First Campaign (Gondor)

**Spec1357** · May 21, 2009, 12:33 AM

First of all I want to say hello to everyone and introduce myself to the forum.

Second.
I started the campaign with Gondor and in need of advice badly. I'm into my 61 turns and not getting anywhere. All I been doing for the last 61 turns was capturing and recapturing Cair Andros and the Osgiliath with Mordor. Now I'm seeing a Nagul unit hovering around the area. And I just lost my southern cities to the Haradrim. Anyone have any advice?

**Fulgrim88** · May 21, 2009, 01:31 AM

Well, i don't want to disappoint you, but if its turn 61 and you're still fighting to keep your ground, i'd suggest to start a new campaign. The Evil Guys will keep getting stronger and simply bleed you out. Gondor is a pretty hard faction to play

The Key to success is playing offensive right from the start. Dont waste much money on buildings, but assemble all your troops (even those few garrison units from the west) and send them east to capture Osgiliath, Cair Andros and Barad Harn (the Coastal City northwest of Harad). Defend those three untill you can afford a decent army. Send it over the Anduin, fight a few Battles with Mordor to break the constant siege of Osgiliath and lay siege to Minas Morgul. This allows you to take Ithilien and focus on Harad, while Mordor is pretty much trapped (they can still go through the black gate though, but marching through Dagorlad takes hell of a time. Place a Tower in North Ithilien and you'll see them long before they reach you.

Now crush Harad (Coastal Settlements first, to break their income). If possible you can try to take the Western Settlements of Mordor too, to cut their income as well, but DONT attack Barad Dur yet. Its Garrison scripted and spawns hell.
Around turn 50 Mordor gets Trolls and Olog Hai and becomes much stronger and harder to keep at bay, so you should have worked out an advantage in income and position (Minas Morgul at least) by that time.
Now go for Elite Armys with Siege to fight trolls and finally crush mordor.

**cvo99** · May 21, 2009, 01:33 AM

i like to play d purposely to allow the ai to become stronger, that way they can pose as a challenge later on. But if i sense i'm really in trouble, then that's when i go on offense.

**Fulgrim88** · May 21, 2009, 01:37 AM

Well, in case of Gondor, AI is a threat right from the start. And theres definetely a point where they will crush you, if you give them too much time. Having Olog-Hai Mordor or even Mumakhil Harad with twice your income and youre done, no matter what

**Shadow wolf** · May 21, 2009, 02:00 AM

Originally Posted by Fulgrim88

Now crush Harad (Coastal Settlements first, to break their income).

AI has money scrip also. So they don't have financial problems. But taking coastal settlements will increase your income. Otherwise with your advice Mordor and Harad won't last long.

**Fulgrim88** · May 21, 2009, 02:09 AM

Originally Posted by Shadow wolf

AI has money scrip also. So they don't have financial problems. But taking coastal settlements will increase your income. Otherwise with your advice Mordor and Harad won't last long.

Thought they turned that script off? As Mordor and Harad really didn't put up much of a fight after that

**Shadow wolf** · May 21, 2009, 02:26 AM

Originally Posted by Fulgrim88

Thought they turned that script off? As Mordor and Harad really didn't put up much of a fight after that

Oh really? My bad.

**Chudomix** · May 21, 2009, 01:46 AM

If money is your problem, maybe do raid attacks against Harad? Load a ship with a good army and start terrorising Harad's coastal cities. Get in, sack, demolish, run away. Not very "noble son of Numenor" tactic but it helps me.

Only problem that can happen is that you hit a garnison script on one of their cities.

**Elendil232** · May 21, 2009, 01:59 AM

mordor is your biggest challenge, keep a watch tower by the land crossing at the end of the anduin river (river that goes between the osgiliath's and by cair androse) to keep an eye on harad, militia will do fine against their light armor for awhile at least until you get mordor where you want them, send you best and brightest against mordor, dont waste the heavy armored men against harad untill you have too, go with this and you should be ok, though i pearsonally find a long genocidel war with mordor and harad to be enjoyable lol, but keep watch towers where you can to make sure you see them coming and counter with what you can, dont be afraid to sacrifice the eastern shore of osgliliath if need be. thats my stratagy anyway, works well for me.

**Daergar** · May 21, 2009, 03:02 AM

It's not off, but I think it only triggers on core lands (which is the way it might have worked before as well) and spawns less of hell and more of mediocre nastiness, ie not insane amounts of trolls or whatnot. For instance, the Black Gate spawned pure orc and uruks and not a single troll when I sieged it.

