Crete

Crete is one of three playable Greek factions in the Invasion Sandbox of the Eagle King DLC. The faction is a naval invader, with its possible starting locations being in the Ionian Sea near Bruttium and Sicily.

When playing as Crete, the city at which the player ends up settling their capital will be renamed to 'Rhadamanthia'.

The faction doesn't currently occur in any other game modes.

In-game Description
"The south Aegean island of Crete was home to the ancient Minoan civilization before suffering disasters and being taken over by Mycenean Greeks. The Greeks on Crete were divided and isolated, but developed a strong tradition of archery."

Possible Starting Locations

 * Off the coast of eastern Bruttium, near Krimisa and Kroton.
 * Off the coast of southern Bruttium, near Palizzi.
 * Off the coast of southeastern Sicily, near Heloros and Kamarina.

Starting Brigades
When composing your starting army, Crete has 18 points to spend. Crete has a slightly different roster of possible starting brigades from the other 2 Greek invader factions, with the following options available: In addition, you will receive 2 groups of Colonists, a Light Warship and as many Small Transport Ships as are needed to carry every brigade.

The default loadout consists of 4 Cretan Archers, 2 Hoplites and 6 points to spare.

You will be given 2000 gold to start.

Historic Starting Generals
When playing this faction in a sandbox setting, the player may choose to start with one of the following pre-defined historic generals instead of a generic one. These characters usually have far better bonuses than can be obtained with the generic starting generals.

Strategy
Crete is unique in that it is the only faction to be able to directly recruit Cretan Archers, one of the strongest missile units in-game, which is only available to other factions as a random mercenary unit on rare occasion. The Cretans are even able to recruit these archers without needing to construct a Target Range upgrade. However, Crete can only recruit these archers in its own native cities. Since the faction is an invader and doesn't start with any native cities on the map, the player would need to assimilate cities in order to be able to recruit additional Cretan Archers or replenish their existing brigades.

It may be recommended for the player to prioritize unlocking the Colonization skill and construct buildings that give a bonus to City Assimilation Rate in their first few cities, in order to quickly gain access to the archer units which are the faction's greatest strength.

Plan your playstyle while composing your starting army. Do not waste your starting points on Heavy Warships if you're going to more or less immediately make landfall. They are only worthwhile if planning to settle an area far away from your starting location, or when thinking of a naval raiding playstyle.

Trivia & History

 * Although the Cretans were active as pirates and mercenaries in large parts of the Mediterranean, they did not historically launch a large-scale invasion or migration into Italy, making their inclusion in the Invasion Sandbox a bit of alternate history. Some Cretans may have served as mercenaries in the invasion of Pyrrhus of Epirus, however.
 * Rome first started meddling in Cretan affairs during the Cretan War of 205-200 BC, but did not actually conquer the island until the early 60s BC.
 * The faction's icon depicts the mythical Minotaur in the Labyrinth of Knossos. The design seems to be inspired by ancient Cretan coinage.