Characters / Age Of Empires II Original Civilizations

Age of Empires II Character sheets
Civilizations: Age of Kings/The Conquerors | HD Edition | Definitive Edition | Return to Rome (AoE1)
Campaigns: Age of Kings/The Conquerors | HD Edition | Definitive Edition
Non-Unique Units

All the playable civilizations and their unique units introduced in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings and its Expansion Pack The Conquerors.

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Introduced in Age of Kings

Britons

Foot Archer Civilization.
Architecture: Western European.
Town Centers cost -50% wood starting in the Castle Age.
Foot archers (except skirmishers) have +1 range Castle Age, +1 range Imperial Age (+2 total).
Shepherds work 25% faster.
Team Bonus: Archery Ranges work 10% faster.
Unique Unit: Longbowman (long ranged foot archer).
Imperial Age (Conquerors)/Castle Age (HD/DE) Unique Tech: Yeomen (+1 foot archer range, +2 tower attack).
Imperial Age Unique Tech (HD/DE): Warwolf (Trebuchets do blast damage, 100% accuracy against units).
Wonder: A placeholder cathedral.^note The graphic appears to be based on the Aachen Cathedral, which is found in the editor. (pre-DE); Chichester Cathedral (DE)
AI Player Names: Alfred the Great, Duke of Normandy, Earl of Warwick, Earl of Wessex, Edward Longshanks, Harold Godwinson, Henry Bolingbroke, Henry Tudor, Henry V, King Edward, Lord Henry Percy, Lord Talbot, Prince John, Richard II, Richard the Lionhearted, The Black Prince, William III

The Britons are an archer civilization with a simple-yet-effective unique unit, the Longbowman, and bonuses aiding their offensive and defensive capabilities. These make them an easy-to-use, fairly flexible civilization.

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• Always Accurate Attack: Trebuchets normally have high damage but poor accuracy, which makes them poor at attacking units outside of Mangonels and other Trebuchets. Once Warwolf tech is researched, Britons Trebuchets can deal their high damage with 100% accuracy and offset their slow firing rate with an Area of Effect.
• Artistic License – History:
  • The Britons in this game almost entirely represent the English, which at the beginning of the game's time period would've referred to the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the east and south of present-day England. Actual "Britons" would've referred to the inhabitants of what is today Cornwall, Wales, northwest England and Strathclyde. Though notably, they are used to represent the Celtic Britons in the Vortigern scenario in the Victors and Vanquished DLC.
    • The Britons being used to represent the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms ends up being Zig-Zagged in the various scenarios^note It is Played Straight in Ragnar and York (as Mercia and East Anglia), as the Anglo-Saxons have also been represented by the Vikings^note Vortigern, Goths^note York (as Wessex) and Hastings, and even Celts^note York (as Northumbria).
  • For some reason, the game, especially the Joan of Arc campaign, often refer to them as "British", despite being anachronistic to the time period as none of the British kingdoms were referred to as such during the medieval era. The William Wallace campaign does call them "English".
• The Artifact:
  • Their previous wonder was a leftover from the beta version of the game, when all civilizations sharing a building style also shared a generic wonder (Cathedral for Europeans, Mosque for Muslims, Temple of Heaven for East Asians).
  • The use of "Britons" as a name instead of "English." At the time the game was first outlined, the idea was that you would lead a civilization from the literal ruins of Rome to the Renaissance. This concept was less enforced as the game and expansions developed.
• A Commander Is You: Ranger: They have access to the entire European Archery Range (no Elephant Archer) roster. Their non-Skirmisher foot archers have range bonuses from Castle Age onwards. Their UU is the Longbowman. They have an unique tech (Yeomen) which increases the range of their foot archers and towers. Finally, their Team Bonus increases the work rate of the Archery Ranges. All of this comes at the cost of them having poor Infantry, Cavalry and Siege lines.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Britons are an Archer/Foot Soldier-first, Water-first civilization, which means:
  • Their Cavalry is limited by their lack of access to the Hussar and Paladin upgrades as well as the Bloodlines tech.
  • Their Monks cannot convert enemy siege weapons and buildings (due to lacking Redemption) or other monks (due to lacking Atonement), and they cannot die before being converted (due to lacking Heresy).
  • Prior to The Forgotten, even their Siege was lacking, not having access to the Siege Ram, Siege Onager and Heavy Scorpion updates, nor getting access to the gunpowder updates in spite of having Chemistry. The Forgotten gave them access to Cannon Galleons and Heavy Scorpions, and moved Yeomen to the Castle Age, with the new tech Warwolf, which vastly improves their Trebuchets, taking its place.
• Does Not Like Guns: Like mentioned above, they used to be the only Old World civilization with no gunpowder units of any kind prior to The Forgotten, which gave them Cannon Galleons.
• Flower Motifs: The flower in their interface is the Tudor rose.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation:
  • The Britons were one of the civilizations who best developed horse-breeding, yet they do not get Bloodlines, one of the most important techs for cavalry units. This is justified if later English history is taken into account, especially the Hundred Years War, as English longbowmen played a role in defeating the cavalry-dominant French in Crécy and Agincourt. The Britons lacking good cavalry also gives a counterplay against the Briton's strong Archers.
  • In addition, the Britons later in history utilize gunpowder to expand an empire, yet they do not get Hand Cannoneers and Bombard Cannons. This is mostly justified for gameplay reasons, as their archers are incredibly strong and (from The Forgotten onwards) having one of the strongest Trebuchets in the game.
• Glass Cannon: One of the best civilizations for long range siege, thanks to their Trebuchets' splash damage and Longbowmen. The frontline is very weak, however: they lack good cavalry units and techs such as the Paladin upgrade and Bloodlines, making Champions and Halberdiers their only reliable frontline.
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Their foot archers may have the longest range in the game, but the Britons are the only archer civilization which cannot get Thumb Ring, making their arrows less likely to hit their targets as accuracy is inversely proportional to range.
• Necessary Drawback:
  • For all the benefits their archers receive, they don't have access to Thumb Ring nor Parthian Tactics. They can't train most gunpowder units as well, even with access to Chemistry, as backing up their already deadly (Elite) Longbowmen with anti-Cavalry units, as well as giving them a faster and even more accurate attack, would be overkill.
  • Their mounted units are also very underwhelming, without Bloodlines or any late-game upgrades. While their Trebuchets are great, their Siege Workshop units are unspectacular, on account of lacking Bombard Cannons, Siege Rams and Siege Onagers. Due to these shortcomings, their counters to enemy Skirmishers and siege are limited to Trebuchets or infantry, both of which have speed issues.
• Non-Indicative Name: Their historical basis is the medieval Kingdom of England, not the Celtic Britons that would eventually become the Welsh (though they do represent the Celtic Britons in the Vortigern scenario). The only traits they have that resemble the Welsh are their bonuses to shepherding and archery (including their access to Longbowmen), on top of the current Celtic civilization having bonuses that are more emblematic of Gaelic Scotland and Ireland.
• Reduced Resource Cost: Their Town Centers cost -50% wood in the Castle and Imperial Ages.
• Sacred Language: While their other units speak English, their Monks speak Latin.
• Skill Gate Characters: The Britons have a straightforward tech tree and are considered one of the easiest civilizations for newer players to play, due to the faster working shepherds giving an edge early game, faster creation time for Archery Range units allowing for archer rushes, and cheaper Town Centers makes it more conducive for booming strategies. However, when it comes to foot archers, they are easily outclassed by other civilizations such as the Chinese with their Chu-Ko-Nu, and the Mayans with their Plumed Archers.^note Despite Longbowmen having the longest range of all archers that even outranges most siege units, this is easily countered by creating massive amounts of cavalry units and Onagers into their faces.

Longbowman

An archer with a quite extensive line of sight. Regular Longbowmen have the same range as Crossbowmen, however their Elite upgrade increases their attack, range and pierce armor, making it actually stronger than the Arbalester. Furthermore, Blacksmith upgrades, the Yeomen unique tech and the Britons' own archer range civ bonuses can increase it up to 12 range, allowing them to outrange Castles, Towers, Onagers, Galleons, and other archer units.

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• Anti-Infantry: Longbowmen are highly effective against infantry, included attack bonus of +2 against Spearmen line.
• Anti-Structure: A group of Longbowmen can be used as a siege option if the Britons player is teamed with a Saracen, as the Longbowmen get additional attack bonus against standard buildings and can take them down more quickly. Teutonic Castles, Korean towers, and Turkish Bombard Towers are the only defensive structures capable of returning fire. Still, Trebuchets should always be brought to sieges, especially since Warwolf was introduced in The Forgotten.
• Artistic License – History: The Longbowmen are erroneously depicted wearing quivers on their backs, when in fact historical English Longbowmen placed their arrow bags behind their waists or simply stuffed arrows in their belts (but never wore them on their backs).
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Since the Britons lack Thumb Ring, Longbowmen fire slower than other civilizations' archers and lack the 100% accuracy, which can be a considerable disadvantage. On the other hand, when focus-firing individual targets as a group, lacking Thumb Ring can prevent overkilling a target. Most arrows will strike their target, while stray arrows may damage nearby enemies. This inaccuracy can grant Briton archers an Onager-like firing pattern.
• Long-Range Fighter: Regular Longbowmen have the same range as Crossbowmen, but their Elite counterpart comes with +1 attack, range, and pierce armor in comparison to the Arbalester. Furthermore, Blacksmith upgrades, the Yeomen unique tech and the Britons' own archer range civ bonuses can increase it up to 12 range, allowing them to outrange Castles, Towers, Onagers, Galleons, and other archer units.
• Necessary Drawback: Their power is mitigated by the Britons' lack of Thumb Ring.
• Skill Gate Characters: Newcomer and low-tier players will create a large army of Longbowmen and wither down any enemies that come near them thanks to their line of sight. More experienced enemy players counter this by building arrow-resistant Siege Rams garrisoned with infantry units and slowly move towards the player's base, ignoring the Longbowmen, and destroying any buildings and walls the player has built.

Byzantines

Defensive Civilization.
Architecture: Middle Eastern (pre-DE), Mediterranean (DE).
Buildings +10% HP Dark, +20% Feudal, +30% Castle, +40% HP Imperial Age.
Camel Riders, Skirmishers, Pikemen, Halberdiers cost -25%.
Fire Ships and Dromons attack 25% faster.
Advance to Imperial Age costs -33%.
Town Watch, Town Patrol free.
Team Bonus: Monks +100% heal speed.
Unique Unit: Cataphract (anti-infantry cavalry).
Castle Age Unique Tech (HD/DE): Greek Fire (Fire Ships range +1, Dromons and Bombard Towers +5 splash damage).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: Logistica (Cataphracts cause trample damage, +6 attack vs infantry).
Wonder: Hagia Sophia.
AI Player Names: Anastasios I Dikoros, Basil the Macedonian, Basil Boioannes, Belisarius, Emp. Alexius IV, Emp. Anastasius, Emp. Constantine, Emp. Justinian, Emp. Leo VI, Emp. Mauricius, Emp. Michael V, Emp. Romanus II, Emp. Tiberius III, Emperor Romanos II, General Manuel Comnenus, Heraclius the Elder, Michael the Stammerer

The Byzantines are primarily a defensive civilization that excels at turtling. However they are very versatile and are perfectly capable of mounting a good offense as well. As a result, they are a perfect civilization for players who are new to the game and veterans who want to try using different strategies reasonably well.

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• Artistic License – History:
  • For some reason, the Byzantines in Age of Kings use the Middle Eastern architecture, so despite being the bastion of Greek Orthodoxy the Byzantine monastery is clearly a mosque with Islamic engravings and minarets. This is rectified in the Definitive Edition, with Byzantines taking the same architecture as Italians and Portuguese. However, the Byzantine monastery is now a Catholic church.
  • Byzantines were historically known to use Horse Archers and heavy armored cavalry in battle, yet they are missing two important upgrades for them (Bloodlines and Parthian Tactics, although the Byzantines do have access to the Paladin upgrade).
• A Commander Is You:
  • Balanced: Has no notable strengths and weaknesses in their tech tree, having benefits on all non-Siege areas.
  • Spammer: Their Skirmishers and Spearmen are -25% cheap and easily massable.
  • Economist: Their farms gain an HP bonus dependant on age: +10% on Dark, +20% on Feudal, +30% on Castle and +40 on Imperial.
  • Turtle: Their walls and gates gain an HP bonus dependant on age: +10% on Dark, +20% on Feudal, +30% on Castle and +40 on Imperial. Their Bombard Towers deal +5 splash damage thanks to Greek Fire. They also get the building LOS-increasing Town Watch and Town Patrol for free. This makes knocking down their walls difficult and their defensive structures benefit as well. In addition, they have access to all defensive buildings, and their counter units have bonuses, making attacking them even more difficult.
  • Research: They have the lowest cost to reach the Imperial Age (33% cheaper), which means that they can quickly field very powerful units while their opponents are still in the Castle Age.
• Confusion Fu: They have access to most standard technologies. They are lacking in Siege and miss a crucial tech for Cavalry (extra HP from Bloodlines) and a tech for Cavalry AND Infantry (extra attack from Blast Furnace). This makes them capable of a wide range of playstyles, and unpredictable to face in multiplayer.
• Greek Fire: As the inventor of Greek Fire, their Fire Ship is some of the best with its higher attack speed and extra range from the Greek Fire unique research.
• Jack of All Stats: In general, the Byzantine civilization has nearly all of the available units and upgrades, and has good buildings and economic upgrades.
• Living Relic: By the end of its lifespan, the Byzantine Empire could be regarded as such. It had essentially become a city-state, the inhabitants mostly spoke Greek, and their army was in shambles. A common Western European insult to the Byzantines was to call them the "Greek Empire" rather than their preferred name for themselves, the "Roman Empire".
• Necessary Drawback:
  • They get an HP bonus for their buildings that increase with the Age, however they also lack access to Masonry and Architecture in the defensive side, and Heated Shot in the offensive side, to make up for it, as otherwise their buildings would be quite sturdy and powerful.
  • They have a powerful cavalry UU, but they lack access to two important techs such as Bloodlines and Blast Furnace that improve their HP and attack, as that would make them quite powerful.
• Orchestral Bombing: Their Regional Riff.
• Reduced Resource Cost: Their Camel Rider, Spearmen, and Skirmisher lines are 25% cheaper, advancing to the Imperial Age is 33% cheaper, they got Town Watch and Town Patrol for free and researched instantly.
• Skill Gate Characters: The Byzantines having no clear strengths and weakness, gets a significant discount for the Imperial Age upgrade as well as having a diverse tech tree, making the Byzantines an easy to learn civilization for newer players.
• Stone Wall: They have some of the toughest buildings in the game, and they're summed up as a "Defensive Civilization" in the in-game tech tree.
• Zerg Rush: The "counter units" of the Skirmisher, Spearmen, and Camel line are 25% cheaper; these units are specifically strong against one unit type (skirmishers beat archers, spearmen beat cavalry, camels beat cavalry) but weak against others making them good for defense.

