Game Theory: How To WIN A War (Assassin's Creed Odyssey)

Assassin's Creed Odyssey takes place in 431 B.C. during ancient Greece, specifically during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta.

The game features a choice-driven narrative where players customize their character, fighting style, romances, and plot decisions, leading to multiple possible endings.

Players choose between Alexios or Kassandra, a Spartan child prophesied to bring doom to the Spartan Empire, who was thrown off a cliff as a child and resurfaces 17 years later as a deadly mercenary.

Players must decide whether to side with Sparta or Athens, their home and blood versus the people who didn't kill them as children.

If ancient Greece were a high school, Athens were the nerdy kids from the north inventing democracy and innovation, while Sparta were the buff jocks from the south focused entirely on military power.

Both sides were in the middle of a thirty-year peace treaty leading up to the war, but constantly cheated on it by helping allies and sending reinforcements to enemies, creating resentment and tensions.

• Center of the civilized world responsible for the Golden Age of Greece • Invented philosophy, theatre, engineering, and geometry • Renowned for naval forces and huge fleets of ships • Still influences Western civilization two and a half millennia later

Athens were arrogant and warmongering, breaking more rules of the peace treaty and making secret alliances, making them ultimately responsible for starting the Peloponnesian War.

Spartan boys were inspected by the Gerousia council of elders immediately after birth to determine if they were physically fit enough to become soldiers; those deemed unfit were left on the mountain to die.

• At age six or seven, boys were drafted into the army and trained via the Agoge system • Training included singing, hunting, fighting, and pain tolerance • Boys marched barefoot and were underfed to prepare them for harsh war conditions • They were incentivized to steal for survival skills and punished only if caught, not for the act itself

Spartans rejected ranged weapons and considered archery cowardly, relying instead on close combat with javelins, practiced pankration techniques, and even allowed biting and eye-gouging in their version of the sport—unique among Greek city-states.

When Philip II of Macedon threatened Sparta around 345 B.C., Sparta replied with a single word: 'If.' Philip II and Alexander the Great never attempted to conquer Sparta despite their military dominance.

At the Battle of Sphacteria, Athens held 292 captured Spartan soldiers hostage, threatening to kill them if Sparta attacked the island, forcing the unbeatable Spartans to surrender and prolonging the war for years.

Sparta overcame the Athenian naval force, destroyed their food supplies, and sieged the city-state into submission, ultimately winning the Peloponnesian War.

Despite allies demanding Athens be destroyed and enslaved, Sparta refused to destroy a city that had served Greece in its time of greatest danger, instead preserving Athens and integrating it into their system.

As a mercenary player character, siding with Sparta aligns with a warrior culture actively seeking to expand power through military campaigns, providing constant opportunities for hired combat and maintaining income.

Understanding the actual history of the Peloponnesian War reveals that siding with Sparta is the path to victory in the game, following what actually happened in real history.

• Sparta represents honorable warriors with strong codes • Choosing Sparta makes you a badass historical figure • Siding with Sparta results in victory, setting history on its actual course

Beyond grandiose honor codes and power struggles, war ultimately comes down to individual fighters caught in political machinations above their rank.

While Athens may attract nerdy admirers, siding with history through Sparta is the one true path to victory, and the greatest weapon in a legendary warrior's arsenal is knowledge.