What is the most expensive unit to fully upgrade? (AoE2)

In this video we investigate some of the cheapest and most expensive units to fully upgrade.
1:10 Cheapest units to fully upgrade
3:20 Miscellaneous surprises
5:10 Top 10 most expensive
___________________________________________________________
Patreon: / spiritofthelaw
Background music from Epidemic Sound: www.epidemicsou...
Game: Age of Empires II Definitive Edition

[@eHcOZaX]

Some units here don't seem expensive to get into is because they use tech that is shared between multiple units. While the cataphract has two expensive upgrades that only benefits the cataphract, that's why it feels more expensive to get into

[@Alienoiable]

it also doesn't take into account the price of the unit itself.

[@voyagerdeepspaceexploratio5023]

I also realized the cataphract is expensive to upgrade, but thats likely because Byzantines get a cheap Imperial age.

[@hansoskar1911]

it feels expensive bc byz have no eco bonus and everything else they make is not only cheap but also discounted.

[@piotrj333]

Also worth noting originally upgrades were even more expensive. With old upgrade cost it would be 5740 res, and 1600f 800g just for elite upgrade.

[@Spiror]

Yep i think catas logictic need to merge in elite version asap and make the tech something else maybe some economic bonus or something else……catas are utility cavalry not for general use……boyars or konik are easy for general use

[@naphackDT]

The reason, cataphract is perceived as way more expensive than briton arbalesters is that cataphract is a pivot while arbalesters are just the natural progression you slowly build towards. Cataphract isn't something you choose, it's something you are forced into... and for that transition, you need to cough up huge chunks of resources all at once.

[@shebaloso]

you didn't choose the cataphract. the cataphract chose you

[@skipper472]

Also because arbalest has a 'useless' technology for Britons, the Yeomen, which isn't top priority until lategame but randomly adds 1000+ resources to fully upgrade it. Cataphracts, however, need all their upgrades to do really do well against halberdiers.

[@cannnds]

@@skipper472 biggest trade off for catas, those elite and logistica techs are needed because you don’t have blast furnace and bloodlines, but you don’t really need to worry about anti-cav units (except gurjara camels). what makes catas being unique is they are very difficult to counter especially by traditional counter unit rules.

[@Whimsical_Inquiror]

Content suggestion: Rubblemakers. Best units against buildings; sorting top 5 infantry, cavalry, archer and siege class units, each by 'damage per minute' and 'damage per resource' .

[@MarquessofCandea]

My prediction : elite teutonic knight

[@adamgonzalez9650]

Elite discounted konnik?

[@VeryPeeved]

@@MarquessofCandea What, for all categories?

[@Calebgoblin]

I second this!

[@chirantans2162]

Yeah, also I need to know the best units VS the Rams especially the siege rams. In my calculation, the magyar hussar seems to be the best but only in a bunch, same with heavy cav units, meso eagles, the frankish axeman is also good if you have 5-6 in a group. The mangudai isn't THAT good even tho they advertise it as such!!

[@civ-fanboy2137]

Your endless potential to generate interesting videos is amazing

[@hyperN1337]

The Magyar CA vs Cataphract resource difference really shows just how much easier/better perceived upgrading into something is when its made out of many smaller costs that are nice to get vs the gigantic then and there investments of mandatory techs. In imperial, you can sit on fully upgraded CA without the heavy upgrade or recurve comfortably for a bit, whereas Cataphracts without elite and logistica just die to halbs.

[@Nysyarc]

Magyars are my favorite civ and my favorite composition in late game is Cav Archers + Hussar/Magyar Huszar. Good to know it's literally the most expensive unit to get into, but that won't stop me using it all the time lol.

[@Tim_593]

Yeah its probably the strongest but also most expensive unit combo (I guess Mongols would be more expensive if you have Mangudai+multiple siege units)

[@mikeofbosnia]

Congrats man. What is your ingame name? So I can attack you early 😂😂😂

[@cannnds]

that compensates your free attack upgrades for your melee units. you just have to invest more in HCA.

[@TovKafur]

HCA + Paladins is even more expensive though, but it's not viable outside of team games.

[@CyberDrewan]

I kind of like how cheap the upgrades for gunpowder units sort of references how, historically, gunpowder weapons became so dominant because how deadly they are compared to how long it takes to train a soldier to use them.

[@zhouwu9997]

i feel like that it should be the other way around, with gunpowder units costing very expensive upgrades, but are cheap to produce once you have them(if being historically accurate that is)

[@bristleback3614]

If we ignore the potential danger technically early firearms is just a tube on top of stick, very cheap to produce, the real cost probably went to the gunpowder either to buy the raw material or to import from another place

[@CyberDrewan]

@@zhouwu9997 it’s weird, because I agree with you: it should technically be harder to produce/upgrade the guns than to train units; however, i think the game uses the late availability of chemistry to simulate this “long and expensive” research time. I just think it’s interesting that because the gunpowder units are balanced around not needing attack upgrades sort of simulates how gunpowder was a real, historical power spike for many armies, even if the way the game represents it isn’t that historically accurate.

[@SIGNOR-G]

​​@@CyberDrewan i believ it would have been better to move chemistry on castle age and have another upgrade on imperial. Feel so qeird to have flaming arrows in imperial age only. Also remember when you needed? a tech for all gunpowder units

[@leAleBoss]

@@SIGNOR-G I recently won as goths against teutons with hand canons coming in clutch, an extra tech might have cost me the game 11

[@alltmisc]

Cataphract Elite used to be 400f more expensive and Logistica 200f more expensive. Centurion, Camel Archer, Ratha, Ele archer, and Magyar Hussar wasn’t a thing back then when it earned its expensive reputation, basically tying it with Longbow and Chuks. Arguably, those ranged units might have felt less expensive as you still got tons of use of them while not fully upgraded. Non FU Catas leave you feeling empty inside knowing you miss out on trample dmg, extra infantry bonus, and extra anti cavalry armor.

