| “ | The Persians return to Greece in overwhelming numbers. Leonidas and the Spartans attempt to hold the narrow pass of Thermopylae, while the Greek fleet anchors at Artemisium. | ” |
| —In-game summary | ||
The Hot Gates is the third scenario of the second act of the Battle for Greece grand campaign in Chronicles: Battle for Greece, and the tenth scenario overall.
Intro[]
Just as Themistocles predicted, the Persians were readying another invasion. King Darius had died, but his son Xerxes was no less warlike - indeed he sought not just to punish Athens, but to conquer the whole of Greece.
This new Great King summoned all the forces of the vast Persian realm: axe-wielding Sakae; Syrians with helmets of twisted bronze; Ethiopians draped in leopard skins, and armed with palm-wood bows.
At the Hellespont, they gathered in their thousands: a host so enormous it drank rivers dry. The Great King ordered a bridge of boats constructed between Europe and Asia, the two continents yoked together like ill-matched oxen. Xerxes would force the sea itself to bend to his will.
The Greeks called an urgent council. Many cities had already submitted to Xerxes, offering the earth and water he demanded. But other cities resolved to fight. They pledged to unite their forces and cease their feuds with one another - a most extraordinary thing for Greeks to do, you understand
Together, the allied Greek cities devised a plan. King Leonidas of Sparta would march to the mountain pass of Thermopylae, there to await the Persian army.
Meanwhile, Themistocles and the Greek fleet would make their stand at the Strait of Artemisium. With the narrow terrain on their side, and desperation coursing through their veins, the Greeks hoped to halt the Persian flood - or dam it long enough to buy time...
Scenario instructions[]
Starting conditions[]
- Starting Age:
Imperial Age - Starting resources:
- Population limit: 200
- Starting units:
- Artemisium
- Thermopylae
Objectives[]
Main objectives[]
- At least one naval building must survive: 4/4 currently remaining
- Prevent the Persians from sailing 5 Transport Ships through the Strait of Artemisium: 0/5 broken through
- Survive Artemisia's onslaught as long as possible
- Hold the pass. Keep at least 10 units alive
Secondary objectives[]
- Gain resources for every ship you destroy
- Bring ships back to the harbor to repair them
- Hold the Outposts in the flagged areas for bonuses
- Gain resources for every enemy you kill
Hints[]
- Keep surviving. You do not need to go forth and destroy your enemy; maintain a defensive position and hold on!
- Gain resources by destroying enemy units. You cannot build buildings or villagers.
- In the first part of the scenario, you must keep at least one of your naval buildings alive, and do not allow more than 5 enemy transports to pass through the strait.
- Special naval technologies you researched in the previous scenario are available to you here!
- In the second part of the scenario, you must defend the pass against the oncoming Persian army. Recapture forward positions (marked by outposts) to activate different bonuses. These are deactivated when you lose the positions.
- Use the command tent in the center of Leonidas's camp to pray to different gods for inspiration, activating further bonuses.
Players[]
Player[]
- Player → Player ( Athenians): The player starts with only a handful of ships and a decent amount of resources to build more. They have one Port and three Shipyards from which to build a fleet. In the second part of the scenario, the player controls the Spartan units and buildings, and the Athenians ones are exchanged with the Spartan player.
Allies[]
- Leonidas → Themistocles ( Spartans): The Spartans start with 75 units, mainly infantry, waiting by their camp, and several Outposts showing the pass of Thermopylae. They additionally have a Blacksmith and several Tents serving as various military buildings. The protagonist player gains control of them in the second part of the scenario, with the Athenian parts falling into the hands of this player.
