Start to finish: 'We have our forces and our weapons' (3) in Citadelum

Holy moly, there are a lot of enemies on this map. You don't have to fight them all, but fighting is definitely required on this map!

Story

Inchtuthil, 83 AD. Agricola needs a shelter for his troops to rest during the winter. Build a camp for Legio XX Valeria Victrix at Inchtuthil, on a plateau north of the River Tay. The name given to it by the Romans is Pinnata Castra.    

Objectives

• Free 6 cities
• Buy 1000 Iron ore using a trade route
• Send 50.000 Denarii to Rome
• Buy 1000 Spices using a trade route

In short

• Difficulty: Hard
• Region map: Big
• Trading routes: 12
• Initial resources:
  • 10.000 Denarii
  • 650 wood
  • 650 stone
• Enemy presence: 18 armies
• Fighting required: Yes (you'll have to defeat all of them)

Walkthrough

This map has several challenges which you will need to overcome.

Fertile ground is scarce and the fertile areas you have access to, are riddled with rocks. 

The terrain is rocky anyway, which impacts the amount of free space you have. If you are used to building massive cities on open plains, this level will need some adjusting. 

You only have 650 wood and 650 stone as starting resources, which isn't a whole lot. You will need to be really careful with your build order!

There are no iron deposits in your region, meaning you will have to rely on trade to produce weapons. 

An army of 50 soldiers is visible and close to your position at the start of the game.

The main take away of all this is that you should take it slow. 

Start by building a market, 4 Plebeian housing and a reservoir. Protect them with a fire station and engineers' post. Start a basic supply chain with a logging camp and a stone quarry and a wheat farm. For now, that's it.

As soon as you reach Prestige Level 2, build a melon and cabbage farm, a market and tax office and as many Patrician housing as you can. You'll probably need 1 more Plebeian house to get enough workforce.

Bring the total Plebeian housing up to 8, so you can progress to Prestige Level 3. Once you have enough stone and wood, bring the total of Patrician housing up to 8 as well. Assuming you will have reached PL3 by now, fill the hole in the middle with Garden decoration so the housing level will upgrade. By placing 2 more gardens around the Plebeian housing estate, you can upgrade another 2 residences which will even allow PL4 to be unlocked (60 Plebeians needed).

At day 4, you can have a small city ready for expansion.

Build a stonecutter and sawmill, then build a fishing dock, fishmonger and bakery. When possible, invest in some Baths, replace some decorations in the Patrician and Plebeian estates to allow them to upgrade to housing level 3. This will secure more income and more workforce.

By now, you will have set up a decent economy. Keep expanding until you have replenished all off your stockpiles and treasury, so you can start moving your attention to the region map. 

Exploring the map

With finances being a bit of an issue and the lack of iron deposits in your region, you will need to have some trading partners. 

On the map, discover Easter Powside first. It is a city close to yours. Just go south > south > east. They will buy 300 stone at 3 Denarii a piece, giving you a daily income of 900 Denarii. Easter Powside will also sell Iron ore. Start the trade route to meet the first objective ✅ - and be able to manufacture weapons. 

On the second south you will even discover an artifact. Note: discovering the city will count as freeing the city. Citizens will be so happy, a small army of 10 cavalry will join your forces.

From your city, go east > east > south to discover (and free) Bertha. Here, 15 archers will join your ranks. Bertha will buy wheat from you for a total of 1000 Denarii per day. Pretty neat if you have the production. They will also sell you Ceramics, which you can sell to Easter Powside for a profit. 

This is as far as you can explore without running into serious trouble. To the north of your own region, you will find a small army of 25 infantry and 10 archers. North-east of Bertha you'll run into a mix of 84 soldiers. North > north > north-east of Bertha are 65 soldiers, mainly infantry. And 4 times east from your own region you will find 175 enemy soldiers waiting for you, mainly infantry.

After some exploration in mission 3, you will find some enemies ready to defend their homes against your legions.

North of the original army of 50 you'll find Cargill. Another city to free, another 20 infantry who will join your cause. 

North of Cargill is Praesidium. Also held hostage by a smaller army, it will be the 4th city you will free. They will buy Wooden planks and onions, if you're short on cash. If you are not and are waiting for enough stock to train an army, buying armour and swords is an option here. 

From your own city, go north > north-east > north > north-east to find region number 5: Eassie. You will have to defeat the army protecting it, which is fairly easy. They will buy Stone bricks and Papyrus, but you probably haven't discovered a city selling Papyrus yet.

From Praesidium, go north > east > east > east > north > east. You will free Lintrose village, which is the 6th city you have freed. ✅

Wrapping up

After you have freed the 6 cities, 2 objectives remain. Buying 1000 spices requires 4 full days, as Cargill sells them at 250 pieces a day. Set up the trade route and just wait. ✅

The last objective should be a small thing to reach. 50.000 Denarii seems like an impossible amount at the start of this mission. But once you have 16 Patrician housing bringing in tax, it's really simple. Wait until you have 50.000 Denarii in your treasury and hit that 'Send to Rome' button to complete the mission ✅.

Ave Caesar!

Continuing after victory

As opposed to the last mission, We have our forces and our weapons offers enough opportunity to keep on playing.

• From Lintrose Village, keep going west on the north side of the river. You will eventually run into an army of 158 with a decent mix of infantry, archers and a little cavalry. They're protecting a city which you can free, if you feel up to the challenge of battling.
• East of Lintrose Village and Bertha, there are passes through the mountains. Underneath the fog, you can see a whole stretch of land available to discover.
• But first: get rid of the remaining 4 armies on this side of the fray. They cause annoying raids, which are a pain in the backside. 3 of them are of a smaller size (69 to the west, 65 south of Lintrose Village and 84 north of Bertha. But, the pass itself is guarded by an army of 175, mainly infantry. 

After sending 50.000 Denarii to Rome, your map of the mission 'We have our forces and our weapons' could look like this.