Missile Penteres - Slingers
Archers can shoot down upon many enemies from the deck, doing terrible work in the process.Witty slingers often scratch "OUCH!" onto their shot.
The 'five', called a quinquereme in Latin and a penteres in Greek, was a ship first used by the Syracusans against the Carthaginians sometime around 398BC. Like other polyremes, a term meaning many-oared, the chances were that it did not have five banks of oars but that the word 'oar' was used to mean 'rower'. In such a case, the arrangement of rowers would be two-two-one going up from the waterline. It makes sense to keep as much weight as possible low in the vessel to help its stability; a high centre of gravity makes any ship liable to capsize if struck from the side. The quinquereme, then, would be a formidable vessel both in terms of appearance and combat value. With a large fighting contingent aboard and plenty of deck space, this heavy vessel could cope with most enemies and threats.
(Slingers)
Slingers were common in ancient armies. Slings are ancient weapons, dating back to Palaeolithic times. In comparison to bows, they were easy to make and had a greater effective range. Constructed from braided flax, hemp or rushes, a sling has a cradle where the shot is placed. One end has a finger-loop, while the other has a knot or strip giving a firm handhold. The slinger puts his middle finger through the loop and holds the knotted end with his thumb and forefinger. After whirling the shot in the sling it is released with a flick of the wrist. Quick to fire and reload, the sling was widely hated by those on the receiving end. Shot varied from stones collected in rivers to shaped lumps of clay and lead; lead shot could fly over 400 metres. Such missiles were sometimes inscribed with comments such as “Catch!” or “Take that!” Shot was difficult to see in flight, and although it lacked the penetrating power of an arrow it could easily break bone or stave-in armour at short ranges. Famously, the Roman Consul Paullus was killed by a slinger early in the disastrous Battle of Cannae.
Unit Name Missile Penteres - Slingers |
Main Unit Key Gre_Slingers_Five |
Land Unit Key Gre_Slingers |
Naval Unit Key greek_five |
Soldiers 140 |
Category Medium Ship |
Class Missile Ship |
Custom Battle Cost 780 |
Recruitment Cost 780 |
Upkeep Cost 115 |
20 |
├ Missile Weapon rome_sling |
├ Projectile sling_stone |
├ Missile Damage 16 |
├ Missile Ap Damage 4 |
└ Base Reload Time 10 |
Accuracy 5 |
Range 155 |
Reload 13 |
Shots Per Minute 7 |
Ammunition 35 |
1020 |
└ Ship greek_five |
Ship Speed 5 |
Melee Attack 7 |
23 |
├ Melee Weapon rome_shortsword |
├ Melee Damage Base 20 |
├ Melee Damage Ap 3 |
├ Armour Piercing No |
├ Bonus vs. Large 0 |
├ Bonus vs Elephants 0 |
└ Bonus vs Infantry 5 |
Charge Bonus 3 |
40 |
├ Base Defence 5 |
├ Shield small_bronze |
└ Shield Defence 35 |
27 |
├ Armour cloth |
├ Armour Defence 27 |
└ Shield Armour 0 |
50 |
├ Man Entity rome_infantry_very_light |
├ Man Health 45 |
└ Bonus Hit Points 5 |
Base Morale 20 |
Abilities
Missile Penteres- Row Hard 20
Increases speed for 20 strokes.
Ship speed
Attributes
- Resistant to Fatigue
Fatigue has less of an effect on this unit. - Hide (scrub & forest)
This unit can hide in scrub and forest until enemy units get too close.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Missile Penteres- Good hull strength
- Medium crew
- Average speed
- Average ramming
- Poor boarding
- Good missile combat
- Very long range
- Average rate of fire
- Low damage but average armour penetration
- Very weak in melee
- Very poor morale
Faction Availability | |
---|---|
Grand Campaign |