req.Help Concerning "Settlers" (spoiler alert!)

[Shoonay]

Alrighty, so here i am wondering about in the 30th mission, trying to figure out a few things...

For starters - How the phuck did i win this mission, back in the days?


But first, let me tell you what's my problemo:
Yikes, no stone at all!!! ...or are my geomancers... uhmmm... geologists really that dumb? )
There's a few drops of gold at north, further west some iron, coal and iron mixed with gold again... at south there are just blanks with very few iron.

Situation get's even worse, that we start surrounded by mountains, and have only to places to place (uhmmm... what? ) the soldier-hut-thingy (uhmmm... double what? ), at the west and south.

...and then... i ran out of that bloody (all over) stone...

So where is the stone? Is there any stone?

Or should i just rot in this starting place providing gold for my army so it trains to be a one, big, awesome, army of metal-heads?



BTW: I've only played the 1st & 2nd missions as a training-in-the-game levels, yet felt ready for the highest level of competition... so here i am... stuck

[zardoz]

Now I've never won this mission but... you've got enough stone to build west a couple of times, sort of south west and there's some stone at the bottom for a stone chap to hammer at. By the time you get your stone supply going, and there's only five or six trees so you're wood production is pretty slow until you expand south (but you havn't enough tools to have two woodcutters) and your opponent has got a huge economy going and cutting off your expansion chances... tough one :-(

I'm waiting for the spoiler btw

[Shoonay]

Originally Posted by zardoz

Now I've never won this mission but... you've got enough stone to build west a couple of times, sort of south west and there's some stone at the bottom for a stone chap to hammer at. By the time you get your stone supply going, and there's only five or six trees so you're wood production is pretty slow until you expand south (but you havn't enough tools to have two woodcutters) and your opponent has got a huge economy going and cutting off your expansion chances... tough one :-(

Oh well... that's pretty much the same thing that i've been trying now, and only get the "Your opponent gained superiority" (or something like that) message quite too soon...

Originally Posted by zardoz

I'm waiting for the spoiler btw

I think if someone actually remembers something or beats it again after all these years , is gonna take a while ... ...and that's a big if ...

[Pink]

You really know you have too much time on your hands if you can complete the last level of settlers.

You build down to the south-east. Should take three knight huts to get to the stone and wood there. Set your defence and attacking knights to minimum. Set the number of knights in your castle to one.

Build everything from this point in a sort of logical way. Get the stone, then start a wood industry, the tools, then mine, then weapons ... Remember to use your wood early on and don't worry too much about food.

Your opponent has a lack of iron, you have lots and lots. If you set your defense knights to medium, your opponent won't attack your huts and you should be training tough knights at home. You should also have a lot of them. Once you have stone, make sure to go down the bottom left and get more. Winning this area should be easy, and it will mean you win. Your opponent will have a lack of knights at this point and be slow expanding.

Don't worry if he attacks your castle - you want him to do that and run out of knights. Remember that any resources you have that you aren't using are wasted, so keep everything at 0 and you should be able to start expanding into the empty spaces your opponent can't get to.

It's an exercise in micromanagement too. Build your tools individually with the tool maker, don't leave him on his own or he might slow you down. Also remember you can build more huts than your opponent in the long run, and take his huts later on when you've turned all that iron into well trained knights. Never stop expanding - even if you're only taking a tiny inch of land you should build that hut.

Use the empty mining land to build better roads. Most of the level is about expansion and speed. Sometimes it will be a race to see who can get the knight to the door first.

I put a screenshot in. I'll finish it later if I have time and want to watch little men build stuff. (And you owe me a thanks for the other thread Zardoz :P)

Settlers is awesome.

'Lecia

[Shoonay]

Thanks, Pink

It may had sound easy as i was reading, but... it's hard as hell!
Actually, all i need is some patience building everything one by one, controlling the resources build/used... oh my head ...

BTW: Does the message "Sorrowly Your enemy gained superiority of the land" (...or something like that... i'm seeing this message quite often lately, so soon i'll quote it perfectly ) means i've lost completely on this map
There is a requester just after the message, asking if i wanna continue playing or quit...