**Fulgrim88** · May 21, 2009, 03:21 AM

Originally Posted by Daergar

It's not off, but I think it only triggers on core lands (which is the way it might have worked before as well) and spawns less of hell and more of mediocre nastiness, ie not insane amounts of trolls or whatnot. For instance, the Black Gate spawned pure orc and uruks and not a single troll when I sieged it.

You're talking about the garrison script here if i get it right. Different thing

**Ahlerich** · May 21, 2009, 03:10 AM

Originally Posted by Spec1357

First of all I want to say hello to everyone and introduce myself to the forum.

Second.
I started the campaign with Gondor and in need of advice badly. I'm into my 61 turns and not getting anywhere. All I been doing for the last 61 turns was capturing and recapturing Cair Andros and the Osgiliath with Mordor. Now I'm seeing a Nagul unit hovering around the area. And I just lost my southern cities to the Haradrim. Anyone have any advice?

with gondor you picked one of the hardest faction to start. exactly that is fun though, i am currently on a gondor campaign also. i didnt give the ai time to expand and build up though. you know why? coz i am scared

turn 61 and struggeling? there is something far worse then orcs out there friend and it will be coming to you.

if you are low on cash now better try to take some ground in harad. trolls will be coming for you. trolls whill anihilate your armies. you need money to keep raising troops to send into mordors meatgrinding machine.

you will have to fight for survival soon but that can be fun. i wouldnt quit the campaign even though all hope might be lost. i would fight for every inch of gondorian land even though you might be doomed. but thats just me. i am jörmän.

and thats what we do.

**Spec1357** · May 21, 2009, 03:27 AM

Thank for the advice. My first thought was to do a early assault on Mordor as well but I decided to bulk up my army and now it turn into a border raid. But yes fought off my first troll encounter awhile ago. The single troll unit plow through my heavy infantry like it was nothing. Lucky for me I had cavalries to support. Guess I"ll start over and see how I do.

**2-D Ron** · May 21, 2009, 04:15 AM

I understand the Difficulty Spec; Took me till my 3rd try before I understood how to get round the Uber Forces to the East.
I managed to eliminate Isengard, Mordor and Harad, you simply have to adopt an aggressive battle tactic like Fulgrim88.

- Don't waste what money you have on buildings, delete soldies in far region areas as they are draining money and your attack needs to be swift before Mordor can muster a stack to take Cair Andros.

- Don't sit about cause as soon as Mordor Unlocks the Cave Trolls, you're in for a real fight on your hands and money will become thin.

- You will find hardest fought is the Coastel Town of Linhur as Harad can cross from Barad Harn so build an army here.

- Take Cair Andros then West then East Osgiliath straight away, build a Medium sized army for Cair Andros Compossing of some Archers and Ground troops, I like to disrupt invaders that are using Ladders and Siege Towers with Cavalry, so their main force attacks the Gate and you can shower them with hot oil, eventually the Hot Oil will kill enough of them to change the battle in your favour.

- Main Force guards East Osgiliath.

- Once these 3 Cities are secure, use what money you have for building Garrisons, so you'll have a stronger Army.
Also, if you can spare the funds try and build some markets, roads ports, this will build up a gradual income to hire more troops.

- Take Barad Harn.

- Also if after taking Barad Harn you can spare more troops, take the Rebel Settlement to the West of Gondor, this should free up some much needed cash.. If you can take it, try and rebuild force and push North, helping Rohan with Isengard; You'll be helping yourself in the Long Run.

- Finally, Build a Mid-Szed Army, place on your Ships and start raiding Harads Coastel Regions, Umber is a spawn region so be careful., but once you've taken all their Coastel regions, you will have the money needed to push east.
The plan is to attack Mordor not just from Osgiliath but from Khand to the East of Mordor attacking them on 2 fronts.

The above worked for me.

**jản** · May 21, 2009, 05:28 AM

///

The Key to success is playing offensive right from the start. Dont waste much money on buildings, but assemble all your troops

Don't waste what money you have on buildings

oh my gosh. this sounds like really lot of a fun-way to play TATW. no
building - just fighting with some militia to prevent the enemy from
building nice units like advanced infantry or trolls.

a tipp to the devs - delete all non-military building types and make
the kings purse to 70.000 a turn and of course make all settlements
have the final developed barracks, stables and archery ranges. this
would be much more fun to play this game.

BUT

thanks and +rep to Ahlerich who the only really usefull sentence here:

Originally Posted by Ahlerich

i wouldnt quit the campaign even though all hope might be lost.
i would fight for every inch of gondorian land even though you might be doomed.

guys, that's ridiculous - think about the way this game was meant to be played.
"do not spend money on buildings!" - - - are you kiddin?

