildings can be placed next to it. In this way you can build
settlements away from your Reincarnation Site, in case there's not enough good
land near there or something. Third, if you find that one of your buildings
is really in your way, you can dismantle it. Right click to query the
building and click on the button to the right of the occupant listing. Assign
some braves to the building and they'll tear it down and stack the wood used
in its construction on the ground outside. To stop dismantling (and restart
construction) reclick on the same button in the query window before the
building is destroyed completly. Lastly, buildings need wood, so place them
near trees. Without enough trees in the area you won't be able to build
anything, and your Braves will only go so far across the continent to chop
wood. If there isn't enough nearby wood, when you query the building the
bottom line which shows needed wood will have some greyed out wood icons
flashing. When that happens, you need to manually select some Braves, hold
control and tell them to first chop some wood (at a tree further out than they
would normally go) and then take it back to the building under construction
(left click on the building plan while still holding control).
When an enemy attacks one of your buildings (or when you attack one of
theirs) they can either damage or destroy a building. Damaging a building
essentially reverts it back to the construction phase when its partly
completed, continued attacks will do enough damage that you will need more
bales of wood to repair it. Nearby idle Braves will automatically start
rebuilding damaged buildings, or you can assign them manually. When an enemy
destroys a building, not only is that building unusable, but the ground it is
on becomes damaged. Damaged ground cannot be built on, but goes away
eventually in about 9-10 minutes.
2.3.1 Trees
Since when do you build trees? Well, you don't. But they're as close in
P:TB as you come to harvesting resources. As said earlier, trees are needed
to build stuff, and they need to be nearby. Each tree carries four bales of
wood to be harvested. If your Braves chop the tree down entirely, don't
worry, it'll grow back in about 5-6 minutes, and then restore a bale of wood
to itself every 1-2 minutes, up to the original four. The exception to this
is if you put a building plan down on top of the tree. When the building is
constructed, the braves will even out the land and tear down any trees in the
way. Once the building is up, the tree 'underneath' will not grow back. If
you arrange your buildings so that trees fall in between structures, you'll
have a steady resource supply later in the level, which might be useful when
the Matak come through and rip down a few walls.
2.3.2 Huts
Huts are the buildings that you will build the most of. They house your
people and allow your population to grow. When you build a hut, it will start
in the small stage, which can house three people. Once the small hut has been
lived in for a while (about 5 minutes when I timed it) the braves inside will
upgrade it to a medium hut, which can house 4 people and increases the max
population by 5. A medium hut will eventually (after about 2 minutes) be
upgraded to a large hut if it's lived in. A large hut is as good as it gets,
houses five people and increases the maximum population by 7. When you query
a hut, you'll see the people in it and two bars, green on the left and red on
the right. The green bar is how close the hut is to producing another brave,
and the red bar is how close the hut is to an upgrade. According to the in
game help, followers resting in huts produce mana for charging spells and
training other follower types. Braves resting in huts produce the most mana,
so typically you'll have braves in your huts. Besides, you'll want your
warriors out and about. If your population is below the allowed maximum, the
huts will 'breed' more Braves ( How a bunch of seemingly male Braves
manage to breed more of themselves when cooped up in a grass shack is beyond
me, but what the hell, the game's about a magic wielding barely post-stone age
tribe trekking across a whole solar system of inhabitable planets, I'm up for
suspension of disbelief if you are. ). More Braves in the hut also
means more mana (this is why medium and large huts are better, in addition to
higher max population) and the green bar moves faster (without any Braves in a
hut, it will still breed another follower, albeit very slowly).
The way I use huts it like this, I build a few and make sure they stay at
max occupancy until they're upgraded to large. Then I usually empty them out
to make other followers. After I have an army of the size I want, I keep the
rest of the braves in the huts (5 braves each) so my mana flow is good for my
spells. I build new huts as needed, space allowing, so I have enough mana,
and enough extra braves to quickly replace battle losses.
Small Hut: Max Builders 6, Wood Needed-3
Medium Hut: Max Builders 8, Wood Needed-3
Large Hut: Max Builders 10, Wood Needed-3
2.3.3 Guard Towers
As mentioned earlier Guard Towers can be placed anywhere there is level
ground, and can be used to expand your settlement into new areas. The other
main use of Guard Towers is as a first line of defense. In P:TB there really
isn't any great defensive structure, and most of your defense will involve
sending your troops to intercept and slug it out with the enemy. Guard Towers
have their advantages though, in that when you put a follower in them they
will sound a warning alarm when enemies approach. Pressing spacebar zooms to
the tower that is sounding the alarm. According to the in game help, each
type of follower does a different action in a guard tower. The Shaman has her
spell casting range increase (especially if the Guard Tower is on high
ground), Braves increase the lookout distance, Warriors call for
reinforcements to the Guard Tower when enemies approach, Preachers and
Firewarriors have the range of thier attacks increase, and Spies are able
unmask enemy Spies from further away (see Followers section).
I typically use three to four guard towers (once I get Firewarriors) as a
first line of defense. Putting two Firewarriors in two towers, and a Preacher
in the third, the Firewarriors will shoot at incoming enemies from the
(relative) safety of the tower. Any non-Preachers that manage to close
distance will get Converted to my side by the Preacher (sorry if I'm skipping
ahead, but you may want to look at the Followers section if you're confused as
to what the different types of followers do). If I'm staging an attack, or if
there's only one side the enemy approaches from, I typically have the rest of
my troops near the guard towers to handle anything real nasty.
Max Builders 12, Wood Needed 5
2.3.4 Warrior Training Hut
This building takes any follower type (except Warrior) and makes them a
Warrior. This process uses mana, and proceeds fastest whent the spell charge
bar is full. The hut can only train one follower at a time, but if you assign
multiple followers to enter the hut, they will line up around the building and
enter as soon as one is done training. If you really need to step up
production, you can build more Training Huts. I never did this, and the AI
opponents only seem to do this very rarely either. It doesn't usually take
long to train a follower, so you shouldn't need more than one hut. Just get
Braves to repair it if enemies damage it, and try not to let the hut get
destroyed (same with all of your other buildings too) so you have to rebuild
it from scratch. (See Followers and Combat section for more detailed info of
the types of followers these building produce.)
Max Buildiers 16, Wood Needed 8
2.3.5 Temple
The Temple works exactly like the other Training Huts, only it trains other
followers to be Preachers. Like the other training buildings, I usually don't
build more than one of them.
Max Builders 20, Wood Needed 8
2.3.6 Firewarrior Training Hut
Same thing as before, just for firewarriors.
Max Builders 16, Wood Needed 8
2.3.7 Spy Training Hut
Trains spies. 'Nuff said. I typically don't build one since I don't find
spies that useful.
Max Builders 16, Wood Needed 8
2.3.8 Boat House
The Boat House, unlike producing followers, lets you build boats. To build
a boat, you need to assign up to four Braves to the Boat House. They will
start collecting wood, and when they have four bales one of the Braves will
sail out of the Boat House in the new boat.
Perhaps needless to say, the boat construction goes faster when you have
more Braves in the Boat House since there are more people to gather wood.
Like building construction, Braves assigned to Boat Houses need a supply of
wood nearby or they will stop construction until some trees grow back.
Building Construction: Max Builders 15, Wood Needed 5
Boat Construction: Max Builders 4, Wood Needed 4
2.3.9 Balloon Hut
This building works much the same as the Boat House, only for producing
balloons. Balloons are my favorite thing in P:TB, together with Firewarriors
or a Shaman with full spells, you can cross any terrain to meet your enemies
and rain destruction down on them. Firewarriors and a few spells of the enemy
Shaman are the only things that can knock your followers out of a balloon. In
short, when you get this building, use it. Be careful that you have enough
space to build it and plenty of wood, the Balloon Hut is your largest
building. Also, be prepared with resources, Braves, and other followers to
replace balloons if your attack goes badly.
Building Construction: Max Builders 16, Wood Needed 11
Balloon Construction: Max Builders 6, Wood Needed 3
2.3.10 Guard Post
The Guard Post is avalible from the start of the game and is basically a
little campfire that you can put down pretty much anywhere on the map, without
any cost. Left clicking on a Guard Post when you have followers selected
causes those followers to start circling the Guard Post. They will defend
that area, so Guard Posts are usefull to mark a staging area or a spot where
you want your other defenders to take up station. You can hold control and
click on multiple Guard Posts to create a patrol between them, something the
enemy AI does often. You cannot see enemy Guard Posts, nor destroy them. One
of your Guard Posts can be removed by holding shift and right clicking on it.
2.3.11 Reincarnation Site
The Reincarnation Site is built automatically on most levels when you begin
the world. It is a stone circle that serves two purposes. First, if your
Shaman dies and you still have followers left alive, she will reappear at the
Reincarnation Site a short time later, ready for more action. Please note
that the same is true for enemy Shamans and their own Reincarnation Sites.
The second purpose is that it acts as the center of your settlement, and you
can only start building other buildings nearby your Reincarnation Site, until
you build new structures or a Guard Tower.
2.4 Followers
There are 5 types of followers in your tribe, along with the Shaman and
Wildmen; Brave, Warrior, Preacher, Firewarrior, and Spy. To get follower
types other than Brave you will have to build the appropriate Training Hut and
send followers to be trained for that type. The capabilities and uses of the
followers are discussed below.
2.4.1 Shaman
The Shaman is your avatar in P:TB. She is the leader of your tribe and the
only one who can cast magic. As mentioned before with the Reincarnation Site,
she will return to life a short time after she is killed. Typically, the
Shaman cannot defeat most enemy followers in single combat (unless they are
very weak to begin with). However, the best way to deal with enemies
harassing your Shaman is through her spells. A short range Blast spell (which
you start the game with) will send nearby enemies flying, and give you time to
set up another spell. The Swarm spell is also useful for getting enemy
followers off your Shaman's back, as whenever they touch the Swarm they run
away screaming.
The Shaman's power is directly proportional to the spells she has at her
disposal. At the start of the game, you probably shouldn't have her on the
front lines since she's physically weak and can't cast much. As you advance
through the worlds and get more powerful spells at your disposal, your Shaman
will literally be able to decimate entire tribes by herself. Just keep her
away from enemy followers and let the magic fly. To cast spells, you must
have the spell panel open. Left click on the icon for the spell you wish to
cast, and left click somewhere on the map to cast it at that location. If the
location you choose is currently out of the spell’s range, the Shaman will
walk until she is in range, so long as she is able to get to the place you
selected.
2.4.2 Brave
The Brave is the civilian of all of your followers. They are the workers,
resource gatherers, and builders. They are the only followers that can be
assigned to build buildings/boats/balloons, gather wood, and they are the
followers that produce the most mana for your spells when they are housed in
Huts. When your population is below the maximum any Hut you have built will
eventually produce a Brave, though the process goes faster when you have some
followers in the Hut. As the base follower class you shouldn't worry too much
about running out of Braves (unless you train them all into some other class).
Your Braves will fight when attacked, exiting their Huts when enemy
followers get near, but they are not the most adept fighters. One warrior
will tear through multiple braves easily, so you probably don't want to make
your invasion force out of Braves, and keep their civil defense of your
settlement to a minimum.
2.4.3 Warrior
The Warrior is the first follower class you get other than Braves. You
train them at the Warrior Training Hut for one mean close combat machine.
They should suffice as far into the game as you want, as long as ground combat
is your thing. In the earlier stages they are invaluable for stomping down
enemy followers and buildings.
2.4.4 Preacher
The Preacher is one of the weakest of your combat followers, and at the
same time one of the strongest. A Preacher is weak because in pretty much any
hand to hand fight, he will lose. The Preacher is strongest not because of
his fighting abilities, but because he can convert enemy followers to your
side. When a Preacher normally encounters enemy followers (either he runs to
them or they run to him), he will open up his holy text and start preaching
the Gospel of Your Shaman. Enemy followers will sit down, listen, and (if
they haven't been disturbed) eventually convert to your side. When an enemy
follower gets converted, they act as if they had always been a member of your
tribe, and vice versa for your followers that get converted to an enemy tribe.
You can stop followers from being converted by disturbing the Preacher who is
doing the preaching. This can be done by attacking the Preacher with the
Shaman, a spell, or another Preacher. The Shaman and Preachers are immune to
enemy Preachers. If you order your Preachers to move or attack while they are
preaching, this will distract them and any enemy followers who were listening
will stand back up and attack. Usually when you move a Preacher like this,
he'll stop a moment later and start Preaching again, so you'll have to wait
until he converts all the nearby enemy followers before you can move him forward.
2.4.5 Firewarrior
The Firewarrior is the long range attacker of your tribe. A Firewarrior
can fire a small blast of fire that can knock enemy followers around (very
useful when you can knock them into water). When Firewarriors are massed
together, their attacks are even more powerful, and one barrage from a group
of Firewarriors will kill or severly damage most followers. The advantage to
the Firewarrior's ranged attack is that they can fire from further away than a
Preacher can preach, thus avoiding conversion if you order them carefully.
Firewarriors can (and will) get converted by enemy preachers if they get too
close, so be careful. Also, Firewarriors are the only units that can directly
attack to or from a boat or balloon. If a firewarrior shoots into a boat or
balloon, there is a chance that he will knock the passengers of that vehicle
out. A fall from a balloon is fatal, as well as falling into water.
Typically, you wont want to put your Firewarriors in boats themselves to guard
against enemy boats (I've never done such a naval engagement and I think it
would be more of a hassle to try), but Guard Towers with Firewarriors are very
effective. As mentioned before, combining a few Firewarrior Guard Towers with
a Preacher Guard Tower is a good first line of defense when you have an
obvious entrance to your settlement. The Firewarriors have a longer range in
a Guard Tower than Preachers do, and will be able to fire at incoming troops
before they get to the towers.
2.4.6 Spy
Spies are the last class of followers that you can train. You can disguise
these followers to appear like Braves of any of the enemy tribes, and then
send them in to light the enemy buildings on fire. Left click on the enemy
tribes icons in the control panel when you have your Spies selected to
disguise them. Their outfits will flash briefly, and then stay the color you
selected for them. You can run them in undetected, but usually they're
uncovered (signalled by when their outfits become blue again) shortly after
they light their fire. Disguised Spies can run past enemy Preachers and the
enemy Shaman without a problem (though undisguised spies will be attacked on
sight). I think they are automatically discovered (and turn back to being
undisguised) when they stay in the enemy's sight for too long, but this should
give you enough time for the spy to get to the target building. Enemy Spies
can also unmask your Spies (and vice versa) from the ground or in Guard
Towers. Since you can't tell an enemy Spy from an enemy Brave, there is no
good way to run your Spies around the enemy's. I find Spies to be of limited
usefulness, since they rarely burn a building to the ground, even if you send
multiple spies after the same building. They're basically only good for
harassing the enemy settlement with suicide burn missions, because typically
the Braves in the nearby huts jump out and kill the Spy quickly. Spies are
not very strong in close combat. If you want to experiment with them, go
right ahead, but I'm not a big Spy fan. One last thing to say about Spies is
that to uncover enemy Spies you need to right click on the follower you think
is a Spy (he will look like one of your Braves) and he will switch color.
Usually your first warning that an enemy Spy is in your settlement is when one
of your buildings catches on fire.
2.4.7 Wildmen
Wildmen are not actually followers, they are the random cave-man-like
people that wander around most of the worlds. They do not belong to any
tribe, but if a Shaman casts the Convert spell on them they will turn in to
Braves for that Shaman's tribe. On most worlds you start out with only a few
Braves, so Converting as many Wildmen as you can is crucial to getting a large
follower base early on so you can build up your settlement. If you Convert so
many Wildmen that you exceed the maximum population for your tribe, then your
Huts simply won't produce any more Braves. Note that in the walkthrough I
will refer to Wildmen as if they were Braves, and when I do this I assume that
you've converted them. Please don't think when you read the walkthrough that
you can order Wildmen around without Converting them.
II.5 Spells
Magic is what makes your Shaman special in this game, and so here's the run
down on the magic system and what spells are at your disposal. You get spells
either by worshipping at Vaults of Knowledge, after which your spells are
added permanently to your spellbook, or by worshipping Stone Heads, which give
you single shot spells. Once you have the ability to cast a spell, its icon
will appear in one of the blocks on the spell panel. If there is a question
mark on one of the blocks, then that means that that particular spell is to be
found somewhere on that world. Above the spell’s icon is a set of dots, red
or blue. Red dots denote a single shot spell, a spell that you can cast as
many times as you have red dots. Blue dots denote that a permanent spell has
charged up enough mana for one use.
Once you get a spell permanently, you have to use mana in order to use it.
Right clicking on the spell’s icon will toggle whether the spell is charging
or not. Charging spells will use some of the mana generated by your
followers, and the spell charge rate bar may change. When a spell is
charging, a progress bar will appear beneath the spell’s icon and, when the
bar fills up, a blue dot will appear above the spell. Each spell has a
maximum number of uses, for example Blast can be used four times, meaning that
it will continue to charge until you have four blue dots, while Volcano only
has one use. The rate at which spells charge depends on the spell and the
spell charge rate bar, and if you want a particular spell to charge quickly
you should stop charging other spells, put more Braves in huts, or stop
training your followers into other classes. Also be careful of wasting mana,
when the spell charge rate bar flashes red, which happens when all your spells
that you have charging finish and you can still charge some other spells.
Immediately start charging those spells, since you never know when they might
come in handy. Once you cast a spell, one of the use dots will disappear.
If it is for a chargeable spell, then once you have charged up enough mana for
it, the use dot will reappear. Another thing about maximum uses, this means
the number of times you can cast the spell when its fully charged, it is not
any limit on how many times you can cast it on a given level (there is no
limit, except for single shot spells, and with enough time you can cast a
chargeable spell to your heart's content). Note that sometimes you can get
single shot spells for spells that you already have. While this saves you the
time of charging up that spell, if you have already charged up that spell to
the maximum number of blue dots, the single shot will just replace one of the
spell uses you already have, and not give you an extra one.
How far away your Shaman has to be from a target in order to cast the spell
depends on the spell. When you put your mouse over the spell icon or left
click the icon, a ring appears on the map centered around your Shaman.
