Age of Empires Civilization:Mongols

The newer version of Age of Empires i.e. 1.0e proved to be the most beneficial for the Mongols civilization.The Scout Cavalry now has 2 additional hit points in the feudal age which makes it the deadliest unit for raiding.The Mongols are basically a cavalry civilization in Age of Empires with mangudai and hussars being the most preferred.Lets scrutinize them in detail.

Civilization Bonuses for Mongols

• Cavalry archers fire 20% faster.

• Light cavalry,Hussars +30% hit points.

• Hunters work 50% faster.



Cavalry archers fire 20% faster

This advantage for Mongols can be exploited only after castle age.Cavalry archers instead of Knights can be used for raiding. Mongols,use 3 archery ranges for effective raiding .Collect atleast 10 cavalry archers before you go for a raid.But unlike the Huns civilization,Mongols' cavalry archers are not cheaper and require a lot of gold and wood.So collect resources appropriately.

Light cavalry,Hussars +30% hit points

Age of empires provides one of the best advantages to Mongols in team games.Hussars instead of paladins can be used for raiding continuously.First,they are the cheapest unit one can get in the imperial age and second they have greater resistance to arrows because of increased hit points.But, they are as vulnerable as ever to helbs,so use them carefully.

Hunters work 50% faster

This bonus is exploited by Mongols in the feudal age and a strategy known as AK-47 Mongol Rush is entirely based upon this bonus.Due to faster archers, Mongols have 3-4 deer quickly and make 5-6 scouts in the feudal age faster than any other civilization in Age of Empires.Due to the speed of the attack this strategy is often referred to as AK-47 Mongol Rush.

Team Bonus:Scout Cavalry,Light Cavalry and Hussars have +2 line of sight

This advantage empowers the Mongols civilization in Age of Empires to quickly explore your enemy territory.In a team game generally the Mongols are the first to explore the whole of the enemy territory.This helps in a team game when you want to point who is where so that the team strategy can be modified accordingly.

Unique technology:Drill(Siege Units move 50% faster)

This advantage enables Mongols to use Rams extensively even in 4v4 games.Of course this technology can only be done in imperial age.This is the reason gamers prefer to use rams instead of trebeuchets in mongols.This research provides a quicker and more economical way of destroying buildings.


Unique Unit:Mangudai(Cavalry Archer)

This civilization possess a good castle unit named Mangudai.Mangudais possess a bonus attack over siege units.The Ram + Mangudai make a deadly combo for Mongols.They are also good at raiding.The important researches for Mangudai are the range and armor researches from the smithy and the parthian tactics research from the archery range.Their counters include helbs,archers,skirmishers and paladins.

Playing with Mongols

As I said before AK-47 Mongol rush strategy can be highly effective in feudal age.In fact this strategy sometimes even faster than the Huns flush.Use the scouts to raid the lumberjackers.Dont go near the town center as they are vulnerable to arrows.The main drawback of this strategy is that it does not allow for any delay.Delaying means the opponent gets time to make spearman which is a very good counter for scout rush.
Once in castle age use the bonus of faster firing cavalry archers and make a combination of cavalry archers and knights for raiding.
In imperial age use mangudai +ram combo for army to army fight.For raiding use hussars instead of cavaliers.

Any suggestions regarding Mongols are most invited.

Age of Empires Civilization:The Huns

After the advent of 1.0e version of Age of Empires, Huns civilization has become a hot-favorite of every player.In fact, the flush strategy is based primarily on huns. The primary army of this civ is cavalry and only cavalry.It’s perhaps the best civ for 1v1 combat.Lets see how huns fare against the rest.

Civilization Bonuses

• Do not need houses but start with -100 wood.

• Cavalry Archers cost -25% in castle age,-30% in imperial age.


• Trebuchets are 30% more accurate.

Do not need houses but start with -100 wood

This is perhaps one of the best bonuses of Huns. This enables them to save wood and makes them superior in feudal age. One of the disadvantages is that huns cannot detect the enemy’s forwards with house bugs(though they can do the farm bug which costs 30 more wood).This bonus can be best exploited in the feudal age by attacking fast(Flush).

Cavalry Archers cost -25% in castle age,-30% in imperial age

This bonus can be used in combination with the flush strategy, in which at least two archery ranges are mandatory. As soon as castle age research is complete,cavalry archers can be created to raid the enemy from time to time.They are best used in combination with knights.The range research is important in this regard in absence of which they become vulnerable to pikeman.

Trebuchets are 30% more accurate

This is an advantage which can be exploited only in the imperial age.The more accuracy allows the trebs to attack even infantry and units which occupy more surface area(very effective against group of War Wagons,onagers and BBCs from a large distance).Of course they need to be guarded by army.Even more effective after ballistics and chemistry.

Team Bonus:Stables work 20% faster

This bonus makes their cavalry even better. Knights can be very effective in castle age due to their higher speed of production.


Special Unit: Tarkan

The Castle unit of Huns is a Cavalry unit named Tarkan.It has an attack bonus vs. buildings which is not much of an advantage because you never destroy buildings with the army often.I haven’t seen many people playing with tarkans.So the castle unit is not much of a bonus for Huns.

Playing with Huns

As I have said before, Huns are a hot favourite in 1v1 combat. While playing with Huns the only strategy that comes in mind is flush of which the 22 pop flush is most popular. For micro you may refer to the Flush strategy. They don’t have much of an advantage in the imperial age,so try to finish the game at the earliest preferably in feudal itself.Attacking variations in feudal age include two archery range +1 barrack flush, 1 archery range+ 1 stable +1 barrack flush. Of these I wish to point out one strategy in particular.Start with a scout rush so that the opponent makes spearman. Meanwhile make archers to take his spearman by surprise.

Protecting your base is also important.One of the disadvantages of Huns is that they cannot make a house wall.So you need to either protect them with pallaside or with army buildings.

Knights are the most effective unit in castle age.For Huns they can be used in conjunction with the cavalry archers.So while advancing to castle age make 3 stables.If you have your feudal age army intact then I would advise upgrading them.In castle age try to raid as much as possible with cavalry archers and knights(keep them protected from pikemen).