Liked this FAQ? Click to recommend it to other GameFAQs users.

--------------------------------------------------------------
Age of Empires II: Age of Kings Strategy Guide by Alasdair Lo
System: PC, CD-ROM
Date: 25 August, 2005
Version 1.4
--------------------------------------------------------------
Table of Contents
1. Introduction [AOK1]
3. Getting Started [AOK3]
---a. Setting Up a Game [AOK3A]
---b. Building and the Economy [AOK3B]
---c. Simple Military Tactics [AOK3C]
4. All of the Construction Options [AOK4]
---a. Buildings [AOK4A]
---b. Units [AOK4B]
---c. Technologies [AOK4C]
5. The History [AOK5]
6. Strategies for the Civilizations [AOK6]
---a. Celts [AOK6A]
---b. Britons [AOK6B]
---c. Franks [AOK6C]
---d. Teutons [AOK6D]
---e. Goths [AOK6E]
---f. Vikings [AOK6F]
---g. Saracens [AOK6G]
---h. Turks [AOK6H]
---i. Byzantines [AOK6I]
---j. Persians [AOK6J]
---k. Mongols [AOK6K]
---l. Chinese [AOK6L]
---m. Japanese [AOK6M]
7. Single Player Missions [AOK7]
---a. Frankish Campaign: Joan of Arc [AOK7A]
---b. Saracen Campaign: Saladin [AOK7B]
9. Conclusion [AOK9]
Appendix I. Feedback Information [A1]

-----------------------
1. Introduction [AOK1]
-----------------------
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is the second Real Time Strategy Game 
which is jointly developed by Ensemble Studios and Microsoft Game Studios. 
The first Age of Empires game used to be based in Ancient times, in the 
Roman Empire. Now, this episode of the successful RTS series takes you 
to the Middle Ages. From the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire to the 
early Modern Times, that is, since Christopher Columbus' discovery of 
America, in 1492. The Imperial Age is obvious to this. 

This game is not just a normal Real Time Strategy. It is also jam packed 
with a practical history lesson, since the single player missions are all 
based on famous historical characters of some of the civilizations. There 
are also many historical documentations giving the general history of the 
world between 500AD and 1600AD. There are a total of 13 civilizations to 
choose from, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Since they are 
civilizations, they require many different types of goods to sustain the 
growth. The success of the army is vital to the availability of all of 
them. There is really no perfect unit in this game. All the good units 
are very expensive. OK, let's get started on this game, shall we?

-----------------
2. Updates [AOK2]
-----------------
Version 1.4:
Added the Saladin Campaign Missions 3 and 4.

Version 1.3:
Added the Saladin Campaign Missions 1 and 2.

Version 1.2:
Completed the Joan of Arc Campaign.

Version 1.1:
Added the Joan of Arc Campaign Missions 1 to 3.

--------------------------
3. Getting Started [AOK3]
--------------------------
This section is where you will learn the basics of playing Age of Empires 
II: The Age of Kings. Before you play this game, you must install it into 
your computer. Make sure that it meets the minimal system requirements! 
(Although most computers nowadays will be having processors over 2 Ghz 
fast! So you don't even need to worry to play this game from the year 2000.) 
Once you have installed the game, restart your computer and then double 
click the Age of Empires II icon on your desktop and the game will start.

-----------------------------
a. Setting Up a Game [AOK3A]
-----------------------------
Age of Empires II features a lot of different game modes. From the Main 
Menu, choose Single Player to play single player games. You can also play 
multiplayer games by joining MSN Gaming Zone. There are lots of modes for 
you to try. They include campaign mode, random map mode and many more.

Campaign Game:
In a Campaign game, you choose a campaign from a total of 4 with an extra 
training campaign. You will start at mission 1 from each of the 4 campaigns 
chosen. You must beat the mission you are given before you are allowed 
to advance to the next one. There are a total of 6 missions for each of 
the 4 campaigns. The campaigns follow the lives of great people in the 
Middle Ages. Firstly, you get to alongside Joan of Arc, a female warrior 
who liberates France from the clutches of the Britons in the 100 years 
war. You also get to fight with Saladin, a Saracen king who wants to drive 
out the Crusaders from the Holy Land. There is also Genghis Khan, the great 
Mongol Chief who extends his empire from the Mongol steppes to Central 
Europe. Finally, we have Frederick Barbarossa, a fiery redhead who wants 
to reunite all German kingdoms to reform the Holy Roman Empire.

Random Map Game:
This game mode is available in both Single Player and Multiplayer. You 
get to fight against computer or human controlled opponents (online or 
LAN) on any map you choose. The starting points should vary a lot each 
time. You get to set the starting age, the civilization, population limit 
and other factors. Or you can just simply choose everything to be random 
and fight with anything you are given. This has got to be the most commonly 
played game mode when multiplayer is concerned.

Regicide:
In a Regicide game, each side in the battle is given a King. The King has 
little health, and cannot defend himself. It is up to his subjects to defend 
his Highness. If your King is killed, you will be automatically defeated. 
Each side is given a Castle, so getting the King inside that castle is 
the first thing you should ever do. Several Villagers are provided for 
your use in the start so you can build up defences and your own army to 
fight against any intruders and kill their King.

Deathmatch:
This is the ultimate multiplayer experience of all. Each side starts with 
a lot of resources, and they are all upgrades to the max at the final 
Imperial Age (There are 4 ages that determine the technology and troop 
quality, but I will come to that later). This is just a match of brute 
force, since it seems to be a real no-brain. If every technology is already 
researched for you, you are to build up the strongest of forces in a flash 
and fight. This really is not my kind of game. But for lazy people, go 
ahead and use ultimate brute force approach.

-----------------------------------
b. Building and the Economy [AOK3B]
-----------------------------------
Before you set off to conquer all, you must have people to build up your 
buildings and the resources to fund your large army. This is where the 
building and economy section comes in.

The 4 Different Types of Resources:
Most RTS games will just give your resources in terms of dollars, but not 
in Age of Empires II. We have Wood, Food, Gold and Stone to collect. Wood 
is primarily used to build basic buildings and Siege Weapons. It can be 
collected by chopping wood and taking the wood to the Lumber Camps. Food 
is used to train infantry. Food can be obtained by various ways. By farming, 
foraging, herding sheep, fishing and hunting. Farming and Fish Traps are 
the most sustainable sources of food. All others can run out. Gold is 
probably the most important resource. To train the stronger troops like 
Champions, Knights and Camels, to research technology and to advance 
through ages, you will need to use Gold. Gold can also be used to purchase 
the other 3 commodities in the market. To get Gold, you have to find Gold 
Mines and take any findings to Mining Camps. Trading with your allies with 
the market and Trade Cogs are also a good way to raise Gold. Finally, Stone 
is used to build certain strong defensive buildings like the Walls, Towers 
and Castles. This is why Stone is also very important. Stone is the most 
expensive commodity in the Market, and the only other way to get Stone 
is to mine them from Stone Mines (400 Stone for each lump of rock), and 
returning the findings to the Mining Camps.

Villagers and their Roles:
Villagers come in male and female in Age of Empires II. They cover a wide 
variety of tasks, and their duty replaces their normal title whenever they 
are up to something. First of all, Builders are Villagers who are 
responsible in building various buildings. Farmers plough on the fields 
and harvest the food, taking them to the Mill for storage. Fishermen will 
catch fish using simple nets along the shorelines. To catch fish in the 
middle of the water, you will need to use Fishing Boats. Foragers collect 
fruits and berries from any bushes they find. They also take the food to 
the Mill. Hunters are there to kill wild deer and boars. Shepherds herd 
Sheep from the wild back to the Mills, where they use their hooked sticks 
to kill the Sheep and collect any tasty mutton they find to the Mills. 
Repairers are Villagers assigned to fix buildings and Siege Weapons. 
Lumberjacks chop wood and carry them back to the Lumber Camps. Gold Miners 
and Stone Miners work on the Gold Mines and Stone Mines found on the map, 
and take their loot back to the Mining Camps.

Harvesting Food:
Food is one abundant resource in Age of Empires II. There are just too 
many ways to collect food. They include the Berry Bushes, the wild animals 
(Deers and Wild Boars), Fishing (Both on Shore and in the middle of the 
water), Herding Sheep and Farming (On land and in water). Only the latter 
is renewable. Whenever a Farm or Fish Trap runs out of food, it will go 
dead, and you will have to order the Villager or Fishing Boat to start 
a new one. It costs a little wood to start Farms, and you can have basically 
an unlimited food supply, since wood is extremely abundant.

Whenever you see wild animals, you can order Villagers to kill them for 
food. The animal MUST be killed by the villager if the food is to be 
collected. Otherwise, it will just die. Deer have 5 HP while Boars have 
over 30. The latter also can fight back when you attack them, so you may 
have to use several Villagers to hunt Wild Boar, or you will suffer 
casualties. Sheep are much more docile and will come to your side when 
your Villagers come near them. Never allow Sheep to run alone in the field. 
This is because an enemy can walk over to the Sheep and take control of 
them, thus losing them. Collection of Food will only begin when the animal 
is dead. To make the game realistic, the dead bodies are made to rot. You 
will notice that whenever an animal is killed, the food counter will drop 
even if no villagers are touching it. This shows that the food is rotting. 
To make the most out of your game, have several Villagers collect food 
from the dead animals, and make sure the Sheep are right next to the Mill 
before you whack them to death with that hooked stick.

All About Mining:
Both Gold and Stone can be mined. Whenever you see a lump of mud sticking 
out of the ground with some yellow spots on it, you have found a Gold deposit. 
Each tile of Gold Mine holds 850 Gold. At the same time, if you happen 
to find a bunch of small grey rocks on the ground, you have found a Stone 
Deposit. In any case, it's time to defend the area and build a Mining Camp 
to start getting these mineral resources out. It is important to guard 
Gold and Stone deposits carefully, since they are all very limited 
resources. This is why Mining Camps are likely to be attacked by the enemy, 
and you had better train several Villagers to collect the stuff from the 
ground as quickly as possible.

Building and Repairing:
Villagers are the construction units of your civilization. To build a 
structure, click on a Villager, and select build building. Select the 
building you would like to build, and move the mouse over the land you 
want the building to be placed. Click one more time and the land will be 
plotted for construction, and your villager will go over to the site to 
start putting up the building. Each building takes some time to set up. 
The more villager you use on a building, the faster it is finished. While 
you are building the structure, you can cancel it by placing the stop button. 
Note that only the unused parts of your resources are refunded to you. 
For example, if a building costs 50 Wood to build and you cancel it when 
it is 50% complete, you will be refunded 25 Wood.

Whenever a Building, Siege Weapon or a Ship gets pretty banged up, you 
can send Villagers to repair it. Just select a Villager and right click 
the damaged Building or Unit to start repairs. The Villager will fix it 
with any spare materials he has. A small portion of the resources required 
to build that unit will be used. Of course, the more damaged it is, the 
more it costs to repair it to full strength. The sad thing is that even 
Gold may have to be used when you have to fix Siege Weapons and other 
battleships. In order for ships to be repaired, they must be parked close 
to the shorelines so that the Villagers can reach it.

Supporting a Population:
In Age of Empires II, there is a limiting factor that prevents the player 
from building too many units in order to outnumber the enemy. That is the 
Population limit. The Population Limit is the upper limit of units that 
you can build. It can be set in the start of any battles. For example, 
if the limit is set to 100, then all sides cannot build more than 100 units 
in total. At the same time, the units currently in the field must have 
some where to take shelter and rest. Therefore, you will need to build 
houses to support a population. Each house holds 5 people, same goes for 
the Town Centre. You can also support populations by building Castle, and 
each Castle supports 20 people. Since there is an upper limit in the amount 
of units you train, you must train your men and Villagers carefully so 
there will be enough of different people with different roles.

Training Units for Battle:
To beat the enemy, you must first recruit an army and some civilians to 
help you with construction and so on. There are so many types of units 
in this game and they are to be trained in different buildings. The Town 
Centre is used to recruit Villagers for the cause. The Barracks is to train 
Infantry Units, namely the swordsmen and spearmen. The Archery Range is 
to train Archery units, that is, units that fights using projectiles. They 
are the Archers, Skirmishers, Calvary Archers and Hand Cannoneers. The 
Stable is to train mounted units (Units on horseback). They include the 
Scout Calvary, Knights and Camels. The Market is used to trade with other 
teams using Trade Carts. The Monastery is where religious people stay and 
meditate and so on. It is also where Monks study and are sent out to convert 
the masses. The Dock is where you build ships, whether they are Fishing 
Boats, Trade Cogs or just the pure Battleships. The Siege Workshop is where 
the Siege Units are built. There are 4 different types of units, the 
Battering Rams, Mangonels (Some giant rock catapult), Scorpions (Giant 
mobile bow and arrow) and Bombard Cannons. And finally, the Castle is where 
the unique unit of each civilization is trained. Later, you will get to 
build Trebuchets, a very powerful siege unit.

Techniques in Training Units:
It is possible for you to train multiple units in battle. To train multiple 
units, select the building from which you want the unit to be trained, 
and click the button representing the unit you want several times. The 
specified quantity of units will appear in the queue. You can also queue 
up different units this way.

