Mercenary Cretan Archers

Although archery was not highly thought of as a military skill in Greece, Crete produced truly excellent archers who were able to sell their services to the highest bidder as mercenaries. Firing bronze-tipped arrows from their heavy self bows, Cretan archers tended to carry shields, indicative of some additional prowess in melee, which must’ve made them an even more enticing proposition for a general hiring mercenaries for campaign. Their finest hours came when Alexander the Great hired Cretans directly into his army to support its unbeatable phalanx. Commanded by Clearchus, 500 Cretans accompanied the Macedonian phalanx into battle at Granicus, off-setting the Persians' numerical superiority on the day and enabling Alexander’s subsequent victory. Whereas the Romans didn’t traditionally use archers in their forces, once they conquered Greece Cretan archers began to appear as auxiliary troops in their armies. Notably, they fought in Caesar’s campaign in Gaul against Vercingetorix, causing him to rally the best archers the tribes could provide to range against them.

Unit Name Mercenary Cretan Archers

Main Unit Key Mer_Gre_Cretan_Archers

Land Unit Key Mer_Gre_Cretan_Archers

Naval Unit Key pel_transport

Soldiers 120

Category Missile Infantry

Class Missile Infantry

Custom Battle Cost 600

Recruitment Cost 410

Upkeep Cost 300

Missile Damage 40

├ Missile Weapon rome_composite_bow_elite

├ Projectile arrow_composite

├ Missile Damage 36

├ Missile Ap Damage 4

└ Base Reload Time 12

Accuracy 5

Range 150

Reload 28

Shots Per Minute 7

Ammunition 15

Melee Attack 12

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 30

├ Armour leather

├ Armour Defence 30

└ Shield Armour 0

Health 55

├ Man Entity rome_infantry_very_light

├ Man Health 40

└ Bonus Hit Points 15

Base Morale 55

Abilities

• 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

• Very poor hull strength
• Very slow speed
• Weak ramming

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

Empire Divided Mercenaries Pool

Mercenaries Pool
No.	Pool	Province	Region	Initial Unit Count	Chance To Replenish	Max Replenish Per Turn	Max Count
1	rom_province_pool_hellas	Achaia	Athenae Gortyna Sparta	0	0.75	1	1

Grand Campaign Mercenaries Pool

Mercenaries Pool
No.	Pool	Province	Region	Initial Unit Count	Chance To Replenish	Max Replenish Per Turn	Max Count
2	rom_province_pool_hellas	Hellas	Athenai Hierapytna Sparta	0	0.75	1	1

Hannibal at the Gates Mercenaries Pool

Mercenaries Pool
No.	Pool	Province	Region	Initial Unit Count	Chance To Replenish	Max Replenish Per Turn	Max Count
3	pun_province_pool_magna_graecia	Magna Graecia	Buxentum Croton Tarentum Thurii	0	0.3	1	3
4	pun_province_pool_sicilia	Sicilia	Lilybaeum Messana Syracuse	1	0.3	1	3