Broken Spears is the final scenario of the Montezuma campaign in Age of Empires II: The Conquerors. In this scenario, the player's arch nemeses, Cortéz and Tlaxcala, are invading Tenochtitlan again. The player must guard Tenochtitlan by defeating them, while this time Cortéz appears to be having two forces - the Army and the Navy.
Scenario Instructions
Starting Conditions
- Starting age:
Imperial Age - Starting resources: 2000 wood, 500 food, 500 gold, 600 stone
- Population limit: 75
- Starting units:
- 14
Villagers - 12 Eagle Warriors
- 8 Jaguar Warriors
- 2 Monks
- 14
- Gaia units:
Objectives
- Defeat the Tlaxcala, the Spanish Army and the Spanish Navy.
Hints
- 1. Tenochtitlan is a vast city. However, there are multiple buildings of each type, so it should be easy to train units or research upgrades.
- 2. Defend the bridges into the great city from Spanish and Tlaxcalan land attacks, but also train ships to defend against Spanish warships and Transports. Spanish Cannon Galleons can be deadly.
Scouts
- Your scouts report: The Aztecs (green) are back in control of the great city of Tenochtitlan but enemies are approaching from all sides.
- The Tlaxcalans (red) attack from the western causeway. Their city is not well-fortified and might fall to an early attack.
- The Spanish Navy is south of Tenochtitlan. The Spanish have many Cannon Galleons patrolling the lake and their shore is defended by Bombard Towers. It still might be possible to locate an undefended landing spot.
- The Spanish army is just to the north of Tenochtitlan. The Spanish have constructed gates and Castles to defend their forces. Expect to encounter Knights, Conquistadors, Missionaries, and Bombard Cannons. The Spanish will use Transports if they cannot attack from the land.
Players
Enemies
- Cortéz Army (Spanish) is based in the northwest, or north of Tenochtitlan. They frequently attack with Conquistadores, trebuchets and Onagers. However they are the most vulnerable opponent, as destroying their town center would force them to resign, and the player may simply destroy it with trebuchets outside their gate.
- Cortéz Navy (Spanish) is based in the south of Tenochtitlan, or southeast of the map. They frequently attack with Cannon Galleons, galleons and fire ships, and might transport Siege Rams, trebuchets and Conquistadores across water to the southern part of Tenochtitlan. Their base is well-guarded by Bombard Towers. However, just as the Army, destroying the Navy's town center also forces them to resign.
- Tlaxcala (Aztecs) is based in the southwest of Tenochtitlan, and frequently attack with Eagle Warriors. At a certain point in the early gameplay, they would transport a few Eagle Warriors across water into the western part of Tenochtitlan.
Gameplay and strategy/tactics
In this scenario the player must guard Tenochtitlan, and the city is very large with many buildings. Somewhere North, the player get three Gaia Turtle Ships given by the gods. The southern bridge of Tenochtitlan is destroyed to slow Cortéz Navy's advance. The player may safely obtain gold from gold mines on the small island in the north, as there is no jaguar on the island in this scenario but only human skeletons, unlike in the fourth scenario.
In the beginning, the player need to strengthen defence against Cortéz Army and Tlaxcalan ground invasion, while building fire ships to defend against Cortéz Navy. To defend against Cortéz Army, the player shall build extra Guard Towers in the north (there is only one, initially) and station infantry around there to defend against trebuchets and onagers. To defend against Tlaxcala, the player should build gates and towers in the west. The player should upgrade the fire ships and any other relevant units as soon as possible.
The Cortéz Army can easily be defeated by destroying their Town Center with a trebuchet positioned in front of their gate; this is best done while Tlaxcala defenses are being set up at the start of the game, before they have a chance to build an actual army. Once the Town Center is destroyed, Cortéz Army will resign.
In the island west of Tenochtitlan (connected by three bridges), Tlaxcala has two barracks and also mining gold over there, which the player can take them down easily and begin mining gold. Crossing the bridge north of this island, the player would also find gold mines in the west of Cortéz Army's base.
The west and east of Cortéz Navy's base have loopholes, which the player can easily take down the Bombard Towers with trebuchets. However the player must beware not to have their transport ship being sunk by the towers. If the player has defeated Cortéz Army and Tlaxcala at this point, the player should research Spies/Treason if there is a lot of gold, in order to locate Cortéz Navy's town center, as the cost of the research would have been a lot cheaper after so many enemy villagers were eliminated.
Trivia
- Despite the player, playing as Aztecs, emerges victorious, in reality the Siege of Tenochtitlan resulted in decisive Spanish-Tlaxcalan victory which led to the downfall of the Aztec Empire, and the then-emperor Cuauhtémoc was killed a few years later.
- This scenario uses the very same map in La Noche Triste, which represents Tenochtitlan and the rain forests around it.
- Despite using same map, all of the players starting position have been changed. Also, the rain forests surrounding Tenochtitlan were also remodeled (placing of the Jungle somewhat changed)
- Cortez Navy in this scenario trains the very same type of units Cortez trains from the fourth scenario: Galleons, Fast Fire Ships, Elite Cannon Galleons, Halberdiers, Elite Conquistadors, and Missionaries. In this last scenario, they build Siege Rams instead of Mangonels in the fourth scenario
- In this scenario, the player's wonder is in place of Cortéz's wonder in the fourth scenario, and the player is possessing most of the same buildings as the "Conquered Aztecs" in that scenario. However the player needs not to defend the wonder
- Cortez Army takes the place of Conquered Aztecs from the fourth scenario
- The Tlaxcala on this scenario has built their base same location where the lone Jaguar Warrior from the fourth scenario starts.
- In the north, the player can find 3 Elite Turtle Ships.
