Trap Map: Unification

Name	Unification
Minimum level	140
Maximum number of participants	3
Size of a party	main + 2
Time limit	40 min
Total number of vehicles allowed	1
Entry fee	18 M
Total upgrade cost	20 M
Catapult cost	15 M
Reward	12 x Chieftain’s Treasure (“240 gc”)
XP victory bonus	2,275,000,000

When you consider doing this mission it can be assumed that you are an old hand at TBS missions. You know what to do. Go forth and kill and don’t run into traps, the whole thing. And of course you have your sworn-in TBS mission troupe which is invariably the same.

You want to succeed in Unification? Forget it all. Ok, not all – but a lot.

In this mission your task is to befriend the Zulu. Friendship is gained by NOT killing Zulu monsters while they still try to kill you. At the start all is normal. There are a few monsters and a few traps. Do as you always do and kill them.

Then a cut-scene interrupts your routine, announcing a test phase. From now on you must not kill any monsters which have “Zulu” in their name (that would be mainly Zulu snakes). At first that is no issue but they will appear quite massively after the “Second Test” is announced. That lasts until a cut-scene comes near the boss area and all Zulu monsters disappear.

During the test phase (the phase where you must not kill Zulu mobs) you have obviously a problem. This problem won’t get better if you factor in the magic the Zulu snakes can cast. So it is time for radical measures: Take an empress or a monk (yes, that old weak bastard) with you. I would recommend an empress because she is better in dishing out damage later on.

These Zulu mobs can’t do real harm when you are in holy guard state (or empress’ blessing). As a side effect you could walk through traps unhindered but there aren’t any when the test starts. You have to avoid being stunned, too, so take awakening scrolls VI with you.

My party consists of cannon main, sheriff and empress for this mission. When the test phase begins, the routine is as follows:

1. Turn 1:a) Sheriff moves forward but not too far and spams awakening VI.b) Cannon main moves forward and attacks non-Zulu monsters (if any). c) Empress moves forward and blesses the whole group which stands usually in a vertical line so that the blessing gets to all members. The formation I strive for is: Empress stands at the top of the queue, followed by cannon main, followed by sheriff. If I can I use the stockades to block the Zulu monsters. You want to be not surrounded totally by Zulu mobs because then you would have to kill one of them.

2. Turn 2:All toons advance and kill if needed (or drink potions if necessary).

Rinse and repeat until test phase is at an end.

If you are not holy guarded you are utterly screwed and your party will be wiped out: first petrified (frozen/stunned), then killed slowly.

The catapult moves far behind, so far behind in fact, that the Zulu monsters don’t attack it.

If you get totally blocked you may kill a Zulu monster or two or even three. But be careful to kill no more than three (or three times, I am not sure which exactly triggers the fail condition of this mission). If you do it right you should come through with at most killing one.

After the test phase ends all Zulu monsters disappear. To be accurate, the test phase does not really end but the nasty “Don’t kill Zulu”-condition goes away. All what is left is the Final Test. That is a boss fight, and you know how to do it.

I move a bit back to heal up and get ready, then I attack the boss (the boss usually is quite eager to be attacked and moves conveniently up to you).

The boss has two forms, like some of the monsters in the Mysterious Saloon or the 1000 year old python at the end of the Hwarang quest. While the second looks quite sturdy he is only a minor improvement of the first form, as far as deadliness goes.

Here is a video – with a lot of mistakes, but I commented them so they may even useful to learn from them.

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