Difference between Hastati and Princeps?

[MikeC]

It appears so far to me that Princeps represent a clear replacement to Hastati. Is that correct? Or is there a job that Hastati can do once you start building Princeps? Can someone clarify what heavy and light attack class means?

Also is there any good roman anti-cav infantry early game. I am having trouble dealing with some Macedonian armies that are heavily loaded with lancers. I hire greek Merc hoplites but there aren't enough out there to satisfy my needs.

[Sinner]

I can't answer in game terms since RTW isn't here in the UK yet, but in real world terms the Hastati and Princeps were effectively the same except that the former were the younger men, inexperienced compared with the older veterans who made up the ranks of the Princeps.

The third line of troops in a Manipular Legion were the Triarii, the oldest veterans & armed with spears instead of sword & javelin, so it's the Triarii that you need to build to give yourself an anti-cavalry force.

[Underhand]

Also, on average, since they were older men, the principes were richer than the hastati, and since the pre-marian legionary had to pay for his own equipment, would thus have had better quality armour and more of it.

[MikeC]

I can't answer in game terms since RTW isn't here in the UK yet, but in real world terms the Hastati and Princeps were effectively the same except that the former were the younger men, inexperienced compared with the older veterans who made up the ranks of the Princeps.

The third line of troops in a Manipular Legion were the Triarii, the oldest veterans & armed with spears instead of sword & javelin, so it's the Triarii that you need to build to give yourself an anti-cavalry force.

Triarii are fairly high on the tech tree.

[X6_861]

In RTW, hastati are only slightly weaker than Principes

Their melee, missile, charge, and shield strength are identical. The only difference is that Principes have an armor rating of 7 compared to the hastati's armor rating of 5, and Principes total defense rating of 16 compared to the Hastati's total defense rating of 14.

Oh yeah, and Principes cost about 40 gold more than Hastati. That and you won't be able to train principes till at least 30 to 40 turns into the game, at least the way I played. So the hastati are pretty much the backbone of your Roman army for awhile.

[lars573]

^that's true for the first 30 turns for me. My Roman armies were made up of hastati velities and equites.

[zentuit]

^that's true for the first 30 turns for me. My Roman armies were made up of hastati velities and equites.

And while my new infantry are principes, its my hastati that have the experience chevrons so I'm not disbanding them.

I've been praying for the wandering (rebel) brigands that periodically show up to come by so I can bloody some principes.