<?xml version="1.0" ?><?encoding UTF-16?><?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="../xsl/unit.xsl"?><unit><full_name>dacian missile cavalry getikoi hippotoxotai</full_name><dictionary>dacian_missile_cavalry_getikoi_hippotoxotai</dictionary><category>cavalry</category><class>missile</class><voice_type>Light_1</voice_type><soldier><name>steppe_cavalry_sarmatianhorsearchers_getikoihippotoxotai</name><soldiers>25</soldiers><extras>0</extras><mass>1</mass></soldier><officers><officer1>ebofficer_dracones</officer1></officers><mount>light horse</mount><mount_effect>chariot +3, elephant +1</mount_effect><attributes>sea_faring, hide_improved_forest, very_hardy, cantabrian_circle</attributes><formation><side_spacing>3</side_spacing><front_spacing>4</front_spacing><loose_side_spacing>6</loose_side_spacing><loose_front_spacing>6</loose_front_spacing><ranks>5</ranks><formations>square</formations></formation><stat_health><hit_points>1</hit_points><animal_hit_points>2</animal_hit_points></stat_health><stat_pri><attack>5</attack><charge>12</charge><missile_type>arrow</missile_type><range>170</range><ammo>40</ammo><weapon_type>missile</weapon_type><tech_type>archery</tech_type><dammage_type>piercing</dammage_type><sound>none</sound><min_delay>15</min_delay><lethality>1</lethality></stat_pri><stat_pri_attr>no</stat_pri_attr><stat_sec><attack>10</attack><charge>12</charge><missile_type>no</missile_type><range>0</range><ammo>0</ammo><weapon_type>melee</weapon_type><tech_type>simple</tech_type><dammage_type>piercing</dammage_type><sound>sword</sound><min_delay>0</min_delay><lethality>0.1</lethality></stat_sec><stat_sec_attr>no</stat_sec_attr><stat_pri_armour><armour>2</armour><def_skill>10</def_skill><shield>0</shield><sound>flesh</sound></stat_pri_armour><stat_sec_armour><armour>0</armour><def_skill>0</def_skill><sound>flesh</sound></stat_sec_armour><stat_heat>1</stat_heat><stat_ground><scrub>0</scrub><sand>0</sand><forest>-2</forest><snow>0</snow></stat_ground><stat_mental><morale>13</morale><discipline>normal</discipline><training>untrained</training></stat_mental><stat_fire_delay>0</stat_fire_delay><stat_food>60, 300</stat_food><stat_cost><turns>1</turns><cost>1883</cost><upkeep>471</upkeep><upgrade_weapon>60</upgrade_weapon><upgrade_armour>90</upgrade_armour><custom_battle>1883</custom_battle></stat_cost><ownership>dacia, slave</ownership><description><name>Getikoi Hippotoxotai (Dacian Horse-Archers)</name><short>These mounted tribesmen are a force to be reckoned with, skilled in mounted archery, which they have learned through long years of training and frequent wars with raiders from the steppe.</short><long>Hardy
Can Form Cantabrian Circle

The Getai horse archers have a long and proud tradition, having developed superb skills in confrontations with the Skythai and Sauromateis. These Getai "who believe they are immortals" were the only tribes of the Thraikians whose horsemen confronted Dareios in his expedition against the Skythai in 514 BC “who resisting to the point of senselessness were immediately subdued and forced to follow the huge Persian army, even though they are the bravest and most righteous of all Threikes", as Herodotos notes. Their task is to kill, wound, disrupt, or simply reduce the morale of enemy infantry with endless showers of arrows, but they have problems like all horse archers in wet or damp weather. Their Skythian akinakes, a type of straight sword commonly used south of the Istros, and their fast horses enable them to make swift thrusts into the enemy flanks. However, one should never engage them in prolonged close quarters battle.

Historically, the Getic horsemen won the admiration of the Hellenes when they decided to engage Dareios in Mikra Skythia; and they must have won the admiration of Dareios, as after their eventual defeat, they were pressed into service within the Persian army. Their numbers were large; Thoukydides notes, referring to the great army of supposedly 150,000 men, a third of it cavalry, recruited by the Odrysian king Sitalkes: "the largest part of the cavalry was provided by the Getai." Regarding their weapons, the composite bow transformed them into efficient killers while their horses kept them out of harm's way.

These Getai warriors are not drawn from every Getic tribe, but from the tribes living in the Danube-delta area or from the Agathyrsoi living inside the arch of the Karpathia. The Hellenes called all men living in modern-day Romania and northern Bulgaria for Getai after this tribe, while the Romans called them Dacians, which is the norm today. In earlier Greek history texts, Getai was used to describe just the one tribe, not the other tribes as well, which the term encompassed later on, when the tribes in the Carpatho-Danubian area became more organized and united.</long></description></unit>