Another feature of buildings is the Rally Point. You click a building with 
production capabilities and then right click a position on the map to set 
up the Rally Point there. Rally points are really the Assembly Point. Any 
units trained from that building will go over to the Rally Point to assemble. 
A use for this is to have all your troops ready in the field for battle 
the moment they have completed their training. It is also possible to set 
the Rally Point on the selected building itself. If you do that, the units 
trained from that building will be garrisoned inside the building. You 
then click the unit garrisoned inside to make him get out and fight. Note 
that units sent out cannot be regarrisoned in the building unless the 
building in question is a Castle or Town Hall.

Advancing Through the Ages:
Age of Empires takes you through a millennium, from AD 500 to AD 1550. 
As time passes, technology will be more and more complex. When you jump 
from one age to the next, the technological prowess experiences a great 
leap. Usually, more units will be available, so are more important upgrades 
to your troops. Advancing to a newer age takes resources. You must collect 
enough food and gold, and have built 2 structures of the current age before 
you can upgrade. There are in total 4 ages. They are the Dark Age, the 
Feudal Age, the Castle Age and the Imperial Age. Here are some introductions 
to the 4 ages (taken from the manual).

Dark Age
"Following the final collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth 
century, Western Europe plunged into an extended period of barbarity, 
lawlessness, and economic retreat that has come to be known as the Dark 
Age. The infrastructure of the Romans, including public works, courts, 
law enforcement, education, written records, coinage, and trade, largely 
disappeared. Germanic invaders from north of the Rhine and Danube Rivers 
substituted a tribal political structure based on loyalty to local strong 
warriors. A gradual recovery was fostered by three main influences: 
exceptional leaders who stabilized large areas, the Christian Church 
(operating from Rome and Ireland), which preserved and spread a modicum 
of learning, and revitalized economies based on agriculture (especially 
the wool and cloth trade)."

The Dark Age is when the Western Roman Empire has been destroyed by 
barbarian invasions of Rome in AD 478. At that time, everything became 
very disturbing and unstable in Europe, and there really are no well defined 
countries. Basically, there are very few historical records, and hence 
we are all left in the dark. Several barbarian kingdoms start to grow, 
and when state boundaries are redefined again, civilization began to begin 
again, making it bright again for all of us.

Feudal Age
"The Frankish Empire assembled by Charlemagne (or Charles Martel) in the 
ninth century can be considered the end of the Dark Age in Europe and the 
beginning of the Feudal Age. Barbarian tribal groups that overran much 
of Western Europe were giving way to better organized regional powers. 
The church in Rome was providing a unifying social fabric. Charlemagne 
attempted to revive learning and encouraged a new interest in the arts. 
His empire fractured after his death, however, and new waves of barbarians 
undid much of his work. Political and economic power shifted away from 
kings to local lords who ruled within a shifting hierarchy of vassalage. 
The common people worked the land to support the hierarchy of nobles and 
churchmen above them."

The Feudal System works like this: The King is answered by the lords of 
the land, who are answered by the lesser lords and then by the peasants. 
In return of protection by the King, the peasants are to obey their lords 
and farm in their lands and work hard for them. It really is a long chain 
of command. If I remembered correctly, the Empire of Charlemagne flourished 
in AD 768. So that should be the starting point of the Feudal Age. (Note 
that the Feudal Age in China is way back in the BC in the Western Zhou 
dynasty! People there are already obeying the Tang Emperor unconditionally 
at the same time. Hee hee... I smell inconsistency)

Castle Age
"Castles began appearing across the landscape of Europe in the ninth 
century as local lords sought to solidify their power. Castles protected 
them from neighbors and provided a safe haven from which mounted warriors 
could ride out and control the nearby country. Typical of the Castle Age 
was the conquest of Wales by Edward I of England. By placing a series of 
massive castles at strategic points throughout Wales, Edward accomplished 
his conquest with a minimum of fighting. The castles were impregnable to 
the scattered warriors of Wales. English soldiers inside could ride out 
at their leisure and control the conduct of trade, gathering of crops, 
and collection of taxes. The Castle Age witnessed a rise in population, 
economic growth, increased trade, the Crusades to the Holy Land, a new 
interest in the arts, the rise of knights, and the formation of great 
kingdoms."

Finally, the defining factor of the Middle Ages has arrived. It's the castle. 
Castles are very large stone fortresses that are used for a large variety 
of purposes like being the regional leader's residence, the local 
government house, the local supply warehouse and the local prison. Since 
Castles handle a wide variety of responsibilities, it is important for 
the lord to maintain control of his castle. Otherwise, if the castle is 
lost, all the land around it will also be lost!

Imperial Age
"The rise of great kings and their quest for empire brought about the final 
segment of the Middle Ages that can be called the Imperial Age. The feudal 
system was being replaced by kings at the head of nations in England, France, 
Spain, and Scandinavia. Trade was booming and cities were growing in size 
and power. The Renaissance was underway in Italy and spreading across 
Europe. Technology and learning surpassed that of the ancient world. 
Firearms and other innovations brought an end to the military dominance 
of knights and castles. This end of the Middle Ages can be marked by several 
important events, including the Turkish capture of Constantinople, the 
discovery of the New World, trading contact by sea with Asia, and Martin 
Luther's Reformation."

This is when things get complicated. People are starting to fancy the old 
Roman culture and the Renaissance has begun. Many new inventions and 
paintings were made at this point. People began to become open minded to 
the society and the power of the Church is weakening. This is the 
Enlightenment. It led to the splitting of the church into the Catholic 
and Protestant Churches. This Age is also when Christopher Columbus 
discovered America, and started the Spanish conquest there. The Byzantine 
Empire finally fell after more than a millennium to the Turks. The world 
is never going to be the same again! It's the start of the Modern Age.

Upgrading and Research:
When you advance to a new age, many units can be upgraded to a stronger 
version. Just click the button for the upgrade and all of that particular 
units will be replaced with the newer version. Of course, it takes time 
and resources to upgrade. Researching new technologies can also improve 
the abilities of the units you have on the field. Depending on what units 
are affected, different research will require different types of resources. 
For example, if you are researching a new armor for your units, you must 
have sufficient food and gold. If you need building upgrades, you may need 
wood and stone to carry them out. Most Armor and Weapon upgrades are found 
in the Blacksmith, and other general building upgrades are found in the 
University. Ship related upgrades are found in the Dock, and Monk related 
upgrades are to be researched in the Monastery. To improve the Villagers' 
abilities in collecting resources, simply upgrade from the Mill, Lumber 
Camp or Mining Camp, depending on what type of upgrade you need.

Trading and Tribute:
As you can see, Gold is a very valuable resource that you can never get 
enough of. However, Gold stocks are very limited in this game, and you 
will easily exhaust Gold deposits. So how do you solve the problem and 
continue to earn more gold? Simple. It's to trade. If you have a Market 
set up, you can build Trade Carts to travel to other team's markets to 
carry Gold back. The further their Market to yours, the more Gold you can 
acquire. Trading is definitely important when you are playing with allies. 
Also, if there are 3 players or more, and they are not allied with each 
other, you should leave your opponent's Market intact while you defeat 
hi. After that, change stance with him to Ally. You can then trade with 
this dead Markey to earn lots of cash. Also, Trade Carts are vulnerable 
to attack. So, make sure you station Guard Towers or units to guard the 
Trade Route to ensure that you can gain money. The same goes for the seaways 
for your Trade Cogs. (Sea trading is possible.)

When playing with an ally, you may want to pay tribute to him when he has 
problems with a resource or two. For instance, if he is lacking Food and 
you have surplus, consider paying tribute to him to help him with his 
supplies. At first, paying tributes requires you to pay a transaction fee. 
But with certain upgrades in the Market, you can pay tribute for nothing 
at all. This can be achieved in the Castle Age. But still, it's unlikely 
your opponent will become desperate until it's time for the Castle Age.

Buying Commodities from the Market:
The Market is also a place where you buy and sell goods. You get to buy 
and sell Wood, Food and Stone in units of 100. The value of a good when 
sold is always less than your buying price. The laws of economics govern 
the values of goods. The higher the demand, the higher the price. The higher 
the supply, the lower the price. For instance, if you continuously sell 
Wood, the value of Wood in the market will drop, and if you continuously 
buy Stone, the value of Stone in the Market to rise. To lower the prices 
of goods by 15%, consider researching Guilds during the Imperial Age.

----------------------------------
c. Simple Military Tactics [AOK3C]
----------------------------------
Looking Around:
Like many RTS games, Age of Empires II requires you to select units by 
clicking them or pulling out a box to selecting a group. Afterwards, you 
move your mouse over to the desired location and right click there for 
the unit to move. Each unit has its own sight range. This is the distance 
they can see things. If a certain part of the map has no one there, then 
it will be shadowed out in a fog of war. This means that you can order 
your units to go there, but you won't know what enemy units will be there. 
It is possible to see what your ally sees by researching Cartography from 
the Market. There is also a way to see what your enemy sees. It's by 
researching Spies in the Castle during the Imperial Age. However, that 
is extremely expensive and not worth it.

Different Features of the Terrain:
The battlefield is often vast, and your troops will be required to cross 
through many rough places to get to the enemies' base. All the maps will 
be either featuring a temperate climate with sufficient grass, a desert 
landscape with lots of sand and oases as well as winter landscape with 
all the snow. Of course, all of them are forms of land, and any type of 
unit can pass through. Besides, land, there are bodies of water everywhere. 
Now, in Age of Empires II, land based troops cannot swim at all. To cross 
through bodies of water, those units must be sent into Transport Ships 
for transportation. If you see green vegetation on certain parts of the 
water, then fine. Those are the shallow parts of the water. All units can 
wade or sail through them. Of course, naval units can sail through any 
body of water, and cannot sail on land. (No Hovercrafts yet, mate.) 

At the same time, there are cliffs and ridges. These are completely 
impassable to any unit. However, if you get the higher ground, then you 
can have the advantage. This is because all ballistic units get attack 
bonuses when they are firing at units at the bottom of the cliffs. Therefore 
they will suffer more, and probably cannot fire back as easily.

Grouping Units into Teams:
You may want to separate your attacking force into several teams so that 
they answer separately to your orders. To do so, just select all the units 
you want to be part of that team, and press a number from 1 to 0 on the 
Keyboard while holding the Ctrl key. The mentioned number will appear 
beneath the unit when selected. Then to select that group of unit, all 
you have to do is to key in the designated number for that group of units 
to be selected. A tactic would be to assign all infantrymen to number 1, 
archers to number 2, cavalry to team number 3. Then the 3 different types 
of fighters can move independently and flexibly, and won't be hindered 
by some clumsy formations.

It is also possible to add units to an existing team. So if team 1 is set, 
and you want more of your fighters to join up, you can simply select those 
units, and press the number corresponding to the team you want to add the 
units to while holding down the Shift key. This is one feature of the game 
that is not found in Command and Conquer. So you don't have to reset the 
team numbers again. Thanks, Microsoft.

The Use of Waypoints:
When you order units to move around on the map, they usually will try to 
move to the area while travelling through the shortest distance possible. 
This is usually not a bad thing. But what if there is a large group of 
enemies in the way, or you run into a Castle or a series of enemy defences? 
You will definitely be slaughtered before you knows what happened. You 
can always manually customize the path chosen by the units by clicking 
on each point on the map as they travel around, but this wastes precious 
time and is definitely annoying. So what do you do?

The answer is simple. Waypoints. It's just like the Rainbow Six series. 
You set a group of predefined points on the map, and the units will follow 
through the points automatically. It is quite easy to set up waypoints. 
First, you select the units you want to move. Then you hold down the Shift 
key, and scroll around the map, right clicking to set up all the way points 
you can go until you reach the destination. Once the final waypoint is 
set up, just right click that point one more time, and all of those units 
will move according to those waypoints, and you can forget about them as 
they travel for the time being.

Warning! You are under attack!
You will attack your enemies, and your enemies can attack you. When your 
units are attacked by enemies, you will be notified by a special tone on 
the speaker, and the "You are under attack!" message will appear on the 
left of the screen. The sound you hear is dependent on which types of units 
are under attack. If you engage in a battle with your enemy's soldiers, 
you will hear the sound of a battle horn. If you hear the sound of bells, 
then you must act quickly since your Villagers are likely to be under attack. 
It's time to hide the women and children!

Garrisoning Units:
It is possible to garrison units inside buildings in order to surprise 
the enemy as they come out. Sometimes, it is to enhance the attack power 
of certain buildings, notably the towers and castle. When a building is 
garrisoned, a flag appears on its roof. However, only you and your allies 
can see the flags. Allied units can also be garrisoned in buildings. However, 
if you suddenly declare them as your enemies, then they will be kicked 
out. When a unit is garrisoned in a Guard Tower or Castle, they will slowly 
regenerate health. Many buildings can be garrisoned, although only Guard 
Towers, Town Centres and Castles can be entered and exited all the time.

Barracks can garrison 10 infantrymen, Archery Ranges can garrison 10 
Archers, Stables can garrison 10 Cavalry units, Siege Workshops can 
garrison 10 siege weapons, Docks can garrison 10 ships, Monasteries can 
hide 10 monks inside. So, they are all going in units of 10. Towers garrison 
5 infantrymen or archers. Castles can garrison up to 20 of any units but 
Siege Weapons. Note that any units garrisoned inside the former production 
structures cannot attack from inside that building, and to hide them there, 
you must set the rally point on that production building.

