Dauni

Attributes: | +25% Melee Damage, +25% Charge Strength, +10% Speed, -25% Unit Defenses, -10% Unit Morale

The **Dauni** are a medium-large Illyric faction located in northern Iapygia, along the Adriatic coast of Italy.

Their starting neighbours are the Frentani, Samnites, Lucani and Peuceti.

### In-game Description

"The Dauni are the northernmost of the three Iapygians tribes who migrated from Illyria to southern Italy. Their greater isolation from Greek and Campanian culture allowed them to develop a distinctive art style in their stelae and pottery. They were said to have been founded by Daunius, a son of Lycaon who himself was a king of Arcadia and was turned to a wolf by Zeus as punishment for cooking a person and trying to trick Zeus into eating it."

### Starting Cities

* **Ausculum**: Ausculum, also known as Asculum, is a major city of the Dauni. It would later be the site of the Battle of Asculum, a major battle in the Pyrrhic Wars that was won by Pyrrhus of Epirus, but he is known to have said of the battle "One more such victory, and we are undone," as his army had taken more casualties than he could easily replace. It is from this battle that the term "Pyrrhic victory" came.
* **Venusia**: Venusia, modern Venosa, is a city said to have been founded by the Greek Diomedes in honour of the love goddess Aphrodite following the Trojan War.
* **Canusion**: Canusion (modern Canosa di Puglia) was a large city of the Dauni. Sometimes said to be founded by Diomedes, the area's been inhabited since Neolithic times, and is a major centre for craftsmen.
* **Luceria**: Strategically located at the meeting point of three major roads, Luceria began as a small trading post before becoming a major city after Roman colonization. Records of the city disappear after the 4th century AD when the city was possibly abandoned after a natural disaster.
* **Sipous**: Sipous, known to the Romans as Sipontum and modern Italians as Siponto, is a town of the Dauni located on the Gulf of Manfredonia. It would be abandoned in 185 BCE, and though new colonists would resettle it later, it would never prosper.
* **Vieste**: Located in a fertile land with large supplies of fish, game, and drinking water, Vieste has been inhabited since the Paleolithic era. It was among the last places with a Neanderthal population.

### Strategy

Your starting city is located centrally in your territory away from your borders, allowing you to unify your starting territory without being immediately bothered by neighbouring factions.

Your borders with the Frentani, Samnites and Lucani are well-defensible thanks to the Apennine Mountains and the distance to their closest cities. As such, the Peuceti may prove to be the best target for early expansion, followed by the Messapii who have an isolated territory slightly further on, the conquest of which would simplify your land borders.

Your brigades have offensively balanced stats thanks to your faction attributes, sacrificing Defenses and Morale for Melee Damage, Speed and Charge Strength. It is best to avoid protracted missile combat, since your missile units do not do extra damage in return for their lacking defenses and morale. It would also be beneficial to micromanage battles in such a way that your brigades get the most use out of their Charge Strength bonus. The penalty to Defenses and Morale is also detrimental to sieges, where your brigades may have to suffer through missile damage for extended periods of time.

It can be a good idea to use the military skill tree to boost your unit's defensive capabilities and/or missile and siege damage to compensate for their weaknesses in certain situations.

### Trivia & History

* As referenced in the in-game description, the Dauni were one of the three major tribes of Iapygia, alongside the Peuceti and Messapii. Though the Iapygians weren't Illyrians proper, they were probably a related people that migrated across the Adriatic Sea from Illyria into Italy in the early 1st Millennium BC, which is presumably why they are given the Illyric faction group in-game.
* The Dauni first came into contact with Rome in the 320s BC during the Second Samnite War, in which some of the Dauni sided with the Romans and others with the Samnites. The Romans started founding strategic colonies among the Dauni at this time, and managed to defend the area against the Samnites during the Third Samnite War of the 290s BC, after which Rome was firmly in control of Daunia. The Dauni are noted for having assisted the Romans in their war against Pyrrhus of Epirus.
* The faction's icon consists of three ears of grain, and is taken from a design on ancient coins found in the territory of the Dauni.