Cataphract

A cavalry unit with bonus attack attack against infantry and other cavalry units such as Camels. The Elite upgrade makes them stronger, and the Logistica unique tech of the Byzantines grants them trample damage.

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• Anti-Infantry: Cataphracts have a damage bonus against infantry and can deal trample damage once Logistica is researched, making them excellent against hordes of infantry and less vulnerable to Halberdiers compared to other cavalry.
• Artistic License – History: The original Cataphract model, with mostly plate-armored rider and horse, was actually based on the late-Medieval Western European heavy cavalrymen (e.g. French gendarmes). In the Definitive Edition, the model is now more historically accurate, with lamellar-armored horse and rider wearing fewer plates over the mail.
• Awesome, but Impractical: The line can fend off even their supposed counters, but they are hindered by their expensive upgrade costs and missing several upgrades that would make them more resilient in combat.
• Call-Back: They are one to the highest tier cavalry unit of the same name in the first game, including the cavalry line's Anti-Infantry bonus.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: Upon researching Logistica, Cataphracts can deal damage to armies around them. Combined with their bonus damage to infantry, it allows them to completely decimate infantry armies.
• Jack of All Stats: The line not only is good against infantry and resists their supposed counters, but also excel at doing things the generic cavalry usually do; raiding and decimating archers and siege (although the Cataphracts have lower than normal pierce armor when compared to a Paladin due to their anti-cavalry resistance to offset their anti-infantry strength).
• Knight in Shining Armor: The Cataphract is one of the best cavalry units in the game. After researching Logistica, they also give trample damage to other units around them, like the Persian War Elephants.
• Necessary Drawback: The No-Sell nature of Cataphracts (where they negate all anti-cavalry damage, including damage from camels) makes them relatively difficult to counter properly. This is, however, hampered by them not being able to benefit from Bloodlines.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: The line has a large innate resistance to Spearmen and Camels' Anti-Cavalry bonus^note Normal and Elite Cataphracts have respectively 14 and 16 points of armor against all sources of anti-cavalry bonus damage, meaning anything that deals less than those two amounts of anti-cav bonus damage effectively deals no bonus damage. and are effective against those two units. On the other hand, they are the weakest non-ranged, non-camel cavalry unit when it comes to pierce armor, and are very vulnerable to massed archers as a result.

Celts

Infantry Civilization.
Architecture: Western European.
Infantry move 15% faster from Feudal Age onwards.
Lumberjacks work 15% faster.
Siege weapons fire 25% faster.
Can steal sheep, and sheep within one Celt unit's LoS cannot be stolen
Team Bonus: Siege Workshops work 20% faster.
Unique Unit: Woad Raider (fast infantry).
Castle Age Unique Tech (HD/DE): Stronghold (Castles and Towers fire 33% faster. Castles heal nearby allies by 30 HP per minute (DE)).
Imperial Age Unique Tech (HD/DE): Furor Celtica (Siege Workshop units HP +40%).
Wonder: Rock of Cashel.
AI Player Names: Aedan, Aedan mac Garbrain, Aethelfrith, Ainmire, Ainmire mac Setnai, Alan IV Fergant, Ambrosius, Athelred the Unready, Brian Boru, Brude, Columba, Conall, Cunedda, Diarmait, Kenneth MacAlpin, Macbeth, Maelgwn, Robert the Bruce, Rhydderch Hael, Vortigern, William Wallace

The Celts are an offensive civilization that focuses primarily on infantry and siege weapons, but they also have decent cavalry and navy as well. While the Celts fare better than most civilizations in early games, they are the most powerful from Castle Age and onward. Thanks to a number of non-situational bonuses and units, the Celts are ideal for new players and experts alike.

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• Artistic License – History:
  • The Celtic nations weren't known for their use of heavy cavalry. The only feasible explanation for their Paladin is that the heavy cavalry are actually French knights and mercenaries, as the Scottish and the French are friendly with each other due to their mutual rivalry with the English. It also helped that their heavy cavalry aren't that great as they lack Bloodlines and Plate Barding Armor.
  • They don't have access to gunpowder units, when the Irish and Scottish actually made fairly heavy use of it once it became available. Especially since the Scottish are known for their cannons, as King James II imported cannons during the Second Scottish War of Independence and was credited to have been killed by his own cannons (which, by the way, is mentioned in the Age of Empires II History in the Gunpowder article).
• A Commander Is You:
  • Brute Force: They can brute force easily with their faster moving infantry and siege weapons, but their defensive capacity is one of the weakest, missing a couple of defensive upgrades for their buildings. Furthermore, they have an Imperial Age unique tech, Furor Celtica, that improves their Siege units' HP.
  • Unit Specialist:
    • Infantry: Their unique unit is a fast infantry unit with bonus damage against buildings, and their infantry units move +15% faster starting from Feudal Age. They also have a full European infantry roster as well as all the required infantry techs.
    • Siege: They have several bonus for their Siege Workshop units: they fire +25% faster, Furor Celtica increases their HP, and their Team Bonus makes Siege Workshops work 20% faster. And if all of this isn't enough, their unique infantry unit has bonus damage against buildings.
  • Economist: They can convert herdables as long as they're in their LOS range, regardless if an enemy saw them first. Their lumberjacks also work 15% faster.
  • Turtle: Their Unique Castle Age tech Stronghold improves the rate of fire of Castles and Towers, and makes Castles heal allies at 30 HP/s in a 7-tile radius.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Their focus on Infantry and Siege comes at the cost of a poor Archery Range and poor Stable rosters. They even lack access to the last armor upgrades for both classes, as well as access to gunpowder units in spite of them benefitting from Chemistry. They also have a poor economy, lacking the last Mill and Lumberjack upgrades.
• Everything's Louder with Bagpipes: Its Regional Riff is bagpipes.
• Fragile Speedster: Probably the closest the game has to one. Their infantry are 15% faster, their unique unit takes this up a notch, and their siege weapons fire faster. They're very much focused on offense over defense though.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation:
  • While it is true that the Celts were known for their woodwork (as well as their architecture), the Celts weren't known for their siege weaponry as they prefer open combat in open fields or Hit-and-Run Tactics in forests. In fact, many of the Celtic attempts on sieging cities have actually failed before. They don't even have Bombard Cannons, which the Scottish make use of in history.
  • The Celts were also known for their heavy use of ranged weapons in battle while in this game, they have the worst archers in their tech tree. This is likely to contrast the Britons, who completely overshadows the Celts in terms of the strength of foot archers.
  • In addition, they unusually have access to the Paladin (the final upgrade in the Knight line) whereas the Britons do not. Historically the Celtic nations were not able to deploy their own heavy cavalry that matched those of the English due to their geographic locations, and were forced to rely on infantry forces, light cavalry and guerrilla warfare, with their heavy cavalry and knights coming from France.
• Mighty Glacier: There are two halves to the Celts: their speedy Infantry, and their slow but meaty Siege weapons. Their Siege weaponry is overall the strongest in the game, and will overshadow their Infantry as the game goes on.
• Mighty Lumberjack: They're not necessarily more manly, tough, and impressive than other civilization's Lumberjacks, but they do work 20% faster.
• Necessary Drawback:
  • Their strong infantry roster is dampened by the lack of Squires.
  • Their strong Siege roster is hampered by their lack of access to Bombard Cannons.
  • The powerful Stronghold tech is dampened by the lack of access to Bombard Towers.
  • Their lumberjack speed bonus comes at the cost of them not being able to access Two-Man Saw, the last Lumber Mill upgrade.
• Skill Gate Characters: Much like Britons, the Celts are a straightforward and easy to play civilization. Their faster-working lumberjacks are really helpful during a wood-centric economy period early in the game. They are even the playable civilization of the tutorial campaign.
• Scotireland: The Celts are meant to stand in for Scotland and Ireland. They also speak Middle Irish, which was spoken by both the Irish and the early Scots (who were originally a tribe from Ireland before moving to Scotland and eventually absorbing the native Picts).

Woad Raider

Fast infantry unit with bonus attack against buildings and siege weapons (including the Trebuchet) and a fast training speed.

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• Anti-Structure: Woad Raider have attack bonus of +2 (+3 for Elite) agains building.
• Artistic License – History: Woad Raiders have more in common with the warriors who would have fought the Roman Empire than those who served the Scottish and Irish during the Medieval era, but they are only available starting in the Castle Age, which is supposed to be well after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. They are shown fighting shirtless, though many sources focusing on them in the time period the game is set say that even those didn't have armor wore a long tunic into battle. They are shown using an axe, which initially was rarely used by the Celts, who primarily used swords and short spears in melee, and when it did start to catch on it was primarily used by gallowglasses, who were armored heavy infantry, not light raiding troops. Additionally, the idea that woad was used to dye or tattoo the skin has fallen out of favour, as modern researchers have noted that it is caustic and would cause scarring if put on the skin.
• Lightning Bruiser: They're stronger and faster than their counterpart Long Swordsmen and Champions, with their only drawback being requiring a Castle to be built.
• Necessary Drawback: Apart from speed, the Woad Raiders generally cost slightly more gold and more food in compare with Militia line if Supplies is researched, but have more hit points and attack in both cases, though at the cost of 1 melee armor.
• Scotireland: Woad Raiders are based on the Picts of ancient Scotland and the Celtic wonder is the Rock of Cashel castle in Ireland.
• Shields Are Useless: Woad Raiders' wooden shields are purely cosmetic as unlike most heavy infantry, they have no base melee armor.

Chinese

Archer Civilization.
Architecture: East Asian.
Start with +3 villagers, -50 wood, -200 food.
Technologies cost -5% in Feudal Age, -10% in Castle Age, -15% Imperial Age.
Town Centers support 15 population and have +7 LOS.
Demolition ships +50% hit points.
Team Bonus: Farms +10% food
Unique Unit: Chu Ko Nu (repeat-firing archer).
Castle Age Unique Tech (HD/DE): Great Wall (Walls and towers HP +30%).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: Rocketry (Chu Ko Nu +2, scorpions +4 attack).
Wonder: Temple of Heaven.
AI Player Names: Chen Qingzhi, Li Shi-min, Li zi-cheng, Lin Chong, Mu Gui-ying, Su Dingfang, Wen Tian-xiang, Wu Xe-tian, Yang Jian, Yue Fei, Zhao Kuang-yin, Zheng He, Zhu Di, Zhu Yuan-zhang,

The Chinese are a civilization that focuses more on economy than military. As such, they have many economic bonuses, and are a "jack-of-all-trades" civilization that can specialize well in both defense and offense. Due to the civilization's unusual startup, the civilization is designed more for experienced players rather than beginners. Played properly however, the Chinese are one of the most powerful civilizations.

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• Cap Raiser: Chinese Town Centers support 15 population instead of the usual 5.
• A Commander Is You:
  • Ranger: They're an archer civilization. Their unique unit is a multi-arrow firing foot archer with an unique tech boosting their pierce attack as well as that of their Scorpions. They even have access to all the relevant Archery-based techs such as Bracer and Thumb Ring. They don't have access to the Hand Cannoneer nor Parthian Tactics for their Cavalry Archers, though.
  • Economist: They get more starting villagers at the beginning of the game at the cost of some key resources. Their Town Centers also support extra population. Their Team Bonus also makes Farms start with +10% extra food. In order to make up for the latter, though, they lack the last Mill upgrade as well as Guilds in the Market.
  • Research: They get a gradual discount for Techs starting from Feudal Age's -5% to the Imperial Age's -15%.
  • Turtle: Their Great Wall Castle Age unique tech increases the HP of walls and castles by +30%. Their Town Centers also have extended LOS. However, their Castles cannot benefit from Hoardings.
• Confusion Fu: The Chinese has a very versatile tech tree and can easily adopt to any situations. Knight and Cavalry Archer rushes are even viable tactics despite lacking important late game techs for their respective units (Parthian Tactics and Paladins). This makes the Chinese a reasonable competitive civilization pick in professional plays because their diverse tech tree and the cheaper tech costs make the Chinese incredibly unpredictable for many players despite being labeled as an archer civilization.
• Difficult, but Awesome:
  • While the Byzantines are a Jack of All Stats civilization meant to be straightforward for newer players, the Chinese have a similar functionality, but the direct opposite difficulty. The Chinese do not have their typical start up, since they start with 3 extra villagers, but no food and slightly less wood. This means during the early game, it requires good amount of micromanagement and economic decisions to make use of the extra three villagers. They are also a civilization that focuses on booming, which makes them incredibly vulnerable to early game rushes (especially Dark Age and Feudal Age rush strategies). However, under skillful hands, the player can make the best use of the extra three villagers and take advantage of their wide tech tree.
  • Discussed in this video where Spirit of the Law discussed the winrates of all civilizations. While several civilizations have consistent winrates through various ELO levels, the Chinese stands out the most with their winrates. With ELO rankings below 2000, the Chinese generally sit around mid to bottom tier (usually around 19-26th of winrates), yet they end up having the 2nd highest winrate with ELO rankings above 2000. According to various pro players, it is mainly because the Chinese have a well-rounded and diverse tech tree, and their unusual early game start rewards players with having strong micromanagement, which is something that is highly valued in higher ELO games.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation:
  • The Chinese historically are well-known for their invention of gunpowder and the heavy use of it in warfare (and even the first hand cannon and the cannon were invented in China), yet the Chinese do not have access to the Hand Cannoneer and Bombard Cannon unit outside of campaigns ^note They still have access to Cannon Galleons and Bombard Towers though. This is justified because their gameplay already excels in archery and long range sieging thanks to their unique technologies, their bonuses, and their unique unit; giving them access to gunpowder units would be overkill.
  • They also cannot research Siege Engineers, even though China was historically well-known for their siege weaponry.^note The Chinese were the first people to invent the cannon and trebuchet.
  • The Chinese like all civilization, research wheelbarrow in the Feudal age. However historically the Chinese invented the wheelbarrow almost a thousand years before Europeans did, with records of it existing all the way back in the 2nd century BC. Of course them starting with the tech would be too much of an advantage.
• The Great Wall: Referenced (and portrayed) in the Chinese scenario of the Genghis Khan's campaign. It is invoked once again in The Forgotten, where the new Chinese UT Great Wall increases their walls' HP.
• Jack of All Stats: The Chinese don't excel much either economically or militarily. They don't have clear strengths and weaknesses like other civilizations has. However, they strongly excel at long range sieging (thanks to Chu Ko Nus, various archer and siege weapon technologies, the trebuchet, and scorpions) as well as strong defenses.
• Necessary Drawback:
  • Their lethal archers cannot be accompanied by strong infantry (lack of Supplies and Gambesons), cavalry (lack of Hussar and Paladin upgrades) nor siege (lack of Siege Onager and Siege Engines upgrades).
  • Their Farm team bonus comes at the cost of them lacking the last Mill upgrade.
• Obvious Rule Patch: After Block Printing was added to the Chinese tech tree with Definitive Edition update 34699, they lost access to Redemption two months afterward, preventing their Monks from taking advantage of their newly increased range by converting siege weapons that could counter their archers.
• Reduced Resource Cost: Their techs are 5%/10%/15% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
• Stone Wall: With Great Wall unique tech researched, Chinese towers become the most bulky in the game. The wall boost is useful as well, giving them the second strongest walls in the game after the Byzantines.