///

**Fulgrim88** · May 25, 2009, 02:26 AM

Originally Posted by jản

guys, that's ridiculous - think about the way this game was meant to be played.
"do not spend money on buildings!" - - - are you kiddin?

I was talking about the early game, where it's simply stupid as gondorian player to spend all your money for fairgrounds and taverns, while there are Orcs knocking at your door. Even Lorewise, no Steward with a clear mind would do it.
Once your borders are secure you can (and need to) build something of course

Thought it was obvious...

**Ahlerich** · May 25, 2009, 03:05 AM

Originally Posted by Fulgrim88

I was talking about the early game, where it's simply stupid as gondorian player to spend all your money for fairgrounds and taverns, while there are Orcs knocking at your door. Even Lorewise, no Steward with a clear mind would do it.
Once your borders are secure you can (and need to) build something of course

Thought it was obvious...

i never build schools and taverns in the beginning and due to few ressources not high level markets. building roads, farms, mines, harbours and low markets makes a lot of sense though. military buildings i mainly build at osiligath, cair andros and the down close to the land bridge to harad. also i raise taxes in the inland where groth is not so important in the beginning.

all these buildings are important.

its true that one cant just build everything everywhere with the limited treasury but building is still important (and fun)

**Eriagon** · May 21, 2009, 07:34 AM

I won as Gondor on my third try, despite turteling up... You only need to be aware against the threat from Harad. I was able to hold of Mordor through camping ing E Osgiliath and Cair Andros, and finally expanding in to Harad. One thing though, gaining lordship over the seas through blockading Harad's ports, seemed to make their armies thinner.

**Indaro** · May 25, 2009, 04:28 AM

I started by attacking eastwards and taking all of Ithlien, but that meant i needed big garrisons in all the castles to hold them. Eventually i was able to earn myself some breathing space to build an army to aid Rohan. I took Isenguard first to be my northern stronghold and then was able to push them back bit by bit.

It cost me Barad Harn and the castle in south Ithlien, Emyn Amen, but now my western and northern flacks are secure. I control all the land up to Tharbad so money is ok now too.

**Col Poutting** · May 25, 2009, 06:21 AM

I did the following and had Mordor down and Major Harad citys and citadels by turn 90:

Pull your Militia from both most western settlements and take 1 general from these city and go for the most western city. (it has very low income and low pop. but its a settlement never the less+you secure your boarder)

Pull all other units (just leave the generals in their citys) to get to Minas Tirith. (makes nearly full stack, but lay siege with the few units from Minas Tirith first). As the gathered troops arrive, send them for Cair andros and hold it.
-->here i was lucky because: Mordor had taken E. Osg. with a big stack, however, they pulled it away, just garrisoning with a general and 1 unit. I attacked with the 4 units i left in W. Osg. and managed to take E. Osg. It has already military buildings, as W. Osg. hasnt. Just build a school to get more of your culture and its very well defendable.

Recruit a small but sufficient army in your town near to Harad to push back invasions and take the small island settlement. If you hold them off 2-3 times, they'll refrain attacking you for a time.

Build roads asap everywhere, ports if possible and upgrade barraks in: E.Osg.; Minas Tirith and Cair Andros. Slowly complete your 2 low stacks in both Cair and E.Osg. Get the Gondor bowmen asap they own!!

Launch attacks simultaneously to Minas Morgul and the settlement near Cair (beware, Minas Morgul has guarrison script, send only a full health stack or get crushed uterly),

Hold on Minas Ithil(name changes after capturing it, and build schools to convert culture) and push north with Cair's stack. --> take the small fortress near the black gate and go kill them at the settlement near Mirkwood (beware of the nazgul general he's uber) This will prevent Mordor from falling in your back.

Hold Mordor at bay near the black gate, replenish Minas Ithil units and gather a second army there. (turn 50 aprox)

Push in Mordor when you have 3 stacks: 1 black gate, 2 Minas Ithil.--> take black gate (guarrison script) and take the lesser settlements 1 left and 1 right form Minas Ithil. Hold on and replenish, take other 2 lesser settlements around Barad Dur, replenish and go for Barad Dur.

Once Mordor is killed you should have like 20-25 citys, all pumping some cash. I then concentrated few turns (10 aprox) in building up, repleneshing, and gathering for the Harad push. Leave minimal guarison everywhere exept in The castle north of the balck gate, and go into Harad lands. You should have 4 stacks for this undertacking. 3 from Osgilitah 1 from the south western city.

Peace of cake aftwerwards. played on vh/h

I completely ignored Isengard, Rhun never attacked me, Silvan elves defended well and held the OOMM at bay, I allied with : Dwarves, Rohan, Dale, Silvan Elves, Eriador.