Characters / Age Of Empires II HD Edition 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 introduced in the Expansion Packs released after Age of Empires II: HD Edition: The Forgotten, The African Kingdoms and Rise of the Rajas.

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Introduced in The Forgotten

Indians/Hindustanis

Hindustanis^note Indians prior to Dynasties of India

^{The Indian symbol prior to Dynasties of India}

Camel and Gunpowder Civilization.
Architecture: Middle Eastern (pre-Rise of the Rajas), Indian (Rise of the Rajas onward).
Villagers cost -8% Dark, -13% Feudal, -18% Castle, -23% Imperial Age.
Camel Riders attack 20% faster.
Fishermen work 10% faster (Indians, DE).
Gunpowder units +1/+1P armor (Hindustanis, DE).
Team Bonus (Indians, HD): Camels +4 attack vs. buildings.
Team Bonus (Hindustanis, DE): Camels and light cavalry units +2 attack vs. buildings.
Unique Unit (Indians, HD): Elephant Archer (tough but slow cavalry archer, comparable to a movable tower).
Unique Units (Hindustanis, DE): Ghulam (heavy infantry who can hit multiple targets) Imperial Camel (upgrade for Heavy Camel).
Unique Building (DE): Caravanserai (Imperial Age economic building that heals and speeds up nearby Trade Carts, shared with Persians)
Castle Age Unique Tech: Grand Trunk Road^note Sultans prior to Dynasties of India (all gold income 10% faster, reduces the trading fee to 10%).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: Shatagni (Hand Cannoneers +2 range).
Wonder: Taj Mahal (non-HD version), Gol Gumbaz (HD version-The African Kingdoms), Brihadeeswarar Temple (Rise of the Rajas), Maqbara-i Humayun (Dynasties of India).
AI Player Names: Akbar the Great, Ala-ud-Din Khalji, Babur, Bappa Rawal, Chandragupta II, Ghiyath al-Din, Harsha Vardhana, Humayun, Iltutmish, Mahmud Ghaznavi, Man Singh I, Muhammad Ghori, Qutb-ud-Din Aibak, Sabuktigin, Sultan Balban (Indian), Sultan Ala-ud-din Hilji (Indian)

NOTE: For the Elephant Archer (the Indians' unique unit which was made later into a regional unit for the Indian-style civilizations) and the Imperial Camel go here.

The basic strategy of the Hindustanis focuses on their economy, and in a powerful Camel Riders and gunpowder units, supported by their unique unit.

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• Anachronism Stew: Prior to The African Kingdoms, the Indians used the voice clips of the Indians of Age of Empires III, which depicts the Indians around the time of British colonization. Forgotten Empires thus gives us Indians who speak Urdu long before it existed and also say "Hello".
• Art Evolution: The Indians used to share the Middle Eastern architecture with the Byzantines, Turks, Persians, Saracens and Berbers before the release of Rise of the Rajas, which changed their architecture to the newly-introduced Indian one. After been reworked into Hindustanis in Dynasties of India, they get a unique castle as well as an unique building.
• A Commander Is You: Elitist/Economist due to their bonuses with gunpowder units, their cheaper villagers and Unique Technology that gives them gold bonus.
• Balance Buff: The Indians at the time of the release were considered to be one of the most under-preforming civilizations due to their large amount of weaknesses they have and their economic bonus of cheaper villagers wasn't that significant in the early game, leading to several buffs in The African Kingdoms.
• Continuity Nod: Given how The Forgotten was made an official expansion for II long after the release of III, the Indians have several nods to the Indians of the latter game. Not only did they used to borrow the voice clips of the latter, but they also have a heavy emphasis on Camels and Elephants at the expense of traditional horse-mounted heavy cavalry just like the latter. On top of that, but with the Decomposite Character treatment they received in the Dynasties of India DLC, the newly renamed Hindustanis now strictly represents the Islamicized states of Northern India including the Mughal Empire that the Indians of III are heavily based on, complete with their campaign being a Book Ends to the Indian campaign in III in that the former covers the Mughal Empire's rise and the latter covers its fall.
• Culture Chop Suey: Prior to Dynasties of India, the Indians represent all of the cultures of the Indian subcontinent, in spite of their great differences.
• Decomposite Character: While originally meant to represent all of India, the Dynasties of India expansion pack makes the Bengalis, Dravidians, and Gurjaras their own civilizations, leaving the original Indian civilization to be renamed the Hindustanis, broadly representing the more Islamicised regions of northern India and Afghanistan like the Ghorid Sultanate, Delhi Sultanate, and Mughal Empire.
• Glass Cannon: Prior to The African Kingdoms, their Camels deal more damage to buildings, but cannot withstand building fire.
• Horse Archer: The Hindustanis are the only Indian civilization with Cavalry Archers, since they represent the Persianized Turkic dynasties that used steppe nomadic tactics.
• Horse of a Different Color: Horses are only present as light cavalry. Camels, Heavy Camels and Imperial Camels serve as a cheap but worthy replacement to Knights, Cavaliers and Paladins.
• King of Beasts: The user interface image of Hindustanis displays a lion in front of a sun, based on the flag of the Mughal Empire. In Ain-i-Akbari, Hindustan is the official name of the Mughal Empire.
• More Dakka: Their gold income bonuses and Shatagni unique tech make Hand Cannoneers a critically important part of their lineup.
• Mystical India: The architecture is southern Indian, the camels and gunpowder bonuses are northern Indian.
• Not the Intended Use: The Indians are meant to be designed as a Magikarp Power economic/boom civilization where they don't have access to the Knight line and have to rely on powerful expensive lategame units such as Imperial Camels, Hand Cannoneers with extra range, Elephant Archers, and Bombard Cannons for their late game power. However, due to a Balance Buff with the Indian's civilization bonus of cheaper villagers, several crafty competitive players have used the Indians for archer rushes (which is a viable strategy during the Feudal and Castle Age) since the cheaper villagers means the player can easily advance to the next age when only gold and wood are spent on archers (and any archers leftover can be upgraded into Arbalests in the Imperial Age). The Balance Buff was so powerful that the developers decided to remove Arbalests from their tech tree, discouraging this kind of strategy while encouraging the player to play to the Indian's lategame strengths.
• Proud Merchant Race: Their Grand Trunk Road unique technology buffs all gold gathering rates including from trade and reduces the trading fee to 10%, their Caravanserai unique building heals and increases the speed of nearby Trade Carts, making their gold income very potent especially in team games.
• Reduced Resource Cost: Their Villagers are 5%/10%/15%/20% cheaper in the Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
• Uniqueness Decay: The Caravanserai was first introduced in the Dynasties of India DLC as a unique building for the newly renamed Hindustanis, but with the release of The Mountain Royals DLC it was also given to the reworked Persians.
• We Have Reserves: Villagers get cheaper with each age, making an Hindustanis/Indians player far less likely to protect theirs than others.

Ghulam

Fast infantry unit with high pierce armor which counters Archers. Also used in raids.

