Zeus Walkthroughs: The Voyages of Jason
» Episode 1: Rescuing a Hero
Goals- Fulfill a forthcoming Quest (Rescue Theseus from Hades)
- Slay a monster (Cerberus)
- Treasury of 3,000
Hints & Tips
Iolcus is an abundant land with many resources. However, the open space available to build your city is scarcer than most parent cities in Zeus, so you need to conserve space. Also, the howling Cerberus will arrive shortly and you want to avoid building over his turf if possible.
To rescue Theseus and slay Cerberus, you will need to summon the hero Hercules. Read ahead to see his requirements now so you can begin preparing for his arrival. If you set things up well in advance, you can minimize the damage Cerberus does to your city.
Begin by building a Common Housing block not too far from the immigrant entrance point (where the road enters the playing area at the northwest corner of the large landmass). You can delete the roads already in place and rebuild them where you want.
From the outset, you can export cheese, fleece, wood, and olive oil - all of which (except the olive oil) you can produce in Iolcus. Therefore, focus on cheese and fleece production. That way, you will be able to provide food and fleece to your people and export any excess for profit. There are two meadows in Iolcus on opposite sides of the playing area. Make sure that you do not place animals from the same species (either sheep or goats) on both meadows. Doing so will cause your shepherds and/or goatherds to walk enormous distances to collect fleece and cheese. Instead, isolate cheese production in one meadow, and fleece production in the other (or both on the same).
To ensure smooth distribution of fleece from the meadows to your people and trade buildings, follow these tips. Build your Carding Sheds between your city and the meadow, but closer to the meadow. Then place a Storehouse between the Sheds and the city, not too far from the Sheds. Right-click on the Storehouse and click the small "x" to set all goods to "don't accept". Next, click on the button next to fleece until it is set to "accept". The Sheds will produce fleece from the sheep, and deliver it to this Storehouse. Then build another Storehouse near your Agoras and set it to "get" fleece. This Storehouse will send out deliverymen to get fleece from the "accepting" Storehouse and bring it near your Agoras for easy distribution. Trading Posts and Piers act like "getting" storehouses, so they too will benefit from this arrangement. Use this same technique to distribute other goods and most food. It will not work perfectly with cheese, however, since Dairies will always deliver to a Pier first. Be careful that the act of exporting cheese doesn't slow down production so much that your people don't get fed. Placing the Pier near the Dairies and then limiting the amount of cheese to store there can help speed up cheese production.
Early in the episode, two important events will occur. First, you will receive a quest from Apollo, and will need to summon Hercules to the city. Second, you will be offered a gift of wine from Eritrea. The Hero's Hall to Hercules requires the following to summon him to Iolcus:
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- Hercules Hall has excellent cultural access
- Win any Pan-Hellenic game
- Excellent city-wide Gymnasium access
- 1,500 people in the city
- 32 amphorae of wine
Build a storehouse right away and set it to accept only wine. You will be receiving periodic gifts of wine, and it's very important that you don't miss one, otherwise it could take forever to summon Hercules.
To meet the population goal, evolve your housing to the highest level possible. Without olive oil, you will be limited to Tenements, which contain up to forty people. So you will need at least 38 full Tenements to reach 1,500 people and summon Hercules.
You will receive demands for wood and food from your rival Stymphalus. You can ignore these demands if you want, though you run the risk of provoking an attack. If they attack, you have to surrender or bribe them. Don't surrender to them more than once, since doing so will result in you losing the game outright, and having to start over.
Eventually Cerberus, the three-headed hound dog of the Underworld, will appear in your city, snarling and growling around just north of the eastern meadow. Cerberus will destroy buildings, animals, and people in his general vicinity, but probably won't venture too far away. Just be sure to keep an eye on him, so you can replace any buildings, sheep, or goats that he destroys. (Hint: if you can avoid placing any sheep or goats at higher elevation, he'll leave you alone, because they will not be able to wander into his radius of destruction.)
When your labor pool is large enough, begin harvesting wood and selling it to Lemnos.
Eventually, you should be able to stockpile the necessary wine and summon Hercules. When he arrives, he will fight and kill Cerberus. Then you can send him on his quest and you should be ready to advance to the next episode.
» Episode 2: Return of Theseus
Goals- Fulfill a forthcoming quest (the Horn of Amalthea)
- Slay a monster (the Calydonian boar)
Hints & Tips
In this episode, you can add a Palace to your city. This will give you the ability to defend yourself against any invading rivals.
Continue trading wood, cheese, and fleece until you receive the quest announcement. You will need to summon the hero Theseus to retrieve the Horn of Amalthea. Place his Hall next to the Palace with one tile separating them. Then, right-click on the Hall to see his requirements. Theseus requires the following:
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- Build the Hall near the Palace
- Good appeal around the Hall
- Hall is protected by walls
- 32 slabs of marble
- 16 amphorae of wine
Periodically give gifts of excess wood, fleece, and cheese to your allies during this episode. That way their favor will be high going into the next episode where you will need to ask them for goods.
