Trireme

Trireme
	10
	4
	45
Unlocked at	Sailing
Upgrades To	Caravel
Notes	Cannot enter deep ocean

The Trireme is a Naval melee unit available in the Ancient Era.

Overview

The trireme was a warship used by ancient navies in the Mediterranean. Although equipped with a sail, under combat it was powered by three rows of oars. When powered by trained and motivated oarsmen, it was surprisingly quick and agile. Triremes were generally equipped with a sharp beak (ram) at the prow, and the primary tactic was to attempt to ram and sink the enemy ship. Some triremes also carried archers for ranged combat, while others carried lots of infantry. Those vessels would come alongside an enemy ship and the infantry would board and attempt to capture her. Triremes remained important military vessels until they were made obsolete by cannon and advances in ship construction and sail-rigging.

Strategy

The Trireme is the first naval unit available to civilizations in the game. It depends on a combination of sails and oars to move, which gives it a decent speed, but makes it very unstable in open seas, and thus unable to traverse ocean tiles. It is a melee unit with a modest Melee Combat Strength and thus only usable against other sea vessels, or in the utmost case to attack coastal cities.

The Trireme is useful for clearing barbarian ships out of home waters and also for your early sea exploration of the coast. Also, it could help at attacking and capturing enemy cities, but don't rely entirely on them - they're vulnerable against the city's ranged attacks, and any archer units firing at them from the ground.

Unique Unit Replacements

Icon	Unit	Civilization	Abilities
	'Alia	Tui Manu'a (Matelita)	+1 Movement when undamaged at the start of a turn. Begins with 10 additional XP per luxury resource (max 40)
	Anan	Yaghan (Masémikensh)	-3 Strength. Produced faster from forest tiles around the city. Performs a weak ranged attack before melee combat if stacked with an embarked unit.
	Assault Trieres	Athens (Pericles)	+20% Combat Strength (12 vs 10) May capture enemy ships after starting the turn adjacent to another friendly naval unit
	Badan	Saba-Da'amat (Makeda)	Generates Experience when starting its turn on or adjacent to Luxury or Strategic resources. May expend its levels within foreign territory, granting a boost of Gold and Golden Age points in return.
	Bireme	Phoenicia (Hiram I)	Generates Great Merchant points from combat Transfers Movement points to stacked units at the beginning of each turn
	Boita	Funan (Soma)	May move when purchased. Earns faith when travelling along maritime trade routes. When trained or purchased in cities with an international trade route, begins with experience dependent on the economic output of the two cities.
	Dromon	Byzantium (Theodora)	Has a ranged attack +50% Combat Strength vs Naval units Upgrades to Galleass -20% Strength
	Galeá	Minoa (Minos)	+1 Movement Can move through rival territory Cheaper and slightly weaker
	Galea Sottile	Venice (Domenico Selvo)	Trained with additional combat strength depending on the Faith output of the city. Winning in battle grants Great Merchant Points in the capital.
	Garay	Sulu (Azim ud-Din I)	Lower Combat Strength (8 vs 10) +1 Movement Gains Faith from pillaging naval Tile Improvements Starts with Coastal Raider I
	Getanget	The Wabanaki (Henri Membertou)	-1 Movement (3 vs 4) -11% Production cost (40 vs 45) Captures the first enemy vessel it attacks (costs health and cripples the enemy vessel) Upgrades to Privateer
	Hippoi	Phoenicia (Pygmalion)	Can move through rival territory +2 Movement for stacked embarked units
	Iqyax	The Aleut (Agugux)	Can move through Coast and Ice Heals stacked units
	Lagatoi	Motu (Edai Siabo)	+1 Move for the first 5 turns after leaving friendly territory. May be loaded with a copy of the Uro luxury resource, allowing it to conduct a trade mission. After performing a trade mission, starts a We Love the King Day when returning to a city.
	Lembos	Illyrians (Teuta)	Cheap and weak. Stronger against Naval Units for every adjacent Lembos. Grants +1 Movement to stacked or adjacent Land Units.
	Lippa Lippa	The Yolngu (Wonggu)	May enter Deep Ocean at Currency. Gain Combat Strength for every civilization you have met from a foreign landmass (diminishing returns). Provides +1 Food, +3 Gold and +1 Culture when stationed on a featureless Coast tile with an international trade route passing over it.
	Mishihasebune	Honma (Honma Yoshihisa)	More expensive to train. Gain additional experience from combat along river deltas. May freely explore the ocean north of where it was trained. Does not obsolete.
	Navis Lusoria	Western Rome (Majorian)	Begins with Movement depending on City-State alliances. Units trained in a City after a Navis Lusoria will pay no Movement penalty crossing rivers or marshes.
	Noka Canoe	The Calusa (Caalus)	-33% Production cost (30 vs 45) -50% Combat Strength (5 vs 10) +2  Combat Strength for each adjacent Noka Canoe Forces defenders to retreat when inflicting more damage than taken Immune to Scurvy Attrition (ExCE)
	Pahi	Tahiti (Purea)	Can Improve Sea Resources (if Astronomy has been researched, this consumes the Pahi) Can Change Port to immediately travel between coastal cities
	Penteconter	Minoa (Minos) (LastSword)	Unlocked at Agriculture -44% Production Cost -20% Combat Strength May randomly trigger Ancient Ruins bonuses while moving
	Pentecontor	Ithaca (Penelope)	It generates more Experience depending on its distance to owned territory. Increases the Defense of adjacent Embarked Land Units.
	Piratica	The Oeselians (Vesse)	Earns Faith upon killing an enemy unit When initiating an attack, damages adjacent enemy units
	Quinquereme	Carthage (Dido)	30% Stronger Ignores enemy zones of control (with Hannibal's Carthage installed)
	Robura Ship	The Aremorici (Viridovix)	May withdraw when attacked. Practically immune to Ranged Attacks.
	Sakman	The Chamorro (Matå'pang)	+1 Movement Heals 10 HP when beginning its turn on a friendly or neutral Sea Resource
	Sea Steed	Greenland (Erik Thorvaldsson)	Generates experience when next to foreign continents. Civilian units stacked with a Sea Steed of at least Level 3 will be able to cross Ocean.
	Tongiaki	Tonga ('Aho'eitu)	Can enter Deep Ocean tiles Grants deep ocean crossing to stacked units at the beginning of each turn
	Trihemiolia	The Vandals (Genseric)	Begins with the Coastal Raider Promotion. Cities with a stationed Trihemiolia are Razed twice as quickly.
	War Canoe	The Haida (Koyah)	Can move after attacking. Heals 10HP if turns begins next to a Forest +33% Combat Strength vs. Land Units Upgrades to Privateer