Latin Hoplites

Summary
Hoplites are a heavy infantry brigade available to the Latin faction group. They are slow, defensive spearmen, with the ability to enter phalanx formation to further boost their defenses in pitched battles.

"Disciplined infantry that fight with a long spear and a large round shield. Better equipped and trained than regular spearman, hoplites are generally composed of free citizens who can afford to purchase their own equipment. Hoplites originated in the city-states of Ancient Greece but quickly spread to other Mediterranean cultures like the Latins and Etruscans."

- In-game Description

History
The Romans, like several other cultures in Italy, are thought to have adopted hoplite warfare from the Greeks at some point in the 6th Century BC, forming the backbone of their armies during the late Regal and early Republican periods.

Rome would reform its military in the 4th Century BC, abandoning the hoplite phalanx for a more flexible system composed of multiple battlelines of increasingly heavy infantry. The third line, the Triarii, originally continued to fight with the equipment and tactics of heavy hoplites, however.

Tactics
Hoplites are the first improvement in infantry available to Latin factions and are a big step up from basic spearmen, though the player will likely want to replace them with the even stronger Heavy Hoplites as soon as they can afford to do so.

With good missile resistance and decent defenses, Hoplites are good at taking missile damage and suitable for use in sieges. They benefit greatly from the phalanx formation in pitched battles, which provides a great increase to defenses and charge block but only so long as the formation holds. If the formation does break, Hoplites will still prove superior to light infantry spearmen, but will not be able to hold out long against late-game infantry.

The Latins have the weakest Hoplites in the game, with lower charge strength than the Sabellics, lower damage than the Illyrics, and lower defenses than the Etruscans and especially the Greeks and Sicilians. Etruscan and Greek Hoplites compensate for their higher defenses by being more expensive, though, with Etruscan hoplites not necessarily being more cost-effective as far as gold is concerned.