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• Anti-Structure: Ghulam have attack bonus of +2 against building.
• Foil:
  • To the Eagle Warrior. Both units are quite fast and are designed to take down archers, however the Eagle Warrior has the speed advantage over the Ghulam, and the Ghulam has the pierce armor advantage over the Eagle Warrior. Furthermore, Eagle Warriors don't really have bonus damage against archers (relying mostly on their own speed) and take bonus damage from the Militia line, on the other hand they eat Monks for breakfast and are cheaper than the Ghulam.
  • To the Goths' Huskarls. Both units specialize on taking down archers and buildings, however the Ghulam has the speed, training time and resource cost advantages over the slow Huskarl, whereas the Huskarl has the attack, pierce armor and HP advantages over the Ghulam and can be produced in Barracks with the Goths' unique tech.
  • To the Incas' Kamayuk. Both units have a thrusting attack, but the Kamayuk has a limited range whereas the Ghulam does not, and requires at least two units for the effect to be triggered.
• Fragile Speedster: 55 HP for the regular version, but quite fast, and gets the speed benefit of Squires.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: The Ghulam's attack is able to hit multiple targets with its spear. The units that are hit during the spear's travel are also damaged.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: Normally, Archers shred infantry. The Ghulam, however, thanks to their high pierce armor and speed, eat archers for breakfast.
• Slave Mooks: The Ghulam is the third unique unit to represent an elite slave soldier, after the Mameluke and Janissary from the base game. Their pale skin and slanted eyes may be a reference to their Central Asian origins.
• Violation of Common Sense: Unusually for a unit armed with polearms, Ghulams are intended for use against archers, and fare poorly against cavalry.

Incas

Infantry Civilization.
Architecture: Mesoamerican.
Military units food cost -10% in Dark, -15% Feudal, -20% Castle, -25% Imperial Age.
Villagers affected by Blacksmith upgrades starting in the Castle Age.
Houses support 10 population.
Buildings cost -15% stone.
Team Bonus: Start with a free llama.
Unique Units: Kamayuk (Spearman with longer range, best used in massed formations), Slinger (ranged infantry with bonus attack against other infantry).
Castle Age Unique Tech: Andean Sling (Skirmishers and Slingers no minimum range; Slingers +1 attack (DE)).
Imperial Age Unique Tech (DE): Fabric Shields^note Couriers prior to DE (Kamayuks, Slingers, Eagles +1/+2P armor).
Wonder: Machu Picchu's Temple of the Sun.
AI Player Names: Anccu Hualloc, Apo Mayta, Atahualpa, Huayna Capac, Manco Capac, Manco Inca Yupanqui, Pachacuti, Topa Huallpa, Tupac Inca Yupanqui, Vicaquirao, Viracocha, Yahuar Huacac

The Incas focus on rushing and specialized counter-units. They are known for their Feudal Age tower-rush and effective counter units.

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• Artistic License – History: Incas have access to Coinage, even though they didn't use money historically.
• Badass Bystander: Villagers benefit from blacksmith technologies.
• Cap Raiser: Incan Houses support 10 population instead of the usual 5.
• A Commander Is You: Economist/Specialist/Spammer. They get a free llama at the start of the game and need less stone and houses than other civs. Army-wise, they seemed a bit focused on counter-units, making them the Mesoamerican answer to the Byzantine faction. Finally, Update 81058 gave them a new bonus that lowers the food cost of their military units, allowing them to field a larger army than their opponents, especially with their housing bonus, giving them Spammer faction traits.
• Fragile Speedster: In contrast to the Aztec and Mayan Eagle Warriors, theirs have higher speed.
• Mayincatec: Downplayed. The Inca use the Mesoamerican architecture set, but speak Quechua and have units wearing traditional Quechua clothing. Their Wonder is also undeniably Inca, based on the Temple of the Sun at Machu Picchu.
• Misplaced Wildlife: Prior to the HD version, they would get a free turkey (a North American species) instead of a llama.
• Reduced Resource Cost: Their buildings cost -15% stone while their military units food cost -10/15/20/25% food in Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
• The Unfavorite: If there is a civilization that got the cold shoulder from ES it's this, left out of both The Conquerors and later Age of Empires III: The War Chiefs despite the declared aim being to bring in playable Native American civilizations in both occasions, and the Incas being the obvious choice being the biggest native empire in the Americas, having pack animals, the most Old World-like army organization and fortifications, and keeping resistance against Europeans for 40 years without counting later rebellions. In comparison, the Mayans weren't politically unified, and the Aztecs went down in 3 years. The first HD version was released without an Inca campaign, even though an empty South America map is still there. When it finally came out, this "Inca" campaign actually turned out to be about a Spanish army Going Native... in the Amazon, outside of the (former) Inca Empire's territory. DE rectified this by replacing the El Dorado campaign with a campaign depicting Pachacuti's rise to power.

Kamayuk

Anti-Cavalry infantry unit that carries a very long spear.

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• Anti-Cavalry: Trounces all non-Cataphract cavalry with their ranged attack.
• BFS: Where the S stands for 'spear'. Their spear is the longest handheld weapon in the game, twice and a half the height of its handler. That means that they can effectively strike their enemies from afar, including through walls and gates.
• Expy Coexistence: Similar to the Spearman line, except that it trade decently against other infantry in large enough groups due to their higher rate of fire and considerably higher base attack. Additionally, their 1 range means that in large numbers they can inflict surprising casualties on enemy infantry. Both the Spearman line and this unit are trainable by the Incas.
• Magikarp Power: On paper, they have mediocre stats, with low armor, average attack and health, and will lose to a lot of units 1vs1. But in larger numbers the Kamayuk will fare a lot better and will come out on the winning side more often.
• A Thicket of Spears: They have 1 range, allowing them to attack through walls and for multiple ranks of Kamayuks to attack enemies.
• Zerg Rush: They're quite cheap and the Incas' Castles are also quite cheap. As a result, they're easily massable.

Slinger

An anti-infantry unit, in some way similar to a Hand Cannoneer but weaker, cheaper, faster firing, more accurate, and available from the Castle Age without having to research Chemistry first.

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• Anti-Infantry: They have an attack bonus of +10 against infantry, allowing them to defeat most infantry that come close enough.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Historically, Slingers were generic skirmishers fielded by not only Incas but also Aztecs and Mayans, among other various Meso-American civilizations; in contrast, Eagle Warriors were exclusive to Aztecs. Due to gameplay considerations, the Slinger is instead a unique Inca unit, while the Eagle Warrior is a regional unit available to all American ones.
• Suffer the Slings: Their stats and bonus against other infantry makes them the Inca equivalent of the Hand Cannoneer, a soldier armed with a firearm. The Andean Sling technology eliminates the need of a minimum range to fire.

Italians

Archer and Naval Civilization.
Architecture: Mediterranean.
Advancing to the next Age costs -15%.
Dock, University technologies cost -33%.
Fishing Ships cost -15%.
Gunpowder units cost -20%.
Team Bonus: Condottiero available in the Barracks in Imperial Age.
Unique Units: Genoese Crossbowman (anti-cavalry foot archer), Condottiero (anti-gunpowder infantry that can also be trained by other civilizations allied to an Italian player).
Castle Age Unique Tech: Pavise (foot archers and Condottieri +1 armor/+1 pierce armor).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: Silk Road (Trade units cost -50%).
Wonder: Basilica of San Lorenzo.
AI Player Names: Alboin, Arechis II of Benevento, Castruccio Castracani, Domenico Selvo, Francesco I Sforza, Gisulf I of Salerno, Liutprand the Lombard, Maurizio Galbaio, Ottone Visconti, Pietro Gradenigo, Pope Gregory VII, Simone Boccanegra

The Italians are a booming civilization with a focus on their navy and archer units.

