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Mercenary Cretan Archers Mercenaries Missile Infantry

Mercenary Cretan Archers

Give a Cretan a bow, and he is worth his weight in silver.

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.

Mercenary Cretan Archers

Unit Name

Mercenary Cretan Archers

Main Unit Key

inv_mercenary_cretan_archers

Land Unit Key

inv_mercenary_cretan_archers

Naval Unit Key

pel_transport

Soldiers

120

Category

Missile Infantry

Class

Missile Infantry

Custom Battle Cost

600

Recruitment Cost

600

Upkeep Cost

450

Missile Damage

40

├ Missile Weapon

rome_composite_bow_elite

├ Projectile

arrow_composite

├ Missile Damage

36

├ Missile Ap Damage

4

└ Base Reload Time

12

Accuracy

5

Range

150

Reload

28

Shots Per Minute

7

Ammunition

15

Melee Attack

12

Weapon Damage

24

├ Melee Weapon

rome_shortsword

├ Melee Damage Base

20

├ Melee Damage Ap

4

├ Armour Piercing

No

├ Bonus vs. Large

0

├ Bonus vs Elephants

0

└ Bonus vs Infantry

0

Charge Bonus

6

Melee Defence

14

├ Base Defence

14

├ Shield

none

└ Shield Defence

0

Armour

10

├ Armour

cloth

├ Armour Defence

10

└ Shield Armour

0

Health

55

├ Man Entity

rome_infantry_very_light

├ Man Health

40

└ Bonus Hit Points

15

Base Morale

55

Abilities

Mercenary Cretan Archers
  • Precision Shot
    Improved missile weapon damage for an extended period.
    Missile damage
    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

Transport
  • Very poor hull strength
  • Very slow speed
  • Weak ramming
Mercenary Cretan Archers
  • Long range
  • Fast rate of fire
  • Good damage but low armour penetration
  • Very weak in melee
  • Poor morale

Faction Mercenaries Pool

Mercenaries Pool
No. Pool Faction Initial Unit Count Chance To Replenish Max Replenish Per Turn Max Count
1 inv_faction_pool_syracuse 0 0.05 1 3