A new 1v1 player doesn't need every number in the game, just the ones that decide games. This page covers how fast villagers come out, the order you eat your food in, which upgrades to buy and when, how long the age-ups take, and why counters work.
Costs, times and unit stats are from Update 185872 (The Viking Sagas, 22 Sep 2026).
Every time on this page is in-game clock time. Where each number comes from is listed under Sources at the bottom of the page.
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Cost | 50 food |
| Train time | 25 s |
| HP | 25 |
| Speed | 0.8 |
| Loom | +15 HP, +1 melee / +2 pierce armor |
The per-minute column is the per-second rate × 60, not a separate measurement.
| Task | Per second | Per minute |
|---|---|---|
| Fisherman (villager on shore fish) | 0.43 | 25.8 |
| Hunter | 0.41 | 24.6 |
| Lumberjack | 0.39 | 23.4 |
| Gold miner | 0.38 | 22.8 |
| Stone miner | 0.36 | 21.6 |
| Shepherd | 0.33 | 19.8 |
| Farmer | 0.32 | 19.2 |
| Forager (berries) | 0.31 | 18.6 |
Trust the order more than the decimals: hunting is the fastest food, and sheep, farms and berries are close to each other. A farmer is capped by the farm itself, which produces at most 0.4 food per second; the Farms section below has the details.
A villager walks to a drop site every time it is full, so how much it carries and how far it walks decide what it really brings in.
| Upgrade | In-game effect |
|---|---|
| Wheelbarrow | Villagers +25% carry capacity, move +10% faster |
| Hand Cart | Villagers +50% carry capacity, move +10% faster |
| Heavy Plow | Farmers +1 carry capacity |
The tooltips give percentages, not carry amounts, and don't say whether Hand Cart's +50% adds to Wheelbarrow's +25%. That's why this page gives no absolute carry numbers.
The effect on farming: a farmer with no other upgrades brings in about 12% more food with Wheelbarrow and about 20% more with Hand Cart than with neither. With Heavy Plow researched, the gains are about 10% and 16%.
The Mill tooltip says to build it near forage bushes or other food so villagers gather faster. That works because it cuts the time villagers spend walking to a drop site.
Update 185872 changed how villagers drop off, not how fast they gather. Villagers now pick the best drop site more reliably, re-path to avoid long walks around drop sites, and no longer drop resources only at one particular Town Center tile. Older measurements, like the 2020 farming test above, were made before these fixes.
Nearly every standard build opens the same way:
A typical split: 6 on sheep, 2–4 to wood, 1 lures the first boar, 1 builds a house and then a mill on berries, about 4 end up on berries, and 1 fetches the second boar. The Scouts Opening and Fast Archer Opening on IdleTC follow this order.
Why: the order follows cost and distance. Sheep and lured hunt sit at the Town Center and cost nothing, and hunting is the fastest food task. Hunt also rots, so it has to be eaten quickly. Berries need a 100-wood mill and gather more slowly. Farms cost 60 wood each and come last, once your wood income can pay for them.
Almost every standard build starts with 6 villagers on sheep under the Town Center. The usual exceptions: 7 with Georgians; 5 on sheep and 3 on a mill at the chickens on maps with chickens; and with Chinese, 6 at once with no houses needed.
A shepherd gathers 0.33 food per second.
A scouting tip: send 2 of your 4 starting sheep out to scout, and keep using any extra sheep you find to scout too. Always keep one more sheep at the Town Center besides the one being eaten.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Wild Boar food | 340 |
| Wild Boar HP and attack | 75 HP, 7 attack |
| Hits to kill a villager | 4 without Loom, 7 with Loom |
The first boar. One villager hits the boar twice and runs it to the Town Center, where three or four more wait to kill it. The lurer is usually villager 9 when 2 go to wood first, or villager 10 when 3 do. On Fortress you can lure with the scout instead.
The second boar. One villager brings it under the Town Center just before the first one is finished, so the hunters never stand idle. In standard builds that is usually villager 15.
Eating the boars early. An anti-lame build eats the boars early. It gets a consistent 19 pop without Loom, or 18 with Loom, whatever your civ. The cost is more rot, because only 7 villagers eat the first boar.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Food per deer | 140, the same for every regular huntable: deer, ostrich, zebra, ibex |
| Pack size | At least three |
You push deer to the Town Center with your scout. Most standard builds work without deer, but taking them when you can makes a build faster or cleaner. Some builds count on them: an anti-lame or Man-at-Arms build wants at least 2, and a fast castle or fast Imperial build 3.
Push deer once your scout has found all your sheep, or both boars. Take deer that are close to the Town Center and not behind a woodline; about the same screen as your Town Center is close enough.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Food per bush | 125 |
| Forager rate | 0.31 per second |
| Techs that speed up berries | None |
| Mill | 100 wood, 600 HP, 35 s to build |
Four villagers on berries is typical. When the berries run out, those villagers build farms around the mill.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Cost, HP, build time | 60 wood, 480 HP, 15 s |
| Farmer rate | 0.32 food per second, 19.2 per minute |
| Farm production cap | 0.4 food per second: a farmer can't gather faster than the farm produces |
| Food, no upgrades | 175 |
| Horse Collar | New farms +75 food (250 in total) |
| Heavy Plow | New farms +125 food (375 in total); farmers +1 carry capacity |
| Crop Rotation | New farms +175 food (550 in total) |
| Reseeding | Queue reseeds at the Mill, or turn on auto-reseed. You pay when the farm reseeds, the same cost as a new farm |
The farm tooltip: a farm only holds so much food, and once that is used up the farm has to be rebuilt. Only one villager can work a farm at a time.