You should have been receiving marble and wine as gifts up to now. If you still lack the amount needed for Theseus, import them or request them from allies. When you have met these five requirements, summon Theseus. If the Calydonian Boar hasn't shown up yet, send Theseus on his quest. Otherwise, wait for him to kill the Boar before dispatching him. Once he has finished the quest and killed the monster, you'll move along to the next episode.
» Episode 3: A New Hero Arrives
Goals- Fulfill a forthcoming quest (The Golden Fleece)
- Treasury of 5,000
- 24 jugs of olive oil for colony
- 24 skeins of fleece for colony
- 24 sheaves of wheat for colony
Hints & Tips
You will need Jason to acquire the Golden Fleece. He requires the following before popping in for a visit:
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- 3 triremes
- 2 horsemen companies
- 64 crates of food
- 8 horses
- 16 amphorae of wine
Since olive oil lets you further evolve your Common Housing and to build Elite Houses, make the Arbor of Athena your first priority. You should have been receiving gifts of marble up to this point. You can supplement your initial stash with marble imported or requested from abroad. You can supply your own wood, but will need to acquire sculptures from your ally Naxos. When you have 24 units of marble stored in your city, you can place the Arbor of Athena. Be careful to place the Arbor near to the Storehouses containing marble, wood, and sculptures. This will ensure speedy delivery to the construction site. Build several Artisans' Guilds to further speed up production. Keep in mind that the Guilds eat up lots of employment, and you can't shut them down when they're not needed.
If you haven't already, plant some Wheat Farms. You need wheat to feed the horses Jason requires, and to set aside for the colony. Build a Granary or Storehouse set to accept only wheat. Nearby, set up your Horse Ranches. Each Ranch can maintain a maximum of six horses, so you will need two to meet Jason's requirement.
When the Arbor of Athena is completed, build a Storehouse and set it to accept only olives and olive oil. Then, right-click on the Sanctuary and pray to Athena. She will keep you supplied with both. You may also harvest olives directly from her Sacred Grove by building two or three Growers' Lodges. It's a good idea to keep any oil presses right next to Athena's Sanctuary. If she passes by an oil press, there is a chance she will bless it. Presses yield much more oil for if they are blessed (as long as they have olives).
Supply your Common Housing with olive oil to evolve them to the highest possible level - Townhouse. You will need additional people to supply the workforce for your expanding city.
With a good supply of olive oil in hand, lay down your Elite Housing district. Make sure that these wealthy inhabitants have all the supplies and services they need to fully evolve their housing into Estates. Each Estate can supply four horsemen to the army, so you will need at least three Estates to meet the requirements for Jason. (Hint: they don't need to be complete horseman units.)
When you have ample excess labor, begin work on your triremes. Import armor from Naxos. When you have armor and wood in your city, place a single Trireme Wharf. When the first trireme is completed, left-click on the trireme and send the workers home. You can then build the next wharf without draining your workforce of the 100 employees needed to man the Wharf. Repeat this process with the third Wharf.
You may need to import additional wine to store enough for Jason. When you have 16 amphorae and have met the other requirements, summon the hero to your city. When he arrives, you can send him on his quest. You might also take this opportunity to enlist him in a conquest of your sole rival Troezan, just for kicks!
When you are ready, set aside the goods for you colony and prepare to move on to the next episode. Note that you must choose between two options, Corinth and Corcyra. Corinth requires building a fairly large city focused on armor production and military units. When completed, it will produce armor and wheat and will buy fleece. Corcyra is more focused on commercial enterprises. When completed, it will produce wheat, sculpture, and wine, and will buy fleece. For the purposes of the Hints and Tips, we will address both colonies separately.
» Episode 4a: Corinth Colony: The Way of the Sword
Goals- Support 2 triremes
- Support 12 hoplites or better
- Produce 36 suits of armor in one year
Hints & Tips
One word: lava! In Corinth you are asked to build a big city replete with large-scale industrialization and an Elite Housing district. But if you happen to build this city in the wrong place, you are going to seriously regret it. Why? Because a few years into the episode there is going to be a huge earthquake and volcanic eruption in the northeast corner of the playing area, right about where most people decide to do their building. You can save yourself a lot of grief by planning your city with this in mind.
Build your Common Housing block on the lower plateau near the southeast corner of the playing area. Gifts of food, fleece, and olive oil from Iolcus should be enough to get you started. Next build a large wheat industry to supply food to your growing population. You may eventually need to import fleece and olive oil, but for now you can survive off the supplies sent from Iolcus.
As soon as your employment situation allows, set up a large bronze and armor industry on the plateau containing the copper deposits. You will need armor for your elite housing, for export, and for requests by allies, particularly Iolcus. Also, develop a wine industry for exporting and for supplying your Elite Housing.
