Episode 1: Weapons are the most profitable early export, so the trade routes to Athens and Thermopylai start the ball rolling. The first housing block is about enough for that. I start a second to provide extra labour because I don't want to complete the episode just yet. Sculpture industry begins, so trade routes to Corinth and Phoenicia are necessary. When I have 25000 Dr in the bank I decide enough is enough and release the accumulated fleece onto housing block one.

Episode 2: Sanctuary #1, to Hephaestus, starts the ball rolling. With the man blessing armories and sculpture studios the cash really starts to pile up. Talos helps me to defeat the first couple of invasions from Olympia. Keep the enemy occupied with some rabble while the bronze menace slaughters them. If the enemy get past him, Talos is too slow to catch up.

Sanctuary #2 (Ares, naturally) follows swiftly thereafter. The soldiers come in very handy indeed. Olympia's invasion is dispatched with some more help from the bronze menace.

Since I have a bucketload of cash, I lay out the skeleton for my two elite blocks (to support 24 estates), add all the necessary culture buildings, and add a few farms. Surplus unemployment from the second housing block handles this. All housing is now at Homestead level.

Dionysus is hammered out of town by Hephaestus a couple of times. Finally, I send Ares and the boys out to whip Olympia into shape. Episode ends, 125000 Dr in the bank

Episode 3: Elite housing, elite housing and more elite housing is the order of the day. But first, I need some oil. Olympia furnishes the necessary olives, supplemented initially by imported oil. When all 24 elite houses are in place, I use imported wine and home-grown horses to develop half of them up to estate level.

I have the money to buy off Sardis' invasions, so I do. They are really getting on my nerves, so I send a big army off to help Corinth fight them. We lose, but their defences are severely weakened, so they don't withstand the next (rather larger) assault. And, of course, it's me, not Corinth, who receive the tribute In the meantime, I slap in a sanctuary to Apollo to keep myself busy, and to ensure a ready supply of monuments from the games. In retrospect, the sanctuary to Artemis would have been more helpful, but I wasn't to know there are no monsters lurking in Sparta

I steal a few grapes from Delos, then flatten them with an onslaught that hardly loses a soldier. By this time I have nearly 12 full companies of horse. Eretria don't last very long either. Amphipolis didn't stand a chance. I replace my few losses, add a third townhouse block in preparation for another sanctuary in episode 5, and decide I ought to dispatch that wheat really. Episode ends, c. 380000 Dr in the bank.

Episode 4: Ithaca I have one word to describe this episode: evil! Without the enormous pile of cash I had accumulated previously this would have been a much more troublesome proposition. I squeeze in one of my standard blocks near the entry point, and start gathering urchins. Scylla shows up immediately, so I plonk down Odysseus' Hall. 8 Elite housing? I won't be getting those too quickly, so I undo the hall and start work on monster management plan (b): otherwise known as the Oracle of Apollo In the meantime, Scylla makes a nuisance of himself by destroying the odd urchin quay, but spends most of his time swimming aimlessly around the middle of the map.

For reasons best known only to me, I decide it is a great idea to place the Oracle of Apollo on the northernmost island, so it takes a bit longer than was strictly necessary to build, but soon enough the man with the golden bow is making mincemeat of poor old Scylla

I immediately start work on Ares' fortress, and simultaneously start my elite block. With my first block at townhouse supplying not quite enough labour, I add a second, smaller block on the southernmost sizeable island. When fully developed this allows me enough labour to fully staff my two triremes.

About this point Cyclops shows up on an island not connected to the rest of my city, which is unfortunate: for him. Apollo puts in a brief appearance and the one-eyed wonder is back where he belongs: six feet under.

I develop my Elite block until I have 3 companies of Hoplites and 1 of cavalry. I would have developed it further but I'm feeling bored. This army, together with my navy, the boys in black (Sparti), and the Martial Master (Ares to his friends) make a very nasty mess of Delos indeed. Thank goodness that's over! I crawl back to Sparta some 20000 Dr poorer.

Episode 5 I played this episode twice, the first attempt being somewhat shorter than the second.

a) I arrive in Sparta and check my goals:

Rule Amphipolis: Done
Rule Eretria: Done
Rule Delos: Done
50 People in Estate or better: 480 should do it!
Rule Athens: Better sort that out then.

I dispatch my 12 companies of cavalry and Ares boys... three months later: I win!

b) Having decided that plan (a) in a bit dull, I decide to build my Sanctuary to Artemis at long last. I have to wait for some tribute, so I send the lads out to conquer Marathon. While they are away Athens attack: bribe time. What's a few thousand Dr when you're turning over 50000 or so a year! They return with only a few losses. The sanctuary starts to appear, with tributed marble supplemented by a few imports. Weapons exports are now back online

I am surprised to see that I am hosting the games this year, and even more surprised to win them again That's the first time I've managed to win my home games. Sadly, four years down the line, I only manage to come second.

About this time Athens conquers Eretria, which is presumably a scripted event, since they didn't request any defensive aid. I decide that perhaps I ought to conquer them back, but before I can send the boys away, Athens attack again, this time at Ithaca and Corinth simultaneously. I am stretched a little thin defending both of them, but the light side prevails I ignore a message about Athens' weakness because I feel like a spot more kicking of backside.

Eretria is conquered soon hereafter. Irritated, Athena pays a brief visit, flattening my palace and Horse Ranches, not to mention Ares and Apollo. Having rebuilt the necessary buildings, I am about to conquer Sardis when Athens attack: me this time. I decide to show them who is boss, so flatten their invasion.

When my army has recovered, I head out to conquer Sardis (again!). I send a couple of soldiers to help Corinth fail to conquer Athens. The boys return from Sardis (victorious naturally). Around this time, Athena shows up again, a carbon-copy attack

I rebuild the army, defend Corinth again, and when Athens decide to attack six months hence, I notice that Ares is finally 'willing to help' again The proverbial kitchen sink (consisting of 12 companies of horse, Ares' Sparti, Artemis' Amazons, and Ares himself) is hurled in the direction of Athens. I get there before they reach me! Episode over, 6 years in, with my balance at just over half a million Dr.

Alan

[This message has been edited by Caesar Alan (edited 11-15-2000).]

I can't agree more. Ithaca, as I've come to call it, is a hellhole.

That said, I allowed Odysseus to actually handle both Scylla and old One Eye (Eventually). I never did find a decent place to throw down a good elite housing block, but sort of built small pockets of elite housing (with access to only 3 culture venues) to fulfill the requirements for Odysseus. I built an Ares temple for helping me deal with Delos (Wasn't aware how difficult they might be).

In retrospect, I probabably built my main worker housing block in the wrong spot (*WAY* around by the quarry). If I play the scenario again, I'll probably stake that out for the elite housing (and even distribute armor to them this time).

I found that scattering Urchin Quays and Fisheries wherever there was a 'flat' spot on the coast kept Scylla pretty busy swimming around and taking them out and I never ran into a food problem.

By the end of the scenario, I was actually turning a profit with Marble exports and went back to Sparta with more money than I left with. Luckily I had built both Aretmis and Ares temples in Episode 3, thus had way more than enough military might to quickly deal with all the military requirements in that last episode.

Don't worry, Taras is evil too

RSC