How fast that is: at 0.32 food per second, one farmer empties a 175-food farm in about 9 minutes, and a 250-food farm with Horse Collar in about 13. Wheelbarrow and Hand Cart make farmers faster, because they walk to the mill less often (see Carry capacity above), until they reach the farm's 0.4 cap.
Update 169123 (17 Feb 2026) changed how upgrades reach farms that already exist: they now get a proportional share of Horse Collar, Heavy Plow and Crop Rotation, and the tooltips say existing farms get a smaller amount. Seeding a few more farms once Horse Collar finishes still pays, because new farms get the full bonus.
When to start farming:
How many farms to have in Feudal: most builds reach about 14–16 farms before clicking Castle Age, and some 2 Town Center builds manage with about 12.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Shore fish food | 200 |
| Villager on shore fish | 0.43 per second |
| Fishing Ship on shore fish / deep-water fish | 0.28 / 0.49 per second, without Gillnets |
| Fishing Ship | 75 wood, 50 HP, 40 s, speed 1.26 |
| Gillnets | Fishing Ships work +10% faster and carry +5; 100 food, 125 wood, 30 s, Castle Age |
| Fish trap | 21.05 food per minute, 26.25 with Gillnets |
| Dock | 150 wood, 35 s to build |
Since Update 36906, villagers fishing from the shore can drop their food at a Dock. On water maps you usually need a house right after your first fishing ship. Once the water is won, add fishing ships and Gillnets.
Wall in the villager building your Dock, so an enemy scout can't kill it. Once the Dock is up, put villagers on the shore fish next to it.
Two civ bonuses from The Viking Sagas: Danish Fishing Ships and villagers drop off +5% food, and Varangians also earn gold from shepherding, fishing and hunting.
Deer and other regular huntables rot at 0.25 food per second. Boars and other aggressive huntables rot at 0.4 per second.
Why: a 340-food boar loses 0.4 food every second it lies there, and one hunter gathers 0.41 per second, barely faster than the rot. With only a few hunters on it, a noticeable share of the boar is lost. That is why builds stack villagers under the Town Center.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Lumberjack / gold miner / stone miner | 0.39 / 0.38 / 0.36 per second |
| Lumber Camp, Mining Camp | 100 wood each, 35 s to build |
| Double-Bit Axe / Bow Saw / Two-Man Saw | Wood +20% / +20% / +10% |
| Gold Mining / Gold Shaft Mining | Gold +15% / +15% |
| Stone Mining / Stone Shaft Mining | Stone +15% / +15% |
After the sheep split, 2–4 villagers go to wood: 2 in the leaner 17–18 villager builds, 3–4 in builds that go up with 19 or more villagers and in fast castle builds.
One lumber camp holds about 5–8 villagers. Build a second camp when the woodline is bad or the first one is full. After the Feudal click, the hunters usually move to wood.
Put the Lumber Camp in a good spot, usually at the back of your base unless that is far away. Villagers sent to different trees in the same tile tend to stand still, and so do three villagers sent to one tree. When a tree runs out they wander, so shift-click the next tree for them.
Gold is the resource that shows which strategy a build follows:
| Strategy | Gold rule |
|---|---|
| Archers | About 4 villagers on gold at the start of Feudal, and about 8 by the Castle click. |
| Scouts or spear-skirm | A pure food and wood economy in early Feudal; gold starts around 14–15 minutes, for the Castle click. |
| Man-at-Arms | 2 on gold is enough for men-at-arms and Fletching. |
Protect your gold, with a tower if you need to: losing access to gold usually loses the game.
Standard builds have no fixed stone timing. Stone shows up in three ways:
| Use | Advice |
|---|---|
| Towers against a tower rush | Secure a stone pile right away and defend with towers. |
| Towers against heavy aggression | Mine stone early and defend with towers instead of trying to out-boom the attack. |
| Selling for an age-up | Build a market and sell stone to cover the last of a Castle Age click. |
Stone is also part of the cost of a Town Center (100) and a Watch Tower (125).
A balanced economy, which keeps you off the market until later, comes down to three habits:
An example split for the moment you click Castle Age, with about 35 villagers:
| Army | Food | Wood | Gold |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archers into crossbows | 14 | 12 | 9 |
| Knights or camels | 18 | 9 | 8 |
The archer split keeps you from floating 600 or more food in early Castle Age while making crossbows, which usually loses against a good opponent. If you plan to go very aggressive with crossbows and siege, put even more on wood and gold and fewer on food. The same split also fits an economic plan: adding 2 Town Centers in Castle Age while keeping map presence and harassing.
