The Rise of Rome Campaign

This is the first expansion campaign, and in it you will guide the Romans from an obscure satellite of other powers to an autonomous state of its own. The Rise of Rome campaign has six scenarios; all of them are quite difficult. Be wary of the first two scenarios; they are much harder than you would otherwise assume for beginning missions.

Scenario One: The Birth of Rome

Objective: Build a sentry tower next to each flag.

Strategy: This first scenario is tough even for seasoned Age of Empire players. You are up against six enemy civilizations, although only three will put up credible attacks. Your starting forces are four short-swordsmen and three bowmen. Split them immediately into two groups and assign one group to guard the granary to the northwest of your town and the other group to the storage pit to the far southeast.

	Expect a cavalry rush early in the game; build towers appropriately.

You will need to make foraging and stone mining a priority because within ten or 15 minutes, the repeated encroachments you get from scouts, axemen, and bowmen will turn to more deadly cavalry attacks in the middle of your town. Therefore, keep your two groups at their respective locations, defending against the scouts that will attack from the north and the bowmen and axemen that will attack from the southeast. For the cavalry attacks through the middle of your town (east, where your houses are), you must assign two villagers to build sentry towers as soon as you have enough stone. Of course, if need be, pull your troops to the middle to support the towers if you don't have enough to thwart the cavalry rush.

In addition to those towers you build next to the flags, erect two or three more near your houses and town center. While you might be tempted to build walls, don't - you need that valuable stone for extra towers. If you can hold off that initial cavalry rush, start planting more towers and start building infantry and slingers to shore up your defenses. You will soon run out of stone, but on the cliff to the north of your town there will be another quarry.

Once you have placed towers near all the flags in your town's vicinity, start building up a force of swordsmen and bowmen and move lay down towers at the two remaining flags to the far east. By this time, you won't face much resistance. A good mix of ten bowmen and infantry should provide adequate cover while you build your towers. Make sure to double or triple up your building efforts when erecting all your towers, because speed is of the essence.

Reminders: You'll get attacked early, so get towers up right away near your town. Worry about building towers next to each flag after you have enough at your home base for defense. Keep several close to your houses and town center, because that is what the cavalry will attack. There are four flags in the north, four in the east/northeast, one in the southeast, and two more in the far east.

Next, Scenario Two: Pyrrhus of Epirus