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• A Commander Is You: Ranger. They receive a ranged unit for every situation: Genoese Crossbowmen who shoot cavalry to pieces, cheaper Hand Cannoneers who can decimate infantry, Skirmishers who kill other archers, and cheaper Bombard Cannons that destroy buildings and are effective vs other siege weapons. Most civs tend to have a specialization that keeps them from being pigeonholed in one role, and the Italians receive the melee Condottieri who kill gunpowder units.
• Early-Bird Cameo: They were prominent in Kings and Conquerors campaigns long before they got a civ. You fight them in the form of the Western Romans in Attila (Byzantines), the Genoese in the 6th Saladin (Byzantines), and the Italian city-states in both Attila and Barbarossa (represented by Byzantines, Britons, Franks, Teutons and Celts). Definitive Edition changes most of the scenarios accordingly, though in some (Barbarossa's fourth and Attila's sixth scenarios) keeps the original different civilizations to add variety to enemy troops.
• Gratuitous Latin: The Italians speak Latin, not one of the medieval Italian dialects. Given the time period of their campaign, having them speak Italian would have worked better.
• Jack of All Stats: The can attack and defend equally well.
• Merchant Prince: Referenced by their unique Imperial Age tech, as well as the fact that their Wonder, UU and most bonuses are closely related to Genoa, which was a powerful maritime republic in her prime.
• Palette Swap: Since the Italians originated from a mod with limited resources and manpower to produce original art, their Castle Age architecture and beyond is largely just recolored and edited sprite work from the Middle Eastern buildings (the Feudal Age architecture is lifted unaltered from the Western European Feudal architecture). The Monastery, Castle, and Wonder are completely unique, aside from the Monastery and Wonder taking assets from the Frank and Spanish Wonders (in the rose windows for the Monastery and Wonder and the top of the Wonder's spire, respectively). When they did receive unique Feudal Age graphics in The African Kingdoms (taken from another popular mod), they were still essentially palette swaps of another architecture, Western European this time. Thankfully, the Definitive Edition rectified this by completely overhauling the architecture to be entirely unique, along with giving it to the Spanish and the Byzantines.
• Proud Scholar Race: Their University techs and age advancement costs are cheaper, reflecting the Renaissance movement of the 15th and 16th centuries that began in Florence.
• Reduced Resource Cost: Their Age advancements and Fishing Ships are 15% cheaper, their gunpowder units cost are 20% cheaper, their Dock and University techs are 33% cheaper, their unique tech Silk Road reduces the cost of Trade Carts and Trade Cogs by -50%.

Genoese Crossbowman

A foot archer unit with an attack bonus against cavalry.

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• Anti-Cavalry: Genoese Crossbowmen are notably the only foot archer that deals bonus damage to cavalry. Even mighty elephant units (such as War Elephants and Battle Elephants) can be slaughtered very easily when faced with large mobs of Genoese Crossbowmen.
• Art Evolution: In the mod version of The Forgotten Empires, the Genoese Crossbowmen use a modified Hand Cannoneer unit model and texture. In the retail version however, they receive a new texture as a crossbowman carrying a shield.
• Expy Coexistence: Similar to the Archer line, except that it has extra bonus damage against enemy cavalry and ship rather than Spearman line. Both the Archer line and this unit are trainable by the Italians. In addition, Genoese Crossbowman are more expensive to train with -1 range against non-mounted units. Their fast training time, extra accuracy and HP, with better base melee armor makes up for it, though.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: They carry a pavise (from which the unique technology's name comes) that gives them 10 HP and 1 base melee armor more than the Crossbowman and Arbalester.

Condottiero

A quick anti-gunpowder infantry unit, it can be trained at the Barracks upon reaching the Imperial Age. Available to any players allied with an Italian player.

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• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Although in-game Condottieri fight on foot, historical Condottieri fought mainly on horseback, as the troops they commanded consisted mainly of heavily-armored, mounted men-at-arms.
• Private Military Contractors: Their availability to other civilizations is explained by the fact that they are mercenaries. In real life the Condottieri were renown for their fickleness, sometimes changing allegiances mid battle. Historically, Genoa often lend the famous Crossbowmen as mercenaries to other countries, which explains their appearance during the 100 Years War under French command.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: Normally, melee infantry are vulnerable to Janissaries, Conquistadors, or Hand Cannoneers. Condottieri completely reverse this with their large attack bonus against gunpowder units, and bonus armor which negates the Hand Cannoneer's 10 bonus damage against infantry.

Magyars

Cavalry Civilization.
Architecture: Eastern European^note Central European in the original mod.
Villagers kill wolves with 1 strike.
Forging, Iron Casting, Blast Furnace free.
Scout Cavalry, Light Cavalry, Hussar cost -15%.
Team Bonus: Cavalry Archers trained +25% faster.
Unique Unit: Magyar Huszar (stronger light cavalry with bonus against siege weapons).
Castle Age Unique Tech (HD): Mercenaries (Magyar Huszars cost no gold).
Castle Age Unique Tech (DE): Corvinian Army (Magyar Huszar gold cost is replaced by additional food cost).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: Recurve Bow (Cavalry archers +1 range, +1 attack).
Wonder: Hunyad Castle.
AI Player Names: Álmos, Árpád, Bajnok Bela, Feher Andras, Horka Bulcsú, Istvan I, Kalman I, Karoly Robert, Laszlo I, Matthias Corvinus, Nagy Lajos, Voivod Levedi

The Magyars are an offensive civilization that focuses on Light Cavalry units and Cavalry Archers. They are similar to the Mongols who rely on similar units for guerrilla techniques and quick skirmishes.

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• Born in the Saddle: A strong Magyar army is fully mounted, with Magyar Huszars, Paladins, Hussars, and Cavalry Archers. In real life, the Magyars spent their early history within a confederation of mostly Turkic peoples on the steppes and adopted a horseback lifestyle. They were feared throughout Europe as the most deadly cavalry soldiers.
• A Commander Is You: Ranger/Spammer. Their Cavalry Archers have longer range and their foot archers extra line of sight. They also have cheaper Light Cavalry and the Corvinian Army UT which turns their Magyar Huszars into trash units.
• Early-Bird Cameo: They appear in the final Genghis Khan mission, which depicts the Battle of Mohi. They are represented by the Teutons prior to Definitive Edition.
• Horse Archer: Their Horse Archers have the longest range of any other.
• Magikarp Power:
  • The Magyars themselves are considered to be one of the best lategame civilizations. The Magyars not only have access to cheaper Hussar units, but their unique unit costs no gold at all. In addition, they have a very versatile tech tree with mostly full archer upgrades (minus the Hand Cannoneer), full infantry upgrades, and full cavalry upgrades. Their only weakness is their mediocre siege weaponry and somewhat weak defense, and they don't have any significant early game economic bonuses across from the free Blacksmith upgrades for melee units.
  • This is also highlighted in Honfoglalás scenario. The player starts out with a few villages where the Pechenegs come and attack the said villages. The Magyars then settled near the Khazars as a refuge from the Pechenegs, but the Pechenegs still continue to swarm the Magyars which forces them to retreat again. The Magyars then settled forward west with a few Pecheneg attacks, but the attacks were stalled when the Byzantine empire request help from the Magyars to defeat the Bulgars. The Magyars defeated the Bulgarians which earns them a Worthy Opponent label from the Bulgars. Then the Magyars are forced to retreat again from the Pechenegs. The scenario ends with the Magyars conquering Moravia, abandoning their nomadic ways, settling in, and adopting a lot of European customs (including Christianity).
• One-Hit Kill: Magyar villagers kill wild animals with a single hit.
• Reduced Resource Cost: They get Forging, Iron Casting and Blast Furnace for free, their Scout Cavalry line is 15% cheaper.

Magyar Huszar

A light cavalry unit with an attack bonus against siege weapons.

