It has an aura of radius two tiles which increases the armor of nearby Hoplites and Elite Hoplites. Hoplites increase the melee armor of nearby Hoplite line units by +1, while Elite Hoplites do the same and also provide +1 pierce armor.
Tactics[]
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It excels versus other melee units and is particularly vulnerable to ranged units. Its range gives it only a slight advantage in battles, as unlike Kamayuks, it cannot attack directly from behind friendly troops; instead, a group of Hoplites arranges itself into almost a V-shaped formation.
The Elite upgrade decreases the attack bonus against standard buildings.
This will not be a concern in most cases, since the attack bonus decrease is exactly compensated by the melee attack increase, ensuring that the damage output does not fall with the Elite upgrade.
The Hoplite was also meant to have the speed charge ability. This can be verified by looking up tasks for the unit. However, enabling speed charge requires setting "special ability" flag to 3, while the Hoplites have 0.
Hoplite's speed charge: The charged-up speed activates when its target is within 2 to 4 tiles. Its speed increases by 20% (to 1.08) in this distance, and dissipates once impact is made.