| Kerkuros | |
|---|---|
| |
| Unit type | Merchant vessel |
| Base cost | 50  Wealth, 50  Timber, 3  Food
|
| Ramping cost | 3 Food
|
| Creation time | Very fast |
| Hit points | Pathetic |
| Line of sight | Poor |
| Movement speed | Slow |
| Attack strength | Laughable |
| Attack range | None |
| Armour | None |
| Population cost | 1 |
| Created at | 
|
| Prerequisites | |
| Upgrades from | |
| Upgrades to | |
| Available to |   
|
The Kerkuros is an upgrade of the Merchant Fleet, available to most seafaring nations. It is essentially a single-master, Egyptian-style bireme with higher gunwales, is slightly faster but also has substantially higher armour (2-3) making it very hard to kill except with dedicated anti-ship weapons such as the Fire Raft.
The Kerkuros is usually associated with the Ptolemaic Egyptians as well as Carthage. Because of its added speed and survivability, its presence in the Egyptian and the Punic fleets lend an advantage to both factions on water maps, as its added speed means faster trade income generation as opposed to other factions which are reliant the slower and weaker Merchant Marine unit to generate Wealth through trade.
Background[]
Assigned the African provinces in the division of Alexander's dominions after his death (323BCE), Ptolemy I Soter and his heirs proceeded to consolidate and extend their rule over Egypt and surrounding territories by any means possible. This policy was extended further under the rule of Ptolemy Philadelphus, with attempts to consolidate Egypt's economic and mercantile strength. New ports were constructed on the Red Sea coast to facilitate trade with the Indians, Ethiopians and Arabs.
The desire to facilitate trade and secure commercial advantages wherever they existed led many Greeks to explore beyond the Red Sea; the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, perhaps the most famous of all travel guides to be written, is thought to have been the work of a hitherto unknown Egyptian Greek sailor, and describes the coastal regions around the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea.