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• Discard and Draw: The Magyar unique tech Corvinian Army increases the Magyar Huszar's food cost but removes its gold cost, turning it into a trash unit.
• Expy Coexistence: The average Hussar unit is still available to the Magyars, however, and cheaper than other civs to boot. The Magyars need them to assist the regular Hussar because they are one of the few civs to lack Faith, a late-game technology that makes units very hard to convert by Monks (though they still have Heresy). Regular Hussars also slaughter Monks.
• Jousting Lance: Outside of some knight heroes (who do not appear in standard games) and the Steppe Lancer, they are the only available cavalry lancer in the game.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Magyar Huszars shields gives them additional 10 hitpoints when compared with standard Hussars.
• You Are the Translated Foreign Word: Magyar Huszár means Hungarian Hussar. Magyar is the Hungarian people's endonym.

Slavs

Infantry and Siege Civilization.
Architecture: Eastern European.
Farmers work +10%(HD)/+15%(DE) faster.
Supplies, Gambesons free.
Siege Workshop units 15% cheaper.
Monks move +20% faster.
Team Bonus: Military buildings provide +5 population room.
Unique Unit: Boyar (tough cavalry).
Castle Age Unique Tech (HD/DE until DOI): Orthodoxy (Monks +3/+3 armor).
Castle Age Unique Tech (DOI onwards): Detinets (replaces 40% of Castles' and Towers' stone cost with wood).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: Druzhina (infantry damage adjacent units).
Wonder: Kizhi Church.
AI Player Names: Alexander Nevsky, Igor the Old, Saint Olga, Oleg the Seer, Dimitri Donskoy, Rurik I, Sviatoslav the Brave, Vladimir the Great, Vlad Dracula, Ivan III the Great, Yaroslav the Wise, Yuri II

The Slavs are an offense-oriented civilization that features strong infantry and cheap siege units.

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• A Commander Is You: Brute: their unique technology gives their infantry trample damage and their Boyar unique unit is a well armored cavalry unit (essentially a mounted Teutonic Knight). Along with some Spammer elements as their bonus gives their military buildings five population and their siege units are cheaper.
• Call-Forward: The Unique Tech Detinets references the Russians in Age of Empires III with their focus on building fortifications to bolster their cheap but individually weak army.
• Culture Chop Suey: Prior to the Definitive Edition, the Slavs are a catch all representation of Eastern, Western, and Southern Slavs, but are distinctively modelled after the Kievan Rus', complete with Orthodox monastery.
• Decomposite Character: The Slavs were originally an umbrella civilization representing Eastern Slavs like Kievan Rus, Southern Slavs like Bulgaria, and Western Slavs like Poland and Bohemia. The Definitive Edition made the Bulgarians a separate civilization, and the Dawn of the Dukes expansion did the same for Poland and Bohemia, leaving the base Slavic civilization to solely be the Kievan Rus and their successor states, and Wallachia in the Dracula campaign, despite not being a Slavic civilization.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: The unique technology Druzhina gives trample damage to the Slavic infantry. The only other units that have this are the Persian War Elephants and the Byzantine Cataphract (after researching Logistica).
• Reduced Resource Cost: They get the Supplies and Gambesons tech for free, their Siege Workshop units are 15% cheaper, their unique tech Detinets replaces 40% of Castles' and Towers' stone cost with wood.

Boyar

A heavily armored cavalry unit with high attack.

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• Achilles' Heel: They have low pierce armor, making them susceptible to massed archers. Even more so if they went up against Genoese Crossbowmen.
• Art Evolution: In the Forgotten Empires mod for Age of Empires II, the Boyars' model was a modified version of hero unit Joan of Arc, which is also based on Cataphract's beta model. In the retail version, Age of Empires II HD: The Forgotten, however, the Boyar is replaced by a completely new model that is appropriately region specific in appearance.
• Knight in Shining Armor: They're comparable to the Byzantine Cataphract. The Cataphract destroys infantry, even Halberdiers, as well as Camels, but loses to Paladins and ranged units. The Boyar loses to Halberdiers and Camels but beats Paladins and is a little less weak to archery.
• Lightning Bruiser: Boyars can be summed as mounted Teutonic Knights. Sturdier as hell and quite fast.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: They carry a circular shield that gives the Elite version with the same pierce armor as a fully upgraded Paladin and only 2 less melee armor than a fully upgraded Elite Teutonic Knight.
• Vanilla Unit: Like the Knight line, they're one of a select few unit lines without any attack bonuses, since they make up for it by having very high attack, HP, armor, and movement speed.

Introduced in The African Kingdoms

Berbers

Cavalry and Naval Civilization.
Architecture: Middle Eastern.
Villagers move 5% in Dark, 10% in Feudal Age.
Stable units cost -15% in Castle, -20% in Imperial Age.
Ships move 10% faster.
Team Bonus: Genitour available in Archery Range.
Unique Units: Camel Archer (anti-cavalry archer cavalry archer), Genitour (anti-archer cavalry archer available to other civilizations allied to a Berber player).
Castle Age Unique Tech: Kasbah (team castles work 25% faster).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: Maghrabi Camels (Camels units regenerate).
Wonder: Hassan Tower.
AI Player Names: Abd al-Mu'min, Abdallah ibn Yasin, Abu Bakr ibn Umar, Abu Yazid, Ibn Tumart, Idris I, Kusayla, Maysara, Musa ibn Nusayr, Salih ibn Tarif, Tariq ibn Ziyad, Yusuf ibn Tashfin

The Berbers are a cavalry-oriented civilization with well-rounded mounted units.

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• Born in the Saddle: Medieval Berber armies were well known for their use of lightly armored but lightning-quick cavalry forces. This is also reflected by their unique units and their 20% discount towards the expensive Stable units.
• A Commander Is You: Ranger/Guerrilla thanks to the Genitour and Camel Archer units. Also mostly Truth in Television, as the Berbers in land were known for their small skirmishes and Hit-and-Run Tactics in battlefield in addition to their naval pirates.
• Healing Factor: Berber camels can regenerate damage after researching the Maghrabi Camels UT.
• Hit-and-Run Tactics: Their unique units are built around this.
• Reduced Resource Cost: Their Stable units are 15%/20% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.

Camel Archer

A mounted archer with an attack bonus against Cavalry Archers.

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• Anti-Cavalry: Camel Archers deal 4/6 bonus damage against Cavalry Archers.
• Horse Archer: They ride a camel rather than a horse, but the trope still applies as a mounted archer unit.
• Hunter of His Own Kind: Have attack bonus against other Horse Archer unit.

Genitour

A mounted Skirmisher, it can be trained at the Archery Range upon reaching the Castle Age. Available to any players allied with a Berber player.

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• Ascended Extra: When The Conquerors was released, the Genitour was an incomplete cavalry archer unit found only in the scenario editor, originally planned to be the Spanish unique unit, but was replaced by the Conquistador. With The African Kingdoms, the unit was completed and made trainable.
• Javelin Thrower: A mounted javelin thrower.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Considering that Skirmishers are very low-value units against non-archer units, have range, and that Genitours have good speed, Genitours become excellent as Monk-deterrents. Even if converted, they won't be much useful to the enemy, especially in 1vs1 against the Berbers' cavalry units.

Ethiopians

Archer Civilization.
Architecture: African.
Archers fire 18% faster.
Receive +100 gold, +100 food when advancing to the next age.
Pikeman upgrade free.
Team Bonus (HD): Towers and Outposts +3 LOS.
Team Bonus (DE): Outposts +3 LOS and stone cost removed.
Unique Unit: Shotel Warrior (fast infantry).
Castle Age Unique Tech: Royal Heirs (Shotels and Camel units receive -3 damage from Mounted Units).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: Torsion Engines (increases blast radius of Siege Workshop units).
Wonder: Bete Amanuel.
AI Player Names: Abba Guba, Abuna Frumentius, Amda Seyon, Amir Habbuba, Dil Na'od, Frumentius, Gelawdewos, Kaleb of Axum, Lalibela, Yakuno Amlak, Yared, Yodit, Zara Yaqob

The Ethiopians are a archer-focus civilization with access to almost all units and their upgrades at the Siege Workshop, except for the Armored Elephant and Siege Elephant.

