Assault Tetreres - Mercenary Italian Spearmen

There is a good deal of debate as to how large ancient warships worked; the principles are understood, but the details are not always so clear. A Roman 'quadreme' or Greek 'tetreres' would seem to have four rows of oars if the name is translated literally. However, it is unclear how four sets of oars each with one rower apiece could be used without them getting in a terrible tangle even with a magnificently trained crew, or how the top set of rowers would be able to handle the extremely long oars pitched at a steep angle and still produce any power. The chances are that the term 'oar' had become synonymous with 'rower' and that the lowest bank had more than one man per oar. The other option was to go back to a double row of oars, with two men apiece. Two banks of oars would also have made for a cheaper construction task for each ship. Either way, the result was a ship that could rival the lighter trireme in speed, yet had more deck space for a large fighting contingent or artillery pieces.

(Mercenary Italian Spearmen)
Before Rome controlled the whole of Italy it shared the peninsula with others, such as the Etruscans and Samnites. These various petty kingdoms, cities and tribes often fought each other, but also united against common external threats. It was as the Etruscans waned and Greek influence fell away that the Romans began steadily accumulating land and power. After three wars against the Samnites, Rome finally became the dominant power in Italy, and extracted pledges of loyalty and military aid from the 'Socii Latini', its Latin allies. There were further rebellions against Rome’s dominance, the most significant being the Allied War of 90-88BC, when many of the Socii turned on Rome. Clearly, this gave the Romans pause, as the peace settlement after was surprisingly generous: it gave the Socii the right of full Roman citizenship, giving them a stake in Rome's continued survival and effectively uniting the whole of Italy under their rule.

Unit Name Assault Tetreres - Mercenary Italian Spearmen

Main Unit Key Mer_Ill_Heavy_Galley

Land Unit Key Mer_Ita_Spear

Naval Unit Key greek_four

Soldiers 120

Category Medium Ship

Class Melee Ship

Custom Battle Cost 640

Recruitment Cost 640

Upkeep Cost 480

Ship Health 825

└ Ship greek_four

Ship Speed 6

Melee Attack 18

Weapon Damage 25

├ Melee Weapon rome_spear

├ Melee Damage Base 20

├ Melee Damage Ap 5

├ Armour Piercing No

├ Bonus vs. Large 20

├ Bonus vs Elephants 20

└ Bonus vs Infantry 0

Charge Bonus 15

Melee Defence 55

├ Base Defence 30

├ Shield thureos

└ Shield Defence 25

Armour 65

├ Armour chest_improved

├ Armour Defence 30

└ Shield Armour 35

Health 50

├ Man Entity rome_infantry_heavy

├ Man Health 40

└ Bonus Hit Points 10

Base Morale 40

Abilities

• Row Hard 20
  Increases speed for 20 strokes.
  Ship speed

Attributes

• Disciplined
  This unit does not suffer a morale penalty when the general dies. It can also rally after routing more often.
• Formation Attack
  The unit will try to stay in formation when in melee.
• Hide (forest)
  This unit can hide in forests until enemy units get too close.

Strengths & Weaknesses

• Average hull strength
• Medium crew
• Average speed
• Average ramming
• Average boarding

• Good defensive unit
• Low damage but average armour penetration
• Average attack
• Normal morale

Empire Divided Mercenaries Pool

Mercenaries Pool
No.	Pool	Province	Region	Initial Unit Count	Chance To Replenish	Max Replenish Per Turn	Max Count
1	rom_province_pool_italia	Italia	Beneventum Brundisium Cosentia	0	0.15	1	1
2	rom_province_pool_italia	Latium	Ariminium Arretium Asculum Roma	0	0.15	1	1
3	rom_province_pool_naval_illyria	Illyricum	Dyrrachium Narona Salona	1	0.15	1	1

Grand Campaign Mercenaries Pool

Mercenaries Pool
No.	Pool	Province	Region	Initial Unit Count	Chance To Replenish	Max Replenish Per Turn	Max Count
4	rom_province_pool_italia	Italia	Velathri Roma Ariminum Neapolis	0	0.15	1	1
5	rom_province_pool_naval_illyria	Illyria	Delminium Epidamnos Iader	1	0.15	1	1