Damascus Walkthrough

by Angel Reckless Rodent

Consul – Damascus

This is a pretty tough level to win – not because of the invasions (the Egyptians aren’t really too hard), but because of the prosperity needed to get through.

Objectives

Population 6000, Culture 55, Prosperity 55, Peace 50, Favour 40

Caesar Requests

  • 53AD – 10 Weapons in 36 Months
  • 56AD – 10 Weapons in 24 Months
  • 59AD – 10 Wine in 36 Months
  • 62AD – 10 Wine in 24 Months
  • 65AD – 15 Weapons in 24 Months
  • 68AD – 15 Wine in 24 Months
  • 73AD – 15 Wine in 24 Months
  • 78AD – 15 Weapons in 24 Months

Invasions

  • 54AD – 8 Egyptians and 2 Camels from NE
  • 55AD – 12 Egyptians and 4 Camels from SE
  • 57AD – 32 Natives from NE
  • 59AD – c.45 Egyptians and 10 Camels from SE
  • 61AD – c.50 Natives from SE
  • 64AD – c.60 Egyptians and 14 Camels from SE
  • 67AD – c.50 Natives from ESE
  • 70AD – c.30 Natives from NE
  • 70AD – c.30 Natives from ESE
  • 75AD – c.50 Natives from SE
  • 80AD – Egyptians and Camels from SE

Initial Funds

6000dn

First Loan

3000dn

Price Changes

  • 62AD – Clay up 15dn
  • 62AD – Pottery up 40dn
  • 68AD – Wheat up 8dn

Storms

No

Landslides

No

Another desert level, so take the necessary precautions. Also, make sure that you build plenty of doctors and hospitals, since there are rats in the water supply and the health of your citizens suffers as a result. Also, your iron mines cave in periodically, something which you can’t do anything about – you just have to accept it, work around it, and re-build them when they fall down.

The prosperity is tough here – you need to import pottery and clay, something which is really sapping on the resources front. Therefore, be ready to use lots of your personal funds accrued in Lutetia to prop your regime in Damascus up. You simply have to get some of your housing up to villa or palace status if you want to get the prosperity rating needed to move on. Try to spread pottery and furniture production throughout the city or you’ll find that some of your housing simply doesn’t want to upgrade (that’s what happened to me).

The native attacks are difficult to deal with here, because you need your armies over the other side of the city to defeat the Egyptians, and the natives move very quickly and en masse – it’s not unusual to see a couple breaking through a very thick defensive line of legionaries, javelins and cavalry. In Damascus, that’s something you just have to learn to live with, however annoying it may be to see a couple of locals bashing your city in from time to time.

You shouldn’t need to expand beyond the farming area in the NW – that’s by far the safest area, and easier to defend than anywhere else. You can always import wheat if your people start starving. As before, grow a range of foodstuffs so that your housing can evolve.

When you’ve beaten Damascus, you’ll find yourself propping Caesar’s regime up in the Balkans, in Sarmizegetusa.