First look at the Alexander DLC – mission 1
Hey guys, Spirit of the Law here. In this video, we’re going to take a look at the upcoming Alexander DLC, and what better way than by showcasing the first mission. This comes out next Tuesday and is the follow-up to the Chronicles Battle for Greece campaign from last year, focusing, of course, this time on Alexander the Great. Now, a campaign focused DLC is obviously best experience yourself. So, I don’t intend on uploading the whole campaign on the channel, but we can look at the first of the 18 missions and just give you a sense of whether this is the sort of thing you might be interested in. Hard difficulty, I think, might actually be a challenge. These can be a little tricky on the higher difficulties, but I suppose we can try it. And plays the precocious talent, Alexander. So, let’s jump into it. I thought you might return. Now, where were we? I told you about the folly of Aristagoras and the great king’s wroth. There was the Mystic Cleles, the defense of Greece and the rise of Athens. Ah yes, Braidas and Lzander and the great war that tore Greece apart. My my, we really did cover quite a lot. Perhaps this time I’ll stick to a single subject. While the Greeks squabbled endlessly, to their north there lay the entirely unremarkable kingdom of Macedon, a poor, rugged land, its borders beset by belligerent neighbors and driven from within by feuding nobles. For centuries, the kings of Macedon had done all they could just to hold this fragile thief together. Glorious expansion was out of the question. All this changed when Philillip took the throne. His was an improbable kingship. The crown only passed to Philillip after both of his older brothers had their turns on the throne cut short. one slain in battle and the other by an assassin’s blade. Determined not to meet the same fate, Philip immediately set to reforming the Macedonian military, arming his soldiers with pikes as long as four men laid head to toe. As for those troublesome nobles, the prospect of prize commands in Philip’s new army provided a tempting incentive to good behavior. When Philip marched against the Cyians, his eyes set on yet more plunder to feed his growing realm. There was a new commander among his forces. His teenage heir, Alexander, a boy of little experience, but tremendous ambitions. Philillip was about to give his son a first alluring taste of glory. All right, I’m ready, Dad. I won’t let you down. Well, I know it’s on hard difficulty, so maybe I will. We’ll see. Hold the line. Any man who turns his back will answer. Look at these pikemen. These elite felonites. Make yourself useful and go protect the baggage camp and take that horrible horse with you. It’s spooking the others. Sure thing. I only got 120 HP. Oh boy. All right, horse. Let’s go. Finally, Busphilis. A chance for glory. All right, send me to the front, Dad. I can Oh, never mind. These Cyians are swift as they are devious. If they didn’t all weak of Mar’s milk, you’d have no clue they were nearby until they slit your throat. I shall not disappoint you, father. This camp will not fall. Definitely. Okay, hang on. Except I’m not clamped onto the window. There we go. Much better. All right. Uh, we only got five on wood. I got some wood down here. Maybe we’ll take that. Should probably kind of wall our guys in here a little bit. All right. Got some wood here. Uh, so we got lots of food. Well, actually, not that much food. We got food for right now. Got a bore up here. Get some farms. Okay, so I need 30 villagers. I guess I get to safely boom here a little bit. Maybe we’ll I don’t know. Explore the map a little bit. Can we even get up here? Probably not. This battle’s still raging. You got to stop trickling your troops in here, Dad. You got to build them up. That’s right. I’ll show you how it’s done. Just give me a few minutes. Got to get 30 villagers first. Okay, these guys just looking safe. Should probably keep our these guys safe, too. I mean, I don’t know what’s out here. [Music] Yeah, case in point. That guy just right there. All right, let’s send another scout. Don’t worry, buddy. Now we know where not to send you. Um, we should probably make some more units or something. To your camp, Alexander. You better be ready for them already. You look weak. I look weak. All right. Well, so much for taking wood down there. Whoops. See, I play enough of these campaigns. I know you got to build your little defenses early. Kill every one of them. You’re in a man’s world, man. What do they tri by fire here? Oh yeah, we can do our outpost cuz we’re Macedonians. So these will actually start firing arrows. I just need a little bit more wood. There we go. All right, everybody back to work. Let’s uh start chopping this wood again. Maybe we’ll stay down here and defend that. All right, I might um do some jump cuts here just cuz I I think this is a little bit of a booming scenario. Okay, so far they’re going kind of easy on me, letting me build up. Uh-oh. Uh yeah, that’s okay. Just lead