ABILITIES

1. Active Abilities - must be triggered!
First of all, there are abilities that are only active if you give the order. These only last a specific duration. Almost all of these have a big fatigue penalty.


2. Formations
Second, there are different formations, which can simply be turned ON or OFF without limitations.
These usually trade some statistic values.
For Example "Attacking Testudo". It trades off speed in favor of protection against missiles.


3. Passive Skills
Last but not least there are permanent traits or skills that simply exist and always influence the unit. Some of them are "Area of Influence", like "Fear" or "Encourage" effects. Some of them are like a unit attribute.


You can get information on all abilities in game. Just go to custom battle and hover the cursor over the ability icon.


UNIT HYBRIDS

Some units don't fit perfectly in the standard categories.


Thureos Spears: Greek Factions

Basically a spear unit with ranged javelin capabilites.
They carry 5 Javelins per man (compared to 7-10 on full skirmisher units).


Skirmishing Swordsmen

A sword + javelin hybrid.
They have 5 Javelin ammunition.


Agrianian Axemen

An axe + javelin hybrid.
Since it's counted as a missile unit, it has 7 ammo.


Elite Javelin Skirmishers

These guys have a surprisingly good armor compared to other skirmishers. They also have some (not good but its better than nothing) melee capabilities. They can withstand a medium melee cavalry charge with some difficulties, but they don't rout instantly.


Archers with Spears

These unit actually carries a spear as secondary weapon into battle. They act like a normal archer unit, but they get a hidden +30 bonus vs. large in melee.


Shock Infantry

Not easy to draw the line here, but generally infantry units with the purpose to shock the enemy line: Make many kills quickly, but lose in the prolonged fight.
Many of them have the rare bonus vs. infantry.
Falx units can also be seen as Shock infantry.


Javelin + melee Cavalry

This is a unit with good enough melee stats to count as a melee cavalry unit, but also has 7 javelins ready to throw anytime. Most of them have base stats equal to most light cavalry units.