Anywhere in the ring the spell can be cast. Most spells are either short,
medium, or long ranges. Since there’s no good way to describe the distance,
I’ll talk about the ranges in terms of the spells that have them, and you can
take a look for yourself what I mean in the game. Short range spells can be
cast as far as Blast can, Long range spells can be cast as far as Lightning
can, and Medium range spells go as far as Magical Shield.
2.5.1 Blast
This is the one spell you start the game with. Blast is a short range
fireball that will kill a Brave with a direct hit. More often, the spell
throws enemy (and friendly) followers into the air. A decent way to use Blast
is to fire to the side of an oncoming enemy to knock them into water, or at
least away from your Shaman. Against buildings, Blast is essentially
useless. Use it to get enemies off your Shaman’s back, or to toss around a
large group of enemies. Blast has a maximum of four uses.
2.5.2 Convert
This is one of the few non-offensive spells in P:TB. Cast it on a patch of
ground and a circle of light will appear where you cast it. Any Wildmen
within that circle will be converted into Braves of your tribe. This is
essential to building up your population early in a level. Since early on you
won’t have a lot of Braves producing mana for you, you’ll want each Convert
spell to count, so try to cast it on groups of Wildmen. When you have more
mana, you can go after individual Wildmen if you want to. Also, be aware that
when left to their own devices, Wildmen tend to die off. Recruit them as fast
as you can, since they won’t be as plentiful later in the level. This spell
has the longest range in the game, and a maximum of four uses.
2.5.3 Magical Shield
This spell allows you to shield your some of your followers from magical
attacks such as Blast spells, Firewarriors, and (I think) Lightning spells.
Cast it on a group of followers, and a certain number (I’m not sure how many)
will be surrounded by a blue halo. As long as that halo is up, the shield is
active. Magical Shield has a medium range and a maximum of four uses.
2.5.4 Ghost Army
I have not actually found this spell in any of the single player P:TB
levels, so I don’t know anything about it. If you have any information on
this spell, please email me at steric_hindrance@hotmail.com.
2.5.5 Swarm
If you ever need to get an enemy warrior away from your Shaman, or just
want to create chaos in a tightly packed invading army, this is the spell for
you. When cast, Swarm creates a dark cloud of stinging insects that will
cause enemy followers to run away in a panic. The Swarm will damage them, but
unless the enemy followers have already been badly hurt, it will not kill
them. If you cast Swarm beneath enemy boats or balloons the followers inside
the vehicles will jump out and run away, even if they are over water with no
nearby land. Swarm has a long range and a maximum of four uses.
2.5.6 Invisibility
This spell acts in a manner similar to Magical Shield, you cast it on a
group of followers and some of them turn invisible. Invisible followers show
up as slightly transparent. I’m not sure if there’s a way to spot enemies
that are invisible, or if you just have to wait until the spell wears off.
Use this to sneak a force undetected through enemy patrols. Note that even an
invisible follower will sit down and listen to an enemy Preacher if he gets
too close. Invisibility has a medium range and a maximum of four uses.
2.5.7 Land Bridge
This is one of the land altering spells at your disposal, and the first
spell other than Blast that you run across. Casting land bridge will create a
strip of land from where your Shaman is standing to the point where the spell
is cast. If the altitude of the start and end points are different, the land
will change to create a ramp between them. This spell is useful in a number
of different ways. First, the obvious use is to create a bridge across water
to a nearby island. Second, if there is a mountain, cliff, or steep valley in
your way, you can use Land Bridge to make a navigable ramp for your followers.
If you are at the bottom of a high land formation, stand your Shaman as far
away from the mountain as you can and cast the spell at the highest point you
can reach, so as to create a gently sloping ramp up. Reverse the process for
when you’re on top of a plateau and want to get down. Third, Land Bridge will
flatten out the land between where it is cast and where your Shaman is
standing if the two points are of about the same height. This holds true even
if there’s a hill or narrow mountain in the way. Stand as close to the
mountain as you can and cast the spell on flat land on the other side to carve
a path straight through it. Lastly, Land Bridge can be use to create more
land out of water for your settlement. The easiest way is to cast it between
two nearby points of land to cover up existing water. A more advanced way is
to stand along the shore and cast the spell at its maximum range further down
the shoreline. Land Bridge only considers the heights of the start and end
points for how high the resulting land will be, but always makes a rectangular
strip of land. Thus, casting it on shoreline from shoreline will create more
land of about the same height, but the new chunk of land will rise up from the
side of your Shaman that was facing the water. What you can now do is move
your Shaman onto the new land and repeat the process, creating a small strip
of land each time. It may be time consuming, but it works. Remember when
creating land with this spell that you may move your settlement too far from
available trees and won’t be able to have your followers complete new
buildings. Land Bridge works at a range between medium and long and has a
maximum of four uses.
2.5.8 Lightning
Your first powerful spell. Lightning sends a bolt of lightning (duh) down
that will cause more damage than Blast, as well as light buildings on fire.
Lighting will kill most enemy followers, including the Shaman, with a direct
hit (getting a direct hit may be tricky when the enemies are moving, since
there is a delay between when you click on the target and when the spell
hits). Lightning will not destroy a building, unless you cast it repeatedly
on a damaged building to burn it to the ground. However, it is useful to cast
on enemy Guard Towers to kill the follower inside and break up their defenses
for a short while. Since Lighting has a long range, you can easily take out
Guard Towers and other buildings with it before your enemies can strike back.
Lightning has a maximum of four uses.
2.5.9 Hypnotize
If you can’t beat them, make them join you. Hypnotize will create a flash
of light on the ground where you cast it, and any enemy followers too near
that light will instantly convert to your side. The conversion is temporary,
though, and little spirals above their heads denote hypnotized followers.
While hypnotized, you can order the former enemy followers to do anything that
your normal followers can do. Once the spell wears off, those followers will
go back to their original tribe. The exception to this is if while hypnotized
you order the enemy follower to go to one of your Training Huts. If you train
them into a new class, then when they are done the follower will be yours
permanently. Also, if you hypnotize an enemy Preacher, he will convert enemy
followers permanently to your side just like a regular Preacher, stopping only
when the spell wears off (when he tries to convert back all the people he just
converted...oops). Hypnotize has a medium range and a maximum of three uses.
2.5.10 Bloodlust
This spell is found as a single shot spell only in one level, the same
world bearing the name of the spell. It works much like Magical Shield and
Invisibility, and when cast allows your affected followers to take and deal a
significantly greater amount of damage than they normally could. A red haze
that appears around their head indicates a Bloodlusted follower. Cast this
spell before your troops go into battle so the effects do not wear off before
you get there. Bloodlust has a medium range and a maximum of four uses.
2.5.11 Teleport
This is another single shot only spell that is found only on the level
Unlikely Allies. With this spell, you can instantly teleport your Shaman to
any point on the map, even water (which will kill her just as instantly, be
careful). Teleport has infinite range and a maximum of four uses.
2.5.12 Tornado
This spell creates a tornado that hovers over the target spot of land
briefly, and then wanders off in some random direction. Because the effect of
Tornado is limited to the space right under it, this spell is not very good
against enemy followers. The exception is when you cast it on a follower in a
stationary balloon (helpful when you don’t have Firewarriors nearby). Even
though Tornado isn’t great against followers, it is an excellent building
killer. Casting Tornado in the center of a Hut, Temple, or Firewarrior
Training Hut will quickly reduce the building to rubble. With Warrior
Training Huts and Balloon Huts you have to aim a bit more carefully. Aim for
the tallest tower part of the Warrior Training Hut, and the section where the
balloons are built for the Balloon Hut. Tornado has a medium range and a
maximum of three uses.
2.5.13 Swamp
The only spell in the game guaranteed to stop people in their tracks.
Swamp creates a small patch of land that becomes a swamp, which will swallow
up ten people as soon as they step onto the swamp and kill them. After it
kills ten people the Swamp then disappears. These people can be enemy
followers, your followers, or Wildmen that wander in. Right clicking on a
swamp will show you how many people it has killed (grave icon) and how many
more it can take (grayed out grave icon). Swamps can be cast anywhere there
is land, and even slightly into the water. If all of the swamp is in the
water, it will disappear. Swamps do not effect followers in boats or
balloons, only those on land. Swamps are best used to set of a defense
against enemies when you know they will have to go through a certain area.
Also, if you’re flying your Shaman around in a balloon, you can cast Swamp
beneath the enemy Shaman or in front of Training Huts for quick kills. If
your own Swamps are getting in your way, press shift and right click on them
to make them go away. Swamp has a medium range and a maximum of three uses.
2.5.14 Flatten
This is another land altering spell. Cast it on a patch of ground and a
square section of nearby land (about the same size as your reincarnation site)
will be raised/lowered to the height of the ground you cast the spell on. You
can use this to create more land out of water, even out a path through a
mountain, or destroy enemy buildings by raising half of the building up to the
nearby plateau (note that some small buildings like Guard Towers may be able
to survive radical land changes from Flatten). If the spell does not cause a
significant change in height, then it may not destroy the building. Flatten
has a medium range and a maximum of three uses.
2.5.15 Earthquake
This spell is not the greatest attack spell, but it has its uses.
Earthquake will start by shaking the ground and causing the roofs to fly off
nearby buildings (one bale of wood worth of damage), then a fault will open up
in the ground and spread a small amount of lava which will create damaged
ground (where buildings can’t be placed for a while) and hurt followers.
If you position it carefully, Earthquake can take the foundation out from
under a building so that it falls into the ocean or is swallowed up by the
earth itself. Earthquake has a medium range and a maximum of two uses.
2.5.16 Erode
The last non-violent land altering spell. This spell causes the land
around the area it was cast to sink in altitude. Hills will be brought down
closer to the lower ground, perhaps even creating a way through them, and low
ground can even be sunk into the ocean (though you must cast the spell near
water to do this). Erode can be used as an attack spell on coastal buildings
(especially enemy Boat Houses) to sink them, or buildings on higher ground by
casting the spell at the side of the hill the building is on. As the land
sinks, the ground underneath the building will become uneven to the point that
the building gets destroyed. Erode has a medium range and a maximum of two
uses.
2.5.17 Firestorm
This spell sends a bunch of fire and brimstone falling down on and around
the target area where you cast the spell. The rocks will both damage
buildings and light them on fire. Any followers hit with the burning rocks
will catch on fire and run away in terror, and may be killed if they get hit
over and over again. The area of effect is pretty large for this spell, and
it can significantly damage buildings when you cast it even once. Casting it
twice on nearby areas can easily burn a few buildings to the ground, and cause
chaos among enemy Braves trying to repair those buildings. Firestorm has a
medium range and a maximum of two uses.
2.5.18 Angel of Death
This spell is a good way to spread destruction and chaos through your
enemy’s settlement. Casting it anywhere on the map will summon one Angel of
Death, a serpentine dragon that flies around of its own accord, seeking out
enemy followers and occasionally breathing fire. After a while, it will swoop
down on one enemy follower (even one in a building), causing him and those
around him to try and run away. When the Angel grabs the follower it’s after,
it takes him up into the air and then spits him back to earth, always killing
the follower. The Angel will stay around for about four minutes, a little
longer if it’s in a, shall we say, target rich environment. This is a real
fire and forget spell, once cast the Angel of Death is under computer control
and will hunt out the nearest enemy followers. What, you ask, should I do if
someone casts it on me? The answer is Firewarriors. Firewarriors are the
only followers that can damage an Angel of Death, their attack also knocks it
back a little bit so it takes longer before setting up its next attack. Your
best bet to defend against an Angel of Death is to put as many Firewarriors as
you can in balloons and order them to a location close to the enemy Angel.
They won’t fire while moving, but once they get to the location they’ll fire
whenever the Angel comes into range. The advantage with balloons is that the
followers in them won’t run away when the Angel targets them. Note that I say
when, not if. You will take casualties, as Firewarriors tend to draw the
Angel to themselves when they attack it (funny that). The only other way to
attack an Angel of Death is to summon your own nearby the enemy’s. Angels of
Death treat other Angels like enemy followers; they may or may not attack
them. If the enemy Angel is distracted by your people followers on the
ground, your Angel should have enough time to get the drop on the other one,
swoop in and cause massive damage. Angel of Death is a short range spell and
has a one use maximum.
2.5.19 Volcano
This spell is an even better way to spread destruction and chaos through
your enemy’s settlement. It is arguably the most powerful spell in the game.
When cast, the cone of a volcano starts erupting from the ground you selected,
spewing fiery rocks and lava across a large area. Buildings under the volcano
will be destroyed as the ground shifts under them, buildings touched by lava
will start on fire, and followers caught by the lava will run around in terror
but probably won’t find a way out before they die. Lava will create new land
if it touches water, but any land it does touch will be damaged for some time.
Your Shaman is immune to the lava of your own Volcanoes, but your followers
are not. The downside to this spell is the fact that it is short range, so I
recommend sending your Shaman in a balloon to cast it near a group of enemy
Huts or Training Huts. Volcano has a maximum of one use.
2.5.20 Armageddon
This is the last spell in the game, and it is a one use single shot only
spell found on a few levels. When cast, it changes the land where it is cast
into a giant arena. All the followers of all the tribes left in the world are
teleported to this arena, line up by type (Brave, Warrior, etc) and then fight
to the death. The last tribe standing wins the level. The enemy can use this
spell against you, so be careful when they’re worshipping at the Stone Head
that provides this spell. If you’re going to use it, be prepared to face a
lot of enemy followers all at once. You should probably send all of your
Braves to be trained into Warriors or Firewarriors (something the enemy won’t
do), but not Preachers as I have never seen an Armageddon battle slow down to
the point that Preachers can convert anyone. Note that even on the levels
that you can get Armageddon, you don’t have to use it to win the level.
Defeat every enemy follower on that world and you will still win without this
spell. Armageddon has an extra long range (same as Convert).
2.5.21 Forge World
The Forge World spells are a set of single shot spells that you get at the
start of a multiplayer game and can use to customize your planet. They are
Erode, Flatten, Land Bridge, Hill, Valley, Raise, Lower, Wildmen, and Trees.
Since I am concentrating this guide on the single player aspect of P:TB, I
will refer you to the in game help on this topic.
2.6 Worship Objects
In order to obtain new spells and building plans, you have to have your
Shaman or your followers worship at one of the four Worship Objects: Vaults of
Knowledge, Obelisks, Stone Heads, and Totem Poles. These objects are
preexisting on the worlds, no tribe can build them, and their exact effects
vary depending on the world. To worship an object, select some followers and
left click on the object. Each object has a specific number or followers that
can worship it; find out how many can worship the object by right clicking.
If you assign the maximum number of followers to worship the object, you will
get an effect from the object the fastest. You can have only one follower
worship at an object and eventually get a result, though it will just take
longer. The exception to this is that only the Shaman can worship at Vaults
of Knowledge and Obelisks.
2.6.1 Vault of Knowledge
The enemy tribes always seem to get all the new spells and buildings before
you do. Fortunately, they keep the how-to manuals for all this nifty stuff in
nearby Vaults of Knowledge. Only your Shaman can worship at these, and once
she does whatever spell or building is stored in the Vault will be yours
permanently. An icon for the spell or building that you will get from a Vault
appears at the top of the structure on the map screen. Note that once you
worship at a Vault, the knowledge will no go back with you when you replay a
previous world. Also note that you do not strictly speaking have to worship
these objects at all. When you complete a level with a Vault of Knowledge in
it without worshiping at it, then whatever spell or building you would have
gotten will be yours at the start of the next level. I strongly recommend
that unless it really is easier to wipe out the enemy tribe than sneak your
Shaman over to the Vault that you worship these objects during the level
itself. More often than not, the things in the Vaults will help you complete
the level you’re on, and there’s no sense in denying yourself these advantages
until the next world.
2.6.2 Obelisk
These objects appear in a few levels and the tutorial. In the tutorial
they are there to select which lesson you want. In game, they grant either
single shot spells (level Incarcerated), a full charge on all your spells, or
a giant influx of mana (both for level Solo). Only the Shaman can worship an
Obelisk.
2.6.3 Stone Head
These objects always give you single shot spells, typically ones you don’t
have access to yet, so it very beneficial to worship these. On a few levels,
enemy tribes will start worshipping these objects, and you may have to fight
through them to get the spell for your tribe. Stone Heads usually require
from one to six followers to worship effectively.
2.6.4 Totem Pole
Unlike the other worship objects, Totem Poles do not give you spells when
you worship at them, instead they typically change the land in some way that
is beneficial for you. As such, they should be a high priority when they are
presented to you. Totem Poles require from one to six followers to worship
effectively.
2.5 Combat
You can’t win a level without combat, destroying the enemy tribes will
necessarily involve building an army, and sending it to the enemy. There are
two ways to attack, with followers selected, left click on an enemy follower
or building or left click on some patch of ground near the enemy. If your
followers are on the ground, then in either case they will move to the
location you selected and attack when they get there. If you give them a
target, they will break off and engage enemies only if enemy followers attack
them. If you just give them a move order, they will attack any enemies that
are nearby while they are en route to their destination. Once they reach
where they are going, they will attack nearby enemy followers or buildings,
but not go very far to do so. Note that Firewarriors will engage nearby
enemies only if you haven’t given them a target, and that followers that can
be converted by Preachers will do so if they get to close to an idle enemy
Preacher, regardless of their orders.
Though the way to defeat a tribe is by killing/converting all of its
followers and killing the Shaman, you may want to direct your troops to take
out enemy buildings as well. Destroying buildings such as Training Huts will
require the enemy to spend the time and resources building a new one somewhere
else, while yours is still operational. Conversely, you may just want to
damage buildings to get enemy followers out of them (damaging a hut will cause
all the people inside to exit) so you can pick them off more easily, or to
create a lure for enemy Braves trying to repair the building. Experiment in
the early stages, and see what tactics work well for you and for the
situation. In general, you may not want to raze every building you run
across, since the game doesn't care if the enemy tribes have any buildings
left, only how many followers they have.
2.5.1 With Warriors
You get Warriors on the very first world of the game, and they will be very
useful to you through much of the game. Alone, a Warrior can take out a
superior number of Braves, though not without taking damage, and in large
groups Warriors can make short work of other followers and enemy buildings.
