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Assault Hexeres - Machimoi Epibatoi PtolemaioiPtolemaioi Melee Ship

Assault Hexeres - Machimoi Epibatoi

A hexareme is a 40 meter long oared warship with two decks of oars, each oar powered by three oarsmen. Developed around 360 BCE by the Syracusans, this huge dreadnought is rare and mainly used as a flagship. It can even hold archer towers at each end of the deck.

(Egyptian Marines)

As centuries passed, naval tactics and needs changed across the Mediterranean. There was a move towards larger ships, partly as an expression of national or dynastic power: the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt were particularly fond of large ships to show their wealth and influence in a physical way. These 'polyremes', a term meaning many oared, were not suitable for ramming work in battle. In practice many of them had no more oars than smaller ships; what they had were more rowers per oar than smaller ships. A Roman hexareme or Greek hexeres would have a couple of banks of oars with three men per oar, and appear to be an over-sized version of a smaller ship. Even so, thanks to being tremendously heavy and strongly constructed, they were slow moving, and hardly capable of the quick turns needed to take advantage of enemy mistakes. Instead the large ships made use of their wide decks and plentiful carrying capacities and became fighting platforms for infantry and artillery. Boarding or long-range bombardment were the methods to be used to defeat the enemy; naval warfare had come full circle in terms of fighting methods, even if ships had grown significantly.

(Machimoi Epibatoi)
The thureos, a large oval-shaped shield, became common throughout the Hellenistic world from the 3rd century BC. Made from wood covered in hide, it differed from the earlier Greek hoplon in having a central handgrip, which was protected by a vertical spine running the length of the shield. This in turn could be further reinforced by the addition of a wide metal strip that protected the grip and the user’s hand. Inspired by the sub-rectangular and oval shields of the Celts, possibly through contact with the migrating Galatians, its usage seems to have spread through the Illyrian and Thracian tribes before it was adopted by the Greeks. Although large, the thureos was light in comparison to the traditional hoplon, and was adopted by heavily-armoured peltasts. Named after their shields, 'thureophoroi' could fight as common peltasts, skirmishing with javelins, but could also form up with their larger shields and longer spears in a similar fashion to a phalanx. The versatile and useful design of the thureos meant it was used by many armies, including the auxiliaries and cavalry of the later Roman Legions.

Assault Hexeres - Machimoi Epibatoi

Unit Name

Assault Hexeres - Machimoi Epibatoi

Main Unit Key

Gre_Assault_Hexareme_Egy

Land Unit Key

Egy_Marines

Naval Unit Key

egyptian_six

Soldiers

160

Category

Heavy Ship

Class

Melee Ship

Custom Battle Cost

2062

Recruitment Cost

2062

Upkeep Cost

516

Missile Damage

11

├ Missile Weapon

prec1

├ Projectile

prec1

├ Missile Damage

11

├ Missile Ap Damage

0

└ Base Reload Time

10

Accuracy

5

Range

80

Reload

0

Shots Per Minute

6

Ammunition

4

Ship Health

1206

└ Ship

egyptian_six

Ship Speed

3

Melee Attack

27

Weapon Damage

10

├ Melee Weapon

gsword3

├ Weapon Damage

10

├ Weapon Deadliness

0

├ Armour Piercing

No

├ Bonus vs. Cavalry

0

├ Bonus vs. Elephants

0

└ Bonus vs Infantry

0

Charge Bonus

13

Melee Defence

79

├ Base Defence

21

├ Shield

shield6

└ Shield Defence

58

Armour

12

├ Armour

arm7

├ Armour Defence

12

└ Shield Armour

0

Health

24

├ Man Entity

rome_infantry_very_heavy_slow

├ Man Health

20

└ Bonus Hit Points

4

Base Morale

60

Abilities

Assault Hexeres
  • Row Hard 30
    Increases speed for 30 strokes.
    Ship speed
Machimoi Epibatoi
  • Stamina (poor)
    Governs how fast the unit tires and restores fatigue, and is dependent on type of unit, weight and approach to combat.

Attributes

  • Disciplined
    This unit does not suffer a morale penalty when the general dies. It can also rally after routing more often.
  • Hide (forest)
    This unit can hide in forests until enemy units get too close.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Assault Hexeres
  • Very good hull strength
  • Heavy crew
  • Slow speed
  • Strong ramming
  • Very good boarding
Machimoi Epibatoi
  • Good attack
  • Average defence
  • Average damage but low armour penetration
  • Normal morale
Requires Buildings
Assault Hexeres - Machimoi Epibatoi Lv. 0 Port of Alexandria
Port of Alexandria
(dei_port_ALEXANDRIA_3)
Level 2
Port of Alexandria
Port of Alexandria
(dei_port_ALEXANDRIA_4)
Level 3
Cothon
Cothon
(dei_port_CARTHAGE_3)
Level 2
Cothon
Cothon
(dei_port_CARTHAGE_4)
Level 3
Port of Massalia
Port of Massalia
(dei_port_MASSILIA_3)
Level 2
Port of Massalia
Port of Massalia
(dei_port_MASSILIA_4)
Level 3
Port of Rhodos
Port of Rhodos
(dei_port_RHODES_3)
Level 2
Port of Rhodos
Port of Rhodos
(dei_port_RHODES_4)
Level 3
Drydock
Drydock
(rom_HELLENIC_port_large_military_3)
Level 2
Military Port
Military Port
(rom_HELLENIC_port_large_military_4)
Level 3