True confessions time.
I still haven't finished Cult of Mithras.
No, I'm not joking. It just kicks my ass too hard. I get to a point and I'm just stuck, so I start over.
I do have one major question. When the storyline gets to the part about the "Old Man", it talks about "The Old Man and his troops". But I never got any additional troop units. What are you supposed to receive?
I just wonder....when a player <arrogance> as good as I am </arrogance> has such a hard time with the battles that he can't complete them even on the lowest difficulty setting, is it maybe too hard?
Cult of Mithras kicks my 455
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pipfromslitherine
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pipfromslitherine
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IainMcNeil
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I have played it through but it is very tough. You probably need to concentrate more on your heavy infantry and make sure you really focus on the strengths and weaknesses of the Mithras troops. Equipment upgrades are essential. The Anti infantry, elephant & cavalry skills can be very useful against these tough opponents and CoM lets you push the upper lilmit to level 7 I think from memory.
It does require different strategy to the basic game as it is tougher. You really have to maximise every opportunity.
It does require different strategy to the basic game as it is tougher. You really have to maximise every opportunity.
I just finished CoM. Wasn't TOO hard (except for 5th Ascension to Saturn which, after several defeats on NORMAL despite immensely superior strategy on my part, caused me to have a strong desire to drop nuclear weapons on the enemy). But still, much, MUCH harder than Legion Arena. I found Normal CoM to be about as hard as LA on Very Hard.
The biggest problem is the damned Shadow Warriors... they are begging for an effective counter, but they have none except for being heavily outnumbered. I hit all of the CoM units with different troops until I found what worked against what, but I never found anything that the Shadow Warriors couldn't kill 1 on 1, or even 1 on 2. Sheesh. The only time a unit could stand up to them was within my Legate's leadership radius.
I will note, however, that I had a 20 unit army of all top of the line units. No militia, or nobles, or Hastati, or skirmishers, or any of that BS. Light infantry were Auxilia or nothing, cavalry Auxilia Cavalry or nothing, ranged Auxilia Archers or nothing. Heavy infantry were restricted to a unit of extremely high level Praetorians for when I needed a deus ex machina for a failed strategy (sans starting over), six squads of Legionaries buffed up for taking out infantry, two squads of Triarii buffed up for taking out cavalry and elephants, and a squad of Principe.
The Principe were my only mistake. I got them as a novelty because they looked cool near the end of my LA game, and indeed they did well. However, from the first level to the last level of CoM, they could not beat a 1:3 kill:loss ratio against anything but Ghosts. Found myself wishing I'd invested in something else, but it was WAY too late to build up a new squad from scratch.
Just started a fresh game, going to see if it's easier now that I know exactly how I want to build my army instead of just experimenting. Hopefully once my new army reaches CoM, it won't be as outright anger-inducing.
The biggest problem is the damned Shadow Warriors... they are begging for an effective counter, but they have none except for being heavily outnumbered. I hit all of the CoM units with different troops until I found what worked against what, but I never found anything that the Shadow Warriors couldn't kill 1 on 1, or even 1 on 2. Sheesh. The only time a unit could stand up to them was within my Legate's leadership radius.
I will note, however, that I had a 20 unit army of all top of the line units. No militia, or nobles, or Hastati, or skirmishers, or any of that BS. Light infantry were Auxilia or nothing, cavalry Auxilia Cavalry or nothing, ranged Auxilia Archers or nothing. Heavy infantry were restricted to a unit of extremely high level Praetorians for when I needed a deus ex machina for a failed strategy (sans starting over), six squads of Legionaries buffed up for taking out infantry, two squads of Triarii buffed up for taking out cavalry and elephants, and a squad of Principe.
The Principe were my only mistake. I got them as a novelty because they looked cool near the end of my LA game, and indeed they did well. However, from the first level to the last level of CoM, they could not beat a 1:3 kill:loss ratio against anything but Ghosts. Found myself wishing I'd invested in something else, but it was WAY too late to build up a new squad from scratch.
Just started a fresh game, going to see if it's easier now that I know exactly how I want to build my army instead of just experimenting. Hopefully once my new army reaches CoM, it won't be as outright anger-inducing.
Have you still not beaten it? 
If you do start over, try building this army:
1 Praetorian
6 Legionaries (focus on dealing with infantry)
3 Triarii (focus on dealing with cavalry)
3 Auxilia
3 Auxilia Archers
3 Auxilia Cavalry
That's basically what I built my first time, except I replaced one unit of Triarii with Principes (oops... worked well when I was facing celts, but they got annihilated in CoM). Made it through CoM with that army on Normal, and only had to repeat 2 or 3 battles, and only one of those failed to be won the second time through. If my haphazard assembly of that army can crush CoM as well as it did, I'd imagine a planned assembly of the same would be immensely more effective.
In hindsight, my glaring mistakes:
1) Using even one unit that I didn't plan to keep permanently in even one battle. If you get rid of all your starting units, you have just enough to get your first Auxilia unit and start employing a squad that will be with you at the end on the very first level. That's what I've done on my new run, and it's working very well.
2) Getting the second and third units of Auxilia Cavalry and Auxilia Archers, and third unit of Auxilia way late in the game so they were low level. Considering how awesomely invaluable my number I units of Auxilia Archers and Auxilia Cavalry were in winning CoM, I'm next to positive it would have been a lot easier if I'd gotten them in blocks of 3 at a time instead of spreading them out. I'm doing that this time; got 3 Auxilia, 1 Praetorian, 3 Auxilia Cavalry, then 3 Auxilia Archers and THEN started building my heavy infantry force and it's working GREAT.