In early levels, 10 Warriors should suffice, while in later levels I prefer to
have 20-25 Warriors in my attack force, along with other follower classes.
With these guys, just point and click and let them slug it out. Be careful
about enemy Preachers, though, since you can't interrupt a Preacher with one
of your Warriors without getting that Warrior too close to the Preacher.
2.5.2 With Preachers
You get Preachers on the third world, Crisis of Faith, and combat will not
be the same for the rest of the game. Preachers can be a VERY dangerous
enemy. In a test I did, one Preacher was able to sit down and convert a mass
attack of 75 Warriors. The only way to counter this is to have Preachers of
your own. Once the enemy has Preachers, DO NOT send any attack with out at
least a few Preachers to engage enemy Preachers before they convert your
people. If your Preachers are getting killed, immediately order any of your
followers that you can to get out of the enemy’s settlement before they get
converted. Note that Preachers are not always very good about attacking
nearby enemy Preachers, so you may have to micromanage them when your other
followers start getting converted.
I prefer to have 10-15 Preachers along with my group of 20-25 Warriors.
Initially you can order your army to move near the enemy settlement and use
your Warriors to keep enemies off your Preachers’ backs while they convert
people. This will take the enemy’s border guard and any reinforcements and
add them to your army, though it may slow your advance if the Preachers take
a long time to convert. Once you have taken care of the forces they send
against you, head in as quickly as the resistance allows. Make sure you use
your Preachers against enemy Preachers. When there aren’t that many enemy
Warriors, Preachers, or Firewarriors, you can either have your Preachers
convert the remaining enemy Braves or have your army kill them.
2.5.3 With Firewarriors
Firewarriors are a nice addition to your army. By the time you get them,
enemy tribes will be large enough that you will want to add 20-25 Firewarriors
along with your 20-25 Warriors and 10-15 Preachers. The Firewarriors allow
you to send a volley or two as you charge an enemy position, perhaps killing a
few enemies along the way. Try to keep them away from enemy followers,
because their effectiveness goes down when they get into hand-to-hand combat.
Firewarriors can even shoot at enemy Preachers from a safe distance, but since
they’re never guaranteed to stay at a safe distance its best to have Preachers
of your own. Firewarriors really shine by themselves with balloons, but I’ll
discuss that later.
2.5.4 With Spies
Combat with Spies is almost an oxymoron. You don’t ever want to take Spies
into actual combat, even a Brave can kill them easily. If you feel the need,
disguise them, sneak them in, and light an enemy building on fire. This is
almost always a kamikaze mission, and usually futile in the long run since the
enemy will repair the building right away. I usually don’t bother with Spies.
2.5.5 With Boats
Firewarriors are the only followers that can fire into or out of a boat,
but you should not think that this could give you a battleship. I find boats
rather unwieldy to control, and enemy boats are small in a big ocean, so it’s
difficult to intercept them on the water. Boats are good for one thing,
though: transport. One boat can carry five followers across water that is
otherwise impassable. If you need to use them, boats are the way to get your
people to where they need to be. Be careful about disembarking, as when you
click a move order onto land the boat may just pull up to shore and stop.
Click on the land again and the followers should jump out of the boat. I
prefer to take, or make, a land route for my army whenever possible, but I
guess I’m just not a navy man.
2.5.6 With Balloons
Since Balloons can only carry two followers they are not the greatest for
transport, even though they fly and as such can cross all terrain. Balloons
are very effective when used with a large group of Firewarriors. Like with
boats, only Firewarriors can fire into or out of a balloon, so Firewarriors in
balloons become your own little air force. At this point in the game, I
prefer to abandon the Warrior/Preacher/Firewarrior combined army in favor of
10 Warriors/10 Preachers at home for defense and 30+ Firewarriors in balloons.
Just move your balloons above the enemy and when they get there the
Firewarriors will shoot at anything in range. Target specific
followers/buildings to get concentrated firepower that will kill just about
anything. Be very careful though of enemy Firewarriors, as they are the only
follower class that can harm people in your balloons (even enemy Preachers
cannot get them). Against superior numbers of enemy Firewarriors, try not to
engage them all at once or your balloons will become sitting ducks for the
enemy to pick off. Also be careful of the enemy Shaman. If she casts Swarm
beneath your balloons, your Firewarriors will jump out and run away, ruining
your air advantage. The Firewarriors will also run away if they are within
the Shaman’s Reincarnation Site when she reincarnates.
2.5.7 With the Shaman
The Shaman is useless in hand-to-hand combat, but with enough spells at her
disposal she can go about and cause something I call magical mystical mayhem.
Simply put her in a balloon and fly around the enemy settlement casting spells
where they’ll do the most damage. Erode on Boat Houses and coastal buildings,
Swamp on enemy patrol paths or beneath the enemy Shaman’s favorite Guard Tower
(when she reincarnates, she’ll usually go right back to the same place, and
your Swamp can get her again), Angel of Death when you’re close enough to the
enemy settlement, and the destructive spell of your choice on clusters of huts
or their Training Huts. Since Firewarriors are the only people that can take
out your Shaman (with only two hits), be careful to stay out of their way.
Cast Lightning on any Guard Towers with Firewarriors, and Swarm as needed to
keep ground troops away. You may lose your Shaman while doing this, but
hopefully not until you’ve caused massive casualties and destruction, and she
reincarnates anyway. Once you’re done the enemy will probably be softened up
enough to send in balloon riding Firewarriors to finish the job.
3. Walkthrough
Here is my take on how to get through all of the 25 levels of P:TB. I have
included information on what sort of spells you can get in each stage and what
obstacles you will face. My tactics are probably not perfect, so if you find
a better way and want it include, send it to me at
steric_hindrance@hotmail.com and I’ll include it in a future version of the
guide. Note on directions, even though you can rotate the camera on the map
screen any way you want, when you enter to world view the orientation is
always the same. I am using the world view orientation to define north-south
and east-west. Also, the landmarks I describe may not make sense if you’re
not looking at the map itself, so you might want to read the walkthroughs
while you have the game on pause and flip back and forth as you need to.
Before each walkthrough is the quote you get at the start of the world.
3.1 The Journey Begins
"I have created my Reincarnation Site and the settlement is nearly complete.
Now we must destroy the Dakini tribe!"
Enemy Tribes: Dakini
Worship Objects:
Stone Head--Infinite Land Bridge, 1 follower to worship
Stone Head--4 Lightning, 1 follower to worship
Vault of Knowledge--Warrior Training Hut
This stage is essentially a tutorial stage to let you get a handle on the
controls. This world has three small islands, with your settlement located on
the southernmost one. You start with two small huts and 6 Braves. I
recommend building two more huts next to the existing ones and sending your
Shaman to worship at the Stone Head on your island to get Land Bridge. This
Stone Head is unique in the game in that it will keep giving you spells until
you create a Land Bridge to the Dakini island, farthest north. With one Land
Bridge spell you can create a path to the middle island directly north of
yours. Here is the other Stone Head with Lightning and the Vault of Knowledge
guarded by one Dakini Brave. A direct hit with Blast will take out the Brave
and allow you access to the Vault. Here, you can either build a Warrior
Training Hut, train some Warriors, and then go storm across the Dakini
settlement (only one hut and a Warrior Training Hut), or you can go grab the
Lightning Spells. With four carefully placed lightning spells you can kill or
knock into the water all of the enemy followers and their Shaman, ending the
level without breaking a sweat. If that fails, you can charge in with your
other followers at your leisure.
3.2 Night Falls
"Now we face the Matak tribe. I sense many Warriors ready to stand against
us. In my vision we are aided by magic from a Stone Head. There must be a
way to reach it!"
Enemy Tribes: Matak
Worship Objects:
Stone Head--3 Tornado, 2 followers to worship
Totem Pole--Land Bridge, 1 follower to worship
Vault of Knowledge--Swarm
You begin this world with an empty large hut and 8 Braves. You are on the
same island as the Matak, with their settlement on the west end through a
valley. To the east across the water is a Stone Head that will give you
Tornado, but to reach it you have to worship at the Totem Pole in the valley
between your tribe and the Matak. There is a Guard Tower with a Matak Warrior
at the entrance to their settlement, so don’t get too close or they’ll call
for reinforcements. You don’t have much space on your end of the island, but
enough for four more huts to build up your population and a Warrior Training
Hut. While your Braves are busy on construction, send your Shaman over to the
Totem Pole to open the Land Bridge to the Stone Head. Once that’s done, pull
one Brave off construction detail and send him to worship the Stone Head with
your Shaman. As your huts get completed, make sure that the small huts stay
filled to produce new braves quickly and send any idle Braves left over to be
trained into Warriors. You can put the Shaman and whatever Warriors you have
in the large hut to get it to produce more Braves (which you can then train
into Warriors). Once you have 10 Warriors, you’ll have enough to take out the
Matak. Attack the Guard Tower and your Warriors should easily defeat both the
sentry and the Braves he calls to help. Once that’s done, cast Tornado on two
huts along the way to the Vault of Knowledge. Once you get past the Vault
you’ll get near the Guard Tower at the west end of the island where the Matak
Shaman is. Beware only of the fact that she likes to cast Swarm on your
Warriors and spread them all over the place as they run in panic. Cast
Tornado on her Guard Tower (being careful of Matak Warriors patrolling around
the Tower) to finish her off. For future reference, Tornado really is
overkill for a Guard Tower, so if you want to kill occupants of a Guard Tower
quickly just use Lightning (though that isn’t an option in this level). After
the Shaman is taken care of, have your Warriors hut down the rest of the Matak
and claim this world as your own.
3.3 Crisis of Faith
"I had a disturbing vision. The Chumara tribe turned my own followers
against me when I attacked! I must find a way to reach their Vault of
Knowledge and learn how to use this power against them."
Enemy Tribes: Chumara
Worship Objects:
Totem Pole--Erode, one follower to worship
Vault of Knowledge--Temple
Here it is, the level where you get the all-powerful Preacher. If you
don’t believe they’re all powerful, send the best attack force you can make
(without the Shaman) against the _one_ Preacher on this world and you’ll see
what I mean. On the upside, since there’s only one Preacher, he won’t be
difficult to handle. You are again on the same island as your enemy, with
your settlement located across an inlet of water and a small land bridge to
the northeast of the Chumara settlement. At the end of the land bridge there
is a strip of land with a tall hill and one side and the ocean on the other,
marking the start of Chumara territory. It is here where the Chumara Preacher
takes up position as soon as they get a Temple built, with their Shaman
standing nearby. This is basically their only defense, so it shouldn’t be
difficult.
You start with a small hut and 12 Braves. Start them on building new huts
while your Shaman goes across the inlet and further north along the hill to
the Totem Pole (she won’t get near the Chumara so don’t worry). On the other
side of the hill from the Totem Pole is the Vault of Knowledge, and
worshipping the Totem erodes the hill to make a path for your Shaman. The
Vault is far enough away from the rest of the Chumara settlement that you
shouldn’t be harassed by anyone, but you have Swarm handy just in case. Once
you get the Temple, send your Shaman back to your settlement, build one, and
crank out some Preachers and Warriors.
Because the Matak tribe is small, 10 Warriors and 5 Preachers should do the
trick. You technically only need one Preacher to get past the enemy’s (or
have your Shaman Blast him into the ocean) and then send in your Warriors.
Extra Preachers will allow you to convert enemy Braves and have them tear down
their own buildings. But, if you want to slaughter all of the enemy followers
for their crimes against your people, go right ahead and send the Warriors in.
Note that on this world the enemy Shaman has a Reincarnation Site, and will
reappear if you take too long. The enemy will attack you on this level as
well, but only with sporadic waves of three Braves, not a real threat. You
will also see Wildmen roaming around, but without a Convert spell you can’t
add them to your tribe.
3.4 Combined Forces
"We face a great threat. The Matak are massing against us. I need the
power of Lightning to defeat them, but Preachers are guarding their Vault of
Knowledge."
Enemy Tribes: Matak
Worship Objects:
Stone Head--4 Convert, 1 follower to worship
Vault of Knowledge--Guard Tower
Vault of Knowledge--Lightning
You start on the east end of a medium sized island running east-west.
There are two lakes in the center of the island, breaking the passage west to
the Matak settlement into three forks. The north and south roads aren’t open
to you because they are hills that are too steep to climb from where you
start. Following the middle path will take you to the Lighting Vault of
Knowledge, and from there you can go north or south around the westernmost
lake to get to the Matak settlement. Along the way you’ll see the Guard Tower
Vault of Knowledge to the east and the Convert Stone Head to the northwest of
your Reincarnation site. You start the world with two small huts and 9
Braves. There’s only enough space where you begin to build one other hut, and
the land doesn’t go far enough in any direction to build next to your original
buildings. There is plenty of land further towards the first Vault, so you
should start your Braves on building one hut while your Shaman goes and
figures out how to build Guard Towers. Once you have those, you can build one
on the other side of the inlets near your Reincarnation Site and expand your
settlement. Be sure to send your Shaman or a Brave to the Stone Head and
start Converting Wildmen to your cause. You only have a limited number of
spells, so choose large groups of Wildmen wherever possible.
Once you have the Guard Tower up you can build a Warrior Training Hut,
Temple, and more Huts as you need them. I recommend 15 Warriors and 10
Preachers to ensure swift and crushing victory. Once you have your army
together, take them and your Shaman to the Lightning Vault. With Lightning
you’ll be able to reach across the lake and set fire to a few Matak buildings,
notably their Warrior Training Hut. When you’re ready, send your followers
across to take out the enemy tribe, you should know how to by now. Be aware
of counterattacks where Preachers are involved, so that you can send your own
Preachers in to counter. Also be aware of when the Matak Shaman heads out to
attack, as she has both Blast and Lightning. With all the water around in
this level you don’t want your followers knocked around or they most likely
will fall in.
3.5 Death From Above
"In my vision I beheld the ultimate horror: the Angel of Death. It is an
unstoppable force that will destroy everything in its path! If my enemies,
the Dakini, reach it before me, our fate is sealed."
Enemy tribes: Dakini
Worship Objects:
Stone Head--3 Convert, 1 follower to worship
Stone Head--2 Land Bridge, 1 follower to worship
Totem Pole--Land Bridge, 6 followers to worship
Totem Pole--Boat, 1 follower to worship
Totem Pole--Land Bridge, 1 follower to worship
Angel of Death Statue (Obelisk)
This is the first of three worlds where you will have to complete an
objective within a certain time in order to win. You have 15 minutes from the
start of the level to get your Shaman to the Angel of Death statue and worship
it, if you can’t it in that amount of time then the Dakini Shaman will worship
the statue and send the Angel of Death after you. This world is a chain of
three large islands and one small one off to the side. You start on the
island to the northeast with 4 Warriors. That’s right, Warriors. Very few
Braves on this planet, and little time to build stuff, so don’t worry about
making a settlement. To the west is a Totem Pole that will open a Land Bridge
to the next island, north of that is one of your tribe’s Guard Towers
overlooking the small island to the north which has 10 Wildmen and a Totem
Pole. South of the Totem Pole on the starting island is the Convert Stone
Head.
At the start of the level stop charging Swarm and start charging Lightning,
you will need at least one use of that spell. Send your Shaman to the Guard
Tower, one Warrior to the Convert Stone Head, and the other three to the Totem
Pole. They will need another three followers to worship effectively, but that
comes later. With your Shaman in the Guard Tower, you’ll have enough range on
Convert to reach the island to the north. Convert as many Wildmen as you can,
keeping in mind that you only have three uses of Convert. Have one of them
worship the Totem Pole on their island to receive a Boat, which you can use to
ferry your new Braves back to the mainland. Have them join the Warriors
worshipping at the first Totem Pole to open the Land Bridge west to the second
island.
On this island you will find the Land Bridge Stone Head, a Warrior Training
Hut, a Temple (both for your tribe), and a third Totem Pole which opens a Land
Bridge south to the Dakini’s island. The Angel of Death statue is at the far
south end of that island, and there are several strategies I’ve come up with
on how to get there.
First, the easy way. Grab the two Land Bridge spells from the Stone Head
on the second island and train 5 Preachers and 4-5 new Warriors (depending on
how many Wildmen you converted). Once they’re all trained, order them to
guard the Shaman and head across the Land Bridge. When you engage the Dakini
forces (a Preacher and a Warrior), most of the other Dakini followers will
stop patrolling their routes and move to intercept. The advantage you have is
that you’re at the top of a hill overlooking their settlement, and they’ll
lose some time catching up to you as they try to go around to the steep part
where they can climb. From the top of the hill you’ll see another hill to the
south with a Dakini hut between it and where you’re standing. Cast Land
Bridge on that hill to make a plateau across. Walk on further south until you
get within Lightning range of the Dakini Shaman’s Guard Tower. Cast Lightning
to kill her as soon as you’re in range, you _don’t_ want her to Blast your
Shaman off the plateau. Continue south until you reach the end of the hills.
You’ll be right in front of the U-shaped hill that surrounds the Angel of
Death statue. Most of the enemy followers will have abandoned their posts in
a futile attempt to climb up and get to you, and any that have made it will
have to contend with your guarding followers. Cast the second Land Bridge
spell on the part of the U-shaped hill that’s to your left (if you’re facing
South) to create an easily navigable path to the statue and raise a ridge that
will block enemy counterattacks. Order your Shaman to worship the statue and
use Swarm if there are any enemy followers harassing it. Once she’s done,
she’ll be teleported safely away and not one, not two, but five permanent
Angels of Death will emerge from the statue and start killing the Dakini.
Congratulations.
Second, the more straightforward way. Train 2 more Warriors, and then make
the rest of your Braves Preachers. Engage the Dakini on the hill to the
south, and when the rest of their forces show up along the path on the east
face of the hill have your Preachers ready to Convert their Warriors and your
Warriors ready to kill their Preachers. When most of their defenders are
taken care of, use your followers as bait to keep the enemy off your Shaman as
she makes her way across their settlement to the statue. Don’t worry about
killing everything; the Angels of Death will take care of that. Use Lighting
on the enemy Shaman as before, and Swarm and Blast as needed if your Shaman
gets too far ahead of her defenders.
