How does one get Spartan hoplites

[IceWolf]

I'm about 23 territories into a greek campaign and they haven't come up yet. I did capture Rome with a huge population and an army barracks but still no spartans. thanks
IceWolf

[Guyus Germanicus]

I'm about 23 territories into a greek campaign and they haven't come up yet. I did capture Rome with a huge population and an army barracks but still no spartans. thanks
IceWolf

IceWolf -

Only two cities can produce Spartan hoplites for the Greeks - Syracuse and Sparta. You will not be able to produce them in either city until you build the largest city administration building and then the largest army barracks in those cities.

It takes two turns to produce one Spartan unit.

Ah, but the beauty of the unit is something to behold in combat, especially if you have an armourer in those cities and a temple of Nike in Sparta. In Sparta you can kick out spartans with three experience chevrons or more depending on how large your Nike temple is. I've had Greek armies take on the Egyptians in Memphis and Alexandria with 5-6 Spartans and 3-4 Armoured hoplites. Those doggone Spartans with the multiple experience chevrons are well nigh invincible.

Yes, you have to hang on to Syracuse and Sparta, because those are the only two cities you can recruit Spartan hoplites. Because I do a lot of heavy recruiting in Sparta, I usually have to pump up the population in Sparta artificially by recruiting peasants in Corinth and Athens and then disbanding them in Sparta. Syracuse usually grows so fast that it's the first city to reach the 'huge' city level in population.

Anyway, that's the story. Good luck and enjoy!

[gaiusjulii]

You could just modify so that you can recruit them in any city... build_Descr just find the Hidden resource Ie sparta and delete it and Hey presto! you can recruit them in any greek city with the relevant buildings. otherwise its as was said above.

good luck

[Guyus Germanicus]

I'm about 23 territories into a greek campaign and they haven't come up yet.
IceWolf

Icewolf,

You might want to turtle your campaign more.

I took the Greeks just recently and started producing Spartans out of Syracuse after about 13 provinces. I don't play quite so aggressively with the Greeks as I might with other factions. Syracuse can grow quickly because of the wheat resource that is proximate to it on Sicily. If you get the Romans off Sicily quickly, you can give Syracuse some peace and quiet to grow without having to rely on it too much for recruitment. That will help the population growth too.

Before I face off against SPQR with its principe and triarii laden stack, I want to have bronze swords and shields on my units at least, and have 4-5 Spartan hoplites with 4-5 armoured hoplites in my army, with 6-8 greek cavalry, 2 units of Cretans archers, fully shielded/sworded. But to get there, your cities have to grow large enough so that all the requisites - armourer, huge city, etc., are in place. And as I said in my previous post, I usually have to supplement the population growth in Sparta by recruiting peasants in Athens and Corinth and releasing them in sparta, to get it up to the population level requirement for Spartan hoplite production.

[IceWolf]

Occhhh Guyus,
I should hae taken your advice. As it is I stupidly conquered the worthless mudhole provinces of Gaul. Now I face the Britons in the north and the insurgent spanish in the south. I'm going to cut my losses and abandon them for greeener pastures. I will build up again (turtle) and strike for the south of Carthage and eventually take on Egypt. There lie riches and it'll be more profitable than begining a campaign off of Pergarum into Pontic territories. I feel that I can beat the Egyptians with the phalanx where was SOL as the Scippi in a prior campaign.

IceWolf