Chu Ko Nu

Foot archer that fires multiple arrows in the same shot. Regular Chu Ko Nu fires three bolts at the same time, while the Elite upgrade makes them fire five. They shred Infantry, buildings and Rams.

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• Anti-Infantry: Chu Ko Nu are highly effective against infantry, included attack bonus of +2 against Spearmen line.
• Automatic Crossbows: They fire up to 5 arrows in the same shot.
• More Dakka: They fire 3, or in the case of the Elite version, 5 bolts in quick succession, though each bolt is less accurate than the last and makes their ability less pronounced on faster enemies. When you have an army of Chu Ko Nus, the number of bolt flying on the screen can actually cause the game to lag. One of the main upsides of the Chu Ko Nus is that while each bolt may do 1 damage to high pierce armor targets like Trebuchets, it is so slow that they will probably be hit by 4 or 5 arrows. Rams are particularly susceptible to the Chu Ko Nu because of them taking 3 extra damage from all sources of melee damage, and the Chu Ko Nu's bolts have a hidden melee component (albeit with zero damage), meaning that rams will take 3 damage for every bolt that hits them. The Chu Ko Nus make a great defensive unit.
• Rain of Arrows: They fire lots of arrows in the same shot, especially when in groups.

Franks

Cavalry Civilization.
Architecture: Western European.
Castles cost -15% Castle Age, -25% Imperial Age
Cavalry +20% hit points starting in Feudal Age.
Farm upgrades free (requires Mill).
Foragers work 15% faster
Team Bonus: Knights +2 line of sight.
Unique Unit: Throwing Axeman (ranged infantry).
Imperial Age (Conquerors/HD)/Castle Age (DE) Unique Tech: Bearded Axe (+1 Throwing Axemen range).
Castle Age (HD)/Imperial Age (DE) Unique Tech: Chivalry (Stables work 40% faster).
Wonder: Chartres Cathedral.
AI Player Names: Charlemagne, Charles VI, Charles Martel, Charles the Bold, Constable Richemont, Clovis I, Jean Dunois of Orleans, Joan of Arc, King Philip I, Louis IX, Louis XI, Pepin the Short, Philip II Augustus, Philip the Good (pre-Lords of the West; moved to Burgundians), Raymond, Prince of Antioch, Roland

The Franks are an offensive civilization that rely primarily on their heavy cavalry for combat. The Franks' straightforward civilization bonuses with their cavalry make them an ideal civilization to utilize the "Knight rush" strategy for newer players and veterans alike.

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• Achilles' Heel:
  • Anti-cavalry units, like spearmen and camel riders, can swiftly overwhelm their knights. While they have Throwing Axemen to counter them, their low speed compared to cavalry means that mispositioned axemen will not be able to support them.
  • The typical combo of Paladins and Throwing Axemen is hard-countered by the Teutons' increased melee armor, so in this matchup in particular the Frank player will need to use a completely different army composition, possibly Halberdiers and Hand Cannoneers to counter Teuton Paladins and Teutonic Knights along with Bombard Cannons to deal with siege.
• A Commander Is You:
  • Ranger: Their unique unit is a foot infantry unit with a ranged attack whose range is extended with their Castle Age unique tech Bearded Axe. They also have an almost full European Archery Range roster (only lacking the Arbalester upgrade).
  • Unit Specialist:
    • Infantry: Their unique unit is a ranged foot infantry unit who also benefit from an unique tech. They also get a full European Infantry roster and all the relevant Blacksmith upgrades.
    • Knight line: They have +20 HP as a civ bonus, +2 LOS as a team bonus, and their unique Imperial Age tech Chivalry makes Stables work 40% faster. They also get all the relevant upgrades sans Bloodlines.
  • Economist: Their Farm upgrades are free, and their Foragers work 15% faster.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Too much focus on their Knights come at the expense of them having an awful Archery Range (lacking access to Ring Archer Armor, Bracer, Parthian Tactics, Thumb Ring and the Arbalester upgrade), an average Stable (lacking the Hussar upgrade and Bloodlines).
• Fleur-de-lis: The Franks' civilization icon in the Definitive Edition which was used in the coat of arms of the Capets and his cadet branches.
• Foil: To the Teutons. Both civilizations have bonuses to knights, castles and farms, but each in different ways. Justified by both civilizations being descendants of Charlemagne's empire.
  • Both the Franks and Teutons have the toughest Paladins in the game, the Franks through more HP and the Teutons through more melee armor. Notably both civilizations' Paladins can survive one extra hit from a Halberdier. However the Frank Paladins are also faster, have greater line of sight, slightly more survivability against arrows and can be created faster than the Teuton Paladins, while the Teutons are more resistant to conversion and superior in melee combat to the point they can defeat even Frank Paladins.
  • The Franks castles are cheaper and have more HP with Architecture while the Teuton castles have the longest range in the game and get Murder Holes and Herbal Medicine for free. Teutons can also garrison more units in their towers and town centers and their infantry can gain the ability to fire arrows out of garrisonable structures.
  • The Franks get all of the farm upgrades for free while Teutons have cheaper farms.
  • Both civilizations also have infantry unique units that are quite different from each other. The Franks' Throwing Axeman is a unit that deals melee damage at range (which benefits from infantry bonus damage against buildings), while the Teutonic Knight is slow but very powerful and nearly unmatched in melee combat.
  • Even the player colors of their respective campaigns are foils, with Joan of Arc's blue as opposed to Barbarossa's red.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: The Franks are incapable of upgrading their archers to the Arbalesters, even though the Arbalest is derivative from medieval French. This is justified as Franks are not an Archer-focused civilization.
• Gratuitous French: Though, like Britons, their monks speak Latin instead.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Their Paladins are the strongest in the game, but that doesn't prevent their counter units such as Halberdiers or Teutonic Knights from beating them.
• Necessary Drawback:
  • All their Farm upgrades are free, but they require the construction of a Mill first.
  • Their focus on the Knight Line means the Scout Cavalry line lacks the Hussar upgrade. Plus, all the bonus they get and them benefitting from all Blacksmith techs come at the expense of them not being able to access Bloodlines.
  • Them having cheaper Castles come at the expense of them not being able to access the Keep upgrade, Bombard Tower, Heated Shot (no extra bonus vs. ships) and Treadmill Crane (no reduced building speed). They also lack Stone Shaft Mining and Guilds on the economy side, making massing castles quite hard as a result.
• Reduced Resource Cost: Their Mill upgrades are free, their castles are 15%/25% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.
• Skill Gate Characters: The Franks possess a rather simple tech tree as well as strong heavy cavalry which a typical unit every player, new or veteran, learns to use well. They also one of the earliest civilizations new players usually play with (campaign-wise).
• Stone Wall: More accurately, Stone Castle Wall. The Franks have cheaper Castles than any other civilizations, so expect to see lots of them in a French town.

Throwing Axeman

Infantry unit that attacks throwing axes. They shred through Anti-Cavalry units, which is a godsend for the Frank Paladins. However they have an attack delay.

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• Anachronism Stew: The Throwing Axemen stopped appearing around the time of Saladin, Barbarossa, and Joan of Arc. In fact historically Throwing Axemen should be at the start of their tech tree and vanish as they age up.
• Anti-Structure: Throwing Axeman have attack bonus of +1 (+2 for Elite) agains building.
• Easy Logistics: They have an unlimited supply of axe to throw at enemies.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Throwing Axemen is primarily the Franks's ranged unit, due to lacking Bracer and the Arbalester upgrade. They are really useful at killing anti-cavalry units, like spearmen and camel riders, whose one job is killing heavy cavalry and will be sent out when the Franks use their buffed Paladins. In addition, they are also good against siege units as their damage is reduced by normal armor instead of pierce armor which many siege units boast.

Goths

Infantry Civilization.
Architecture: Central European.
Infantry cost -20% Dark, -25% Feudal, -30% Castle, -35% Imperial Age.
Infantry +1 attack per age vs. buildings starting in the Feudal Age.
Villagers +5 attack vs. wild boar; hunters carry +15 meat.
Hunt lasts 20% longer.
Loom can be researched instantly
+10 population in Imperial Age.
Team bonus: Barracks work 20% faster.
Unique Unit: Huskarl (anti-archer infantry).
Castle Age Unique Tech: Anarchy (Huskarls can be trained at Barracks).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: Perfusion (Barracks work 100% faster).
Wonder: Mausoleum of Theodoric.
AI Player Names: Athaulf, Athanaric or Atanaric, Alaric II, Alaric the Visigoth, Ermanaric the Amal, Fritigern, General Theodermir, King Euric the Visigoth, King Leovigild, King Wallia, Radagaisus, Teias the Goth, Theodoric the Goth, Totila the Ostrogoth, Sarus the Goth

The Goths are an offensive civilization with the ability to rapidly produce infantry at reduced price in the late game. They have somewhat respectable archers, cavalry, siege and navy as well, despite their absolutely terrible defense.

