Mercenary Syrian Armoured Elephants

War elephants were not battle-winning weapons on their own. They had to be used properly and given the right support if they were to break an enemy line and, with it, the will to fight on. Often, elephants were accompanied into battle by a screen of friendly skirmishers, whose job it was to keep them from being harassed by the enemy’s own light troops before charging. The sheer size of an elephant was enough to instil terror even before it hurled men away, impaled them on its tusks, or trampled them to death. Even in the best battle conditions elephants could be unpredictable: they often reacted angrily if their handlers were killed or wounded, but could also turn on those same men when the stress of battle pushed them to breaking point. However, sent forward at the right moment, war elephants could sweep away all before them. Indian elephants first came to the Middle East when Seleucus, one of Alexander the Great’s Successors, invaded India in 305BC. 500 war elephants were handed over as part of the peace treaty between the Seleucid dynasty and the Mauryans of India, and the Seleucids went on to breed many more from this initial stock. War elephants remained an important part of the Seleucid army until their defeat by the Romans at Magnesia in 190BC, following which they were forbidden from breeding more.

Unit Name Mercenary Syrian Armoured Elephants

Main Unit Key Mer_Syrian_Armoured_Elephants

Land Unit Key Mer_Syrian_Armoured_Elephants

Naval Unit Key pel_transport

Soldiers 24

Category Elephants

Class Elephant

Custom Battle Cost 1900

Recruitment Cost 1000

Upkeep Cost 750

Missile Damage 32

├ Missile Weapon rome_javelin_elephant

├ Projectile javelin_normal

├ Missile Damage 20

├ Missile Ap Damage 12

└ Base Reload Time 10

Accuracy 5

Range 80

Reload 15

Shots Per Minute 7

Ammunition 7

Melee Attack 64

Weapon Damage 60

├ Melee Weapon tusks

├ Melee Damage Base 30

├ Melee Damage Ap 30

├ Armour Piercing No

├ Bonus vs. Large 0

├ Bonus vs Elephants 0

└ Bonus vs Infantry 0

Charge Bonus 44

Melee Defence 24

├ Base Defence 24

├ Shield none

└ Shield Defence 0

Armour 30

├ Armour leather

├ Armour Defence 30

└ Shield Armour 0

Health 1205

├ Man Entity rome_infantry_medium

├ Man Health 40

├ Bonus Hit Points 15

├ Mount syrian_elephants

├ Mount Entity indian_armoured_elephant

└ Mount Health 1150

Base Morale 60

Abilities

• Kill Elephants
  Elephant drivers will kill their mounts with spikes. To be used only if they run amok.
• Stampede
  Charges are more effective for an extended time.
  Charge bonus
  Exertion: fatigue

Attributes

• Mighty Knockback
  This unit causes extra damage when it knocks enemies back.
• Resistant to Heat
  This unit tires less quickly in the desert.
• Run Amok
  This unit may go crazy if it's under pressure.
• Scare (everyone)
  This unit frightens all enemy units.
• Immune to Fear
  This unit is immune to the fear effects of scary units.

Strengths & Weaknesses

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

• Very good charge
• High damage
• Huge amount of hit points
• Good 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_syria	Palmyra	Dura Palmyra	0	0.75	1	2
2	rom_province_pool_syria	Syria	Antioch Samosata Tarsus Thapsacus	0	0.75	1	2

Grand Campaign Mercenaries Pool

Mercenaries Pool
No.	Pool	Province	Region	Initial Unit Count	Chance To Replenish	Max Replenish Per Turn	Max Count
3	rom_province_pool_syria	Syria	Palmyra Dura Tyros Antioch	0	0.75	1	2