Either way, scout and react early, so the split matches what your opponent is doing.
Base values, before civ bonuses:
| Tech | Cost and time | Where | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loom | 50 gold, 25 s | Town Center, Dark Age | Villagers +15 HP, +1 melee / +2 pierce armor |
| Town Watch | 75 food, 25 s | Town Center, Feudal | Buildings +4 line of sight |
| Town Patrol | 300 food, 100 gold, 40 s | Town Center, Castle | Buildings +4 line of sight |
| Wheelbarrow | 175 food, 50 wood, 75 s | Town Center, Feudal | Villagers +25% carry, +10% speed |
| Hand Cart | 300 food, 200 wood, 55 s | Town Center, Castle | Villagers +50% carry, +10% speed |
| Double-Bit Axe | 100 food, 50 wood, 25 s | Lumber Camp, Feudal | Wood +20% |
| Bow Saw | 150 food, 100 wood, 50 s | Lumber Camp, Castle | Wood +20% |
| Two-Man Saw | 300 food, 200 wood, 100 s | Lumber Camp, Imperial | Wood +10% |
| Horse Collar | 75 food, 75 wood, 20 s | Mill, Feudal | New farms +75 food |
| Heavy Plow | 125 food, 125 wood, 40 s | Mill, Castle | New farms +125 food; farmers +1 carry |
| Crop Rotation | 250 food, 250 wood, 70 s | Mill, Imperial | New farms +175 food |
| Gold Mining | 100 food, 75 wood, 30 s | Mining Camp, Feudal | Gold +15% |
| Gold Shaft Mining | 175 food, 75 wood, 75 s | Mining Camp, Castle | Gold +15% |
| Stone Mining | 100 food, 75 wood, 30 s | Mining Camp, Feudal | Stone +15% |
| Stone Shaft Mining | 175 food, 75 wood, 75 s | Mining Camp, Castle | Stone +15% |
| Gillnets | 100 food, 125 wood, 30 s | Dock, Castle | Fishing Ships +10% faster, carry +5 |
| Caravan | 200 food, 200 gold, 40 s | Market, Castle | Trade units +20% speed |
| Guilds | 300 food, 200 gold, 50 s | Market, Imperial | Market fee 15% |
Wheelbarrow takes 75 s of Town Center time, three villagers' worth (3 × 25 s). Hand Cart costs more than Wheelbarrow but researches faster: 55 s against 75 s.
Civ bonuses that change these timings, from the current civ descriptions:
| Civ | Bonus |
|---|---|
| Vikings | Wheelbarrow and Hand Cart free (still true after The Viking Sagas) |
| Goths | Loom is researched instantly |
| Vietnamese | Economic upgrades cost no wood and research +100% faster |
| Byzantines | Town Watch and Town Patrol free |
| Portuguese (team bonus) | Technologies research +25% faster |
Burgundians get their economic upgrades, Double-Bit Axe included, an age early and for 40% less food.
Wheelbarrow is researched early, before the Castle Age click: in late Feudal in standard builds. It costs three villagers' worth of Town Center time, but every villager carries more and walks faster from then on.
| Game plan | When to research Wheelbarrow |
|---|---|
| Scouts, archers or men-at-arms in Feudal | Around 16–17 minutes, once you are on about 14–20 farms. About 400–500 banked food is another sign the time has come. |
| Two Town Centers in Feudal (Cumans) | Click up to Castle Age with one Town Center and research Wheelbarrow with the other. |
| Fast castle | Not in Feudal. Research it once you land in Castle Age, at about 18 farms. |
| Drush into fast castle | In Castle Age, around 22–25 minutes, while you add 2–3 Town Centers. |
An older rule of thumb: research Wheelbarrow at around 18 farms, or use the formula 4 × farmers + woodcutters + ½ × gold and stone miners. At 80 or below it is too early; at 90 or above, too late. By that rule, the timing is late Feudal to early Castle for a scout rush, and early to mid Castle for an archer rush.
Hand Cart is a Castle Age boom tech. It costs 300 food and 200 wood, so it comes after Wheelbarrow, your main unit upgrades and your extra Town Centers.
The usual priority: Double-Bit Axe comes first, Horse Collar is the one to delay, Gold Mining comes around the Castle click, and Bow Saw comes early in Castle Age.
| Tech | When |
|---|---|
| Double-Bit Axe | The first Feudal tech in almost every opening. It's worth idling the Town Center for about 10 s to afford it. |
| Horse Collar | In Feudal when you boom or play a closed map. Delay it to play aggressive or reach Castle sooner: archer, men-at-arms and eagle openings often leave it until the way to Castle, and fast castle builds take it with Double-Bit Axe right after the Castle click. The cost of delaying it: your early farms hold less food and need reseeding sooner. |
| Gold Mining | Around the Castle click. |
| Bow Saw | Early in Castle Age. |
| Heavy Plow | Optional, in a Castle Age boom. |
Loom usually comes right before the Feudal click, often in the same step. It keeps your villagers alive against early scouts and militia, so don't delay it so long that a Feudal scout picks off villagers.