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• Artistic License – Linguistics: In the game, the Goths speak Old High German, not their own Gothic language.
• Barbarian Tribe: For most scenario creators, the "go to" civilization when you want to feature European 'barbarians' that aren't Vikings or Huns.
• Cap Raiser: The Goths have +10 population space in the Imperial Age. Note that this allows them to go over the standard unit Cap.
• A Commander Is You:
  • SPAMMER: In addition to them being able to access Conscription, they have two techs that allows the creation of their unique unit at the Barracks, and another that doubles up the working speed of Barracks. They also get a progressive cost bonus that goes from -20% in the Dark Age to -35% in the Imperial Age with a Team Bonus making said Barracks work another 20% faster. As a result, you're able to output tons of cheap and fast Infantry units and Huskarls at lightning speed and at a quite cheap cost.
  • Brute Force: In addition to the creation time and cost benefits, which allow them to spam tons of infantry, their unique unit has an innate resistance to archer fire and bonus attacks vs. buildings, and all their infantry have a progressive attack bonus vs. buildings as well.
  • Economist: Their Hunters have extra attack vs. herdable and wild animals, their hunts last +20% longer and they carry +15 food. In addition, they get the benefits of Loom instantly.
• Crippling Overspecialization:
  • Despite their strong offense, Goths don't have a lot in the way of defense. They lack Stone Walls, for one, being limited to only Palisades, as well as not having anything above Watch Towers other than Castles, making them susceptible to being pressured before they can hit their stride. Their Castles cannot benefit from Hoardings as well. And finally, their available towers cannot benefit from Arrowslits nor Treadmill Crane.
  • Their focus on Infantry means they lack almost all final upgrades for their Archers (Arbalester upgrade, Thumb Ring, Parthian Tactics), Cavalry (Paladin upgrade, Plate Barding Armor) and Siege units (Siege Ram, Siege Onager, Siege Engines).
• Difficult, but Awesome: The Goths are considered a civilization that is "easy to play, yet easy to screw up at the same time". The Goth's tech tree, civilization bonuses, unique units, and unique techs have some reasonable synergy with each other which much like the Britons and Celts, the Goths can easily be picked up for newer players. Unlike the Britons and the Celts, the Goths do not have any significant early game economic bonuses. Not only that, they are one of the two civilizations that cannot upgrade Watch Towers or build Stone Walls (alongside the Cumans), making their early game incredibly weak. This makes the Goths incredibly punishing for newer players for early game mistakes. However, under skillful hands, the Goths have the tools to survive early game and then steamroll the enemy lategame.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation:
  • Historians have described the Goths as more of a cavalry civilization with strong Horse Archers and were the only barbarian tribe to have laid waste and besieged Rome, yet they are portrayed as an infantry civilization with a strong frontline but a weak archery and siege line.
  • The Goths have access to Hand Cannoneers and Bombard Cannons despite both Visigoths and Ostrogoths being long extinct by the time these weapons were invented. Some players joke about how a barbarian tribe is more technologically superior than the Chinese, who do not have access to such units despite inventing them in real life. It is worth mentioning, though, that the descendants of the Visigoths (the Spanish and the Portuguese) and Ostrogoths (the Italians through the Lombards) are heavy users of gunpowder.
• Glass Cannon: The playstyle for the Goths involve a Zerg Rush into your opponent with swarms of infantry units (and especially Huskarl). In terms of defensive gameplay, however, they end up being vulnerable to early aggression since they lack stone walls or strong defensive buildings. This extends to their infantry units, which notably lack the final armor upgrade making them more vulnerable to counterplay.
• Gratuitous German: Makes sense for the actual German civ, the Teutons, but the Goths use the same exact voice clips as them. Gothic was more similar to Old Norse than Old German so using the Viking voice clips may have been more accurate.
• Irony: The Wonder for the Goths is the Mausoleum of Theodoric, built to be the final resting place of the greatest king of the Goths, Theodoric the Great. Quite melancholic, given how the Goth kingdoms in modern day Italy and Spain were conquered and destroyed by the Byzantines and the Umayyads and only small holdouts in Crimea persisted for a couple more centuries until they too declined - a sad end for a civilization who played a major role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the foundation of Europe as we know it today.
• Living Distant Ancestor: In multiplayer matches, the Goths can potential fight the Spanish, Italians, and Portuguese, who descended from Gothic kingdoms.
• Magikarp Power: Do not let a Goth player take a heavy lead. Because if the Goth player does, the player will spam a shitton of cheap infantry units and swarm into your base (especially Huskarls who can even shrug off arrows from castles and towers).
• Necessary Drawback: Due to their ability to create a large army of infantry in a short amount of time, the Goths miss out on Plate Mail Armor and Gambesons, which makes their infantry weaker on an individual basis. They also lack Supplies and Arson, as they already have lots of bonuses that cheapen the cost of their Infantry lines as well as their attack vs. buildings.
• Noble Bird of Prey: The Goths' civilization icon is based on Visigothic eagle-shaped fibulae.
• The Non Descript: Perhaps due to their constant migration throughout history, the Goths are often used in campaigns for any European culture that lacks its own civilization or isn't big on chivalry and fortifications (excluding the Vikings and the Huns). They fill in for the Saxons in the Hastings and York^note Specifically Wessex scenarios and for eastern European states like Poland and Russia in the original Barbarossa and Genghis Khan campaigns prior to them being Promoted to Playable. They are also placeholders for the Lombards in the Bari campaign, despite the existence of the Italians civilization (which, being representative of northern Italy, included the Lombards).
• Reduced Resource Cost: Their infantry are 20%/25%/30%/35% cheaper in the Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
• Zerg Rush: Lacking the powerful Paladin and the ranged Arbalester, their Infantry don't even get the final armor upgrade. Instead, their Infantry are 35% (the technology tree says 25%, though) cheaper than everybody else's and their Barracks churn out those Infantry 20% faster. Later on in the game, they are the only civilization who can create their unique unit from the cheap Barracks as opposed to the costly Castle and they can churn out infantry 100% (again, the tech tree claims it to be 50%) faster!
  Visigoth Soldier: "Our warriors are eager! We will overwhelm our enemies with numbers."

Huskarl

Infantry unit with archery resistance that's implacable against buildings and quite cheap and quick to produce.

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• Annoying Arrows: They have high pierce armor for organic units, which means that arrows from an archer or a tower only do 1 damage to them. With full upgrades, it takes as many arrows as each hit point a Huskarl has to kill them.
• Anti-Structure: They have bonus damage against buildings, and with their protection against arrows they can with stand return fire from towers and fortresses.
• Crippling Overspecialization: They're geared to resist Pierce damage at the expense of melee armor, making them great when pressuring archers, but piss-poor when up against units that deal high damage up close, or those dedicated to counter massed infantry like Hand Cannoneers. It's a good thing that they can be easily massed and have obscene strength in numbers, however.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: They were more related to the Vikings rather than the Goths.
• Glass Cannon: While they're strong against archers since they can shrug off arrows, they will definitely loose out in a 1v1 fight against most melee units due to their low melee armor, especially against units that deal bonus damage against other infantry units (Jaguar Warriors), unique units (Samurai), or high melee armor (Teutonic Knights).
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: They carry a large round shield that gives them respectable pierce armor for an infantry units.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: Normally, melee infantry are vulnerable to hand cannoneers or archers. Huskarls completely reverse this with their higher than normal movement speed, high pierce armor, and bonus damage against archers.

Japanese

Infantry Civilization.
Architecture: East Asian.
Fishing ships 2x hitpoints; +2P armor; work rate +5% Dark, +10% Feudal, +15% Castle, +20% Imperial Age.
Mill, Lumber/Mining Camps cost -50%
Infantry attack 33% faster starting in Feudal Age.
Cavalry Archers +2 attack vs. Archers, except Skirmishers (DE).
Team Bonus: Galleys +50% line of sight.
Unique Unit: Samurai (infantry with bonus attack against other UUs).
Castle Age Unique Tech (HD/DE): Yasama (Towers shoot extra arrows).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: Kataparuto (Trebuchets pack/unpack 4x faster, fire rate +33%).
Wonder: Todai-ji.
AI Player Names: Ashikaga Takauji, Date Masamune, Fujiwarano Michinaga, Gamou Ujisato, Hojou Soun, Hosokawa Katsumoto, Imagawa Yoshimoto, Kusonoki Masashige, Minomotono Yoritomo, Minamotono Yoshitsune, Mouri Motonari, Nitta Yoshisada, Oda Nobunaga, Saito Dousan, Sanada Yukimura, Tairano Kiyomori, Takeda Shingen, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Uesugi Kenshin

The Japanese are primarily an offensive civilization geared towards infantry. The Japanese work well on land maps but fare much better on maps with large bodies of water since it is the only type of map where their bonus on Fishing Ships can be used effectively.

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• A Commander Is You:
  • Generalist/Balanced: They have bonuses for all non-Cavalry unit lines as well as a full European Barracks and Archery Range roster. Even their Siege gets bonuses in spite of them lacking the final upgrades for the Mangonels and Rams.
  • Brute Force: They tend to have a strong economy and use cheaper foot units such as their Archers or their faster attacking Infantry. Like the Britons, they lack variety in siege weapons and have weak cavalry so their unit roster is limited, though their ship fleet is significantly better.
  • Economist: Their Fishing Ships have double HP, +2 pierce armor, and work 5%/10%/15%/20% faster in the Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age. Their Mills, Lumber Camps and Mining Camps are 50% cheaper. In order to make up for this, they lack Crop Rotation, Stone Shaft Mining and Guilds.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Their strong economy and infantry comes at the cost of a poor Stable (having access to only Light Cavalry and Cavalier, and lacking Plate Barding Armor), a sub-par Siege (despite the existence of Kataparuto, they lack access to the Siege Ram, Heavy Onager, Bombard Cannon and Heavy Demo Ship), high vulnerability to conversion due to them lacking Heresy, and very poor defenses (lacking the Bombard Tower, Architecture and Heated Shot in spite of them having a tech that makes them fire more arrows).
• Glass Cannon: Prior to The Forgotten expansion thanks to the lack of Bloodlines, they have to rely on their frail infantry, archers and Trebuchets.
• Gratuitous English: Their unique technology, which makes Trebuchets fire faster, is called Kataparuto, which is simply 'catapult' spelt out in Katakana.
• Horse Archer: The Japanese are lacking in cavalry units but a unique combination of technologies makes their Cavalry Archers able to compete with Hunnic and Persian horse archers man to man. The Samurai spent a period of time as horse archers who engaged in ritual duels. Prior to The Forgotten expansion, the Japanese were known to be the only civilization that have access to Parthian Tactics (making their Cavalry Archers more durable and more effective against pikemen), but lacked Bloodlines (a tech that gives cavalry units +20 HP, including Cavalry Archers). This apparently lead to a buff in The Forgotten expansion where they were given the Bloodlines tech, as the samurai were known to have one of the most powerful cavalry that rivals even the Mongols. The Mountain Royals gives their Cavalry Archers a +2 attack bonus against archer armor units, which includes even Skirmishers.
• Jack of All Trades: After the buff with the Japanese getting access to Bloodlines in The Forgotten expansion, they fit more into this. Their infantry attack faster, they have access to all Archery Range units and their upgrades, they have all Dock upgrades save for Heavy Demolition Ship, Kataparuto makes their Trebuchets more efficient, and the combination of Yasama and Arrowslits makes their towers more dangerous to fight against.
• Katanas Are Just Better: And Naginata, too. Although the Samurai is the only unit that actually wields a katana, all Japanese infantry attack 33% faster, allowing them to beat rival infantry of any other civilisation (including Aztecs with the feared +4 Attack), and their Halberdiers slaughter enemy cavalry more effectively if they get close.
• Out of Focus: They only appear in single scenarios in Conquerors, The Forgotten, and Victors and Vanquished. Justified, since Japan was pretty isolationist.
• Reduced Resource Cost: Their Mills, Lumber Camps, and Mining Camps are 50% cheaper.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman:
  • How much use the Samurai get depends entirely on the enemy's unique unit, with a more useful one meaning the Samurai will get used to counter it. Otherwise, Champions are more cost effective.
  • While they are a decent fighting on land, their faster fishing bonus relies on water maps to be effective.
• You Are the Translated Foreign Word:
  • Their Castle Age unique technology, Yasama, which makes towers fire extra arrows, is the name given to arrowslits in Japanese castles. Incidentally, Arrowslits is the name of a separate technology introduced in The African Kingdoms. Unlike medieval castle arrow slits, which were slim holes in the wall and offered little flexibility in the type of projectile weapons that could be used to defend the castle, Yasama slits were known to be more flexible in design.
  • Their Imperial Age unique technology, Kataparuto, which makes trebuchets assemble and disassemble faster, is just the Japanese word for Catapult.

Samurai

Infantry unit that attacks fast and counters other unique units with their high attack bonus.

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• Anti-Structure: Samurai have attack bonus of +2 (+3 for Elite) agains building.
• Everything's Better with Samurai: Almost literally, Samurai get attack bonuses against all other unique units.
• Weapon of X-Slaying: Samurai are almost average infantry units (one samurai can beat one champion, but barely) but their bonus against UUs means that they can kill any of them in a one-on-one fight, excluding Teutonic Knights, War Elephants and Cataphracts. The former two are too strong for the Samurai even with the bonus, and the latter's bonus damage against infantry counters the Samurai's.

Mongols

Cavalry Archer Civilization
Architecture: East Asian.
Cavalry archers fire 25% faster.
Light Cavalry, Hussars, Steppe Lancers +30% hit points.
Hunters work 40% faster.
Team Bonus: Scout Cavalry, Light Cavalry, Hussar +2 line of sight.
Unique Unit: Mangudai (anti-siege weapons cavalry archer).
Castle Age Unique Tech (HD/DE): Nomads (lost houses do not decrease population headroom).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: Drill (Siege Workshop units move +50% faster).
Wonder: Great Tent of the Golden Horde.
AI Player Names: Batu Khan, Chagatai Khan, Chepe, Genghis Khan, Guyuk Khan, Hulegu Khan, Jochi, Kabul, Khabul Khan, Khubilai Khan, Kitboga, Kitbuqa Noyan, Kushluk, Mongke Khan, Nogai Khan, Ogedei Khan, Subotai, Subotai Ba'atur, Tamerlane (pre-DE, moved to Tatars), Tokhtamyash Khan, Toktamish Khan, Uzbeg (pre-DE, moved to Tatars)

The Mongols are an offensive civilization that focuses on its ranged units and emphasizes guerilla tactics. They have many bonuses that allow them to move fast and hit very hard when used effectively.

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• Artistic License – History: The Mongols in the various campaigns were depicted as building Japanese-esque castles even as far as Eastern Europe and West Asia.
• Boring, but Practical: The Mongol's team bonus of increased line of sight of scout cavalry sounds boring, but it is a godsend for Dark Age scouting. Not only does the team bonus allows Mongol players to easily find their sheep for their early game economy, but also help discover the opponent's town center early, which leads to an early Feudal Age rush. Meanwhile, the opponent may lag behind in their economy because their scout may not easily find their sheeps or accidentally overlook them. In team games, this is even better because it affects their allies' scout cavalry to aid their scouting, though sadly, it doesn't affect Eagle Scouts and Camel Scouts, since they are not scout cavalry.
• Born in the Saddle: Mongolian culture practically revolves around the horse in real life and it led to their military success in history. A cutscene proudly proclaims that a Mongol at war would even sleep in the saddle. In-game, their light cavalry have 33% more Hit Points. Unlike the Huns or the Turks, they still have a lot of strong foot units (they have the Arbalest upgrade that the Huns and Turks don't) but their foot archers in particular miss a key armor technology making them a tad bit weaker than, say, a Saracen or Mayan foot archer.
• A Commander Is You:
  • Ranger: They have the best horse archers in the game, and their Mangudai excels at Hit-and-Run Tactics. In addition, they fire 25% faster and has access to Parthian Tactics. Lastly, their Hussars and Steppe Lancers have +30 HP, and the Scout Cavalry line has +2 LOS. Their Siege Workshop units also move 50% faster, in addition to having access to most upgrades (except the Bombard Cannon).
  • Technical: Their cavalry units aren't the best defensive wise, as their cavalry units lack the Paladin upgrade and the last Blacksmith armor upgrade. They make up for this with their strong hit-and-run tactics with their cavalry archers and their siege weapons, which require a lot of micromanagement skill from the player.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Their Cavalry/Siege focus comes at the cost of them having a sub-par Infantry (lacking Supplies, Gambesons and the Halberdier upgrade). They're also lacking on the gunpowder side, only having access to the Cannon Galleon (but not their Elite upgrade). Their Archers lack the final Archery armor upgrade. In the Naval side, they also lack Dry Dock. They also have a sub-par Monastery, lacking half the tech roster (Redemption, Illumination, Block Printing, Theocracy and Sanctity). Lastly, on the defensive side, they lack the Keep upgrade, Architecture, Heated Shot, Arrowslits and Treadmill Crane.
• Difficult, but Awesome: The Mongols' playstyle involves Hit-and-Run Tactics using Mangudai and Siege Onagers. This involves a lot of micromanagement with the said units, especially in multiplayer games where lag is a huge issue.
• Fragile Speedster: Mangudai are pretty fast, all their cavalry get the speed benefits of Husbandry, and their unique tech Drills drastically speeds up every siege engine made in the Siege Workshop. Resulting in Mangonels, Rams and Scorpions moving faster than infantry. On the other hand, the Mongols lack the important Imperial Age armor upgrade for their melee cavalry and archer units, but they make up for it with more HP for their Hussars, faster firing cavalry archers and them having Parthian Tactics.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: The Mongols were known to use gunpowder in their expansion campaigns (mostly as a result of conquering China and forcefully conscripting Chinese siege engineers), but they do not have access to such units. The civilization is probably meant to stand for the Mongols before the conquest of China, with the Tatars and Chinese taking over later "Mongol" dynasties like the Timurids and the Yuan. Though the Mongols were historically known for their siege capabilities, their unique tech Drill refers to the superior drill of their cavalry, which was also historically accurate. Essentially, the technology has a mismatch between the historical background and the in game bonus.
• Hit-and-Run Tactics: The Mongols' gameplay is built around this, as the player needs to micromanage their cavalry archers and Mangudai to wither down their opponents. They can even do this kind of tactics with Siege Onagers, a unit that is traditionally really slow.
• Horse Archer: Their Cavalry Archers fire 20% faster.
• Necessary Drawback: For all the benefits their Stable units get, they lack access to the Paladin upgrade and the last Blacksmith armor upgrade.