As you garrison Archers inside towers and castles, you will notice that 
there is a number in brackets added next to the base attack power of that 
structure. This number in brackets is the Multiplier of the attack. Since 
more arrows are fired from the tower, the damage will also be multiplied. 
For instance, if a tower has attack 6(4), it means that the total attack 
is 6 times 4, a total of 24.

The Usage of Relics:
In the Middle Ages, people are so influenced by the Church that they would 
like to visit them and get blessed with some imaginary holy power and 
whatsoever. The same applies to Age of Empires II. When a Relic is 
garrisoned inside a Monastery, people around the known world will be so 
astounded that they will pay you gold in small amounts time after time. 
That's it, a method of collecting unlimited Gold! If you find a Relic, 
better hurry up and go get it! Please note that the average infantryman 
is not able to perform such delicate tasks. So you must send a Monk over 
to pick it up. (Just select the Monk and right click on the Relic.) Then 
ask him to place the Relic into the Monastery, and the Relic will be placed 
inside, allowing you to earn Gold slowly but surely.

Relics are not just simple cash cows. (Although the Church really cashed 
in by those foolish mortals those days!) If you manage to find all the 
Relics on the map and place them in one of your Monasteries, a countdown 
timer using years as units will appear. Now, you can start play a defensive 
game. If the timer runs out and you still have the Relics inside, you will 
automatically win. (This occurs only if you allow Relic Victories.)

Converting Enemy Units and their Buildings:
Every RTS must have a unit that is responsible for taking control of the 
enemies' things and placing them to your side. No, there are no Engineers 
or Capture Building abilities as in Command and Conquer. However, remember 
that a lot of people in the Middle Ages are motivated by their faith in 
their leader or their religion. So, all you need is a little persuasion 
to make the enemy come over to you. Such is the role of the Monks in Age 
of Empires II: the Age of Kings.

Monks are to convert enemies. To convert enemies, select a Monk and then 
right click the enemy you want to convert. The Monk will walk in range 
of the enemy, and wave his magic staff or whatsoever and there will be 
some funny tenor or base church singer oooing at the enemy. It will take 
sometime for the enemy to be brainwashed, and if your Monk doesn't get 
killed, the enemy will come to your side just in time. Whew. This is a 
risky exercise. Once a Monk has completed his little ritual of sorts, you 
will find a certain gauge on the status bar at the bottom of the screen. 
It slowly goes up from 0 to 100 percent. This is the faith of the Monk. 
He has to rest for a short time before he can convert again.

It is possible for all Monks to convert enemies that have brains, that 
is infantrymen, archers, cavalry. However, to convert units with no brains 
(like buildings and siege units) or units with as much brains as you (other 
Monks), you will need to research certain technologies in the Monastery 
such as Redemption. To convert Siege Units or buildings, the Monk must 
stand right next to the enemy item the whole time, so if the enemy will 
keep his Siege Weapon on the move, then tough luck. Buildings definitely 
will be much easier that way. Note that any units or buildings converted 
to your side, they maintain any stats they have, and cannot be upgraded.

Healing your units:
As in all RTS, there must be a unit that can give your units health refills. 
It's never any fun to lost HP and find it to be permanent right? This is 
why there are always medics available. However, in the Middle Ages, there 
are no such things. It is only after the Renaissance that the doctors became 
real doctors again. But before then, it is often dependent on the person's 
willingness to fight against their disease, God's will or simply their 
faith that whether they will live or die.

Did someone say faith? That's right. Monks can also heal your own units 
back to full health. Just move your injured units to the Monk and he will 
start waving the magic staff and you will find your unit's health filling 
up again. The Monks heal very slowly, and cannot heal themselves, so you 
are recommended to have at least 2 Monks to be self-sustaining. It also 
seems that Monks can heal units garrisoned inside buildings if they are 
close enough. Try it out and see for yourself.

Movement Tactics:
When a unit is on the move, he can be asked to patrol, guard or follow 
the enemy. When you ask a unit to patrol, he protects an area that you 
assign him to. He will attack any enemies that come into range, but he 
will not follow them non-stop once they leave his area. It's like a loyal 
guard dog. To order a unit to patrol around an area. First order him to 
move to a spot inside the area you want to patrol. Then click the patrol 
button on the command bar at the bottom of the screen. Right click the 
area you want to patrol the other extreme of the unit's patrol path. The 
unit will then move back and forth between the point he is initially on 
and the point you designate just now. Way points also work with patrols. 
You can hold down shift and designate few points for the unit to move.

If you are annoyed that your enemy is always hacking down on your economic 
units, notably the Villager or Trade Carts, you can send units to guard 
them. To guard, simply the select the unit you want to use, and click the 
guard button in the bottom bar. Then right click the unit you want him 
to guard. Then, the unit will follow the target so that it is always within 
his line of sight. This helps in stopping any ambushes.

You can also order your units to follow an enemy unit. To do so, click 
the unit, and then the Follow button. Then right click the enemy unit you 
want him to follow. This way, your unit will always stay within a certain 
distance from that enemy to ensure that he is always in his line of sight. 
Scout Cavalry units are most useful for this, and if you are lucky, you 
may be able to find your enemies' camps.

Combat Stances:
In Age of Empires II, you can assign your units to different stances. This 
is their attitude towards the other troops. The default stance is the Attack 
Stance. The unit will move to attack any enemies that come into their sight, 
and they will continue to follow the enemy until he is destroyed. There 
is no limit to the distance travelled, so you will find an unattended unit 
moving a long way across the map under Attack Stance. If you set a unit 
into the Defensive Stance, he is in Defensive mode. He will stay in one 
area and only attack enemies that come within his line of sight. This is 
just like guard mode, only that the unit is not guarding anything. Use 
this if you want to leave a group of units unattended for a short time. 
When ranged units are ordered to Stand Ground, they stay in one position 
and attack enemies only if they come into their range. This stance is 
recommended by Archers and other ranged units. If you set your units to 
No Attack Stance, they will not attack at all, even if they are being 
attacked by enemy units.

Formations:
Whenever there are more than one units ordered to move around together, 
they will be arranged in formations. The strongest units are always placed 
closest to the enemy, while ranged units and Siege Weapons are placed at 
the back. There are 4 different types of Formations. Line Formation is 
the default formation. Units are placed in a line and are packed together 
tightly. This formation is what you see in those movies of the ancient 
times like Alexander. If you have a group of infantrymen and archers only, 
you should consider this since the archers can fire from the back. 

Box Formation is recommended if you have vulnerable units like Monks and 
Siege Weapons. Stronger units like the cavalry will surround the weak units 
in a box in an attempt to protect them from attackers. When units are 
arranged in a Staggered Formation, they are arranged in lines, but they 
are a little bit scattered. This helps minimize damage from siege weapons, 
in particular the Magonel when they are packed together in a Line Formation. 
Finally, there is the Flank Formation. Your units will separate into 2 
discrete groups that attempt to charge from 2 sides and surround the enemy 
while attacking. Only use this if you have a cavalry based force.

-----------------------------------------
4. All of the Construction Options [AOK4]
-----------------------------------------
In Age of Empires II, you get a wide variety of things to build, train 
and research. Each civilization can train different things to make them 
different from each other. Of course, every side has its own unique unit. 
Here are all of the things you can build in the game.

--------------------
a. Buildings [AOK4A]
--------------------
Town Center
"All villages and towns had an administrative center that was the seat 
of governmental power and leadership. During the Dark Ages this might have 
been the local leader's home. Later it might have been the town hall or 
local lord's manor house. The town center was often the place where 
important supplies were stored, especially food surpluses. The 
destruction of the town center usually meant the loss of the town's 
governmental infrastructure. If this could not be restored, the town or 
village ceased to function."

The Town Center is like the Construction Yards and Command Centers of other 
RTS games. It's like the heart of your operations. Why? It's because that 
it is used to recruit villagers, deposit all the 4 resources at the 
beginning of the game, to advance through the ages, to research technology 
that enhances your production units, that is your villagers and increases 
your buildings' line of sight. Each side must start with a Town Center 
in the beginning of a game, and more Town Centers can be built around the 
map so that you can build extra bases from Castle Age then on. (So if you 
lose your Town Center during the Feudal Age, you will be in serious trouble! 
But don't worry, it's basically impossible for it to be destroyed then, 
given the weak units available.)

The Town Center also features an alarm bell. Ringing it during an enemy 
attack will cause all the Villagers to take shelter inside the Town Center 
to fire at the enemies. There is a button made especially for that on the 
Town Center. Town Centers also are the Villagers' quarters. Each Town 
Center supports 5 units of population, much like houses. Up to 15 human 
units can be garrisoned inside the Town Center to heal or support its fire. 
As long as one villager or archer is garrisoned inside the Town Center, 
it can fire arrows at the enemy. It's like a mini-castle. Of course, the 
more archers garrisoned inside, the stronger is its attacking power. Like 
the Towers, Town Centers can have their attack power and range upgraded 
by Fletching, Bodkin Arrow and Bracer in the Blacksmith.

House
"During the Middle Ages in Europe, peasants often kept farm animals in 
a separate room or on the ground floor of their houses. Merchants and 
craftsmen also used ground floors as a place of business with living areas 
above. Lords lived in larger manor houses with kitchens separated to reduce 
the risk of fire. The homes of lords in the Dark Ages were fortified before 
the advent of castles."

Houses are where your Villagers and soldiers live outside of battle. (I 
am a bit surprised by this revelation. If you are supposed to be fast and 
always on the move, why build places of permanent residence?) They are 
very important in production, since the more you have built, the more 
population you can support. Each house supports 5 units of population for 
the price of 50 Wood. (Man, must be a very crowded house!) 

Whenever you are attacking an enemy, you should always target the Houses 
as well as his production facilities, since the smaller the population 
he can support, the fewer the units he can train to fight back at you. 
Houses are very vulnerable to attack, so you should better build them far 
behind the entrance to your camp, or you will lose the ability to create 
new soldiers when the need arises. When the population limit has been 
reached, your upper limit in population will no longer increase when you 
build more houses. But it's always a good idea to build in excess.

Meanwhile, you will be notified when you will need to build an extra house 
to support your population. In Single Player missions, you may be provided 
with equivalents of houses like Yurts and Pavilions. Those also support 
5 units of population each.

Mill
"One of the early industrial enterprises of the Middle Ages was the grinding 
Mill. Handed down from antiquity, this technology greatly sped the 
otherwise backbreaking process of grinding wheat and other grains into 
flour. Mills used water, wind, and animal power to turn the grinding stone. 
Grain was converted into flour and the mill owner kept a percentage of 
the flour as compensation. Mills might be owned by a local lord, a monastery, 
or a local entrepreneur. The profits of mills led to conflict and 
competition, and the right to grind grain for a community had to be paid 
for and defended. Millers could become modestly wealthy. They became part 
of the rising middle class of merchants and craftsmen that grew in 
importance as the Middle Ages progressed."

The Mill is where the wheat is ground into flour by a wind powered grinder. 
It is also where food is stored by your civilization in Age of Empires 
II. Whenever the Villagers have collected berries, fish, meat or grain 
to the extent that their hands are full, they will carry all that they 
have and put it into the nearest Mill. The Mill is also where you research 
upgrades to improve your farms. You can research the Horse Collar, Heavy 
Plow and Crop Rotation. These newfangled farming techniques serve to 
increase the amount of food provided by farms. Of course, always build 
Mills near food sources to reduce collection time. An ideal way of 
configuring Mills is to build a Mill, and have it surrounded by 8 farms. 
This is the most efficient way to set up Farms.

Farm
"The technology of farming was carried forward into the Middle Ages and 
improved. Northern European soils were often rich glacial deposits hidden 
under dense forests. Over the course of the Middle Ages, much of this land 
was cleared and converted into farms. Key technology improvements in 
farming were the improved horse harness, the heavy plow, and crop rotation. 
The new horse harness did not choke the animal and increased pulling power. 
The heavy plow could cut into the dense soils. Farms in Europe were largely 
communal affairs where each family received the produce of several rows 
in the field. The production of some rows went directly to the local lord 
as his rent."

Farms are where, well food is grown. In this case, I am betting on corn 
or rice since the stuff grown is green. Farms provide a renewable mean 
of food. This is because it only requires wood to build up farms, and the 
there are plenty of trees to go round in the game.

Once the berries, fish, deer, wild boar and sheep have been collected and 
exhausted, you can start resorting to farms to gather more food. A farm 
has a limited amount of food, and once it is built, the food is already 
available for collection. (It seems that the building process of this 
building is the part where the Villagers sow the seeds and let the crops 
grow.) The amount of food is limited, and you can check the amount of food 
left on each farm by selecting the farm. Once the food reaches zero, the 
Farm becomes "dead" and you will hear a notification sound. Then just order 
the Villager to rebuild the farm and it will start again. You can increase 
the amount of food available on farms by researching the Horse Collar, 
Heavy Plow and Crop Rotation in the Mill.

Mining Camp
"Mining continued throughout the Middle Ages, especially for iron, salt, 
copper, tin, gold, coal, and silver. The invention of gunpowder greatly 
increased demand for sulfur and saltpeter. By 500 AD, valuable surface 
deposits were rare and mines had to be driven into the earth. The desire 
to improve mining productivity and safety led to many important technology 
improvements. Early tramways for pulling ore carts out of mines 
foreshadowed railroads of the future. The demand for more powerful mine 
shaft pumps to pull out water and push in fresh air eventually led to steam 
engines."

