Peloponnesian War - Titans Tournament Edition

Peloponnesian War - Titans Tournament Edition
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           Ambition Designs Presents
           A Mythos Studios Creation
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SPOTLIGHT: The Peloponnesian War started in 460 BCE and lasted until the fall of Athens in 404 BCE. No other war in Greek history until that time had been so destructive and so divisive. The first Peloponnesian War (460-445) was instigated by the Corinthians against Athens, but soon embroiled all of Greece. This conflict was fought to a standstill due to Sparta's dominance on land, and Athens' supremacy at sea. The resulting treaty, or 'Thirty Years Peace,' was short-lived. In the Archidamian War, the Athenian Empire lost some territory to Sparta and her allies, but fighting again came to a stalemate, which culminated in the 'Peace of Nicias.' Again, this was not meant to last. The Athenians invaded Syracuse, Sicily, in 415 BCE, but were utterly crushed. Sparta's army again invaded Athenian territory and, with Persian help, built a fleet big enough to challenge Athens. Athens won many battles, both on land and at sea, but after the failed invasion of Syracuse, Athens could not control its empire. After the disasterous defeat of the Athenian navy by the hands of the Spartans and her allies, Athens could do nothing but starve. Sparta, victorious, tore down Athens' once mighty walls and installed a pro-Spartan council of nobles (oligarchs)to govern the city.

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PLAYERS: 6, Teams of 2 or 3, Free For All (FFA), or DIPLOMACY STYLE (recommended)

CIVILIZATIONS: Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades (Greeks are HIGHLY recommended as most bonuses can only effect Greek units)

MAP TYPE: Real World, Conquest, Land and Naval Warfare

MAP SIZE: 860K - 930x930 meters

INSTALLATION: Unzip the .scx file to the \scenario folder of your Age of Mythology directory -   C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Age of Mythology\Scenario or My Documents\My Games\Age of Mythology\Scenario

SHORT DESCRIPTION: The most accurate ancient Greece map available. Fight the titanic Peloponnesian War as one of 6 ancient Greek city-states, each with its own unique bonuses and abilities!

CITY ATTRIBUTES:
1.) Athens - Very strong Walls. Excellent Triremes. Starts with a free Naval Shipyard.
2.) Sparta - Hoplite pierce armor increased substantially. Free copper armory upgrades. Barracks HPs increased. Barracks pop bonus. Starts with a free Barracks.
3.) Thessaly - Significant Farming and Husbandry bonuses. Cavalry attack and speed increased. Starts with a free Stable.
4.) Thebes - Significant Fortress and Siege bonuses. Peltast bonus vs. Infantry. Starts with a free Fortress.
5.) Elis - Granted favor every minute by Zeus. Very strong heroes and Myth Units. Starts with Free Towers.
6.) Corinth - Free storehouse and market upgrades. Archer range increased greatly. Archery Range pop bonus. Starts with a free Archery Range.

CITY SPECIAL ABILITES:
Players each have a special building where they can gain extra units or bonuses
1.) Athens - Bring a Fishing Ship to your Naval Shipyard to change it to a Trireme.
2.) Sparta - Bring a Villager to your Arsenal to arm him as a Militia Unit.
3.) Thessaly - Bring a Villger to your Golden Stable to arm him as a Cavalry Scout.
4.) Thebes - Bring a Villager to your Siege Workshop to build a Cheiroballista.
5.) Elis - Bring a Villager to your Altar to be granted a Relic.
6.) Corinth - Bring a Toxote to your Shrine to Archery to demobilize him to a Villager.

