How to win "Conquests of Alexander" on Deity (37 turns)

[DrCron]

[NOTE: I looked for a sub-forum about scenarios, but found none, so I'm posting this here.]

After winning all 4 scenarios on Deity, I found "Conquests of Alexander" to be the hardest one, by far. I imagine other players might be struggling with it too, so I'm leaving a guide here.

GENERAL STRATEGY POINTS:

- Pella should build hetairoi for as long as they can get to the front on time (usually around turn 23). Later, it should build 1 or 2 settlers to settle the spots to the NE (there won't be enough time to go farther).

- The first settler should immediately settle the spot 5E from Pella (north of the lake, 1W of the wine). It should build an encampment and then settlers. The settlers that come from here should NOT settle those 2 close spots to the north (they are close, so leave them for the final settlers that will come from Pella). They should go east instead, because they have time.

- Conquered cities should focus on production and, unless they will lose population, turn off food (they won't grow anyway). Most times they won't have time to build a hetairoi fast enough to be relevant. The starting ones can build 1-2 archers, but mostly they will just produce great general points (encampments should always be your first build).

- Founded cities should get an encampment (for production) and then settlers. Remember you only get +5 points per city so you need to found a lot of them (12 iirc) if you want to get the 200 points by turn 36 (cities found on turn 37 won't count, the last city you conquer won't count). Ideally you only want to purchase the last 2-3 settlers, because they are expensive and increase the price as you get them.

- Use the gold to purchase hetairoi in the city farthest east (closest to the front line). This is your only use of gold (apart from maybe 2 siege towers) until around turn 28-30. In the last few turns you will need to purchase maybe 2-3 settlers if you want to get to the 200 points achievement. Remember you need to have 200 points on turn 36.

- Forget about hypaspist. They're too slow, you don't have time.

- Using your great generals correctly is key. The ones that give +2 movement will stay behind so units don't take too long to join the main group. One that gives +10 strenght will stay with the northern army. Alexander will stay with the southern army. Keep a great general 1 tile away from the hetairois that will attack (this bonus makes a big difference). When you get a 2nd great general that gives +2 movement, keep him close to Pella, move him so that the new hetairois get the bonus every turn, so they reach the front faster.

- You only need 1 great general and 2 hetairois (plus 1 archer for support) to take all of Egypt.

- Walled cities demand a siege tower. Purchase it to make sure it gets there on the same turn as your troops. The first one (to take Halicarnasus, and later Tyrus) can usually be built with production. Unfortunately it won't have time to get to the east.

- Time the healing. Keep this in mind when deciding when to conquer cities with wonders. Use promotions wisely, and use the extra movement from your great generals to pillage farms (remember you don't need them, since conquered cities won't grow in population anyway).


MILESTONES:

- Conquer Athens on turn 2. Make sure Alex is next to it to get the 2 free hoplites. These 2 guys will stay with Alex and the southern army, because you'll need them to take the Indian city at the end (those varus will kick your ass otherwise).

- The city south of the lake (Sparda) should be taken on turn 4 ideally. Take Gordian and Tarsus BEFORE Halicarnasus, so this last one heals your units.

- You'll send a few units to take Tyre (with the siege tower), but only leave 2-3 units (plus a great general) for Egypt. Everyone else should conquer Babylon.

- After Babylon you'll divide the army. Southern army with Alex will go to take Parsa. Northern army (with a +10 strenght GG) will go for Ray and all of those cities around it. Northern army will need more units, because southern army will be very strong thanks to Alex. That being said, make sure you have a strong army when you approach the Indian city (they will have A LOT of varus).

- Parsa should be yours on turn 23. If you are on turn 25 and didn't take Parsa yet you probably need to re-start. Try to move Alex next to Parsa when you take it, those 2 free immortals will be useful to help dealing with the varus at the end.

- Conquer Thebes early, but leave Memphis for later. It has a wonder so it'll heal your units when you are taking the last city states.



