Pursuit Trihemiolia - Light Peltasts
Fast, relatively powerful pursuit ships, well able to hunt down pirates and other seagoing scum.These skirmishers harass the enemy with their javelins before sensibly withdrawing out of range.
It is thought that the Rhodians, a significant naval power in the eastern Mediterranean, developed the 'trihemiolia' or 'two-and-a-half' as a vessel for pirate hunting. Given that Rhodes is an island entirely reliant on the sea and shipping this is a believable theory. Pirates used the hemiola, a handy little vessel developed from the dieres or bireme, a ship with two rows of oars; it makes sense that pirate hunters would think of taking a trieres, or trireme, with three rows of oars and modifying it in a similar fashion. A trihemiolia still had three rows of oars on each side, but the top row was reduced to only half the number of oars, positioned midships. The result was a faster, handier vessel that provided a height advantage over a hemiola for any archers on board. There was also a strategic benefit to the Rhodians, who could only draw on the manpower of one island: they could have six trieres warships with full complements of rowers, or seven trihemiolias for the same number of men. The useful design was soon adopted by other maritime powers around the Mediterranean.
(Light Peltasts)
These skirmishers were named for their small crescent-shaped leather or wicker shields or 'peltai'. It was a common habit to name troops for their shield style in the Greek world. They wore little or no armour and carried three javelins. After harassing the enemy by flinging javelins, they would hastily retreat before any counter-charge or flanking move could be carried out. As armies developed and tactics became more complex, peltasts were expected to take part in hand-to-hand combat: with such expectation they were given stiffened linen cuirasses and short swords. They were still expected to use javelins, but could then join in the close fighting. Eventually, peltasts even exchanged their characteristic shield for the heavier thureos. Their name and battlefield function remained unchanged.
Unit Name Pursuit Trihemiolia - Light Peltasts |
Main Unit Key Gre_Light_Peltasts_Two_Halfer |
Land Unit Key Gre_Light_Peltasts |
Naval Unit Key greek_two_halfer |
Soldiers 100 |
Category Light Ship |
Class Missile Ship |
Custom Battle Cost 640 |
Recruitment Cost 640 |
Upkeep Cost 128 |
32 |
├ Missile Weapon rome_javelin |
├ Projectile javelin_normal |
├ Missile Damage 20 |
├ Missile Ap Damage 12 |
└ Base Reload Time 10 |
Accuracy 5 |
Range 80 |
Reload 23 |
Shots Per Minute 8 |
Ammunition 10 |
585 |
└ Ship greek_two_halfer |
Ship Speed 7 |
Melee Attack 18 |
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 10 |
40 |
├ Base Defence 15 |
├ Shield peltast_thureos |
└ Shield Defence 25 |
40 |
├ Armour cloth |
├ Armour Defence 10 |
└ Shield Armour 30 |
50 |
├ Man Entity rome_infantry_very_light_fast |
├ Man Health 40 |
└ Bonus Hit Points 10 |
Base Morale 45 |
Abilities
Pursuit Trihemiolia- Row Hard 10
Increases speed for 10 strokes.
Ship speed
- Quick Reload
Improved reloading for an extended time.
Shots per minute
Exertion: fatigue
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
Pursuit Trihemiolia- Poor hull strength
- Medium crew
- Uncatchable
- Weak ramming
- Poor boarding
- Average missile combat
- Short range
- Fast rate of fire
- Very good damage and armour penetration
- Large shield
- Very weak in melee
- Poor morale