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Roman Light Artillery Quinquereme - Celtic Ballista (Ship)
Ballista bolts or stones are a powerful tool for destroying an enemy's will to resist.War is not always about glory. Sometimes it is simply about killing the enemy.
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.
(Celtic Ballista (Ship))
At close targets, a ballista could be aimed effectively but accuracy came at a cost in range; it could fire around 500 metres. The machine used two torsion springs with levers inserted into twisted ropes made from animal sinew, giving incredible power for its size. Firing either solid shot or bolts, it was equally effective against infantry or cavalry, but could also be deployed to destroy light fortifications during sieges. Originally developed by the Greeks around 400BC, and based on the oversized Oxybeles composite bow, ballistae were widely used by many cultures of the period, including the Romans. Later Roman versions included adjustable caps that enabled crews to quickly alter the tension of each sinew bundle to provide balance and therefore improve accuracy.
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Unit Name Roman Light Artillery Quinquereme - Celtic Ballista (Ship) |
Main Unit Key Cel_Ballista_Five |
Land Unit Key Cel_Ballista_Shp |
Naval Unit Key barbarian_roman_ballista_five |
Soldiers 40 |
Category Medium Ship |
Class Artillery Ship |
Custom Battle Cost 640 |
Recruitment Cost 640 |
Upkeep Cost 128 |
Ship Health 817 |
└ Ship barbarian_roman_five_art |
Ship Speed 3 |
Missile Damage 180 |
├ Engine ballista_medium_ship |
├ Missile Weapon rome_ballista_shp |
├ Projectile shp_stone_flammable |
├ Missile Damage 120 |
├ Missile Ap Damage 60 |
└ Base Reload Time 30 |
Accuracy 40 |
Range 420 |
Reload 4 |
Shots Per Minute 2 |
Ammunition 1 |
Melee Attack 9 |
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 6 |
Melee Defence 14 |
├ Base Defence 14 |
├ Shield none |
└ Shield Defence 0 |
Armour 10 |
├ Armour cloth |
├ Armour Defence 10 |
└ Shield Armour 0 |
Health 45 |
├ Man Entity rome_infantry_medium |
├ Man Health 40 |
└ Bonus Hit Points 5 |
Base Morale 40 |
Abilities
Roman Light Artillery Quinquereme- Row Hard 20
Increases speed for 20 strokes.
Ship speed
Attributes
No Attribute
Strengths & Weaknesses
Roman Light Artillery Quinquereme- Average hull strength
- Skeleton crew
- Average speed
- Average ramming
- Abysmal boarding
- Exceptional missile combat
- Very accurate
- Very long range
- Average rate of fire
- Lower damage than other artillery
- Easily destroyed
Faction Availability | |
---|---|
Grand Campaign | |
Samnite Wars | |
Caesar in Gaul | |
Hannibal at the Gates | |
Imperator Augustus |