menu
HomeHome / Total War: Rome II / Syracuse (Rise of the Republic) / Units / Missile Penteres - Toxotes
Missile Penteres - Toxotes Syracuse (Rise of the Republic)Syracuse (Rise of the Republic) Missile Ship

Missile Penteres - Toxotes

Archers can shoot down upon many enemies from the deck, doing terrible work in the process.

Archers are ideal for goading the enemy into foolish action.

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.

(Toxotes)
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.

Missile Penteres - Toxotes

Unit Name

Missile Penteres - Toxotes

Main Unit Key

inv_gre_five_missile_greek_toxotes

Land Unit Key

inv_gre_toxotes

Naval Unit Key

greek_five

Soldiers

140

Category

Medium Ship

Class

Missile Ship

Custom Battle Cost

850

Recruitment Cost

850

Upkeep Cost

165

Missile Damage

35

├ Missile Weapon

rome_bow

├ Projectile

arrow_normal

├ Missile Damage

31

├ Missile Ap Damage

4

└ Base Reload Time

12

Accuracy

5

Range

125

Reload

13

Shots Per Minute

6

Ammunition

15

Ship Health

1020

└ Ship

greek_five

Ship Speed

5

Melee Attack

8

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

3

Melee Defence

12

├ Base Defence

12

├ Shield

none

└ Shield Defence

0

Armour

10

├ Armour

cloth

├ Armour Defence

10

└ Shield Armour

0

Health

60

├ Man Entity

rome_infantry_light

├ Man Health

40

└ Bonus Hit Points

20

Base Morale

50

Abilities

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

Attributes

  • Hide (forest)
    This unit can hide in forests until enemy units get too close.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Missile Penteres
  • Good hull strength
  • Medium crew
  • Average speed
  • Average ramming
  • Poor boarding
  • Good missile combat
Toxotes
  • Long range
  • Average rate of fire
  • Good damage but low armour penetration
  • Very weak in melee
  • Very poor morale
Requires Buildings
Missile Penteres - Toxotes Lv. 0 Fish Market
Fish Market
(inv_gre_port_trade_4)
Level 3
Megas Limen
Megas Limen
(inv_gre_port_trade_5)
Level 4