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HomeHome / Total War: Rome II / Syracuse (Rise of the Republic) / Units / Artillery Penteres - Greek Ballista (Ship)
Artillery Penteres - Greek Ballista (Ship) Syracuse (Rise of the Republic)Syracuse (Rise of the Republic) Artillery Ship

Artillery Penteres - Greek Ballista (Ship)

With deck-mounted artillery pieces, these ships can rain down destruction on the enemy.

Only a slack-jawed barbarian would not use such an efficient engine of death!

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.

(Greek Ballista (Ship))
At close targets, a ballista could be aimed effectively but accuracy came at a cost in range; it could fire around 500 metres. The machine used two torsion springs with levers inserted into twisted ropes made from animal sinew, giving incredible power for its size. Firing either solid shot or bolts, it was equally effective against infantry or cavalry, but could also be deployed to destroy light fortifications during sieges. Originally developed by the Greeks around 400BC, and based on the oversized Oxybeles composite bow, ballistae were widely used by many cultures of the period, including the Romans. Later Roman versions included adjustable caps that enabled crews to quickly alter the tension of each sinew bundle to provide balance and therefore improve accuracy.

Artillery Penteres - Greek Ballista (Ship)

Unit Name

Artillery Penteres - Greek Ballista (Ship)

Main Unit Key

inv_gre_Ballista_greek_onager_five

Land Unit Key

Gre_Ballista_Shp

Naval Unit Key

greek_onager_five

Soldiers

40

Category

Medium Ship

Class

Artillery Ship

Custom Battle Cost

1100

Recruitment Cost

1100

Upkeep Cost

220

Ship Health

1020

└ Ship

greek_five_art

Ship Speed

5

Missile Damage

180

├ Engine

ballista_medium_ship

├ Missile Weapon

rome_ballista_shp

├ Projectile

shp_stone_flammable

├ Missile Damage

120

├ Missile Ap Damage

60

└ Base Reload Time

30

Accuracy

40

Range

420

Reload

4

Shots Per Minute

2

Ammunition

1

Melee Attack

9

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

45

├ Man Entity

rome_infantry_medium

├ Man Health

40

└ Bonus Hit Points

5

Base Morale

40

Abilities

Artillery Penteres
  • Row Hard 20
    Increases speed for 20 strokes.
    Ship speed

Attributes

No Attribute

Strengths & Weaknesses

Artillery Penteres
  • Good hull strength
  • Skeleton crew
  • Average speed
  • Average ramming
  • Abysmal boarding
  • Exceptional missile combat
Greek Ballista (Ship)
  • Very accurate
  • Very long range
  • Average rate of fire
  • Lower damage than other artillery
  • Easily destroyed
Requires Buildings
Artillery Penteres - Greek Ballista (Ship) Lv. 0 Megas Limen
Megas Limen
(inv_gre_port_trade_5)
Level 4
Garrison Buildings
Artillery Penteres - Greek Ballista (Ship) x 1 Docks
Docks
(inv_gre_port_trade_3)
Level 2
Artillery Penteres - Greek Ballista (Ship) x 2 Fish Market
Fish Market
(inv_gre_port_trade_4)
Level 3
Artillery Penteres - Greek Ballista (Ship) x 3 Megas Limen
Megas Limen
(inv_gre_port_trade_5)
Level 4