Missile Quinquereme - Velites
Archers can shoot down upon many enemies from the deck, doing terrible work in the process.These javelin-armed skirmishers are fast moving and lightly armoured.
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.
(Velites)
Recruited from amongst Rome's poor and those too young to fight as hastati, the velites were the Roman army’s light infantry. They wore wolf skin head-dresses which are thought to have some totemic significance, although were also worn to induce fear in their enemies. At the Battle of Zama in 202BC, when Scipio Africanus confronted the Carthaginian general, Hannibal, it was the velites who helped fend off his initial elephant charge, utilising their light armour and weapons to move quickly around them. They harassed the elephants to a frenzy while the cavalry blew horns to disorientate the beasts. Hannibal had hoped to break the Roman lines with his elephants; instead, many of the frightened beasts turned on the Carthaginians. Those elephants who didn’t crash through their own lines were caught in a cleverly orchestrated manoeuvre, whereby the Romans carefully channelled them through gaps made between the cohorts' formation.
Unit Name Missile Quinquereme - Velites |
Main Unit Key Rom_Velites_Five |
Land Unit Key Rom_Velites |
Naval Unit Key roman_five |
Soldiers 140 |
Category Medium Ship |
Class Missile Ship |
Custom Battle Cost 710 |
Recruitment Cost 710 |
Upkeep Cost 115 |
28 |
├ Missile Weapon rome_javelin |
├ Projectile javelin_normal |
├ Missile Damage 15 |
├ Missile Ap Damage 13 |
└ Base Reload Time 9 |
Accuracy 5 |
Range 70 |
Reload 13 |
Shots Per Minute 8 |
Ammunition 18 |
1020 |
└ Ship roman_five |
Ship Speed 5 |
Melee Attack 7 |
23 |
├ Melee Weapon rome_shortsword |
├ Melee Damage Base 20 |
├ Melee Damage Ap 3 |
├ Armour Piercing No |
├ Bonus vs. Large 0 |
├ Bonus vs Elephants 0 |
└ Bonus vs Infantry 5 |
Charge Bonus 3 |
31 |
├ Base Defence 5 |
├ Shield pelta |
└ Shield Defence 26 |
52 |
├ Armour cloth |
├ Armour Defence 27 |
└ Shield Armour 25 |
50 |
├ Man Entity rome_infantry_very_light |
├ Man Health 45 |
└ Bonus Hit Points 5 |
Base Morale 20 |
Abilities
Missile Quinquereme- Row Hard 20
Increases speed for 20 strokes.
Ship speed
- 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
Missile Quinquereme- Good hull strength
- Medium crew
- Average speed
- Average ramming
- Poor boarding
- Good missile combat
- Short range
- Fast rate of fire
- Very good damage and armour penetration
- Very weak in melee
- Very poor morale
Requires Buildings | |
---|---|
Lv. 0 |
Military Wharf
(rome_port_military_2) Level 1
Drydock
(rome_port_military_3) Level 2
Portus Classis
(rome_port_military_4) Level 3 |
Faction Availability | |
---|---|
Grand Campaign | |
Samnite Wars | |
Hannibal at the Gates | |
Imperator Augustus |