Mangudai

Fast Horse Archers with bonus damage against buildings and siege weapons.

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• Anti-Vehicle: Mangudai deal bonus damage against siege engines and can effectively counter Battering Rams.
• Born in the Saddle: Cavalry Archers on steroids.
• Fragile Speedster: They are pretty fast, but lack the last archer armor upgrades, making them quite frail.
• Hit-and-Run Tactics: They need quite a bit of micromanagement, but are quite deadly on the right hands. Them getting access to Thumb Ring and Ballistics for added accuracy also helps.
• Horse Archer: They are among the strongest, faster moving and attacking than most units.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: Mangudai arrows are deadly against siege weapons, their only cost-effective counter.

Persians

Cavalry Civilization.
Architecture: Middle Eastern.
Start with +50 wood, food.
Town Center, Dock 2x hit points; work rate +5% Dark (DE), +10% Feudal, +15 Castle, +20% Imperial Age.
Parthian Tactics available in Castle Age (DE).
Team Bonus: Knights +2 attack vs. Archers.
Unique Unit: War Elephant (powerful but slow cavalry), Savar (DE only, unique Paladin with bonus damage against archers).
Unique Building (DE): Caravanserai (Imperial Age economic building that heals and speeds up nearby Trade Carts, shared with Hindustanis).
Castle Age Unique Tech (HD): Boiling Oil (Castles +9 bonus damage against rams).
Castle Age Unique Tech (DE): Kamandaran (Archer-line gold cost is replaced by additional wood cost).
Imperial Age Unique Tech (HD): Mahouts (War Elephants +30% faster).
Imperial Age Unique Tech (DE): Citadels (Castles fire bullets [+4 attack, +3 vs, Rams and Infantry], receive -25% bonus damage).
Wonder: Khosrau's Palace.
AI Player Names: Ala ad-Din Muhammed II, Emp. Hormizd, Emp. Kavadh, Emp. Yaxdgerd, Ismail Samni, Khosrau Anushirvan, King Bahram, King Chosroes II, Malik Nasir, Mahmud Ghaznavi (pre-Dynasties of India, moved to Hindustanis), Mohammad Shah, Mondhir, Muhammad Ghori (pre-Dynasties of India, moved to Hindustanis), Shahanshah Hormizd, Shah Rukh, Shah Takash, Shapur the Great, Yakub or Yaqub al-Saffar

The Persians are an economy and cavalry oriented civilization.

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• Achilles' Heel: The Persians lack Heresy, this combined with their dependence on expensive units such as Savars and War Elephants makes them perfectly countered by civilizations with good monks (i.e. Aztecs and Spanish).
• Ancient Persia: The in-game Persian civilisation combines elements from everything from Sasanian to Safavid Iran, which are separated by nearly 900 years:
  • The History section states their lifespan as 220 to 651 (roughly corresponding to that of the Sasanian dynasty's) and only describes Iran until the Islamic conquest. Their two unique units are the Savar (based on the Aswaran, the Sasanian Empire's cavalry corps) and the War Elephant (which fell out of fashion in Iran after the Muslim conquest). The Bukhara scenario, where you play as the Persians (and specifically Khosrau II), is the earliest Historical Battle in the game and one of the earliest campaign scenarios, taking place in 557. Finally, their Wonder is the Taq Kasra Palace.
  • On the other hand, the Persians share the Middle Eastern architecture with the Berbers, Saracens and Turks, whose Monastery is clearly a mosque. Their Imperial Age unique technology is Citadels, equips their Castles with firearms, which were only invented long after the Islamic conquest. The Persian campaign features Shah Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty, as its protagonist and takes place from 1500 to 1514, chronologically one of the last campaigns in the game (second only to Montezuma and Bayinnaung).
• Born in the Saddle: The Persians are this trope made civilization. They have access to all non-regional cavalry units and techs (which means they don't get Battle Elephants, Steppe Lancers or Armored Elephants), and their own UU is the only elephant in the original base game^note Rise of the Rajas added the Khmer Ballista Elephant, Definitive Edition added the Tatar Flaming Camel, and Dynasties of India added the Armored/Siege Elephant for the Indian civilizations.
• A Commander Is You: Elitist Faction for sure. They do not have access to many strong, cheap units like the Arbalest, the Champion, or even the Two-Handed Swordsmen. They rely almost entirely on expensive units such as gunpowder units, Savars and War Elephants. They do have a good ship fleet, though.
• Discard and Draw: Kamandaran, their Castle Age unique tech in Definitive Edition, exchanges the gold cost of their Archer line for a slightly higher wood cost. This turns Persian Crossbowmen into a trash unit that can still be massed once gold runs out.
• Not the Intended Use: The Persians have a bonus on their Town Centers where they have double the extra HP and work faster. While the extra HP for their Town Center was meant to discourage any early game rushing, some crafty competitive players used the Town Center work rate and the extra HP of their Town Centers to preform a "Persian douche" strategy. This involves deleting your own Town Center in the Dark Age, getting a bunch of Villagers, and rebuilding your own Town Center next to your opponent's Town Center. Under the right conditions, this can be very devastating to your opponent.
• Roc Birds: The Persian civilization's icon is based on a real 7th-8th century Sassanid silver plate depicting the Simurgh, a fantastic creature from Persian mythology with the wings of a bird, the head of a dog, and the claws of a lion.
• Stone Wall: Persians can fully upgrade the armor and HP of their buildings, having both access to Hoardings and Architecture, and it is very worth noting that Persian Town Centers and Docks have a massive double HP. They do lack Fortified Wall and Keep as upgrades, and also they're missing on Bombard Towers, and the absence of Bracer and Siege Engineers haunts Persians again in the aspect of their defensive options. Their Citadels unique technology also reduces the bonus damage their Castles take, allowing them to withstand more attacks from Trebuchets and cannons, while also increasing their attack.

War Elephant

A sturdy unmounted elephant who attacks enemy units, with bonus damage against buildings, and which causes trample damage. Highly vulnerable to conversion.

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• Achilles' Heel: Their high vulnerability to conversion makes them an easy target of Monks.
• Anti-Structure: War Elephant have a hefty attack bonus of +30 against buildings and Stone defense.
• Artistic License – History: Although the Persian War Elephants were stated to be imports from India, the War Elephants in-game appear to have large tusks and ears, which are traits belonging to African elephants.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: They deal trample damage, making them very effective against infantry and archers.
• Mighty Glacier: They are the biggest example in the game with even the Teutonic Knight being a wimp compared to it in terms of health, resisting high damage and damaging units adjacent to whatever they're attacking. Outside of units they're specially weak to, there's no cost effective way of beating them and in equal numbers they will win regardless.
• Uniqueness Decay: When first introduced in The Age of Kings, the War Elephant was the only elephant unit in the game. Over time, other civilizations have gotten elephant units as well, but Persian War Elephants still stand out for their large size and high stats.
• War Elephants: The Persian unique unit is the War Elephant.
• Weaksauce Weakness: War Elephants are very easily converted by Monks. And then used against the Persian player!

Saracens

Camel and Naval Civilization.
Architecture: Middle Eastern.
Market trade cost only 5%.
Markets cost -100 wood.
Transport Ships 2x hit points, 2x carry capacity.
Galleys attack 25% faster.
Cavalry Archers +3 vs. buildings (HD).
Camels +10 HP (HD).
Camels +25% HP (DE).
Team Bonus: Foot archers +2 attack vs. buildings.
Unique Unit: Mameluke (ranged camel dealing melee damage).
Castle Age Unique Tech (HD): Zealotry (Camel units +20 hit points).
Castle Age Unique Tech (DE): Bimaristan (Monks automatically heal multiple nearby units).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: Counterweights (Trebuchets and Magonel-line +15% attack).
Wonder: Great Mosque of Samarra.
AI Player Names: Al-Mu'tasim, Atabeg Zangi, Baibars, Caliph Abu Bekr, Caliph al-Muizz, Caliph Muawiyah I, Caliph Yazid, General Khalid, General Shirkuh, Kala'un, Kerboga, Imad ad-Din Zengi, Khalid ibn al-Walid, Nur-ed-din, Saladin

The Saracens are an aggressive civilization with a particularly devastating early-mid and late game that is highlighted by their strong camel units, unique Archer flush, and Market bonus.

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• Anti-Cavalry: Saracens have bulky Camel Riders and Mamelukes that counter cavalry.
• Clown Car: Their Transport Ships can carry 2X more units.
• A Commander Is You: The Saracens seem to fall under the Elitist Faction, the Ranger Faction and the Technical Faction as their strongest and most important units tend to be gold-intensive, appear late-game and ranged. Arbalests, Cavalry Archers, Hand Cannoneers, Mamelukes, Siege Onagers, Bombard Cannons, Monks, Trebuchets, and even Galleons. In the 6th and final Barbarossa scenario, Saladin makes good use of this fact with an army of exclusively ranged units with only a couple of Heavy Camels to start the scenario. This is quite excruciating because the player uses the Teutons who are the slow and methodical civilization.
• Confusion Fu: Despite being labelled as the Camel civilization they have a wide tech tree thus capable of a wide range of playstyles, like the Byzantines. Unlike the Byzantines however they also have complete Blacksmith upgrades, giving them more edge on the offensive side.
• Horse Archer: The Saracen Horse Archers specifically do more damage to buildings, and the are the only civilization to get every technology to upgrade them along with the Turks.
• Magikarp Power: Due to lacking long-term economic bonuses, they are very difficult to start with, but once they reach Imperial Age the Saracens can kill anything at sight with their strong camels and various advanced ranged units. This is obvious in the second Saladin scenario, where the player starts in Feudal Age with little resources, restricted to the Castle Age and many soon-to-be Imperial Age foes trying to kill the player.
• Reduced Resource Cost: Their Market trade cost only 5% while the Markets itself cost only 75 wood instead of it's usual cost of 175.

Mameluke

An unit that attacks other units by throwing scimitars while mounted on camels.

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• Anti-Cavalry: Like other camels, they're strong against non-camel cavalry units.
• Artistic License – History: In-game, Mameluke rides a camel, which are historically incorrect, as real life mamelukes rode horses.
• Easy Logistics: They have an unlimited supply of scimitars to throw at enemies.
• Faceless Goons: Mamelukes wear black turbans that cover their face completely.
• Horse Archer: Of a sort. They play like a short-ranged Horse Archer but throwing swords rather than arrows, doing melee damage instead of ranged damage, and since Dynasties of India isn't even classified as an archer.
• Misplaced Wildlife: Mameluke's mount is the wrong species; Arab camel-riders rode the one-humped dromedaries, not the two-humped Bactrians, which were sometimes ridden by Timurid Tatars. This historical inaccuracy was likely done intentionally to make it easier to distinguish Mamelukes from generic Camel Riders.
• Sinister Scimitar: Their weapons.
• Slave Mooks: Muslim leaders had to get around the soft ban on Muslims fighting each other; slave mooks known as Mamelukes were the answer. Slaves usually came from Turkic sources, which meant the Mamelukes were probably a precursor to the Jannisaries. Eventually the Mamelukes took control from their owners and founded their own empires in India, Egypt, and Central Asia. In fact the first nation to call itself "Turkey" was the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Mamelukes have an unlimited supply of scimitars to throw at enemies, boasting good accuracy and damage.

Teutons

Infantry Civilization.
Architecture: Central European.
Monks healing range 2x.
Towers garrison 2x units.
Murder Holes, Herbal Medicine free.
Farms cost -40%.
Town Center garrison +10.
Barracks and Stable units +1 armor in Castle and +1 more in Imperial Age.
Team Bonus: Units resist conversion.
Unique Unit: Teutonic Knight (powerful but slow infantry).
Castle Age Unique Tech (HD/DE)): Ironclad (Siege weapon +4 melee armor).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: Crenellations (+3 range Castles, garrisoned infantry fires arrows).
Wonder: Maria Laach Abbey.
AI Player Names: Albert the Bear, Conrad the Salian, Emp. Leopold I, Emp. Lothair, Frederick Barbarossa, Frederick II, Henry III, Henry the Lion, King Heinrich, King Karl, King Rupert, Wing Wenceslas, Lothair II, Maximilian II, Maximilian of Hapsburg, Otto the Great, Rudolph of Swabia

The Teutons are characterized by their slow but powerful army, as they have access to the final upgrades of units but lack speed upgrades. They are well-rounded with potent offensive and defensive capabilities on land.