And that's it. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. If you want to see this done, I uploaded a 200 points deity victory here:

 

[MINDZZZ]

I uploaded my save. I was talking to you from YouTube. Help me, pls.
If you can please continue to the penultimate turn.
Thank you.

 

[king of nowhere]

There are a few things I would improve in your guide:

1) if hipaspistas are too slow, shouldn't the same apply to archers too? I find archers too slow to keep up, except the couple you start with. 100% hetairoi is the way to go.

2) one single battering ram is enough. buy it as soon as you conquer the first persian city, because there is no time to build it otherwise. this battering ram, properly used, will be enough for all walled cities. You must move it very accurately from tyrus to the walled persian capital to the last walled city all the way in the gobi desert, though. exploit generals for this.

3) the "northern and souther army" only applies after you conquer the middle east. by then, you will have enough generals to cover all your fronts. But yes, alexander should stay in the south, as it is where the hardest challenges will be - especially the varu later, but also the persian capital.

4) you'll need to further split after conquering the mountain range in middle asia; your main forces should go north towards schitia and south towards india, but groups of 3 hetairoi are required to take quickly all the other scattered cities. Asia is big, and you can't afford to get bogged down.

 

[DrCron]

I uploaded my save

I don't think I'll have time today, but I'll check it this weekend and reply to you here.

1) if hipaspistas are too slow, shouldn't the same apply to archers too? I find archers too slow to keep up, except the couple you start with. 100% hetairoi is the way to go.

2) one single battering ram is enough. buy it as soon as you conquer the first persian city, because there is no time to build it otherwise. this battering ram, properly used, will be enough for all walled cities. You must move it very accurately from tyrus to the walled persian capital to the last walled city all the way in the gobi desert, though. exploit generals for this.

3) the "northern and souther army" only applies after you conquer the middle east. by then, you will have enough generals to cover all your fronts. But yes, alexander should stay in the south, as it is where the hardest challenges will be - especially the varu later, but also the persian capital.

4) you'll need to further split after conquering the mountain range in middle asia; your main forces should go north towards schitia and south towards india, but groups of 3 hetairoi are required to take quickly all the other scattered cities. Asia is big, and you can't afford to get bogged down.

1) Sure, but in the first few cities you can get them in 5-6 turns only, so 1-2 more might still help as support (eventually you'll have so many GGs that you can spare a +2 movement guy for them). You have only so much room for melee attacks.

2) I went with siege tower directly, but I never had the slightest chance of getting the first one to Parsa on time, and from there to that last walled city in the east it seems impossible. Do rams have more movement than towers? I can't remember.

3) Yes, after Babylon. The souther middle eastern city (Gaza?) only needs like 3 units to be taken (plus the siege tower of course). That would be roughly the same army that will take Egypt later.

4) Agreed.

 

[DrCron]

@MINDZZZ:

I checked your turn 14 file. It's not terrible, but there are a few issues with your game:

1) That hetairoi between Gordian and Tarsus, wha't he doing there?? He's not in the front, or attacking Halicarnassus, or in a road. Always move your units through roads, and bring your hetiarois to the front.

2) You have 5 hetairoris and 4 archers. That's too many archers, did you purchase them with gold? Don't. You only have 1 GG and 30 points for the next one. On my turn 12 save (see attached) I also have 1 GG but 40 points towards the next one, and it's 2 turns earlier. Make sure your kills are done with hetairoris or hypastist, they give you GG points with each kill. You can weaken enemies with archers or hoplites, but try to finish them with your UU.

3) You only have 1 hypastist, did you lose the other one? Those guys are strong, you shouldn't lose them. Also, your 1 hypastist is chasing some spearman on the north. That spearman alone won't do much, let him suicide against your cities, or kill him with a hetairori that comes from Halicarnassus (hetairois have more movement so they can get back to the front faster).

4) See that aracher on the sheep tile, just 1 tile away from the enemy? That should be a hetairori. Archers should stay 1 tile behind mounted or melee units, for support.

