Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness Hints

Mission 8: The Runestone at Caer Darrow

• Mission Objectives:
  
  - Destroy the Human Castle
  - Secure the Runestone
  
  It's pretty obvious you don't have much building room, so explore a bit.   Make some more Farms and Peons while your at it.  Now, when exploring, you should find a long island on the west side of the map, with a harbor on top.   Make a Foundry and a Transport.  Put in 2 Peons and an Ogre, and send them into the harbor.  Deploy there, and move south.
  
  Eventually, you'll come across a gold mine, but it's too crowded by trees to build close.  Move farther south, and build a Great Hall near the second gold mine.  Build your new base here.  Builind a Barracks, Shipyard, Ogre Mound, and any more farms here (clear waters out with Juggernauts before building a Shipyard) as well.  Also, have a Zeppelin nearby .  To start oil production, have an Oil Tanker build an Oil Platform on the oil patch in the middle of that harbor, and have a Peon build a Refinery there as well.  Build two Cannon Towers at both mouths of the harbor in case the enemy tries to attack (although I haven't seen them do so in this position -- it's just a precaution).  Anyway, on the top island, once you run out of Lumber there, have a Transport move them to the other island where you have colonized to chop lumber.  Now begins your conquest of the Runestone.
  
  Now, depending on how fast you did all of this depends how big a fleet you will need.  At least a minimum of 5 Juggernauts will be good, but you may need more, in accordance to how many ships the enemy has.  Once you feel you have enough (it's a good idea to save here!), go and attack their Oil Platform -- it should be very close northwest of their island, although if you're too early, it will be south of it.  Wait until they build a Platform on the northern patch.  Remember to have a Zeppeling flying with you.  If missiles seem to be attacking your ship from nowhere, they're coming from a submarine.  Position a Zeppeling nearby, and the Sub will be toast in a matter of seconds.  Destroy any enemy ships on the way.
  
  Once you rid the seas of most of their ships, STAY AT THE PATCH!  Don't move, and attack the shoreline; you won't last.  Instead, hold your position.  Any incoming ships will be destroyed, and it prevents further oil production and ship building for the enemy.  Keep a Zeppelin nearby to stop Sub attacks.  The next step will be to destroy their other outpost -- the one getting all the lumber and gold that's in the lower-right hand corner of the map.
  
  Now, make several Ogres and many Trolls (and 2 Catapults), and load them into 3 Transports.  Escort these Transports with 3 Juggernauts and a Zeppelin.   Unload the guys on the west shore of the enemy's island, but don't have them do anything.  Send your Juggernauts into the enemy harbor, and have them destroy EVERYTHING they can (Refinery, Foundry, Balliastas, Knights, etc.) until you've done as much damage as possible.  Now, have your Ogres and Trolls raze the rest of the village.  You should notice that these many guys for such a little defense is overkill.  Yes, it is.  But you'll need them for the assault on the island with the Runestone on it, so you might as well have them close.  Finally, our last step here is to destroy the Humans on the island and capture the Runestone.
  
  Make some more Juggernauts (you'll need a total of 6 healthy ones) and 2 Destroyers.  Make one more Transport, put in more Ogres, a Catapult, and one Peon.  Load up all of the guys that destroyed the human village in the Transports that brought them there.  Station all of these ships (total count: 6 Juggernauts, 2 Destroyers, and 4 Transports) south of the island.  Okay, remember those ships near that oil patch I told you to keep there?  You might as well put them to use (a suicide mission, though).  Send all of them remaining to attack the buildup of Ballistas and any other things that should be on the northwest part of their island.  Your Juggernauts will be destroyed, but this will greatly help the conquest of your base.
  
  Now, send 3 Juggernauts each to attack the two Cannon Towers that are nearby, and have the Destroyers move close, to distract the Ballistas and Archers.  Unload 3 of the 4 Transports (don't unload the one with the Peon) and have them station themselves there.  Any forces that attack you will be crushed if you have enough units.  Stay there until the enemies stop coming (they won't make any more, because you got rid of their farms, and they probably don't have much gold).  Unload the final Transport.  Have a Peon build a Barracks and a Shipyard.  Have the Shipyard make some Juggernauts to go around and destroy the other Cannon Towers around.  Once they are gone, destroying the Castle with your Barracks right near it should be easy.  To capture the Runestone, simply get close to it.  Once the Castle is gone, and Runestone is yours, pat yourself on the back.
  

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