A more advanced method to this approach is to use the Land Bridge spells you
have to build more land and use the Braves you get to build Huts. Churn out
as many followers as you can and send them in to attack with a few minutes
left. Kill everything in your path and make your way to the statue. You can
either worship it, or continue killing the Dakini followers. Unlike in the
other levels with a time limit, you don't lose this one automatically when
time runs out. When the timer hits zero, the enemy Shaman will start trying
to worship the statue. However, if your forces are in the area and can kill
her before she finishes worshipping (and every time she reincarnates after
that), then you can take as long as you want to finish off the last Dakini
followers, with or without ever worshipping the Angel of Death statue. Note
that this requires some good time and resource management, so I would
recommend it on your first time through the level. It might be fun to try
later when you've got a good handle on the game controls though.
Lastly, the way of subterfuge. Remember that boat? Stick a few Warriors
and Preachers in it with your Shaman and sail as close as you can get to the
statue (north or south side doesn’t really matter, though you have a shorter
way to walk on the north). Jump out of the boat and make a beeline for the
statue, using your followers and/or Swarm as cover. Another way to do this is
to just have the Shaman in the boat and use the rest of your followers launch
an attack from the north over the normal land route, which will draw most of
the Dakini away from the statue. Use Swarm on those that stay behind and
maybe cast Land Bridge to cut a straight path through the hill surrounding the
statue so you don’t have to walk as far around.
As long as your Shaman doesn’t get killed along the way to the statue you
should do ok. It doesn’t take long for her to worship it, and once she does
the level is over. I’ve encountered a glitch that keeps Death From Above
listed as unconquered on the solar system screen if you don’t wait for the
Angels of Death to kill all of the Dakini. If you see this, just replay it
and don’t press space bar until the enemy tribe is destroyed.
3.6 Building Bridges
"For the first time we must face two tribes: the Chumara and the Matak.
Perhaps I can use them against each other. I sense a Totem Pole that may be
useful in bringing them into conflict."
Enemy Tribes: Matak, Chumara
Worship Objects:
Stone Head--3 Swamp, 4 followers to worship
Stone Head--3 Hypnotize, 1 follower to worship
Stone Head--1 Firestorm, 1 follower to worship
Totem Pole--Land Bridge, 1 follower to worship
Vault of Knowledge--Convert
Vault of Knowledge--Land Bridge
Here is where the gloves come off. No more easy cakewalks over unprepared
enemy tribes. On this world not only do you face two tribes, but the enemies
also deploy Preachers as defense (more than one), make raids on your
settlement with Braves and Warriors, and even the enemy Shaman will come along
to cast Swarm as your followers go about their business. After the last five
levels this is a change, but you’re certainly up to the challenge.
You begin on a very large landmass at the south end. The Chumara
settlement is at the other end of the continent to the north. The Matak’s
island is separated at the start of the level by water, and lies to the
northeast. Immediately north of your Reincarnation Site is the Convert Vault
of Knowledge, grab it immediately. With Convert, start casting on as many
Wildmen as you see. There are large groups of Wildmen at a lake north of your
settlement past a gap in the hills surrounding your territory, near the Totem
Pole northeast along the coast, and a few near the Swamp Stone Head to the
east of your settlement. Once you Convert four Braves, send them to the Stone
Head in the crater to the east to get some Swamp spells. These can be used as
stopgap defenses when you see the enemies coming at you. Swamp takes a long
time to worship, so be patient and watch out for the Chumara Shaman, who likes
to cast Swarm on your worshipping Braves and interrupt them.
Send the rest of your Braves to build 12 huts, a Warrior Training Hut, and
a Temple. I find that 12 huts give you enough people for 20+ Warriors and 15
Preachers, with more than enough Braves left over to replace losses. You
start out with only 6 Braves and no buildings, just like you will start in
most of the levels throughout the rest of the game. In this level you will
also want to set up Guard Towers and an actual defense. This level is nice in
that it has a steep hill encircling your side of the island. As mentioned
before, there is a gap directly to the north, which you should fill with 3
Guard Towers spaced evenly apart and staffed with Preachers. The enemies will
attack with Preachers, but only one at a time along with 3 or so Warriors.
The Towers will help amplify your Preachers’ range, so while one of them comes
out of his Tower to fight the enemy Preacher, another of your followers in a
nearby Tower should be able to convert the other part of the raiding party.
Watch out for the enemy Shaman casting Swarm or Lighting on the Towers though.
There are also gaps in the hills to the west and east near the coast. Either
cast Swamp (temporary solution) or build Guard Towers here as you see fit.
Especially important is the gap on the east, as the Matak have Land Bridge and
will cast it to make a path dangerously near your settlement. Luckily,
though, when you see the spell message on screen you’ll have time to move your
Shaman over and lay a Swamp down in front of the Matak raiding party
including their Shaman).
Meanwhile, the Matak’s Land Bridge allows you access to the Hypnotize Stone
Head. They will try to set up a Guard Tower nearby, but I was able to worship
the Stone Head with my Shaman alone, after casting Lightning on the Guard
Tower and careful use of Swarm against lingering enemies. Once you have
Hypnotize, head over towards the Totem Pole. Without Land Bridge you can’t
reach it, but there is (somehow) a Chumara Warrior on the island. Hypnotize
him and have him worship the Totem to open a Land Bridge between the Chumara
and Matak settlements. While they’re dealing with each other, you can finish
your preparations.
Once your defenses are sound, your huts upgraded, and your army complete,
go claim this world for your tribe. It doesn’t matter which tribe you attack
first, though I prefer the Matak because you can get Land Bridge and worship
at the Firestorm Stone Head. The Chumara also have Guard Towers spread out
over a large area, so it might take longer to hunt them all down.
3.7 Unseen Enemy
"The Chumara will use the spell of Invisibility to attack us. Once again, I
sense a Stone Head that contains a prize: the spell of Erode! Then, I will
seize the power of Invisibility from their Vault of Knowledge."
Enemy Tribes: Chumara
Worship Objects:
Stone Head--2 Erode, 5 followers to worship
Vault of Knowledge--Invisibility
This world is a bit easier than the last, in that you don’t have to deal
with as much raiding from the enemy and only one other tribe to deal with.
The Chumara do seem to like Warriors and Preachers on this planet, and you’ll
run up against plenty. The fact that they can turn invisible doesn’t help
either. This world is very symmetric, with two kidney (for lack of a better
word) shaped islands running east-west. Your island is on the north side.
There are three places where the two islands get close enough to cast a Land
Bridge, on the far east, far west, and the center of the water dividing them
where there is a small island with the Erode Stone Head (you’ll have to cast
another Land Bridge from the island to reach the Chumara from there). There
aren’t many nice clumps of Wildmen, but you don’t have single shot Converts
any more, so just grab them as you see them. One last little thing about this
world is that your Reincarnation Site is on a little peninsula to the
northeast. On this peninsula you can only build one hut, so build a Guard
Tower and move the bulk of your settlement further inland.
Like in the last level, you’ll want your Shaman to go around and Convert
Wildmen and then use the Braves you get to build up your settlement. You’ll
want to put one Guard Tower at the west and east ends of your island towards
the Chumara, as they will open a Land Bridge on both points eventually.
You’ll also want to start charging your own Land Bridge from the start. Once
you get a use of it, open a way to the Stone Head at the center of the map.
Grab four Braves to worship it along with your Shaman. Be aware that this
Stone Head is in range of the Chumara Shaman’s Lightning spell, and she _will_
use it on you, repeatedly. Pay attention to your worshippers and zap her
before she zaps you. The reason you want to get Erode is that when the
Chumara opens a path to your island, you’ll have a way of shutting it down, at
least temporarily. This will buy you more time to build up your forces and
allow you to cross over to their island when you’re ready to fight on your
terms. Your defending Guard Towers may not actually be used in this level,
but they’re good to have if you need them. Also, I’ve found that even when
invisible, followers can get converted by a Preacher.
Whether you attack from the east or the west is up to you, the only
argument for the west is that it puts you closer to the Vault of Knowledge and
you don’t have to go through the Chumara settlement to get to it. Also, the
west path is in between the Chumara settlement and Reincarnation Site, so you
can intercept the enemy Shaman after she reincarnates. Ahh, Chumara mana
good. However, if you’re not planning on using Invisibility (I never did,
even after this level), then you might not need to go out of your way to get
the Vault at all and go straight to taking out the Chumara. If you don’t
worship at the Vault you’ll pick up Invisibility by default on the next world.
3.8 Continental Divide
"I sense a Dakini settlement nearby and they have a powerful defense against
us; mighty followers known as Firewarrior! I will need the spells of
Tornado and Magical Shield contained in the Stone Heads to defeat them.
Then I too will have the knowledge to train my own Firewarriors."
Enemy Tribes: Dakini
Worship Objects:
Stone Head--4 Tornado, 4 followers to worship
Stone Head--3 Magic Shield, 4 followers to worship
Vault of Knowledge--Firewarrior Training Hut
The geography of this world is difficult to describe, so try to bear with
me. This planet is mostly land, with many scattered lakes all around. The
Dakini settlement lies to the north of you through a gap in the hills
surrounding your territory and on the other side of a large hill. There is
another gap in the surrounding hills to the east of your settlement, which
leads to paths across the rest of the world. Don’t expect an attack from that
direction because it is a long trek to make, and the Dakini seem to prefer the
more direct route. You will want to send 4 of your followers through that
east path because southeast of your settlement it the Magical Shield Stone
Head, and southeast of that is the Tornado Stone Head.
When you start, begin as usual by constructing Huts and Converting Wildmen.
Send your Shaman and four of the Converted Wildmen over to the Magical Shield
Stone Head while your other followers build up your settlement. For defense
you’ll want to build three Guard Towers in the gap between the hills north of
your settlement. You’ll eventually want to put a Preacher in the center
tower, and two Firewarriors on either side.
Once you’ve obtained the Magical Shield uses, head over to the Tornado
Stone Head. You’ll want to go from the Magical Shield Stone Head, because the
shortest path to the Tornado Stone Head from your settlement is through the
Dakini settlement, not a good idea. Send 4 Braves to worship Tornado, while
you position your Shaman near, but not to close to, the nearby Dakini
settlement. You should be able to cast Tornado on their Firewarrior Training
Hut, though you may need to cast Land Bridge to get in range. Be sure you
cast Tornado at least once before your people finish worshipping because you
can only have three uses of that spell at a time, and this Stone Head will
give you four. No sense in wasting good Tornado spells, after all. Even
though the Tornado Stone Head is very close to the Dakini settlement, they
shouldn’t give you any trouble if you’re quick about things, but keep an eye
out and a Lighting spell ready just in case.
Once you have your single shot spells, order your Shaman and Braves to get
back to your settlement via the way they came. Then send your Shaman north
towards the Dakini. The Firewarrior Vault of Knowledge is just across the big
hill to the west, and there is a spot of water that is narrow enough for you
to cast Land Bridge to bypass Dakini defenses and get to the Vault. Have
Swarm and Blast charged to deal with anyone attacking your Shaman, and then
start cranking out the Firewarriors. Once you assemble your army, head north
and attack. Be careful with spreading your forces out too far, as enemy
Firewarriors can shoot at your Preachers from beyond their preaching range.
This won’t stop them from Converting people; it’ll just kill them. Keep in
mind that you can use the same tactic against enemy Preachers.
3.9 Fire in the Mist
"I am troubled--my visions are strangely clouded. I sense a powerful spell
nearby that will aid me in our battle with the Chumara, yet is lies across
the water. I sense our enemy have boats and will use them to attack us. I
must seize their boats, find this spell and destroy them."
Enemy tribes: Chumara
Worship Objects:
Stone Head--2 Tornado, 4 followers to worship
Stone Head--1 Earthquake, 4 followers to worship
Stone Head--1 Volcano, 5 followers to worship
Totem Pole--Land Bridge, 1 follower to worship
Welcome to the first world with the Fog of War. Do you hate it as much as
I do? I thought so. The Fog will cover most of the entire planet until you
send one of your followers to explore that area. After that, the Fog is
lifted and you will be able to see whatever is going in the areas that you
have explored. This means if you scout out enough of the land away from your
settlement you’ll be able to see raiding parties before they get to you, just
like in other maps. The downside is that you can’t see what’s going on in
areas you haven’t explored, like the enemy settlement. The composition of the
Chumara settlement and how their followers are moving will be unknown to you
until you attack. You will be able to see the shape of the land on the map
screen wherever the Fog is in place, just not the people and objects on that
land. You will also be able to see black squares on the world view where
there are buildings underneath the Fog, so you can get a general idea of how
the enemy’s buildings are laid out. Fortunately, the Fog of War is only
active on a few levels in P:TB.
The land on this planet takes the form of a long strip running south-
southwest and north-northeast. Your tribe starts at one end of the strip, and
the Chumara at the other end. Because the strip of land wraps itself around
the entire planet, the Chumara settlement is actually to the southwest of your
settlement, but unless you take a shortcut by boat or Land Bridge you’ll have
to trek all the way across the planet to get to them.
Begin as usual with building huts and Converting Wildmen. Grab three
Braves and have them follow your Shaman while she scouts out through the Fog
of War looking for more Wildmen. You’ll find the Tornado Stone Head southwest
of your settlement near the coast in the Fog. Even if you can’t see it,
you’ll be able to hear it when you get close on the map screen. After getting
that spell, continue southwest and you’ll find the Earthquake Stone Head at
the top of a high hill leading towards the Chumara settlement. Here you might
want to set up three Guard Towers because the land is narrow and it makes a
perfect choke point to stop overland raiders.
The Totem Pole across the water will open a Land Bridge between the Chumara
section and yours, and the Chumara worship it almost immediately after the
level begins. There’s really nothing you can do to stop them, so just build
up your settlement and place your defenses where they seem appropriate.
Because the enemy now has boats, and they _will_ use them, you have to change
your defensive strategy. They will raid your settlement with a few boatloads
of followers, but well placed Preachers near your Reincarnation Site should
keep them from doing too much damage. The real threat in this level is the
Chumara Shaman, who can use both Tornado and Volcano. That’s right, I said
Volcano. One of those in the heart of your settlement after the Shaman lands
will definitely ruin your day. To counter this, I recommend that you
establish a perimeter of Guard Towers around your settlement and staff them
with Firewarriors. Place the Towers so the firing ranges of the Firewarriors
overlap. When a boat come by, your sentries will attack, and as they move out
of range of one Tower, they’ll come into range of another. In this way you
can knock out the enemy from their boats and kill them before they even step
foot on your settlement. Be sure to have Preachers and Warriors nearby in
case a few do make a landing.
Once you kill a raiding party from a boat, you can now steal the Chumara’s
boats. Boats and balloons are the only things (other than followers) that can
be taken from one tribe and claimed by another. Just order one or more of
your followers to enter the boat and it’ll be yours, at least until the enemy
finds it empty and takes it back. Be warned, unattended boats will sink after
a while, though boats with at least one follower in them do not sink.
Once you have a boat, put your Shaman in it and head for the small island
with the Volcano Stone Head. At the start of the level there will be plenty
of Wildmen here to Convert, but if you get here later they may have all died
off, so take some Braves with you to worship the Stone Head. The Chumara will
send a party to attack your worshippers, but hopefully they’ll get there after
you get Volcano.
Once you have Volcano and a boat, you can head over to the Chumara
settlement and do what they’ve been trying to do to you, throw a whole bunch
of lava all over their nice buildings. While you’re here, you can also grab
the Boat House Vault of Knowledge at the southern tip of their settlement. A
well placed Volcano, along with Tornado and Earthquake, can severely damage
the Chumara, and then you can take your army and wipe them out. Because of
the Fog of War and the fact that they like to stick Braves in boats, you may
have a little difficulty hunting down the last follower to end the level, but
keep looking and he’ll be found. Note that you do NOT want to cast Volcano
during your attack, because even though the effects do not harm your Shaman,
it will harm your followers.
3.10 From the Depths
"I have had a terrible vision with scenes of death and destruction as our
settlement sank into the sea! I must move swiftly if I am to save my tribe
and wreak revenge upon our enemies."
Enemy Tribes: Matak
Worship Objects:
Totem Pole--Continent, 2 followers to worship
Totem Pole--Erode, 2 followers to worship
This is second timed objective level. It seems that you put your
settlement on some prime beachfront property just below the Matak, and their
Shaman has pulled out the Erode spells. Can we say 'not good'? The name of
the game from the start is evacuation, you don’t have the means to reach or
cast any effective spells on the enemy Shaman to prevent her from sinking your
settlement. You have one boat, 5 Braves, 4 Warriors, 4 Preachers, and your
Shaman. Send the Preachers and the Shaman to the boat immediately, and have
them move to the small island to the north with a Matak Guard Tower and a
Totem Pole. If you want to save the rest of your followers you’ll have to
move quickly. This is not necessary to the level, but every person helps.
Send all of your Braves to the Boat Hut, and all of your Warriors to the land
near your boat, but not actually the boat itself. Save that ride for the
Shaman and Preachers. When the Braves finish one boat, have the Warriors hop
in, and maybe send the Brave who took the boat out of the harbor back to the
Boat House. You should have enough time for them to finish a second boat,
which you then use to evacuate the other Braves.
Whether you try to save all of your followers or not, send your
Preacher/Shaman boat to the Totem island and disembark. The Preachers will
take care of the Matak Warriors there, and you should send your Shaman and one
other Preacher to worship the Totem Pole. This will raise a mid-sized island
out of the sea to the northwest with some damaged buildings. Wildmen will
appear on the island after it finishes rising, so Convert them and start
repairing the Training Huts. Make all of your followers into fighting classes
and build enough boats to transport them. You have 8 minutes after worshiping
the Totem Pole to get over to the new Totem Pole on the Matak island and sink
their settlement, or else your island will sink back into the sea and all of
your followers (even those off the island) will perish. Because you have
limited time, be careful about how long you have your Braves build boats
before you train them into something else so you don’t have extra boats when
you’re done. Don’t worry about repairing the Huts, as you will probably
Convert more Wildmen than your population limit will allow anyway. Lastly,
while you train your followers don’t charge any spells so you have the maximum
mana going to train them faster.
