Alani (Empire Divided) Shock Cavalry

Steppe Lancers

Developed from the cavalry skills of their ancestors, the steppe lancers of the Scythian, or Saka, tribes and the Sarmatians were a type of heavy cavalry comparable to their Hellenic counterparts. They wore scale armour to protect themselves and their mounts, and used a long lance known as a kontos. This enabled them to deliver devastating charges in a fashion comparable to the Alexandrian Companion cavalry. The scale armour was made from horn, or later metal, and allowed the wearers to run down their western counterparts. They were still vulnerable to dense pike or spear-armed formations. Archery provided a solution: sustained volleys from skirmishing foot and horse archers were used to thin and spread out the enemy. At the Battle of Carrhae in 53BC, the tightly-packed Roman infantry were forced to spread out by Parthian archers, which enabled their cataphracts to charge and break an overconfident Roman force four times their number.

Unit Name Steppe Lancers

Main Unit Key 3c_Ala_Steppe_Lancers

Land Unit Key 3c_Ala_Steppe_Lancers

Naval Unit Key 3c_barbarian_transport

Soldiers 80

Category Cavalry

Class Shock Cavalry

Custom Battle Cost 340

Recruitment Cost 340

Upkeep Cost 70

Melee Attack 34

Weapon Damage 25

├ Melee Weapon rome_lance

├ Melee Damage Base 14

├ Melee Damage Ap 11

├ Armour Piercing No

├ Bonus vs. Large 10

├ Bonus vs Elephants 10

└ Bonus vs Infantry 0

Charge Bonus 51

Melee Defence 16

├ Base Defence 16

├ Shield none

└ Shield Defence 0

Armour 10

├ Armour cloth

├ Armour Defence 10

└ Shield Armour 0

Health 70

├ Man Entity rome_infantry_medium

├ Man Health 40

├ Bonus Hit Points 10

├ Mount rome_scythian_horse_lance_m

├ Mount Entity rome_horse_medium_shock

└ Mount Health 20

Base Morale 35

Abilities

No Ability

Attributes

• Hide (forest)
  This unit can hide in forests until enemy units get too close.
• Resistant to Cold
  This unit tires less quickly in snow.

Strengths & Weaknesses

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

• Average charge
• Low damage but average armour penetration
• Weak in prolonged melee
• Poor morale

Faction Availability
Empire Divided	Alani (Empire Divided) Alani Pretenders (Empire Divided) Alani Secessionists (Empire Divided)