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• Anti-Cavalry: Dynasties of India update 81058's change to the Royal Heirs allows Shotel Warriors and Camel Riders to defensively counter mounted units.
• Artistic License – History: Due to sharing the African architecture with the Malians, their Monasteries resemble mosques (specically the Larabanga Mosque), even though the Ethiopians were historically Christian.
• A Commander Is You: Ranger/Brute. Their archer line fires the quickest of any civilization, making their Arbalesters one of the best. The brute comes in with power spikes upon each age advancement, and the potent siege and powerful Shotel Warriors are excellent late game options, compensating for the weak frontline.
• Foil: To the Malians where the Ethiopians have a weaker cavalry and infantry frontline (barring free Spearmen upgrades) in exchange for a strong foot archer and siege weaponry while the Malians have a stronger cavalry/infantry line with access to hand cannoneers in exchange for a weaker archery and average siege line (although the Malian tech tree is very balanced). The Ethiopian have offensive capacity while the Malians have better economic bonuses.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: The Kingdom of Aksum, which was located in Ethiopia, fielded war elephants in battle, but in the game, the Ethiopians have no access to elephants.
• Glass Cannon: The civilization has every siege upgrade, their archery options are well-stocked, only missing Hand Cannoneers and Parthian Tactics, and they make for a good all-around offensive civ. However, they lack champions, their navy is lacking, with Galleons being their only elite ship, and their cavalry are the weakest of the expansion's civilizations, lacking Plate Barding and Bloodlines, making for a weak front.
• Magikarp Power: Zigzagged. Their early game is very weak given that they lack economic bonuses aside from the resources given at each age advancement. In feudal, they're not helpless given their faster firing foot archers that keep among the best as time goes by, but their strengths really take off around the Castle Age when they get the Spearman upgrade for free to keep Knight rushes at bay, and by Imperial they have all the siege upgrades as well as a greater blast radius from Torsion Engines, making this civilization potentially deadly towards the end. The free resources are also rather useful for Castle Rush minded players. As a crutch however, their frontline is rather weak in the lategame given their lack of Champions or good cavalry.
• Rain of Arrows: Their foot archers fire +15% faster, and that's before they get Thumb Ring, which makes the already fast-firing archers the quickest.
• Reduced Resource Cost: Their Pikemen line upgrades are free, their team bonus removes the stone cost of Outposts.

Shotel Warrior

A quick and frail infantry unit with a very high attack and creation speed.

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• Cool Sword: Their weapon is the titular, sickle-like sword, whose attacks are actually difficult to parry properly, which may explain their high attack.
• Dual Wielding: They are armed with two Shotel at once.
• Glass Cannon: They run fast and pack a punch (up to 20 damage, or 22 if Elite), but are naturally unarmored and can go down just as easily as a Man-At-Arms.
• Zerg Rush: Since they can be massed quickly (especially when upgraded to Elite), one effective strategy is to mass a large number of them then send them to defenseless buildings, especially town centers, and make very short work of them.

Malians

Infantry Civilization.
Architecture: African.
Buildings cost -15% wood.
Barracks units +1P armor per Age (starting from Feudal Age).
Villagers drop off 10% more gold.
Team Bonus: Universities work 80% faster.
Unique Unit: Gbeto (ranged melee infantry).
Castle Age Unique Tech: Tigui (Town Centers fire arrows when ungarrisoned).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: Farimba (Cavalry +5 attack).
Wonder: Great Mosque of Djenné.
AI Player Names: Abu Bakr II, Mamadou, Mansa Mahmud IV, Mansa Musa, Mansa Sakura, Mari Djata I, Ouali Keita, Soumaba Cisse, Soumaoro Kante, Sundjata, Tiramakhan

The Malians are a infantry-focus civilization that possesses strong economic bonuses, a well-rounded technology tree, and cheaper buildings, allowing them to save wood to spend on important upgrades and units.

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• Annoying Arrows: One civilization bonus gives their infantry an additional pierce armor per age.
• A Commander Is You: Generalist/Economist. While they are an infantry civilization, they also have a versatile set of options; their infantry are more resistant to archers, Arbalesters can be trained and their stable units have the highest attack in the game in spite of lacking Blast Furnace. They can get into gold mining more easily with the free Gold Mining technology and all of their non-farm buildings have a wood discount.
• Confusion Fu: The Malians have a versatile technology tree and are open to different strategies such as Knight rush (due to the extra attack from a unique Imperial Age tech), infantry spam (Malian infantry have increased pierce armor), hit-and-run tactics (Gbetos' fast movement speed and ranged attack), anti-infantry capacity (they have Arbalests and Hand Cannoneers despite the lack of Bracer), sieging (they have Siege Onagers and Bombard Cannons despite the lack of Siege Engineers), and naval warfare (they have a reasonable navy and the wood discount on buildings means more wood saved for ships).
• Foil: To the Ethiopians. The Malians have access to a stronger cavalry/infantry line with stronger economic bonuses in exchange for a weaker archery and average siege line (they have access to Hand Cannoneers to compensate this) while the Ethiopians have a weaker cavalry/infantry frontline in exchange for a better archery/siege line with strong offensive capacity.
• Jack of All Stats: Of the African civilizations, their tech tree is more balanced.
• Proud Scholar Race: The scientific achievements of Malian universities, notably including Timbuktu, is reflected in the team bonus where research time in universities are drastically cut.
• Reduced Resource Cost: Their non-Farm Buildings cost -15% wood.

Gbeto

A light and quick infantry unit with a high long-ranged attack.

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• Easy Logistics: They have an unlimited supply of knives to throw at enemies.
• Glass Cannon: They pack quite a punch and can slaughter most enemies before they can reach them, but are lacking when it comes to health.
• Rule of Cool: They are based on the possible ancestor of the Dahomey Amazons, even though neither was around in the Mali empire or its general area (for that matter, neither are African throwing knives).
• The Smurfette Principle: They are the only female military unit in the standard game (excluding a few campaign- and Scenario Editor-only units). This is more or less Truth in Television, as many west African societies held women in high regards in society and some women even participated in military combat.

Portuguese

Naval and Gunpowder Civilization.
Architecture: Mediterranean.
All units cost -20% gold.
Foragers produce a trickle of wood (DE).
Ships +10% HP.
Team Bonus: Technologies researched 25% faster
Unique Units: Organ Gun (anti-personnel siege unit), Caravel (anti-Galleon ship with Scorpion-like bolts).
Unique Building: Feitoria (Imperial Age economic building generating a slow trickle of resources)
Castle Age Unique Tech: Carrack (Ships +1/+1 armor).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: Arquebus (Gunpowder units fire more accurately at moving targets; slightly increases projectile speed of Bombard Cannons and Bombard Towers).
Wonder: Belém Tower.
AI Player Names: Afonso de Albequerque, Afonso Henriques, Afonso V, Bartolomeu Dias, Duarte Pacheco Pereira, Henry the Navigator, Joao I, Manuel I, Nuno Alvares Pereira, Pedro Alvares Cabral, Vasco da Gama, Vimara Peres

The Portuguese are a booming naval civilization. They have - like the Japanese - a quite rare duo of strengths, because they excel offensively on both land and water, and also possess two great economic advantages that assume a critical role in late-game, where resources become scarce and gold is more and more important.