Enemies[]
- Persian Navy ( Achaemenids): The Persian Navy starts with a heavily fortified coastal base northwest of the player. The base is guarded by towers that are far stronger than normal, and regenerate hit points. The base can defend itself, but it just for show, as enemy ships spawn in groups within the base rather than being trained. The initial waves consist of Galleys, Monoremes, and War Lemboi towards the player's harbor, adding Incendiary Rafts after roughly two minutes, along with attack waves with Transport Ships towards the Strait of Artemisium. They progressively upgrade their ships, field Catapult Ships starting on the second day, and Leviathans on the third day.
- Persian Army ( Achaemenids): The Persian Army starts with a large camp at the other end of the Thermopylae pass, guarded by unreachable towers that are far stronger than normal. Their camp consists almost solely of Tents, but like the Navy, they do not produce units, as their army slowly spawns in. They primarily send Elite Skirmishers and Guardsmen as the earliest units, but also Cavalry Archers, Laminated Bowmen, Lancers, Scythian Axe Cavalry, Swordsmen, and War Chariots into battle during the first day. They add Camel Raiders, Immortals, Sakan Axemen, Sickle Warriors, and Sparabaras on the second day, then Bactrian Archers, Gastraphetoroi, and Mercenary Hoplites on the third day. They spawn progressively upgraded units with improved unit stats from Blacksmith technologies. They are accompanied by hero units such as Raider Overseers, Sparabara Overseers, and Swordsman Overseers in later waves.
Strategy[]
- Artemisium
This scenario is designed for the player to lose, eventually. The idea is that the player holds out as long as they can, not that they win. The player will be under massive prolonged attacks, cannot defeat them, and can only survive long enough. As a general advice for both halves, the player should not attack either the Persian Navy or the Persian Army base, as all structures except tents have additional hit points and +100 melee/pierce armor, and enemy units will spawn even if both bases are wiped out.
The first half of the scenario is the battle of Artemisium. The player needs to prevent Transport Ships from sailing through the pass, while simultaneously defending the harbor. This can be tricky, and both will be flooded with enemy ships. Barely a minute after starting, the exiled Aristides will join the player with four Elite Galley and three Biremes. Send all of these ships into the pass to defend it while the player builds a force of War Galleys at the harbor. Upgrade them in any way possible, prioritizing the Oakum technology if the player unlocked it in the previous scenario. The primary strategy for the harbor is to kite the enemy ships and pick them off. Direct confrontation is a waste of resources and the player will never win. Just keep them off the harbor. Each sunk Persian ship gives the player 2 food, 7 wood, and 4 gold.
The scenario will go through a time cycle. Initially, the player has four minutes to prepare. During the day, the battle phase lasts fives minutes, and a brief rest at night two minutes, with the first night minute also healing ships near the Shipyards. Each time the battle stops, Leonidas will tribute the player 300 food, 800 wood, and 400 gold. Between this and the resources from the ships the player defeats, the player will need to reinforce both fleets. The player needs to survive to day three. Shortly after the third day starts, Artemisia will spawn in as a nigh invincible ship with 6,500 hitpoints, and the player has to just hold on as long as they can. The day no longer ends; they just spawn ships and overwhelm the player. Should the player somehow defeat Artemisia's ship, Themistocles and Aristides will retreat nevertheless after learning of the defeat at Thermopylae.
- Thermopylae
Once the player has 'lost' at Artemisium, the player now takes control of Leonidas and the Spartans. Starting with reset resources, the player can upgrade and bolster the troops as they please. However, make sure the player sends forces up the pass quickly, as the Persian Army will attack after the initial three minutes for preparation are up. There are three Outposts the player should capture on the way up. The closest to the player's base, the rearguard, grants an Attack speed bonus for all units. The central position Outpost grants an Armor bonus for all units, and the forward position, near the fork in the pass outside the Persian camp, grants an Attack bonus for all units. The player can also pray to one of the gods for a stat boost. This should be used to increase infantry attack or armor, as the player will have access to the highly resilient Spartan Hippeus. Each killed Persian soldier grants the player 2 food, 1 wood, and 2 gold.