them back. We can check out our tower. Do some good work tower with your two attack. I didn’t say they were strong, but uh these actually are speeding up all my military units around it. So, getting a little bit of benefit from them. Uh this guy’s an ally, right? Who am I actually enemies with? I’m only enemy with orange and kind of enemy with red. Dad, you got to stop trickling these troops in here. That is not how you do it. Okay, so I’ve had a little bit of chance to build up here. We got some archers going. We got some spears going, but the other thing I’m doing is I’m trying to get more of these outposts. So, you change an outpost to a fortified outpost. It’s just 50 wood. It’s not that much. And what it’s going to do is it speeds up all these units around it. I think it’s 15 or 20%. It’s something actually pretty substantial. So, covering your base in a few of these. I get this one. So having some of these on the outside, I can just get around my base much faster, reinforce anywhere they’re needed, and you know, it’s nice that my opponent or my enemy doesn’t get that boost. So I’m just straight up faster than my enemies if they come through my base right now. Now the question is, should we push out and just kind of poke him? Cuz he had some units come from down here. I guess we can take a look. Uh you know what? Maybe we could get outpost down that whole way. I mean, that might be smart cuz then I’d be getting the speed boost through this whole section. I think that’s how we’re going to play it. We build my dad’s camp. Safe place to to farm. No, I want him to think that I’m I got this. I don’t need him. All right, you guys build here. And so these are a little more expensive. So notice it’s 38 food and 27 wood instead of 35 and 25, but created it at double speed. I mean, that’s pretty good. Look at how fast these spearman come out. And then on this one, I did the bowman uh on the conscript one, so they’re a little cheaper. Instead of 25 wood, it’s 21 wood, but they take twice as long. So look how slow they are to come out. So I like that you can set that differently at different buildings. I wish I get the uh uh advancing to be a little faster, though. And we’re under attack out here. Okay. I forgot to upgrade that one. Is there nothing more princely for me to do, father? You could get out of my ear and go and see what Cletus and Perminion might want with you. Do as they tell you, but no more, boy. Okay, so we got to send him out to these other guys. We got Harmonian and Cletus. I’m glad that they said these out loud. I would have been calling them Cletus. All right, let’s get some of these guys. These Fallenites. These guys I like. Although, we need some more gold for sure. Uh, okay. I need stone. I still have not found any stone on the map, which is very unfortunate. I guess I don’t have to fight these guys. Why don’t we send Alexander? You can go talk to your uncle Cletus. Cletus, and he can uh tell you what’s what to do next. All right, here we go. What’s the mission? How’s your first taste of battle? Rather insubstantial, fighters. My father has confined me to watching the baggage. I might have something more exciting for you. The Cyians have dozens of those maided horses they ride, stomping and snorting in a big pen. Maybe you could cause a little chaos. Uh yeah, except that’s a lot of units. Uh what I mean to say is Yeah, of course I will. Okay, we’re going to need to build up a little bit for that one. Let’s see. So we got Lancer. That’s just basically knights. Um, faster cavalry is probably not worth it. Get my own. I think we’re going to want some skirmishers here. All right, we’re going to have to build up here a little bit. Oh, you know what I really need is a castle. I want some of my unique techs. My castle’s unique attacks are really good. And this still raging. I assume these red guys get reinforcements as well or they’re just invincible. I haven’t seen any come down, but maybe they have been. All right, the problem is I have not made a very good army against uh cavalry archers. What do we do about that? Cuz these Fallenite guys with the big long spears, uh I think they’ve got zero pure armor. Yeah, they got zero pure armor. That’s not ideal. Oh, I got a pop limit of 100, I think. Doesn’t say. I think this is a hard cap pop limit. All right, we got to go here, guys. This is as big as our army’s going to get. All right, this army should be fine. It’s 50 units. I got 50 villagers, 50 units. That seems reasonable. And uh-oh. Just as I leave. Just as I leave approach to arms. Get that gold. Oh man, we’re big time under attack. All right. Well, if we’re just going to stand there, though. Look at this extra long reach on these guys. So, I got some regular spearman, but then in the back we get these extra long range guys. They have a minimum range, though. They’re a really interesting unit. cuz it’s like you get the it’s almost double the length of a kamiac but then minimum range. So if you just have one by itself, it’s absolutely terrible. It can’t even attack the thing it’s attacking it. Take out the guard posts. All right, go guys. This should be what we’re pretty good at, right? We got lots of spears. These guys are tough though. 