Quote Originally Posted by Ca Putt View Post
Hippakontistai are not paupers, they may be called levy or militia but not paupers. they are abit like the Merchant cav in M2TW.
they may not be welltrained but they are composed of upper middleclass and lower nonlemen's sons, thus even above the Hoplitai in social status. plus, as Horses are probably easier to attain on the Crim than the Peleponnes I'd guess that they'd be pretty common, at least in times of need that is ;) Hippakontistai are (contrary to their use in EB as first cav recruitable for KH) a sign for a rich but threatened state, at least when combined with real cavalry to represent the real nobles ;)
Which could justify them being part of a garrison (representing bodies of troops existing amongst the population), but not really in field armies except in an emergency. Same as levy hoplites or levy skirmishers, both of whom I use in garrisons for this reason. I think they do a more feasible job of working with the mechanics of the game without having unrealistic levels of militarisation in your settlements. I should note I station my armies in forts outside the settlements, rather than in them.