Why are Roman CS swordsmen called Hastātus

[Emacz]

When I google Hastātus Wiki says: "armed with a spear"

Peditatus seems to me foot soldier but not what type of weapon.  At the very least shouldn't the spearman and swordsman specific name be switched?

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

This answers it for you (the whole video is good)

 

 

[Deicide4u]

6 hours ago, Emacz said:

When I google Hastātus Wiki says: "armed with a spear"

Not a spear, a pilum. They threw pila at the enemy, before engaging in melee combat. 

Unfortunately, 0 A. D. still has no way for units to use multiple attacks, so the Hastatus is melee only. If we get to have units with multiple attacks, the plan is for Advanced and Elite Hastati to throw pila first, then engage in melee.

https://gitea.wildfiregames.com/0ad/0ad/wiki/Civ_Romans_Republican

Edited August 6 by Deicide4u
Grammar

[Outis]

2 hours ago, Deicide4u said:

If we get to have units with multiple attacks, the plan is for Advanced and Elite Hastati to throw pila first, then engage in melee.

This would be sooo cool. And a good idea for differentiation.

[Emacz]

4 hours ago, Deicide4u said:

Not a spear, a pilum. They threw pila at the enemy, before engaging in melee combat. 

Unfortunately, 0 A. D. still has no way for units to use multiple attacks, so the Hastatus is melee only. If we get to have units with multiple attacks, the plan is for Advanced and Elite Hastati to throw pila first, then engage in melee.

https://gitea.wildfiregames.com/0ad/0ad/wiki/Civ_Romans_Republican

I'm just going off wiki, and it doesnt say pilum, it says spear

You can have units switch between the two, like persian imortals.... and in historical A LOT of units.  We did it with Rome Legionaries.

7 hours ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

This answers it for you (the whole video is good)

 

 

I will definitely watch! These are the types of videos I like and find quite useful.  Thanks!

[Emacz]

7 hours ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

This answers it for you (the whole video is good)

 

 

ha at the 5 minute mark it even says they are called Hastāti, derived from the roman word for spear  But yes im sure there is more and it will go on.

I guess it kinda comes down to what years of Romes existence is 0AD focusing on.  Early republic their infantry were more like Greek Hoplites.  

Edited August 6 by Emacz

[Emacz]

8 hours ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

This answers it for you (the whole video is good)

 

 

now that ive fully watched it I have this bold idea for Rome in historical:
 p4 represents the empire phase, p1 could be early republic…. Remove swordsmen from p1…they have a regular spearman, poor stone thrower who will have “serf” stats even though not a serf per se and the velites. P2 the spearman is replaced by the swordsman. And they gain access to an elite spearman (similar to Sparta skiri). They no longer have access to the regular spearman though.

[Arup]

10 hours ago, Deicide4u said:

If we get to have units with multiple attacks, the plan is for Advanced and Elite Hastati to throw pila first, then engage in melee.

this already exists in some form in @Grapjas's mod

[Classic-Burger]

On 05/08/2025 at 6:16 PM, Emacz said:

When I google Hastātus Wiki says: "armed with a spear"

Peditatus seems to me foot soldier but not what type of weapon.  At the very least shouldn't the spearman and swordsman specific name be switched?

During the early years it was a spear unit, dating back to the time before the Punic wars in the age of the early republic.

Over time, the hastati adopted the gladius (short sword) and pila (javelins) as their main weapons, while the hasta( spear) became less common for them. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastati

 

17 hours ago, Emacz said:

now that ive fully watched it I have this bold idea for Rome in historical:
 p4 represents the empire phase, p1 could be early republic…. Remove swordsmen from p1…they have a regular spearman, poor stone thrower who will have “serf” stats even though not a serf per se and the velites. P2 the spearman is replaced by the swordsman. And they gain access to an elite spearman (similar to Sparta skiri). They no longer have access to the regular spearman though.

Your mod is about eras?

[Emacz]

6 hours ago, Classic-Burger said:

During the early years it was a spear unit, dating back to the time before the Punic wars in the age of the early republic.

Over time, the hastati adopted the gladius (short sword) and pila (javelins) as their main weapons, while the hasta( spear) became less common for them. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastati

 

Your mod is about eras?

Our mod tries to represent the civs a little more historically but still kinda of within the time from of thhe game. There is a p4 (empire phase) for Rome, and now we are trying to work on "early republic" as p1 and then p2-p3 sorta of what the base game mostly covers.