Father's Day Walkthrough

You start in the middle of the map with the Sage, a Mechanic, a Chief Engineer, 7 Shock Troopers, 5 Tortoises and 5 Automatons. All four monarchs of Darien are camped round you as one enemy with 126 units: Aramon in the east, Veruna in the west, Zhon in the north and Taros in the south. Each side has a monarch, factories that switch on over time, and builders who raise towers facing you. You win only when every enemy unit is destroyed, and you lose if the Sage dies.

No enemy unit is ordered to attack you at the start, but the danger grows with every factory that switches on. Use the first ten minutes to fill the park's 12 free sacred sites, stop Aramon's builders before they reach the Trebuchets in their orders, and fortify the raised square around the Sage. Then break out one side at a time. The mission sets the same forces at every difficulty, and it runs a script of its own, which may add events that this guide does not list.

The Battlefield

The map is a city with a great park in the middle. The Sage stands in a garden on a raised square at the park's centre. The square's north and south edges are steep walls, and its east and west sides slope down through rocky ground. The square and the park around it hold all 12 free sacred sites. Outside the park, a paved street runs round the map, and each house's buildings stand along its own edge. Each corner has two small walled blocks with a sacred site and three towers.

Map of Father's Day 1234567ABCDEFGHI
The planEnemy positionsYour unitsEnemy unitsHover a dot to see the unit and its orders. · Map 6,880 × 6,880 pixels · Scroll or pinch on the map to zoom; drag to move. Hover over a feature or a resource for its details.
  • 1The Sage. Four 2.0 sites lie in the garden around it.
  • 2Two 1.5 sites on the west side of the square, at (2112, 2656) and (2112, 4160).
  • 3Two 1.5 sites on the east side, at (4528, 2704) and (4528, 4160).
  • 4A 1.5 site, with another at (2368, 1584).
  • 5A 1.5 site in the southern park.
  • 6A 1.5 site in the western park.
  • 7Catch Aramon's Mage Builders here, where they start their line of Watch Towers.
  • AA Mage Builder, with a second one helping him. Their orders end with 2 Trebuchets and a Keep.
  • BThe Keep. Elsin walks here to guard it. It starts building at 15:00.
  • CThe Barracks. It builds from the start.
  • DLokken, guarded by the Heligrin. Once his Caged Demons are built, Lokken goes to guard the Abyss at E. The Temple, at (4160, 6496), starts building at 20:00.
  • EThe Abyss. It starts building at 13:20.
  • FThe Cabal. It builds from the start.
  • GThe Citadel. Kirenna walks here to guard it. It starts building at 10:00.
  • HThe Enclave. It builds from the start.
  • IThirsha, with the Beast Handler and the Beast Tamer. The Beast Lord stands further west, at (1792, 416).

The Monarchs' Timetable

Time What happens
From the start Patrols: 2 Knights in the east between (6128, 2048) and (6240, 5568), 4 Amazon Knights in the west between (448, 5376) and (448, 1088), 3 Dark Hands and 2 Black Knights in the south between (1168, 6128) and (5568, 6096), and 2 Drakes in the north between (1168, 608) and (5632, 640). Builders start towers: 11 Watch Towers along x 6160 and 5 Strongholds in the east, 14 Mage Towers in the south, 13 of them along z 6048, 4 Guard Towers, 2 Bastions and a Lighthouse in the west, and 8 Death Totems in the north, built by Thirsha. Lokken builds Caged Demons at (3200, 6000), (3456, 6000) and (3200, 6160). Four priests each build 2 Divine Lodestones on the corner sites.
After 5:00 The Barracks builds 2 Spyhawks, waits 5 minutes, then trains 5 Archers, 5 Swordsmen and 5 Horsemen in turn, with a 5-minute pause after each batch. The Cabal and the Enclave work the same way after their 2 scouts: the Cabal waits 6:40, then trains Executioners, Black Knights and Ghost Ships; the Enclave waits 11:40, then trains Crossbowmen, Warriors, Catapults and Mer Warriors.
10:00 The Citadel starts: Amazon Knights, Berserkers, Musketeers, Crusaders and a Dirigible. The Beast Handler starts on Hunters and Trolls.
13:20 The Abyss starts: Skeleton Archers, Iron Beaks, Rictus, Dark Hands and Fire Demons.
15:00 The Keep starts: Mage Archers, Barbarians, Knights, 2 Titans and a Rolling Tower. The Beast Tamer starts on 24 Spirit Wolves.
20:00 The Temple starts: Liches, Blade Demons and Sky Knights. The Beast Lord starts on Jungle Orcs and Stone Giants.
After the eastern towers The Mage Builders wait 20 minutes, then build Trebuchets at (6448, 2928) and (6448, 3984) and a Keep at (6704, 3488).
60:00 27 units standing in lines to the east, west and south come off their waits.

