Cataphract (Hades)

The Cataphract was originally planned to be the unique unit for Hades in Age of Mythology, but is only available in the Scenario Editor at release.

Attack Bonus
Infantry: x2.0 Hoplite: x1.5 Hypaspist: x1.5 Infantry Heroes: x2

Strengths and Weaknesses

 * Strong against
 * Infantry
 * Archers
 * Siege Weapons
 * Weak against
 * Heroes
 * Anti-Cavalry Infantry (Less of a threat than normally)
 * Anti-Cavalry Cavalry

General

 * MediumCavalry.png Medium Cavalry, HeavyCavalry.png Heavy Cavalry and ChampionCavalry.png Champion Cavalry all increase LOS by 1 and attack by 10%, and increase hit points by 10%, 15% and 20% respectively.
 * LevyCavalry.png Levy Cavalry and ConscriptCavalry.png Conscript Cavalry decrease training time by 20%.
 * CopperWeapons.png Copper Weapons, BronzeWeapons.png Bronze Weapons and IronWeapons.png Iron Weapons increase attack by 10%.
 * CopperMail.png Copper Mail, BronzeMail.png Bronze Mail and IronMail.png Iron Mail decrease hack vulnerability by 10%.
 * CopperShields.png Copper Shields, BronzeShields.png Bronze Shields and IronShields.png Iron Shields decrease pierce vulnerability by 10%.
 * OracleTech.png Oracle (Apollo) increases LOS by 6.

History
"Cataphracts are strong against infantry. Originally refering to any armored soldier (including ships) the word "cataphract" was eventually reserved for heavily armored horses, particularly those used by the Sassanids or Byzantines. The elite cataphract of the Greek Byzantine Empire wore chain mail armor on both himself and his mount. These men could shoot composite bows from the saddle or engage the enemy with a spear or sword. They could out-range or evade enemy foot troops, or out armor enemy light cavalry. The Greek Byzantine army had a tradition of good horsemanship because much of their territory was plains or steppe, and the empire was sufficiently wealthy to provide the training and Cataphract's expensive equipment."

- In-game history section

Trivia

 * The Greek/original Cataphract uses the same textures and models as Achilles, suggesting the cataphract was supposed to be a base unit.
 * The Cataphract was originally planned for Hades, but replaced with the Gastraphetes because it made "No sense to have a cavalry unit for a Archer 'civilization'". The developer even went on the record saying the Gastraphetes was the last human soldier created for Age of Mythology.
 * Despite the Greek/Original version being called a "Cataphract", the design is more accurate to that of a Hippeis (a Greek Knight)