It isn't universal. Loom costs one villager's worth of Town Center time (25 s), and some builds trade it away:
| Case | Rule |
|---|---|
| Closed maps such as Arena | Often skipped for another villager or an earlier age-up. |
| Fast Imperial builds | Usually skipped. |
| Georgians | Can go up without Loom and get it first thing in Feudal, before any threat arrives. |
| Water maps | Needed only if your land connects to the enemy's. |
Every time on this page is in-game clock time, as in build orders. At the default Normal speed the game runs at 1.7× real time. One in-game minute is about 35.3 real seconds, so an 8:50 Feudal landing (530 in-game seconds) takes about 5:12 of real time.
The 1.7 figure is not an official number, and Update 185872 did not change game speed. The older 1.5× figure is the Normal speed from before the Definitive Edition.
| Item | Time | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Villager | 25 s | 50 food |
| Loom | 25 s | 50 gold |
| Wheelbarrow | 75 s | 175 food, 50 wood |
| Hand Cart | 55 s | 300 food, 200 wood |
| Town Watch | 25 s | 75 food |
| Town Patrol | 40 s | 300 food, 100 gold |
| Age | Research time | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Feudal | 130 s (2:10) | 500 food |
| Castle | 160 s (2:40) | 800 food, 200 gold |
| Imperial | 190 s (3:10) | 1000 food, 800 gold |
Click time and landing time. A build can give the time you click the age-up or the time you land in the new age, so check which one it means. The two differ by the research time: 130, 160 or 190 s. A Feudal click at 7:05 lands at 9:15.
Landing times follow one formula:
Landing time = (villagers at the click − starting villagers) × 25 s, + 25 s if you research Loom, + the age research time.
It assumes the Town Center never idles and researches nothing else. Example: going up with 19 villagers and Loom from 3 starting villagers takes 16 × 25 + 25 + 130 = 555 s, so you click at 7:05 and land at 9:15. That is 20 pop, because the scout counts too.
| Villagers at Feudal click | Loom | Feudal landing | Castle landing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 (Georgians) | Yes, or one more villager instead | 8:00 | — |
| 17 | Yes | 8:25 | — |
| 18 | Yes | 8:50 | — |
| 19 | Yes | 9:15 | — |
| 20 (Chinese, 6 starting villagers) | Yes | 8:25 | — |
| 21 (Malay, faster age-ups) | Yes | 9:13 | — |
| 22 (Fortress, 10 starting villagers) | No | 7:10 | 10:40 |
| 23+2 (fast castle boom) | No | 10:30 | 14:00 |
| 25+2 (fast castle into unique unit) | No | 11:20 | 14:50 |
| 25+4 (Knight rush) | Yes | 11:45 | 16:05 |
| 26+2 (Armenians) | Yes | 12:10 | 15:40 |
| 27+2 (drush fast castle) | Yes | 12:35 | 16:05 |
| 28+2+2 (Turks fast Imperial) | No | 12:35 | 16:05 (Imperial 20:05) |
In 23+2, 23 is the villager count at the Feudal click and 2 more are made in Feudal before the Castle click.
The Turks row checks the Imperial time too. Feudal: (28 − 3) × 25 + 130 = 755 s = 12:35. Castle: 755 + 2 × 25 + 160 = 965 s = 16:05. Imperial: 965 + 2 × 25 + 190 = 1205 s = 20:05.
The same Feudal times by population at the click. Population counts the scout, which a villager count doesn't, and each line assumes Loom:
| Pop at Feudal click | Lands in Feudal | Usually for |
|---|---|---|
| 19 | 8:50 | Scouts |
| 20 | 9:15 | Scouts |
| 21 | 9:40 | Scouts, also men-at-arms or archers |
| 22 | 10:05 | Men-at-arms or archers |
| 23 | 10:30 | Men-at-arms or archers |
Rougher marks: a drush that doesn't go fast castle reaches Feudal around 12:00–12:30. An extra-fast scout opening without Loom, with civs like Mongols or Lithuanians, lands around 8:00–8:30. In a standard Arabia game you click Castle with about 35 villagers plus Wheelbarrow and land around 20:00, if your economy ran clean.
For one villager building alone:
| Building | Build time | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| House | 25 s | 25 wood |
| Farm | 15 s | 60 wood |
| Lumber Camp, Mill, Mining Camp | 35 s | 100 wood |
| Dock | 35 s | 150 wood |
| Blacksmith | 40 s | 150 wood |
| Barracks, Archery Range, Stable | 50 s | 175 wood |
| Market | 60 s | 175 wood |
Cumans pay 75 wood less for Archery Ranges and Stables, and can build one extra Town Center in Feudal Age.
| Unit | Train time | Cost | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scout Cavalry | 30 s | 80 food | |
| Militia, Man-at-Arms | 21 s | 50 food, 20 gold | |
| Spearman | 22 s | 35 food, 25 wood | |
| Archer | 35 s | 25 wood, 45 gold | |
| Skirmisher | 26 s | 25 food, 35 wood | Was 22 s until Update 153015 (12 Aug 2025) |
| Elite Skirmisher | 22 s | 25 food, 35 wood | Unchanged by Update 153015 |
| Crossbowman | 27 s | 25 wood, 45 gold | |
| Knight | 30 s | 60 food, 75 gold | |
| Eagle Scout | 46 s | 20 food, 50 gold | Was 50 s until Update 185872 |
| Fishing Ship | 40 s | 75 wood | |
| Galley | 45 s | 90 wood, 30 gold | |
| Fire Galley | 49 s | 75 wood, 45 gold |
A guide or tool that uses 22 s for the Skirmisher dates from before August 2025.