Mining Camps are where the miners of Age of Empires keep their tools, and 
also is the place where the Villagers take their findings in the Gold and 
Stone Mines. For your information, Gold Mines are denoted by pieces of 
mud that stick out of the earth with chunks of golden stuff on it. Stone 
Mines are denoted by pieces of grey lumps of stone sticking out of the 
earth. You should also build the Mining Camps right next to the deposits 
to speed up the collection rate. Of course, all minerals are limited, and 
you can click on the Gold Mine or Stone Mine to determine how much Gold 
or Stone is left in the mine.

The Mining Camps are also where you research mining technologies to 
increase the speed in which the Villagers mine the Stone and Gold. To be 
precise, Gold Mining and Stone Mining are researched during the Feudal 
Age while Gold Shaft Mining and Stone Shaft Mining are researched during 
the Castle Age. Why on earth must Gold Mining and Stone Mining be researched 
in those camps if the Villagers have been mining during the Dark Ages! 
(I guess they were just picking the minerals off the ground and the surface 
during those different times. Check the description above to find out.)

Lumber Camp
"The great forests of Dark Age Europe were an important natural resource 
that was converted into wood for building and firewood for fuel. Lumber 
was cut from tree logs at a lumber camp. The early lumber camps were highly 
labor-intensive. A log was laid perpendicular to the ground above a pit. 
With one man above ground and one in the pit, a long iron saw was used 
to rip boards from the log. In the Middle Ages, better technology was 
developed to use water or animal power to drive iron saws and increase 
productivity."

The Lumber Camp looks like a pile of wood with a crane above it for all 
civilizations. It must be where those lumberjacks camp out while off work. 
It is also where the Villagers assigned to be Lumberjacks take all their 
findings from the pine, oak or whatever trees to add to your stockpile. 
I don't need to tell you what trees look like, but you will be interested 
to know that all trees carry 100 Wood. Wood is limited, but there really 
are so many trees to last several long rounds of battles, so let's just 
consider them to be unlimited in supply, OK? (Since Farms are built by 
wood, we can also consider Food to be unlimited in supply.)

Please also try to build Lumber Camps as close to the trees as possible 
to minimize collection time. You are also advised to build them right next 
to a large forest. As time passes, you will notice that the collection 
time is slowly increased. This is because as trees disappear, the trees 
behind will be chopped down. The distance traveled increases. So be ready 
to scrap old Lumber Camps and build ones closer to the trees at the back. 
Finally, you get to research lumber techniques each age to improve the 
speed of the Lumberjacks. They are Double Bit Axe, Bow Saw and 2 Man Saw. 
(I have never seen villagers sawing the trees though.)

Dock
"The emergence of deep-draft merchant ships led to the construction of 
docks where these ships could tie up and unload. Ships of this new design 
could not be dragged ashore easily for unloading. Associated with docks 
were the shipyards where ships were built."

I am amazed that the Dock is considered to be an Economic Structure. It 
builds more military ships than economic ships. For your information, you 
can use Docks to build Fishing Boats during the Dark Age; Galleys, Transport 
Ships and Trade Cogs during the Feudal Age, War Galleys, Demolition Ships 
and Fire Ships during the Castle Age; Galleons, Heavy Demolition Ships, 
Fast Fire Ships, Cannon Galleons and Elite Cannon Galleons during the 
Imperial Age. As you can see, most of these units are used to attack enemies 
from the water, so it's really shocking for me. Of course, some of those 
units mentioned above are in the same line as their predecessors in the 
previous age, and substantial research is needed to upgrade the ships to 
the newer versions. At the same time, ship related technologies are also 
researched in the Dock. There are Careening (Castle Age), Dry Dock 
(Imperial Age) and Shipwright (Imperial Age).

If you click a Dock of an ally or an enemy, you will find that beneath 
the title in the bottom bar, there is an icon of Gold with a number next 
to it. That is the amount of Gold your Trade Cogs will get when they pay 
that Dock a visit. That's right, Trade Cogs are another way for you to 
acquire unlimited Gold. The further away the Dock, the more Gold your Trade 
Cogs will return. Of course, Trade Routes in the sea are also vulnerable 
to attack by enemy ships, so you must send ships to guard them.

A final economic function for the Dock is to collect food from the water. 
Fishing Boats get to venture into the water to find fish schools. That 
is when they start collecting food, and then return their catches to the 
dock. This time, the distance rule does not apply as the Docks must be 
built on the shorelines.

Fish Trap
"Dried and salted fish were valuable commodities in the Middle Ages because 
they were a source of protein that could be transported and stored. Cod 
caught off Iceland and Norway was an especially valuable resource. Fishing 
technology improvements included the fish trap that allowed the netting 
of fish migrating up rivers and in coastal areas."

I almost forgot about another valuable food source. Farms are to grow grain 
and vegetables on land. And what about the sea? When the schools of fish 
are exhausted, will the fishing boats have any more meaning to exist? Or 
shall they be declared redundant and fired? The answer is definitely no. 
Fish Traps are the solution. They are the renewable source of food in the 
water. Since Villagers cannot swim, it's up to the Fishing Boats to build 
the Fish Traps. Farms can be built in a flash, but the case is not the 
same in Fish Traps. It takes a considerable amount of time to set up a 
fish trap. (To be precise, each percent takes maybe a half second to fill 
up, while the Farms are done in less than a few seconds.) However, the 
good thing is that those food stocks are out of reach from most land and 
ranged units, and it's easier to guard them from ships than when on land.

The food carrying capacity of Fishing Boats is around 20 each go, and is 
almost on par with that of the Villagers. Also, each Fish Trap carries 
around 700 Food, and hence they don't have to be replaced that often. (This 
may also be the reason why there are no technologies to increase the amount 
of food provided by a Fish Trap.) When a Fish Trap runs out of food, you 
hear the same sound that would be played when a Farm is exhausted. Just 
select the Fishing Boat and right click the expired Fish Trap and a new 
one will be built to replace the one that is used up. (Don't worry, traps 
do not die, they are made of dead material already!)

Market
"As the Dark Ages gave way to better economic conditions, the exchange 
of produce and craft goods increased. Towns of all sizes set aside an area 
for a market where farmers and tradesmen could set up stalls for selling 
their merchandise. One or more days each week were designated market days 
and became the social highlight of the typical workweek. The market was 
also a place for the exchange of ideas, entertainment (bards, acrobats, 
musicians), and the spreading of news."

Markets are really pure economical structures, since most of the activities 
there involve the usage of Gold. Whenever you select a Market, you will 
get to buy commodities from it. Gold is the official currency accepted 
all around the world in Age of Empires II. You mainly get to buy Wood, 
Food and Stone in the market. Since the supply of the former 2 is much 
more abundant than the latter, you will be buying Stone all the time to 
build more and more Towers and Castles. 

The laws of supply and demand apply to all transactions. The more of the 
same commodity sold to the Market, the higher the Supply, as a result, 
the market price of that item will drop. On the other hand, the more of 
the same commodity bought from the Market, the Demand will be seen to be 
rising, and the market price of that item will be increased. You can lower 
the market price of the commodities by researching Guilds during the 
Imperial Age. Unfortunately, you can only research that once.

The Market is also used to research trade related technologies. You get 
to research Cartography and Coinage in the Feudal Age and Banking in the 
Castle Age. You get to build Trade Carts to. See your allies' or fallen 
enemies' markets? Click on them, and you will find a Gold icon with a number 
next to it. This shows how much Gold your Trade Cart will collect when 
it pays that Market a visit. The further away the Market, the more Gold 
you can get. Hence the quest for unlimited Gold. Of course, Trade Routes 
are often treacherous, so have some units to guard the convoys.

Blacksmith
"Iron-working technology had been learned by the barbarian tribes of Europe 
prior to the fall of Rome and was carried forward into the Dark Ages. Iron 
working was done at the blacksmith, named partially for the black iron 
worked there and for the black soot that covered the workers each day. 
At the blacksmith iron was forged and hammered into tools, weapons, shields, 
and armor. The ability to make superior weapons and armor became a highly 
prized and well ewarded skill. Blacksmiths, armorers, and weapon makers 
moved into the rising middle class."

The Blacksmith is the workshop where swords, arrows, shields and plates 
of armor are forged using hot iron over burning coal. In the world of Age 
of Empires II, the Blacksmith is also where you research upgrades to your 
units' weapons and armor. In doing so, their Attack power, Armor, Pierce 
Armor will be upgraded, and they can withstand much better against enemy 
attacks. The Blacksmith becomes available as soon as you reach Feudal Age. 
There are a total of 5 different types of upgrades available. One is related 
to the infantry and cavalry's attack power, one is related to infantry 
armor, one related to cavalry armor, one related to the attack power and 
range of the archers, and finally one related to the armor of archers.

At first, the Blacksmith upgrades do not require Gold. However, once you 
reach the Castle Age, all upgrades will require you to pay gold in addition 
to food. In the Feudal Age, you can research Forging, Scale Mail Armor, 
Scale Barding Armor, Fletching and Padded Archer Armor. In Castle Age, 
you can research Iron Casting, Chain Mail Armor, Chain Barding Armor, 
Bodkin Arrow and Leather Archer Armor. In the Imperial Age, you can research 
the Blast Furnace, Plate Mail Armor, Plate Barding Armor, Bracer and Ring 
Archer Armor. The availability of the upgrades varies with civilization, 
so you must check your technology tree to find which ones are there for 
your research. These technologies have got to be the most important in 
the game, this is because a little difference in attack power or armor 
can determine your civilization's strengths and weaknesses.

Monastery
"Monasteries were closed religious communities to which particularly 
devout priests, scholars, and believers withdrew for a life of prayer, 
study, and service. Monastic life was embraced by several religions, 
including Christianity and Buddhism. Residents of monasteries became 
known as monks. In parts of Dark Age Europe, monasteries were the only 
remaining centers of learning. Irish monks, for example, were instrumental 
in preserving much ancient knowledge and spreading it back into Europe 
as the Dark Ages waned. Over time monasteries grew rich in donated land. 
They became very important local institutions as a source of educated men 
who could serve as administrators. They also provided health care and 
emergency relief from their stockpiles of food."

Monasteries are the places where the Monks reside, teach, receive training, 
meditate and provide free food. The Church's influence really is extremely 
great. However, in Age of Empires II, they are only used to train Monks. 
I find it questionable that Monasteries are used as Economic Buildings. 
After all, Monks have more military uses than economic ones. They heal 
your wounded soldiers with their magic and can attempt to convert the 
enemies, making them join your side. Monasteries are available from the 
Castle Age onwards, since the healing abilities can make your troops self 
sustaining, it is very important to race towards the Castle Age in 
multiplayer games. (Assuming you start at the Dark Age.)

Of course, the Monastery is where learning is done, and besides Monks, 
you have access to many types of technology. Most of them are related to 
the Monks' ability and your units' ability in dealing with Monks. In the 
Castle Age, you can research Redemption, Fervor, Sanctity and Atonement. 
During the Imperial Ages, you get to research Block Printing, Illumination 
and Faith. All of these upgrades require lots of Gold, and sometimes may 
cost you up to a thousand every time. 

Monasteries are also places where you store Relics. You use Monks to find 
Relics on the map, pick them up, and take them back to the Monastery for 
storage. When a Relic is stored inside a Monastery, you will slowly get 
an unlimited supply of Gold. When you have found all the Relics and placed 
them into Monasteries, you will be given a countdown timer. As long as 
you can keep the Relics in the Monastery for the given number of years 
(in game years, not real years!) You will automatically win the game.) 
So at that point, let's play defensive.

University
"During the bleakest days of the Dark Ages, learning was all but 
extinguished in much of Europe. A scattering of priests and monks in 
isolated monasteries carried forward the ability to read and write and 
kept books alive by copying old manuscripts. Charlemagne attempted to 
reverse this trend by creating a school to train men who could help him 
control his empire, but this experiment largely disappeared under a new 
wave of barbarian invasions from the north and east. The first centers 
of higher learning were associated with great cathedral towns such as 
Cambridge, Oxford, Padua, and Paris. Future priests and church leaders 
received training in Latin, the Bible, Christian philosophy, and other 
Christian writings. Medicine, science, and mathematics did not enter the 
curricula until much later. Graduates of these first universities led the 
Church and provided a pool of educated men who served generations of 
European kings as advisors and administrators."

The University is where people learn and study new technologies. And no, 
there are no scholars or units like that in Age of Empires II. The University, 
like the Blacksmith is there for you to research technologies and only 
technologies. This time round, these upgrades are all related to buildings 
and towers. Some are related to ballistic weapons. Universities are 
available during the Castle Age. (People are ignorant before that! They 
just believe in the Church's teachings!) When it comes to defenses, the 
University has technologies that increase the hit points of buildings by 
a certain percentage. There are also upgrades that transform your old Watch 
Tower to stronger versions. Same goes for the walls. Certain upgrades 
greatly improve the accuracy of the archers, and another one gives you 
insight into the world of gunpowder!

In Castle Age, you can research Ballistics, Murder Holes, Heated Shot, 
Masonry and the Treadmill Crane. In the Imperial Age, you get to research 
Siege Engineers, Architecture and Chemistry. You can also upgrade your 
Stone Walls into Fortified Walls in the Castle Age. Watch Towers are to 
be upgraded into Guard Towers in the Castle Age, and Keeps in the Imperial 
Age. Once Chemistry is researched, you get to learn how to build Bombard 
Cannons. Again, different technologies are available to different 
civilizations. So don't be surprised if you don't have some of the techs.

