Olympus
Discord Pre-register
Pre-launch New content · · 2 min read

The Hot Gates - Leonidas and the 300 hold Thermopylae

A second minigame. Take command as Leonidas and hold the Middle Gate of Thermopylae against twenty waves of Xerxes' army - command the 300, buy units and barricades from the quartermaster, man the cannons, and bring the god-king down off his palanquin.

hot gatesthermopylaeleonidasthe 300xerxespersiansimmortalsminigamedefencewaveskleos

This is Sparta

The Hot Gates is a wave-defence minigame on its own map: a narrow gorge between two sheer cliff walls, the Spartan wall across the pass, and the Persian host massed on the plain beyond. You are Leonidas - solo, or with up to three other kings at your side. Hold the gate for twenty waves.

The 300 lock shields as the Persians hit the front rank
The 300 lock shields as the Persians hit the front rank
Facing the plain - Xerxes waits on his palanquin
Facing the plain - Xerxes waits on his palanquin
The commander HUD: the wave, the gate, Kleos, the lanes and the command bar
The commander HUD: the wave, the gate, Kleos, the lanes and the command bar
  • Command the 300. They hold a shield formation in front of the wall; the command bar switches stance - hold, step forward, fall back - and calls archer volleys, fire arrows, the four cannons, gate repairs, a rally and the war cry. Fallen hoplites step up from the ranks behind.
  • Persian waves grow every round: levies, sparabara and archers, then Immortals, grenadiers throwing fire-pots, war rhinos and war elephants - and a Giant Immortal leading waves 5, 10 and 15.
  • The gate has HP. Persians that reach it pound it, and if it breaks the pass is open for good.
  • The goat path. From wave 12 a betrayer leads part of every wave round the mountain and down behind your wall.
  • Xerxes watches the last wave from his palanquin on the dais - until half his army is dead and he comes down to fight.

The quartermaster

Every wave you hold earns War Points, spent at the quartermaster's store behind the wall: Spartiate champions, Thespian spearmen, Helot slingers and Cretan archers who hold the tile you place them on; barricades - stake walls, a shield wall, caltrops, and oil pots that leave the ground burning; hoplite reinforcements for the 300; and cannonballs.

Glory

Every kill earns Kleos, and Kleos pays for the command bar's orders. The battle pays out at the end by the waves you held - Dracma, forge materials, Titan Cores, and a milestone ladder up to 5M Dracma and a $50 Bond for holding all twenty. Each party fights in its own copy of the pass, and the host can fast-forward the battle at double speed when it is going well.