Once you have your followers trained and your navy to transport them, head
to the north part of the Matak island. You find a U shaped beach which leads
to a hill. Land your followers here and attack anything that moves. You
might want to cast Lightning on the patrol of Firewarriors so they don’t knock
you into the water. While your fighters are keeping the enemy busy, sneak
your Shaman and one other follower up to the Totem Pole. It shouldn’t take
long to worship it, and once you do the south part of the Matak settlement
will sink into the sea. There may be a few survivors, but you can use your
Firewarriors or Blast to send them to Davy Jones’ locker. Yar.
3.11 Treacherous Souls
"Once again we must face two tribes. I shall crush the Matak, then I must
deal with the greater threat of the Chumara."
Enemy Tribes: Matak, Chumara
Worship Objects:
Stone Head--3 Swamp, 6 followers to worship
Stone Head--3 Flatten, 6 followers to worship
Vault of Knowledge--Swamp
Vault of Knowledge--Hypnotize
On this world you start at the southwest end of the largest island, with
the Matak at the north end. There is a smaller island directly southwest of
your settlement with the Flatten Stone Head, and the Chumara island is south
of that. Your island is very hilly, so be sure to charge Land Bridge to lower
some of the hills that jut up if you need more space. Begin as usual, though
send your six starting Braves to worship the Swamp Stone Head, which you can
use as a stopgap defense if you need to. Have the Wildmen that you Convert
start building up your settlement. If you haven’t noticed, the enemy tribes
are edging up their population and numbers of fighting follower classes, so
you’ll want to increase your own population so you have more fighters as well.
Land Bridge will be helpful here in clearing new land, and if you need it you
can get Flatten on the southwest island.
As far as defense goes, there are four possible routes into your settlement
through the hills north and northeast of your Reincarnation Site, which the
Matak will use. The hills that define these entrances are just south of the
chain of three lakes. What you can do is set up Guard Towers at each
entrance, or climb up the hill on the southeast side and start casting Land
Bridge across to the tops of the other hills. This will create a wall that
the Matak raiders cannot climb, and one that will have only one entrance near
the ocean on the northwest side of the chain of hills. Both enemy tribes have
boats, but I haven’t seen their Shamans cast anything more dangerous than
Hypnotize or Swamp, so a perimeter Guard Tower defense isn’t as necessary on
this world since you don’t have to worry about them putting a Volcano down on
you. The Chumara will land a few Preachers and other followers at the
southern tip of the island with the Flatten Stone Head and will launch raids
from that direction, so you may want to build Guard Towers or station troops
there to deal with them. The Matak also seem to like to land patrols on the
Land Bridge you make from your island to the Flatten island.
From the start, you should try to build up your defenses as much as
possible. Matak raids will come from the north over land and by boats from
the southwest (provided you opened a path to the Flatten Stone Head, which you
can grab whenever you feel like). The Chumara will attack from the southwest
as well, though you can put some Swamps down on their patrol paths to
discourage them temporarily. As you’re building both your defenses and your
army, try to get your Shaman to grab any empty boat you see. If you’re
careful you’ll be able to grab both Vaults of Knowledge, even though the
Vaults are right next to the enemy settlements. Try especially to get Swamp,
as you’ll go through the three uses from the Stone Head fairly quickly.
Contrary to what the game suggests, I prefer to wipe out the Chumara
first. They are the greater threat, and that means they’re more aggressive
and a greater annoyance with their almost constant raids. The Matak never
seemed to do much, so it would be foolish to move your main forces out to meet
them while the Chumara keep pounding on your defenses while they’re away.
Eventually the Chumara will open a Land Bridge from their island to the island
southwest of yours, so if you went after the Flatten spell they will have
access to your settlement by land. This would be as good a time as any to
attack, but if you’re not ready put some Swamps on the Land Bridge(s) to buy
time.
If your northern defenses are secure against the Matak, head south and
march into the Chumara settlement. I took 25 Warriors, 20-25 Firewarriors,
and 15+ Preachers. Be careful of the enemy Shaman as she has Hypnotize, and
the last thing you want is to have your followers turn on each other. Take
her out ASAP. The Chumara have the smallest island, so it should take long to
destroy them. Once that’s done, replace your losses and head north. The
Matak Shaman is also dangerous because she has the Swamp spell, be careful
when issuing move orders so your army doesn’t walk right through a Swamp. If
you have enough fighters to get through their defenses and counterattack,
you’ll be well on your way to winning this level.
3.12 An Easy Target
"For the first time we must face all three enemy tribes. I must prepare for
a mighty struggle."
Enemy Tribes: Dakini, Matak, Chumara
Worship Objects:
Vault of Knowledge--Spy Training Hut
Vault of Knowledge--Tornado
Vault of Knowledge--Erode
Who’s the easy target on this world? You are, my friend, you are. The
Chumara and the Matak both start with prebuilt Training Huts and a few other
buildings, while the Dakini have most of their entire settlement up and
running from the start. What do you get? 6 Braves and a Reincarnation Site.
Luckily for you, though, you’re isolated at first on a (small) island to the
north of the Chumara. South of the Chumara settlement on the same island is
the Matak, and their settlement is actually not a far way north of yours (the
continent wraps around the planet, remember this when going after the Erode
spell). To the southwest on their own island are the Dakini, though they will
cast Land Bridge pretty quick to get over and start picking a fight with the
Chumara. Your main saving grace in this level is that the other two tribes
have to get through the Chumara to get to you (boats notwithstanding).
Start this level by putting down as many huts as you can fit on the land
you have. Be sure to leave space for your three Training Huts, and set up
Guard Towers across the water from the Chumara Guard Towers already set up.
That’s the spot most they’re most likely to cast Land Bridge to you before
you’re ready. Boats will also land in that area, so keep some defenders
around. Once again, the Shamans aren’t that dangerous (though the Dakini do
have Tornado and the Matak have Erode), so I wouldn’t recommend a perimeter
defense. Watch how the enemy boat raids come and decide for yourself if you
need them. One thing about the Guard Towers right across from the Chumara,
the enemy will be in enough range for the warning bell to sound, but not
enough range for your Firewarriors to shoot them from the Tower. That sound
effect will get annoying after a while if you keep your people in the Towers.
While you’re building your settlement, the Dakini will be aggressive and
attack the Chumara over and over again. No big problems there, but before
they get significantly damaged, expect the Chumara to send a few spies over by
boat. If you catch them early they shouldn’t torch too many buildings. The
good part of this is that they’ll usually leave a empty boat behind, which you
can grab for yourself (if you’re like me and don’t even bother to build a Boat
House). Take your Shaman and a few Swarm spells and go out looking for Vaults
of Knowledge. As you’re doing so, just look out for Firewarriors in Guard
Towers. Cast Lightning on them before they can fire. Once you get Tornado,
you can also send your Shaman in to wreck some magical mystical mayhem on
enemy Training Huts and followers. Cast Swamp on their patrol paths, and cast
Erode on the sides of tall hills to yank the foundations of buildings right
out from under them. I love to see a Dakini Temple shatter.
Once your forces are ready, cast Land Bridge and go take out the Chumara,
provided the Dakini haven't done that for you already. Make sure your army is
large in case you have to fight off the Chumara and any Dakini/Matak raiding
parties. After the Chumara are defeated and you have replaced your losses,
the choice is yours as to which tribe you attack next. Late in the level both
the Dakini and Matak settlements are about the same size. The Dakini have to
cast Land Bridge to get to the Chumara/Matak island, so they’ll have one
entrance to their settlement by land. If you want to guard your back while
you take on the Matak, cast three Swamps around the entrance to the Dakini
settlement and go hunt some little green guys. When it gets down to one tribe
left, you’ve essentially won. Just don’t make any drastic mistakes, soften
the enemy up with your Shaman if you need to, and watch out for the enemy
Shaman. At this point in the game they have as many spells as you do, and
even a well-placed Lighting spell in a tight group of attackers can do bad
things.
3.13 Aerial Bombardment
"I sense a new threat--an attack from the skies. I must make ready for the
battle to come."
Enemy Tribes: Matak, Chumara
Worship Objects:
Stone Head--1 Volcano, 5 followers to worship
Stone Head--3 Magic Shield, 6 followers to worship
Stone Head--1 Firestorm, 5 followers to worship
Vault of Knowledge--Earthquake
Vault of Knowledge--Balloon Hut
On this level you get your last building, the Balloon Hut. I am a big fan
of using balloons and Firewarriors as an outright replacement for ground
forces. Warriors and Preachers are still needed for defense of your
settlement, but during and after this level I typically amass an armada of 30+
Firewarriors in balloons, soften up an enemy tribe with my Shaman, and then
send in the Firewarriors to finish the job. The main advantage of the air
approach is that only Firewarriors can take out followers riding balloons, and
you can use greater numbers to overwhelm Firewarrior defenses. The Shaman is
also a threat to your balloons, but if you’re careful she can be taken out
easily before she creates problems. With that said, I’ll begin the
walkthrough of this level.
You start in the southern region of the large continent that you share with
the Matak. Your Reincarnation Site sits atop a high plain with a shallow
canyon running around it to the south. This makes the land around your
Reincarnation Site sloped in many places and you may end up having your
buildings strewn about wherever there is enough flat ground to place them.
Use Land Bridge as needed to flatten out what ground you can, but be careful
that you don’t accidentally cast it on the wrong spot and raise a ramp or
something.
The downside of this level is that you do not have access to your Swamp
spell. I don’t know why, maybe it’s just a glitch with my game, but that
particular spell vanishes during this level and comes back in the next. Maybe
the Dakini jacked your spell book and scurried off to the next planet. Those
bastards’ll get what’s coming to them!
As far as defense goes you’ll want to get Firewarriors at bit faster than
you may have in previous levels. This is because all of the Chumara raids
that I have seen came by balloon, either from the south or the north. The
Chumara balloonists typically like to use a little spot of land at the very
southern end of your continent as their staging area, so you might want to put
a patrol of Firewarriors or a Guard Tower along that rise. When you do take
out the enemy balloonists, don’t forget to send your own followers to take
their balloons. Like boats, unattended balloons are destroyed after a while.
I would not recommend a perimeter defense is this level (its an awfully big
perimeter), but one or two Guard Towers in the center of your settlement might
help against Firewarrior raiders flying deep into your territory. Your own
Firewarriors on the ground will also be a good defense against Chumara raiders
if you have enough of them. As for the Matak, employ a standard ground
defense at choke points to the north. The ramp that leads up to your plateau
area is north of your Reincarnation Site, near the Volcano Stone Head to the
northwest, though you might not want to only defend this route if you intend
to expand your settlement into the lowlands. The obvious choice, then, is the
bridge of land connecting the north and south sides of the continent. This is
a large area to cover, and I needed 6 Preacher/Firewarrior Guard Towers to get
overlapping protection. Luckily, the Matak don’t have a tendency to raid very
much, but you should have defenses just in case they do, including 5-10
Preachers and Warriors at home to fight off ground attacks. Be aware of
Chumara spies coming in with balloons. Nearby Firewarriors won’t be fooled
while the spies are in the air, and they will be fired upon. If they hit the
ground, right click on the spy to uncover him and have other followers kill
him before he can damage your buildings.
As you’re building your settlement you should send 5 followers to worship
the Volcano Stone Head. It takes a while to worship this, but its well worth
it. Be on guard for the Matak Shaman, who will cast Lightning on your
worshippers every now and then. If you move you Shaman north before the Matak
set up their Guard Towers you can get to the Earthquake Vault of Knowledge
without any interference. You can then use the one use of that spell that you
get from the Vault and use it on nearby Matak Huts just for the hell of it.
As soon as the Chumara send a balloon over and you kill its occupants, charge
up Swarm and Lighting and head over to the Chumara’s island to the southeast.
The Balloon Hut Vault of Knowledge is on the north side of the island and
relatively unguarded. You don’t have swamp to put down along the Firewarrior
patrol paths, so be careful on your approach. Two hits will knock anyone out
of a balloon and kill them, your Shaman included. Use Swarm or Hypnotize as
needed while worshipping at the Vault. Once you have the Balloon Hut plans,
and if you have Volcano as well, you can then cast it somewhere on the Chumara
settlement if you like. Targeting their Balloon Hut should put the Volcano
right next to their Warrior and Firewarrior Training Huts as well.
Once you have the ability to make your own balloons, start a Balloon Hut
and assemble your airforce. Steal Chumara balloons as the opportunity
presents itself. Now that you have Earthquake as well, your Shaman is going
to be very effective with her magical attacks. Be sure that you have enough
Huts and enough Braves in those huts to both keep your population high enough
and your spell charge rate at its maximum. While you’re building up you might
send 5 followers to the Firestorm Stone Head to the west of your settlement,
it’s a powerful spell and it won’t hurt to have it in your arsenal. When
you’re ready to attack, try creating some magical mystical mayhem with your
Shaman. Tornado will rip through enemy Huts and Training Huts, a well-placed
Earthquake can swallow some buildings into the sea or the earth itself, and
Erode on coastal areas will have pleasant results as well. After you’ve
softened up an enemy tribe, send in your balloon riding Firewarriors to finish
the job. When you engage the outer defenders the other attack class followers
will move towards you. As long as you don’t face a whole lot of enemy
Firewarriors at once your Firewarriors will be able to pick off the enemies
from perfect safety. Once you get through the counter attack, go after any
Braves in Huts, Guard Tower sentries, and random other followers. I went
after the Matak first, and then the Chumara. Neither tribe is a significant
threat once you get your defenses together. I also bypassed completely the
Magical Shield Stone Head because I just found I didn’t need it.
A word on alternate strategies. If you find that you don’t like balloons
or the balloon tactics I talk about, there’s no reason for you to use them.
All of the ground attack tactics that you’ve used on the previous levels still
apply; you’ll just have to be aware that enemy tribes will have balloons from
now on, and they will use them in most of the future levels (unless I note
otherwise). If you want to attack the Chumara by ground you can build up a
navy and transport them there by sea (more efficient than via balloon). I
recommend the north side of the Chumara island where their Vault of Knowledge
is because their main defenses are in the south with the rest of their
settlement. Also, there is a small patch of land to the west of the Matak
Reincarnation Site that you can cast Land Bridge to. From here you can cast
Land Bridge to the Chumara island and attack from there. I have not seen the
computer do this, the Chumara seem content to use their air power.
3.14 Attacked From All Sides
"In my vision I have again seen the Angel of Death. I shall find it and use
it against my enemies."
Enemy Tribes: Dakini, Matak, Chumara
Worship Objects:
Stone Head--1 Angel of Death, 5 followers to worship
Stone Head--1 Earthquake, 6 followers to worship
Vault of Knowledge--Flatten
Vault of Knowledge--Firestorm
Vault of Knowledge--Magical Shield
As the name of this level suggests, you will be attacked from all sides on
this world. You start out on the largest continent, which runs east west
around most of the planet, with a small stretch of water between the west most
end and the east most end. The Dakini settlement is far to the west, and the
Matak settlement is on a high plateau to the east. Your settlement is located
on a narrow strip running north and south directly west of the Matak
settlement. If you remember From The Depths, you can guess this isn’t a good
thing. Even worse, the land west of your settlement is extremely hilly to the
point where you won’t be able to build anything on it without the Flatten
spell (which the Matak have). Moreover, there are no good choke points, so
setting up defenses against Dakini ground incursions will be time consuming if
you intend to stay on the lowlands with your Reincarnation Site.
Because the Matak are way too close for comfort on this world, I suggest
some radical tactics. Instead of building up your settlement and army and
attack when you have overwhelming forces, send the 9 Braves you start with to
build a Temple immediately. Only charge Convert and Land Bridge and get as
many Wildmen over to your side as you can. Once you have the Temple done,
start training 10 Preachers. When you have enough mana for one use of Land
Bridge, create a ramp from your settlement up to the Matak plateau, preferably
on the north side where most of their buildings will be. Send your Preachers
up to the Matak as they finish training and start charging other spells. Keep
the Braves you’ve Converted working on something (even if its only patrolling
a Guard Post) so you’ll have mana for your spells and training. If you’ve
been quick then the Matak won’t have their own Temple and your Preachers will
be able to walk up and Convert every Matak Brave they see. Watch out for the
Shaman, because even though she may only have Blast that can still do damage
and disrupt your Preachers. Also be aware of a Dakini spy trying to set your
Temple on fire about when the 10th Preacher has been trained.
Once the Matak have been dispatched, take your Shaman up to the Plateau and
cast Convert on the Wildmen up there. There are usually a few very large
groups of them and you should be able to get 40-50+ Braves from Converting
Wildmen and the Matak. Also head to the south end of the plateau and cast
Convert on the Wildmen near the Stone Head. This is the Angel of Death Stone
Head, and that spell will come in handy. When they’re done worshipping it,
the Stone Head will cast a flatten spell to bring the worshippers up to the
level of the plateau.
Now you’re faced with a choice. You should have a significant number of
Braves and a few Preachers left. You can continue to build your settlement in
the area below the plateau or you can set up a few Guard Towers and move your
entire settlement to where the Matak were (damaged ground from their old
buildings not withstanding). If you choose to do this then you need to close
off the Land Bridge ramp you made to get up to the plateau in the first place
so the Chumara and Dakini cannot harass your mostly defenseless Braves while
they’re setting up your buildings. You can close off the ramp by getting the
Flatten spell from the nearby Vault of Knowledge and casting it on the top of
the ramp. Make sure all of your followers are evacuated to the top of the
plateau before you do this.
If you’re finding that with the raids of the other tribes you’re losing too
much time to set up your settlement by trying to relocate to the plateau they
don’t try it. You can still build near your Reincarnation Site, though you’ll
probably want to move some buildings up to the plateau when you run out of
room. Though at that point you’ll have most of your settlement in place.
Just keep a contingent of Warriors and Preachers on hand to deal with Dakini
raiders from the west. Regardless of where you decide to put your settlement
you’ll need Firewarriors quickly as the Dakini also attack with balloons from
the east across the water. Lastly, the Chumara attack you from boats that
seem to always land north of your Reincarnation Site. Build 2 Firewarrior
Guard Towers and 2 Preacher Guard Towers along the north coast and you should
be able to blunt any attack from the sea.