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• A Commander Is You: Economist/Ranger. Their unique building Feitoria gradually generates all resources at the cost of 20 population, which is more cost efficient than owning 20 villagers. Their units are cheaper in terms of gold and they have access to all archer upgrades and the Organ Gun, not to mention that their gunpowder units are affected by a Ballistics-esque Arquebus.
• Defog of War: Before Dynasties of India update 73855, their team bonus was granting Cartography in the Dark Age, allowing their team to share line of sight with each other from the start of the game.
• Foil: To their Iberian neighbor, the Spanish, where both civilizations are navy and gunpowder based civilizations with economic bonuses in gold. Whereas the Spanish have a more mobile army with a stronger cavalry and monk line, the Portuguese are more focused with better accuracy with their gunpowder units in exchange for a weaker monk and cavalry line.
• Glass Cannon: Unlike their Iberian neighbor, the Spanish, the Portuguese have a weaker frontline and weaker cavalry.
• Magikarp Power: The Portuguese are incredibly weak early game since their gold discount bonus doesn't play into the later stages of the game and don't have any significant early game economic bonuses until they get the Feitoria building.
• More Dakka: In addition to the Organ Gun, they have the unique technology Arquebus, which makes their gunpowder units save for Cannon Galleons affected by Ballistics and therefore being an accurate force to be reckoned with.
• Rate-Limited Perpetual Resource: The Feitoria generates a trickle of resources completely by itself. Though it takes up 20 population slots while 20 Villagers can easily gather more resources than a Feitoria can, it is valuable in the late game when gold and stone mines run out, especially in 1vs1 games where there are no teammates to trade with.
• Reduced Resource Cost: All their units cost -20% gold.
• Worker Unit: The Feitoria provides a slow trickle of all resources without the need of Villagers. Though it takes up 20 population slots and is less efficient than 20 Villagers, it is almost impervious to raids and can generate resources by itself (which is useful when gold mines run out).

Organ Gun

A gunpowder siege weapon that fires a volley of bullets.

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• Glass Cannon: They can be quite devastating, but need to be guarded correctly, as they can't take much damage.
• More Dakka: Anti-personnel artillery units with several muzzles. Witch patch 81058, instead of one high damage projectile and additional mostly cosmetics bullets, the damage of the unit is now spread equally across all its projectiles.

Caravel

A warship that fires bolts like a Scorpion that can damage multiple enemies.

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• One-Hit Polykill: Caravels deal damage in a straight line with every hit, allowing them to injure and even kill clusters of units on the shoreline, or sink masses of enemy ships in naval combat.

Introduced in Rise of the Rajas

Common tropes

NOTE: For tropes related to the Battle Elephants, go here.

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• Doesn't Like Guns: Downplayed. All of the new civilizations (except for the Khmer) do not have access to Hand Cannoneers, but they do have access to Bombard Cannons and Cannon Galleons.

Burmese

Monk and Elephant Civilization.
Architecture: Southeast Asian
Lumber Camp upgrades free.
Infantry +1 attack per age (starting in the Feudal Age).
Battle Elephants +1/+1P armor (Dynasties of India onward).
Monastery technologies cost -50%.
Team Bonus: Relics visible on the map at the start of the game.
Unique Unit: Arambai (ranged cavalry with low accuracy but high pierce attack).
Imperial Age ((HD/DE until RTR))/Castle Age (RTR) Unique Tech: Manipur Cavalry (Cavalry earn +4 attack vs archers).
Castle Age (HD/DE until RTR)/Imperial Age (RTR) Unique Tech: Howdah (Battle Elephants +1/+1P armor).
Wonder: Shwedagon Pagoda.
AI Player Names: Anawrahta, Bayinnaung, Binnya Dala, Kyansittha, Min Bin, Mingyi Nyo, Minkhaung, Nanda, Narapati, Sithu, Swasawke, Tabinshwehti

The Burmese are noted to have very solid cavalry (especially Battle Elephants), infantry, and Monks, and very nearly every technology across the board.

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• A Commander Is You: Generalist faction like the Khmer since their tech tree is pretty well-rounded and balanced.
• Born in the Saddle: The Burmese were historically known for their fierce horseback and cavalry during their time period since many horsemen from Manipur served as mercenaries for many Burmese kingdoms.
• Glass Cannon: Their archery range units are like this, as they not only don't get the Arbalester upgrade, but they also don't get the Castle Age and Imperial Age armor techs for their cavalry archers.
• Humble Hero: Buddhism played an important role for the Burmese and Buddhism teaches the importance of not valuing any wealth and luxuries. This is reflected with their cheaper Monastery upgrades as well as their team bonus where Relics are visible in the map.
• Jack of All Stats: Of the Southeast Asian civilizations, their tech is known to be well-balanced, having a well-rounded cavalry, infantry, siege weapons, a reasonable navy during the Castle Age, and a strong monk rush. The only weakness they have is that their foot archers are weak, lacking Thumb Ring and even lacking the Castle Age armor upgrade. However, their cavalry archers are reasonable, having Parthian Tactics with them.
• Proud Peacock: Before the Definitive Edition, the middle of Burmese navigation bar showed a green peafowl, which is the royal symbol of Burmese kingdoms since the 11th century. This symbol is also used as the civilization icon of the Burmese in the Definitive Edition.
• Reduced Resource Cost: Their Lumber Camp techs are free, and their Monastery techs are 50% cheaper.

Arambai

A ranged cavalry unit which throws darts at enemies.

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• Artistic License – History: While the Arambai serve the Burmese civilization, the Kingdom of Manipur which their come from was, in reality, often enemies with the Toungoo Empire, having had to stave off multiple Burmese invasions. It was not until much later, during the 17th-18th centuries long after Bayinnaung's death, that Manipur Cavalry served in the Burmese cavalry. Furthermore, the Burmese Manipuris fought primarily as lancers. However, the traditional primary arm for the Burmese cavalry was a short javelin that was used similarly to the Arambai.
• Born in the Saddle: A ranged cavalry that throws darts. Horseback dart throwing is a tradition within the region.
• Glass Cannon: They are cavalry dart-throwing units with incredibly high attack (and low accuracy), but should they get hit by even archer fire, they get shredded into pieces.
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: To offset their raw damage, the Arambai's accuracy is abysmal, the worst in the game.
• Powerful, but Inaccurate: The Arambai's sheer attack damage (which outclasses many gunpowder units) is compensated by an abysmal accuracy of 20% (30% when upgraded to elite).

Khmer

Siege and Elephant Civilization.
Architecture: Southeast Asian
No buildings required to advance to the next Age or unlock other buildings.
Farmers don't require Mills/Town Centers to drop off food.
Battle Elephants +10% faster.
Villagers can garrison in Houses.
Team Bonus: Scorpions +1 range.
Unique Unit: Ballista Elephant (heavy cavalry equipped with a Scorpion. Can fell trees.).
Castle Age Unique Tech: Tusk Swords (Battle Elephants +3 attack).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: Double Crossbow (Ballista Elephants and Scorpions fire two projectiles).
Wonder: Angkor Wat
AI Player Names: Barom Reachea I, Indravarman III, Jayavarman II, Jayavarman VII Mahaparamasaugata, Jayaviravarman, Ponhea Yat, Rajendravarman II, Sangrama, Suryavarman I, Suryavarman II Paramavishnuloka, Udayadityavarman I, Yasovarman I

The Khmer is a siege and Battle Elephant civilization with a strong focus on Scorpions and their unique unit, the Ballista Elephant. One of their unique civilization bonuses is their ability to build any building or advance to the next Age without pre-requisites, allowing unconventional build orders and strategies. Due to the double-edged sword nature of the bonus, the civilization is designed for more experienced players than for beginners.