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• A Commander Is You: THE Brute faction. Despite being slow as molasses, their Teutonic Knights do tons of damage. They also have excellent defense bonuses, cheaper farms of an Economist, units that are resistant to conversion, and their monks have doubled healing range. Due to their reliance on expensive late-game units they also count as the Elitist faction.
• Expy: The Teutons' playstyle focuses around slow but armored units with high resistance against conversion, which closely resembles the Macedonians from Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome which play similarly.
• Foil: To the Franks. See their entry for details.
• Germanic Efficiency: Definitely invoked when one looks at their castles. Not fast nor cheap, but definitely worth to invest in.
• Guide Dang It!: The in-game description of Crenellations is a bit unclear as to how it actually works. It doesn't allow Teuton Castles to gain arrows from garrisoned infantry, but rather allows Teuton infantry to add arrows to garrisonable structures. The distinction is that the infantry can add arrows to any structure that can fire arrows, including towers and allied structures (including other civilizations' unique structures like the Sicilian Donjon and Bulgarian Krepost). Conversely, allied infantry will not add arrows to Teuton castles even after Crenellations is researched. It also doesn't play by the normal rules for converted units; converted infantry units will gain the benefit of Crenellations while units converted by the enemy will lose it.
• Mighty Glacier: A good way to characterize the Teutons' offense. Slow Teutonic Knights and siege weapons, along with encroaching fortifications. They are also one of the few civs to lack the movement speed upgrade for their mounted units. Since the April 2020 update of Definitive Edition, the Teutons received a melee armor boost for their Barracks (+1 total in March) and Stable units, which means that while their Paladins are the slowest, they can defeat Frank Paladins head-to-head.
• More Dakka: If garrisoned with Hand Cannoneers, their Bombard Towers can fire two (three if Janissary) cannonballs instead of the usual one.
• Noble Bird of Prey: The Teutons' civilization icon is based on the Reichsadler, heraldic eagle of Henry VII and Louis IV in the 12th century.
• Quality over Quantity: The main playstyle of the Teutons, their tech tree does not have access to cheap, cost efficient units such as the Arbalest, and their trash unit line is considered below average (they are the only non-Mesoamerican civilization to not have access to the Light Cavalry upgrade and their Elite Skirmishers are missing Thumb Ring and the last Imperial Age attack upgrade, with fully upgradable Halberdiers as their only trash unit). However, they make up for it by utilizing gold efficient and expensive units such as their siege weapons, Hand Cannoneers, Paladins, and Teutonic Knights. Their strong and durable Teutonic Knights, combined with gold efficient units, makes them a formidable against civilizations that utilize Zerg Rush strategy (such as the Goths). Teutons are also encouraged to preserve and heal their expensive units with free Herbal Medicine and double healing range for Monks, and once Crenellations is researched Teutonic Knights and Barracks units can even fire arrows out of garrisonable structures while healing inside them. Lastly the Teutons' extra resistance against conversion helps protect these valuable units from being stolen by enemy Monks, patching what would be a critical weakness of this play style, and they get both Faith and Heresy for further protection.
• Rain of Arrows: Normally castles and towers fire extra arrows when garrisoned by villagers or archers, but Crenellations allows Teuton infantry to do the same.
• Reduced Resource Cost: They get Murder Holes and Herbal Medicine for free, and their Farms are 40% cheaper.
• Religious Bruiser: Their Barracks and Stable units receive an extra +1/+2 melee armor in the Castle and Imperial ages, and they possess all of the infantry upgrades available. Their siege weapons are also great, as they are missing only the Siege Ram and have Ironclad, which helps patch up their main weakness: melee attacks. Teutonic Monks are excellent, with every upgrade and doubled healing range.
• Stone Wall: Crenellations also increases the range of their castles, which is useful as the Teutons lack Bracer.

Teutonic Knight

Sturdy infantry units with bonus damage against buildings.

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• Black Knight: The appropriately ominous looking Teutonic Knight is the closest equivalent to the first Age of Empires Phalanx: 50% more HPs than a Champion, three times the melee armor, almost twice the cost, half its speed. They easily kill other melee units, even the dreaded Paladin, and unlike the Persian elephants they are resistant to conversion. However their decent pierce armor and HP doesn't make up for their speed and they are beaten by most ranged units. Combine them with rams and most opponents will still shit their pants as they walk to their base... though veeeery slowly.
• Expy: The Teutonic Knight can be compared to the Hoplite line from Age of Empires; Both move slowly, have high amount of hit points, very high attack and melee armor, and even a fair amount of pierce armor, but only the Macedonian one has resistance against conversion and higher pierce armor due to their civilization bonuses.
• Germanic Efficiency: Comparing the Teutonic Knights to other infantry, they aren't fast nor cheap, but are definitely worth to invest in.
• Non-Indicative Name: The Knights in the game are a cavalry unit. Teutonic Knights are an infantry unit.

Turks

Gunpowder Civilization.
Architecture: Middle Eastern.
Gunpowder units +25% hit points; researching gunpowder technologies costs -50%; Chemistry free.
Gold miners work 20% faster.
Scout Cavalry, Light Cavalry, Hussar +1P armor.
Light Cavalry and Hussar upgrades free.
Team Bonus: Gunpowder units created 25% faster.
Unique Unit: Janissary (strong hand cannoneer).
Castle Age Unique Tech (HD/DE): Sipahi (Cavalry Archers +20 HP).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: Artillery (+2 range Bombard Towers, Bombard Cannons, Cannon Galleons).
Wonder: Suleiman's Mosque.
AI Player Names: Alp Arslan, Atsiz the Khwarezmian, Bayazid, Bayezid I Yildirim, Chaghri Beg, Danishmend, Danishmend Gazi, Ghiyas-ud-Din of Ghor, Malik-Shah I, Orhan Gazi, Orkhan, Osman I Gazi, Seljuk, Sultan Malik-shah, Sultan Murad, Sultan Sanjar, Suleiman the Magnificent

The Turks are primarily an offensive civilization focusing on gunpowder units and powerful siege units on the battlefield. Military bonuses provide the Turks with a powerful advantage over defensive civilizations at long range. This civilization is among the best in the Imperial Age, and is flexible on both land and water. However, they are less effective if played defensively for the most part of the game, especially in early games; and their lackluster trash unit line makes the Turks less ideal in 1v1 matches in the lategame. As a result of this, Turks are much better suited for experienced players rather than new ones. Turks are also meant to play in a fast way before all gold runs out.

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• Achilles' Heel: The Turks are considered to be the most gold dependent civilizations due to their army mostly consisting of gunpowder units and the fact that they don't have good upgrades to their spearmen and skirmisher line (they do have access to Hussars for free though). This is compensated by their faster gold mining bonus.
• Born in the Saddle: Historically, the Turks used to be this type of civilization. When they moved to the Middle East, they quickly took on many Persian and Arab characteristics but still retained strong horsemanship into Ottoman times. In gameplay, this is reflected by their free upgrades to the Scout Cavalry line as well as being the only civ besides the Saracens to get every upgrade for their Cavalry Archers (and even an upgrade that boosts the durability of their cavalry archers in the Forgotten expansion). The Ottomans made good use of infantry so the Turks have limited access to foot units but what they have is strong.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Their heavy reliance on gunpowder units makes them both extremely gold-dependent and vulnerable until the Imperial Age.
• Crutch Character: Conversely with the Magikarp Power status in team games, the Turks are also this in 1v1 situations. While the Turks get their power spike in late Castle Age and early Imperial Age, once late Imperial Age comes when running out of gold is an issue, the Turks will fall off drastically due to them having an incredibly weak trash-line, unless the Turks secure several relics during the Castle Age.
• Death or Glory Attack: The Turks have several bonuses that work together to make an all-in offensive a viable strategy because they get the Chemistry and Hussar upgrades for free upon reaching Imperial Age, however, they also have the problem of running out of options once a map's gold sources are exhausted. It's common for a Turkish player to race to Imperial as quickly as possible and attempt to crush their opponent with some combination of gunpowder units, hussars and siege rams. If all goes well, the multiple lategame power spikes will overwhelm the enemy, but if it fails, then the Turks will have a weak economy and a limited tech tree to fall back on and will probably lose.
• Difficult, but Awesome: The Turks are very dependent on gold since they do not have any upgrades for their Spearmen and Skirmisher line. They are also known for their notoriously weak early game AND a notoriously weak lategame in 1v1 matches due to the lack of significant early game economic bonuses and lack of a strong trash unit line (with their Hussars as their only trash unit option). Skillful players must make the best use of their gold to play effectively and secure the relics in the map, otherwise, the Turks will not have any viable trash unit options lategame. On the other hand, the Turks are considered to be a viable civilization in team games since the player can establish a trade line, hence not worrying about running out of gold.
• A Commander Is You: Definitely an Elitist Faction. They lack the full upgrades for the cheap Spearmen and Skirmishers, and must rely on gold intensive units like Janissaries. The only strong, non-gold unit they have are the Hussars, which they have a bonus for.
• Foil: To the Teutons. Both perform bad when they come to trash wars, since both of them have only one trash unit that is fairly usable.
  • While the Teutons have only Paladins as their main cavalry choice, the Turks have a decent Hussar line and Camel Riders as their option, with Paladin lacking.
  • The Turks have no Pikemen, and no bonus to their infantry, but the Teutons have fully upgraded Halberdiers and Champion line with more melee armor.
  • The Teutons lack good ranged units, while the Turks not only focus on gunpowder units, but prominent Cavalry Archers as well.
  • And while Teutons only lack Siege Rams, the Turks have it, but with no Onagers. Finally, the Teutons have good economy in food aspect and lack Gold Shaft Mining, and Turks are weak in food collecting (since have no Crop Rotation) with the fastest gold collecting.
• Magikarp Power: The Turks are this in many teamgame situations. They have strong late game bonuses, such as increased gold mining, with little viable use early in the game, since they have no Pikeman or Elite Skirmisher upgrades, and their Mangonels have no upgrades, along with them missing a few important technologies in the earlier ages. However, Turk players in Castle and Imperial Age get their power spike. For example, their unique unit, the Janissary is the one of the four Castle Age gunpowder units available (The other being the Spanish Conquistador, the Portuguese Organ Gun and the Bohemian Hand Cannoneer). Their gunpowder units are cheaper, have higher hp, and can be created faster. The Janissary is basically a stronger Hand Cannoneer with higher damage, bigger line of sigh, and increased range. They also get free light cavalry upgrades, with expert Turk players advancing with hordes of Hussars, Bombard Cannons, and Janissaries. Finally their unique technology Artillery increases the range of their Bombard Cannons, Cannon Galleons, and Bombard Towers. The Turks are considered as one of the most reliable late-game civilizations in teamgames (along with the Portuguese, Italians, and Vietnamese) due to the fact that securing gold isn't an issue with an established trade line, and the Turks are one of the most gold efficient civilizations in team games, since many of their civilization bonuses have good synergy with each other.
• More Dakka: They create gunpowder units faster, get Chemistry the instant they reach Imperial Age, get all gunpowder-related technologies for half cost, and their Cannon Galleons, Bombard Tower, and Bombard Cannon all outrange their counterparts in other civs. All of their gunpowder units also have 25% extra Hit Points. It's pretty obvious which units the game wants you to use when you play as the Turks.
• Noble Bird of Prey: Turks user interface image in the Definitive Edition displays 13th century double-headed eagle used by The Sultanate of Rum.
• Quality over Quantity: Even moreso than the Teutons, as the Turks don't get any upgrades to their Spearman and Skirmisher units (their trash unit line), with free upgrades to their light cavalry unit as their only trash unit. To offset their weak trash unit line, they are compensated with various gold efficient units such as Hand Cannoneers, their beefy Cavalry Archers, Jannisarries, and Bombard Cannons.
• Reduced Resource Cost: They get the Chemistry, Light Cavalry and Hussar upgrades for free, other gunpowder technologies are 50% cheaper.

Janissary

Powerful gunpowder unit that destroys infantry units and buildings.

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• Anachronism Stew: The in-game Janissary is bearded. This is historically accurate, though anachronistic. Not until the late 16th century, beyond the Age of Empires II timeline and into Age of Empires III timeline, were Janissaries allowed to grow beards; early Janissaries during the late Middle Ages were forbidden from growing beards.
• Bottomless Magazines: Janissaries use what is clearly a single-shot weapon, but they never run out of ammo.
• Expy Coexistence: Similar to the Hand Cannoneers, except that their don't have extra bonus damage against enemy infantry and buildings and lower accuracy. Both the Hand Cannoneers and this unit are trainable by the Turks. Their fast training time, extra range and bigger line of sigh makes up for it, though.
• Glass Cannon: Elite Janissaries play similarly to Hand Cannoneers, but with superior statistics, and the Castle Age Janissaries are a good precursor to that concept. They are fragile but have a devastating attack.
• Slave Mooks: The Janissary corps were slaves brought in from the Slavs in the Balkans and then from the Greeks. Young boys were captured and then given an exclusively military education, which for the Turks included warfare, wrestling, swordsmanship, Islam, chess, music, cooking, and engineering.

Vikings

Infantry and Naval Civilization.
Architecture: Central European.
Warships cost -15% Feudal/Castle Age, -20% Imperial Age.
Infantry +20% hit points.
Wheelbarrow, Hand Cart free.
Team Bonus: Docks cost -15%
Unique Units: Berserker (self-healing infantry), Longboat (ship that fires multiple arrows at once).
Castle Age Unique Tech (HD/DE): Chieftains (Infantry +5 attack vs cavalry, +4 vs camels. Infantry generates 5 gold when attacking villagers, 20 gold when attacking monks and trade carts.).
Imperial Age Unique Tech (HD/DE until DOI): Berserkergang (Berserks regenerate faster).
Imperial Age Unique Tech (DOI onwards): Bogsveigar (Archers and Longboats +1 attack).
Wonder: Borgund Stave Church.
AI Player Names: Canute IV, Chief Thorgest, Erik Bloodax, Halfdan the Black, Harald Bluetooth, Harald Hardraade, Harld Hardrada, Harald I Fairhair, King Godfred, Jarl Thorfinn of Orkney, Jarl Osbiorn, Magnus Olafsson, Magnus the Strong, Olaf Haraldson, Olaf Tryggvasson, Siegfried, Sigurd, Sweyn Forkbeard

The Vikings are primarily an offensive civilization with strong infantry and an effective navy.