Wonder
"One distinguishing cultural characteristic of the great Middle Age 
civilizations was architecture. Buildings in Japan, Scandinavia, Britain, 
Constantinople, and Arabia looked quite different and employed different 
construction techniques. In many cases, particularly noteworthy buildings 
stand as icons for the building civilization, marking it for all time as 
a culture that achieved greatness, if only temporarily. Examples of such 
Middle Age cultural icons are the Cathedral at Chartres, Charlemagne's 
Palace, and the Hagia Sophia at Constantinople."

What's a Wonder of the World, you say? It's some famous monument that shows 
the world the glory of your civilization and the wonders of your culture. 
Different civilizations have different Wonders. For example, the Saracens 
have some weird spiral tower, the Byzantines have a very large cathedral 
with a dome roof, and the Mongols have an enormous towering tent that is 
supposed to be the mobile residence of the Great Genghis Khan himself.

Wonders are extremely expensive to build. You will need 1000 Wood, 1000 
Food, 1000 Gold and 1000 Stone in order to build one. The Wonder takes 
a long time to build, and while you are building one, the opponents will 
be notified by a weird low pitch tone. Why? It's because one of the ways 
to win in Age of Empires II is to build a Wonder, defend against enemy 
attacks and keep the Wonder standing for a number of years (in game years!) 
Wonder victories are recommended if you are so sure that your camp is 
heavily fortified, and you have control over a lot of the map's resources. 
(Or simply if you know your opponent is playing at a very slow pace.) That 
way, your opponent will be caught with his pants down and may not be able 
to save enough resources to build a sizable attack force before the Wonder 
is up. And then, just hold the enemy back and let the time run out.

Barracks
"Weapons were made and stored and soldiers drilled in the barracks. During 
the late Middle Ages, the barracks was incorporated within a castle complex. 
It became also the part of the castle where professional soldiers lived, 
ready to help defend the castle or maintain order in the surrounding 
countryside."

Barracks are well, Barracks. This is where you train your infantrymen. 
There are currently 2 lines of infantrymen that you can train. One is the 
general fighter, while the other is the spear wielding guy who specializes 
in taking down cavalry. This is the only military building with production 
capabilities during the Dark Ages. At first, you can only train Militia. 
Then in the Feudal Age, you get to train Men-at-Arms and Spearmen. In the 
Castle Age, you get to train Long Swordsmen and Pikemen. In the Imperial 
Age, you get to train 2-handed Swordsmen and Champions. The Barracks is 
also a place where you research 2 infantry upgrades. One increases the 
line of sight of all infantrymen, and the other increases the infantrymen's 
speed. They are Tracking, researched in the Feudal Age and Squires in the 
Castle Age.

Stable
"As the Middle Ages continued, the rise in importance of mounted warriors 
created demand for large numbers of horses, which were bred and maintained 
at the stable. A variety of horses were bred, including horses for 
long-distance travel, fast horses for quick movement, and the heavy charger. 
Scout and light cavalry units needed quick horses with lots of stamina. 
Heavy chargers of great strength were required to carry fully armored 
knights into a charge. Mounted warriors trained at the stable as well, 
learning the skills of fighting from horseback with spear, lance, sword, 
flail, mace, and hammer. In other parts of the world, camels and elephants 
were bred and maintained for mounted combat."

The Stable is where horses are bred, and this is also the place where you 
train cavalry units. The Stable is a Feudal Age unit, but you have to note 
that the one unit available at that time is not worthy for mass production. 
It's at the Castle Age that when the units are worth it. There are a total 
of 3 lines of units available for training in the Stable. One is the fast 
moving mounted scout (with a long line of sight), one is the standard 
mounted warrior and one is the anti-cavalry mounted unit. In the Feudal 
Age, you only get the Scout Cavalry, which is great for scouting but very 
pathetic for attacking. Then in the Castle Age, you get to train Light 
Cavalry, Knights and Camels. In the Imperial Age, you get to train Cavaliers, 
Paladins and Heavy Camels. At the moment, there is one and only upgrade 
available for research in the Stable. It's the Husbandry technology. It's 
to increase the speed of all cavalry units.

Archery Range
"Missile weapons like the bow carried over into the Middle Ages from ancient 
times in most areas of the world. Northern Europe was an exception for 
many centuries because the dense forests of the region nullified the range 
advantage of bows. Throwing weapons like axes, javelins, and knives were 
more popular there. As the forests were cleared, use of the bow spread. 
Training with missile weapons took place at the archery range. The training 
of bowmen was especially favored in England, where every town had an archery 
range and competitions were held each week to encourage practice. From 
its large pool of archers, England could easily recruit several thousand 
expert longbowmen for armies going to France. As crossbows and early 
firearms came into use, men were trained to operate these weapons at a 
modified archery range."

An Archery range consists of a long hall with rows and rows of targets 
for people to practice their archery. (By firing arrows at the targets 
of course.) In Age of Empires, this is where military Archers are trained. 
All Archers require wood to be trained, and the serious fighters also 
require gold. There are 4 lines of archers available. One is the standard 
archer, one is the guy who throws spears in battle, one is the mounted 
archer, and the fourth is the unit which uses the early versions of firearms. 
Archery Ranges are available for construction in the Feudal Age. In the 
Feudal Age, you can train Archers and Skirmishers. In the Castle Age, you 
can train Crossbowmen, Elite Skirmishers and Cavalry Archers. In the 
Imperial Age, you can train Arbalests, Heavy Cavalry Archers and Hand 
Cannoneers. I'm sorry, but the Archery Range does not provide any upgrades 
for Archers. You can consider trying the Blacksmith and University.

Siege Workshop
"The construction of castles and fortified towns created demand for 
artillery engines that could knock down walls and open the fortification 
to assault by troops. Without such artillery weapons, the taking of a castle 
required a long and costly siege that eventually starved the defenders 
into surrender. The ability to lay siege was constrained by the length 
of the campaigning season, the cost of providing supplies to a besieging 
army, the losses from disease in camp, and weather. Battering rams, 
trebuchets, and other siege engines were used to break into the 
fortification quickly and decide the issue. Siege engines were built at 
a siege workshop."

In the Middle Ages, many camps and towns are equipped with weapons better 
for defending than attacking. As a result, direct charges will often result 
in many deaths. Therefore, the best way to beat the foe is to burn his 
crops, cut off his supplies and trap him in his safe haven. Eventually, 
they will starve and will be forced to surrender. That's the definition 
of a siege. The Siege Workshop is where all the big toys are given to you! 

They are the equivalent of modern day armored units. Since Castles only 
started to creeping up during the 1000s, in the Castle Age, Siege Workshops 
will not be available for use unit then on. There are a total of 4 lines 
of units available. There is the ram, the mobile mini catapult, and the 
gigantic mobile bow and arrow and the portable cannon. In the Castle Age, 
you start with Battering Rams, Magonels and Scorpions. In the Imperial 
Age, you get to use Capped Rams, Siege Rams, Heavy Scorpions, Onagers, 
Siege Onagers and Bombard Cannons! Please note that Siege Weapons are 
definitely the most expensive units in the game. You need lots of Wood 
and Gold to build them. As for the cost of upgrading from a weaker version 
to the next, don't ask!

Castle
"The first castles appeared in Europe in the ninth century as an improvement 
of the local lord's stronghold. Castles were tactically defensive but 
strategically offensive. Because they were so difficult to capture if 
adequately defended, they provided a secure base from which a mobile force 
of warriors could extend political control. A local lord installed himself 
inside with a professional force of fighting men to serve him. Castles 
spread across Europe in the tenth and eleventh centuries in response to 
weak central authority and barbarian raids from the north and east. Kings 
spent the rest of the Middle Ages trying to take back control of castles 
raised by local lords. The development of dependable mobile heavy artillery 
in the fifteenth century finally made castles obsolete."

The Castle in the Middle Ages has a lot of uses. It is a home, an army 
camp, a local government office, a lookout place, a prison and a food store. 
There is just a lot of things happening inside, right? It serves well as 
a Military Building in the Age of Empires II world. It really is a home, 
in the respect that it supports a lot of people at once. In fact, your 
population can be increased by 20 just by building a Castle, compared to 
5 for individual houses. A Castle is a lookout in the fact that it has 
a very high base attack power of 11, and it is multiplied by 4 from the 
get go. So, you get a very powerful defensive structure that can fire so 
enemy arrows that can stop most infantry charges. That's not all. Castles 
can be used to garrison troops, and the people living inside will restore 
health faster than those garrisoned in towers. Cavalry can go in too!

That's not all. Units with arrow firing abilities can increase the attack 
of the Castle. Since there are 20 spaces for garrisoned units, you can 
garrison 20 Archers inside the Castle and increase the multiplier up to 
20! When we take account the effect of tower upgrades, we get (11+4)*20. 
That is a total of 300 attack. Of course, since this takes a massive 20 
off your total population, you must make sure that your population limit 
is higher than 100 beforehand. Since Castles make very good Defensive 
Structures, you should place them at strategic points.

The Military Uses of the Castles are to defend against enemy attacks 
(obviously!) and the production of each civilization's Unique Units. The 
Standard Unique Unit is available during the Castle Age. In the Imperial 
Age, that unit can be upgraded to the Elite Version. At the same time, 
the most powerful long range Siege Unit in the game, the Trebuchet is 
available then. Some general upgrades are also available then. The biggest 
disadvantage of Castles are their costs. It costs a whopping 650 Stone 
just to build one. Better start saving.

Palisade Walls, Stone Walls, Gates and Fortified Walls
"Barbarian tribes were migrating across Europe during the Dark Ages, being 
displaced by other migrations from the East and searching for land to settle. 
Warrior bands roamed the landscape seeking plunder. In these turbulent 
times, defensive precautions were taken. Villages were fortified with 
palisades - walls built of wood. Although stone walls were preferable, 
wood was abundant and easy to use, and a palisade could be erected in a 
fraction of the time a stone wall would take. At night the villagers would 
bring all their livestock, goods, and tools inside the palisade for 
protection."

"Larger and more advanced civilizations upgraded their defenses to stone 
walls when they could. A well-built stone wall offered protection against 
raiders because it could be broken down only by a determined effort. To 
capture a walled town or castle might require a long siege or a battering 
by powerful siege engines. Stone walls were expensive and time-consuming 
to build but worth the cost when guarding valuable locations. One famous 
set of stone walls from the Middle Ages were those guarding the land 
approaches to Constantinople. These walls withstood intermittent assault 
over a period of a thousand years. They were partly responsible for 
deflecting barbarian tribes from the north and east toward Rome, even 
though Constantinople may have been a more attractive prize. The other 
famous stone wall of the Middle Ages was the Great Wall of China. Originally 
constructed in ancient times, it was extended and rebuilt in places by 
several dynasties. The frontier of China was so long that the Great Wall 
could not be defended sufficiently to be a shield. It did serve to provide 
warning of Mongol attack. Most importantly, it slowed the advance and 
withdrawal of raiders across the frontier, giving the imperial armies a 
chance to intercept."

"The fortified wall was an upgrade of the stone wall accomplished by 
building fighting positions into the wall so that defenders could be more 
effective in repulsing assaults. Strong points and bastions allowed 
defenders to shoot at enemies at the base of wall, where they might 
otherwise be safe. The three lines of stone walls outside Constantinople 
were fortified with hundreds of towers, helping to make the defenses 
impregnable until the advent of cannon."

"Gates were built into walls to allow access to a fortification. Because 
gates could be the most vulnerable part of a defensive position, extra 
care was taken to make them strong. A common type of gate was the portcullis, 
a heavy metal grid that was raised by a winch. The portcullis was in place 
by grooves in the stonework of the gateway and by its own weight. A long 
narrow passage, open from above, was usually placed behind the portcullis. 
Attackers who managed to get past the gate would then remain vulnerable 
to fire from soldiers in the narrow passage."

All of the above structures are there to surround your base, and literally 
walling them out to keep them from entering your base. The Palisade Wall 
is made completely of wood, and each wall section has just a little over 
200 HP. This makes it very easy for enemies to breach. I suggest you don't 
build this type of wall at all. Unless it's the Single Player games, where 
the enemies are so dumb that they will only attack the non blocked off 
areas of your camp. The only advantage of this type of wall is that it 
is made of Wood, so it only requires Wood.

Stone Walls, which are available in the Feudal Age are a major improvement 
over Palisade Walls. They are made of stone, and have over 1000 hit points 
per wall section. This makes it very difficult to breach until it's the 
Castle Age. At that time, Stone Walls can be easily broken down by Battering 
Rams. You can construct gates on your wall sections. The orientation of 
the gates is to be determined by the computer. You move the mouse cursor 
near the wall section, and the computer will automatically orient your 
gate so that it is parallel to the existing wall section. Gates can be 
locked to prevent it from opening unnecessary during enemy attacks.

Once you reach the Castle Age, the Stone Walls can be upgraded into 
Fortified Walls. Fortified Walls have much more HP than Stone Walls, but 
are just as vulnerable to Battering Rams. The upgrade costs stone. So it's 
up to you as to whether research it.

