Latest / Start the game already! / [ENG] Campaign: El Dorado #3 Slash and Burn

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[ENG] Campaign: El Dorado #3 Slash and Burn · Start the game already!

0:17
Hello, hello. We have returned to South
0:20
America and to be more precise with a third scenario of the
0:25
Muska campaign. Once again we are playing as
0:27
Pakanchika, A Muska commander who has sided with Nemekene Zipa
0:32
of the Southern Muska Confederation and leading our
0:35
army in the western Borderlands with a mission to pacify the
0:39
unruly Pancha tribes of the region.
0:42
The Northern Muska are led by the Zaki called Kuimencha
0:45
Torcha, a power hungry commander collecting gold in his fortress
0:50
and he is our main enemy in this campaign so far.
0:56
The tribes beyond our valleys are rarely noticed by the Siba
0:59
and Zaki. However, as both rulers seek to
1:03
gain an advantage, they are now turning their attention to the
1:07
Panches. Living in the shadow of our
1:09
great mountains, the Panches build no grand temples but make
1:13
up for it with their ferocity and battle.
1:17
Nemekene aims to establish them as permanent allies.
1:20
The Zakhee, meanwhile, wants their treasure.
1:23
By filling the temple of Iraka with panchay artifacts, he hopes
1:27
to persuade the high priest to declare him the son of the Son.
1:31
Yesterday's mad dream could soon become official doctrine.
1:36
I managed to meet with a say in secret before departing for the
1:39
panchay expedition. Holding her in my arms after so
1:43
many months felt like coming home.
1:47
Her reports have helped me more than once, yet I dread to think
1:51
what the Saki would do if he intercepted them.
1:54
I will not stop helping you back in Chike.
1:57
We are in this together to the very end.
2:00
As the warmth slowly fades from my chest, I echo her words to
2:06
the very end. There are many factions in this
2:11
mission, so let me give you a small overview.
2:15
Quemenchatocha aims to subdue the local panchay tribes just
2:19
like me, and he wants to seize their treasures to adorn his
2:23
golden palace and the temples of his ally, the holy state of
2:27
Iraqa. By the way, this really annoyed
2:30
me because I had been the only ally of the Iraqa in the
2:34
previous mission and never, not once, allowed them to ally with
2:38
Quema Chatocha. So how the hell did Quema
2:41
Chatocha get his fingers on Iraka?
2:45
I have thrown him out of the entire region, let alone Iraka,
2:51
so I do not understand how this could have happened.
2:54
Anyway, let's continue. Nemecchenne, who is our ally, is
2:58
determined to prevent his rivals manoeuvres and will send lots of
3:01
troops out from his southern outpost.
3:04
He fields infantry units and Archers and is supported by
3:08
slingers and siege weapons. Atakaima is the most fearsome
3:13
and defiant of the Panchi tribes.
3:15
Entrenched in their stronghold in the western mountains, they
3:18
will fight any invaders to the bitter end.
3:21
The Guacana are wary of the Muska, but famine has made them
3:25
weak, so giving them food will make them an ally.
3:29
The Kalandaima are prudent and greedy, all they care about is
3:33
pleasing their guards with offerings.
3:36
The Sikkima are a warlike tribe with little sympathy for the
3:40
Muska. However, they respect strength
3:43
and nurture A grudge against Tokaima.
3:45
Speaking of which, the Tokaima are mostly peaceful but under
3:49
constant threat from their neighbors.
3:51
The Sikkima protecting them could sway them to our side.
3:55
And that is all what my scouts suggest.
3:58
So I guess we have to choose between Tokima and Sikkima.
4:03
As you can see, there are lots of enemies to fight and allies
4:06
to win over, so this is going to be a rather interesting mission.
4:10
We must conquer the Panche before the Saki does, or his mad
4:14
ambition will be the end of us. Be deadly as the Anaconda
4:19
pakanchique. As my leader Nieme Kenya gives
4:22
me the order to attack the Panche, I am given control over
4:26
a couple of villages, 500 wooden food, 800 gold and 200 stone,
4:31
and a small army consisting of crossbowmen and guayupa Bowman,
4:35
a couple of champion runners and temple guards, 2 monks and two
4:40
scorpions. We're starting in the castle age
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and I'm back to being able to actually build something with my
4:46
villages, so I will keep that in mind.
