Act I "Blood" - Mission 5: "Temples Of The Aztec" — "Age Of Empires III" Campaign Guide

Mission 5: “Temples of the Aztec”

Definitely one of the toughest missions so far, Temples of the Aztec in AoE 3 has you allying with the Aztec and defending their city while you await reinforcements to take on the Spanish Conquistadors who are the new threat in South America. The Ottomans on the other hand have been vanquished and scattered to the wind.

Primary Objective: Build a Trading Post at the Aztec village

"Age of Empires 3" - Act I Ice - Mission 5: Temples of the Aztec (1 of 9) — Fighting at the river crossing in Temple of the Aztecs, rescuing the first group of prisoners here.

You begin this mission without a town or Covered Wagon, with just a small army at your disposal. Start by moving southeast to find some Aztec prisoners captured by the Spanish that you can rescue. Saving them will grant you additional soldiers and give you the location of the nearby native settlement. Command Morgan to build the Trading Post while you send your forces further southeast to encounter more prisoners and an outpost.

Secondary Objective: Rescue more Aztec prisoners

"Age of Empires 3" - Act I Blood - Mission 5: Temples of the Aztec (2 of 9)

"Age of Empires 3" - Act I Blood - Mission 5: Temples of the Aztec (3 of 9)

"Age of Empires 3" - Act I Blood - Mission 5: Temples of the Aztec (4 of 9)

At the next group of prisoners and the tower, focus on the Rodeleros first to free the Aztecs who can then help you finish off the Outpost. By now Morgan should have finished building the Trading Post which will bring you a single ship which drops off a Covered Wagon and some Settlers. Hold off on building the Town Center for now as it will trigger Spanish attacks while sending your Settlers about to start building structures like Barracks and a Market to be ready to mass produce units later and resourcing wood mostly for this purpose. Building a church and training a Priest is an excellent help in this mission considering your limited forces early on.

Move further along the east with your forces to find some treasure and continue until you reach a river crossing that allows you to travel north. Cross the river to find another group of Aztecs held by some Spanish cavalry, some nearby treasure and just a bit further north of that, Spanish Rodeleros guarding a second group of prisoners. After you rescued the group guarded by Rodeleros, head west without going any further north, as approaching the Spanish base to closely will trigger an overwhelming attack.

Traveling to the west and trough the path to the west side of the map that exists just to the south of the left Aztec Temple you will find more prisoners and treasure along with a Spanish Barracks you should destroy to prevent from giving you grief later on. Heading north you can find one last treasure of a pair of Incan soldiers then to the right of that the final group of Aztec prisoners. After rescuing these troops, head back to the centro of the Aztec town. Again, avoid getting too close to the Spanish, (think of the minimap as a clock, the Spanish base is at 1:30) even though there is a treasure nearby it of some gold, it is a trap as you cannot get close to it without triggering a massive attack.

Primary Objective: Build a Town Center and Protect the Temples

"Age of Empires 3" - Act I Blood - Mission 5: Temples of the Aztec (5 of 9)

"Age of Empires 3" - Act I Blood - Mission 5: Temples of the Aztec (6 of 9)

"Age of Empires 3" - Act I Blood - Mission 5: Temples of the Aztec (7 of 9)

Build your Town Center near the river crossing to the southeast of the temples on the north side to keep it relatively out of the way and prevent the need to defend it too often and if so, close enough to the temples to quickly get troops there. Once your Town Center is built, the Aztecs send for reinforcements and you must hold out against Spanish waves for 15 minutes to await additional forces. You will need to save at least one Temple to satisfy the primary objective and two to satisfy the secondary objective. The series of shipments you should have saved up by now are probably best spent on all Settlers off the bat to boost your economy quickly.

The first wave will be massive, so prepare yourself and make as much use of Morgan’s special attack as possible. If you managed to train a Priest he will really come in handy here, healing your army as they fight. The Spanish will usually bring a packaged Fort which they will try to build in the middle of the Aztec town. Rush this as quickly as you can if you see it and if it starts to build, fight any nearby enemies real quick and get some units throwing torches at it pronto. If the Fort gets built its pretty much game over as it will decimate your forces.

The waves after this initial decimation of your defenders will be substantially lighter, but you will still need to build up additional units quickly. Remember you can repair the Aztec Temples whenever they are not currently being fired at but you will need the saved up wood to do so. Falconets will be more present in the later waves than the initial and should be the focus of your efforts whenever present since they pose the biggest threat to the Temples.

Primary Objective: Find and destroy the Spanish Town Center

"Age of Empires 3" - Act I Blood - Mission 5: Temples of the Aztec (8 of 9)

"Age of Empires 3" - Act I Blood - Mission 5: Temples of the Aztec (9 of 9)

Once the timer runs out, the Spanish waves thin out and die off with the arrival of a massive force of native warriors that are quickly transferred under your control. Take these units and wipe the remaining Spanish from the city, take some time to build a couple Mortar while reinforcing your army before moving against the Spanish base.

There will be a few handfuls of defenders left but considering how much they expended their forces to effeminate the Aztec temples you should have little sustained resistance to your demolition of their settlement. The Mortar come in handy by taking out the gates or walls before your forces move in to prevent losses to enemy units firing at them from within the walls. Upon bringing their Town Center to the ground, this mission is complete.