All in all I think you can still win this game, but you are on turn 14 slightly worse than I was on turn 12, and I think that's simply because of how you are moving your units. Optimize your attacks, make sure your hetairois are on the front line to get the GG points, and don't lose those hypastists. Oh, and there's another pillage, apart from farms, that heals you (quarries, iirc) use it and abuse it. And pillage those farms! Healed hetairois don't die and get more kills. Anyway, take a look at my save file, see my army formation and the tiles I've pillaged. That alone might be enough to improve your game that little bit that you need to roll over this scenario.

 

[MINDZZZ]

thanks a lot

 

[civplay]

[NOTE: I looked for a sub-forum about scenarios, but found none, so I'm posting this here.]

After winning all 4 scenarios on Deity, I found "Conquests of Alexander" to be the hardest one, by far. I imagine other players might be struggling with it too, so I'm leaving a guide here.

GENERAL STRATEGY POINTS:

- Pella should build hetairoi for as long as they can get to the front on time (usually around turn 23). Later, it should build 1 or 2 settlers to settle the spots to the NE (there won't be enough time to go farther).

- The first settler should immediately settle the spot 5E from Pella (north of the lake, 1W of the wine). It should build an encampment and then settlers. The settlers that come from here should NOT settle those 2 close spots to the north (they are close, so leave them for the final settlers that will come from Pella). They should go east instead, because they have time.

- Conquered cities should focus on production and, unless they will lose population, turn off food (they won't grow anyway). Most times they won't have time to build a hetairoi fast enough to be relevant. The starting ones can build 1-2 archers, but mostly they will just produce great general points (encampments should always be your first build).

- Founded cities should get an encampment (for production) and then settlers. Remember you only get +5 points per city so you need to found a lot of them (12 iirc) if you want to get the 200 points by turn 36 (cities found on turn 37 won't count, the last city you conquer won't count). Ideally you only want to purchase the last 2-3 settlers, because they are expensive and increase the price as you get them.

- Use the gold to purchase hetairoi in the city farthest east (closest to the front line). This is your only use of gold (apart from maybe 2 siege towers) until around turn 28-30. In the last few turns you will need to purchase maybe 2-3 settlers if you want to get to the 200 points achievement. Remember you need to have 200 points on turn 36.

- Forget about hypaspist. They're too slow, you don't have time.

- Using your great generals correctly is key. The ones that give +2 movement will stay behind so units don't take too long to join the main group. One that gives +10 strenght will stay with the northern army. Alexander will stay with the southern army. Keep a great general 1 tile away from the hetairois that will attack (this bonus makes a big difference). When you get a 2nd great general that gives +2 movement, keep him close to Pella, move him so that the new hetairois get the bonus every turn, so they reach the front faster.

- You only need 1 great general and 2 hetairois (plus 1 archer for support) to take all of Egypt.

- Walled cities demand a siege tower. Purchase it to make sure it gets there on the same turn as your troops. The first one (to take Halicarnasus, and later Tyrus) can usually be built with production. Unfortunately it won't have time to get to the east.

- Time the healing. Keep this in mind when deciding when to conquer cities with wonders. Use promotions wisely, and use the extra movement from your great generals to pillage farms (remember you don't need them, since conquered cities won't grow in population anyway).


MILESTONES:

- Conquer Athens on turn 2. Make sure Alex is next to it to get the 2 free hoplites. These 2 guys will stay with Alex and the southern army, because you'll need them to take the Indian city at the end (those varus will kick your ass otherwise).

- The city south of the lake (Sparda) should be taken on turn 4 ideally. Take Gordian and Tarsus BEFORE Halicarnasus, so this last one heals your units.

- You'll send a few units to take Tyre (with the siege tower), but only leave 2-3 units (plus a great general) for Egypt. Everyone else should conquer Babylon.

