Greek Cities (Samnite Wars) Missile Ship

Missile Penteres - Slingers

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.

(Slingers)
Slingers were common in ancient armies. Slings are ancient weapons, dating back to Palaeolithic times. In comparison to bows, they were easy to make and had a greater effective range. Constructed from braided flax, hemp or rushes, a sling has a cradle where the shot is placed. One end has a finger-loop, while the other has a knot or strip giving a firm handhold. The slinger puts his middle finger through the loop and holds the knotted end with his thumb and forefinger. After whirling the shot in the sling it is released with a flick of the wrist. Quick to fire and reload, the sling was widely hated by those on the receiving end. Shot varied from stones collected in rivers to shaped lumps of clay and lead; lead shot could fly over 400 metres. Such missiles were sometimes inscribed with comments such as “Catch!” or “Take that!” Shot was difficult to see in flight, and although it lacked the penetrating power of an arrow it could easily break bone or stave-in armour at short ranges. Famously, the Roman Consul Paulus was killed by a slinger early in the disastrous Battle of Cannae.

Unit Name Missile Penteres - Slingers

Main Unit Key Gre_Slingers_Five

Land Unit Key Gre_Slingers

Naval Unit Key greek_five

Soldiers 140

Category Medium Ship

Class Missile Ship

Custom Battle Cost 780

Recruitment Cost 780

Upkeep Cost 156

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 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 22

├ Base Defence 12

├ Shield small_bronze

└ Shield Defence 10

Armour 20

├ Armour cloth

├ Armour Defence 10

└ Shield Armour 10

Health 45

├ Man Entity rome_infantry_very_light

├ Man Health 40

└ Bonus Hit Points 5

Base Morale 25

Abilities

• Row Hard 20
  Increases speed for 20 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

• Good hull strength
• Medium crew
• Average speed
• Average ramming
• Poor boarding
• Good 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	Military Wharf (greek_port_military_2) Level 1 Drydock (greek_port_military_3) Level 2 Military Port (greek_port_military_4) Level 3

Garrison Buildings
x 2	Military Wharf (greek_port_military_2) Level 1

Faction Availability
Grand Campaign	Cimmeria Cimmerian Nobles Cimmerian Secessionists