menu
HomeHome / Total War: Rome II / Rome / Units / Tower Hexareme - Triarii
Tower Hexareme - Triarii RomeRome Melee Ship

Tower Hexareme - Triarii

From a shipboard tower, all enemies become little targets to be potted at will.

Wealth, experience and age make these battle-hardened veterans a fearsome force.

As centuries passed, naval tactics and needs changed across the Mediterranean. There was a move towards larger ships, partly as an expression of national or dynastic power: the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt were particularly fond of large ships to show their wealth and influence in a physical way. These 'polyremes', a term meaning many oared, were not suitable for ramming work in battle. In practice many of them had no more oars than smaller ships; what they had were more rowers per oar than smaller ships. A Roman hexareme or Greek hexeres would have a couple of banks of oars with three men per oar, and appear to be an over-sized version of a smaller ship. Even so, thanks to being tremendously heavy and strongly constructed, they were slow moving, and hardly capable of the quick turns needed to take advantage of enemy mistakes. Instead the large ships made use of their wide decks and plentiful carrying capacities and became fighting platforms for infantry and artillery. Boarding or long-range bombardment were the methods to be used to defeat the enemy; naval warfare had come full circle in terms of fighting methods, even if ships had grown significantly.

(Triarii)
During the 4th century BC the Romans abandoned the phalanx in favour of armies consisting chiefly of hastati, principes and triarii. These were deployed in maniples: compact blocks of men, arranged in a checkerboard formation. This allowed flexibility when moving across the battlefield, particularly when compared to the sluggish movements of a solid pike phalanx. Like most sophisticated city-states of the ancient world, Rome expected its men to fight, and supply their own war gear when they did so. A cynical observer might be tempted to note that the manipular Legion also made sure that the hierarchy of Rome was preserved. The youngest and least wealthy became hastati, the first line of battle in a Roman Legion. Behind them came the second line of principes, older and richer men, and finally came the triarii, the most experienced warriors. “Going to the triarii” was a Roman saying that came to be used in all kinds of situations, implying that everything else had been tried and found wanting.

Tower Hexareme - Triarii Tower Hexareme - Triarii Tower Hexareme - Triarii
Tower Hexareme - Triarii

Unit Name

Tower Hexareme - Triarii

Main Unit Key

Rom_Triarii_Six_Lft_Aft

Land Unit Key

Rom_Triarii

Naval Unit Key

roman_lft_six

Soldiers

160

Category

Heavy Ship

Class

Melee Ship

Custom Battle Cost

1500

Recruitment Cost

1500

Upkeep Cost

300

Ship Health

1206

└ Ship

roman_six

Ship Speed

5

Melee Attack

31

Weapon Damage

29

├ Melee Weapon

rome_spear_elite

├ Melee Damage Base

24

├ Melee Damage Ap

5

├ Armour Piercing

No

├ Bonus vs. Large

20

├ Bonus vs Elephants

20

└ Bonus vs Infantry

0

Charge Bonus

24

Melee Defence

64

├ Base Defence

34

├ Shield

scutum

└ Shield Defence

30

Armour

95

├ Armour

bronze

├ Armour Defence

60

└ Shield Armour

35

Health

65

├ Man Entity

rome_infantry_very_heavy

├ Man Health

45

└ Bonus Hit Points

20

Base Morale

65

Abilities

Tower Hexareme
  • Row Hard 30
    Increases speed for 30 strokes.
    Ship speed
Triarii
  • Square
    The unit moves into a close square formation.
    Bracing, morale, melee defence
    Can't move
  • Defensive Testudo
    The troops of this unit raise their shields above their heads in a static defensive formation.
    Bracing, protection against missiles
    Can't move

Attributes

  • Disciplined
    This unit does not suffer a morale penalty when the general dies. It can also rally after routing more often.
  • Formation Attack
    The unit will try to stay in formation when in melee.
  • Hide (forest)
    This unit can hide in forests until enemy units get too close.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Tower Hexareme
  • Very good hull strength
  • Heavy crew
  • Slow speed
  • Strong ramming
  • Very good boarding
  • Poor missile combat
Triarii
  • Very good defensive unit
  • Low damage but average armour penetration
  • Average attack
  • Good morale
Upgrade
Required Technology Cohort Organisation Cost 150 Upgrade To Tower Hexareme - Veteran Legionaries
Required Technology Professional Soldiery Cost 450 Upgrade To Tower Hexareme - Evocati Cohort
Requires Buildings
Tower Hexareme - Triarii Lv. 0 Portus Classis
Portus Classis
(rome_port_military_4)
Level 3