Oliver Bernuetz:
>The use of peltasts were one of the reasons why pike
>phalanxes dropped out of favour. (They're cheaper too).
>Roman style infantry were another. They'd still be among
The peltasts had nothing to do with the pike phalanxes falling out of favor. Peltasts were a part of the phalanx/cavalry/peltast combined arms of the Macedonian army. All three worked in concert to bring the cavalry to bear on the enemy. The peltasts needed the defensive strength of the phalanxs or would have been eaten alive by the enemy cavalry. Also, peltasts and phalanxes operated together from before Phillip II to the ultimate victory of the legion over the phalanx, a span of hundreds of years. You may be thinking of Hypaspist which some believe were the beginings of the Roman cohort. The Hypaspist were an elite Hoplite group with lighter armor and shorter spears.
It was the Roman legion supremacy which ended the use of phalanxes, and even then it took several battles to decide the issue (some believe the phalanx and legion were equals).
Sergio Mascarenhas:
>What changed my mind was not their weaponry but two facts
>that make yelmalion very similar to the swiss:
>1. They are mercenaries, 'piques for sold' unlike the
>macedonians AFAIK.
>2. Their impact was based on an high degree of social
>cohesiveness based on strong personal and social
>relations. People from the same family or region
>training together to become soldiers and latter fighting
>side by side.
No different than the Greek hoplites - see Xenophon's 10,000 Greeks among other sources. From the time of the wars between Athens and Sparta to the time of Phillip II, the Greek hoplites were considered the premire mercenary groups in the ancient world and saw extensive action in the Persian empire.
>Piques are critical to Sun County people. They cannot rely
>on distant sources for its main and more fragile >component: the pole.
>- - Exploring faraway sources, be it in DP or near the ZF >mouth, is to
risky:
Actually, I believe the forests start just south of the Sun County lands, so trees are not that far off. Also, I believe these forests were old dino grazing grounds, so I would assume the trees were tall and durable.
>- - Trade was not a reliable source for most of the time
>because of wars in Prax or in DP. Notice that for most of
>the third era the trade routs were not operating. And for
>merchants, exporting wood poles to Prax is uneconomical
>(they're bigh and eavy) unless they command a very high
>price for it. The price of the poles would be excessive to
> SC people.
>
Gives you a reason why Pavis is so important to SC and why the Sun Domers keep good ties with whoever controls Pavis. Also, most of the traditional enemies of Sun County were more of raiders than occupiers and probably couldn't mount a serious long-term *blockade* of the SC trade.
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