We all know Crete for its famous mercenary archers. But Crete was also a somewhat xenophobic region that had something in common with Sparta in this regard, but at the same time, seemingly came to terms with the rampaging piracy of the eastern mediterrean who could use the island's excellent docks. It is extremely feasible that the Cretans themselves had an active part in the raiding. Accordingly we gave Knossos a basic hoplite army enforced by the local nobles (Picked Hoplites and mounted Nobles as melee cavalry) and excellent archers; on top of this, the piratesque part of the roster will be essential as you lack any other sort of heavy troops, and your docks will be instrumental, as they will allow recruitment of both ships and land units in the form of elite archers, sword and board pirates and veteran raiders, all of them able to be deployed as vanguards which is of course extremely valuable. As you go further from your docks your recruitment pool will deteriorate to the basic hoplitery. Control the sea, control the land, as far as you can get.

Removed Thorax Swordsmen from the campaign roster. Sorry, you'll have to work with funnier stuff. :P

NEW UNITS:

- Cretan Nobles:
Your high and mighty xenophobic nobles. Oddly enough there was nothing similar to the Noble-Blood eastern cavalry, and here it is, with the added flavour of Encourage. They were meant to have phalanx formation while on foot but... well, they did that on horse as well and that was awkward. Barracks IV.

- Cretan Archers:
They were hidden in the game, now going public. They come as land archers with the Auxiliary III barracks and as navy crew on two-halfers, triremes and penteres (capped). Enjoy your superior shooty fleet.

- Cretan Picked Veterans:
Cretan Archers on steroids that went back from VietNam and have stories to tell. Oh they do. Some armor and some melee skills make these guys really spiky. In addition, they can Guerrilla Deploy. Auxiliary IV or heavy docks III+ for the land unit, advanced docks for the navy crews.

- Cretan Pirates:
Your bread and butter melee unit, with Guerrilla Deployment. Yeah, neat. They are rather choppy but can drop like flies when their armor doesn't shield them. Don't expect them to win against dedicated heavy infantry but don't underestimate them either. Easy recruitment.

- Cretan Veteran Raiders:
Your elite melee unit, with Encourage and Guerrilla Deployment. They are extremely dangerous but will lose against sword elites. Use accordingly. Recruited in docks and barracks that end with IV.