150 HP. My guys have 50. All right, that was pretty easy work. Nice. Very effective. And this is a new civ called the Cythians. Interesting. So, it’s like a custom version maybe of Thrace. Or maybe they just rename it. I hard to say. They definitely go all out making new saves for this though. All right, there we go. Pretty effective. Probably didn’t need the archers. Probably could have just gone with spears. That’s all right, though. These cavary archers just kind of standing here. That’s not a smart tactic. All right, what we need is more stone. I want a town or I want a castle. Oh, can I not make a castle? I forgot to check. All right, no castle. Well, we got a lot of stone now. Whoops. All right, just got to clean these guys up. I missed it. What are we breaking these out for? Are we stealing these or are they just causing chaos or something? That is a lot of units. Okay. What grand beasts these horses are. What fierce power just waiting to be unleashed. They need only be spooked and down the valley they will rush over the bodies of their masters. All right. How do we I assume this is referencing something historical that happened. So, how do I do it? Find a way to panic them. Can I just shoot them? What scares you, Busphilis? Besides your own shadow, fire, wild beasts, the scent of death. Fly, fly, golden mans, children of We just lit it on fire. Okay. [Music] Oh my god, these horses are so effective. Oh man, I did not expect that. I love all the little effects here. This is so good. What carage? I’ve seen slaughter houses less grizzly than that valley right now. Fine work. All right, I’ll take it. Oh, I know. I’m under attack. Run. That’s fine. I have a million resources right now. We could uh we could thin things out. Why are these guys so fast? Is it actually? Did the fortified outpost actually Is that working on my villagers? Maybe it is. I thought these didn’t work on villagers. Okay, that’s really good then. All right, back everybody. Begin your slow march back. Oh, I got a bunch of cavalry now. What is this? Shot cavalry. Okay, I think those are cavaliers if I’m not mistaken. My father treats me like a child. What makes him trust you, Cletus? Well, I kill his enemies. I’ll tell the truth. And I don’t stick around when he’s seven cops deep. All right. What’s happening with our economy out here? This is not great. All right. These shot cavalry are great, though. This is nice cuz I I think I can’t advance here. So, I’m basically getting cavalere, but I’m stuck in castle age. So, it’s a pretty good unit I can’t otherwise get access to. should probably try to hold on to him. In fact, great idea. I should be making uh something to heal and bring the priestess over there. Maybe I’ll just build up here a little bit. We’ll jump ahead to the next mission. Says I should put you to use. A Cian convoy will arrive soon. Take your men to the valley. Hide in the tall grass and then seize the wagons for me. Hiding then stealing. This is thieves work. Palmenian, you should be glad of my devotion to your father. Else I’d have you mcking out the stables. Yikes. This guy doesn’t like me. [Music] Oh, what? What? Okay. I think every time you get a mission, you get a big raid. This is not not bueno. Come on, fortified outpost. Do your work. Got to hide at least 30 soldiers in the long grass. It says I’ve got two. Okay. Well, here’s what we’re also going to do is we’re going to upgrade all these. So then this is it. Get into position, men. Here they come. Ready. Hopefully I don’t see our fortified outpost is sticking out here. Charge. Zeus Tropios. Strike my foes with shuddering panic. Not yet. Alexander, that was way too early. Got to get them in position first. Oh, they don’t stand a chance. Look at these guys. A worthwhile lesson, Alexander. A good commander waits, then strikes at the most opportune time. He does not go charging around like Achilles on the rampage. Now bring me those supplies. Well, maybe I’ll take those supplies. Just kidding. You can have them. I actually have ridiculous amounts of resources now. Yeah, we probably didn’t need the outpost, but you know, better to be prepared. I have half a mind to keep this for myself. They’re my spoils. Spear one. Yeah, I was just saying that. But you know what, Alexander, we got so many resources. All we need is to be able to build a castle. That would be great. You steer those carts so well, Alexander. Have you ever considered a career as a drone? What a dick. You may be father’s favorite, Palminion, but one day I will be king. The cyians quiver like barley awaiting the side. Pmanian Cletus, form up and push. Where should I station my men, father? In their tents. You will not participate. Wow. Taking a lot of a lot of insults here. See that I am not just some child. On me, men. I’m going to find that Cythian