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• Balance Buff: Definitive Edition update 34699 removed the need for their farmers to use drop-off points, so farms can be much more freely placed, while at the same time, they save walking time for increased farming rates. This lets the Khmer to place farms around their houses, around towers or castles, which lets them better defend from a raid.
• A Commander Is You: Generalist/Technical. Their tech tree is well balanced, having decent accesses to everything, though they need careful micromanagement thanks to their building bonus.
• Confusion Fu: The encouraged playstyle as the Khmer. As not needing to build any pre-requisite building means they are incredibly open to different gameplay and strategies.
• Difficult, but Awesome: The Khmer are considered to be much harder to play when compared to the Chinese since one of their civilization bonuses doesn't require them to build two pre-requisite buildings to advance to the next age or build a specific building to unlock another building. This means that the Khmer can build a Stable and an Archery Range directly in the Feudal Age without the need of Barracks. While this is an incredibly strong economic bonus, it can also be very punishing at the same time. Attempting to go for a massive naked Fast Castle Age rush can be very damaging to the Khmer economy and can easily be punished by early game rushes. Players need to be careful one their build order as the Khmer, since it can be very punishing if played incorrectly.
• Garrisonable Structures: The Khmer have a very distinctive bonus that enables the player to use the House as a supportive building when defending from a raid, as they can garrison up to five Villagers inside. This helps the Khmer to minimize losses, so in their particular case, is advisable to build Houses next to busy working places.
• Jack of All Stats: Much like the Burmese, the Khmer fit into this. Unlike the Burmese, they have access to key important Blacksmith techs for their archers and cavalry archers. In fact, one of the civilization bonuses does not require pre-requisite buildings to build important key military and economic buildings, making them open to different strategies.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: The Khmer can advance to the next Age or build any building without any pre-requisite.

Ballista Elephant

A cavalry siege unit that fires bolts like a Scorpion.

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• Awesome, but Impractical: Despite the quirks that can make them shine in certain situations, Ballista Elephants are far from the ultimate units to go for a Khmer player in both single player matchup games and team games. Firstly, they are created at Castles and are expensive. Secondly, Khmer Battle Elephants perform much better as meat shields and raiders, since they move faster, have a much higher melee attack with trample damage, and resist enemy attacks better, but mixing some Ballista Elephants in the back may aid Battle Elephants in the front. Thirdly, Ballista Elephants are very expensive for a Scorpion and have a range of only 5.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: They deal damage in a line, which, depending on the formations of the enemy, can be devastating.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Unlike most other non-suicide siege weapons, the Ballista Elephant is classified as cavalry. As consequences of this:
  • The Ballista Elephant can be healed by a Monk (instead of having to be repaired by a Villager) or garrisoned in a Castle. It can also be converted without Redemption.
  • The Ballista Elephant benefits from Stable technologies and cavalry armor upgrades.
  • Even though rams have a high attack bonus against Ballista Elephants, they do not attack them automatically, having to be manually commanded to do so.
• Military Mashup Machine: Fitting the focus of the civilization, it's a Scorpion mounted on an elephant.
• Mundane Utility: Unlike the Scorpion, the Ballista Elephant can cut down trees. This can be incredibly useful on maps with dense forests such as Black Forest or Arena, especially considering that they are the only unit available in the Castle Age that is able to do so. However this is time-consuming, as only a single tree is cut with each shot.
• Mythology Gag: The Ballista is a reference to Age of Empires I, where the Scorpion and Heavy Scorpion were given the names Ballista and Helepolis.

Malay

Naval Civilization.
Architecture: Southeast Asian
Advancing to the next age 66% faster.
Fish Traps cost -33%.
Fish Traps provide +300% food.
Battle Elephants cost -30% in Castle, -40% in Imperial Age.
Infantry armor upgrades free (DE).
Team Bonus: Docks +100% LOS.
Unique Unit: Karambit Warrior (infantry with very cheap production cost that uses only half a population slot).
Castle Age Unique Tech: Thalassocracy (upgrades Docks to Harbors, which fire arrows).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: Forced Levy (Militia-line gold cost is replaced by additional food cost).
Wonder: Sewu Temple
AI Player Names: Balaputra, Dharmasetu, Gajah Mada, Hayam Wuruk, Jayanegara, Parameswara, Raden Wijaya, Samaratungga, Sang Nila Utama, Sultan Mansur Shah, Sultan Muzaffar Shah

The Malay are a naval civilization with strong economic bonuses.

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• A Commander Is You: Economist/Spammer/Specialist towards naval units, the Malays are a naval civilization that has an incredibly strong early game in land maps and are strong for most of the game. On water, they have strong economic bonuses and are able to spam towers in the form of Harbors that do not require stone unlike land-based ones. Their unique unit, the Karambit Warrior is cheap, quickly trained, and only takes half a population stat. Their unique tech Forced Levy which makes their Milita-line infantry no longer cost gold, making them into powerful trash units, and they also have the cheapest Battle Elephants of all.
• Crutch Character: The Malays in land maps are like this in a similar vein like the Vikings, having a strong early game that fall off late game in land maps and being a sold strong civilization in water maps. The Malays puts emphasis on early game dominance thanks to their ability to age up faster and ensuring dominance over the opponent in the Castle Age. However, once other players enter the Castle Age and advance to the Imperial Age, the Malays suffer greatly lategame, having very limited land unit options in the table (even when Forced Levy unique tech is put into consideration, the Two-Handed Swordsman unit upgrade itself is not a cost efficient infantry unit since the Malays lack the Champion upgrade). Unlike the Vikings, the Malays have access to Halberdiers and Bombard Cannons, giving them at least some anti-cavalry and long range siege options respectfully.
• Discard and Draw: The Malay unique tech Forced Levy increases the Militia line's food cost but removes its gold cost, turning it into a trash unit.
• Fragile Speedster: The Malays land army composition is like this. The Malay army mostly consist of cheap and fast deployed infantry units to overwhelm the opponent. However, the Malays lack the Champion upgrade, and their cavalry is infamously noted to be the worst, as they not only lack Bloodlines, but also lack the Castle Age Blacksmith armor tech for their cavalry units. This is compensated with the civilization bonus of cheaper Battle Elephants which puts emphasis on numerical superiority over quality. Also exemplified with one of their civilization bonuses where they age up faster as well.
• Necessary Drawback: Since Forced Levy removes their Militia line's gold cost, the Malay lack Champions and can only upgrade up to Two-Handed Swordsmen, since they would be too strong in trash wars otherwise. DE further dampened it down by converting the gold cost to extra food.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Much like the Viking Knight rush, the Malay have viable Battle Elephant rush thanks to their strong early game bonuses and cheaper Battle Elephants. The Khmer outclass the Malay in this kind of strategy because the Malay's cavalry is considered to be the worst.
• Reduced Resource Cost: Their Fish Traps are 33% cheaper, their Battle Elephants are 30%/40% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age, infantry armor upgrades are free for them.
• We Have Reserves: The Malay unique tech, Forced Levy, gives them one of the best non-gold units in the game as Two-Handed Swordsmen no longer costs gold. In a longer drawn out game where both players have mined all available gold on the map, or games where the Malay player has an economy advantage, an unrelenting stream of Two-Handed Swordsmen can be used to simply wear an opponent down until they have no resources while the Malay player can save their gold and spend it on units like the Bombard Cannons and Arbalesters mentioned above.
• Zerg Rush: In addition to their Karambit Warriors, one of their unique techs, Forced Levy, also encourages this playstyle with their Militia-line infantry not costing any gold.

