The Rockshoal Isles - walkthrough | Commonwealth Campaign AoW III Guide
Last update: 11 May 2016
Conditions of victory:
1. Conquer the Rockshoal Isles
2. Laryssa must survive
3. Edward must survive
Side missions:
1. Gain an Ally
2. Sabotage the dam
a) Raze the watchtower
b) Reach the dam unseen
c) Blame the sabotage on Zerti (optionally)
This mission is the continuation of the campaign, from the point in which you helped Laryssa and supported Torchbearers, in mission 4 (Matters of Duty).
Start in the same way as usual, by distributing skills to the leaders and be securing the region. Also, start the production of units and the exploration of the undergrounds, with Goblin Assassins. Try to take away from them as much gold as possible. After you have secured your islet, you should go towards the Western island, where you will find a good spot to found a city. Again, clear the region. Now, as you already have 3 cities, you should have no problems gathering victorious army. Most probably, you will have the opportunity to enter peace with one of the opponents. Take advantage of the time this has bought you and start producing your army, as well as securing your position. Then, attack the individual players, one by one.
This mission, in itself, is not too demanding and does not cause too much problems but, due to the size of the map, and the numbers of enemies, it is time-consuming. The cities that belong to Quosk Roothealer can be found in the West, the ones that belong to Rish Kyan the Red are located to the East of your starting position. The final two opponents are: Zerti the Sleek -to the North-East, whereas the last opponent, Argula Ironheart, is in the North-Western corner of the map and in its center. If possible, try to capture the enemy Throne Cities and defeat the opposing leaders in battle straight away. This way, you will save units, which you would otherwise lose, while attempting to seize all cities. If you want to round out your army, a good idea is to capture a city and include it in your Empire. Then, you could take a short rest to regenerate your losses. Elimination of all 4 opponents ends the mission and starts the last chapter of the campaign.
Side missions
Gain an Ally - it consists in entering an alliance with any of your opponents. It is a good idea to do that at the very beginning, when the relations are not yet that bad (you can improve the by opening your borders)
Sabotage the dam - to sneak to the dam command your assassins to the undergrounds, towards the exit from the caves marked on the map. The purpose of this is to end up on the surface, right next to the enemy watchtower. Before you surface, you will be allowed to choose from among two options - sacrifice your army and blame it on the other player (losing the army), or not to. Blaming another player will result in the deterioration of relations between Zertim and Rish'em which will lead to war, which is what you would profit from. After you surface, capture the watchtower, and raze it to the ground (raze). In the case in which you are spotted, you can be sure that Rish Kyan will blame it on you. If you decide to sacrifice your army, after some time, you will be able to make peace with Rish Kyan, who will ask you for that himself (the "Offer help" option, one turn after the destruction of the dam).
Hints
1. Dfeating the enemies is time consuming. It is best, therefore, to deal with one enemy at a time, two at most, thanks to which you will not have to fight them all simultaneously. When it comes to the order, in which you attack them it is up to you but, it is best to start with those of the cities that are located the closest.
2. In the undergrounds, there are lots of independent cities, which can join your empire, in exchange for gold, or performing a quest. Due to the fact that there are relatively few enemies in the undergrounds, these cities may prove to be your treasury that produces lots of gold., which would allow you to maintain a numerous army.
3. If you are not able to ensure due safety to the cities that you captured, and you do not want them to be recaptured, instead of including them in your empire, you can plunder and destroy them. As a result, by the time that they are restored (and the computer is not too quick to that), they will disappear from the map and will not be able to be captured, as a result.