Outpost
"The world of 500 AD was far less populated than the world of today, and 
there were great expanses of empty and desolate land. To keep watch at 
the frontier, lords established outposts that would provide early warning 
of attack and report movements of settlers and trade caravans. As the land 
became more populated and more settled, outposts were replaced by 
establishing castles and communities on borders."

Age of Empires II has a Fog of War. This means that you can only see what 
is going on in the parts of the map within your units and structures' lines 
of sight. If you move out of an area, the area will be swallowed up into 
the fog and you cannot see a darn thing. This has got to be quite an annoying 
feature. If you want to keep an eye on a region, and do not want to keep 
units there, you can simply build Outposts. Outposts are buildings that 
just stay there, doing nothing, and has an extensive line of sight. They 
are just there so you can keep an eye over the fields in certain remote 
areas that enemies might venture into.

It seems that the line of sight of Outposts increases with Age, regardless 
of upgrade. In the Dark Ages, you can only see just a little spot of land 
in the Dark Age. Then in the Feudal Age, that spot becomes a small patch. 
In Castle Age, it becomes a large patch, and in the Imperial Age, it becomes 
an enormous patch! You can research Town Watch and Town Patrol to increase 
the sight range of these buildings. Sounds like a great deal eh? No! 
Outposts are often the targets of attack by the enemies since they don't 
have anyone firing arrows from the inside to stop intruders. By the time 
you know the enemies are coming, they are already dismantling your outpost, 
and everything goes black on screen there. So, you still don't know from 
which way he will attack your base, and you will have to waste resources 
in building one again.

Watch Tower
"Some of the earliest fortified stone structures were simple watch towers. 
From the watch tower a local lord could keep a large area in view. The 
stone structure made it impregnable to assault except by a major force. 
The lord could withdraw into the tower, putting his animals on the bottom, 
stores and treasure on a second floor, living on upper floors, and fighting 
from the top. The Normans were famous for building stone watch towers across 
their lands in Normandy and England to provide military and political 
control."

Every single Real Time Strategy Game must have a protective turret that 
helps guard your base while you are away, right? The Watch Tower is that 
protective turret. Available in the Feudal Age, the Watch Tower has someone 
watching over your base for you that fires arrows out at intruders. Sounds 
great, right? The big problem is that in the Feudal Age, the archers inside 
the Watch Towers are not so accurate. Besides that, they have a minimum 
range, which means that they cannot fire at enemies that are too close. 
It's possible for a small group of Men-At-Arms to outrun all those arrows, 
and reach the base. At that point, they can hack your tower down without 
much help at all.

The Watch Tower may seems worthless in the Feudal Age, but fortunately, 
upgrades are available. In the Feudal Age, the only upgrade you will get 
is Fletching, which is a technique in making better arrows. This increases 
the range and attack power of the Watch Tower by 1 and only 1. But what's 
the point of having a better range and attack if it can't hit the enemies 
anyway. There are good things in store for this tower, but they are only 
available in the Castle Age. So, it's time for you to establish these towers 
first hand and play the waiting game. What's are the upgrades you say? 
Well, let's read the description of the next tower.

Guard Tower
"The defensive tower continued to evolve during the Middle Ages by getting 
stronger, taller, and better designed for fighting defense. Whereas some 
earlier watch towers had been square, guard towers were usually round to 
eliminate a sharp corner that could be knocked off. Fighting positions 
at the top of a guard tower were improved to protect defenders. Hoardings 
extended out from the top, allowing defenders to reach the bottom of the 
guard tower with missiles. Entrances to guard towers were made more 
elaborate and more easily defendable."

The Guard Tower is the upgrade to the Watch Tower. It is available in the 
Castle Age. You must research the particular upgrade in the University 
before you can use it. Once the upgrade has been researched, all existing 
Watch Towers will be converted into the new Guard Towers, and the Watch 
Tower option in the Villager will be replaced by the Guard Tower option. 
Guard Towers are not the most important upgrade to the Watch Tower. There 
are 2 upgrades that must be researched in the University before others. 
They are the Ballistics and Murder Holes upgrade. Once you have researched 
Ballistics, all arrows fired by the Guard Tower will be made to be much 
more accurate than before. Then fast moving units will be less likely to 
evade your arrow fire. The second upgrade mentioned, Murder Holes, allow 
the people stationed inside the Guard Towers to fire directly down at the 
enemies attacking their base. This means all the nasty stuff that used 
to happen in the Feudal Age will no longer happen again. A third upgrade 
that is also useful is the Bodkin Arrow technology. This increases the 
attack power and range of Guard Towers by 1.

Oh, there is one thing I forgot to mention about the Guard Tower. If you 
garrison units inside them, they will slowly regenerate HP, however, their 
health will not recover as quickly as they are when compared to Castles. 
If you garrison units that can fire arrows, notably Crossbowmen inside 
the Guard Towers, they can add support fire to the guard that is already 
stationed there. At first, Guard Towers have a base attack of 6. When it 
is full to the brim with Crossbowmen, the attack will become 6(4), an entire 
24. Let's take in account the 2 upgrades available so far to the tower. 
It will be (6+2)(4), a total of 32 attack.

Keep
"The central and strongest building inside a castle was called the keep. 
This was the last bastion of defense inside if the walls and outside towers 
were taken. The remaining defenders withdrew into the keep for the final 
defense. The keep was a mini-castle often constructed in place of a castle 
to cut expenses. Although much smaller than castles, keeps could perform 
the same function on a smaller scale. They were very difficult to capture 
except by a large and well-equipped army."

Guard Towers are the final step to towers alongside the Fortified walls 
in the Castle Age. But there is actually an even stronger defensive building 
for certain civilizations. Once you have reached the Imperial Age, the 
option to upgrade to the Keep will be available to the Britons, Celts, 
Teutons, Saracens, Turks, Byzantines, Chinese and Japanese. Keeps look 
like Guard Towers, but they are built with the Imperial Age Architecture. 
Once you have finished with the research on Keeps, all existing Guard Towers 
will be upgraded to Keeps. It is really surprising that Microsoft decided 
to name the Imperial Age towers Keeps. I mean, the Keep is the large building 
in the center of the castle where the owner sleeps in and it is where the 
soldiers perform their final defense duties if they are completely 
surrounded. It is definitely not a tower of sorts!

The upgrades for towers don't stop at the Castle Age. You can research 
the Bracer in the Blacksmith to increase the attack and range of Keeps 
by 1, and you can research Chemistry to allow Keeps to fire flaming arrows, 
adding one extra attack point to the Keep. Now, let us do the math, shall 
we? We have a Keep, with an attack power of 7, upgraded to the max with 
7+4= 11. You then garrison 5 Arbalests inside. This multiplies the attack 
power by 4 again. So, the total attack power indicated by the game will 
become 7+4(4), this means the final attack power of the Keep is 44. The 
Keep is still not be ultimate tower of the game. If you are lucky to play 
as certain civilizations, you will have the honor of building something 
even tougher than the previous one. Let's see below.

Bombard Tower
"By the end of the Middle Ages the development of cannon had changed 
military engineering by making standard castles obsolete. Their high 
vertical walls were particularly susceptible to direct cannon fire aimed 
at their base. Military engineers responded by building new structures 
that were less susceptible to cannon fire and by mounting cannon within 
these structures to augment their defensive positions along coasts, at 
important river crossings, and at other strategic points. These new bombard 
towers swept the approaches to harbors and towns, making them more 
difficult to attack."

The Bombard Tower is the ultimate tower of Age of Empires II. It looks 
a lot like the Keep, but instead of firing arrows, the Bombard Tower has 
cannon portals sticking out that fire cannon balls at the enemies. Very 
few civilizations have the ability to build Bombard Towers. Only the 
Teutons, Byzantines, Turks and Chinese can do so. The road to building 
Bombard Towers is very tough. You must be in the Imperial Age, and have 
researched Chemistry. The button Bombard Tower will then appear at the 
University. You will have to research that one in order to get the Bombard 
Towers. What's more, the existing Keeps will not upgrade to Bombard Towers. 
It's just that the Bombard Towers appear as a separate construction option 
in the Worker. Bombard Towers themselves are expensive. You need to pay 
the usual Stone, and now, Gold is required.

For those who can afford it, Bombard Towers really are a solid investment. 
Since you have researched Ballistics and Murder Holes, the cannons can 
fire extremely accurately at any enemy that dares to draw near to you. 
Even the toughest Siege Weapons, namely the Capped Rams and Siege Rams 
will be broken into pieces long before they reach your towers. So, it's 
about time for you to engage in trading with your allies to get the spare 
gold and Stone to build these. Once you build a line of Bombard Towers 
over all the mineral resources you find (Stone, Gold) your enemies will 
definitely be much weakened.

----------------
b. Units [AOK4B]
----------------
Militia
Cost: 60 Food, 20 Gold    Hit Points: 40     Attack: 4     Armor: 0/0
"Local peasants and workers called up for military duty in times of 
emergency made up the militia. These temporary soldiers were usually 
equipped with second-rate weapons and armor. They returned to their normal 
occupations when the emergency had passed. Levies of militia were often 
used as second-line troops when great lords assembled their vassals for 
a campaign. The militia was available for less demanding fighting and other 
tasks in support of the main army. England's Harold Godwinson stood his 
ground in 1066 at Hastings with only his vassals. If he had fallen back 
and called up the Anglo-Saxon militia, known as the furd, some historians 
believe he would not have lost his kingdom to William the Conqueror. For 
much of the Dark Ages there were only small professional armies in the 
West. Militia led by strong leaders and their few retainers carried on 
much of the Dark Age fighting."

Militia are the amateur soldiers who have lives besides fighting battles 
for their leader. They are the one and only soldier in the Dark Age. They 
attack with their little maces, and receive no upgrades during the Dark 
Ages. The only good use of them is to scout out the enemy's base in the 
start of the game and hurt their economy by killing Villagers. However, 
they start to receive upgrades during the Feudal Age. But if you really 
are obsessed with using infantrymen, I suggest that you upgrade then.

Men at Arms
Cost: 60 Food, 20 Gold    Hit Points: 40     Attack: 4     Armor: 0/0
"Men who had received weapons training and wore armor of some sort in battle 
were referred to as men-at-arms. By definition, all knights were 
men-at-arms, but not all men-at-arms were knights. The class of men-at-arms 
also included professional fighting men of no nobility called sergeants 
and knights in training called squires. The armies of feudal lords were 
divided into two distinct groups, the men-at-arms of all classes and the 
peasant militia. The trained fighting men provided the principal fighting 
power of the army. Men-at arms on foot fought with swords. This was an 
effective weapon and helped distinguish the men-at-arms from soldiers of 
lower social standing like spearmen, skirmishers, and missile troops. 
Men-at-arms wore armor, usually from head to toe, and were highly trained. 
They were especially effective against spearmen if they could close under 
the spear points. They fought beside dismounted knights under certain 
conditions, such as castle assaults. During the Hundred Years War, the 
English often fought dismounted because the French knights usually 
outnumbered them by a large margin. On the open battlefield, a man-at-arms 
was at a great disadvantage against a mounted knight. Knights kept a body 
of men-at-arms on retainer to help maintain local order within the local 
fief and to accompany the knight when called up for military service."

Things are starting to look up for our standard infantrymen during the 
Feudal Ages. It costs 100 Food and 40 Gold to upgrade Militia into Men 
at Arms. Not only the barbaric looking Militia can be upgraded to some 
better looking swordsmen called Men at Arms, we get an attack bonus. Men 
at Arms are effective at razing buildings now with it. 

Now they are stronger, you can consider mounting offensives against the 
enemy bases with Men at Arms. However, there is one new threat. It is the 
Archer. The inclusion of the Blacksmith in the Feudal Age means that attack 
powers of the Men at Arms can be improved. The Scale Mail Armor increases 
the armor and pierce armor of Men at Arms by 1, while Forging increases 
the attack power of Men at Arms by 1. There is also an upgrade called 
Tracking which improves the Men at Arms' line of sight.

Spearmen
Cost: 35 Food, 25 Wood     Hit Points: 45     Attack: 3     Armor: 0/0
"The medium infantry of medieval armies were often spearmen wearing 
half-armor, usually a helmet and armor on the upper body. As the Middle 
Ages advanced, the role of the spearman became more important. Armies 
learned to employ large formations of spearmen as a counter to heavy cavalry 
attacks because horses would not charge home against a bristling wall of 
spear points. Spearmen were most effective when emulating the ancient Greek 
phalanx, a dense box of men that could extend several spear points in a 
chosen direction. As towns grew in importance toward the end of the period, 
they fielded large contingents of trained spearmen. These were very 
effective in battle for the cost of their equipment and training. Spearmen 
were originally deployed in a defensive posture, but the best of the 
spearman armies, such as the Swiss, Scots, and Flemish, learned to maneuver 
and take the offensive."

Spearmen is the start of a new line of infantrymen appearing from the Feudal 
Age. They are of course, armed with spears, and are used to poke at the 
horses, bringing them down. They are of course, the anti cavalry units. 
The thing is, the importance of spearmen are basically non-existent in 
the Feudal Age, since the only cavalry unit you have to deal with is the 
Scout Cavalry, which is a very pathetic excuse for cavalry. But still, 
the Blacksmith upgrades still work on them. The Forging Technology 
increases their attack by 1, the Scale Mail Armor Technology increases 
their Armor and Pierce Armor by 1. The Tracking technology in the Barracks 
increases their line of sight by 4. That's all you need to know. There 
is something better coming in the Castle Age.