4:49
For now I'm spending my resources on upgrades.
4:52
I immediately sent my army to the West as I can see the town
4:55
centres of all 5 Panshi tribes scattered across the map on my
4:59
mini map and the tribe of the Tokaima happens to be closest to
5:03
my base in the South. The Tokaima are wary of their
5:06
warlike neighbors, the Sikkima. We could ally with them by
5:11
building a castle in their lands, or we could dispose of
5:15
them to earn the Sikkima's favour.
5:17
I can either build a castle on a hill near the Tokaima TC to
5:21
protect them, or defeat them and ally with the Sikkima who are
5:26
located in the east. It seems very convenient to kill
5:30
them off early on because I have a siege workshop ready and only
5:35
need a RAM to kill their TC. Pull back your troops or prepare
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for war. Seems like having troops nearby
5:42
the Tokaima already triggered them to attack, so I guess my
5:45
hand was forced to fight them just before I even decided to do
5:49
that. Also, the McKenna, our leader,
5:52
is promising support if we conquer a tribe, even though he
5:56
does not seem to be too pleased about this kind of diplomacy.
6:01
Sometimes diplomacy with the panchay may prove wiser than
6:04
war, but I will still send reinforcements whenever you
6:08
conquer a tribe. Once again, my Zai love of my
6:13
life and working for Kimencha Tocha is providing me with
6:17
useful information. She tells me that Crimencha
6:21
Tocha is settling in the North to try and subdue the puncture
6:24
himself. Dire news Kimwencha Tocha has
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established an outpost in the North and is planning to attack
6:29
your forces. Please be careful.
6:32
He's very far away though, so I'm not that concerned for now.
6:38
Instead I'm finishing off the tokaima and I'm so happy I did
6:43
the. Sikkima's ancestors smile at the
6:45
sight of Tokaima blood flowing through the cornfields.
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We have earned their loyalty. This Pancha tribe will trouble
6:52
us no more. Not only do I get their base and
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villages and enough resources to get more upgrades and build new
7:00
TCS, I'm also allied with the Sikkima right away in the very
7:04
E, who seem to be much stronger than the Tokaima.
7:09
They've also given me a couple of villages at their base, so I
7:12
decide to build ATC next to their stone.
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I'm on 4 TCS now. Before minute 10 of the game, I
7:18
took out one puncture tribe and I allied the second.
7:22
This seems like very smooth sailing to me.
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On top of that, Nimekene keeps his promise and sends
7:29
reinforcements the moment I defeat the Tokaima.
7:32
Your conquest of the Pancha continues.
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Take these warriors and bring us another decisive victory.
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These reinforcements prove to be very useful as I have severely
7:43
underestimated how quickly Kuomintcha Tocha would actually
7:47
attack me. He starts sending wave after
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wave of units, almost instantly attacking what is my new base
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where Tokaima once was before. However, my boom is going pretty
7:59
well and stays uncontested, and once I had about 30 farmers and
8:04
80 villages in total, I decided it was enough, built a defensive
8:08
castle where the Tokaima wanted me to build 1 for them and
8:12
started collecting resources for the imperial age While all of
8:16
this was happening as I sent word again.
8:19
Darling, the Sakhi spies Taliban Atakaima mountain stronghold to
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the West. You should seize it before more
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Pancha tribes are inspired to resist.
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A mountain stronghold you say? Well, this mission is going very
8:33
well so far and the castle will surely be enough to defend.
8:38
So I decided to send my army to the West in order to search for
8:41
that stronghold. That is Atakaima, a beautiful
8:45
stronghold built deep into the mountains, heavily fortified
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with castles and towers and many siege units.
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But those do not pose a threat to my imperial age composition
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that soon consists of elite temple guards, arbolesters and
9:02
slingers which are accompanied by trips.