The seven factories train 5 units of a kind at a time (but 2 Titans, 1 Rolling Tower and 1 Dirigible) and repeat their cycles with 5-minute pauses. The three Zhon beast-masters build one unit after another, with no pauses.

The Plan

Claim the Park (0:00 to 10:00)

  1. Have the Sage and the Mechanic put Mana Refineries on the four 2.0 sites at 1. Each costs 280 and makes 20 mana a second.
  2. Have the Chief Engineer build a Smithy for more Mechanics and Tortoises, then an Academy.
  3. Send Mechanics to the sites at 2 and 3, then to 4, 5, 6 and (2368, 1584).
  4. At once, send the 5 Tortoises and the 5 Automatons east to 7. Kill the two Mage Builders from A as they start the Watch Tower line at (6160, 1904), 710 from 7. A Tortoise reaches 805, a Watch Tower 500. The Automatons hold off the 2 Knights who patrol that side.

Hold the Square (10:00 to 30:00)

  1. Build Prismatic Mirrors at the top of the east and west slopes, at 2 and 3. A Mirror reaches 1,478, further than any enemy tower or unit except the Trebuchet.
  2. Ring the garden with Gatling Crossbows. Many enemy units fly: the 2 Drakes, Thirsha herself, and the Iron Beaks, Sky Knights, Ghost Ships and Dirigibles that the factories train. Tortoises cannot hit flying units; Crossbows, Mirrors and Shock Troopers can.
  3. Keep the Sage at 1. Its Mortar reaches 1,200 for 1,207 damage, at 180 personal mana a shot.
  4. Let the Tortoises at 7 work down the Watch Tower line from outside its reach. Each tower has 4,700 hit points.

Break Out (30:00 Onwards)

  1. Go east first. Take the Barracks at C and the Keep at B, and kill Elsin with Tortoises and Shock Troopers, out of reach of his 5,000-damage Earthen Wave (range 120).
  2. Then the south. Tortoises out-range the Mage Towers (805 against 500). Take the Cabal at F, the Temple and the Abyss at E, and kill Lokken and the Heligrin from range.
  3. Then the west: the Citadel at G, the Enclave at H and Kirenna.
  4. Finish in the north. The Stone Giants reach 900, beyond a Tortoise, so lead with Prismatic Mirrors built by your Mechanics.
  5. Sweep the corner blocks and the Lodestones. Every enemy unit must go.

Which Units Beat Theirs

Enemy unit Its threat Your answer
Trebuchet 2,001 damage, range 2,700; cannot hit anything within 500; 2,975 hit points Stop the builders. If one is built, get inside 500.
Mage Tower Lightning, 1,350 damage every 3.8 seconds, range 500; 17,189 hit points Tortoises (805) or Prismatic Mirrors
Death Totem Lightning, 492 damage, range 607; 13,432 hit points Tortoises or Prismatic Mirrors
Stone Giant 1,269 damage, range 900; 10,310 hit points Prismatic Mirrors, the Sage's Mortar
Spirit Wolf Blade, 818 damage every 1.6 seconds; speed 2.4 Shock Troopers behind the Automatons
Sky Knight Flies; fire breath, 790 damage, range 600 Gatling Crossbows and Prismatic Mirrors
Lokken 16,000 hit points; cloaks; Fire Wave, 5,000 damage, range 120 Keep him at range: Tortoises, Mirrors, the Sage's Mortar
Rolling Tower Ballista, 1,105 damage, range 525; 16,000 hit points Tortoises or Prismatic Mirrors

Mana

The map has 28 sacred sites. Twelve lie free in the park: the four 2.0 sites at 1 and eight 1.5 sites, at 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 and at (2368, 1584). Mana Refineries on all twelve cost 3,360 and make 200 mana a second. The Sage adds 10 more.

Each house has 2 Lodestones on sites near its edge of the park: Aramon at (5664, 1024) and (4992, 1280), Zhon at (960, 976) and (1840, 1616), Veruna at (1040, 5664) and (1904, 5200), and Taros at (5648, 5696) and (4480, 5664). The eight 2.0 sites in the corner blocks are where the four priests build their Divine Lodestones. Destroy any of these and the site is free for a Refinery of your own.

Traps

  • If the Sage dies, you lose. Never let an enemy monarch near it: Elsin, Kirenna, Thirsha and Lokken each have a spell that does 5,000 damage at range 120.
  • The Trebuchets in the Mage Builders' orders reach 2,700. From (6448, 2928) one would hit your Refineries on the east side of the square.
  • One Mage Tower in the southern builder's orders stands at (4896, 4448), inside the park, not on the southern line. From there it would reach your site at (4528, 4160).
  • Every factory repeats its cycle. The longer the stand-off lasts, the larger the armies become.
  • At 60:00, 27 units in the lines east, west and south of you come off their waits.

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