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• A Commander Is You: Economist/Specialist (Naval). Due to their limited tech tree, the Vikings are hard to pin down but they have a very strong economy in the middle section of a round such that they can get away with using units that they are weak with such as Knights. A common misconception is that they are poor on land but actually they are strong for most of the game. They are only weak late game due to lacking many of the strongest Imperial Age units such as Siege Onager and Paladins. However, they dominate water maps. When competitive players on teams get to choose their civs but have no idea what map they will be on, each team will almost always have a Viking player on the off chance they get a map with significant water on it as well as the fact that the Vikings are still a good land civ.
• Born Under the Sail: The Vikings wouldn't be Vikings without their longships to take them to faraway lands, even taking them to distant lands of the Byzantine Empire (as seen in the Bari campaign) and even North America (as seen in the Vinlandsaga scenario). Their team bonus decreases the cost of docks, their standard bonus decreases the cost of ships, and have a naval unique unit.
• Crutch Character: On land maps, they are strong middle game but lack many powerful Imperial Age units.
• Not the Intended Use: The Vikings are mostly meant to be played in Water Maps, but they are considered to be a viable competitive civilization in land maps due to their strong early economic bonuses with free Wheelbarrow and Hand Cart. They can also do a viable, although suboptimal, Knight rush, since their free Wheelbarrow and Hand Cart allow the Vikings to pump out Knights sooner than other civilizations despite having one of the worst cavalry in the game. In addition, their mentioned free Wheelbarrow and Hand Cart bonuses meant that they were played more as an archer civilization due to having fully upgraded Arbalesters, until update 56005 removed their access to Thumb Ring and improved their infantry to emphasized their identity as an infantry civilization on land maps.
• Loot-Making Attack: Dynasties of India update 81058 adds an addition effect to Chieftains, which allows Viking infantry to generate gold when they attack villagers, monks, and trade carts.
• Out of Focus: One of the two original civilizations the did not have a campaign appearance in Age of Kings, not even as stand-ins for other factions.
• Overshadowed by Awesome:
  • The Vikings can ironically pull off a reasonable Knight rush, but Huns, Mongols, and Berbers can do this strategy better (not to mention that said civilizations have access to key important techs that the Vikings don't have access to, Bloodlines and Husbandry in particular).
  • More gallingly, the Vikings became this on water maps with the addition of Feudal Age fire galleys in the HD expansions. Suddenly massing fire ships became a much more effective strategy, but the Vikings lack fire ships in their tech tree, putting them at a huge disadvantage. They're still more than viable on water, but they've lost favor compared to choices like the Italians and the Japanese.
• Reduced Resource Cost: They get the Wheelbarrow and Hand Cart upgrades free, their naval units cost -15% in the Feudal/Castle and -20% in Imperial Age, their team bonus is Docks are 15% cheaper.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Though they are actually stronger on land than most players would make you think, Vikings are usually mostly picked on water maps.

Berserker

Infantry melee unit with Regenerating Health that attacks using an axe.

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• Anti-Structure: Berserk have attack bonus of +2 (+3 for Elite) agains building.
• Horns of Barbarism: They wear horned helmets.
• Regenerating Health: Berserkers passively regenerate their HP over time, which is improved when upgraded to Elite.

Longboat

Powerful naval barge available from Castle Age onwards with stronger attack than the Galleon line, shooting a volley of arrows.

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• Acceptable Breaks from Reality: Longboats (like all ships in the game) have no oars, whose animation would probably cause lag on the computers of the time when the game was released.
• Cool Ship: Their sleek Longboats with masts shaped like dragonheads, counterparts of the real life Drakkar.
• Lightning Bruiser: Longboats are very fast (the fastest sea unit, in fact) and shoot volleys of arrows at once, making them perfect for sea-raids.
• Rain of Arrows: The Longboat attacks by firing a volley of arrows, which gives it an edge over Galleys and makes it dangerous to land units.
• Reduced Resource Cost: Their cost is reduced by 15% in the Castle Age, and another 20% in the Imperial Age.

Introduced in The Conquerors

Aztecs

Infantry and Monk Civilization.
Architecture: Mesoamerican.
Villagers carry +3.
Military units created 11% faster.
+5 Monk hit points for each Monastery technology.
Start with +50 gold.
Team Bonus: Relics generate +33% gold.
Unique Unit: Jaguar Warrior (most powerful infantry in game).
Castle Age Unique Tech (HD/DE): Atlatl (Skirmishers +1 attack, +1 range).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: Garland Wars (+4 infantry attack).
Wonder: Great Temple of Tenochtitlan.
AI Player Names: Acamapichtli, Ahuitzotl, Axayacatl, Chimalpopoca, Cuauhtemoc, Cuitlahuac, Huitzilihuitl, Itzcoatl, Maxixca, Montezuma, Tizoc

The Aztecs are an Infantry- and Monk-oriented civilization. They are also well known for their early-game aggression and strong economy on land maps.

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• Badass Army: The Aztecs have access to all swordsman upgrades and their unique technology Garland Wars gives them 4 additional attack points. This includes the Jaguar Warriors, who also get a bonus on top of their upgrades.
• Badass Preacher: Their monks gain HP for each Monastery technology researched.
• Cap Raiser: Aztec Villagers can carry more resources than their counterparts. This stacks with Wheelbarrow and Hand Cart, allowing them to carry more resources throughout the game.
• City of Gold: Reflected by their team bonus, which generates gold from relics faster. Historically, the city of Tenochtitlan houses many artifacts made from gold.
• A Commander Is You: Brute/Technical. Their buildings are the weakest in the game and they lack cavalry, but they can create all of their military units faster on a powerful economy to boot, and they have a technology that gives their frail Infantry +4 attack. The are not completely glass cannons because for every Monastery technology they research, their Monks gain +5 HP. This combination of fast Eagles, strong Jaguars and Champions and micro-intensive Monks need to constantly be on offense.
• Crippling Overspecialization: They are pretty bad at everything other than Eagle Warriors and monks.
• Enemy Exchange Program: In addition to their beefy Monks, potentially converting units before they have a chance to kill the monks, they can get the unique Xolotl Warrior from converting an enemy stable.
• Foil: To the Mayans. The Aztecs are the most well-known pre-Columbian civilization, fit "The Conquerors" theme, and were probably developed early on. Gameplay-wise, the Aztecs are very focused on offense, while the Mayans were probably developed later and are clearly much more defensive and have many techs the Aztecs lack.
• Glass Cannon: Their infantry units have relatively low HP despite their high attack. The Aztecs are also one of the few civilizations to have access to the Siege Onager, a very expensive glass cannon unit.
• Lightning Bruiser: Garland Wars ensures that their fully-upgraded Elite Eagle Warriors become this.
• Zerg Rush: All military units are created 15% faster. Aztec players will then use this to spam infantry and monks, which is mostly the only things the Aztecs are good at.

Jaguar Warrior

A native infantry unit on par with the Militia/Champion line, with bonus attack against other infantry units.

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• Anti-Infantry: They have a bonus attack against other infantry units.
• The Brute: They can beat any other infantry unit in one-on-one combat, even the Teutonic Knights, if they strike first. And it is armed with a club.
• Carry a Big Stick: Sprinkled with Obsidian shards.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Extremely strong against most infantry units, lacking against everything else, especially Archers and their natural counter, Cavalry. Quite vulnerable against Hand Canoneers.
• Expy Coexistence: Similar to the Champion line, except that it has extra bonus damage against enemy infantry rather than buildings and Eagle Warriors. Both the Champion line and this unit are trainable by the Aztecs. In addition, Jaguar Warriors don't benefit from the Reduced Resource Cost of Supplies, while the Champion line does. Their fast training time and extra melee armor makes up for it, though.
• Nemean Skinning: They're not called Jaguar Warriors for nothing...
• Zerg Rush: Downplayed, they're created at lightning speed as a civ bonus and get the training time discount benefits of both Conscription and (in team games) the Berbers' Kasbah unique tech. However they don't benefit from Supplies nor they have another cost discount benefit, so you need a good economy in order to amass them.

Huns

Cavalry Civilization.
Architecture: Central European.
Do not need houses, but start with -100 wood.
Cavalry archers cost -10% Castle, -20% Imperial Age.
Trebuchets +35% accuracy against units.
Team Bonus: Stables work 20% faster.
Unique Unit: Tarkan (anti-building cavalry).
Castle Age Unique Tech (HD/DE): Marauders (Create Tarkans at stables).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: Atheism (+100 years Relic, Wonder victories; reduces the enemy gold income from Relics by 50%).
Wonder: Destroyed Arch of Constantine surrounded by plundered gold.
AI Player Names: Attila the Hun, Balamber the Hun, Bleda the Hun, Charaton the Hun, Dengizich the Hunt, Dengizk the Hun, Ellak the Hun, Ernak the Hun, Mundzuk the Hun, Octar the Hun, Onegsius the Hun, Ruga the Hun, Uldin the Hun

The Huns are purely an offensive civilization.

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• Achilles' Heel: The Huns' military is mostly consist of cavalry and cavalry archers. This can easily be countered with Halberdiers, Onagers, Scorpions, and Skirmishers.
• Artistic License – Religion: Despite their unique tech being called Atheism, Huns were religious. Huns, pre-Christian Magyars, Bulgars, and pre-Islamic Turks shared the worship of Tengri, a common religion in the Eurasian steppes. However, the game's description for the technology speaks of distrust and disinterest for organized religion, rather than outright denial of the existence of any gods.
• Ascended Extra: Before being reintroduced in The Conquerors, the Huns appear in the Coming of the Huns scenario of Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome, depicted by the Hittite civilization, and later by the Yamato civilization for the Age of Empires: Definitive Edition.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: The Huns need to constantly be on the offensive in order to play them effectively.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Mentioned during Attila's campaign that Attila was their king specifically because he was the strongest.
• Barbarian Tribe: Out of all the civs, the Huns are viewed as the most barbaric. The contemporary Goths adopted many Roman customs, and the Mongols take a pragmatic approach to conquest sparing anybody who backs down and making examples of those who resist. Romans during the campaign exclaim that the Huns care about nothing but gold and conquest. Hunnic notions of firing and retreating in battle was incomprehensible to the Romans, as was their refusal to eventually settle down in one place like the Germanic tribes. This is depicted in gameplay as the Huns don't need Houses, they lack access to more advanced upgrades to machinery such as Onagers, Bombard Cannons, or Arbalests, and lack many defensive upgrades.
• Born in the Saddle: Cutscenes in the Attila the Hun campaign state that the Huns even had deformed legs due to being on horseback most of their lives. This was a true trope in real life, the Huns originally being a Central Asian people. Reflected in gameplay, too, since their foot troops are limited in variety and weak.
• Cap Raiser: The Huns start out with the maximum population space available and do not (or cannot) build Houses.
• A Commander Is You: They are a Ranger faction with a preference towards cavalry, poor defenses but excellent offenses. Their team bonus towards faster cavalry creation also qualifies them as Spammer.
• Crutch Character: Good for early raids, falls off late game due to their predictable army composition (which is mostly consisting of cavalry) and below-average siege weapons.
• Difficult, but Awesome: The Huns are considered to be one of the strongest early game civilizations since they do not need to build any houses, meaning more wood saved for unit production for cavalry archers. However, in order to play the Huns effectively, the player needs to play them aggressively with rushes, or they'll fall off lategame. They are also considered to be one of the best civilizations for professional players due to their strong economic bonuses and strong rushing strategies, especially in open maps like Arabia.
• Doesn't Like Guns: Downplayed when the Huns was first introduced in The Conquerors since they do have access to Cannon Galleon but not Hand Cannoneers and Bombard Cannons. Played traight when The Forgotten removed the ship from their technology tree, making the Huns the first non-Native American civilization that cannon train any gunpowder units. Can be justified since the Hun empire disintegrated centuries before gunpowder became widespread.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Huns build monasteries that look like Christian churches despite not being Christian (they also have Catholic-looking monks, but so do all non-American civs). More bizarrely, they have access to several religious techs (Fervor, Sanctity, Atonement, Heresy, Illumination and Faith), but their unique technology is Atheism. One explanation for this is that their campaign is set in Europe and they use the buildings of those they conquered, as reflected by their Wonder.
• Glass Cannon: Not as extreme as the Goths (at least they have access to stone walls), but the lack of good defensive upgrades really makes them poor for defensive gameplay.
• Horse Archer: The Huns get cheaper Cavalry Archers to the point that they are barely more costly than regular Archers but still have twice the durability, more attack, and more speed. In real life of course, the majority of the Hun army was on horseback.
• Lightning Bruiser: The Huns have access to Heavy Cavalry Archers, Paladins, and Bloodlines, something of an incredibly deadly combo. The other civilizations that have access to such combination is the Magyars, Spanish, Persians, and Cumans.
• Noble Bird of Prey: Huns user interface image depicting Turul, a mythological bird of prey, mostly depicted as a falcon, in Hungarian tradition and Turkic tradition, and a national symbol of Hungarians.
• Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions: Their UT Atheism makes other players need more time to win after building a Wonder or collecting all relics from a map.
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: This is generally their MO in their campaign.
• Reduced Resource Cost: Their Cavalry Archers are 10%/20% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.

Tarkan

A Horse Archer with bonus attack against buildings.

