Spartan Gerousia Missile Ship

Missile Trieres - Helot Slingers

Of all the warships found in the ancient world, it is the trireme, or trieres, that remains the most famous and recognisable. Nearly all Hollywood 'sword and sandal' movies will include a trireme somewhere. The vessel was entirely designed for war. Its name came from the three rows of oars carried on each side, stacked above each other in staggered columns to give the rowers some room to work. The top row of oars pivoted on a rowlock, or oarlock, mounted on an outrigger projecting from the hull. This allowed the top oars to pitch down at a sharper angle to reach the sea without getting tangled in the lower ones. The trireme was a greyhound of a ship, capable of high-speed dashes with a well-trained crew and, contrary to popular belief, not all rowers were slaves. Aboard Greek vessels they were citizens, and were given respect, not the lash. They were also largely fair-weather ships, and unsuited to rough seas such as the Atlantic; the lowest level of oars were, at most, less than half a metre above the waterline. That, however, did not stop the trireme being a superb weapon against other ships: a high-speed ramming attack could rip a hole in the side of almost any target. The type was also large enough to be used in other ways, which lead to it carrying archers and assorted light artillery pieces.

(Helot Slingers)
An unfree class of non-citizens within Sparta's zone of control, the helots were slaves in most respects. Agricultural labourers, they worked the rich valleys of Eurotas and Pamisos, on which Laconia and Messenia were situated, and were forced to give up half of their produce to the Spartan elite. In addition, helots would also be assigned to Spartan citizens as household servants. Sometimes pressed into military service, helots would be employed as peltasts, and in some cases gained their freedom through such service. Following an earthquake in 464BC which devastated Sparta and possibly claimed as many as 20,000 lives the helots, mainly from Messenia, revolted alongside the perioikoi of Aithaia and Thouria. Cruel and bitter treatment of the helots by their Spartan overlords intensified after this event, and may have led to the tradition of the autumnal krypteia. A declaration of war against the helots made by the ephors, during the krypteia members of the Spartan agoge could prove their skill as warriors. Armed only with a knife, they were expected to live off the land whilst sanctioned to spy on, steal from, and kill the helots. However, this worked both ways, as any young Spartan caught by the helots could be beaten to death for allowing his capture.

Unit Name Missile Trieres - Helot Slingers

Main Unit Key Gre_Hel_Slingers_Three

Land Unit Key Gre_Helot_Slingers

Naval Unit Key greek_three

Soldiers 80

Category Medium Ship

Class Missile Ship

Custom Battle Cost 530

Recruitment Cost 530

Upkeep Cost 106

Missile Damage 20

├ Missile Weapon rome_sling

├ Projectile sling_stone

├ Missile Damage 16

├ Missile Ap Damage 4

└ Base Reload Time 10

Accuracy 5

Range 150

Reload 13

Shots Per Minute 7

Ammunition 25

Ship Health 693

└ Ship greek_three

Ship Speed 6

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 37

├ Base Defence 12

├ Shield pelta

└ Shield Defence 25

Armour 15

├ Armour cloth

├ Armour Defence 10

└ Shield Armour 5

Health 45

├ Man Entity rome_infantry_very_light

├ Man Health 40

└ Bonus Hit Points 5

Base Morale 25

Abilities

• Row Hard 10
  Increases speed for 10 strokes.
  Ship speed

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

• Poor hull strength
• Light crew
• Fast speed
• Weak ramming
• Poor boarding
• Average missile combat

• Very long range
• Average rate of fire
• Low damage but average armour penetration
• Very weak in melee
• Very poor morale

Requires Buildings
Lv. 0	Docks (greek_port_harbour_3) Level 2 Neosokoi (greek_port_harbour_4) Level 3

Garrison Buildings
x 2	Docks (greek_port_harbour_3) Level 2

Faction Availability
Grand Campaign	Spartan Rebels Sparta Spartan Gerousia Spartan Secessionists
Imperator Augustus	Spartan Rebels (Imperator Augustus)