Assault Bireme - Mercenary Egyptian Infantry

The waterline ram was first mounted on a vessel in around 850BC. Warships and naval tactics were transformed. Ships were no longer platforms for infantry battles on the water; the ship itself became the weapon. Galleys changed as the new reality sank in. Ramming at speed would hole and sink an enemy, therefore slimmer, faster, handier ships were required. More speed on demand obviously required more oars a fast ship with a single row of oars ended up being stupidly, impractically long. The solution, then, was to put in a second set of oars above the first, but slightly offset to allow for rowers' benches. These biremes, a Latin word meaning 'two oars', or dieres, the Greek equivalent, were no longer than previous designs but had twice the number of rowers. They were fast, manoeuvrable, and could carry a fighting contingent. Some nations also gave their bireme crews fire pots; these clay pots filled with oil and pitch were hurled at enemy ships in the entirely reasonable hope of setting them ablaze.

(Mercenary Egyptian Infantry)
During the period of Roman rule, native Egyptian troops tended to support their Roman rulers. With a military legacy thousands of years old, the sons of the desert were commonly used as peltasts, skirmishers on the flanks of the Legionaries or as infantry in difficult terrain. Each Egyptian regiment could be identified by the weapon they carried - archers, spearmen, swordsmen, etc. The strong performance of the Egyptians in battle led to a greater proportion of native warriors forming auxiliary units, and as time passed and they gained their Roman commander's trust, they were give more diverse roles in battle. There were a series of revolts in Egypt throughout the 3rd century AD when Zenobia, the Palmyrene queen, took over the province after conquering it in AD 269, declaring herself 'Queen of Egypt' and backing it up by claiming she was descended from Cleopatra, the region's final Hellenic queen prior to its cessation to Rome.

Unit Name Assault Bireme - Mercenary Egyptian Infantry

Main Unit Key 3c_Mer_Egy_Assault_Bireme

Land Unit Key 3c_Mer_Egyptian_Infantry

Naval Unit Key 3c_roman_two

Soldiers 60

Category Light Ship

Class Melee Ship

Custom Battle Cost 260

Recruitment Cost 260

Upkeep Cost 195

Missile Damage 32

├ Missile Weapon rome_javelin_precursor

├ Projectile javelin_prec

├ Missile Damage 20

├ Missile Ap Damage 12

└ Base Reload Time 15

Accuracy 5

Range 40

Reload 0

Shots Per Minute 4

Ammunition 2

Ship Health 501

└ Ship roman_two

Ship Speed 6

Melee Attack 16

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 8

Melee Defence 41

├ Base Defence 16

├ Shield thureos

└ Shield Defence 25

Armour 55

├ Armour padded

├ Armour Defence 20

└ Shield Armour 35

Health 45

├ Man Entity rome_infantry_medium

├ Man Health 40

└ Bonus Hit Points 5

Base Morale 25

Abilities

• Row Hard 10
  Increases speed for 10 strokes.
  Ship speed

Attributes

• Hide (forest)
  This unit can hide in forests until enemy units get too close.
• Resistant to Heat
  This unit tires less quickly in the desert.

Strengths & Weaknesses

• Very poor hull strength
• Very light crew
• Fast speed
• Weak ramming
• Good boarding

• Very good attack
• Average defence
• Average damage but low armour penetration
• Good morale

Empire Divided Mercenaries Pool

Mercenaries Pool
No.	Pool	Province	Region	Initial Unit Count	Chance To Replenish	Max Replenish Per Turn	Max Count
1	3c_province_pool_naval_aegyptos	Aegyptos	Alexandria Diospolis Memphis Myos Hormos	1	0.15	1	1