Aerial Bombardment
From Populous Wiki
| Aerial Bombardment |
 |
| Mode : Singleplayer |
| Players : 3 |
| Stone Heads : 3 |
| Vault of Knowledges : 2 |
| Alliances : N/A |
| Difficulty : Medium |
Aerial Bombardment is the 13th level in Populous The Beginning, where the player faces the Chumara and the Matak tribes. The level is known for the balloon attacks.
Starting Speech
"I sense a new threat...an attack from the skies. I must make ready for the battle to come. "
<html5media height="720" width="1280">https://ts.popre.net/files/mp3s/Level%2013%20-%20Introduction.mp3</html5media>
Setting
The player starts off on a very large landmass in an area with very high land. Near is a harbour with plenty of wildmen. West of the harbour is an island with a Stone Head on it. The land north of blue's base is low land that leads to the Matak village which has a Vault of Knowledge and a Stone Head to the east. South of the Matak base across some water is another Stone Head.
West of the Matak Reincarnation Site is a large island where the Chumara village is. There is a Vault of Knowledge semi-surrounded by a small hill to the north of this island.
Worship Objects:
| Item | Shots | Spell/Effect | Follower Count |
| Stone Head | 3 | Magical Shield | 6 |
| Stone Head | 1 | Volcano | 5 |
| Stone Head | 1 | Firestorm | 5 |
| Vault of Knowledge | Earthquake | ||
| Vault of Knowledge | Balloon Hut |
Strategy
Start building around your Reincarnation Site while your shaman converts nearby wildmen, including those near the harbour. Continue building towards the slope that faces the Matak's settlement and build a tower there. Build a Firewarrior Training Hut and use it to make a strong defense to destroy the Matak attacks.
The Chumara attack your base using balloons. You can kill these without any problems by building towers south of your base, by a small patch of land that is close to sea level where the balloons pass to attack you. Five towers with firewarriors should be more than enough to repel all attacks. Expand your base over the low land to increase your population to 199 if you need to, but you can also block off land attacks by blocking off the north entrance to your base with Landbridge.
When you're ready to attack the Matak you can either attack by using an army and target the Vault of Knowledge on the way or you can use a shaman in a balloon as shown in the Rolling Demo. It shouldn't be too hard to defeat them. Keep her away from firewarriors since they can kill her in two hits while she's in a balloon and use your spells to cause as much destruction as you can once they're charged.
Once the Matak base is destroyed, worship the Stone Heads south and east of their base, and also target the one on the island west of your base as well.
The strongest approach to eliminate the Chumara is by backdooring them from the Matak's Reincarnation Site (use Landbridge to gain access by land to their base using the small island in between the former Matak and the Chumara base). It is tricky attacking using a balloon as they have many firewarriors, and it only takes two hits to kill you, but this is definitely possible as well. Finish them off by planting a volcano in the heart of their base and killing the survivors. Another option for attacking them involves stealing some of the balloons that the Chumara use to attack you to put some firewarriors in them and casting Magical Shield on them. This makes them completely invulnerable to attacks aside from the enemy Shaman casting a spell such as Swarm nearby, and can allow you to finish the enemy easily.
Quick Way
First rush the Matak tribe using your starting braves and the braves you convert on the way. Once you have killed the Matak tribe build your own village there and charge Landbridge. Worship all the Stone Heads and the Vault of Knowledge near you for quick and offensive spells. Train up some troops, mainly preachers and warriors.
Once you have Landbridge backdoor the Chumara tribe and try your best to kill them using what you have.