Civ bonuses to train speed:
| Civ | Bonus |
|---|---|
| Aztecs | Military units train +15% faster |
| Khitans | Skirmishers, Spearman line and Scout Cavalry line train +15% faster |
| Cumans | Steppe Husbandry: Scout Cavalry line trains +100% faster |
| Goths (team bonus) | Barracks work +20% faster |
| Britons (team bonus) | Archery Ranges work +10% faster |
| Case | Starting villagers | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Standard random map | 3 | Plus one Scout Cavalry |
| Chinese | 6 | −50 wood and −200 food at the start |
| Mayans | 4 | −50 food at the start |
| Bengalis | 3 | Town Centers spawn 2 villagers each time you reach a new age |
| Fortress map | 10 | Plus a scout, 5 farms, a barracks, a castle, 4 houses, 4 towers and a full stone wall |
Civ bonuses to starting resources:
| Civ | Bonus |
|---|---|
| Persians | +50 wood, +50 food |
| Aztecs | +50 gold |
| Tupi | +25 of each resource |
| Lithuanians | Each Town Center gives +100 food |
| Incas (team bonus) | Start with a free Llama |
The main triangle is about gold units: archers beat infantry, spearmen beat cavalry, and cavalry beats archers. The trash triangle is about units that cost no gold: scouts beat skirmishers, spearmen beat scouts, and skirmishers beat spearmen.
Around them sit four more roles, from the in-game descriptions:
| Unit | Role |
|---|---|
| Mangonel | Kills tight groups |
| Battering Ram | Kills buildings |
| Melee units | Kill siege |
| Monk | Strong against slow units and units without a ranged attack; weak against the Scout Cavalry line, Eagle Warriors and ranged soldiers |
Counters are about cost, not duels. Trash units cost no gold. A Spearman costs 35 food and 25 wood; a Knight costs 60 food and 75 gold. Unupgraded spearmen are weak against almost everything except cavalry, and can lose to a villager with Loom.
A common rule for an army: one gold unit, one trash unit, one siege unit.
Each unit has melee armor and pierce armor. Melee armor reduces sword and lance hits, and also Mangonel blasts, which count as melee. Pierce armor reduces arrows. Melee, pierce and bonus damage are worked out separately, a negative result counts as zero, and every hit does at least 1 damage.
Units also belong to armor classes, such as cavalry, archer, spearman, shock infantry, building and monk. Counter units carry bonus attack against particular classes. A unit can be in several classes at once: the Cavalry Archer counts as archer, cavalry and cavalry archer, so skirmishers and spearmen both get their bonus against it.
The game tells you a unit is strong against cavalry, but not by how much, and the bonus hits every unit in the class: knights, scouts and elephants are all cavalry, so a pikeman's bonus works on all of them. A unit in two classes takes both bonuses. A Halberdier does +32 against cavalry and +28 against war elephants, so it does +60 per hit to a Battle Elephant.
Base stats, with no Blacksmith upgrades or civ bonuses:
| Unit | HP | Attack | Armor (melee/pierce) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scout Cavalry | 45 | 3 (Dark Age) | 0/2 |
| Light Cavalry | 60 | 7 | 0/2 |
| Knight | 100 | 10 | 2/2 |
| Militia | 40 | 4 | 0/1 |
| Man-at-Arms | 45 | 6 | 0/1 |
| Long Swordsman | 60 | 9 | 1/1 |
| Spearman | 45 | 3 | 0/0 |
| Pikeman | 55 | 4 | 0/0 |
| Archer | 30 | 4, range 4 | 0/0 |
| Crossbowman | 35 | 5, range 5 | 0/0 |
| Skirmisher | 30 | 2, range 4 | 0/3 |
| Elite Skirmisher | 35 | 3, range 5 | 0/4 |
| Cavalry Archer | 50 | 6, range 4 | 0/0 |
| Eagle Scout | 50 | 4 | 0/2 |
| Eagle Warrior | 55 | 7 | 0/3 |
| Camel Rider | 100 | 6 | 0/0 |
| Mangonel | 50 | 40 melee blast, range 7 | 0/6 |
| Battering Ram | 175 | 2 | −3/180 |
| Monk | 30 | Converts and heals, range 9 | 0/0 |
| Unit | Cost | Bonus damage | In-game: weak against |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scout Cavalry | 80 food | +6 vs monks | Spearman line, Camel Riders |
| Light Cavalry | 80 food | +10 vs monks | Spearman line, Camel Riders |
| Knight | 60 food, 75 gold | — | Spearman line, Camel Riders, Monks |
| Militia | 50 food, 20 gold | — | Ranged soldiers at long range |
| Man-at-Arms | 50 food, 20 gold | +3 vs shock infantry, +2 vs standard buildings | Ranged soldiers at long range |
| Long Swordsman | 50 food, 20 gold | +8 vs shock infantry, +3 vs standard buildings | Ranged soldiers at long range |