9:05
And I got to hand it to Sikkima, my allies.
9:09
They are non-stop sending units to help me conquer the Atakaima,
9:13
despite being all the way across the map.
9:16
While I'm attacking the atakaima, all of a sudden a
9:20
message from the Guacana reaches me.
9:24
Only famine could make us desperate enough to seek your
9:27
help. Save us and you will have our
9:30
loyalty. It appears my scouts need a
9:32
raise. Their reports were valid.
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The Guacana have indeed suffered from a famine and are desperate
9:39
for food. They want me to give them 600
9:42
food, which is actually peanuts to me at this point, so I'll
9:46
gladly help them out. Thank you commander.
9:49
The Guacana will fight for you. Once again they become my ally
9:54
and I get a few villages with whom I start building a
9:56
defensive castle right there at Guacana and start mining their
10:01
stone. They are a northern tribe so
10:04
they are easy to rate for. Guamancha Tocha and all my units
10:08
are kind of busy destroying at Takaima right now in the West,
10:11
so I'm really hoping that Guamancha Tocha will take his
10:15
time. To make matters worse, Isai
10:18
brings bad news again. I bring more unfortunate news.
10:22
The remaining Pancha tribes have flocked to Kemuncha Tocha's
10:25
banner. The Sake now feels confident in
10:27
his victory. So there is no way of subduing
10:31
all tribes in a peaceful way it seems.
10:34
When Guacana became my second ally, all other tribes want
10:38
nothing to do with me and I see a countdown that all neutral
10:42
Panchi tribes will would declare war with me just in about a
10:46
minute. However, once the timer went
10:49
down, nothing actually had happened and I was a little bit
10:53
confused. Turns out, Azai's info was
10:57
actually wrong. There were only two more Panchi
11:00
tribes on the map, the Atakaima, who have always been my enemy
11:04
and who I was in the middle of attacking.
11:06
And then there was the Kalandaima, all the way in the
11:10
east, even east of Sikkima, who may have allied with Kuomen
11:14
Chatocha, but that didn't make them my enemy.
11:18
At least they did not attack me at all so as I actually caused
11:22
me to panic for nothing and her Intel was pointless.
11:25
The warriors of Atakaima were nothing that we can offer.
11:29
If we want their fortress, we will have to pry it from the
11:32
cold, dead hands. Now this is bad news because I
11:35
kind of hoped I had more time to bring my forces to Guacana, but
11:40
I still need to finish off the Atakaima in the mountains first,
11:43
so I need to do that as fast as possible.
11:46
In the meantime, I started building another castle in the
11:49
east to further fortify Sikima, which is close to Kalandaima in
11:53
the very E, just in case they did change their mind and start
11:56
attacking me. They have been peaceful though
11:59
so far, so I intend to leave them alone.
12:03
Maybe we'll get to a mutual agreement.
12:06
And then confusion sets in. I look back at my second base
12:10
and former Tokaima and see that my castle is gone and my ally
12:15
Sikima is killing Kremachtocha's buildings in my base.
12:20
I did not realize that I've been attacked at all, so I was very
12:25
thankful that my ally was defending me and rebuilt the
12:28
castle with the rest of the stone I had available.
12:31
After the mission I was actually curious how that could happened
12:34
and looked at the replay, but all I saw is that he was just
12:38
overwhelmingly sending forests after forest, eventually just
12:43
taking down my castle with his Malay units and Poros.
12:47
Akima was constantly sending troops to defend me, which he
12:50
succeeded in after a while, but still, it's it.
12:56
It was my fault, I have to admit.
12:58
Anyway, when the timer went down, all hell broke loose
13:03
again. Not because of the punchy
13:05
though, as I said they were already my enemies or left me
13:09
alone still, but because Quemencha Tocha started
13:13
pressuring me from all sides. He went to the east to kill off
13:18
my castles with traps and lots of military and at the same time
13:21
took down the recently erected castle that was protecting
13:24
Guacana. Luckily I was finally done with
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defeating a Takaima in the West and immediately sent the army to
13:32
defend my ally in the north. All units that I built from now
13:37
on were sent to the east to protect Sakima, and once the
13:40
situation stabilized, I added a few trebuchets to start
13:44
attacking Kalandima in the very east.