[Pink]

The difficulty is a bit of an illusion. I tend to think about it along the lines of ... I know I can win because the game has to be possible - it's like Populous II in that you can feel like it's hopeless and then suddenly you're on top. (I feel embarrassed at admitting to playing Populous II to the end) Oh and remember to restart when you make mistakes really early, even if they seem small.

At the start you can build a wood cutter and a planter, you should really familiarise yourself with what you need to build everything so you can build in groups confidently. All you need to do is keep up till the north east border is in contact with the enemy. He will start sending knights to your castle because he is stoopid.

When you're told about superiority, it means you can't see the ending animation. If you keep building knight huts one after the other you should manage to get around it. Build in two different directions as soon as possible. Continuing to play is just for fun.

'Lecia.

[zardoz]

Originally Posted by Pink

I know I can win because the game has to be possible

But, right, why is there the Ultra Violence level on Doom2? I can't say I've persevered with this... and I'd never have completed ProjectX (or even got beyond the second level) without WinUAE save states.. (cheers Toni )


Played this level yesterday, got to a point two hours in where I had started decent armour production (and the curs'ed fiend had iron production and his fighting strength was 3 x mine) and then my laptop crashed.

Ho hum.

[Pink]

Ultra violence difficulty is possible on Doom 2 - at least on playstation. I never liked Doom on the PC. Every third level seemed to have insane platformy bits. I always found Doom really simple to play - I just run in circles all the time and keep shooting at things till everything is dead and bloody.

And I've never played through ProjectX, I know it's insanely difficult. I've heard of people who love it and beat it though. I suppose it's not my thing; I'm not a huge action gamer person. I like the odd action game, but I'm choosy.

And that's why you keep your vast quantity of knights home and train them and keep expanding. The AI always over builds and takes ages to fill knight houses in the long run. You should be able to burn some of his expansion attempts and pull it back. You should have iron and weapons before two hours. (You probably did/I hope you did) If things seem really slow maybe you're being too cautious, or not allocating your tool building properly?

Not all games are possible, but a lot of them are. If you want to point out games that are impossible there's a number of famous examples. Doom 2 on ultra violence isn't one of them I think.

Ho-hum. :P Pay pal me fifty USD, and I'll make a video of me doing the last level of settlers.

[Titler]

Well, I was going to suggest I Zone you an .adf I made of my Settlers Disc with a save point just before beating level 30... But to my horror I realised that amongst a few small files I lost when forced to upgrade to Win XP and a new HHD, that adf must be one of the ones that escaped back up! And Disk2FDI doesn't work with WinXP, bah! So I shall also play Level 30 through again myself... and would you like an .adf if I can beat it again, or just more walkthroughs?

[Shoonay]

Thanks to Titler i remembered how i did it ones...

I've played through one of the esiest = the first level , saved JUST before the final castle was burned (...or just before there was any knights in it..).

Then hex-edited the save... *somewhere* ...

... and ...

...voila!

Here i am in the final mission, with the land from that easy (mentioned above) mission, and just after few secs the castle burned down... and me is a winner (alias: CHEATER! ) watching the ending scroll-screen...

Can't say that i'm proud of that... but i was young and dumb... ... ...and now i'm just older...

[Titler]

Originally Posted by Shoonay

Thanks to Titler i remembered how i did it ones...

I've played through one of the esiest = the first level , saved JUST before the final castle was burned (...or just before there was any knights in it..).

Then hex-edited the save... *somewhere* ...

... and ...

...voila!

Here i am in the final mission, with the land from that easy (mentioned above) mission, and just after few secs the castle burned down... and me is a winner (alias: CHEATER! ) watching the ending scroll-screen...

Can't say that i'm proud of that... but i was young and dumb... ... ...and now i'm just older...

Oooh you rotter!

Well, it's hard to beat without going back a few times anyway; I've reloaded the level a few times so far, but I'm working on a walkthrough with pictures for you, which I'll post when I eventually beat the game tonight (hopefully), which I'll post later!

[Shoonay]

Originally Posted by Titler

I'm working on a walkthrough with pictures for you, which I'll post when I eventually beat the game tonight (hopefully), which I'll post later!

WHOAAAA!

Don't forget to make them a step-by-step (build *this*; click on *this*; select *this*; choose *this*; change *this*; etc... ) walkthrough, with pictures included... just in case... for us dumbasses ...

