Spartan Hoplites (RTW unit)
Spartan hoplites are trained from infancy to be nothing but soldiers. They are 'perfect soldiers' and nothing else.
Overview
Spartan hoplites are trained from infancy to be nothing but soldiers. They are 'perfect soldiers' and nothing else. All of Spartan life is spent training for war. Weaklings perish soon after birth; youths are taught to thieve and terrorize the slave class to harden them; young men are taught nothing unless it has something to do with the arts of war - even music and dance are there only to help keep step when marching and obeying orders.
The result is a man who thinks nothing of danger, expects to win, and creates a sense of dread in his opponents.
Spartans fight in the traditional fashion as hoplites, carrying a long thrusting spear and the large round hoplon shield, and as a phalanx: a close-packed mass of men moving as one to crush their enemies.
If they have a weakness it is that they are hide-bound traditionalists, and the once-mighty state of Sparta has not moved with the times.
Details
Spartan Hoplites are widely considered to be among the best infantry in Rome: Total War.
Of all the hoplites from the Greek City-States, the Spartan Hoplites are a noticeable outlier. Only Spartan Hoplites have two hitpoints; the rest only have one. While the other hoplites follow a steady progression of increased statistics and price, these units break the pattern. These units have much higher attack and lower defense compared to their preceding Armored Hoplites, but their defense is still enough for arrows to be an ineffective attack method against these Spartans. Spartan Hoplites have a high cost to the point where Elephants are not much more expensive. Despite having high morale, attack, and defense, their heavy price and availability only to large cities is a severe blow to fielding Spartan Hoplites in large numbers on the campaign map.