Pursuit Trihemiolia - Palmyrene Skirmishers
Fast, relatively powerful pursuit ships, well able to hunt down pirates and other seagoing scum.These skirmishers harass an enemy line with javelins, screening their comrades in the process.
It is thought that the Rhodians, a significant naval power in the eastern Mediterranean, developed the 'trihemiolia' or 'two-and-a-half' as a vessel for pirate hunting. Given that Rhodes is an island entirely reliant on the sea and shipping this is a believable theory. Pirates used the hemiola, a handy little vessel developed from the dieres or bireme, a ship with two rows of oars; it makes sense that pirate hunters would think of taking a trieres, or trireme, with three rows of oars and modifying it in a similar fashion. A trihemiolia still had three rows of oars on each side, but the top row was reduced to only half the number of oars, positioned midships. The result was a faster, handier vessel that provided a height advantage over a hemiola for any archers on board. There was also a strategic benefit to the Rhodians, who could only draw on the manpower of one island: they could have six trieres warships with full complements of rowers, or seven trihemiolias for the same number of men. The useful design was soon adopted by other maritime powers around the Mediterranean.
(Palmyrene Skirmishers)
The javelin is among the oldest weapons - the idea of using a sharp stick to bring down large predators goes right back to the Stone Age, and endured throughout antiquity. Equipped with javelins and little else, skirmishers harried their opposite numbers and peppered hoplite phalanxes before quickly retreating. This was the typical tactic of all unarmoured, javelin troops: to engage at range and then fall back behind more heavily-armoured infantry, or continue attacks while trying to stay just out of the enemy's reach. Such harassment could be highly effective; if enemy forces lacked the support of skirmishers or cavalry they were severely punished by javelin-armed skirmishers who refused to meet them at close-quarters. Over time, shields became common also, such as those used by Thracian and Greek peltasts, but these were rendered obsolete by the heavier Hellenic thureophoroi. Nevertheless, javelinmen and other irregulars continued to play a part in many armies throughout antiquity.
Unit Name Pursuit Trihemiolia - Palmyrene Skirmishers |
Main Unit Key 3c_Pal_Pursuit_Trihemiolia |
Land Unit Key 3c_Pal_Palmyrene_Skirmishers |
Naval Unit Key 3c_greek_two_halfer |
Soldiers 100 |
Category Light Ship |
Class Missile Ship |
Custom Battle Cost 490 |
Recruitment Cost 490 |
Upkeep Cost 100 |
32 |
├ Missile Weapon rome_javelin |
├ Projectile javelin_normal |
├ Missile Damage 20 |
├ Missile Ap Damage 12 |
└ Base Reload Time 10 |
Accuracy 5 |
Range 80 |
Reload 13 |
Shots Per Minute 7 |
Ammunition 7 |
585 |
└ Ship greek_two_halfer |
Ship Speed 7 |
Melee Attack 8 |
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 3 |
37 |
├ Base Defence 12 |
├ Shield pelta |
└ Shield Defence 25 |
15 |
├ Armour cloth |
├ Armour Defence 10 |
└ Shield Armour 5 |
45 |
├ Man Entity rome_infantry_very_light |
├ Man Health 40 |
└ Bonus Hit Points 5 |
Base Morale 30 |
Abilities
Pursuit Trihemiolia- Row Hard 10
Increases speed for 10 strokes.
Ship speed
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
Pursuit Trihemiolia- Poor hull strength
- Medium crew
- Uncatchable
- Weak ramming
- Poor boarding
- Average 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
(3c_rome_port_military_2) Level 1
Drydock
(3c_rome_port_military_3) Level 2
Portus Classis
(3c_rome_port_military_4) Level 3 |
Faction Availability | |
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Empire Divided |