Saladin 5: “Jihad!”

Article written by Socvazius
Published on 08-17-2000
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Scenario Objectives: Defeat Reynalds’ Pirates
Defeat Tiberias
Tyre
Ascalon

Civilizations: You(Saracen), Tiberias-Enemy(Persians), Hebron-Ally(Saracen), Ascalon-Enemy(Teutons), Tyre-Enemy(Byzantines), Tripoli Guards-Enemy(Franks)

Starting Units: 3 Villagers, 4 Fishing Ships

Starting Buildings: 2 Docks, 1 Market, 1 Mining Camp, 1 Town Center, 1 Mill, 1 Archery Range, 1 Barracks, 1 Stable, 1 Blacksmith, 12 Houses

Starting Resources: 400 Wood, 200 Food, 400 Gold, 200 Stone

Starting Age: Castle Age

Gaia Units: None

Style of Gameplay: Lay long seige to enemy cities

Heroes: None

Important Note: Remember, you only need to kill 2 of the cities. There is no need to attack all three, as it will only waste your resources.

Most Useful Units:

Mameluke: This is the most versatile unit in this scenario. You will be attacked by Battering Rams often, and you can attack them from behind your walls by the Mamelukes. Because their ranged attack counts as melee attack, they give the Battering Rams full damage. Because of their speed, they are even better suited for this job, as they can cover a larger area of a wall and run to trouble spots very quickly. Their + attack against Cavalry will allow them to also kill the large amount of Cataphracts that Tyre will send against you. (If you don’t have the expansion pack/patch, you should be weary of attacking Cataphracts when you aren’t behind walls. There is a bug in the game that causes Cataphracts to have a bonus attack against Mamelukes, as if they were infantry. This is because when the bonus was made, the Saracen Unique Unit was a Dervish, which was an infantry unit). To counter this, try to have a line of Heavy Camels/Camels in front of your Mamelukes when you are fighting a large battle. Mamelukes can also be used to use hit and run tactics against Ascalon’s heavy Teutonic Knights, because of their speed and ranged attack.

Heavy Camel/Camel: These units can be best used in acting as Heavy Cavalry units, as Saracens do not get any heavy cavalry units beyond Knights. Used against Archers, they should have a good kill/loss ratio, as they are fast and will have a “high” attack(with the proper blacksmith upgrades). They can also be used against Tiberias’ and Tyre’s heavy cavalry. Because they will be used as heavy cavalry, they can also be used to support seige units in demolishing buildings. Upgrading camels to heavy camels is very important, as it adds 20 hit points, 2 attack, and another +8 attack vs. cavalry units.

Cannon Galleon/Elite Cannon Galleon: During the siege of Tyre, it is very hard to mount a ground siege (Tyre is on an island), so you must attack them from the sea. Combining them with galleons will make it very easy to take the island city. Simply keeping them out of range of Tyre’s towers, while your galleons are guarding them, should lead to a quick and easy siege. Upgrading them to elite cannon galleons is not vital, but it can speed the siege up considerably.

Chapter 1: Defend against the 1st attacks

Although the 1st attack will be 13 minutes into the game, you need to build up an army, as there will be many attacks following the 1st one. Order your fishing ships to fish deep sea fish(do not fish shore fish, as they gather slower than deep sea fish). Train more villagers, and order them to gather resources. When you have enough stone, build a Castle on the Eastern corner of your city. In order for it to fit, destroy one of your houses. Train Camels, and research blacksmith technologies for cavalry. At 12 minutes, Ascalon will start to build a wonder. Even though the urge to destroy it immediately is strong, you must put it out of your mind. You can not afford to send an army to destroy the wonder right now, you will be attacked by the other 2 Crusader cities very soon. If you do send an army, most likely, it will be destroyed, and your city will have a weaker army. This will cause the falling of your city, and will result in you losing the scenario. Do not worry too much, as the wonder will only be built by 3 villagers, so it will take a long time for it to be completed. At 13 minutes, you will be attacked by a Tripoli Guard warring party, consisting of 4 knights, 6 crossbowmen, 2 mangonels, and 1 battering ram. If you correctly use your castle and Camels, the party should be killed very easily. Train more Camels and Mangudai, and advance to the Imperial Age. During the time that you are advancing to the Imperial Age, you should be attacked by Tyre’s cataphracts and bombard cannons, and Tiberias’ battering rams and cavalry units. Attack the bombard cannons with your camels, and attack the battering ram and cavalry units with your mamelukes, behind your walls. You will also be attacked by Tyre from the sea, so be sure to have a ready navy of war galleys/galleons and fire ships. Upgrade your camels to heavy camels, and increase mameluke and camel production. Soon, you will be attacked by Tiberias’ trebuchets, so when you are attacked, send heavy camels to destroy them.

