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.
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 |
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 |
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 |
14 |
├ Base Defence 14 |
├ Shield none |
└ Shield Defence 0 |
10 |
├ Armour cloth |
├ Armour Defence 10 |
└ Shield Armour 0 |
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
- 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 |