Age of Ice seems impossible!

[Diamondeye]

I have tried the FfH: Age of Ice scenario 5-10 times now, with lots of different approaches and tactics and techpaths, and it simply seems unbeatable.

Spoiler :

I have, of these attempts, only managed to bring the Doviello to capitulation (rush with the Swordsman hero, leaving only their capital, killing their hero - they then offered me the Godslayerpiece) - I might have acted stupidly ni denying them peace, but they had one city left. I had horses and the hunter hero at their door.

Realizing my odds were poor, I teched catapults and got a couple to their door. Two things happens:

I lose my first 4-5 battles all at 80+% odds

The Barbarians charge the northern Doviello city (which I had taken) with like 5 wolfriders, many frostlings, an ogre and an Ice Giant!

Ofcourse this meant I lost the northern city and did not kill off the Doviello. At this point Mulcarn was already sending troops (not good ones yet, but still!), and the Doviello had 7-8 Javelin throwers in their hill capital - ofcourse heavily promoted from winning at insane odds.

This was at noble. I steamroll the normal FfH II AI at both Prince and Monarch... Can someone help me out? Is there some magic solution to the Doviello (and barb) problem?

To answer the reply I know is coming: Yes I am using the Children of Kylorin as well as I can, promoting them to military units and make them lead my army, but the Doviello refuse to crack!

Any help is appreciated. But be careful about spoiling later parts of the scenario please!

 

[Dresden]

About the Doviello:

Spoiler :

Depending on where the final Doviello city is, taking capitulation and leaving them alive sometimes gives you a "buffer" between your territory and most of the barb/mulcarn forces, but it's certainly not necessary and you can kill them off and still win. You should probably put that bit about them offering you their godslayer piece in a spoiler in your post too.

One thing I didn't see from your post is how you are using your troops. The ranged attack of your archers is incredibly useful for softening up the enemy either when assaulting a city or when defending. Properly using the ranged archery bombardment makes an enormous difference in your ability to wage war effectively.

On the attack, bring lots of Archery units and use their ranged attack to weaken the enemy as much as possible before attacking the "normal" way with your hero or other city-buster troops. On defense, try to meet the enemy a few tiles away from your cities, bombard the hell out of them, and retreat to good defensive terrain (or back to the city) so that when they finally attack you they are significantly weakened.

Another issue is one of timing. Many people find it more effective to play a much more patient style in this scenario than in a normal game, turtling with 3-4 cities (capital, 2 choke points, maybe another), teching deep into the tech tree, and building up a sizable force before going out on the offensive.

There is also an Age of Ice forum in the FFH2 area that has some topics on strategy that may be helpful.

 

[Pacifist46]

I beat this awesome scenario on Noble on about my 2nd attempt, through sheer power of troops.
Basically, I settled 4 cities; 2 of which were chokepoints through the mountains. When you attack the Doviello, keep their capital for the mammoth nearby. When attacking the Doviello city with the sword piece in, I brought along 40 catapults, and a similar amount of maces/pikes/crossbows/other crap. You need a hell of a lot of guys to take them down, but it is possible.
Hope this helps.

 

[Favorius]

I agree with Dresden in turtling. I gave this scenario only a 1 try, played like a normal game. My greatest success was choosing the scout-hunter as hero and he gained enormous xp. Also I was lucky to have a troll joining me from an event. He fortified in a defensive city and gained huge xp by killing barbs and promoted with CRs when I got to offensive.

Currently I subdued all enemy cities and found the third part in the jungle island and united the blade.

Also I killed the 80hp dragon!. after that I saved. next jop is to find and kill Mulcarn. I do not know whether this will be easy or difficult tough.

 

[say1988]

My problem was getting metal. If I go out to get metal I would face continuous attacks from barbs and doviello on multiple cites and my production just couldn't keep up as I was slowly ground into the ground from the occasional unlucky battle.

 

[Methyl Orange]

I won first try, and then never. I beleive that I won it only becouse I got an Ogre in random event (you found a almost dead ogre and you fed him so he works for you now, blah blah blah).

 

[say1988]

I did too, but I even they can only take so much.

 

[Breunor]

Diamondeye,

It can be a great scenario and if you get the hang of it, you can win at pretty much any level; I can now neat it at Emperor fairly easily.

Here is an entire webpage devoted to it! http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=263

Key ideas:

Don't start like a 'normal' Civ game, you must build troops right away, your first few builds. Don't bother with buildings, just a worker and troops. Your hero can be very powerful.

You must take the city to the Northwest pretty quickly, and try to build a city in the south. You will fight endless waves of frostlings. Archers are very important as are getting high experience troops. It is a lot of fun. Read the forum, get some ideas, and try it. I think it is a real awesome scenario!

Best wishes,

Breunor

 

[Lade]

Have you tried searching the actual Fall from Heaven forum? It has some good advice

A good strategy is to set up two cities at the choke points, research almost the entire tech tree, then go out and crush your enemies

 

[Diamondeye]

Thanks for the hints, I play FfH II and I know the general approach is more warbased than normal civ (more and stronger barbs), and I have tried the Chokepoint thing aswell, almost worked (that was the game mentioned in the spoiler in OP).

I'll try it again sometime when I have the time...

 

[ranavain]

The problem I have (that someone above also mentioned) is that there is no Iron or Copper anywhere near where I can get cities! I can take and hold the barb city to the northwest, but every other city I try to found gets smattered, and I simply can't compete when all I have are archers and one hero that is quickly made obsolete by the AI's much faster research abilities (and their multiple cities with metals!)

 

[elisk]

Epona makes the game way easier, with her fireballs.

 

[deanej]

And don't forget that archers and longbows can bombard enemy units. You don't even need catapults.

 

[Lade]

Warrior spamming immediatly is an easy way to get rid of the Doviello early. Simply immediatly begin to build something like 15-20 warriors, and go and crush two of their three cities (they might settle a fourth, depending on how long you take to build them) make peace, and they'll act like a bunker while you retrieve the other godslayer pieces.