Karambit Warrior

A very cheap, quick, and frail infantry unit that only takes up half a population spot.

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• Artistic License – Martial Arts: The unit is holding the Karambit in hammer grip, which is the wrong grip for traditional warriors. In traditional martial arts, the blade is located to the bottom of the fist, curving forwards but occasionally backwards.
• Expy: The gameplay concept of Karambit Warriors is very likely inspired by Zerglings, an iconic unit from StarCraft. Like Karambit Warriors, Zerglings are very cheap and only take half a population space. Unlike Karambit Warriors however, Zerglings can be created in the very early stages of the game and can be used for extremely early rushes, while Karambit Warriors can only be trained at Castles which are only available in later stages of the game.
• Fragile Speedster: They are cheap and fast deployed in a similar vein to the Ethiopians' Glass Cannon Shotel Warriors. Unlike the Shotel Warriors, the Karambit Warriors are not meant as raiding units but more used as cannon fodder.
• We Need a Distraction: Their role is to serve as cheap cannon fodder to protect stronger units such as Arbalesters and Bombard Cannons.
• Zerg Rush: They are designed for this role. Though barely more powerful than villagers, they are cheap, quickly trained, easily massed, very disposable and only take half a population slot each.

Vietnamese

Archer Civilization.
Architecture: Southeast Asian (HD), East Asian (DE)
Enemy positions are revealed at the start of the game.
Economic upgrades cost no wood, research 100% faster (DE).
Archery Range units +20% HP.
Conscription free.
Team Bonus: Imperial Skirmisher upgrade available in the Imperial Age.
Unique Units: Rattan Archer (heavily-armored archer), Imperial Skirmisher (upgrade for Elite Skirmisher available to other civilizations allied to a Vietnamese player).
Castle Age Unique Tech: Chatras (Battle Elephants +100 HP).
Imperial Age Unique Tech: Paper Money (Lumberjacks slowly generate gold in addition to wood).
Wonder: Bút Tháp Temple
AI Player Names: Dinh Bo Linh, Le Dai Tanh, Le Thai To, Le Thanh Tong, Ly Nam De, Ly Nhan Tong, Ly Thai To, Ngo Quyen, Phung Hung, Tran Anh Tong, Tran Nhan Tong, Tran Thai Tong

NOTE: For tropes related to the Imperial Skirmisher, check this page.

The Vietnamese are a team-focused archery civilization with many bonuses that favor the late game. Their unique units, the Imperial Skirmisher and the Rattan Archer, provide tremendous anti-archer capability and make the Vietnamese a fearsome opponent to other archery-specialized civilizations.

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• Achilles' Heel: Besides elephants, massed Monks can be a unexpected headache for the Vietnamese other specialty - massed Skirmishers and Rattan Archers. With no Heresy, they will always be converted, then use their high pierce armor to draw arrows from their former colleagues and allow the Monks to convert more. The lack of Blast Furnace also hinders the offensive power of Vietnamese infantry and cavalry.
• Anachronism Stew: In the game, the Vietnamese speak the Vietnamese of the 19th-20th centuries, not the Middle Vietnamese attested during the 15th century. In fact, the name "Vietnam" itself is greatly anachronistic for the period the game is set in, being coined in 1804. The appropriate name for the period, especially during Le Loi's campaign, should have been Dai Viet instead.
• Artistic License – History:
  • When first introduced, the Vietnamese, historically the only Sinicised and Confucian society in Southeast Asia, were depicted as an Indianised civilisation, sharing the India-influenced Southeast Asian architecture with the Indianised Khmer, Malays and Burmese, and having one of their unique techs called Chatras (a Sanskrit word). According to Word of God, the Vietnamese civilisation is supposed to be an amalgamation of both the medieval Vietnamese kingdom of Đại Việt and the Indianized Champa kingdom located in modern Central Vietnam; all while their units speak Vietnamese, not Cham; their campaign protagonist is the Đại Việt king Lê Lợi; while the Chams are closer to the Khmer or Malays in culture and were only absorbed by Vietnam in 1832, long after the game's timeframe. This was rectified in the Definitive Edition where their architecture style is corrected to East Asian to reflect on the Sinicization of the region.
  • Much like China, they lack access to Hand Cannoneers (although they have access to Bombard Towers and Bombard Cannons). Historically, Đại Việt realized the importance of firearms early on and tried to adopt them but lacked the economy to do so. On one occasion, they were so desperate for guns that they risked reigniting a war they just won by stealing guns from a defeated Ming army.
• A Commander Is You: Ranger/Guerrilla/Gimmick. They receive bonuses towards archers and reveal the enemy's location. They are also a team dependent civilisation, as most of their bonuses are team-oriented. This means that the Vietnamese are weak in 1v1 situations.
• Crippling Overspecialization: If you are looking for a civilization that excel in teamgames, the Vietnamese are considered to be one of the best team-oriented civilizations in the game. However, due to their Magikarp Power nature of the civilization, they will struggle in 1v1 matches since any civilization can effectively bully the Vietnamese to prevent them from reaching their lategame strengths.
• Culture Chop Suey: The original iteration of the Vietnamese are actually the amalgamation of Vietnam and Champa. This is rather jarring because Vietnam and Champa were very different culturally. Vietnam was Sinicised and greatly resembled South China, to the point that even the modern Vietnamese language has a lot of loan words from Cantonese. Champa, meanwhile, resembled neighboring SEA countries. The Cham people had to be violently integrated into Vietnamese culture after their defeat. In the DE, they are changed to the East Asian set and can be confidently assumed to represent Vietnam only.
• Hit-and-Run Tactics: Historically, the Vietnamese were known to fend off enemy invaders and occupiers with the utilization of such tactics thanks to the Vietnamese terrain of hills, mountains, and forests. This is reflected on their team bonus, the Imperial Skirmisher, and one of their civilization bonuses of revealing the location of the enemy Town Center. The Vietnamese are also one of the few civilizations in the game that can also do a reasonable cavalry archer rush since their cavalry archers are beefier and have access to nearly all the important techs for cavalry archers except Parthian Tactics and Husbandry.
• Magikarp Power: The Vietnamese are very comparable to the Portuguese in retrospect. Both are team dependent civilizations that don't have any strong economic bonuses early game and many of their civilization bonuses only have a bigger impact in later stages of the game. This means the Vietnamese in 1v1 situations will get destroyed by early game civilizations such as the Malay, Vikings, and Huns. That being said, should the Vietnamese snowball the game, they are a very feared lategame powerhouse with not only tanky archers and Battle Elephants, but also having one of the best trash units with Imperial Skirmishers, meaning they can easily hold off in trash wars.
• Reduced Resource Cost: Their economic upgrades cost no wood, they get the Conscription tech for free.
• Stone Wall: Even though they're classified as this, the Vietnamese subvert the trope, lacking any building upgrades (Masonry and Architecture) that would make their defensive buildings more durable. This means the Vietnamese need to rely on their tanky Battle Elephants and archers for defensive gameplay.
• Support Party Member: The Vietnamese is the closest civilization of being a true "support" civilization for teamgames since many of their civilization bonuses are more beneficial in teamgames. Other civilizations like Italians and Berbers allow them to function as a "support" civilization, but they have other bonuses that allow them to function outside of teamgames.

Rattan Archer

An archer with very high pierce armor.

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• Annoying Arrows: They have great pierce armor, comparable to the Goths' Huskarls. They can reliably stave off enemy ranged units, despite lacking attack bonuses against them; even Skirmishers and Genitours may struggle killing them. They can also resist Scorpion bolts and base defense arrows.

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