13:47
Though pious and peaceful, we are not weak.
13:51
Remove your troops from our land or we shall cross their skulls.
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Now I know why they didn't attack me.
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Sadly, it was too late. I had already ordered three
14:02
traps to attack their town centre which I could easily
14:06
target from outside their walls and they instantly reside and
14:09
handed over their city. So much for not being weak.
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I guess. With all that, all Panchi tribes
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have been subdued. The Pancha have surrendered.
14:20
I have your prowess to thank for keeping the saki in check back
14:24
in Chique. All that's left is Kuomintcha
14:27
Torcha in the very north, close to his fortress deep in the
14:31
western mountains. I found a solitary monastery and
14:34
relic nearby that I claimed as soon as I got close to it.
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So wonderful, another source of gold income.
14:41
And now for the final attack on Quemenchatocha.
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I sent all my army to the north, rebuilt the castle for defense,
14:49
and together with my allies, the Sikkima and the Guacana, I had
14:53
an army that was probably 200 populations strong.
14:57
My allies had sent skirmishers, champy warriors, temple guards,
15:00
mangonelles and Rams, and Quemenchatacha was completely
15:05
overwhelmed. I wreak havoc on his castle and
15:09
economy, and Quemenchatacha is forced to give up.
15:12
Now Makena is pleased ensure that we will win after all.
15:17
No matter how grand his delusions are, can when Chatocha
15:20
cannot escape the brutal facts of the battlefield.
15:24
This victory will pave the way for us to finally defeat the
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Saki. This victory would be sweeter if
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I did not fear for a say. The Saki will surely become
15:34
angry and paranoid now. Please stay safe my love.
15:40
Zai seems to be more and more in danger and Pakanchika is
15:44
worried, understandably so. The jungle tells no tales, not
15:50
of the men who died choking as poison darts swelled their
15:53
throats, nor of the sacred treasures torn from the hands of
15:57
fallen worshippers. We leave it all behind in that
16:02
impenetrable forest, the evil, the horror.
16:08
With the Panchas subdued, the conflict is shifting back to the
16:11
whisker heartland. My master is pleased with my
16:15
work. I wish I could celebrate, but it
16:19
says latest report has unsettled me.
16:22
The high priest of Edaka has given in to Kim Wencha Tocha's
16:26
demands. He has declared him the Son of
16:30
the Son, a God walking the earth.
16:34
And the people believe him. Perhaps it's easier for them to
16:38
accept the Sakis madness if they see him as a God.
16:41
It makes sense in a way. Hopelessness is easy,
16:46
predictable. You can plan a life around it,
16:51
but if the tyrant lording over you is just immortal like
16:53
yourself, no no it's best not to think about it.
16:59
Just keep your head down and pray that your mad God shows you
17:03
mercy. With half of the Muiska realm
17:06
under the Sakis control, the only future I see is 1 drenched
17:12
in blood. Now he's done it.
17:17
Cuomo Chatocha is the son of the Sun.
17:20
I wasted far too much time trying to find a source
17:24
supporting this, but I didn't. The Iraka actually turned to be
17:29
neutral after Komenchatorcha and Nemechan had started their
17:32
bloody feud, so it's unlikely the Ilaka would have done
17:37
anything like this. It's also I'm a little
17:40
disappointed by the fact that I am winning every battle against
17:44
him very decisively and his influence only seems to grow.
17:49
This makes my choice of supporting Nimekene kind of
17:52
pointless, at least from a storytelling perspective, and I
17:55
get the feeling choosing Kuomen Chatocha is probably the default
18:00
way to play this campaign, even though there was nothing really
18:04
signalling that. Then there's another thing
18:07
that's bugging me a little. I do understand that Azai is
18:11
endangering herself by giving U.S. intelligence on the enemy,
18:15
but doing this kind of seems unnecessary.
