As usual, here’s a write-up on two more levels I managed to complete in Populous: The Beginning. I’m actually a few levels ahead from my blog, but I haven’t completed the game yet. I  hope I’ll get there soon, though.

Bloodlust

Bloodlust is by far the hardest level I had to play through. Even now that I’m 4-5 levels ahead, I still consider it the hardest yet. From this point on, the enemy tribes started attacking with large armies instead of small raid groups. Even worse, I was basically surrounded. I actually had to restart the level several times before I finally managed to beat it.

After a few tries, thanks to a few well placed Swamps, I managed to build up a defensive force of fire warriors, so I could build in piece from then on. After that, I tried to do the usual by building up my village, strengthening the defenses and harassing with my shaman and her spells. It wasn’t working out as well as it used to, though, since I was getting attacked from all sides. Because of this, it basically turned into a war of attrition.

Eventually, I weakened the enemy villages enough to cut the amount of attacks, so I was able to sink most of the Matak into the sea. With them out of the way, I focused on the other two villages in order, and the level was beaten.

My reward? The Bloodlust spell. I honestly haven’t used it once. I’m sure it’s good enough, but since I don’t fight any battles, I didn’t need it.

Middle Ground

Compared to Bloodlust, Middle Ground was a cakewalk. It was also a very, very awesome level. Each tribe started on one peninsula of a large island, with the four peninsulas joining in the middle, around a stone head.

Most of the time, the three tribes were fighting against each other, so I could build in peace and manage most of my defenses with the swamp spell. Eventually, I even managed to create a small plateau where I built a few towers and places some balloons.

I knew what the stone head in the middle contained – Armageddon. Armageddon is a very special spell. It creates a huge crater and teleports every living thing (other than the wildmen) into it to fight to the death. Whichever tribe survives, wins the level.

I didn’t want to risk it, though, so before I used the spell, I decided to weaken the other tribes a bit. I cast a few Earthquakes and Erodes, which was enough to severely reduce the enemy populations. I cast the spell in the middle of the island and a couple of minutes later, victory was mine.

Related Posts:

• Populous: The Beginning [13] – Completed!
• Populous: The Beginning [12] – Solo [22] and Inferno [23]
• Populous: The Beginning [11] – Archipelago [20] and Fractured Earth [21]
• Populous: The Beginning [10] – Head Hunter [18] and Unlikely Allies [19]
• Populous: The Beginning [8] – Levels 14 and 15