| Spearman | 35 food, 25 wood | +15 vs cavalry, +15 vs war elephants, +12 vs camels | Ranged soldiers, infantry |
| Pikeman | 35 food, 25 wood | +22 vs cavalry, +25 vs elephants, +18 vs camels | Ranged soldiers, infantry |
| Archer | 25 wood, 45 gold | +3 vs spearmen | Skirmishers, Mangonels, close range |
| Crossbowman | 25 wood, 45 gold | +3 vs spearmen | Skirmishers, Mangonels, close range |
| Skirmisher | 25 food, 35 wood | +3 vs archers, +3 vs spearmen | Close range: it cannot attack there |
| Elite Skirmisher | 25 food, 35 wood | +4 vs archers, +4 vs spearmen, +2 vs cavalry archers | Close range |
| Cavalry Archer | 40 wood, 60 gold | +2 vs spearmen | Skirmishers, Scorpions, close range |
| Eagle Scout | 20 food, 50 gold | +8 vs monks, +3 vs siege | Militia line, cavalry |
| Eagle Warrior | 20 food, 50 gold | +8 vs monks, +3 vs cavalry, +3 vs siege, +2 vs camels | Militia line, cavalry |
| Camel Rider | 55 food, 60 gold | +9 vs cavalry, +5 vs camels | Infantry, Monks, foot archers |
| Mangonel | 160 wood, 135 gold | +35 vs buildings, +12 vs siege | Close range |
| Battering Ram | 160 wood, 75 gold | +150 vs buildings, +40 vs siege | Melee units |
| Monk | 100 gold | — | Scout Cavalry line, Eagle Warriors, ranged soldiers |
Worked out per hit from the base stats above, ignoring accuracy and upgrades:
| Matchup | Result |
|---|---|
| Skirmisher vs Archer | The archer's 4 attack minus the skirmisher's 3 pierce armor is 1 damage per arrow, so 30 arrows to kill a skirmisher. The skirmisher does 2 + 3 = 5 and kills an archer in 6 hits. This is the key beginner number. |
| Spearman vs Scout | The spear does 3 + 15 = 18 per hit, so 3 hits kill a 45 HP scout. |
| Knight vs Pikeman | The pike does (4 − 2) + 22 = 24 per hit: 5 hits, about 12 s at a 3.0 s reload. The Knight does 10 per hit: 6 hits, about 9 s at a 1.8 s reload. The Knight narrowly wins one on one, but pikes win per resource spent: 60 resources and no gold against 135, 75 of it gold. |
| Crossbowman vs Knight | 5 − 2 = 3 per arrow, so 34 arrows to kill a Knight. The Knight kills a crossbowman in 4 hits. Archers need numbers and upgrades to fight cavalry. |
| Arrows vs Battering Ram | 4 − 180 leaves the minimum of 1: about 175 arrows to kill a ram. Melee does 3 extra because of the ram's −3 melee armor. Kill rams with melee units. |
| Mangonel vs archers | A 40-damage melee blast against 0 melee armor: one shot kills a base Archer (30 HP) or Crossbowman (35 HP) in the area. Archers do 1 per arrow to the Mangonel, with its 6 pierce armor. |
| Light Cavalry vs Monk | 7 + 10 = 17 per hit: 2 hits kill a 30 HP monk. |
| Eagle Scout vs Archer and Man-at-Arms | The archer does 4 − 2 = 2 per arrow and needs 25 arrows. The Man-at-Arms does 6 + 3 = 9 per hit and needs 6. |
When you play knights: against pikes, add siege; against camels, add monks or pikemen; against stone walls, build a forward castle or siege workshop. When the enemy plays knights, add monks.
Upgrades change matchups. Fully upgraded scouts beat any Feudal unit except mass spearmen. Fletching gives archers +1 attack and +1 range, and Town Centers +1 attack. Bloodlines gives mounted units +20 HP.
The game's tooltips don't show bonus damage. Here it is for the upgraded and later units that are not in the tables above, with the current values.
| Unit | Bonus damage |
|---|---|
| Two-Handed Swordsman, Champion | +4 vs standard buildings |
| Halberdier | +32 vs cavalry, +28 vs war elephants, +26 vs camels, +17 vs ships |
| Elite Eagle Warrior | +10 vs monks, +5 vs siege, +4 vs cavalry, +3 vs camels |
| Heavy Cavalry Archer | +4 vs spearmen |
| Hand Cannoneer | +10 vs infantry, +2 vs rams, +1 vs spearmen |
| Hussar | +12 vs monks |
| Winged Hussar | +14 vs monks, +4 vs gunpowder units |
| Heavy Camel Rider, Imperial Camel Rider | +18 vs cavalry, +9 vs camels, +9 vs ships, +7 vs Mamelukes |
| Battle Elephant | +4 vs buildings and stone defenses; Elite +7 |
| Onager, Siege Onager | +45 / +60 vs buildings, +12 vs siege |
| Siege Ram | +200 vs buildings, +65 vs siege |
| Bombard Cannon | +200 vs buildings, +40 vs ships and stone defenses, +20 vs siege |
| Trebuchet | +250 vs buildings |
| Petard | +900 vs walls and gates, +500 vs buildings, +100 vs castles, +60 vs siege |
Bonuses from terrain and techs:
Civ bonuses change bonus damage too. Those depend on the civ, so read them in that civ's tech tree in-game.