Long Swordsman
Cost: 60 Food, 20 Gold    Hit Points: 55     Attack: 9     Armor: 0/0
"The weapon of choice for noble warriors was the long sword. Being skilled 
with a sword was a social distinction because good swords were expensive 
and difficult to make. Men-at-arms of lower classes trained with shorter 
swords and less expensive weapons. Long swords were reserved for the 
nobility. The ceremony of becoming a knight involved being dubbed with 
a long sword by the new knight's lord."

By the Castle Age, we get to use infantrymen with long swords and a shield. 
It costs 200 Food and 65 Gold to upgrade from Men at Arms to Long Swordsmen. 
There is a great jump in Attack for the Long Swordsmen, as they now have 
9 attack compared to 6 for Men at Arms. They still maintain their attack 
bonus against buildings. There are some more upgrades for infantry in the 
Castle Age that you will be interested in. Researching Squires in the 
Barracks increases the speed of the Long Swordsman, while researching Iron 
Casting in the Blacksmith will increase their attack by 1. Researching 
Chain Mail Armor will increase the Long Swordsman's Armor and Pierce Armor 
by 1. At this point, your infantry can be ready for tough battles. You 
should keep away from the cavalry and archers at all costs though.

Pikeman
Cost: 35 Food, 25 Wood     Hit Points: 55     Attack: 4     Armor: 1/0
"The success of spearmen against cavalry led to innovation in the equipment 
and tactics they used. Pikemen were an innovation of towns and communities 
that did not have the resources to field large armies of heavy cavalry. 
Pikes were cheap and could be quite effective with training. One important 
change was the lengthening of the weapon shaft. Where the spear had been 
6 to 8 feet long, the pike had a shaft up to 18 feet long. The longer weapon 
meant that more spear points could be extended beyond the bodies of the 
men in the front rank. Pikemen combined with crossbowmen or hand cannoneers 
to make a useful combined arms unit. The pikemen prevented cavalry from 
overrunning the group, while the missile troops caused casualties to the 
enemy at range. Working together, this combination dominated battlefields 
at the end of the age. As firearms improved after the Middle Ages, the 
pikeman component became less necessary. The bayonet made the pike 
component obsolete and allowed the musketeer to defend himself against 
cavalry."

Pikemen are the upgrades of spearmen. Instead of using spears, they now 
use extremely long poles with even sharper blades at the end to bring down 
the rider's horse from thrice the range. It costs 215 Food and 90 Gold 
to upgrade Spearmen to Pikemen. However, the Turks don't get to upgrade.

Once we hit the Castle Age, you will have to counter many different Unique 
Units. One of them is the War Elephant. They have insanely high HP and 
high HP. This is why Pikemen's extra attack bonus against elephants will 
really come in handy. Of course, this does not mean that Pikemen can defeat 
War Elephants in one on one combat. Use a few more and watch those behemoths 
fall. For most encounters against cavalry, you should learn from the movies. 
This means that you place a line of Pikemen in the front supported by the 
Archers by the back, and this can stop charges of Knights. (As long as 
you guys are not insanely outnumbered). You should use the Archers behind 
you to deal with the enemy Archers. May the better side win. Pikemen also 
have their fair share of upgrades. They get the Squires Technique in the 
Barracks to move faster, the Iron Casting Technology to increase their 
attack by 1 and the Chain Mail Armor to increase their Armor and Pierce 
Armor by 1.

Two Handed Swordsmen
Cost: 60 Food, 20 Gold    Hit Points: 60     Attack: 11     Armor: 0/0
"As armor improved, so did weapons. The two-handed sword was an innovation 
that allowed a man to swing with the power of both arms, not just one. 
This was a long and heavy sword, and it required a strong and well trained 
man. The two-handed swordsman was a formidable adversary in hand-to-hand 
combat. Two handed swordsmen used no shield and relied on the power of 
their attack to overcome an opponent's shield and armor. Although he struck 
fewer times, each swing had the potential of being a mortal blow, regardless 
of the armor and weapons of the defender."

You had the long swords back in the Castle Age. Now, once we come to the 
Imperial Age, the swords continue to be more refined, and they are 
continuing to get longer and longer. By that time, they are so heavy that 
a swordsman will have to use both hands to carry the sword and swing. He 
may appear weaker without the shield, but actually, these men are much 
stronger than their predecessors. It may be the Imperial Age, but the 
upgrade cost of 2 Handed Swordsmen are still extremely cheap. You only 
need 300 Food and 100 Gold to upgrade. Two Handed Swordsmen are available 
to all civilizations, except one. They are the Persians. Poor, poor 
Persians, I guess infantry's just not for you, eh? Two Handed Swordsmen 
get even more upgrade boosts in the Imperial Age. The new Blast Furnace 
technology increases their attack by a whopping 2. The Plate Mail Armor 
increases their Armor by 1 and their Pierce Armor by 2. Two Handed Swordsmen 
will be created 25% faster if you research Conscription in the Castle.

Champion
Cost: 60 Food, 20 Gold    Hit Points: 70     Attack: 13     Armor: 1/0
"Among the best swordsmen there were a few who, through their renown on 
the battlefield and in tournaments, achieved the status of champion. Such 
men became war leaders and rose in social standing thanks to abilities 
so highly regarded at the time. Lords kept champions on retainer for status 
and because staged fights between elite warriors were used on occasion 
to resolve disputes. Having a great champion in your pay or as a vassal 
was the Middle Age equivalent to having a good lawyer. Champions were 
professional warriors who might also be members of the nobility. A 
successful champion might gain a noble title through tournament victory, 
battle honors, or marriage. A minor knight in England named John Marshal 
was so successful in tournaments that he rose to become a high-ranking 
noble of great wealth thanks to prizes and successive marriages to admiring 
women of means."

The moment has finally arrived. In the Imperial Age, we get 2 upgrades 
for the standard sword wielding infantry unit. First we have 2 handed 
Swordsmen, now we have the Champion. Champions are the best standard 
infantry in the game available to all sides. (OK, every side except the 
Persians.) It costs another 750 Food and 350 Gold to upgrade all existing 
Two-Handed Swordsmen to Champions.

They got the most HP and finally have base Armor. They still attack by 
swinging their swords with both hands. Champions can be upgraded by the 
same respect as the 2-Handed Swordsmen. Use these as counter-counter units. 
That is, against those units which are designed to counter standard troops. 
(Like Pikemen and Skirmishers) You can try to challenge Imperial Age 
Cavalry, but I guess you will only have limited success. I only have one 
question really. If a Champion are supposed to be the best of the best, 
how can you train so many Champions at once? Surely they will argue with 
each other about who's the best and kill each other!

Woad Raider and Elite Woad Raider *****CELTIC EXCLUSIVE*****
Cost: 65 Food, 25 Gold    Hit Points: 65,80     Attack: 8,13     Armor: 0/0
"Woad is a plant found in the British Isles from which a blue pigment can 
be extracted. Celtic warriors painted themselves with this pigment prior 
to battle to look more fearsome and unnerve their enemies. Celtic warriors 
had been raiding more developed areas of Britain and Europe since ancient 
times. The Scots, for example, were originally Irish raiders who took lands 
from the Picts in north Britain that became Scotland. When the English 
sought to conquer the Celts inhabiting Ireland, Wales, and Scotland during 
the Middle Ages, the Celts were at a great disadvantage against the English 
mounted knights. The Celts often turned to guerrilla tactics, raiding 
English settlements and withdrawing before English armies. Raiders 
painted with woad devastated the borderlands. A renowned woad raider was 
William Wallace of Scotland who rampaged through Northern England for a 
decade."

Woad Raiders are the Celtic Exclusive Units. They are a bunch of warriors 
who use some blue plant paint to paint their faces to scare the enemies. 
They move exceptionally fast and have higher hit points than the Long 
Swordsmen, but have 1 less Attack. Once you reach the Imperial Age, Woad 
Raiders can be upgraded to Elite Woad Raiders at a considerable sum of 
1000 Food and 800 Gold. It costs less Food than the jump from Long Swordsmen 
to Champion but much more Gold. So, let's do a side by side comparison 
with the Champions. For one thing, Champions have the same attack and higher 
armor, but Elite Woad Raiders get 10 more HP than the Champions. However, 
Woad Raiders come at a higher price for reduced armor and a slightly higher 
HP. (5 more Food and 5 more Gold), so I suggest you refrain from using 
these units in the first place.

Throwing Axeman and Elite Throwing Axeman *****FRANKISH EXCLUSIVE*****
Cost: 55 Food, 25 Gold               Hit Points: 50,60    
Attack: 7,8          Range: 3,4          Armor: 0/0,1/0
"The Franks took their name from the axe that was their preferred weapon 
in ancient times. They continued to use the axe into the Dark Ages and 
their warriors were especially noted for their ability to throw this axe 
in battle. The axe was well balanced and could be hurled a good distance 
by a strong man. Franks carried several axes into battle, holding on to 
one for hand-to-hand combat. As they advanced they could pick up axes thrown 
previously to replenish their supply of missiles. Throwing axemen were 
especially good against light troops wearing little armor. Carrying axes 
was also useful for dismantling fortifications."

Here's a new innovation for Franks. Ranged infantry. Throwing Axemen are 
infantry units who throw axes at the enemy. How on earth they are supposed 
to carry an infinite number of axes I will never know. Ranged infantry 
units sound promising until you see how bad their attack is. Throwing Axemen 
have only 7 attack while the Elite Throwing Axemen have 8. This is much 
much lower than those of the Long Swordsmen, 2 Handed Swordsmen and 
Champions. They may have range, but you can only have that much of a head 
start against other infantry units. What annoys me is that in spite of 
being a thrower, Throwing Axemen do not have attack bonuses against 
infantry units. This makes the Throwing Axemen much better for defending 
than attacking. 

Would you want to train these units? No way! Instead stick to Champions 
and use Cavalry. They are the Frank's strong point. Anyway, if you are 
interested in nutters who throw axes in battle, consider dishing out 1000 
Food and 850 Gold to upgrade them to the elite version.

Teutonic Knight and Elite Teutonic Knight *****TEUTONIC EXCLUSIVE*****
Cost: 85 Food, 40 Gold               Hit Points: 70,100 
Attack: 12,17                          Armor: 5/2,10/2
"At the height of the Christian Crusades into the Holy Land, German 
crusaders formed an order of warrior monks called the Teutonic Knights. 
This order gave up crusading in the Eastern Mediterranean and turned its 
attention to Eastern Europe. Through conquest they brought Christianity 
to the Baltic region and forests of what became Prussia. They built castles 
from which they could control the surrounding countryside. The Teutonic 
Knights were committed warriors who carved out an empire that lasted into 
the twentieth century."

I have read history books about the Crusades. It seems that different groups 
of knights are trained to protect pilgrims and fight against the Muslims 
and defend Jerusalem back then. I only know 3 groups. They are the Knights 
Templar, Knights Hospitaliers and Teutonic Knights. The Teutonic Knights 
are Knights that travel on foot. They attack with swords, like the other 
guys, wear a cool cape, and do massive damage. They have lots of hit points 
and extremely high armor. In fact, the transition from Teutonic Knight 
to Elite Teutonic Knight features a very high jump in Attack, Hit Points 
and Armor. What could be better? They are the only standard infantry unit 
that can take down the strongest Cavalry Unit, the Paladin. You will 
definitely pleased to know that the upgrade from normal to elite costs 
1200 Food and only 600 Gold. Hee hee.

There is only one catch in all this. Teutonic Knights move very slowly, 
making them extremely vulnerable to conversions by Monks. The manual says 
they are weak against archer attacks, but I tend to disagree. After all, 
if you have 2 Pierce Armor, that should make them as strong as standard 
Knights. So, the only thing you need to worry about are the Monks. In that 
case, you must escort Teutonic Knights with Arbalests and Cavalry Archers. 
Researching the Faith technology in the Monastery helps a lot in preventing 
the enemies from converting your troops. I of course recommend that you 
use Teutonic Knights to replace the Champions AND Pikemen, and I promise 
that you will have many happy returns. May God be with you.

Berserks and Elite Berserks *****VIKING EXCLUSIVE*****
Cost: 65 Food, 25 Gold               Hit Points: 48,60
Attack: 9,14                           Armor: 0/0, 2/0
"Late in the eighth century Viking sea raiders from Scandinavia appeared 
suddenly in Northern Europe. They raided and plundered coastal communities 
for the next 150 years. Most of the progress made by Charlemagne in uniting 
Northern Europe and beginning a rebirth of civilization was erased by the 
turmoil they caused. The Vikings were known for their great seamanship 
and ferocity in battle. Witnesses claimed that Viking warriors would 
occasionally go "berserk" and attack with nearly inhuman zeal, oblivious 
to all danger. Such behavior was terrifying to behold and very difficult 
to withstand. The ability to go mad with battle lust was a powerful 
attribute during a period of widespread superstition."

Berserks are a weird breed of fighters. They share the same type of attack 
bonus as the Champions, against Buildings. They have one special attribute. 
They are so enthusiastic for battle that they will slowly regenerate Health 
over time. The thing is that the speed of regeneration is often not enough. 
So, we can neglect that for the Castle Age. Long Swordsmen have just as 
much attack as the Berserk, and with 7 more HP. However, it's at the Imperial 
Age that the Berserks really shine. Elite Berserks may have 10 HP less 
than Champions, but they do have 1 more attack and 1 more Armor. With this, 
a fully upgraded Berserk is much more likely to defeat a fully upgraded 
Champion at that point. The upgrade to Elite Berserk may cost a lot of 
food (1300) but the Gold required is only 550! Only train Elite Berserks 
when they are available. Ignore normal Berserks. Remember that. Note that 
Berserks are one of 2 Viking Exclusive units.