The interesting thing about this level is that the times I’ve played
through it I’ve noticed that none of the three enemy tribes seem to build
Firewarrior Training Huts. The Dakini seem to use their balloons as transport
for other follower types. I’ve seen the Chumara build one once, but they
didn’t train many Firewarriors when they did. What this means is that you can
roll over them with very small numbers of balloon riding Firewarriors simply
because without Firewarriors of their own the enemy tribes cannot fight back.
If they do have Firewarriors, be careful, and always take out the enemy Shaman
when you see her. Lastly, because you’re the one with the air advantage now,
you can try an alternate strategy of blitzkrieg. Once you’ve taken out the
Matak like I’ve described and converted all of the nearby Wildmen (there are
a _lot_ of those buggers on this planet) you should have around 50 Braves.
Build only a Guard Tower, Firewarrior Training Hut, and Balloon Hut on the
Matak plateau, in addition to whatever defenses you need. Next train the
Firewarriors you need and build balloons for them to ride and wipe out the
remaining tribes. I’ve be able to do this without building a single Hut.
3.15 Incarcerated
"The Dakini have trapped me in this magical prison and I cannot escape. I
must command my followers to free me or we are all doomed."
This is the last timed objective level. On this world you have to save
your Shaman from the enemy tribe that has finally realized that if they just
kill her, she’ll reincarnate later. I know the quote says the Dakini trapped
you, but the enemy tribe in this level is flying the yellow colors of the
Chumara, so I guess it was a typo. Your followers start on an island to the
east of the Chumara island with four Huts, all of the Training Huts, and a Boat
House. There’s a big hill in the middle of the island with lots of trees, but
unfortunately you don’t have enough space for a Balloon Hut. The Chumara
island is ringed with tall impassable mountains, and the only beach you can
land your boats on is directly west of your island.
You only have 7 and a half minutes to save your Shaman, so immediately send
4 Braves to the Boat House and start training the rest into Warriors,
Preachers, and Firewarriors. Also send the Braves that are generated by the
empty huts to be trained as well. I ended up with 7 Warriors, 14 Preachers,
and 10 Firewarriors when my population hit around 30. Build up your army as
you see fit, but Preachers will be your main weapons. Once you have enough
boats to transport them, send your followers west.
In front of the beach are three Guard Towers with Chumara Firewarriors in
them. Try to bypass them as well as you can, or send your Firewarriors (all
in the same boat or boats) to attack them, this will draw the fire of the
enemy Firewarriors and allow your other boats to slip by. Make landfall as
quickly as you can. Your Preachers should start Converting the Warrior
patrols and your idle Preachers and Warriors can take out the stationary enemy
Preachers. As you add enemy Warriors to your army, be careful of the
Firewarrior Guard Towers further west towards the prison building. Once you
take them out, send all of your Warriors to attack the prison building and
free your Shaman. Once she’s free the timer stops, though the level isn’t
over yet. Worship at the Obelisk to get a Volcano spell. You’ll see a hill
behind the Obelisk that nicely overlooks the Chumara settlement, and this is
a great place to cast Volcano from. Casting it will also sink the Guard
Towers that gave you trouble on the way in, and the spell itself should kill
most of the Chumara. Use your remaining followers or whatever spells the
Shaman has charged to kill them and end the level.
After Incarcerated you have the option of doing any of the next four
levels: Bloodlust, Middle Ground, Head Hunter, and Unlikely Allies. You can
do these in any order, but I will run through them as they’re numbered in the
game. Once you complete the first two you will be able to do Archipelago, and
once you complete the second pair of levels you can move on to Fractured
Earth.
3.16 Bloodlust
"I sense a spell hidden somewhere in this desert land that will increase the
strength of my followers. I must find it."
Enemy Tribes: Dakini, Matak, Chumara
Worship Objects:
Stone Head--1 Bloodlust, 6 followers to worship
Stone Head--20+ Bloodlust, 6 followers to worship
Stone Head--1 Angel of Death, 6 followers to worship
Remember when I said the gloves come off for Building Bridges? I lied.
The gloves come off in this level. No longer do the enemy tribes simply raid
your settlement, they actually attack with 10-20 ground troops and their
Shaman. Expect a few Preachers and Spies to drop in from balloons, and don’t
expect them to simply wait while you get ready for their attacks. I found
this to be a _very_ challenging level, and I hope whatever advice I can give
you will help you through it.
This world is mostly covered with land. The Matak are to the east of your
settlement, right on the other side of a ridge. The Dakini are to the
northwest and the Chumara are to the southwest. Further west past the Dakini
and Chumara settlements is a large plain which leads to the Matak settlement.
The only large body of water is to the north of your settlement, but none of
the tribes uses boats in this level anyway. West of your settlement is a
small hill that breaks up the land into a north and south path to your
territory, and just west of that hill is the one use Bloodlust Stone Head. To
the northeast on the other side of the ridge is the many use Bloodlust Stone
Head, but you won’t be able to reach it easily at the start of the level.
All of the other tribes start with most or part of their settlements
complete. The Dakini have the most buildings, next to the Chumara, and the
Matak have only a few Training Huts at the start. You have 6 Braves, whoopee.
Start by immediately building Huts and Converting the few Wildmen that are
nearby. Both space and wood are at a premium in your area of the map, so
build carefully. You’ll want to get a Temple and some Preachers as soon as
you can. If you get there before they die, there are some Wildmen on a
peninsula to the southwest of your Reincarnation Site. To get them back to
your settlement would run them through the Chumara settlement, and they’d
never make it. Instead, build a Guard Tower and some Huts on that peninsula,
and start charging Land Bridge so you can connect your settlement to those
buildings. If you want to, you can also send some Braves to worship the
Bloodlust Stone Head that you can get to. You may get a message that other
tribes are worshipping the other Stone Head, but there’s not much you can do
about it.
For defense you’ll want to do several things. When you get the mana, cast
Flatten on the south end of the hill west of your settlement to extend it
further south. Next, take your Shaman to the top of that hill and cast Land
Bridge southwest to the large plateau next to the Chumara settlement and the
southern peninsula. This will raise a sheer wall that will cut off the
southern ground pass into your settlement. If you do it right, the Chumara
will always follow the edge of that wall when attacking, so you can lay down
some Swamps right in their path. To cover the northern route into your
settlement, build four Guard Towers (2 Firewarrior, 2 Preacher) starting at
the north end of the west hill. The Towers should be slanted to the
northeast, back toward your settlement. If you slant them northwest (as you
might obviously do to block off the pass), you’ll get them too close to the
Dakini settlement and they’ll send out raiders. You’ll be able to set up the
Towers before you can alter the land much, so if the Dakini start raiding
while you’re setting up your defenses you might not be ready for them. Once
you’re well established and have a large standing force, you can build some
new Towers so the followers inside have a better view of oncoming forces.
Space in the area where you build Guard Towers isn’t limited, but the
available wood is, so be careful not to chop down all the trees in the area.
Lastly, the Chumara will eventually start attacking the southern peninsula; so
cast Flatten on the overlooking hill until you expand it into the sea. This
will block off ground attacks, but the Chumara will often send balloons so be
ready.
The greatest threat to your settlement is the enemy Shaman. She will
almost always accompany the large attacking forces, and this time she has no
qualms about casting Lightning on your Guard Towers or Swarm on you grouped
forces. Keep Swamp charged as often as possible, and try to get a balloon for
your Shaman to ride around in ASAP. You might also try to build Guard Towers
above the avenues of enemy approach if you choose to wall off your settlement
with the existing ridges. You may have to weather a few major attacks from
the enemy before you can get the upper hand on them, but fortunately they tend
to withdraw after a little while in combat. Just be careful of enemy
Preachers taking your forces right out from under you, and try not to let them
destroy your buildings. Space is tight on this level, and damaged ground will
not help you.
Once you get a handle on defending your settlement and increasing your
population, start building your balloon armada. This will help you devastate
incoming attackers, so long as the enemy Shaman doesn’t cast Swarm on them.
Once you get balloons you can also send some followers north to worship the
Angel of Death Stone Head. Use the Angel when you’ve taken out most of the
enemy’s Firewarriors, or they’ll just kill it. Also, when you have balloons
and full charges on your spells you should send your Shaman to soften up a
tribe before you send in your Firewarriors. Be careful of enemy Firewarriors,
especially Guard Towers, and lay waste to as much of their settlement as you
can. I would start with the Matak, as they are literally right on the other
side of the ridge from your settlement. They will cast Erode on parts of that
ridge a few times, but you can just set your Shaman on the top of the ridge
and Flatten/Land Bridge it back to impassability (no reason to fight a war on
more than one front).
After the Matak are destroyed you have your choice of the Dakini or
Chumara. I went after the Dakini because they were larger and launched
attacks more often, though the Chumara do tend towards balloon raids (as did
the Matak). Just keep your forces far enough away from the enemy Shaman until
your own Shaman softens them up, and then repeat the air raid with your
balloons. Once you take out one of the tribes this level gets a lot easier.
Other random notes about this level. I mentioned that you may not be able
to stop enemy tribes from worshipping the other Bloodlust Stone Head, at least
not without opening a Land Bridge over to the Matak side of the ridge. When
you have balloons you can send your Shaman over to cast Swamp on the Stone
Head, and that’ll slow down their worship efforts for a while. If you want to
use Bloodlust, you’ll probably want to take out the Matak before you try.
Just be on the lookout for enemy raiders/Shamans.
3.17 Middle Ground
"I sense a great struggle ahead. The Chumara, Dakini, and Matak are massing
their forces against us."
Enemy Tribes: Dakini, Matak, Chumara
Worship Objects:
Stone Head--1 Armageddon, 6 followers to worship
This level is a much welcome change after Bloodlust. You start with a few
Huts and all of your Training Huts pre-built, even though you only get 6
Braves at first. Wildmen are much more plentiful on this world, as are trees.
The buildings you start with are not placed as well as they could be, but you
shouldn’t run out of room for more Huts. All this, along with land that
actually works in favor of your defense, adds up to a nice change of pace.
Don’t think, however, that _everything_ is all well and good on this planet.
The enemy tribes still attack en masse, and there will be significant fighting
over the Armageddon Stone Head.
All four tribes start on these rectangular sections of raised land at the
four corners of a diamond. There are strips of land connecting the
settlements, running along the outer edge of the diamond. There are also
strips going to the center of the diamond, where the Armageddon Stone Head is
located. This means that your settlement in the northwest has three entrances
to it, the two land strips leading to the settlements of the Dakini and Matak
(east and south, respectively), and the strip running southeast towards the
Stone Head. The Chumara are located further southeast on the other side of
the Stone Head. Curiously enough, I didn’t get any attacks from the Dakini or
Matak along the direct route from their settlement to mine, but I recommend
not giving them the option and casting Erode a few times of the paths to their
settlements.
As you start on this world Converting Wildmen, you want to do three things.
First, fit as many Hut plans as you can on your settlement and start building
them, you’ll need the population. Second, send some of your Converted Wildmen
to be trained as Preachers and Warriors as a mobile defense force. Third,
start constructing Guard Towers at the entrance to your settlement from the
southeast land strip, the one heading towards the Stone Head. Since on this
level there are no hills or other obstructions, Firewarriors do very well in
Guard Towers. Also, wood is in abundance, both in your settlement and the
surrounding land, so you can build a lot of Towers. I found that a formation
of eight Towers in the formation below was very helpful.
F F P F F
P F P
(F=Firewarrior Tower, P=Preacher Tower)
This allowed for both fairly good (although not complete) coverage for my
Preachers in case enemy followers were able to close distance, as well as the
main advantage of allowing multiple Firewarriors to be firing at oncoming
enemies. This could kill any individual follower, or significantly hurt a
large group. With all the water in the area, the Firewarriors could also
knock enemy attackers in and kill them right off. Arrange your defenses as
you see fit, but I strongly recommend that you use groups of Firewarrior Guard
Towers for their high damage, and the fact that enemy Shamans do not come
around as often to cast Lighting in this level.
The other means of defense you have is cutting the links between your
settlement and the enemy settlements. As soon as you can charge Erode you
should cast it on the paths to the Dakini and Matak settlements. I recommend
casting it as close as you can safely get to the enemy settlements, that way
you still have most of the land and the trees on the land strip to use.
Beware that if you cut off ground access too much this way, the enemy may
resort to boats (in addition to the balloons that they will use).
Once you’ve established your defenses, built up your Huts and population,
and started building your standing army, you should turn your attention to the
Armageddon Stone Head. The other three tribes will spend most of their time
fighting each other as they try futilely to worship this. This gives you the
chance to build up your forces and grab the spell when you’re ready. If any
one tribe does manage to hold the Stone Head for a particularly long time you
should head over and cast Swamp on the worshippers. You do not want this
spell to fall into enemy hands, as they could pull it on you when you’re not
ready (i.e. when you recently lost a lot of followers in an attack).
To grab the Stone Head I recommend you build up the standard 30 Firewarrior
balloon forces and position them right over the Stone Head. Have your
Warriors worship it and deploy your Preachers around them to guard against
anyone who slips by your Firewarriors. In most cases, the Firewarriors will
rain enough death on anybody who gets near so that your worshippers won’t be
bothered. Keep an eye out for the enemy Shamans, though, and intercept them
immediately if they start heading for the Stone Head. Casting Erode on the
paths from the enemy settlements to the Stone Head can also help as well,
along with a few Swamps in front of a big attacking force.
Once you have Armageddon, withdraw your forces to your own settlement. The
choice on whether to use it or not is up to you. You can use your Shaman’s
spells and your Firewarriors' might to devastate the enemy tribes one by one,
or you can retrain your entire population into fighting classes and unleash
Armageddon for a knock down drag out battle royale. I thought you might like
the later approach. If you really want to do this then I encourage sending
ALL of your Braves to be trained as Warriors/Firewarriors (you may want to
build more Training Huts to speed up the process). When I did it I have a
population of 150 and had 50 Firewarriors, 80 some Warriors, and whatever
Preachers I had left over. With this many fighters the enemy Braves won’t
stand a chance, even when all the other tribes outnumber you. Remember that
each tribe will be fighting all of the others, and they won’t be banding
against you. This way lots of fighting classes works to your advantage.
3.18 Head Hunter
"The Dakini are the mightiest of the three tribes we must face. I fear that
if they are not stopped they will unleash a terrible magic upon us."
Enemy Tribes: Dakini, Matak, Chumara
Worship Objects:
Stone Head--1 Armageddon, 6 followers to worship
Stone Head--1 Volcano, 6 followers to worship
Stone Head--1 Volcano, 6 followers to worship
The terrible magic that your Shaman speaks of is none other than your old
friend Armageddon. But don’t expect another relative cake walk like Middle
Ground. This time the Dakini have the Stone Head behind their fortifications,
and the other tribes will be fighting you to get to it, not each other. On
top of all that, the Fog of War is back (for the last time), so you can’t see
them coming. This is a fairly challenging level, but doable.
You start on the northwestern edge of the largest continent on the world.
The Dakini settlement lies southeast over land or northeast across the water.
The Matak are on a small island a short distance southwest of your
Reincarnation Site, while the Chumara are on a medium sized island north of
you.
When you begin you can fit two Huts on the west side of your Reincarnation
Site before you run out of room. I would also recommend setting up two Guard
Towers near the north/northwest coast and staff them with Firewarriors when
you get them. All three tribes like boats in this level, and you’ll need some
defense against raiding parties from the west. Unless you create more land,
you’ll need to expand your settlement to the east. There’s a narrow bridge of
land that leads to a larger section east of your Reincarnation Site, and it is
in this section that I recommend that you build your Training Huts and Balloon
Hut, and then fit in as many Huts as you can.
You’ll notice to the south that there’s a small lake that divides two paths
running towards the Dakini settlement. One path is on top of a large hill or
on the land below. The Dakini (and other tribes) will use both paths for
their raiding parties, either to get to your settlement or to get back to
theirs. This could mean a lot of Guard Towers for you to build if you want to
cover both routes, and although there are a lot of trees on this world, it is
easy to build so quickly that you use them up and have to wait for them to
regenerate. Instead, I recommend setting up your Guard Tower defense on the
lowland route, and send your Shaman to edge of the lake, as close as you can
get to the side of the hilly path. Here you should be able to cast Land
Bridge across to the other side of the hill (target the land nearest the
water) and lower an entire section of the hill down to your level. If you do
this far enough down the hill, the path will end in a sheer cliff, and I never
saw any enemy raiders try to use it. From there you only have one path to
guard, and you can reuse Land Bridge to flatten out the rest of the hill so
you can build on it.
Another defensive issue arises if you decide you want the numerous trees on
the land northeast across the inlet. You can easily cast Land Bridge and
reach this area, but the land turns south and goes straight to the Dakini
settlement. They will come through this area, and your Land Bridge, to attack
the backside of your settlement. Set up a few Guard Towers here and keep your
mobile defenders handy. Not only the Dakini ground forces, but also Matak and
Chumara boats tend to land to the north/northwest sections of your settlement.
The attackers then head for the Dakini settlement, which doesn’t help you if
you’ve expanded in the direction they’re going. Try to guard against these
incursions when you can, and be ready to stop them.
One final thing to be aware of, in addition to attacks from boats, the
Matak and Chumara will both open Land Bridges to your continent near your
settlement and attack you from there directly. The Matak will come directly
west of your Reincarnation Site (might be a good thing you had those Guard
Towers there), and the Chumara will come southeast of your Reincarnation Site,
near the spot where the high hill path meets the lowland path (and if you’re
guarding the lowland path you should have Guard Towers in that area anyway).
Once you get your settlement and defenses up and running, you’ll probably
run out of the grace period before the Dakini start sending worshippers to the
Armageddon Stone Head. When this happens you _need_ to stop them. Make it
your top priority, as they will use Armageddon almost immediately after they
get it, whether you’re ready or not. I recommend making the Balloon Hut one
of the first buildings you construct when you get enough space, and then
building one balloon for your Shaman. In the air, she can easily zip over to
the Stone Head and lay down a few Swamps. You might also want to cast
Lightning on the Guard Towers they have in the area and Swamp along patrol
routes. If you kill the few defenders the Dakini have patrolling the area
between your settlement and the Stone Head, they shouldn’t come back to
patrol. The Dakini will attack with large numbers of Warriors and
Firewarriors when you provoke them. Fortunately they don’t include any
Preachers, so if you can keep the Firewarriors from killing your Preachers you
can grab a large number of enemy Warriors (I got 30+ when they tried to rush
my Guard Towers).