king and slay him as Achilles slew Hector. All right, let’s go right up the middle. I only have to pick one of these, right? Find a way to the battlefield through an allied camp. Uh, maybe I shouldn’t sneak through my dad’s camp. Maybe we’ll sneak through here. Stay back, prince. This is men’s work. So, can I like enemy him? How do I get in here? All right, maybe I can’t. How do I get in? Okay, fine. Can I I told you, boy. What? Stay away. All right. Well, they’re not letting me. Um, can I make a siege workshop? Uh, I cannot make a siege workshop, so I can’t just attack Round Manganel here. All right. Well, we’re going to have to try the other guy. I mean, he liked me more. Maybe he lets me in. Uncle Cletus. Cletus, you’re going to let me in, right? All right, lad. You can come watch the battle. Just don’t tell your father I like you. You’re the best, Cletus. That’s why you’re my favorite. Yeah, I’m just here to watch. Don’t worry. All right. Well, we’re going to sneak around this way. Obviously, we got to get in there and get aas. Man, he’s pretty good. Got a little area damage. Okay, I’m not going to lie, though. This is a lot of units and we’re kind of beat up already, but we’ll see. Yeah, definitely smarter not to go right up the middle. Where’s all our other guys? Get in there. Distract them in the middle. Yeah, let’s go infantry first. Uh, you know what? I probably should have a bigger army for this. Okay, go guys. Train up. from here. I am Alexander, crown prince of Macedon. I have sought you out in the prey that we, two men of royal blood, might decide this day. Uh, I should have come with a bigger army. This is pretty pretty bold. [Applause] All right, I guess we’ll try. If he’s not going to send anything forward, maybe we got enough. We have a stream of units. This is what I love about this mercenary recruitment is, man, do they come out fast. I mean, what I should be doing is building more. Uh, Alexander, you’re still alive, right? Yeah, you’re in here. Oh, there’s the guy. We just got to get him. We got reinforcements coming eventually. No, you guys need to not go that way. Behold, Cyians. Oh, we went anyway. Eyes dead and fiery Phobus. God of dread and route runs screaming through your ranks. You’re a disobedient wretch boy. Things went well this time, but mark yourself. A hunting dog that slips the leash will eventually get put down. Now help load up the loot. We’re going home. Dude, we’re getting their routing army here. That’s way more important than their loot. They’ll just come back for it if we let them go. Nicely done, though. Was there any stone? Am I just terrible at finding it? No. There’s just nothing to build with stone except your outpost. Now, had I been thinking, I would have been building a little outpost thing here. And like that was a little bit reckless to just throw my whole army in there. And I don’t know if Alexander dies, do you lose the mission? I actually don’t think that was true in Battle for Greece. I think they were a little bit nicer in these DLCs. Nice though. I love all the little side missions and stuff. And honestly, great introduction. I like that they ease you into it as well. Like we were capped at classical age, so you don’t have the unique units, you don’t have the fort, you know, you just sort of introduced the bonuses and your basic units and you get the chance to practice out your little fangites, fangites, I don’t know how to pronounce it. But yeah, nice little mission. I like it. So, there you go. There’s mission number one. I think that’s probably the only one I’m going to cover. Though, I do want to take a look at the civilizations uh in a bit of depth. And there’s so many cool ideas that they put in. And I love the unique text how you have two different options for each age as well. So, there’s the Macedonians. We’ve got the Thrians. And I think that’s what the Cythians were. I think Cythians were just renamed Thriations. We have so many bonuses for so many little trickle resources that you get for resources when you fight with different units and then shepherds and hunters to gain gold and your forts and these things. I there’s just so many little interesting bonuses here. Where’s the other one? Uh Peru. I haven’t taken a look at them yet. I think very stone focused. And then that fishing ships uh bonus is back and better than ever. Wow. Stable units heal 25 HP per minute when no enemies are nearby. So, that’s a look at the first mission of the Alexander DLC, which comes out next Tuesday, October 14th. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time.
Let’s check out some early access gameplay of Mission 1 from the Chronicles: Alexander DLC for Age of Empires 2. In this mission we play as the Macedonians and can test out their Phalangite unique unit!
___________________________________________________________
Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/SpiritoftheLaw
Background music from Epidemic Sound: http://www.epidemicsound.com
Game: Age of Empires II Definitive Edition