Huskarl and Elite Huskarl *****GOTHIC EXCLUSIVE*****
Cost: 80 Food, 40 Gold               Hit Points: 60,70
Attack: 10,12                          Armor: 0/4,0/6
"Within the Germanic tribes that overran the Western Roman Empire and 
brought in the Dark Ages, including the Goths, tribal leaders kept a 
personal retinue of warriors known as huskarls. These men served their 
chiefs fanatically in return for a large share in any plunder the tribe 
could grab. Huskarls trained for battle continuously and had few other 
duties. A chief had to be successful in acquiring plunder, however, or 
risk being removed or abandoned. As the Dark Ages progressed, huskarls 
were absorbed into the feudal system as vassals of lords. They remained 
a lord's or king's personal fighting force but often became responsible 
for their own support on lands given to them by their chief. This system 
replaced much of the sharing of plunder."

Most infantry units are considered to be weak against archers since they 
usually have no pierce armor. But the Goths are given something that opposes 
this trend. They are the Huskarls. Huskarls are fast infantry units with 
a very high pierce armor. As a result, they are excellent in taking arrows 
and taking down Archers. Another good thing is that Huskarls are very cheap 
to be upgraded. It costs only 1200 Food and 550 Gold for them to be 
transformed into the Elite Huskarls. 

Now we have the ultimate question. Is it feasible to replace Champions 
completely with Huskarls? The answer is yes and no. Yes, they have 
exceptionally high Pierce Armor that no other infantry unit can match and 
the same HP as 2 Handed Swordsmen and Champions respectively, but their 
attacks are slightly weaker against other standard infantry units. At the 
same time they are much more costly. My solution is to have half of your 
standard infantrymen to be comprised of Huskarls and the other to be 
Champions. You can have Huskarls completely replace Champions if and only 
if the opponent is a civilization that relies very heavily on archery and 
nothing else. (for example, Britons)

Samurai and Elite Samurai *****JAPANESE EXCLUSIVE*****
Cost: 60 Food, 30 Gold               Hit Points: 60,80
Attack: 8,12                           Armor: 1/0,1/0
"When knights were coming into dominance as lords and warriors in Europe, 
a similar social and military change was taking place simultaneously in 
Japan. A weak central government and a scramble for control of land gave 
rise in Japan to a local military ruling class called the samurai. These 
men of noble birth trained continuously in the military arts, as well as 
various cultural arts. They put great emphasis on honor and tradition, 
as did European knights with the code of chivalry. Samurai fought with 
a variety of weapons, including the bow and their unique curved swords 
made of the strongest steel. They sought out high-ranking enemies on the 
battlefield for personal duels and were trained to seek death in battle 
to increase their aggression and avoid hesitancy."

Samurais are well, Samurais. They are Japanese warriors that also serve 
as the Ruling Class. They have one weird attribute. They have attack bonuses 
against other unique units. This sounds well until you find out that certain 
unique units are Archers. (Longbowmen, Janissaries, Chu Ko Nu, Mangudai), 
one of them is also anti infantry (Cataphracts)! This basically takes away 
any advantages the Samurais could have. Now, let's compare them with the 
standard infantry units. Namely the 2 Handed Swordsman and Champion. For 
one thing, they have weaker attacks and higher cost. The only edge the 
Samurais have over Champions is that they have 10 HP more. But is the 5 
extra Gold worth it? My advice is to not even bother with these guys. If 
you do, remember that it costs 950 Food and a massive 875 Gold to upgrade 
Samurai into Elite Samurai. Bleh!

Archer
Cost: 25 Wood, 45 Gold               Hit Points: 30                    
Attack: 4          Range: 4           Armor: 0/0                         
"The bow remained an important military weapon after the fall of Rome, 
although less so in areas of Europe covered by dense forests. Archers could 
fight from a distance, from behind walls or other cover, and from ambush. 
They were usually not decisive in battle on the attack because they could 
not physically take ground from the enemy like infantry could. They acted 
mainly as defensive troops and as light troops that disrupted enemy 
formations prior to the decisive moment when the armies clashed 
hand-to-hand. If barrages of arrows could cause casualties and drain the 
fighting spirit of the enemy prior to the clash, friendly troops had a 
better chance of breaking the will of the enemy and being victorious. 
Archers were also very useful when both defending and attacking a castle."

Archers are people who attack the enemies by firing arrows at them. 
According to the above description, Archers continued to be used after 
the fall of the Roman Empire. (After all, there must be some effective 
way to hunt animals!) But for some weird reason, the Archery Range is not 
available until you have reached the Feudal Age. Archers attack with rather 
sharp arrows, sharp enough to pierce through the armor and skin of enemy 
soldiers. Hence Archers are effective anti-infantry units. 

It seems that bows are complex weapons, hence they are subject to human 
error. Even if the target is standing still, there is still a fixed 
probability that the arrow will miss the target! So to improve your chances, 
use more. That's definitely obvious. Please note that the Archers of Feudal 
Age are deadly inaccurate. If the target is constantly moving, chances 
are that 80 to 90 percent of the arrows would miss. This is why when you 
are under attack from Archers in the Feudal Age, always move your units 
in a perpendicular path to the flight path of the arrows. Don't run in 
the opposite direction, or the arrows are more likely to hit.

Even in the Feudal Age, there are upgrades for the Archer. The 2 upgrades 
are both found at the Blacksmith. There is the Fletching Technology, where 
you know how to make the flights of the arrows smoother. This increases 
the Attack and Range of all Archers by 1. There is also the padded archer 
armor. This increases the Armor and Pierce Armor of Archers by 1.

Skirmisher
Cost: 25 Food, 35 Wood               Hit Points: 30                    
Attack: 2          Range: 4           Armor: 0/3                         
"Many armies of the Middle Ages used lightly armored skirmishers in support 
of the main fighting force of armored fighting men. They could be difficult 
to control and of little value on the battlefield, but some armies used 
them effectively. Skirmishers were deployed in front of the main battle 
line and engaged the enemy with bows, slings, and javelins. The intent 
was to disrupt the enemy force and cause casualties before the main battle 
lines clashed. The skirmishers would retire to the side of the main battle 
and harass the enemy as practical. They could also be useful in pursuit 
of a beaten enemy because they could move more quickly than men wearing 
armor. If caught in battle against men-at-arms, however, they could not 
stand and routed quickly."

The mighty programmer created Archers. They are very tough against 
infantrymen. Now, people will definitely gripe to the developer if those 
monsters can't be stopped. Hence there is a second line of units, which 
specialize in throwing spears at the enemies. These are the Skirmishers. 
They are units who are equipped with considerably high Pierce Armor to 
withstand the archers' attacks. They purpose is to counter the Archers. 
I have no idea how this works. What they are throwing are just spears. 
Come on. However, since there are no other alternatives in the Feudal Age, 
you better train some of these to repel the Archers' invasion. It's not 
that tough since Skirmishers are cheap. They cost only Food and Wood to 
train. Just be aware that although they throw projectiles, these 
projectiles are much less damaging than arrows since they travel at slower 
speeds. So, pull back when the Men at Arms come.

They may not used bows, but Archer upgrades apply to the Skirmisher too. 
There is the Fletching Technology, where you know how to make the flights 
of the arrows smoother. This increases the Attack and Range of all 
Skirmishers by 1. (There are no feathers at the back of spears!) There 
is also the padded archer armor. This increases the Armor and Pierce Armor 
of Skirmishers by 1.

Crossbowman
Cost: 25 Wood, 45 Gold               Hit Points: 35                    
Attack: 5          Range: 5           Armor: 0/0                         
"The crossbow was a missile weapon consisting of a bow on its side attached 
to the end of a wood stock. The stock was held against the shoulder like 
a modern rifle and a trigger fired the weapon. The crossbow had been 
invented in ancient China but was not used widely in Europe until the Middle 
Ages. It fired short quarrels, stones, or metal balls rather than arrows. 
It was a powerful weapon but limited to a shorter range than the best bows. 
It was simple to use, relatively cheap to make, and deadly. A peasant with 
only a few hours of crossbow practice could easily kill an elite knight 
encased in armor worth a fortune who had trained for war throughout his 
life. The knights in Europe at one point attempted to get the Church to 
ban the weapon. Richard the Lionhearted, King of England, died from a 
crossbow quarrel wound received during a siege."

The Crossbowman represents a significant leap from the Feudal Age over 
the Archers. It costs very little to upgrade. All you need is 125 Food 
and 75 Gold. The Crossbowman gets 1 extra attack and 1 extra Range over 
the Archer. Crossbowmen are great for reinforcing Towers and Castles. It's 
best to have them at the rear of a line of Long Swordsmen or Pikemen so 
that they can be relatively protected. Another important point is the 
availability of one important upgrade for the Archers in the new University 
structure. It's called Ballistics. With this new upgrade, Crossbowmen can 
have much better aim. This enables them to hit targets much more accurately 
with a lower miss rate. There are also 2 Blacksmith upgrades to improve 
your Crossbowmen. You get the Bodkin Arrow, which increases the Range and 
Attack of Archers by 1, and the Leather Archer Armor which increases the 
Armor and Pierce Armor of Crossbowmen by 1.

It may interest you about how King Richard I died. Apparently, he was 
besieging a castle, and the enemy is firing arrows at him at his men. Richard 
was relaxing and letting them waste their arrows when one bolt hit him 
in the neck killing him! At least this is what the Horrible Histories book 
said. Believe it or not.

Elite Skirmisher
Cost: 25 Food, 35 Wood               Hit Points: 35                    
Attack: 3          Range: 5           Armor: 0/4                         
"In many Middle Age armies skirmishers were the rabble that was thrown 
in at the start of a battle and then often overrun by the heavy cavalry 
of both sides. A few armies trained elite skirmishers who could disrupt 
enemy formations, fall back, and support the main friendly fighting force 
from the sides. An army that could put elite skirmishers in the field to 
support its main army had an advantage over an army that did not. The Swiss, 
for example, often employed up to a quarter of their force in a skirmish 
role. Elite Swiss skirmishers supported the dense phalanxes of Swiss 
pikemen by disrupting enemy troops before the pikes made their attack. 
In an emergency, the skirmishers could take cover under the rows of pointed 
pikes and then stand up once more to engage a withdrawing enemy."

Elite Skirmishers are upgrades to Skirmishers. They gain 1 Pierce Armor, 
1 Attack and 1 Range. They are still units that are used to counter Archers. 
However, due to the appearance of much tougher cavalry that are much more 
resistant towards arrows, Skirmishers are basically obsolete in the Castle 
Age and you most likely not need them. But hey, if you must upgrade, you 
will need 250 Wood and 160 Gold. However, the Turks are left out at this 
upgrade. They got the shaft again! The same upgrades for Crossbowmen apply 
to Elite Skirmishers. There is one in the University. It's called 
Ballistics. With this new upgrade, Elite Skirmishers can have much better 
aim. This enables them to hit targets much more accurately with a lower 
miss rate. There are also 2 Blacksmith upgrades to improve your Elite 
Skirmishers. You get the Bodkin Arrow, which increases the Range and Attack 
of Archers by 1, and the Leather Archer Armor which increases the Armor 
and Pierce Armor of Elite Skirmishers by 1.

Cavalry Archer
Cost: 40 Wood, 70 Gold               Hit Points: 50                    
Attack: 6          Range: 3           Armor: 0/0                         
"Archers mounted on horses originated in ancient times on the great plains 
of Asia and continued to make up the bulk of the armies from this region 
throughout the Middle Ages. The Mongol armies that conquered most of Asia, 
the Middle East, and much of Europe were predominately cavalry archers. 
For the time they were a unique combination of firepower and speed. They 
could cross almost any kind of terrain quickly, strike unexpectedly, and 
withdraw if necessary before heavy cavalry or infantry units could react. 
The Mongols especially mastered the tactics of hitting, running, and 
ambushing, avoiding hand-to-hand fighting until the enemy was completely 
demoralized. Cavalry archers were most effective on open ground with plenty 
of maneuvering room. They were least effective against fortified positions 
that could not be starved out and required a hand-to-hand assault."

Here's one new and interesting class of units available during the Castle 
Age. Now that Cavalry units are in when you have the Knights. There are 
also Archers that have taken on horse riding. They move much faster than 
normal Crossbowmen, and deal more damage. The only weakness is their 
slightly shorter range. However, the extra HP should help in balancing 
this. A new technique is available now. Since they move so fast, you can 
run up into some unsuspecting infantry, open fire, they give chase, and 
you run back a few steps. You fire again. You repeat until all the infantry 
giving pursuit are all dead. This hit and run tactic is effective, but 
requires plenty of room. You had better research the Ballistics technology 
beforehand, and you don't have to be that frustrated.

Cavalry Archers have the weirdest line of upgrades due to them being a 
hybrid unit. First of all, a certain upgrade in the Stable actually works 
on them. It's the Husbandry Technology this increases the speed of Cavalry 
Archers by 25%. The other upgrades are to be researched in the Blacksmith. 
The programmers of t