Question

[Klipz]

Okay I got a question, and sort of a request. Now the spartan unit, how many are there? and are they ATG spartans? and do you have a screenshot of the spartans that ya use, i read that there was 1 for 2 turns then a elite for 30 turns or something. So yea can someone send me a screenshot of both the elite and regular spartan?

[DimeBagHo]

This is the Spartan Royal Guard. You get one unit at the start of the campaign. Training new units takes 30 turns. Historically the Royal Guard was limited to just 300 men, so ideally you should not have more than one unit.



These are Spartan Phalangites. Training requires 2 turns with an Army Barracks.

[Agathon]

DBHo,

That first capture of the royal guards looks like the 20-man line, 4 ranks deep, or, (as I call it), the 81-man (including the officer) lochos (company). I tend to think that 3 or 4 of these lochoi of 81 men would come closer to the 300-man barrier than one, especially since the ordinary Spartan company was more like anyone else's taxis (regiment) in manpower.

Of course, the problem with this kind of thinking is that it would take the better part of a century to train up the necessary guards' companies to fill out a 243- or 324-man guards' regiment. It couldn't leave much time for training Spartan phalangites or krypteia. Most of the work done in Sparta during a generation of guards training would be retraining the units of other cities for "Nike" experience bonuses.

Strategically, I play with a kind conscience about historical matters, and this means (where the Spartans are concerned) that I rarely move them farther from home than Pella-Larissa-Thermon. That's largely because I don't think the ephors, kings and assembly would ever sanction the use of a dedicated force Spartan units beyond mainland Hellas in places like Italy or Asia. The fact that Spartan units are all AOR makes it an easy rule to impose on myself, and an easier one to keep.

If I cannot make progress against a strong Macedonian offensive strategy, I know that Spartans will see much action defending Athens or even Sparta itself. If the Macedonians remain committed to their triple alliance with GCS and the Seleucids, or if I can take the initiative in an offensive war to slowly take states from the Macedonians, then the Spartans are reduced too soon to being expensive and mainly inactive garrison units.