Saba Missile Ship

Tower Penteres - Sabaean Archers

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.

(Sabaean Archers)
The warriors of the Sabaean region were light infantry, cavalry and archers, and fought as mercenaries and auxiliaries for the Roman Empire. Dressed desert-fashion, they were entirely familiar with and comfortable in arid places. This was secondary however, to their reputation as mostly-reliable fighters, of far more worth than ordinary citizens or levies. This was due to the independence that the Sabaean kingdom maintained from the 8th century BC to AD275. This record was based on military might as well as diplomacy and the spice trade including frankincense and myrrh. Never conquered by Rome, Sabaean warriors still found work as mercenaries and auxiliaries in Roman service.

Unit Name Tower Penteres - Sabaean Archers

Main Unit Key dk_saba_archers_five_tower

Land Unit Key dk_saba_sabaean_archers

Naval Unit Key persian_lft_five

Soldiers 140

Category Medium Ship

Class Missile Ship

Custom Battle Cost 1200

Recruitment Cost 1200

Upkeep Cost 240

Missile Damage 35

├ Missile Weapon rome_bow

├ Projectile arrow_normal

├ Missile Damage 31

├ Missile Ap Damage 4

└ Base Reload Time 12

Accuracy 5

Range 125

Reload 13

Shots Per Minute 6

Ammunition 15

Ship Health 1090

└ Ship persian_five

Ship Speed 5

Melee Attack 8

Weapon Damage 24

├ Melee Weapon rome_shortsword

├ Melee Damage Base 20

├ Melee Damage Ap 4

├ Armour Piercing No

├ Bonus vs. Large 0

├ Bonus vs Elephants 0

└ Bonus vs Infantry 0

Charge Bonus 3

Melee Defence 12

├ Base Defence 12

├ Shield none

└ Shield Defence 0

Armour 10

├ Armour cloth

├ Armour Defence 10

└ Shield Armour 0

Health 45

├ Man Entity rome_infantry_very_light

├ Man Health 40

└ Bonus Hit Points 5

Base Morale 25

Abilities

• 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.
• Resistant to Heat
  This unit tires less quickly in the desert.

Strengths & Weaknesses

• Good hull strength
• Medium crew
• Average speed
• Average ramming
• Average boarding
• Very good missile combat

• Long range
• Average rate of fire
• Good damage but low armour penetration
• Very weak in melee
• Very poor morale

Requires Buildings
Lv. 0	Naval Yard (east_port_military_3) Level 2 Drydock (east_port_military_4) Level 3

Faction Availability
Grand Campaign	Saba Sabaean Tribal Council Sabaean Secessionists