You will need to set up a small Elite Housing district to support the twelve hoplites required. You may want to wait until after the lava hits so you can avoid having all your work destroyed. You will need only three Manors to support the twelve hoplites.
Eventually, a huge earthquake will rip through the meadow. You can build small bridges over the cracks in the ground, but there's not much point, because soon the lava will come and make the ground it burns permanently impassable. Afterwards, you can rebuild anything that was destroyed in the land not eaten up by the lava flow.
To meet the armor production requirement, you will need nine or ten Armories working full-tilt for a year. You can then harvest the additional wood you need to build the two triremes.
You will probably be subjected to several invasions from your rivals. At least some of these invasions will probably be by sea. One way to deal with sea invasions is to try to sink the enemy transports before they land. You can do this with triremes or with rabble units stationed along the shoreline. The rabble will unleash a hail of stones and may be able to sink the transport ships before they unload their deadly cargo.
When you have finished meeting the three goals, you will be sent back to Iolcus to complete the adventure.
» Episode 4b: Corcyra Colony: The Way of the Sickle
Goals- Sanctuary to Dionysus
- 32 amphorae of wine for parent city
- 32 sheaves of wheat for parent city
- 16 pieces of sculpture for parent city
Hints & Tips
The Corcyra colony focuses on economic development. You are able to produce wine and two types of food (fish and wheat) and any other goods you may need are available from allies or your parent city.
First, build a common housing block. It can be on the eastern mainland or out on the island. Iolcus will send you wheat, fleece, and olive oil to get you started, so set up a Granary and three Storehouses to accept these. If you work efficiently, you will not need to import any additional fleece or olive oil during this episode.
Before you build a food vendor to distribute the wheat, notice that one of your goals is to dispatch 32 wheat to Iolcus. You may want to go ahead and send the wheat they sent you right back. That way, you can focus on developing a fishing industry without worrying about wheat production. Or, you might stick with wheat as a food source, since you can export it abroad for profit.
Evolve your houses as quickly as possible with the gift goods (plus additional food), culture, and appeal.
Set up a wine export industry to raise the cash for importing the 16 sculptures for Iolcus and the goods for the Grove of Dionysus. Plant a large vineyard and set up at least six Growers' Lodges. When the harvest is completed, build as many Wineries as you have Growers' Lodges. Build the exporting Docks near the wineries to smooth production and delivery.
Now you should be able to generate enough money to import the marble, wood, and sculptures you need for the sanctuary. To build the Grove, you will need wood from Thrynacia, and marble and sculptures from Naxos. The Grove requires only two sculptures, but note that you will need an extra 16 to send back the parent city. When the Grove is completed, praying to Dionysus will provide you with an even greater abundance of wine.
You have the option of building Elite Housing in this episode, but it is not recommended. Elite Housing would provide you with extra tax income, but you will end up spending a lot just to build them and keep them supplied.
When you have built the Grove of Dionysus, and dispatched the goods for Iolcus, you will be ready to return home and build a shining metropolis!
» Episode 5: Iolcus Thrives
Goals- 4 Trading partners
- Sanctuary to Zeus
- Population of 4,000
- Treasury of 10,000
- 72 people in a Residence or better
Hints & Tips
In this episode, you will complete the work of making Iolcus the greatest city in all of Greece. First off, notice that you are now able to build Tax Offices. Start taxing your citizens right away. This will vastly increase your revenues, allowing you to import more of the materials you will need to construct Zeus' Sanctuary.
You will also notice that Lemnos is still an enemy. As a result, you will have lost a valuable trading partner. This is a good time to get back at them for those attacks on you. Send your army to Lemnos to conquer them and regain their valuable trade. You can send along troops from your new colony at Corinth. You will probably need at least 24 horsemen and the Corinthians to win. Another option is to send large armed parties to Lemnos to raid them for valuable marble. Triremes are especially useful for raiding, since they can carry back large stocks of stolen goods.
When you have 48 marble in storage, get started building the Sanctuary to Zeus. You will have to be resourceful to get your hands on all the marble and sculptures you need. Use the world level to its fullest. If you want to be particularly irresponsible, you can raid your ally Naxos and bring back hordes of marble and sculpture. You can be sure, however, that taking these kinds of actions will infuriate your other allies! Then again, there's no rule saying you can't just conquer all your whiny allies and make them vassals, is there?
Aside from building the Sanctuary to Zeus, your other four goals should be fairly straightforward. You should already have at least four trading partners. If you need a few more, conquer someone! You will need to expand your Common Housing to meet the population requirement, as well as to provide additional workers to man the triremes and build the Sanctuary. Each Estate holds 20 people, so you only need four of them to meet the Residence requirement, which you should already have from episode three. Other than that, keep taxing and exporting to raise the 10,000 Drachmas required and you will have won the adventure. Bravo!