- After Babylon you'll divide the army. Southern army with Alex will go to take Parsa. Northern army (with a +10 strenght GG) will go for Ray and all of those cities around it. Northern army will need more units, because southern army will be very strong thanks to Alex. That being said, make sure you have a strong army when you approach the Indian city (they will have A LOT of varus).

- Parsa should be yours on turn 23. If you are on turn 25 and didn't take Parsa yet you probably need to re-start. Try to move Alex next to Parsa when you take it, those 2 free immortals will be useful to help dealing with the varus at the end.

- Conquer Thebes early, but leave Memphis for later. It has a wonder so it'll heal your units when you are taking the last city states.



And that's it. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. If you want to see this done, I uploaded a 200 points deity victory here:

how do you accomplish the Resplendent Panoply achievement? hopilie is from athens. where the rest of the units from?

 

[DrCron]

how do you accomplish the Resplendent Panoply achievement? hopilie is from athens. where the rest of the units from?

From each capital (city states count as capitals), but Alexander needs to be adjacent to the capital in order to get them. I don't think it's possible to get this achievement and win the scenario on Deity. I would play it on the lowest difficulty to get this. Just make sure Alexander is adjacent to Parsa (capital of Persia), Memphis (capital of Egypt) and to each city state when you conquer them, and you'll get all of the units.

 

[civplay]

From each capital (city states count as capitals), but Alexander needs to be adjacent to the capital in order to get them. I don't think it's possible to get this achievement and win the scenario on Deity. I would play it on the lowest difficulty to get this. Just make sure Alexander is adjacent to Parsa (capital of Persia), Memphis (capital of Egypt) and to each city state when you conquer them, and you'll get all of the units.

thx bud! ok ill go through on low difficulty and then hit on deity. i like that the scenario is pretty fast

 

[civplay]

thx bud! ok ill go through on low difficulty and then hit on deity. i like that the scenario is pretty fast

well my first attempt was on prince. and i was able to get every unit except for the elephant I conquered 3 cities on turn 50 and just couldn't get alex down there in time. So i guess ill give it another shot at one less difficulty... if i had 3 more turns. that would have been cake... but oh well. dam that turn 33 sounds redic

 

[DrCron]

my first attempt was on prince. and i was able to get every unit except for the elephant

I think players who hunt specific achievements tend to do it on settler difficulty just to get them fast. It makes sense, you won't optimize your gameplay if you deviate from good strategy just to get the achievement.

 

[civplay]

tried it again on prince and got it done. It would have been really boring to do it on settler. Gotta have a little fun with it . But def don't think i could have gotten every unit on a higher difficulty

I think players who hunt specific achievements tend to do it on settler difficulty just to get them fast. It makes sense, you won't optimize your gameplay if you deviate from good strategy just to get the achievement.

 

[loljawn]

Overall this general strategy still works!

During my play through I did NOT need 200 pts on turn 36. I rushed a final settler on turn 37 (final turn) and settled my final city to get the achievement before sacking Cyra.

A few tips from my play through:

• You may need to restart once or twice to get the right Great General output (Speed > Strength) for this achievement.
• Focus on Hetairoi early and push the bulk of them North through Ray (again Speed)
• Alexander should be in position to take the following cities in order: Babylon, Hagmatana, Susa, Parsa, Isapahn, Pura, Zranka
• Hagmatana, Isapahan, Ray can act as a bottle neck, and hitting utilizing Alexander at Isapahan will help open the doors North. The South is wide open spaces, great for Hetairoi, who can make up lost time.
• After Zranka - Alexander should shift east to Patala. This should be taken in 2 turns, with the sacking of Memphis on the 2nd turn to replenish. You will need to time this such that you Hetairoi are across the river to get additional damage out.
• Northern army should have just taken Haraiva as Patala falls. Split Patala with (+10 strength) to go North to Taxila + Kabul, and Alexander and remnants going back West to reunite for Marakanda push.
• At this point combat should be trivial and it's a matter of purchasing settlers and spamming them. My advice is to buy them in large cities space - Memphis, Patala, Babylon - use that pop to your advantage!