Egypt Shock Cavalry

Ptolemaic Cavalry

Following the tradition of elite Hellenic shock cavalry, these horsemen employed heavy armour and fearsome xyston or kontos-like lances. These were considerably longer than normal cavalry spears and balanced by a butt-spike. Using such weapons required Ptolemaic cavalry to forgo shields and steer their mounts with their legs in the same fashion as Saka and Sarmatian archers, and later cataphracts. Unlike their eastern counterparts, Ptolemaic cavalry did not armour their horses in scale until around the 1st century BC. They were heavily armoured themselves, initially wearing bronze cuirasses and helmets but later scale or chainmail armour. Recruited almost exclusively from the richest Greek colonists in Egypt, their numbers were never great but they provided a vital shock element alongside lighter Egyptian and mercenary cavalry.

Unit Name Ptolemaic Cavalry

Main Unit Key Gre_Ptolemaic_Cav

Land Unit Key Gre_Ptolemaic_Cav

Naval Unit Key greek_transport

Soldiers 90

Category Cavalry

Class Shock Cavalry

Custom Battle Cost 880

Recruitment Cost 960

Upkeep Cost 100

Melee Attack 46

Weapon Damage 31

├ Melee Weapon rome_lance

├ Melee Damage Base 16

├ Melee Damage Ap 15

├ Armour Piercing No

├ Bonus vs. Large 10

├ Bonus vs Elephants 12

└ Bonus vs Infantry 0

Charge Bonus 61

Melee Defence 33

├ Base Defence 33

├ Shield none

└ Shield Defence 0

Armour 74

├ Armour bronze

├ Armour Defence 74

└ Shield Armour 0

Health 140

├ Man Entity rome_infantry_very_heavy

├ Man Health 60

├ Bonus Hit Points 20

├ Mount rome_hellenic_horse_lance_vh

├ Mount Entity rome_horse_very_heavy_shock

└ Mount Health 60

Base Morale 65

Abilities

• Diamond
  The unit moves into a diamond-shaped attack formation.
  Charge bonus, melee attack
  Acceleration, melee defence
• Trample
  Charges are more effective for an extended time.
  Charge bonus
  Exertion: fatigue

Attributes

• Disciplined
  This unit does not suffer a morale penalty when the general dies. It can also rally after routing more often.
• Encourage
  This unit provides a morale bonus to nearby allies.
• Hide (forest)
  This unit can hide in forests until enemy units get too close.

Strengths & Weaknesses

• Very poor hull strength
• Very slow speed
• Weak ramming

• Very good charge
• Low damage but average armour penetration
• Weak in prolonged melee
• Good morale

Requires Buildings
Lv. 1	Royal Barracks (greek_military_heavy_4) Level 3

Faction Availability
Grand Campaign	Egypt Egyptian Nobles Egyptian Rebels
Imperator Augustus	Egypt (Imperator Augustus) Egyptian Nobles (Imperator Augustus) Egyptian Rebels (Imperator Augustus)