The player can train and upgrade units that the Spartans and Athenians normally cannot. The various Greek Army Tents also double as military buildings; the Stable (tent in the north near the Horses) can train Light Cavalry, Lancers (upgradeable to Shock Cavalry), and War Chariots (upgradeable to Elite War Chariots). The Archery Ranges (tents in the east near the archery targets) can train Laminated Bowmen (upgradeable to Recurve Bowmen), Elite Skirmishers, Cavalry Archers, and Gastraphetoroi after researching Flaming Arrows. The Barracks (tents in the west near the training dummies) can train Swordsmen, Guardsmen, and Hoplites, and upgrade them to their Imperial Age forms. The Blacksmith can research Flaming Arrows and Imperial Age Blacksmith technologies except Plate Barding Armor. The Greek Commander Tent can train and upgrade Hippeis and Strategoi, and research Krypteia and custom technologies as described in the next section.
The player can move forward to capture the three positions (represented by the Outposts):
- Capturing the rearguard position grants +25% attack speed (-20% reload time) to all units.
- Capturing the central position grants +1/+1 armor to all units.
- Capturing the forward position grants +1 attack to all units.
The best place to hold at first is the center, as the Persians will not take the second route initially. That being said, keep the forces back, as proceeding too far up from this fork brings them in range of the towers in the Persian Army camp, which are far more powerful than normal with 40 base attack, and some are unreachable.
The day and night cycle will begin again, with the goal again being to last three days. After each day lasting roughly four minutes is over, Themistocles tributes 1,200 food, 500 wood, and 1,000 gold to the player. Each night, bring the army back to the forward position Outpost to heal up. The healing phase lasts for about 90 seconds, and after another 60 seconds, a new day begins. Once the player has survived for three days and the Persians begin to use the second route, the objective will disappear, and at that point it is safe to 'lose' the scenario.
Achievement "Fight in the Shade"[]
Once the player has survived long enough as Leonidas, the player must then survive an extra five minutes. On standard difficulty, this is not too difficult, as the player's soldiers should be strong from Outpost bonuses, and Spartan unit bonuses if properly managed, so they should have a good number left. As long as the player is constantly producing units and reinforcing their position so the player does not fall below ten living troops, the player should survive another five minutes with little issue. If this is difficult, a small group of 10 or more fast-moving cavalry units should be able to evade the bulk of the Persian Army for long enough to make the time. Note that when enough time has passed, the player will no longer receive resources from killing enemies (thus ensuring their defeat when they can no longer produce new units).
Custom technologies[]
The naval custom technologies which were researched in the previous scenario, Raise the Sails, are also available to research in this scenario and are relevant to the Artemisium section.
These are the custom technologies in this scenario for the Thermopylae section:
- Othismos (900 food, 500 gold, at the Greek Commander Tent): Infantry damage adjacent units. (Druzhina)
- Only one prayer can be chosen at a time at the Greek Commander Tent (second part of the scenario). The player can change prayers at any time. The prayers are:
- Pray to Apollo: Increased attack for archers (+1).
- Pray to Ares: Increased attack for infantry (+1).
- Pray to Hephaestus: Increased armor for infantry (+1/+1).
- Pray to Artemis: Increased armor for archers (+1/+1).
Trivia[]
- The objectives of this scenario are similar of the quest Die Hard or Die Hard in Age of Empires Online because the player is forced to lose in order to win.
- At the start of the battle of Thermopylae, the player controls 30 Elite Hippeis, a clear reference to the 300 Spartan soldiers who fought the Persians that day.
- The Persian use of the alternate path during the second and third day of the battle of Thermopylae refers to the mountain goat path a Greek named Ephialtes of Trachis revealed to Xerxes, and subsequently guided a Persian force on their way to flank the Greek army. For his actions, the name Ephialtes carries a heavy stigma in Greek culture, being synonymous with "traitor", and also meaning "nightmare" after homonymous spirits (daemons) in Greek mythology.
Gallery[]
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