Reading Time: 4 minutes Fort Geraneia Fort Geraneia gave me my first chance to find and burn War Supplies.  Remember, doing so weakens the Leader’s defences.  While scaling the Fort walls, I was able to assassinate enemy soldiers by throwing them to their deaths. Many Mercenaries! An aspect of the game which adds some excitement is the number of mercenaries and the fact that they appear randomly.  It still gets my heart racing when I hear the horn to signify that a Mercenary is near. Lots o’ Loot! Another difference from Origins is the ability to collect more varied loot in more places.  For example, you can find and loot olive wood and various metals whilst walking through forests. Tychaios The Gilded Shark As mentioned previously, the quickest way to lower the Nation Power and trigger a Conquest Battle is to kill the Nation Leader.  I was able to hunt down and kill the Athenian leader of Megaris, Tychaios The Gilded Shark. Conquest Battles The presentation and the sounds of the Conquest Battles are epic!  Spartans and Athenians running at each other, swords clashing, screams and shouts, it did feel like a war. There are two bars across the top; each one represents the power of the armies. The objective is to get the enemy bar down to zero. When the battle is over, you’re presented with a victory screen (or defeat!) that shows your rewards and your stats. I did enjoy the experience of the Conquest Battle.  However, it did feel a little bit chaotic and scripted.  I just found myself running around, searching out the Enemy Captains (killing the Captains takes off a more significant chunk of the enemy power bar!). As I was running around, I did notice that not many of the enemies tried to attack me as they were too preoccupied fighting the other Spartans. Helix Credits Helix credits are back and you’re rewarded with 200 after completing so much of the game.  As will all in-app purchases, there is a certain amount of controversy.  In my opinion, though, it’s your choice. If you want to spend money to get super cool gear and upgrades, spend it.  If you don’t want to, don’t.   Quick, quick save! The quick save function is actually really useful and you should try to make use of it.  It will allow you to play around with your dialogue choices and even go a bit rogue. Before leaving Port, I decided to perform a quick save and then go nuts in the Spartan Camp.  It didn’t go down very well and before long I’d desynchronised! Luckily, I was able to return to before my moment of madness and continue. I’ve left out what happened after the Conquest Battle because I don’t want to spoil it as there are some quite big stories revealed. Onwards to Phokis! Join me next time for part 4 as I seek the Oracle of Delphi and find Elpenor for some much needed answers!