Xyphos is a unique technology in Chronicles: Battle for Greece available to the Spartans at the Fort upon reaching the Classical Age. Once researched, it increases the attack of Hoplite line and Monoreme line by +1 (up to a maximum of +3) for every 5 nearby enemy military units in a 10 tile radius.
For the purposes of this technology, Priestesses (and equivalents) are included in the count of nearby enemy military units, even though they are typically not considered military units.
The player can research only either Xyphos or Helot Levies. Once either is chosen, the option to research the other is removed.
Changelog[]
Battle for Greece[]
- Xyphos intended to provide +1 attack for every 10 enemy military units in vicinity. It costs 400 food, 300 gold.
- Despite the increased attack displayed in the Hoplite line's user interface command panel when near enemies with this technology researched, they do not actually gain any benefit. Their attacks deal damage without the attack bonus of this technology.
- When researched, it also increases the pierce armor of Hoplites by +1, despite it not being mentioned in the description.
- With update 153015, the attack is boosted by +1 for every 5 enemy military units in vicinity. It now functions exactly as described, so it provides the bonus while not providing any hidden pierce armor boost. It costs 300 food, 250 gold.
Trivia[]
- Xyphos is the name of an ancient Greek double-edged shortsword.
- The way this relates to the Spartans is that they adopted a shorter version of the xyphos, allowing them to strike more precisely while in close quarters or in formation.
- The way this technology is implemented, it upgrades "Hoplite" and "Elite Hoplite" units to "Hoplite with Xyphos" and "Elite Hoplite with Xyphos" units, since there is no way to enable different types of auras.
- The way the effect of the bonus works is by inverting the "direction" of the aura. In this case, said units are the source of the aura, and instead of affecting enemy units, the aura is making the enemy units affect the source.
- A side effect is that it also inverts the Hoplite's natural aura of providing each other extra armor. However, this is not usually a concern, since the effect of the bonus is the same even if the "direction" of the aura is inverted.
- The aura is similar to the Monaspa's aura. Both auras increase the attack of the source unit based on the number of units nearby.