GLOBAL ATTRIBUTES:
1.) All 6 players are RANDOMIZED between the 6 available city-states at the start of the game!
2.) CUSTOM RELICS based on ancient Greek history! Exemples include: 'The Armor of Leonidas'; 'The Courage of Brasidas'; 'Long Walls'; 'Alliance with Corcyra'; and more!
3.) Each Settlement is named after a real ancient Greek city-state! Add cities such as Megara, Eretria, Chalcis, Tegea, Nemea, Delphi, Olympia to your expanding empire! 
4.) Research Rate multiplied by a factor of 25. No waiting for that tech to reach 100%!
5.) All walls and buildings have greater HPs.
6.) Cavalry speed increased across the board.
7.) Population cost for Hoplites reduced by 1 (except for Sparta).
8.) Population cost for Triremes reduced by 1.
9.) Range for Juggernauts increased considerably, but Population Cost increased +1.
10.) Town Centers near 10,000 Hit Points(HPs).
11.) Town Centers grant more population cap.
12.) Towers have more Line of Site (LOS).
13.) TITANS DISABLED.
14.) HOUSES DISABLED.
15.) EARTHQUAKE ZONES... watch out!
16.) Myth Units stats have been beefed up CONSIDERABLY, making them faster and stronger. Cost has been increased and train time increased. Also, there are now train limits (caps) to each Myth Unit. For instance you can only have 3 Medusas (Gorgons) at one time and only one Minotaur.
17.) Heroes have an additional bonus versus Myth Units for balance purposes.
18.) Myrmiddons can now counter Archers!
19.) Hetairoi now counter Infantry! 
20.) Gastrophetes cost increased slightly.
21.) Siege Engines are now much more powerful, but each player can only build a limited number of them (Thebes more than the others).
22.) Herdable animals are guarded by their owners. You will have to fight for your food!
23.) Sea Monsters are even more FIERCE and DEADLY!
24.) Historical factoids inform the player of the real-life Greek history behind the Peloponnesian War.
25.) The Gods occasionally intervene when you SLAY a beast!
26.) All players start the game with their own GENERALS ('Strategos' in Greek)!
27.) Destroy a Persian TENT to find Persian GOLD inside!
28.) Discover an Ambrosian Spring!
29.) Players start with a BONUS building that hints at their city's primary focus in battle.
30.) Toxotes range increased GREATLY.
31.) Hypaspists beefed up vs. Infantry.
32.) Terrain Elevation tweaked to help reduce the minimal lag from previous versions.
33.) All players may now read what their city's bonuses are.
34.) In-Game help by typing 'CITY HELP' in the chat window.
35.) Added a brief historical overview of the Peloponnesian War in the 'Spotlight' section of the Objectives.
36.) Increased cost of Farms to encourage herding at the beginning.
37.) Plenty Vault cast at Olympia and Delos.
38.) Healing Spring cast at Delphi.

GAMEPLAY HINTS:
1.) Since houses are disabled, Population Cap is determined solely by the number of TCs under a player's control. So conquering and holding territory (settlements) is crucial to the outcome of this war.
2.) There are 5-6 TCs available per player. Grab as many TCs as possible to gain an edge.
3.) TCs are also important because most of the available gold on mainland Greece is situated at or near unclaimed sttlements.
4.) The islands surrounding Greece are rich with RELICS, SETTLEMENTS, and GOLD.
5.) The waters surrounding Greece are also rich in FISH. Control of the sea could become very important as all the mainland TCs, gold mines, and food sources are claimed by other players.
6.) Due to the relative scarcity of gold, alliances and Trade Routes could be a very crucial factor to the outcome of the game!

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CREDITS:
Thanks to CheeZy [aka CheeZy_Monkey] for applying his file size saving techniques (the original map size with no triggers was over 1MB!).
Thanks to nifty_PS2MAN and ElfTheHunter for assisting in balancing discussions and feature suggestions; Villi for trigger help; and Tahattus 2 for suggesting the Sparta Arsenal/Militia conversion idea, which ultimately culminated with the 'special abilities' idea.

Thanks to the members of AMBITION DESIGNS for the playtesting of various builds of my map.

Lastly, thanks to all the fans (and fanatics) of my work for their encouragement and their willingness to put up with long download times to play this gigantic map over ESO.

Any questions, comments, or bugs, e-mail me at:

Mythgamer AT aol DOT com (also my MSN Messenger account)
or
michael AT wildfiregames DOT com

PS: I highly encourage everyone to download and install this HOPLITE mod pack for The Titans by my friend Centurion_13: http://aom.heavengames.com/downloads/showfile.php?fileid=3813
The mod is extremely good and updates the hoplite textures and shields in the game to be more historically accurate. A MUST for any ancient Greek history buff!

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                Michael D. Hafer
                  Mythos_Ruler