u/Knight_of_Ithilien

My yesterday's post had no mod list. In order to prove my shaenanigans were fair and square, here you are. Now lets see some beefy stats and cuirass abs.

(Unit Pics are taken first out side of formation and then in formation bwith general's skills fired.)

Let me start by stating that, traditionaly when picking Hellenic Factions you generaly opt to boost your shock cav if you are a successor state, or your Infantry if you are a city-state. Epirus Is solidly on the later. It fields a powerfull Elite Sarissa unit, the Chaonian Guard, and a strong pre-thorax Hoplite unit, the Molossian royal guard. I spiced in the Pergamene thorax spearmen for flank guards and 2 Ptolemaic Peltast-Pikemen units for assault duty. they ended up being better than thorax swordsmen and a very flexible unit. Again, thanks to Summary's Better Vassal levies.

But how do you juice these sweaty Greek abs to the max?

1. tech tree. Research first 5 techs in "tactics" branch.
2. General's skills and households. It's completely Rng how they spawn, but if anyone can share some info, I'd love to read it all about household/items.
3. Epirote Army traditions. https://divideetimperamod.com/army-traditions/ (under "Athens").
   they trade the Diadochi tradition of "Companions" for "Hounds of Molossus". Mind you, whilst alot of buffs apply to other great units, like hellenic swordsmen or Shock Cav, Its specificaly the Hoplite/Pike units that benefit the most. Like alot! Let's find out...

Here's a breakdown of the buffs i've managed to gather so far (~165 turns). Feel free to check my uploaded pics for comparison.

We start with tech tree (Greek):                         Spear inf: +10% atk, + 3% Def
Pikes/Hoplites: +5% atk  
melee units: +5% atk 

total Hoplite/Pike buffs= +20% atk, +3% Def

Army traditions (Epirus): Strategos spears                + 9% Atk for Spear inf
Polis Defenders                 + 9% Def for Spear Inf
Formidable Spearmen    +6% Atk/Def for Spear Inf
Indomitable Hoplites      + 6% Atk, +9% Def for Spear Inf
Veteran Hoplites                +9% Atk/Def for all Hellenic inf 
Hounds of Molossus         +9% Atk for all units 

total Hoplite/Pike buffs= +39% atk, +33% def 
Btw, even Roman traditions buff legionaries merely to +21% atk/def.
+30%  for auxiliaries.   

General skills:                      trained sworsman:   +9% atk/def for all inf
traits:                      Sociopath:            +6% atk for all units 
Household:                         Heroic Hoplite:         +4% atk for all spear units, 4% def for spear inf
Shield Bearer:           +4% armour
Items:                                 Sarissa:              +4% atk for spear inf
(Can change to Sica for +8% def for all inf)

Hoplite/Pike Buffs=  +23% Atk, +13% def

Lvl 2 Weapon smith:                                      +5% Atk.

Fortify Stance: +10% Def

Grand total Hoplite/Pike Buffs= +87% Atk, +59% Def. Mental.

Like I said, Hoplites/Pikes can be supercharged. And Units with high armour will benefit greatly from High Def.

Btw these 87%/49% figures can be pushed further! there's a 2% Atk from level 3 weaponsmith and 5% def on General reaching Strategos office. Eventualy I'll make another Army tradition set and I'll include Barbarian subjugators. that's 9% Atk/Def vs Barbarians. Stick in a celtic or iberian turncout in place of Heroic Hoplite for an extra 8% atk on barbarians, and the figures change from 87%/59% to +101% / 65%!

50 and 100 are important milestones when it comes to rounding up stats.

Lastly, IIRC there's a certain skill on Champions that boosts melee def of an army. Please inform me if I'm wrong or if I missed something. I'm open to Ideas on what households or items i should aim for, and if there's a way to spawn them, and what builds you like. Cheers.

First off shout out to summary for his work with Better Vassal Levies and Timbe Trade Regions. Also ancient empires for awesome visuals.

160 turns in, after vassalising different greek factions and maxing my Army traditions and General skills, households etc. I made my mission to build the toughest army Greek factions can muster.
I think my mission is accomplished and I'm proud of the result. However, 1st place goes to the freaking thorax Spearmen of Pergamon.

I think I've reached peaked stats for these boyos. Epirote Army traditions supercharge spearmen Atk and Def the most out of all successors. Granted, second image was taken whilst my general fired off all his skills, but trust me when i say it, nothing stands against them.

Only Seleucid Agema Guards can compare in stats with the Pergamene thorax spearmen, yet in my opinion the later have the better drip.

People called Pyrrhus the Eagle. But Aegon will be called the Dragon. And his will be the song of Ice and Fire.