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• Anti-Structure: The Tarkan's real specialty is destroying buildings, more of a mobile town destroyer rather than melee combat specialist like the Champion or the Paladin.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: In HD, a weird bug caused Tarkans trained at Castles and those trained at Stables to not being able to be selected together, which proved to be quite problematic. This was fixed in Definitive Edition.
• Hit-and-Run Tactics: Their adequate combat style, as they're quite incapable of sustained combat.
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: They are horse mounted raiders armed with a flaming brand, particularly effective against buildings.

Koreans

Tower and Naval Civilization.
Architecture: East Asian.
Villagers +3 line of sight.
Stone miners work 20% faster.
Tower upgrades free (Bombard Tower requires Chemistry).
Archer armor upgrades free (DE)
Fortifications are built 33% faster (HD only).
Archers and Infantry cost -50% wood, Warships cost -20% wood (DE).
Team Bonus: Mangonel line minimum range reduced.
Unique Units: War Wagon (armored cavalry archer), Turtle Ship (armored cannon ship).
Castle Age Unique Tech (HD): Panokseon (Turtle Ships speed +15%).
Castle Age Unique Tech (DE): Eupseong (Watch Towers, Guard Towers and Keeps +2 range).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: Shinkichon (Mangonel line range +1).
Wonder: Hwangnyong Pagoda.
AI Player Names: Admiral Chang Bo-ko, Ch'oe Mu-son, Choi Museon, Dae Joyeong, Gang Gam-chan, General Eulji Mundeok, General Kang Kam-chan, General Kwon Yul, General Kyebaek, General Taejoyoung, General Ulji Mun-tok, Kwanggaeto the Great, Wang Geon, Wang Won, Yi Seong-gye, Yi Song-kye

The Koreans are mainly a defensive civilization with strong naval and gunpowder capabilities.

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• Achilles' Heel: Their gameplay revolves around playing defensively and turtling up with their free tower upgrades and stone mining bonus that makes them powerful in Black Forest or Arena. In more open maps like Arabia they are vulnerable in getting raided and attacks at all sides as it's difficult to wall up and play defensively.
• Call-Back: The tower range bonus of the Eupseong technology is a callback to the Koreans' predecessor in the first Age of Empires, the Choson.
• A Commander Is You: Elitist/Brute/Turtle. The Koreans put emphasis on their strong defensive capacities alongside with their slow, powerful, and gold efficient Siege Onagers and War Wagons. Their melee units are weak, but it's easy to rely on their powerful ranged units.
• Magikarp Power: The Koreans do not have any significant early game economic bonus, and their stone gathering bonus isn't that significant in the early stages of the game until the Castle Age. However, once they start building Bombard Towers, Keeps, and Castles and mass up War Wagons, they are incredibly hard to deal with lategame.
  • Zigzaggable as offensive tower rushing turns it on its head, rushing out groups of towers prior to the siege workshops to pressure opponets and delay their ability to obtain sufficent building counters. Such a strategy requires diverting villagers to tower harassment and stone mining. If successful the lead can allow for a strong late game. An insufficent one however effectively leaves them economically crippled.
• Reduced Resource Cost: Their Tower and archer armor upgrades are free (though Bombard Tower still requires Chemistry), their archers and infantry cost -50% wood, and their Warships cost -20% wood.

War Wagon

A wagon carried by two horses. It fires bolts like a War Galley, has high HP and pierce armor, and bonus attack against enemy archers.

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• Far East: Their design is based on wagon models from Qin Shi Huang's tomb in China.
• Horse Archer: A mounted ranged unit. It's even classified with the Cavalry Archer armor class ever since The African Kingdoms.
• Mighty Glacier: Slower but stronger Cavalry Archers.

Turtle Ship

An armored gunpowder warship which causes blast damage.

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• Artistic License – History: Unlike their game counterpart, real Turtle Ships were not slow due to their combined use of oars and sails (not depicted in the game). Admiral Yi Sun-Shin even invented the "blast and ram" tactic, which consisted on the Turtle Ships using their speed to charge enemy ships, firing cannon up close (multiplying damage), then ramming them.
• Cool Ship: Big, spiky turtle shells with dragon heads that spit cannonballs.
• Mighty Glacier: Turtle Ships are colossal, have lots of health points and are terribly slow. However, once a building or ship gets inside their (rather short) range, they're doomed.
• Necessary Drawback: The power of the Turtle Ship is hampered by its range and cost.
• Spikes of Doom: Just in case you though those spikes were for show, the Noryang scenario has a drawing of a Japanese boarder Impaled with Extreme Prejudice in one of them. The Turtle Ships' main strength in Real Life came from the fact that they could not be boarded and captured.

Mayans

Archer Civilization.
Architecture: Mesoamerican.
Start with +1 villager, but -50 food.
Resources last 15% longer.
Archers cost -10% Feudal, -20% Castle, -30% Imperial Age.
Team Bonus: Walls cost -50%
Unique Unit: Plumed Archer (strong, fast foot archer, equivalent to a cavalry archer).
Castle Age Unique Tech (HD): Obsidian Arrows (Archer line has +6 attack vs buildings/stone defense).
Castle Age Unique Tech (DE): Hul'che Javelineers (Skirmishers throw a second projectile).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: El Dorado (Eagle Warriors have +40 hit points).
Wonder: Temple of the Great Jaguar.
AI Player Names: Bird Jaguar, Black Serpent, Cul Snout, Eighteen Rabbit, Flint Sky God, Great Jaguar Paw, King Stormy Sky, Lady Great Skull Zero, Shield Jaguar II, Smoke Imix God, Smoke Monkey, Smoke Shell, Smoking Frog, Smoking Squirrel, Waterlily Jaguar

The Mayans are an archer-oriented civilization. They are known for their cheap, fully upgraded foot archers, including the Plumed Archer. Their defenses, economy and navy are also good.

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• Achilles' Heel: The Mayans have an incredibly strong archery, yet their infantry line is not as durable since they lack the Champion upgrade and their only reliable infantry units are Halberdiers (which they get), and beefy Elite Eagle Warriors. Combined with the lack of cavalry and Hand Cannoneers (like all Mesoamerican civilizations), the matchup against the Goths is often seen as a lopsided and unfair matchup for the Mayans in the lategame, as explained in this video^ExplanationThe Mayan Elite Eagle Warriors not only isn't a cost-efficient unit to fight Huskarls and Champions in term of gold efficiency, but both the Huskarls and Champions have an attack bonus vs. Eagle Warriors. Not to mention, the Mayans are an archer heavy civilization and the Huskarls have an incredibly high-pierce armor and attack bonus against archers..
• Annoying Arrows: Eagle Warriors have high pierce armor, and Mayan ones have very high Hit Points.
• A Commander Is You: Spammer/Ranger. They extract 15% more resources from the same source than the other civilizations, and their archers are dirt cheap. Combine the two, and they definitely have reserves. However, their frontline capacity is very weak since they lack the Champion upgrade, meaing they need to rely on their beefy Eagle Warriors and Halberdiers to protect their archers.
• Feathered Serpent: The user interface image for Mayans in the Definitive Edition displays Kukulkan, a Mesoamerican serpent deity as depicted in Yaxchilan.
• Foil: To the Aztecs. Their ships, archers, and fortifications are better, while their infantry, siege, and monks are considerably worse. The exception is the Eagle Warrior which is stronger than its Aztec equivalent and together with the also fast Plumed Archers, can effectively be considered a form of light cavalry - something that the Aztecs definitely lack.
• Mayincatec: Seriously ES? You couldn't think of a better name for a Mayan UT than El Dorado? The mythical City of Gold was supposed to be in South America and had nothing to do with the Maya!
• Necessary Drawback: Due to the way resources last longer bonus works (lowered work rates are multiplied by higher resource gains), Mayans farm 2.5%/5.5%/2.5% slower with no upgrades/Wheelbarrow/Hand Cart, respectively (slightly lower difference with Heavy Plow researched).
• Reduced Resource Cost: Their non-Skirmisher foot archers are 10%/20%/30% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age, their team bonus is Walls are 50% cheaper.

Plumed Archer

Fast and well armored foot archer comparable to the Crossbowman.

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• Anti-Infantry: They shed infantry like hell.
• Fragile Speedster: One of the fastest non-mounted Archer units, this speed is hampered by their low HP (50 for regular, 65 for Elite).
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: In Real Life, the Mayans weren't actually that big in archery, unlike what is suggested by this unit line. In AoE III, for example, the mercenary Mayan unit is a shield-bearing spearman.

Spanish

Gunpowder and Monk Civilization.
Architecture: Western European (pre-DE), Mediterranean (DE).
Builders work 30% faster (20% for Wonders).
Blacksmith upgrades don't cost gold.
Cannon Galleons benefit from Ballistics (fire faster, more accurately).
Gunpowder units fire 18% faster.
Gain 20 gold for each research completed (DE).
Team Bonus: Trade units generate +25% gold.
Unique Units: Conquistador (hand cannoneer cavalry), Missionary (cavalry monk).
Castle Age Unique Tech (HD/DE): Inquisition (Monks and Missonaries convert faster, Missionaries conversion range +1).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: Supremacy (Villagers HP +40, attack +6, armor +2/2).
Wonder: Torre del Oro.
AI Player Names: Álvarez de Toledo, Cardinal Jimenez, Catherine of Aragon, Count Berengeur, El Cid Campeador, Gonzalo de Codóba, Hernán Cortés, King Alfonso, King Charles VIII, King Ferdinand, King Ramiro of León, King Sancho, Ordono II of León, Pedro the Cruel, Pelayo of Asturias, Queen Isabella, Ramiro I of Aragon

The Spanish are primarily an offensive civilization featuring a strong Imperial Age army and navy. Most of their military bonuses can only be used in late games and are most powerful after reaching the Imperial Age. Despite their emphasis of gunpowder units like the Turks, the Spanish have access to a wide range of technologies and are able to field a varied army. The Spanish well-rounded tech tree, combined with their access to strong late-game units (such as Paladins, their unique unit, and gunpowder units) and solid trash units makes them a good choice for beginners and expert players.

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• Achilles' Heel: The Spanish are very gold dependent due to Conquistadors being fairly expensive for a unique unit. This is compensated with their blacksmith upgrades not costing any gold.
• Anachronism Stew: The game's Torre del Oro includes the third stage with a dome, which was only added to the real building in the 18th century (out of the game's timeframe).
• Badass Bystander: Their unique technology, Supremacy, elevates villagers' combat stats up to the level of most frontline units.
• A Commander Is You: Elitist/Industrial. They specialise on units with a high gold cost, especially Knights, Conquistadors, Monks, Bombard Cannons, and Bombard Towers. Their villagers create buildings faster, their blacksmith upgrades cost no gold and one can infer that creating gunpowder weapons requires mechanical know-how.
• Confusion Fu: The Spanish have a diverse tech tree, making them open for different strategies except for archer rush (since the Spanish are known to be only the civilization not to have any upgrades in the foot archer lane). They are also the only civilization in the game to have a fully upgradable trash unit line as well.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: The Spanish were known historically for using the crossbow. In game, they cannot upgrade past the base Archer unit.
• Gratuitous Spanish: They speak in the Old Castilian dialect.
• Made of Iron: Villagers with the Supremacy unique tech. To give you an example, 10 of them can kill a Paladin with only 1 casualty.
• More Dakka: All of their gunpowder units fire 15% faster. This means that their Hand Cannoneers and Bombard Cannons even beat Turkish ones in direct combat. Their Cannon Galleons also benefit from the Ballistics technology. Normal Cannon Galleons are only good for anti-building bombardment thanks to their slow moving cannonballs and require an escort from combat ships, Spanish ones can fight ship to ship and win handily.
• Necessary Drawback: Spanish buid speed bonus is reduced to 20% when building Wonder.
• Reduced Resource Cost: Their Blacksmith upgrades cost no gold.
• Religious Bruiser: They have access to Heavy Cavalry Archers, Conquistadors, and Paladins. Not only that, they have access to all Monk technologies (and even have the Inquisition unique tech that improves their conversion rate (which highlights the Spanish's missionary work of converting the native population in the New World) as well as the only mounted Monk unit in the game, the Missionary, to reinforce the previous point.
• Skill Gate Characters: The Spanish have a relatively strong lategame and diverse tech tree (barring their foot archer line), and have solid lategame unit options (Hand Cannoneers, Paladin, Conquistadors, Bombard Cannons), and even their Villagers creating buildings faster and Blacksmith techs not costing any gold have some usefulness for newer players.
• Toros y Flamenco: The original Regional Riff is a flamenco-ish chant, despite flamenco appearing in the 18th century and thus out of the game's timeframe. DE removes the chant and castanets, only keeping the guitar.

Conquistador

A mounted Hand Cannoneer with high armor.

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• Anti-Infantry: They get bonus damage vs. other infantry units.
• Anti-Structure: Have bonus attack of +2 against buildings.
• Elite Mook: They're a faster and sturdier version of the Hand Canoneers by virtue of them being a Cavalry unit and having extra armor.
• Hit-and-Run Tactics: They excel at this like the Mongol Mangudai or the Hun Tarkans.
• Horse Archer: They're mounted Hand Cannoneers, but the trope still applies.
• Necessary Drawback: Their sturdiness and speed are hampered by their shorter range than a regular Hand Cannoneer. Plus, they don't gain LOS bonuses.
• The Theme Park Version: The Conquistador unit is a summation of what advantages the conquistadors had over the American natives (gunpowder, horses and steel armor, which incidentally are the strengths of the Spanish tech tree), rather than what an actual conquistador would have used in battle all at once. The rifles of the time were too big and slow to charge and fire to use them from horseback, though heavily armored cavalry made use of short-ranged pistols around that time.

Missionary

A mounted monk with lesser range who cannot pick up Relics.

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• Cosmetic Award: Converting 100 enemy units with them unlocks the "Unexpected" achievement.
• Meaningful Name: A Missionary is a person sent on a religious mission, especially one sent to promote Christianity in a foreign country. One of the units' main purposes is to convert enemy units.
• The Medic: A mounted Monk, able to heal units like them. Most of the upgrades that benefit Monks also benefit them.
• Necessary Drawback: Their speed comes at the cost of range and the inability to pick up Relics.

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