Anyways, if i'll finish this level thanks to this - i'll crown you

[Titler]

Ok, this is a generalised walkthrough, as since last night I've not beaten L30 yet. If someone wants to correct what I say here, to allow for faster and easier victory, by all means do so!

1.) Build a single guard hut in the South West corner. Build nothing else for now, as you want the three huts up before the Emergency Program kicks in, which prevents any resources going to them.

2.) Divide the path to the hut with flags as shown in the first screen grab ; this speeds up the time for the resources to travel along the path. When the first hut is up, build the second, and then the third, so you get to the rocks in the south west

3.) Whilst waiting for the huts to be built, switch your military settings to Mimimum for everything. Set them to send the hardest knights there, and then sit and watch the population indicator; as soon as a free man becomes available, convert him to a knight. Drop the number of Knights guarding your Keep to 1, so as many as possible are training.

4.) You can also send two geologists exploring the mountains around you whilst you wait too, however I will show you what mines I put up shortly, so this isn't needed.

5.) Look at picture 2; . You'll note that the terrain by the Keep has been changed slightly; What I've done is place 2 Sawmills along the path from the keep to the West, so the stamping fellow comes out and flattens the land, and then pulled them down before the resources head there... This has left the land with a nice green path all the way across, and this will help enormously later in the game. I am not too concerned with flattening all the grass by the keep, as trees not paths will go there. You can do this whilst waiting for the huts to be built too...

6.) You may if you wish start building the next stage of your economy the instant the stone for the third hut leaves the Keep... at this point, Emergency will direct towards the next buildings anyway, so feel free to spend what you have. Place a Stone Cutter near the rocks to the South West, and build a single Wood chopper, planter and sawmill by the Keep as shown in picture 2. You'll notice two extra flags along the bottom path... Eventually, a second planter and cutter will be placed here... It doesn't really matter where they are placed perse, but try and place around the edges so the centre has more room for tree planting.

7.) Wait until you see the materials leave for the above industries... Now build a Guard Hut by the Stone Cutter, and in the area shown in Picture 3 , the following; A wood cutter, a Blacksmith, a Toolsmith and to the south next to the Guard Hut already up, a Warehouse (Place it there so it's away from the two borders we'll eventually have with the nasty people). On the western edge of the hills, place a Guard Hut again. Whilst the resources are heading there, use the flattening trick again to even out this part of the terrain. Eventually we are aiming to squeeze a Gold Smelter and another Blacksmith and 2 Weapons Makers in here... but for now, try and get the Blacksmith and Toolmaker up first, and send all the coal to the Blacksmith, and all the Iron to the Toolsmith.

8.) At some point during this building period, the hut near the stone will be occupied. When it is, try and squeeze in another Stone Cutter and Wood Cutter; we are going to clear this area for our farming industries. Make sure to destroy the Wood Cutter in Picture 3 when he clears all the trees there.

9.) Around about 45 minutes, the Red people will come into range of your Keep, and probably around the rest of your borders. At this point, change the number of men guarding your Keep to 3. This is usually enough to fight off any attack without running out of Knights in the defense queue... what ever you do, do NOT attack at this point... you are far too behind in troop strength to waste any in fighting. For now, we must concentrate upon getting our own economy churning out weapons.

10.) When the Toolsmith is built, you should see that he gets a total of 4 iron (Stocks and what the Blacksmith converts). Use these to build the following;

11.) Build one Iron Mine on the hill as shown in Picture 4 , and one Coal mine in the area here inPicture 5

12.) Build an Armory. Check whether anyone goes to fill the location. If not, you will probably need a hammer. Make one with the Toolsmith.

13.) Build an extra Wood Cutter to the south, or perhaps two. Use Toolsmith to make the Hatchets for them.

14.) Now it depends on how fast you've cleared the trees and stones to the south as to what we do next. If they are still standing, build a Goldsmith and Gold mine just above it, where Picture 6 shows. If you have enough Iron left, build a pickaxe and hammer/pliers if the two need the tools. Once the area to the south is clear enough though, we want to get some source of food built as fast as possible... So...

15.) Build a Farm, Windmill and Bakery either to the south, or as Picture 7 shows, to the North. You should not need the tools for this; The Northern option has the advantages of not requiring any clearing before you can build, and of burning down the stone mines Red will have built on the other side of the hill, but might trigger a retaliatory attack... better to go south at first if you aren't feeling too strong!

