Pursuit Trihemiolia - Kretai Toxotai
The trihemiolia is a lighter version of the trireme, with two and a half rows of oars. Developed by the Rhodians, it has been their favoured ship design for centuries and is an ideal pirate hunter, able to keep up with lighter raiding ships.(Cretan Archers)
As elite archers from the island of Knossos, the ancestors of these famed bowmen once served in the all-conquering army of Alexander the Great.
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.
(Kretai Toxotai)
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 Pursuit Trihemiolia - Kretai Toxotai |
Main Unit Key Gre_Pursuit_Hemolia_Crete |
Land Unit Key Gre_Marine_Crete |
Naval Unit Key greek_two_halfer |
Soldiers 100 |
Category Light Ship |
Class Missile Ship |
Custom Battle Cost 812 |
Recruitment Cost 812 |
Upkeep Cost 203 |
10 |
├ Missile Weapon bow3 |
├ Projectile bow3 |
├ Missile Damage 10 |
├ Missile Ap Damage 0 |
└ Base Reload Time 12 |
Accuracy 15 |
Range 175 |
Reload 28 |
Shots Per Minute 7 |
Ammunition 31 |
585 |
└ Ship greek_two_halfer |
Ship Speed 5 |
Melee Attack 17 |
7 |
├ Melee Weapon dagger2 |
├ Weapon Damage 7 |
├ Weapon Deadliness 0 |
├ Armour Piercing No |
├ Bonus vs. Cavalry 0 |
├ Bonus vs. Elephants 0 |
└ Bonus vs Infantry 0 |
Charge Bonus 8 |
41 |
├ Base Defence 15 |
├ Shield shield1 |
└ Shield Defence 26 |
8 |
├ Armour arm4 |
├ Armour Defence 8 |
└ Shield Armour 0 |
20 |
├ Man Entity light_medium |
├ Man Health 20 |
└ Bonus Hit Points 0 |
Base Morale 35 |
Abilities
Pursuit Trihemiolia- Row Hard 10
Increases speed for 10 strokes.
Ship speed
- Stamina (excellent)
Governs how fast the unit tires and restores fatigue, and is dependent on type of unit, weight and approach to combat.
Attributes
- 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
- Long range
- Fast rate of fire
- Good damage but low armour penetration
- Very weak in melee
- Poor morale
Faction Availability | |
---|---|
Grand Campaign | |
Macedonian Wars |