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HomeHome / Total War: Rome II / Roxolani / Units / Steppe Armoured Lancers
Steppe Armoured Lancers RoxolaniRoxolani Shock Cavalry

Steppe Armoured Lancers

Steppe horsemen live and die by their skill with the lance.

Developed from the cavalry skills of their ancestors, the steppe lancers of the Scythian, or Saka, tribes and the Sarmatians were a type of heavy cavalry comparable to their Hellenic counterparts. They wore scale armour to protect themselves and their mounts, and used a long lance known as a kontos. This enabled them to deliver devastating charges in a fashion comparable to the Alexandrian Companion cavalry. The scale armour was made from horn, or later metal, and allowed the wearers to run down their western counterparts. They were still vulnerable to dense pike or spear-armed formations. Archery provided a solution: sustained volleys from skirmishing foot and horse archers were used to thin and spread out the enemy. At the Battle of Carrhae in 53BC, the tightly-packed Roman infantry were forced to spread out by Parthian archers, which enabled their cataphracts to charge and break an overconfident Roman force four times their number.

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Steppe Armoured Lancers

Unit Name

Steppe Armoured Lancers

Main Unit Key

Ste_Armoured_Lancers

Land Unit Key

Ste_Armoured_Lancers

Naval Unit Key

barbarian_transport_small

Soldiers

80

Category

Cavalry

Class

Shock Cavalry

Custom Battle Cost

550

Recruitment Cost

550

Upkeep Cost

100

Melee Attack

40

Weapon Damage

25

├ Melee Weapon

rome_lance

├ Melee Damage Base

14

├ Melee Damage Ap

11

├ Armour Piercing

No

├ Bonus vs. Large

10

├ Bonus vs Elephants

10

└ Bonus vs Infantry

0

Charge Bonus

57

Melee Defence

16

├ Base Defence

16

├ Shield

none

└ Shield Defence

0

Armour

35

├ Armour

spolas

├ Armour Defence

35

└ Shield Armour

0

Health

85

├ Man Entity

rome_infantry_heavy

├ Man Health

40

├ Bonus Hit Points

15

├ Mount

rome_scythian_horse_lance_h

├ Mount Entity

rome_horse_heavy_shock

└ Mount Health

30

Base Morale

50

Abilities

No Ability

Attributes

  • Hide (forest)
    This unit can hide in forests until enemy units get too close.
  • Resistant to Cold
    This unit tires less quickly in snow.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Light Transport
  • Very poor hull strength
  • Very slow speed
  • Weak ramming
Steppe Armoured Lancers
  • Good charge
  • Low damage but average armour penetration
  • Weak in prolonged melee
  • Average morale
Requires Buildings
Steppe Armoured Lancers Lv. 0 Bronze Workshop
Bronze Workshop
(barb_artisan_bronze_2)
Level 1
Bronze Forge
Bronze Forge
(barb_artisan_bronze_3)
Level 2
Bronze Furnace
Bronze Furnace
(barb_artisan_bronze_4)
Level 3
Garrison Buildings
Steppe Armoured Lancers x 2 Stables
Stables
(barb_agriculture_horse_3)
Level 2
Horse Ranch
Horse Ranch
(barb_agriculture_horse_4)
Level 3