16.) Also be aware that around the time you begin to produce weapons, the Red peeps will launch an attack on you, so use your judgement as to when to send a Medium defense of the bases closest to him; too early and you risk allowing your strength to fall too far behind (and getting close to the dread 25% figure overall which ends your game) Also, don't forget to exchange the defending units in your Guard Huts with either of the top 2 Knights (Mohawk Man and Plume Person) so as to keep your training levels high. This bit I can't help with alas, and you may need to go back a few times to an earlier save position until you get the timing right...

17.) Something else to look out for is where Red has placed his trees... whilst you are building the farms, it may be worth trying to build a Wood Cutter near his forests, to steal his lumber and speed up your own building production.

18.) Ok, we have bread coming in now... This should be enough to feed the 2 mines we have, and start a continuous Weapons production chain. If you haven't already, put up the Goldsmith and Gold mine. Then, build a new Farm near the Windmill/Bakery, and create a scythe ready for the worker who'll go there. Place a Coal mine somewhere on the hills south of the Farms, and link that to the Goldsmith.

19.) Now this is where luck really comes into it.

In theory, it should be possible to just ignore him and churn out gold until your knights have monsterous attack bonuses, but as already mentioned, in my experience once Red notices you are starting to keep pace with him militarily, he attacks you.

We can still defeat the Red people with only 30% comparative Army size, which is what I had by this stage compared to him and we need to corner him early because we run the risk of running out of stone if we let him destroy too many buildings; but it depends entirely on how lucky you are with defending your huts from the enemy, and how quickly you can grab some of his as to whether we beat this level I believe. It's vitally important you don't lose too many high level knights, because what you want to do is this; Look at Picture 8 ... You'll notice that I've started taking the huts around his Keep. In particular, I've grabbed one right in the middle of his territory... this is extremely useful, even if we don't destroy many of his buildings, because it jams his roads with settlers and goods, slowing his economy down enormously. How do we grab them? What you do (apart from endlessly reload) is wait until you have enough gold to enable your men to attack successfully, then watch his huts. At some point he'll drop his huts down to minimum defense, ready to refill them with harder men... attack now, and grab what you can. You can also do this when he comes to attack you; go for the building he's just left undefended; The aim is not to attack his mines or anything else, just get every building around his keep, so it's seperated from the rest of his land.

In all honesty though, I dont think it's actually possible to beat this level without reloading until you win the important battles... although I may just be too inefficient or too slow; I'd be very interested in seeing someone beat it in one try, as I doubt I can. When ever I try and horde Gold he comes and slaps my small economy silly. But the end game should be played something like this;

20.) At the point you've got his Keep surrounded, the enemy more or less gives in... to ensure he does, build as many huts as you can around his Keep to shrink the territory to the point where he can't build any huts inside there. Once he's unable to attack from within that wee zone, he stops fighting entirely. You can now out economy him to victory... Woo hoo! The fastest way to force his stats down is to destroy the huts protecting warehouses first, thus killing any knights hidden inside.

21.) Eventually, Sit back and enjoy the ending screens..! And then curse games which whilst great over all, but force you to load and reload and reload to beat the incredibly imbalanced final level... Dune 2, I'm looking at you as well!

[Shoonay]

Thanks Titler

Now that's gonna take a while...

Anyways i should do a little break from that game or i'll get , if not worse ...
So seeya in about few hours/days/months ...

And then... it's beating the 30th mission time

[Pink]

Well done Titler.

I'm so useless at explaining things. On the last level I reload when I do the littlest thing wrong. Even if it's just building the wrong tool.

Dune 2's last level was stoopid. Anyone for building twenty palaces?

[zardoz]

Yay!!! Completed last night, after 11 years I've finally finished this game. And then I took Mrs Z out for a celebratory curry

Thanks all for your help, I didn't read too many of the spoilers, just took a little of Pink's advise and reloaded if I got trounced in battle.

My only little niggling criticism of this superb game is that the AI isn't too hot. Two player anyone... ?

BTW I hope all you Settler's fans have played the original boardgame? (This page suggests it was published in 1995, two years after the Blue Byte game but I think I'm right suggesting that the board game was the inspiration for the miggy version..)