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Raiding Hemiolia - Mercenary Arabian Spearmen Mercenaries Missile Ship

Raiding Hemiolia - Mercenary Arabian Spearmen

A hemiolia is a light and fast raiding ship developed in the 4th century BCE, favoured by pirates but also used by navies as a light patrol ship. It has one and a half rows of oars, making it faster and more powerful than earlier uniremes.

The desert kills the weak; it does not train the living to be soldiers.

The 'one-and-a-half' or 'hemiolia' was a light galley which was much favoured by pirates in the ancient world. It developed from the bireme, a ship that had two full decks of oars along its entire length. The hemiola reduced the number of oars on the upper level, leaving roughly half the number of oars and rowers in the midship section. The smaller number of rowers had little effect on overall speed because the laden weight of the vessel also dropped. Because it used both oars and sails, and the crew could rapidly change propulsion method, it was an ideal vessel for chasing down fat, wealthy merchant ships. Boarding attacks were mounted from hemiolas; ramming was not a useful tactic as loot ended up with the fish rather than enriching the pirates! The speed and handiness of hemiolas made them useful as scouts, supply boats and vessels used to pick off damaged enemies at the edge of battles.

(Mercenary Arabian Spearmen)
The Arabian peninsula was not a state, but a land occupied by inter-related tribes and powerful families. The nomadic Bedouin raised sheep and traded goods across the desert, while farmers were settled around the oases. The camel helped the nomadic tribes to grow in power, and the variety of tribes produced many different fighting styles but infantry remained important in Arab armies. Unarmoured slingers were fast and effective skirmishers, and Arabs also prided themselves on their close-combat skills. Traditionally, they fought as raiders looking for loot rather than conquest. Raids or 'razzias' brought honour to victorious warriors, as well as livestock and goods for their tribes. Conflicts were usually small in scale and casualties were largely avoided as a fighting retreat in the face of great odds was not considered shameful. After the conquest of Egypt, Rome had to cross the Arabian Peninsula in order to secure the lucrative trade with India, but the Romans never fully conquered the desert or the desert peoples.

Raiding Hemiolia - Mercenary Arabian Spearmen

Unit Name

Raiding Hemiolia - Mercenary Arabian Spearmen

Main Unit Key

Mer_Ara_Raider

Land Unit Key

Mer_Ara_Spear

Naval Unit Key

persian_one_halfer

Soldiers

80

Category

Light Ship

Class

Missile Ship

Custom Battle Cost

320

Recruitment Cost

320

Upkeep Cost

240

Ship Health

402

└ Ship

roman_one_halfer

Ship Speed

4

Melee Attack

13

Weapon Damage

5

├ Melee Weapon

rome_spear

├ Weapon Damage

5

├ Weapon Deadliness

0

├ Armour Piercing

No

├ Bonus vs. Cavalry

15

├ Bonus vs. Elephants

15

└ Bonus vs Infantry

0

Charge Bonus

11

Melee Defence

49

├ Base Defence

24

├ Shield

oval

└ Shield Defence

25

Armour

45

├ Armour

cloth

├ Armour Defence

10

└ Shield Armour

35

Health

25

├ Man Entity

rome_infantry_medium

├ Man Health

20

└ Bonus Hit Points

5

Base Morale

30

Abilities

Raiding Hemiolia
  • Row Hard 10
    Increases speed for 10 strokes.
    Ship speed

Attributes

  • Hide (forest)
    This unit can hide in forests until enemy units get too close.
  • Resistant to Heat
    This unit tires less quickly in the desert.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Raiding Hemiolia
  • Very poor hull strength
  • Light crew
  • Very fast speed
  • Weak ramming
  • Very poor boarding
  • Poor missile combat
Mercenary Arabian Spearmen
  • Average defensive unit
  • Low damage but average armour penetration
  • Weak attack
  • Poor morale

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