Tower Penteres - Persian Light Archers
From a shipboard tower, all enemies become little targets to be potted at will.Archers should be valued for the ability to strike down a distant foe.
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.
(Persian Light Archers)
Very few Persians were professional soldiers and, apart from the earlier elite Achaemenid Immortals and some mercenary hoplites, none were formally trained or drilled. Instead, troops were levied by rich land owners as an obligation during times of war. Levied infantry included slingers, archers and javelin throwers, all wearing little armour but some with shields for protection. As might be expected due to the local terrain, cavalry was an important component in an eastern army, and several types were raised. Lighter cavalry wore iron or bronze scale armour over a tunic; these mounted warriors carried javelins and a sword but had no shield. Horse archers were used to wear down infantry with fast, ruthless attacks. Heavy cavalry included a royal bodyguard. The Parthians, and later the Sassanid Persians, developed all-over horse armour to protect their valued steeds as well as the fearsome cataphract warriors. These were as armoured as any late medieval knight.
Unit Name Tower Penteres - Persian Light Archers |
Main Unit Key Eas_Per_Archers_Five_Lft_Bow |
Land Unit Key Eas_Persian_Light_Archers |
Naval Unit Key persian_lft_five |
Soldiers 140 |
Category Medium Ship |
Class Missile Ship |
Custom Battle Cost 1210 |
Recruitment Cost 1210 |
Upkeep Cost 242 |
35 |
├ Missile Weapon rome_recurve_bow |
├ Projectile arrow_recurve |
├ Missile Damage 31 |
├ Missile Ap Damage 4 |
└ Base Reload Time 12 |
Accuracy 5 |
Range 150 |
Reload 18 |
Shots Per Minute 6 |
Ammunition 15 |
1090 |
└ Ship persian_five |
Ship Speed 5 |
Melee Attack 9 |
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 4 |
13 |
├ Base Defence 13 |
├ Shield none |
└ Shield Defence 0 |
10 |
├ Armour cloth |
├ Armour Defence 10 |
└ Shield Armour 0 |
50 |
├ Man Entity rome_infantry_very_light_fast |
├ Man Health 40 |
└ Bonus Hit Points 10 |
Base Morale 30 |
Abilities
Tower Penteres- 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
Tower Penteres- 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 |
Military Wharf
(greek_port_military_2) Level 1
Drydock
(greek_port_military_3) Level 2
Military Port
(greek_port_military_4) Level 3 |
Faction Availability | |
---|---|
Grand Campaign | |
Imperator Augustus |