These unique units have bonus damage that decides fights. Values are the current ones.
| Unit (civ) | Bonus damage, base / Elite |
|---|---|
| Huskarl (Goths) | +6 / +10 vs archers |
| Ghulam (Hindustanis) | +5 / +6 vs archers |
| Kamayuk (Incas) | +8 / +12 vs cavalry, +6 / +10 vs camels, +20 vs war elephants |
| Genoese Crossbowman (Italians) | +5 / +7 vs cavalry and war elephants, +4 / +6 vs camels |
| Mameluke (Saracens) | +9 / +12 vs cavalry |
| Samurai (Japanese) | +10 / +12 vs unique units |
| Camel Archer (Berbers) | +4 / +6 vs cavalry archers |
| Plumed Archer (Mayans) | +2 vs spearmen, +1 / +2 vs infantry |
| Longbowman, Chu Ko Nu, Rattan Archer, Composite Bowman | +2 vs spearmen |
| Mangudai (Mongols) | +3 / +5 vs siege, +1 vs spearmen |
| Magyar Huszar (Magyars) | +5 / +8 vs siege, +1 / +2 vs rams |
| Conquistador (Spanish) | +4 / +6 vs rams |
| Janissary (Turks) | +2 / +3 vs rams |
| Arambai (Burmese) | +2 vs rams |
| Tarkan (Huns) | +8 / +10 vs buildings, +12 vs stone defenses, +10 vs castles |
| Teutonic Knight (Teutons) | +4 vs standard buildings, +4 vs shock infantry |
| Obuch (Poles) | +4 / +6 vs standard buildings |
| Flaming Camel (Tatars) | +50 vs cavalry, +50 vs camels, +130 vs war elephants |
These charts rate each generic unit against the others of its age. They assume both sides have the key upgrades: Bloodlines and armor for cavalry, range and attack for archers. A unit from a later age beats almost anything from an earlier one, so compare within an age.
Three things the charts leave out. Micro matters: ranged units should hit and run and avoid being surrounded, melee units should surround them, and mangonels often do better with attack ground than by clicking a unit. Civ bonuses can flip a matchup. And numbers matter: a counter still loses to a much bigger army.
| Unit | Good against | Bad against |
|---|---|---|
| Militia (Dark Age) | Spearman | Man-at-Arms, Archer, Scout Cavalry |
| Man-at-Arms | Spearman, Eagle Scout, Skirmisher | Archer |
| Spearman | Scout Cavalry | Man-at-Arms, Archer, Eagle Scout, Skirmisher |
| Eagle Scout | Spearman, Skirmisher | Man-at-Arms |
| Archer | Man-at-Arms, Spearman | Skirmisher |
| Skirmisher | Archer, Spearman | Man-at-Arms, Scout Cavalry, Eagle Scout |
| Scout Cavalry | Skirmisher | Spearman |
| Unit | Good against | Bad against |
|---|---|---|
| Long Swordsman | Pikeman, Eagle Warrior, Elite Skirmisher, Light Cavalry, Battering Ram | Crossbowman, Cavalry Archer, Knight, Monk, Scorpion |
| Pikeman | Knight, Light Cavalry, Camel Rider, Battering Ram | Long Swordsman, Eagle Warrior, Crossbowman, Elite Skirmisher, Scorpion |
| Eagle Warrior | Pikeman, Crossbowman, Elite Skirmisher, Light Cavalry, Camel Rider, Monk, Mangonel, Battering Ram, Scorpion | Long Swordsman, Knight |
| Crossbowman | Long Swordsman, Pikeman, Light Cavalry, Camel Rider, Monk | Eagle Warrior, Elite Skirmisher, Mangonel, Battering Ram, Scorpion |
| Elite Skirmisher | Crossbowman, Cavalry Archer, Pikeman, Monk | Long Swordsman, Eagle Warrior, Light Cavalry, Knight, Camel Rider, Mangonel, Battering Ram, Scorpion |
| Cavalry Archer | Long Swordsman, Light Cavalry, Monk | Elite Skirmisher, Battering Ram, Scorpion |
| Monk | Knight, Camel Rider, Long Swordsman; Monks with Atonement; Mangonels with Redemption | Eagle Warrior, Light Cavalry, Crossbowman, Elite Skirmisher, Cavalry Archer, Battering Ram |
| Light Cavalry | Elite Skirmisher, Monk, Mangonel, Battering Ram, Scorpion | Long Swordsman, Pikeman, Eagle Warrior, Knight, Camel Rider, Crossbowman, Cavalry Archer |
| Knight | Long Swordsman, Eagle Warrior, Elite Skirmisher, Light Cavalry, Mangonel, Battering Ram, Scorpion | Pikeman, Camel Rider, Monk |
| Camel Rider | Knight, Light Cavalry, Elite Skirmisher, Mangonel, Battering Ram, Scorpion | Pikeman, Eagle Warrior, Crossbowman, Monk |
| Mangonel | Crossbowman, Elite Skirmisher, Mangonel, Battering Ram, Scorpion | Eagle Warrior, Light Cavalry, Knight, Camel Rider, Monk |
| Battering Ram | Buildings, Battering Ram | Long Swordsman, Pikeman, Eagle Warrior, Light Cavalry, Knight, Camel Rider |
| Scorpion | Long Swordsman, Pikeman, Crossbowman, Elite Skirmisher, Cavalry Archer | Eagle Warrior, Light Cavalry, Knight, Camel Rider, Mangonel, buildings |
| You see | Response |
|---|---|
| A stable | Make 1–3 spears at home and make a full wall a priority. Going archers yourself also works. |
| A range | Either keep map control with scouts, or build a range and make skirmishers while you wall. |
