Chapter 3, Mission 1: The Tide's Divide

**Map 12** (Chapter 3, Mission 1) is a 9x16 large-sized map in TinyGroove. Its S-rank can be achieved if completed in <30 days. The Map is one of the most complex maps in TinyGroove; containing 5 side quests, 2 artefacts, multiple enemies, battling on land, air, and sea. The mission involves the player competing with Tenri and Koji (again) to locate a unique artefact called the Moontide Medallion. The Medallion is one of a pair of Heavensong Artefacts capable of mitigating impacts of nature in TinyGroove.

### **Mission Background**

The conflict on this map begins with a team battle with Dark Mercia and Sigrid battling against Tenri and Koji. The battle occurs in Tidewind Bay, an inter-tidal embayment in Heavensong's territory. Much of the battlefield is covered in water, and many of the areas on land are impacted by tidal flooding, which will immobilize all land units as they are caught in the tides and very slightly damage <5%/turn them as their armor rusts. This slows the progress of the battle quite a bit, but affects both sides, making flying units (who are immune to the flooding on the ground below, critically important). The tides are inherently cyclical, observing a full cycle each week with the lowest tides on days 1 and 7, and the peak flooding tides on days 3 and 4.

Thankfully the pace of this battle helps to give your units something to do in the high ground away from areas that cause your units to become stuck. There are 5 side quests on this map:

1) There are 4 wrecked boats in Tidewind Bay (one each on the North, West, East, and South ends of the map. The boast on the West side of the map is hidden in the woods near the player's Barracks. Each wreck contains lumber that was intended to be used to erect a port in the Bay. After visiting 3 of the 4 wrecks, the port will be erected in a cove with floating lumber in it near the North end of the map. Visiting all 4 will give you three warships at the locations of the floating wrecks on the following turn (once they have had time to be repaired).

2) There are 5 barrels of explosives hidden on in the map's villages. Collecting them all help you in other side quests.

3) There are three bridges over the Bay that may be detonated with your explosives, defeating all units on them and rendering them impassable for Tenri's land advances.

4) There are two limestone caves on the Map where your explosives may be used. Both provide the player with a gold bonus, half of a riddle related to a second, hidden artefact in Tidewind Bay, and further color the water white with calcium carbonate and eroded limestone.

5) The two caves (once visited with explosives to blast open the caverns) each possess half of a riddle that leads to the King(Tide)Fisher's Arch, a hidden artefact that will be needed to complete Chapter 3, Side Mission 1. Solving the meaning of this mystery requires the player to stand in a certain place at a certain time with their commander to unlock the Side Mission (which can also be unlocked from Chapter 3, Mission 2 doing something similar), and set off another side quest similar to "the Storm", Map 4, Chapter 1, Mission 1, but this time, there are seven locations on the map of importance, and simultaneously standing at all of them will net you the relic.

"If it is refuge from the elements or their control you dread, seek ye the key with Requiem above the arrow's head." (Western Cave; Phase 1 Hint)
"Beyond the palustrine reaches to the downstream delta of the watershed, a scavenger hunt begins at the beaches opposite the hydraulic head." (Eastern Cave; Phase 2 Hint)

**Phase 1:** This leads the player to navigate their commander (Dark Mercia or Elodie) to the "tip of the arrow", which is revealed through a natural flood-driven phenomenon, which occurs during day five of each seven day tidal cycle when the floodwaters are receding. Blasting open both caves on the map actually forms an arrow from the effluent limestone-laden waters to form a white highlighted arrow leading to a lonesome beach in the top-center of the map, as shown in the image below:
The Kingfisher Arch is represented by a stone archway and is barely visible from the map decoration at the top of the map, so some players have located the hidden artefact from the achievement library's description without solving the riddle. Regardless, part 1 of the riddle is executed by positioning your commander at this place on day 5 of the tidal cycle. If you miss reaching the beach head with your commander during the maximum flood period in one cycle, it can be triggered by the next if you just leave them there, just be sure to occasionally heal them with a mage if their life is low so they can survive the minimal damage inflicted by the tides over time. This triggers phase 2 of the hidden artefact quest.
**Phase 2:** After some dialogue, the Chapter 3 side mission is unlocked, and a hint regarding 7 rock formations around the Bay is mentioned in relation to the hidden Archway the arrow revealed. This hints at the 7 waterfalls with various rock formations positioned throughout the tidal delta. Standing at one of these locations now triggers a note at the end of the player's turn indicating that the location has been found by one of their units. The clue (similar to the rock quest in Map 4), requires all 7 to be simultaneously visited by the player's units to block the flow of water at each waterfall and activate the Arch as an artefact. Once this happens, the game will alert you that the artefact has been obtained. This archway artefact is needed for one thing only in TinyGroove's Campaign. It unlocks the doorway to Mercival's Prison in Map 14, Chapter 3, Side Mission 1.

#### Helpful Tips

Strategies to win involve capturing the north tower quickly, and churning out some flying units to defend your units from Koji's aerial attacks while constructing mages to protect your ground units. Locating and visiting all of the treasure chests on the map will help with this. The north tower's aerial deployment can be boosted to allow you to build two flying units per turn by locating a tower enhancement totem hidden in the chest in the island forest in the southern part of the map.

Advancing your units along the path when the tides begin to retreat is a solid strategy, and mages or knights with long movement ranges can help strike deep into the enemy to maximize your landward advance. Buildings that are flooded on the map (such as barracks and towers) cannot produce units, so this can make deployment tricky for both teams on this map, but patience is the key to victory here. The map is a cinch once Tenri's Ballista and Trebuchet in the center of the map are destroyed or eventually succumb to the tide by Day 17.

All of this information was gleaned from the in-game spoilers unlocked in the Achievement Castle by completing at least 40% of the game and destroying the red gates comprising the 'Campaign Completion Counter'.

### **Achievements**

#### **A16: King Tide Champion**

Conditions: Complete all 5 of the map's side quests and win!

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