When you’re able to easily head over and cast Swamp on the Dakini
worshippers whenever they get through your old Swamps, you should start
building your air force. Like in Middle Ground, a large Firewarrior balloon
force will keep enemy attackers off your worshippers until they’re done. This
force will also give you the mobility you need to respond to another tribe
attacking the other side of your settlement. As you’re worshipping, you might
want to target the enemy followers manually so they Firewarriors actually
shoot them before they close distance, I found that without rough terrain the
Dakini followers could get to my worshippers a second before they were
automatically fired on.
Once you have Armageddon safely in your possession you can choose how to
finish this level just as you did for Middle Ground, build up your forces and
Armageddon or wipe them out one by one. The choice is yours, and if you
choose the later there are Volcano Stone Heads on both the Chumara and Matak
islands. I have not seen either of these tribes try to worship these Stone
Heads before you do, so if you can sneak in there and take them before they
really counter attack then you have one more powerful spell in your arsenal.
Since Volcano has a maximum of one use, do not worship the other Stone Head
before using the spell you got from the first, or it will go to waste.
3.19 Unlikely Allies
"The Dakini have grown too powerful on this world. I am suspicious of
allying my tribe with the Chumara, but I must protect their settlement and
prevent the Dakini from destroying us all."
Enemy Tribes: Dakini
Allied Tribes: Chumara
Worship Objects:
Stone Head--3 Teleport, 6 followers to worship
Stone Head--1 Volcano, 6 followers to worship (triggers natural Volcano)
Stone Head--1 Firestorm, 5 followers to worship (surrounded by enemy Swamp)
This is a fairly straightforward level, only you have to make sure that the
Dakini do not destroy the Chumara. Fortunately, this means that there’s only
one enemy tribe to contend with. Unfortunately, the Chumara don’t do a whole
lot other than build a small settlement and get attacked by the Dakini.
You’ll be bearing most of the weight in this unlikely alliance.
You start with the standard 6 Braves on the island west of the Dakini
settlement and the Volcano Stone Head. The Chumara settlement is to the
northeast across the ocean, and there is a ridge to the east which separates
their settlement from the Dakini’s. The Dakini, of course, will cast Erode on
this ridge shortly into the start of the level so they can attack the Chumara.
You should make it a priority to get over there and help your allies.
Begin with Converting Wildmen and building Huts on the plateau near your
Reincarnation Site. Be as quick as you can about it, as the Wildmen seem to
die off quickly on this world. Also send 6 Braves to the lowlands to the west
and the Teleport Stone Head at the far west end of your island. This Stone
Head will give you three uses of the Teleport spell, which you can use to get
your Shaman over to the Chumara settlement (or anywhere else) before you have
boats or balloons. If you want to blunt the Dakini attack, you should charge
up Swamp or Lightning at the very least. Luckily the Dakini aren’t intent on
wiping out the Chumara with their first attack, and they will withdraw after a
little while.
When you place as many Huts as you can on the plateau, you should expand
your settlement into the lowlands. The path down from the plateau is too
steep to build on, so you’ll need to build a Guard Tower before you can
expand. You can then tear down the Tower for its wood once you get a few
buildings up. The area right below the plateau to the north (by the coast)
has four trees nearby, and I recommend building your Balloon Hut there.
You’ll need balloons quickly so you can get your Shaman over to help the
Chumara when you run out of Teleport spells. This location allows a lot of
nearby wood to build your balloons. There are a moderate number of trees on
this world, so if you place your buildings carefully you shouldn’t run out of
wood. Build your other Training Huts in that area with your Balloon Hut and
expand with more Huts if you think you need the population. The lowlands have
a lot of narrow hills around the coastal areas, but you can take care of these
with Land Bridge or Flatten (Land Bridge is less mana intensive, so you can
get it more easily with a smaller population).
Now for defense. You should start building Guard Towers at the far west of
your island (south side of the inlet) as soon as you have your Training Huts
done. You don’t have a lot of area to build on (unless you make some more),
but I was able to fit 4 Towers in that space (3 Firewarrior 1 Preacher).
After the Dakini raid the Chumara a few times they will open a Land Bridge to
your island and attack from there. They tend to have enough followers (with
Magical Shield on them), in addition to their Shaman, so Guard Towers alone
won’t be able to stop them. The Towers will distract them long enough for you
to bring another force of Warriors and Preachers to bear, and you should
always have this backup force ready to deal with Dakini raiders. With that in
mind, the best defense on this world is actually Swamps. Neither the Dakini
nor the Chumara have balloons (the Dakini have boats, but I never saw them use
them), so you can fly your Shaman around in her own balloon and lay down
Swamps on the Land Bridge the Dakini create to your settlement, and in between
the Dakini and Chumara settlements. If you have enough followers so that your
Swamp charges fairly quickly you can lay down three (or more) Swamps on a
single patch of ground. This will cost the Dakini at least several attack
forces before they can get through, in which case you can just replace your
Swamps.
Finishing off the Dakini is not as difficult in this level as it has been
in others. Once you have a few balloons you should make a small (10 or so)
Firewarrior air force and start charging your Shaman’s other spells. Send 6
of your Firewarriors to the Volcano Stone Head and worship it (the Dakini can
reach the Stone Head from where they’re at, so keep the Shaman handy to cast
Lighting or Swamp before anyone disturbs your worshippers). The best part of
this Stone Head is that once you worship it, a Volcano is triggered in the
crater southeast of the Stone Head. This is a bit too far away to do much
damage, but it will light the Dakini’s Firewarrior Training Hut on fire at
least. You can then fly your Shaman around, casting Lighting on Guard Towers
and Tornado on Huts. Fly to the northeast, where most of the Dakini’s Huts
are, and use your second Volcano there. This will cause massive damage and
kill many of their Braves. You can then cause as much magical mystical mayhem
as you can before you send in your Firewarriors to hunt down the stragglers.
You can send a force over to the Firestorm Stone Head, located on an island
far to the southeast of your Reincarnation Site, but it is surrounded by a
Swamp and will require you to sacrifice 10 of your followers to worship it.
If you have the mana, and need the spell, you can just charge Firestorm
normally at this point in the game, so I don’t see much of a point in using
this Stone Head.
Once you complete the last four levels you have a choice of Archipelago or
Fractured Earth. You must complete both to move onto the final series of
levels in the game. Note that you get Angel of Death in Archipelago and
Volcano in Fractured Earth. If you play Archipelago first you will have Angel
of Death to use in Fractured Earth, and vice versa.
3.20 Archipelago
"I sense the Dakini are preparing for war. I must create more land to build
on if I am to increase my forces and meet them in battle."
Enemy Tribes: Dakini
Worship Objects:
Stone Head--1 Land Bridge, 5 followers to worship
Stone Head--1 Flatten, 6 followers to worship
Stone Head--1 Firestorm, 7 followers to worship
Stone Head--1 Volcano, 8 followers to worship
Vault of Knowledge--Angel of Death
This is a somewhat difficult level, in that you really get screwed in the
land department. Not only do you start out with only 6 Braves, while the
Dakini have their entire settlement complete, you are stuck among a series of
very small islands. Luckily, there are a lot of trees and Wildmen nearby, and
if you can use Land Bridge and/or Flatten effectively you should be able to
build a sizable settlement quickly.
To start out with, Convert all of the Wildmen that are on your island and
start building. You should have space for at least 2 Huts, a Temple, and a
Warrior Training Hut. You should start on your Training Huts as soon as
possible, as the Dakini give you very little time before they send boats over
with raiding parties. Start charging Land Bridge when you have your Huts up
and train some Warriors and Preachers to meet any attackers. Since the Dakini
have to land on the coast, Blast is actually very effective against them since
it will often knock enemy followers into the ocean. Be sure to target the
enemy Shaman first before she can cast Tornado on any of your buildings. With
space as tight as it is you won’t want any damaged ground.
When you have the ability, you’ll want to cast Land Bridge to the small
islands to the northeast and east. These islands have groups of trees that
will add to your nearby resources. Also use Land Bridge to flatten out the
land near your Reincarnation Site so you can build there. Remember if you
stand your Shaman near the coast and cast straight along the ocean you’ll
raise a rectangular strip of land out of the sea. Do this a few times to
expand the area you have to build on so you can crank out a Firewarrior
Training Hut and as many Huts as you can fit. I expanded towards the east,
since I already had Land Bridges in that direction, and the Dakini island is
to the west.
Once you have Firewarriors and enough trees nearby you should set up a
perimeter defense. A bad thing about this level is that you don’t have access
to Balloon Huts, but neither do the Dakini. They will always attack from
boats, and usually from the south side of your starting island. You’ll want
to concentrate your Guard Towers there, and since there’s usually an abundance
of wood in your settlement building Towers around the rest of your perimeter
won’t hurt. At the same time you’re building up your defenses, be sure to
start training more Warriors and Preachers to be your standing army.
When you get your defenses and your settlement built, you should start
going after the Stone Heads in this level. Only one Stone Head appears at a
time, and worshipping it causes the next to appear. The final prize is
Volcano, which is very useful in the center of the Dakini settlement. The
first Stone Head is the Land Bridge one, located on a very small island south
southeast of your settlement. Either cast Land Bridge across the other
islands to get there or use a boat. Be warned that the Dakini will attack
your worshippers, and then worship the Stone Heads themselves. This isn’t so
much of a problem for the first two Stone Heads, though. The Land Bridge
Stone Head triggers the Flatten Stone Head, located on the second island
northeast of your Reincarnation Site. This, in turn, triggers the Firestorm
Stone Head, located on the island northwest of your settlement. Be careful
with this one, as worshipping it will trigger a Firestorm at the location of
the Stone Head, probably killing your worshippers. It is worth it, though,
because it also triggers a Volcano in the circular bay by the medium sized
island to the north. On top of this Volcano will be the Volcano Stone Head,
though you might want to wait for the lava to die down before sending your
worshippers. For this one, be sure to have some guards on hand to fight off
Dakini raiders.
While you’re worshipping these objects and finishing off your settlement,
you should also be building up a ground attack force of Warriors, Preachers,
and Firewarriors. Without balloons you will be forced to take the fight to
the Dakini on the ground, and I recommend whatever force you used before
getting balloons to do so. Adjust the numbers of your force for the larger
Dakini population, or just be careful about how you manage your attack. You
may want to build boats to transport your people, but the Dakini settlement is
not very far from your own. Casting Land Bridge along the west coast should
raise some land that puts you in range to cast another Land Bridge directly to
the Dakini settlement. Before you do that, though, you should send your
Shaman over, probably in a commandeered boat, and worship the Angel of Death
Vault of Knowledge. There are only a few defenders near the Vault, and Swarm
or Hypnotize should help you get past them. Once you finish worshipping the
Vault you will have one use of the Angel of Death, which you should cast
immediately. Even though your Shaman is limited to the ground, you should be
able to maneuver through the Dakini settlement and use Volcano, Firestorm,
Tornado, and basically cause whatever other damage you like. I managed to
cause substantial damage with my Shaman alone, and could send in my army to do
whatever mopping up remained.
One final note about this level, the Dakini have and will use Angel of
Death on you, so be prepared for it. You should have 10 or so Firewarriors as
early on as possible to guard against enemy boats, and when the Dakini use the
Angel of Death you should order all of your Firewarriors to move as close to
the Angel as possible. They will fire at the Angel for a little while, and
then all run off when it swoops in on one of them. As soon as they stop
running, reorder them to move near the Angel and repeat. This will provide
enough firepower to eventually kill the Angel, getting rid of it a lot faster
than it normally would take. This tactic also draws the Angel away from the
people in your other buildings, so you don’t have to repair them. You will
take casualties, though, so send some more Braves to be trained as
Firewarriors when fending off an Angel of Death.
3.21 Fractured Earth
"This is a mysterious, hostile land. I sense that there are many dangers
that I must face before we meet the Dakini in battle."
Enemy Tribes: Dakini
Worship Objects:
Stone Head--2 Erode, 5 followers to worship
Totem Pole--Flatten, 3 followers to worship
Vault of Knowledge--Volcano
Once again your tribe slugs it out with the Dakini. This time, however,
you also have to contend with random lightning strikes, occasional
earthquakes, and volcanoes erupting under your settlement. I think you have
your work cut out for you.
You begin on the east end of the world’s only continent. The Dakini are
located on the other side of the continent, west across the land or east
across the blood red water. There is a Totem Pole directly to the south of
your Reincarnation site that requires three people to worship it. Worship
this immediately to cause a Flatten spell to seal up the Volcano there. If it
erupts it won’t cause damage to your settlement, which you haven’t built yet,
but it will create a lot of damaged ground. Like in Aerial Bombardment, this
world is very hilly, so you’ll have to build wherever there’s space, or make
more space with Land Bridge and/or Flatten.
Once you have the Volcano taken care of, you should start Converting
Wildmen and building Huts. Build Training Huts quickly, as the Dakini won’t
give you much time before attacking. Also start charging Land Bridge to seal
up the next natural Volcano that erupts, located at a small pit to the
northeast. Wherever there will be a Volcano there will also be smoke plumes
rising from the ground. Cast Land Bridge or Flatten over these to seal the
fault and prevent the eruption. Land Bridge is a good choice for this one
because it doesn’t require as much mana as Flatten.
For defense you should at first have a group of Warriors and Preachers.
The enemy will prefer to attack you from the southeast, where there is a gap
in the hills running east west and leading to a ramp up to the high ground
where your Reincarnation Site. They’ll run through here and attack your
settlement from behind, since most of the flat ground is to the north of your
Reincarnation Site. Instead of building Guard Towers here, I found it was
effective to take my Shaman to the top of the south hill overlooking the gap
and cast Land Bridge north to create a wall across this gap. You may have to
cast Land Bridge a few more times across to other hills to get rid of any
steep, but navigable passes up. This will force the enemy attackers to go
around and start climbing up towards your settlement through an area east of
your Reincarnation Site, not far from the Erode Stone Head. I put two
Preacher Guard Towers in front of four Firewarrior Guard Towers in this area
and that held off most attacks. You may need some extra help when the enemies
have Magical Shield on, or if they are attacking your Towers with
Firewarriors. Be very careful of the enemy Shaman, as she will cast Volcano
on your settlement. Later on, once you get the above-mentioned defenses
ready, you should put a few Firewarrior Guard Towers on the east edge of your
settlement, as Dakini Firewarriors will cross the water in balloons to attack
that end of your settlement.
The Erode Stone Head isn’t strictly necessary, but you should probably send
5 Converted Wildmen to worship it early on in the level. Getting the two
Erode uses will keep you from having to charge Erode when you get the mana for
other advanced spells, like Angel of Death. The other object of interest in
this level is the Volcano Vault of Knowledge. Finally, you won’t have to rely
on miserable Stone Heads for this awesome spell. The Vault is lightly guarded
and has a few Dakini buildings nearby. With a few Swarm, Lighting, or Swamp
spells you should be able to sneak your Shaman up there and worship at the
Vault without a problem. Once you have Volcano, you should take a balloon,
fly your Shaman over to the Dakini settlement and use it.
The rest of the level follows the familiar pattern. Building up your air
force will let you attack the Dakini before or after your Shaman softens them
up (when they’re not attacking they didn’t seem to keep many Firewarriors on
hand, so that’s a plus). Also, since the terrain tends to constrict your
settlement, the Firewarrior air force will also help you respond quickly to
enemy attacks with more force that your Guard Towers alone can provide. When
you’re ready, take the Dakini out.
A final word on this level should be said about the natural Volcanoes. The
first to erupt is south of your Reincarnation Site, and can be sealed by the
Totem Pole. The second eruption comes from the small pit northeast of your
Reincarnation Site. This, like the others, you will have to seal yourself.
Make a point to cast Land Bridge over this as soon as possible because its in
the middle of a nice flat area and its lava will cost you a lot of good land.
The third Volcano goes off far to the southeast, nowhere near your settlement,
so don’t worry about it. The last Volcano (that I’ve seen) happens south of
the fume that comes from the northeast coast. There’s an eroded Volcano
looking crater there, and you should look for the smoke plumes before it goes
off. The Vault of Knowledge also triggers a Volcano nearby when you worship
it, but that’s not near your settlement so you again don’t have to worry.
3.22 Solo
"None of my followers could accompany me to this world. I am alone and I
shall need all my strength and cunning to survive."
This is my favorite level, simply because you get to run around with your
Shaman and blow stuff up. If you haven’t used her talents thus far, you will
have to learn how to do so in this level. The Obelisks scattered around the
world will replenish some of your mana when you worship them, but if you’ve
used a lot of spells be careful as to how many you have charging. Aside from
the first Obelisk, the others do not restore your mana to full, and if you
want to get some more spell uses you’ll have to charge only a few spells.
Since I’m sure everyone’s playing style is a bit different, I really can’t
recommend the "best" way to complete this level, and I’m certainly not going
to try and dictate how many of which spells you should use where. Instead,
I’ll aim for describing the general flow of the level, and you can experiment
with what spells work best.
You face all three tribes in this level, but they all have relatively small
settlements. You begin on the Dakini island, with the Matak located to the
north, and the Chumara located to the northwest. The Dakini have a very small
population, and it shouldn’t take much to take them out. Once they’re
destroyed you can hop in the boat they have made and take it to either of the
two other islands.
I recommend that you head for the Chumara first, as there is a balloon
located at the southern tip of their island. Land on the small patch of
ground east of the balloon and cast Land Bridge to make a ramp up to it. Once
you’re in the balloon be _very_ careful of Firewarriors. You may have been
reckless with your Shaman in a balloon in the past, but in this level she does
not reincarnate. Two Firewarrior hits will end the level for you in a hurry.
This just means you need to be sure to Lighting enemy Firewarriors from a safe
distance.