Chapter 2: Destroy Ascalon’s wonder

Now that you have a standing army in your city, send a party consisting of 4-7 villagers, 4 camels, and 4 mamelukes, to just outside of the Southernmost point in Ascalon’s walls. You will be constantly attacked by Tyre and Tiberias, so keep rebuilding your army and defending. Research murder holes if you have not already. There is a hill there, and build a castle on the top of that hill. It is imperative that you do this, because any attacking units will be attacking uphill, and the castle will have a 25% chance of making 3x the normal damage that they give per arrow. This will give you a chance at keeping your land here. When the castle completed, there will be a starting wave of crossbowmen and cavaliers. Garrison your villagers and military units in the castle, and keep your camels and mamelukes garrisoned until you are attacked by cavaliers or other cavalry units. After the 1st wave of attackers, ungarrison your units, and build a stable. Train heavy camels, and build a trebuchet. When the trebuchet is completed, create a box formation around the siege engine, and order it to destroy the southernmost towers lined along the wall. Around this time, the wonder should be completed, if it hasn’t already. Break the southernmost section of the wall, and Ascalon troops will attack you. Pack your trebuchet, and move it behind your castle. Order your castle and military units to defend against Ascalon’s troops, and when they are gone, unpack your trebuchet and order it to destroy the 2 walls surrounding the wonder. when the walls are destroyed, order your troops and trebuchet to destroy the wonder. When the wonder is destroyed, you will have less of an urge to hurry, because there is not a time limit anymore.

Chapter 3: Finish Ascalon off

Because you already have weakened Ascalon, and you already have a “base” stationed outside of the city walls, the logical choice would be to destroy Ascalon. And that is what you will do. Replenish your army with new units, and order your trebuchet’s to start destroying the nearby towers. When the majority of the towers are razed, send your units on a “killing spree”, killing every unit they find. Destroy the remaining buildings and units, and look around the outside of the city for some stray units. If you find any, kill them. Ascalon will have a navy, so send 1/2 of your navy to destroy it. You mustn’t send your entire navy, because you still need to defend against the constant attacks by Tyre from the sea. Ascalon will have demolition ships, so keep your fire ships back behind your galleons during the start of your naval attack. When the enemy demolition ships are destroyed, move your fire ships to the front of your navy, and attack their war galleys/galleons and fire ships. When Ascalon’s navy is destroyed, Ascalon will be destroyed, and you will have destroyed 1 of the Crusader cities. Now you only need to destroy 1 more Crusader city.

Chapter 4: Lay siege to Tyre

Tiberias will be very well fortified, so the easiest Crusader city to destroy is Tyre. This is because you can lay siege to them via the sea, and the only units which can destroy your cannon galleon, can be countered by the units guarding your cannon galleon, which are galleons, heavy demolition ships, and fire ships. Research cannon galleon, galleon, heavy demolition ship, and careening, in that order. Build a navy of war galleys/galleons, heavy/demolition ships, fire ships, and cannon galleons(when the technology is researched), at your home city. It is best to have 4 docks, 1 to build each type of ship and its technology. Research careening at the fire ship dock. If you do not have enough wood to build 4 docks, that it alright, you will do fine. When your navy is built, send it West, where you will find a small island. On that island there will be 1 dock and 2 houses, owned by Tyre. Destroy the buildings with your cannon galleons, and move North toward the Crusader city of Tyre.

Surround your cannon galleons with your galleons, heavy demolition ships, and fire ships, and start destroying the outer towers, always keeping out of their range. Eventually, you will be attacked by Tyre’s navy, so when it happens, move 9/10 of your regular war ships(fire ships, galleons, and heavy demolition ships), and attack the navy. Attack the fire ships with your heavy demolition ships, the galleons/cannon galleons with your fire ships, and have the galleons to support your other two classes of ships. Keep moving around the island, demolishing the towers. When you have completed razing the outer towers, destroy the other buildings on the edge of the island. After that it completed, have your galleons kill the units on the island within your range. When you have destroyed the majority of Tyre’s units and buildings within your ships’ range, break down part of the island’s wall. When it is destroyed, board 1/2 of your army garrisoned in your home city onto transport ships. Because of the Saracen bonus, transport ships carry 2x the units than other civilization’s transport ships. Also, you have researched careening, which gives your transport ships even more unit capacity. This means you will only need a few transport ships to carry your army. Bring your transports to the gap in the island wall, and ungarrison your troops onto the island.
Your troops will have it relatively easy in taking the city, because your war ships have done most of the work during the siege. Kill the villagers first, and cataphracts will attack you. Your camels and mamelukes will kill them easily, as they both have an attack bonus vs. them. Destroy their town center, and if there is a castle, avoid it until you have destroyed the majority of the city. Destroy military units first, and them raze military buildings. Move on to destroying houses and economy buildings. Then, and only then, you should destroy the castle(if it exists). If your army isn’t large enough, transport a trebuchet to the island, raze the castle. If your army is large enough, charge it with all of your troops, and fight until it is demolished. When that castle is destroyed, and you haven’t won, scan the seas to find any stray warships. If you find any, destroy them. When that is completed, you will have won the scenario.