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Scorpion Trieres - Massaloi Epibatoi Toxotai MassaliaMassalia Missile Ship

Scorpion Trieres - Massaloi Epibatoi Toxotai

A trireme is a 37 meter long oared warship (galley) with three decks of oars, developed from the bireme in the 5th century BCE. Popular with Carthaginian, Greek and Roman navies, this is the main warship of the classical age.

(Greek Marine Archers)

Recruited for naval service, these Greek archers are just as useful on land.

Of all the warships found in the ancient world, it is the trireme, or trieres, that remains the most famous and recognisable. Nearly all Hollywood 'sword and sandal' movies will include a trireme somewhere. The vessel was entirely designed for war. Its name came from the three rows of oars carried on each side, stacked above each other in staggered columns to give the rowers some room to work. The top row of oars pivoted on a rowlock, or oarlock, mounted on an outrigger projecting from the hull. This allowed the top oars to pitch down at a sharper angle to reach the sea without getting tangled in the lower ones. The trireme was a greyhound of a ship, capable of high-speed dashes with a well-trained crew and, contrary to popular belief, not all rowers were slaves. Aboard Greek vessels they were citizens, and were given respect, not the lash. They were also largely fair-weather ships, and unsuited to rough seas such as the Atlantic; the lowest level of oars were, at most, less than half a metre above the waterline. That, however, did not stop the trireme being a superb weapon against other ships: a high-speed ramming attack could rip a hole in the side of almost any target. The type was also large enough to be used in other ways, which lead to it carrying archers and assorted light artillery pieces.

(Massaloi Epibatoi Toxotai)
Although archery was not highly thought of as a military skill in Greece, Crete produced truly excellent archers who were able to sell their services to the highest bidder as mercenaries. Firing bronze-tipped arrows from their heavy self bows, Cretan archers tended to carry shields, indicative of some additional prowess in melee, which must’ve made them an even more enticing proposition for a general hiring mercenaries for campaign. Their finest hours came when Alexander the Great hired Cretans directly into his army to support its unbeatable phalanx. Commanded by Clearchus, 500 Cretans accompanied the Macedonian phalanx into battle at Granicus, off-setting the Persians' numerical superiority on the day and enabling Alexander’s subsequent victory. Whereas the Romans didn’t traditionally use archers in their forces, once they conquered Greece Cretan archers began to appear as auxiliary troops in their armies. Notably, they fought in Caesar’s campaign in Gaul against Vercingetorix, causing him to rally the best archers the tribes could provide to range against them.

Scorpion Trieres - Massaloi Epibatoi Toxotai

Unit Name

Scorpion Trieres - Massaloi Epibatoi Toxotai

Main Unit Key

Gre_Scorpion_Trireme_Admiral_Mas

Land Unit Key

Mas_Marine_Archers

Naval Unit Key

greek_scorpio_three

Soldiers

80

Category

Medium Ship

Class

Missile Ship

Custom Battle Cost

1312

Recruitment Cost

1312

Upkeep Cost

328

Missile Damage

9

├ Missile Weapon

bow2

├ Projectile

bow2

├ Missile Damage

9

├ Missile Ap Damage

0

└ Base Reload Time

14

Accuracy

5

Range

165

Reload

13

Shots Per Minute

5

Ammunition

31

Ship Health

693

└ Ship

greek_three

Ship Speed

4

Melee Attack

19

Weapon Damage

7

├ Melee Weapon

dagger2

├ Weapon Damage

7

├ Weapon Deadliness

0

├ Armour Piercing

No

├ Bonus vs. Cavalry

0

├ Bonus vs. Elephants

0

└ Bonus vs Infantry

0

Charge Bonus

8

Melee Defence

36

├ Base Defence

20

├ Shield

none

└ Shield Defence

16

Armour

8

├ Armour

arm4

├ Armour Defence

8

└ Shield Armour

0

Health

21

├ Man Entity

rome_infantry_very_light

├ Man Health

20

└ Bonus Hit Points

1

Base Morale

50

Abilities

Scorpion Trieres
  • Row Hard 10
    Increases speed for 10 strokes.
    Ship speed
Massaloi Epibatoi Toxotai
  • Stamina (excellent)
    Governs how fast the unit tires and restores fatigue, and is dependent on type of unit, weight and approach to combat.

Attributes

  • Improved Stamina
    This unit type has an improvement on the base stamina stat.
  • Hide (scrub & forest)
    This unit can hide in scrub and forest until enemy units get too close.
  • Hide (scrub & forest)
    This unit can hide in scrub and forest until enemy units get too close.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Scorpion Trieres
  • Poor hull strength
  • Light crew
  • Fast speed
  • Weak ramming
  • Average boarding
  • Good missile combat
Massaloi Epibatoi Toxotai
  • Long range
  • Average rate of fire
  • Good damage but low armour penetration
  • Very weak in melee
  • Very poor morale
Faction Availability
Grand Campaign
Caesar in Gaul
Hannibal at the Gates