„Life, uh, finds a way”
-Dr Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park
Tribe of TYRANO – Primitive Year 972
Before the big chaos took place, there were severe conflicts between tribes. The conflicts risking their final lives made all over the land red with blood. What was more, although people survived the conflicts, they had to face bigger natural disasters like earthquakes, thunderstorms, etc…
 The final days when the conflict was ending, the primitive men being badly damaged, came to feel that they could never live with peace again and came to desire for the land of dream, having rich nature and fertile soil. Deserted land. The land of dreams…
The primitive men who were left on the land decided to look for the Jurassic Island, the land of dreams. Among them, there were people who arrived there first. These people fought dinosaurs and had them trained. They called themselves the “Tyrano” and declared that they were the host of the Island.
The Tyrano is the first tribe to arrive on Jurassic Island, also called Dream Island. The year was 972. Not counting the twelve ancient tribes hinted in the lore.
They tamed and trained the wild dinosaurs to help them hunt. A feat that would make them frighteningly powerful, but unfortunately game mechanics make dinosaur tribes the weakest. The Tyrano settled in the center of the Dream Island, on the northern coast of Dream Lake. Just three years after settling, the Koaka split from the Tyrano, taking the young warriors and flying dinosaurs with them and venturing south.
It is a challenge to play as the Tyrano, to fend off all the other tribes and secure your place as the first and rightful owner of the Island.
The deep chomp sound of Triceratopses’ attack is very satisfying to listen to, unlike Koaka’s Rhamphorhynchuses high-pitched screams.
Their Legendary Weapon is the Celestial Sword. It’s a ridiculously huge anime-style blade which performs great against anyone, especially Primitive Men. The Tyrano have no means of training Warriors or Muscle-Men though, and so must level up simple Commoners to unleash its full potential.
Against other tribes
Their first enemy lorewise are initially the Radumba, but the Canus threat quickly takes it from there. The Radumba were still a part of the Masai when the battles began anyway. Somehow in the first Radumba mission, it is the Tyrano grunt that has an iron set of weapons…
Canus’s Elves are very difficult to beat, because they acquire their most powerful spells very early in the game. Tyrano, on the other hand, get Dilophosauruses, which in theory could confuse elven healers with their venomous breath, but in reality they suck. And take double damage from the Elves. Good riddance, Dilophosauruses didn’t actually spit venom anyway!
The next two tribes that live in the east are the Masai and the Romek. They are difficult to beat, but for the Tyrano, everything is. The Masai have deadly spears and strong iron shields, while Romek’s Rangers have range, mobility and their attacks deal tremendous damage to Dinosaurs. These two clans are especially Dino-unfriendly, so beware, use your Legendary Weapon and employ Canus’s Elves when you can.
Against the Koaka, the Tyrano have the upper hand. Their stronger, cheaper and faster to train Dinosaurs (and a better suited Legendary Weapon) are enough to make short work of past tribemates.
Against the Radumba, the Tyrano have trouble. Their Legendary Weapons are evenly matched against each other (Celestial Sword is deadly to Primitives, Volcano Spear is deadly to Dinosaurs), but the Radumba can train better Cavemen to wield theirs. The Dinosaur rush is the only strategy available to the Tyrano, and one that is moderately resistant to Poison Arrow spam.
Against the Muspel, the Tyrano really have no other weapon but their insane health pool. They must spam Dinosaurs until the enemy Wizards and Warlocks run out of MP. Dangerous and suicidal, but doable.
Against the Kumba, the Tyrano shouldn’t worry. Kumba’s Armory is ill-suited against Dinosaurs, and Muscle-Men lack the OP to reliably damage them. The only problem is massed Boomerang spam because of range. Be careful.
Theoretically the Dilophosaurus should shine here, as it is resistant to Boomerang damage and can penetrate shields with its AoE attack, but its stats are too weak to consider it a valid tactic.
Overall
Overall, a very weak clan. The Tyrano can rule in the early game with strong fresh dinosaurs, much like they ruled the Jurassic Island for a few years, but they lack anything to propel them through the later parts of the game.
Unfortunately, Dinosaur-themed tribes are unfairly weak in mid and late game. They fall prey to well-equipped Primitives and well-trained Spellcasters. Single-player missions have no normal game progression, the enemies are usually strong from the start.
Koaka’s flying Dinosaur has some tactical use, while Tyrano’s Dilophosaurus is a joke.
The Triceratops is a great addition to an army, as it has a huge health bar and a fast attack, but without backup it is vulnerable to many kinds of attacks.
Playing as the Tyrano is a challenge, as they are expensive and rely on brute strength.
The Dinosaurs are nevertheless always fun to play with. The biggest missed opportunity here is lack of trainable T-Rexes… Unless you know a trick.
The AI on hard shines with this clan (for a while), as the computer attacks with fresh units only, and Tyrano has strongest fresh units (Velociraptors and an occasional Warrior are a deadly early harassment for inexperienced players). Canus tribe is easy to micromanage, but they don’t have the raw stat numbers to counter dinos without some tactical thought at least.
Other stuff
The Tyrano seem to be the best builders in game, as their Dinosaur Training facilities have the most HP (well, they cost accordingly). Their building theme seems to oscillate between Ancient Egypt Anubis’ heads and mastabas, and bricked medieval towers. Ancient vibe resonates with them being the first inhabitants of the island, and the fortified castles are necessary to hold the powerful Dinosaurs.
Green color is tricky to assign. It is one of the complementary colors, most often piled up with orange and purple as the „evil” ones in comics and other media. Green is a one-of-a-kind joker color though, sometimes paired with primary colors (Red-Green-Blue color triad) or as an alien addition to a known palette, but otherwise good, if suspicious (the Green Power Ranger comes to mind). Green is soothing, it sparks thoughts of nature, good health and movement points in Heroes 3, yet it could also be interpreted as the color of poison and malice, like the greenskinned Warcraft orcs or witches in the Wizard of Oz.
The conflict of old vs young is only grazed in the lore, and the Tyrano tribe doesn’t come off as a particularly good or evil clan. They neglect their young warriors and underestimate them, favoring the powerful dinosaurs. They fight Elves who are clearly benevolent with their healing magic. They take prisoners and question them. But then again, they came first, so they make the rules; they care about their tamed Dinosaurs; and they acquire the most powerful and iconic Legendary Weapon. The Celestial Sword’s name hints at the source of its power – The Sun or Moon, perhaps both. As the Jurassic Gods are either affiliated with light (Ether) or darkness (Perox), it seems the great sword is a symbol of goodness. The Tyrano tribe is often the one leading the whole island against you in the last few missions, which may add to the bad rep.
All in all, their primary alignment seems to be strength itself.
The Tyrano become a tragic hero in the sequel, a crafted mutant race searching for its place in the world. Some of the Dinosaurs are portrayed as villains in the Korean Animation.
