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Light Artillery Quinquereme - Ballista (Ship) RomaRoma Artillery Ship

Light Artillery Quinquereme - Ballista (Ship)

A quinquereme is a 45 meter long galley with three decks of oars, in a pattern of 2-2-1 oarsmen, developed around 400 BCE by the Syracusans. Its large size allows many marines on board, and also allows ballistae to be mounted on the large decks.

(Roman Marines)

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.

(Ballista (Ship))
At close targets, a ballista could be aimed effectively but accuracy came at a cost in range; it could fire around 500 metres. The machine used two torsion springs with levers inserted into twisted ropes made from animal sinew, giving incredible power for its size. Firing either solid shot or bolts, it was equally effective against infantry or cavalry, but could also be deployed to destroy light fortifications during sieges. Originally developed by the Greeks around 400BC, and based on the oversized Oxybeles composite bow, ballistae were widely used by many cultures of the period, including the Romans. Later Roman versions included adjustable caps that enabled crews to quickly alter the tension of each sinew bundle to provide balance and therefore improve accuracy.

Light Artillery Quinquereme - Ballista (Ship)

Unit Name

Light Artillery Quinquereme - Ballista (Ship)

Main Unit Key

Rom_Quinquereme_Ballista

Land Unit Key

Rom_Ballista_Shp

Naval Unit Key

roman_ballista_five

Soldiers

140

Category

Medium Ship

Class

Artillery Ship

Custom Battle Cost

1500

Recruitment Cost

1500

Upkeep Cost

375

Ship Health

1020

└ Ship

roman_five_art

Ship Speed

3

Missile Damage

89

├ Engine

ballista_medium_ship

├ Missile Weapon

rome_ballista_shp

├ Projectile

shp_stone_flammable

├ Missile Damage

49

├ Missile Ap Damage

40

└ Base Reload Time

27

Accuracy

40

Range

435

Reload

4

Shots Per Minute

2

Ammunition

4

Melee Attack

24

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

18

Melee Defence

79

├ Base Defence

21

├ Shield

shield6

└ Shield Defence

58

Armour

14

├ Armour

arm8

├ Armour Defence

14

└ Shield Armour

0

Health

22

├ Man Entity

medium_medium

├ Man Health

20

└ Bonus Hit Points

2

Base Morale

65

Abilities

Light Artillery Quinquereme
  • Row Hard 20
    Increases speed for 20 strokes.
    Ship speed
Ballista (Ship)
  • Stamina (average)
    Governs how fast the unit tires and restores fatigue, and is dependent on type of unit, weight and approach to combat.

Attributes

No Attribute

Strengths & Weaknesses

Light Artillery Quinquereme
  • Average hull strength
  • Skeleton crew
  • Average speed
  • Average ramming
  • Abysmal boarding
  • Exceptional missile combat
Ballista (Ship)
  • Very accurate
  • Very long range
  • Fast rate of fire
  • Lower damage than other artillery
  • Easily destroyed
Upgrade
Required Technology Roman Unit Upgrades Cost 1000 Upgrade To Light Artillery Quinquereme -
Requires Buildings
Light Artillery Quinquereme - Ballista (Ship) Lv. 0 Port of Alexandria
Port of Alexandria
(dei_port_ALEXANDRIA_2)
Level 1
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_2)
Level 1
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_2)
Level 1
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_2)
Level 1
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_ROMAN_port_large_military_3)
Level 2
Portus Classis
Portus Classis
(rom_ROMAN_port_large_military_4)
Level 3