| A lot of militia or men-at-arms | Match them with your own militia, or add a range and play into archers. |
| Two ranges | Answer at once with a range of skirmishers, unless you are already fully walled. |
| Mass archers | Switch to skirmishers, which cost no gold, and drop to 3–4 villagers on gold. |
| Enemy scouts | Make 1–4 spears if they threaten you. In an eagle build, make 2 spears before starting eagles. |
Reading your opponent: while you go up to Feudal, check whether they are taking gold or stone. If some gold is already missing from one of their gold mines, expect a drush. Guessing right feels good, but scouting beats guessing.
| Structure | Value |
|---|---|
| Town Center | 2400 HP, 3/5 armor, range 6, garrisons 15; 275 wood and 100 stone |
| Town Bell | Sends villagers within 23 tiles into the Town Center |
| Watch Tower | 850 HP, 5 attack, 1/7 armor, range 8, garrisons 5, +2 vs spearmen; 35 wood and 125 stone |
| Palisade Wall, Stone Wall | 3 wood or 5 stone per tile |
| House armor | −2 melee / 7 pierce |
The Town Center fires more arrows with villagers or ranged soldiers inside. Unlike other arrow-firing buildings, it can shoot units standing right next to it without Murder Holes. The Malian tech Tigui lets Town Centers fire arrows without a garrison, which means a Town Center normally needs one to shoot.
From the tooltips: the Watch Tower is strong against ranged soldiers and weak against units at close range, especially rams. A Palisade Wall slows the enemy and warns you they are coming. A Stone Wall is hard to break without siege.
Defensive basics:
Walls: in Feudal, use houses as walls to shield your key resources, such as gold and berries, from direct attacks. Use quick walls: small walls that save your villagers from raids without the time and wood of walling the whole base. You usually delete them later and get most of the resources back.
| Mistake | The number behind it |
|---|---|
| Massing spearmen against archers | Spears take +3 from archers and skirmishers. Spears are for cavalry. |
| Overbuilding the counter | Too many spears against a scout rush leaves you open: spears take +3 from archers, so going from scouts into archers punishes it. |
| Shooting rams with arrows or towers | With 180 pierce armor, a ram takes 1 damage per arrow. |
| Leaving skirmishers or mangonels open to melee | Neither can attack at close range. |
| Sending monks into scouts or eagles | Scouts do +6, Light Cavalry +10 and eagles +8 against monks, and both lines resist conversion. |
| Not walling | Many Feudal builds only work with a full wall. Once you have map control, wall your whole base. |
Real map control usually starts in Castle Age. You can pressure and take the map earlier, but if your opponent reaches Castle Age first, you lose that control fast.
If you're ahead in army, or behind in economy, put pressure on: send 1–2 villagers forward to build a siege workshop or monastery on a hill. Pick good fights, such as fighting downhill. Pressure the enemy's resources and raid other parts of the map with a few units while you build up your economy at home.
Once you have 3 Town Centers and a good boom, send 6–7 villagers to stone; after 6–7 minutes you have the 650 stone for your first castle. Build it on a hill. Make it offensive if you are the one pressuring, or defensive to protect your economy when you're under pressure. If you're behind, a defensive hill is usually better, because a forward castle goes down to a few enemy trebuchets.
In Imperial Age, get vision of more of the map. Send 1–2 villagers to each side to build outposts, with Town Watch researched by then. They give you vision, can later put up forward buildings for raids, and find gold and stone for the late game, where you can add Town Centers.
Early in Imperial Age, push, take hills and get your techs and upgrades. Once you are near max population, start raiding from those side buildings.
Expect raids too. Walls are hard to keep up at that stage and break fast, so defend your economy with some walls and 1–2 defensive castles. That way you decide where a raid can come in, which makes it much easier to defend. Meanwhile, raid the weak points in the enemy economy while the main fight goes on in the middle.
The plan: weaken their economy and keep yours, and that wins the fight in the middle. Hold the middle and the key hills with your main army (your most expensive units plus siege), and raid the sides with hussars, light cavalry, eagles, or whatever your civ does best.