3) Using Hastati/Principe; if you're going to play CoM once you finish your Roman campaign, just give it up. They'll survive the first few opening encounters, and then quickly become fodder troops used to decoy the enemy, because they'll be 100% useless in a fight.
4) Not having a plan as to what upgrades I wanted and what equipment I wanted. Huge mistake. I paid dearly for the mistake of not getting Odysseus' bows and Sarmation Cavalry Armor until very late.
5) Not upgrading my Praetorian unit enough. Like I said, they're a deus ex machina unit.. once I realized my mistake and got them above thirty, they would completely shred anything except 35+ level Helephants and shadow cavalry. I lost count of the number of times the day was saved by a Praetorian wedge slicing through the center of the enemy's strongest point and breaking their line.
6) Not realizing the best counter to Shadow Warriors are heavily upgraded and armored Auxilia Cavalry, rather than Heavy Infantry. Found this out by mistake when I did a last ditch charge into an advancing mass of Shadow Warriors and they magically managed to hold and stop ALL of them (with the help of Legionaries reinforcing their flanks).
7) Not directly involving my Legate in battle on the front lines as heavily and often as possible early in the game when he can get lots of points without dying. By using him like crazy on my current run, I had Quick Thinker, Strategist, and Leadership maxed out before I even reached the first Samnite War. He's already well on his way to level 30 and I only just started the First Punic War.
And finally, if you've got a spare $20 and enjoy your military history and tactics, get the Byzantine Strategikon.
A lot of the tactics and deployments found in that book are directly usable in Legion Arena, and to great effect. First and only combined arms theory prior to World War II... can't go wrong with that.
If you do start over, try building this army:
1 Praetorian
6 Legionaries (focus on dealing with infantry)
3 Triarii (focus on dealing with cavalry)
3 Auxilia
3 Auxilia Archers
3 Auxilia Cavalry
That's basically what I built my first time, except I replaced one unit of Triarii with Principes (oops... worked well when I was facing celts, but they got annihilated in CoM). Made it through CoM with that army on Normal, and only had to repeat 2 or 3 battles, and only one of those failed to be won the second time through. If my haphazard assembly of that army can crush CoM as well as it did, I'd imagine a planned assembly of the same would be immensely more effective.
In hindsight, my glaring mistakes:
1) Using even one unit that I didn't plan to keep permanently in even one battle. If you get rid of all your starting units, you have just enough to get your first Auxilia unit and start employing a squad that will be with you at the end on the very first level. That's what I've done on my new run, and it's working very well.
2) Getting the second and third units of Auxilia Cavalry and Auxilia Archers, and third unit of Auxilia way late in the game so they were low level. Considering how awesomely invaluable my number I units of Auxilia Archers and Auxilia Cavalry were in winning CoM, I'm next to positive it would have been a lot easier if I'd gotten them in blocks of 3 at a time instead of spreading them out. I'm doing that this time; got 3 Auxilia, 1 Praetorian, 3 Auxilia Cavalry, then 3 Auxilia Archers and THEN started building my heavy infantry force and it's working GREAT.
3) Using Hastati/Principe; if you're going to play CoM once you finish your Roman campaign, just give it up. They'll survive the first few opening encounters, and then quickly become fodder troops used to decoy the enemy, because they'll be 100% useless in a fight.
4) Not having a plan as to what upgrades I wanted and what equipment I wanted. Huge mistake. I paid dearly for the mistake of not getting Odysseus' bows and Sarmation Cavalry Armor until very late.
5) Not upgrading my Praetorian unit enough. Like I said, they're a deus ex machina unit.. once I realized my mistake and got them above thirty, they would completely shred anything except 35+ level Helephants and shadow cavalry. I lost count of the number of times the day was saved by a Praetorian wedge slicing through the center of the enemy's strongest point and breaking their line.
6) Not realizing the best counter to Shadow Warriors are heavily upgraded and armored Auxilia Cavalry, rather than Heavy Infantry. Found this out by mistake when I did a last ditch charge into an advancing mass of Shadow Warriors and they magically managed to hold and stop ALL of them (with the help of Legionaries reinforcing their flanks).
7) Not directly involving my Legate in battle on the front lines as heavily and often as possible early in the game when he can get lots of points without dying. By using him like crazy on my current run, I had Quick Thinker, Strategist, and Leadership maxed out before I even reached the first Samnite War. He's already well on his way to level 30 and I only just started the First Punic War.
And finally, if you've got a spare $20 and enjoy your military history and tactics, get the Byzantine Strategikon.
A lot of the tactics and deployments found in that book are directly usable in Legion Arena, and to great effect. First and only combined arms theory prior to World War II... can't go wrong with that.
I Beat It!
I FINALLY beat CoM!!!!
After trying that last level 20 times, with three different armies, I finally triumphed!
Here is the army that got me through:
4 Archers (Celtic) With Odyseus' Bow
6 Legionaries
2 Praetorian
4 Celtic Noble Cavalry (W/Teutonic horses and Sarmatian armor)
3 Auxilia
It took some intricate maneuvering on my part on that last level. I still had to play it a few times.You have to take apart the enemy in pieces. Don't let them come on you all at once!
Did Possum beat it??
After trying that last level 20 times, with three different armies, I finally triumphed!
Here is the army that got me through:
4 Archers (Celtic) With Odyseus' Bow
6 Legionaries
2 Praetorian
4 Celtic Noble Cavalry (W/Teutonic horses and Sarmatian armor)
3 Auxilia
It took some intricate maneuvering on my part on that last level. I still had to play it a few times.You have to take apart the enemy in pieces. Don't let them come on you all at once!
Did Possum beat it??