*shrug*
The argument remains the same, you cannot be afraid of a pitched battle just because Cetashwayo revealed the mechanics of battle. That was not point of the informational and I feel people miss that.
It was there to help people understand what goes on and what we can do to stack the odds.
Instead it seems that people are saying that just because there is always a chance of catastrophe, we must always avoid battle now, regardless of anything else we do.
I was tempted to shoot back with a comment here, but on second thought, it was ill-thought. I've gone over our manpower summary in the last update, and our stated reserves between Eritriea and all of our direct clients is 11,282 (roughly 7,600 belong to us, 800 to the Leauge and the rest mostly Peuketti). We actually outnumber the Tarantine levy of ~9,000. With Thurii to fight alongside us, we'd decisively out number the Tarantines.
Now it's important to consider that Thurii is on the other side of Magna Gracia and Taras has a higher proportion of hoplites compared to us so a pure numbers comparison shouldn't fill you with quite as much confidence.
I still think it's important to pick the war of attrition, however. That's how Eretria has been developing as a state and as a
polis. Our constant existential warring against the barbarians before Eretria's walls were built deeply impacted on the
polis' psyche. Every moment was existential warfare and even
@Cetashwayo admitted that he expected us to be exterminated by the barbarians. Our citizens are different from other Greeks; we're results focused, constantly seeking improvement; we're a true colonial state, with active attempts to expand by immigration; we have an unprecedented focus on mobility in warfare compared to other Greeks with the
Kleos Exoria and
Sacred Ekdoromi; and our recent focus on mercantilism and expanding our coffers however we can.
We considered going the hoplite-focused route in the second quest (roughly during Herodion's exile) and we soundly rejected it. We wanted to branch out into a navy and cavalry focused play style since that would be how we become a true player in the Hellenistic world. Without a navy, we couldn't project power. Plus, there was a reason I argued so hard for Herodion to create the
Kleos Exoria when he returned; cavalry are much better suited to warfare in southern Italy compared to Greece and cavalry is a devastating advantage to have, especially when all of your comparable rivals suck at it.
We built our cavalry and our mobility into a strong point to take advantage of it. There's a reason we have so many cavalry and the
Sacred Ekdromoi are medium infantry as opposed to being regular, heavy infantry hoplites. We've spec'd into this playstyle so we need to actually play it. It's where our advantages lie and it's the culmination of decades of struggle and divergence in Eritriea compared to many other Hellenic Greeks.
We had very good reason to fear the barbarian way of warfare when Eriteria was founded. It's time to take what we've learned over decades of struggle and show the Tarantines why they should fear it too.
(
@Cetashwayo In the last update, is the Subjects & Subjects Levies portion correct when it says Egnatia has both Peuketii and Egnatian cavalry & both Turai and Egnatian skirmishers?)