18:19
So far she hasn't said anything that gave me an edge to defeat
18:23
Kuomi Chatocha. Far from it actually.
18:26
At least in the missions I've played so far, she was only
18:28
telling me that the enemy was attacking, but that information
18:32
didn't change my way of approaching the mission.
18:35
I would have done exactly the same whether she gave me that
18:38
info or not. So it doesn't feel important
18:41
enough for her to risk her life. For example, in this mission she
18:46
gave me two pieces of Intel. The first one was that
18:49
Quenchatacha would set up camp in the north.
18:52
Well, it is not uncommon that spies are used in war to gather
18:55
Intel and army movements, so it kind of makes sense.
18:58
However, I knew this from my scout reports.
19:02
The second information was that the Atakaima were in the West
19:06
and ready for the taking. This I would also consider
19:09
important information if my scouts hadn't told me the same
19:13
thing right when the mission was beginning as well.
19:16
Instead of giving me new helpful information, which should be her
19:20
role in all this, she is only announcing what I have already
19:24
known through my scout reports well before she told me.
19:29
I guess what I'm trying to say is that the drama in this
19:32
mission is coming from a risk they're taking as a couple.
19:35
That seems entirely unnecessary to me, and I wish the designer
19:40
would have made the Intel more impactful, or at least not given
19:44
me the same exact intro in the scout reports so that I could
19:47
value the risk they're taking more.
19:50
However, what the designer lacked in storytelling, he
19:54
made-up for in designing this beautiful scenario.
19:58
This is probably one of the most beautiful maps I have seen in
20:02
the entire last Chieftain campaigns.
20:05
There's lots of mountains and uneven terrain, there are ruins
20:09
and hidden monasteries, beautiful little pieces of land
20:13
that are on the edges of the map as well as the centre.
20:17
There's wonderful waterfalls and the cities of Pancha tribes look
20:20
so peaceful, almost like they were one with the nature
20:25
surrounding them. The South American architecture
20:28
set really shines in this terrain and the designer made
20:31
sure to showcase it that I enjoyed a lot, much like I
20:36
enjoyed a rather easy mission after the stressful second one.
20:41
I particularly want to mention that in this mission, my allies
20:45
felt very impactful. They were aggressive, they were
20:49
competent in defending me and attacking my enemy, and they
20:53
made my life so much easier. I think if Sikkima had not
20:59
defended me so well while I was being attacked without realizing
21:03
it, I might have had to restart the mission, but thanks to
21:07
Sikkima I did not. I was totally fine.
21:10
There aren't many campaign missions with such competent AI,
21:14
so it was quite the relief. Maybe I also got a bit lucky and
21:19
chose the right ones, especially at the beginning when I decided
21:23
to side with the Sikkima instead of the much weaker looking
21:26
Tokima just by chance because I probably rent a few tiles too
21:31
far too close to to Kaima. But I also didn't know how
21:36
strong the Sikkima would actually turn out to be.
21:38
So yeah, I think I was lucky. Oh, and one more thing about the
21:43
choices. Only the first two missions have
21:46
choices that affect the upcoming missions, as is the case with
21:50
all three last Chieftain campaigns.
21:52
So this third mission had no choices to make.
21:56
There is not that much historical context here, but it
22:00
is true that the Muska and the Pancha had been bitter enemies.
22:04
In fact, most of their wars were waged against the Panche West of
22:08
the Muska. The Panche or Tolima are an
22:12
indigenous group of people that lived in what is now Colombia.
22:16
They inhabited parts of what is now southwestern Colombia and
22:23
parts of the region that is close to the Magdalena River, So
22:28
I believe that river must also be the river that we can see on
22:32
this beautifully built map. As I mentioned, I'm not the
22:35
biggest fan of how the story and the characters are developing,
22:39
but I did enjoy this third mission as a contrast to the one
22:42
before. So this is going to be it for
22:45
this episode and I would like to ask you to spread the word that
22:51
this campaign is happening and that these podcasts are being
22:54
released day by day. Maybe if you haven't already,
22:57
give this podcast a follow and stay tuned for the next episode.