Because the Chumara have a wide-open settlement with most of their
buildings packed together, they seem an ideal target for Volcano. I’ve noted
that when you kill a lot of enemy followers (this happens on other levels
too), i.e. most of the tribe, the survivors will make a suicide run at your
Shaman. They will do this even if they cannot reach the balloon she’s in, and
even run toward her if she’s hovering over a Swamp. Heh heh heh. Nuff said.
After the Chumara are done, you’ll probably want to recharge your spells.
Either the Obelisk next to the Dakini island or the one on the Matak island
will work. If you worship the one on the Matak island expect some Warriors to
come heading your way. Also be sure that you fly _around_ the Matak
settlement, and not right through it, or you’ll get shot down real fast. The
Matak have a lot more Firewarriors, so be extra careful when you’re around
their area. I find that the Angel of Death works well against the Matak, as
it will draw the Firewarriors attention away from your Shaman. Since their
settlement is on high ground, Erode also does wonders to shatter the enemy’s
buildings and fling thier followers around. Once again, its your choice as to
how you take them out.
One interesting fact I learned in this level, if you have enemy followers
Hynotized and kill all of the other enemies from that tribe, the Hypnotized
followers will become permanent followers of your tribe automatically. In
this way, you can actually gain followers from the defeated enemy tribes.
Unfortunately, the game won’t let you build anything other than Guard Posts in
this level.
3.23 Inferno
"Once again all three enemy tribes stand against us. I must search the land
for any spell that will aid me."
Enemy Tribes: Dakini, Matak, Chumara
Worship Objects:
Stone Head--3 Firestorm, 6 followers to worship
With this level you begin the final stretch to the end of the game. On the
next three worlds you will face all three enemy tribes. Fortunately on this
one, even with the blood red water and the eerie sound effects, you don’t have
to put up with the environmental hazards you saw on Fractured Earth.
You start out at the south end of the largest continent. The Dakini and
Matak are also on this continent, to the north and northeast, respectively.
The Chumara are located on an island to the east. There is a Stone Head
around the center of the continent, around the place where the three
settlements meet. Tall impassible hills block the other land routes to the
Dakini and Matak, so you’ll have to go by the Stone Head if you pass them over
land. (A side note here: One of these hills separates a very direct path
between the Matak and Dakini settlements. I didn’t try this when I played
through the level, but maybe casting Erode on this hill and opening up a new
path would bring those two tribes into more direct conflict, ala Building
Bridges.)
The good thing about this level is that you have lots of space to build and
no one starts with any of their settlement built. This will give you time to
build up your forces before you get attacked. There are a lot of trees lying
around, so this will allow you to build up quickly. I found that I built a
lot of Huts (17 or so) in order to have a lot of mana for my big spells, so
you might want to be careful where you place your buildings. If you don’t
cover up the nearby trees, you’ll have them to build stuff later on when you
need it. Also, since the other tribes will be busy building their own
settlements to begin with, you should grab 6 Wildmen and send them over to
worship the Stone Head. The Dakini will send 6 Braves of their own to
worship, but you might be able to get a use of Firestorm before they get
there. Since you (and everyone else) has Firestorm already, don’t think that
the Stone Head is a big priority.
Defense is a bit tricky in this level, much like Bloodlust. You don’t want
to put your Guard Towers directly south of the Stone Head, where the obvious
choke point is, because both the Dakini and the Matak build Guard Towers for
their own Shamans on top of the nearby hills. This extends the range of their
Lighting spell significantly, and if your Towers are too close, they will burn
them to the ground. You have two options to counter this. First, build your
Guard Towers just north of the two hills overlooking your settlement, in
between the pass between hills. There are two avenues of attack in this area,
so you might need to build two sets of Guard Towers. The problem is that the
enemy Shaman (typically when its the Dakini from what I saw) accompanies the
attacking parties. She’ll make short work of your Guard Towers unless you see
them coming and have some Swamps or Lighting of your own. The way around the
Shaman problem is the other method, close off the land routes. Get to the top
of the east hill north of your settlement and cast Land Bridge across to the
other hills to raise cliffs. I built my cliffs heading north/northwest
towards the Dakini settlement. This will take care of Matak attacks well
enough, but be sure to follow the chain of hills all the way up and make sure
there are no climbable ramps or you’ve just given the enemy a high road to
your settlement.
If you choose to seal yourself off like this you’ll buy time to build and
not have to deal with ground attacks. What you will have to deal with is boat
attacks. None of the tribes in this level seem to favor balloons, but they
all have boats. The Chumara especially like to send a spy over via boat and
burn down a few of your buildings. You can build a perimeter defense against
this if you want, but it’s an awfully big perimeter. (Also, I found that it
seemed to take a real long time to build anything on this world, even when you
assign a lot of Braves to the construction. They’ll gather all the needed
wood, and then stack it outside while they hammer away at the building in
progress. I don’t know if it’s some glitch with this level, or just my
perception, but don’t be surprised if it takes a while for things to get
built.) So you have plenty of room to build (assuming you don’t build over
the large groves of trees) you’ll want to be able to expand as far north as
possible. Creating a cliff wall might also cut your easy access to the
Firestorm Stone Head, but it’s only a spell that you already have.
However you build your defenses, you should build as many huts as you can
and fill them with Braves. Keep your standard 10 Warrior 10 Preacher defense
force on hand for spies and boat incursions, and I still recommend an air
force for this level. As Solo proved, your Shaman is _very_ deadly at this
point in the game. With lots of Huts to fuel your mana, you should be able to
charge you spells very quickly and run balloon raids with your Shaman to
soften up the enemy tribes before you hunt down the rest with your
Firewarriors.
If you choose to slug it out without your Shaman, here’s a tip I’ve noticed
regarding balloons and Firewarriors. I’ll try to be as clear as possible, so
bear with me. In general, when you attack the enemy settlement with your
followers, a lot of the non-Brave follower classes will rush to meet your
attackers. When you’re attacking with balloons, this typically hasn’t
mattered in previous levels because there aren’t that many enemy Firewarriors
to hurt you. In these later levels this is not the case. The enemy tribes
have a lot of Firewarriors, and if you attack an enemy settlement while
they’re still alive, they will abandon their old defensive positions and come
at you, along with all the other Warriors and Preachers. Your Firewarriors,
if left to their own devices, will fire on whoever is nearby and convenient.
This does not necessarily mean they’ll attack the enemy Firewarriors who are
an actual threat. The strengths of the Firewarrior air force are mobility,
ability to avoid most other followers, and strength in numbers. If the enemy
Firewarriors on the ground show up and start picking off your balloons while
they’re all shooting at some helpless Preacher, you’ll loose Firewarriors and
balloons very quickly. However, if you manually target the enemy Firewarriors
you’ll almost invariably order your balloons deeper into the enemy settlement,
where there are probably more Firewarriors headed your way. The trick then,
on these later levels, is to make hit and run attacks. Find some poorly
defended spot and start picking off the enemies there. Don’t go too much past
their perimeter, but fire at people until you provoke a response. Pick off
the enemy Firewarriors as they come, but if they start showing up in larger
groups, pull back to where they can’t follow (across a hill or over water).
When you see the enemy defenders turn back to what they were doing, send your
balloons back to do another hit and run. The goal is to kill enemy
Firewarriors, enough to the point that they can only send a few of them at you
at a time, numbers that won’t hurt your balloon force. You win in this
situation because even though they will start training new Firewarriors right
away, if you can keep your balloon force intact you can kill those new
Firewarriors as they come out of the Training Hut, and then raze the Hut.
Once all, or most, of the enemy Firewarriors are taken care of, proceed to
pick off the Warriors and Preachers wandering impotently beneath your
balloons, and then the rest of the enemy settlement. The last thing to note
when attacking with balloons, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, fear
the enemy Shaman. If she casts Swarm underneath your balloons, a whole lot of
your Firewarriors will find themselves on the ground, where those Warriors and
Preachers aren’t quite so impotent. Just try to time your attacks to happen
when the Shaman is dead, either kill her with your own Shaman or some other
way, and then have your Firewarriors in the settlement kill her again when she
reincarnates. As long as she stays dead and out of the way, you only have to
worry about enemy Firewarriors.
3.24 Journey's End
"I sense that our struggle is nearly at an end. The Final Battle awaits!"
This is the last level you have to complete before your Shaman completes
her (mad?) quest to become a god. The other tribes on this planet, however,
have a few things to say about that before you can move on to the final level
in P:TB. The Dakini, Matak, and Chumara all start on this world in force and
with a developed settlement. You get a little bit more than the standard six
Braves, but not much. You want your godhood? Earn it.
Aside from the mismatch in starting forces between yourself and the other
tribes, you really get screwed in the land department. You are stuck in the
middle of a large ocean on the smallest island on the planet. There are two
narrow strips of land running to the east and to the west. The Chumara are
located on the other side of the planet from your settlement, and both of
those land strips lead right to them. Furthermore, the Dakini are on the same
continent as the Chumara, to the south. There's a land route from the Dakini
settlement to the western land strip, so expect thier attacks to come from
there. Lastly, the Matak are situated on the medium-sized continent due north
of you. They are only on Land Bridge spell away, and they will open a path
before you would want them to.
This time around you begin the world with three large Huts and nine Braves.
Complicating the scarcity of land is the fact that there aren't that many
trees on the land that you do have, so you'll want to build carefully. In
this level you might have to do things before you normally would (if you've
followed my strategies), such as charge up land altering spells before you
have a large population. You need to build around the trees and building up
more land helps you do that and expand your settlement all at once. Be sure
to Convert the Wildmen on this world quickly, they seem to die off very fast.
Your most immediate concern comes from the enemy tribes. Expect an attack
from the Matak early, and as soon as they cast Land Bridge. You should build
a Temple immediately and train some Preachers to meet this attack. I placed
my Training Huts south of my Reincarnation Site, using Land Bridge to smooth
out the land, and my Huts in two columns east of the Reincarnation Site.
When fighting the first few raids, remember that your Shaman can Blast an
attacking force into the nearby water very easily. If they get too far into
your settlement you may have a problem. After the raid start charging Erode
so you can seal off some of the entries into your settlement. I prefer to
close all three routes, and then attack from the air, but the choice is
ultimately up to you. Be warned when casting Erode on the land strips to the
Chumara, the land is just barely above water and you should order your Shaman
to move away as soon as she casts the spell or she might find her ground taken
out from under her. Even with Blast, your Shaman may be your most useful
fighter in the early stages when you don't have Warriors and Preachers, so you
don't want ot let her drown.
I suggest that you build up as large of a standing force as you quickly
can. Once you sever the land routes, its only a matter of time before the
other tribes attack via boat, balloon, or Angel of Death. Even if your
settlement is small, you should shift a lot of your followers into fighting
classes and build a good balloon force. Time really is of the essence on this
level, and I found myself struggling on many occasions trying to get
everything I needed built while at the same time managing my forces to fight
off the enemy attacks and keep my settlement intact. You have a relatively
small perimeter, but with the scarcity of trees you don't want to build Guard
Towers all around your island. Balloons will also help you guard against
enemy Shaman raids. With all of thier spells at thier disposal and a
disturbing tendancy to use them, the enemy Shamans can quickly damage a great
swath of land that you really can't part with.
This is a pretty hard level, in that the enemy tribes will attack with much
greater force then they have in the past, most of that force coming from thier
Shaman. Once you get your settlement built and your standing army ready, you
should deploy them so they can respond quickly to balloon or boat raids. If
you can catch an attack before the enemy Shaman can cast anything, you should
weather it very easily since the enemies don't seem to send that many other
followers. Though you many have to retry this level a few times, eventually
you should find a way to get the upper hand. Once that happens you should
move out with Shaman and air force against one of the enemy tribes. Soften
them up with magic, and have your Firewarriors finish the job. Once you get
one of the tribes out of the way, you'll have a much easier time with the
remaining ones. I started with the Chumara, since they usually attacked with
balloons later in the level. The Dakini were next, and after them the Matak.
The Dakini prefer boat raids after I had sealed off the land routes to my
settlement, and be careful of the Dakini Shaman who likes to cast Volcano and
Earthquake and other nasty stuff. When attacking another tribe, try not to
spend too long on an attack, or the Dakini might just come along and wreck
havoc on your settlement while your attention is elsewhere. I chose to attack
the Matak last because they were the quietest of all the tribes and didn't
attack very often after thier initial Land Bridge attempt. If the Matak
capture a balloon (they don't usually build a Balloon Hut themselves), I've
noticed that the Matak Shaman flies over very soon afterwards to cast Angel of
Death on you. This isn't nearly as devastating as the average Dakini Volcano,
but you can guard against it by planning your balloon raids carefully.
3.25 The Beginning
"Finally, I am a God. I shall wreak my revenge upon the unbelievers!"
Well, you've made it to the final world. Your Shaman has completed her
quest, and as you saw in the cutscene after Journey's End, ascended to
godhood. As a god, your Shaman does not appear as a follower you can command
on this level. This means that all of your spells now have infinite range,
you don't have a Reincarnation Site, and your Shaman obviously can't be
killed. Unfortunately, these effects only last on this level. If you go back
and replay one of the previous worlds you will have your Shaman like before.
The other downside of godhood is that you don't get infinite mana, you still
have to charge your spells like before, and you can still lose the game if
your tribe is annihilated. You've come to far to let that happen, so here's
the run down on the final level.
The shape of the land on this world is a bit tricky to describe, so you may
want to have a look at it for yourself if I'm not making any sense. This
world is like Middle Ground with circular plots for the four tribal
settlements and long land strips connecting them. Unlike Middle Ground,
though, the entire land mass of the world isn't stuck out in the middle of the
ocean. The largest bodies of water are to the east and west of your
settlement, but none of the enemy tribes seems to prefer boats over the land
routes. There are six of those land routes radiating away from your
settlement. The Dakini settlement is located on the other side of the planet
from you, so you can get there from either the north or south strip of land.
The Chumara and Matak are located to the southwest and southeast,
respectively. The northeast and northwest land routes will take you to a
crossroads on the other side of the planet which you can use to get to the
Chumara or Matak settlements. Fortunately, they don't seem to like to use
this route to attack you.
Now about your settlement. The good thing (and it's a really good thing)
about this world is that you don't have to build from the ground up with only
six Braves. You start with 50 Braves, 10 Large Huts, 8 Medium Huts, and all
of your Training Huts. You also begin with Blast, Swarm, Lightning,
Hypnotize, Tornado, Swamp, and Firestorm completely charged. Convert also
starts with three uses, though there are no Wildmen to Convert at the
beginning of the level.
The main trick to this level is surviving the first part of it. All of
the other tribes have an actual army, instead of just a bunch of Braves, and
will decide to stomp on each other at the very start of the level.
Unfortunately, they'll choose your settlement for the place where they stomp
on each other. Immediately stop charging Convert and start charging Erode,
and send at least 15 Braves each to your Temple, Warrior, and Firewarrior
Training Hut. Next, scroll over and cast Swamp on all three enemy Shamans.
Hopefully you can get some of the fighting classes of followers that are
standing nearby them, but more importantly it will give you three extra mana
boost to charge Erode. You won't stop the attacks, but you can cast some of
your other spells to soften up at least one tribe. Casting Firestorm or
Tornado on their Training Huts will slow them down a little bit after the
first attack. While the other three tribes are fighting in your settlement,
try to keep your Braves going to the Training Huts and send your fighters to
stop enemies wherever they can. You're not really pressed for land, but
you'll probably want to keep your buildings from being completely destroyed
just so you don't have to rebuild them. If you can't deploy your own
Preachers to counter the enemy's, keep Blast charging and cast it on any enemy
Preacher you can't get to otherwise. With all the casualties you're going to
take, you don't need your own Braves turned against you. The attacks aren't
likely to be completely defeated by your efforts, but the attackers will
withdraw or head off into another settlement eventually. Your main task, and
the hard part of this level, is to survive the first round of attacks with as
much of your settlement intact as you can manage.
As soon as the enemy followers move themselves out of your settlement you
should start rebuilding your damaged buildings. Put some Braves in your Huts
so they can quickly get some new Braves out for you. Chances are, you will be
very much under your maximum population at this point. You should also have
at least one use of Erode, if you've only been charging it. As my earlier
strategies probably indicate, I recommend that you use Erode to cut off the
land access to your settlement. This makes extra sense on this level because
the land strips are so wide that building a Guard Tower defense will be very
expensive. Moreover, since the enemies attack en masse maintaining that
defense will also be very difficult. I recommend sinking the path to the
Chumara first, since they are typically more agressive than the Matak, and
have only one route to your settlement. The Dakini have two routes to get to
you, so you should probably sink one of those routes as soon as possible, and
build a large ground force to defend against incursions until you get the
mana. You can, of course, try to build as many Guard Tower defenses as you
want, but I just think that using Erode is easier. Note that when you're
using Erode you'll want to cast it as close to the enemy settlement as
possible. The only trees on this world are located on the land in between the
settlements, so you'll want as many of those trees as possible accessible to
you after you sink the routes. Once you have sealed off the direct routes to
the other three tribes, you don't need to worry about the other two routes to
your settlement. I have never seen the other tribes attack from those routes.
Once your defenses, of whatever form, are done and your settlement has
recovered from the initial attack and whatever damage other raids have done,
you can turn your attention to wiping out the other tribes once and for all.
Ground or air attacks follow the usual pattern and using them is up to your
discretion. This world does offer a great deal of land and trees for you to
build a bunch of Huts and turn your settlement into a mana factory (28 Huts
will get you the maximum population). With your spells charging at a rapid
rate you can leave all your followers at home and smite down the infidels
like, I dunno, an angry god. (I submit all due appologies at this point.)
After you mop up the last enemy follower you've completed the game.
Congratulations.
4. FAQ
Well, there really isn't a FAQ in this guide, since this is the first
version and no one has emailed me any questions. If you have questions, feel
free to send them to me and I'll do my best to answer them.
5. Other Stuff
5.1 Contact Info
If you see something missing from this guide, an error I've missed, or have
some info that I haven't included here, you can tell me at
steric_hindrance@hotmail.com. Please include something about P:TB in the
subject heading so I know its not spam.
5.2 Acknowledgements
As mentioned before, a lot of the terminology and gameplay information came
from the in game help feature. All due credit goes to Bullfrog for that info.