[@Sids1192]

Also in the case of longbows and chuks, you were buying a bunch of their techs already. A Briton that tries to swap into longbows in late post-imp probably already used crossbows or arbs in the early game, so they already have a bunch of techs. Even if longbows didn't exist, they'd still want to get those techs for ships, towers arbs etc. For Byzantines, their paladins are decent, and you may have already made use of cavalry, but there's also a good chance that you didn't. In that case, you are going to have to fork over all of those resources upfront, for techs that won't really benefit anything but the Cats.

[@cannnds]

@@Sids1192yeomen tech is what makes them pricey to put them into the highest ceiling. it used to be an imperial unique tech (IIRC) and even moved it to the castle age is not so affordable as it has lesser value than bracer and chemistry. for byzantines, the objective is you only have to turtle or give defense to your allies (yea, just stay at your TCs and wait enemies to attack you. if you have to respond, you just have to max the catas (despite them lacking bloodlines and blast furnace)), if you find yourself not sufficient to max the catas, you still have your very affordable trash and counter units. Magyars are self-explanatory. They need the last upgrade to be effective (I think - the best upgrade for HCA so far), while Japanese and Turks have their own free bonuses (Japs for innate attack bonus and Turks with free Chemistry). Luckily your blast furnace for melee units are free.

[@azh698]

I say Ethiopian SO with the 256x mod, or Mayan Arbalester before they removed obsidian arrows.

[@API-Beast]

I think the really surprising thing here is how even the super expensive fully upgraded units only differ by like a 1000 resources from the cheaper ones. Basically AoE 2 is just a really well balanced game.

[@richeybaumann1755]

When the range for "best" and "worst" civs is like 50% +/- 7%, that's an incredible balance.

[@minikawildflower]

This definitely confirms my feeling that cav archers are hard to upgrade! More than cost, it often feels like it takes a long time in game to get all the relevant upgrades, since you need stuff from a bunch of different buildings. I guess you can get some of those simultaneously but at my ELO it's a lot to handle!

[@NeinStein]

Yeah, might as well throw in the cost of a stable, a university, and a castle to the bill of going heavy cav archers only.

[@Alias_Anybody]

The Magyar Elite Cavalry Archer was so expensive they even recycled it for AoE3 DE as the Lipka Tartar. The associated tech "Sarmatism" is btw. one of the most underrated techs in said game.

[@EvilDoresh]

I love how the game lets you go full retro with archaic weapons and still come out on top.

[@Alias_Anybody]

@@EvilDoresh Maybe not in Industrial Age, but the game is currently IMHO balanced towards an early victory and any advantage you can gain with cheap techs.

[@fattiredbiker4012]

SOTL - You should consider doing an introduction to multiplayer ranked team games. Your introduction to 1v1 multiplayer is why I started playing the ladder and now I want to know the differences before I dive into team games: pocket, flank, strategy, good pairings, trading, chat differences etc.

[@arforafro5523]

I never noticed how expensive Cavalry Archers were, I guess it helps a lot being dripfed the blacksmith upgrades with Heavy upgrade and Chemistry coming in Imperial when it's easier to build up so much resources. That said Magyar Heavy Cavalry Archers are worth every penny, a decent sized group just runs down anything that manages to survive fighting the Huszars.

[@specificgod]

Thank you Spirit of the Law for bringing back the original version of the ending music, the new version just didn't hit, the old one's a banger 🎉

[@exeonx6561]

I had a big hunch about #1 and was indeed correct, won't spoil it though. I believe the reason many units "seem" like they are expensive is because they either get a lot of needed techs at the same time, or you need a lot of resources before you can viably transition. The difference between a Cataphract with or without upgrades is staggering, and they come at a point in the game where you question the gold cost investment. In contrast archers and cavalry can be trained and upgraded from the feudal age, while their combined cost may be similar, you use them earlier and the cost is staggered.

[@TroyKelley28]

A slight correction, Cumans do not receive the Husbandry upgrade, so the cost to fully upgrade Kipchaks should be reduced by that cost, not sure if that changes any calculations, or if that was just a graphical mistake when showing all the Kipchak techs

[@danlanning13]

He did not include bloodlines in the Kipchak upgrade total.

[@danlanning13]

Sorry, husbandry

[@bungalo50]

Yo Spirit, love your content, been a fan for many years. I just gotta say, your ability to "use music/songs in your vids as memes and in-jokes BUT ALSO as enjoyable atmosphere" is second to none

[@mrv6554]

It would be really cool to see some of the top ten units go head to head against themselves with/without techs but with equal resource investments on both sides.

[@Joker-yw9hl]

Petition for Spirit to cover more AOM when it releases 🤞

[@davidlubkowski7175]

yes!!!

[@danilocaccamese9597]

I fully support your petition

[@Randomname968]

Where can I sign?

[@FFKonoko]

I'd hope that would go without saying, he covered the beta and seemed to enjoy it and maybe had interest to learn more.

[@trMurlucky]

Please do!

[@CarvaxIV]

Great video! Maybe to highlight the perceived cataphract expense, you could also include the cost to recruit twenty of each unit?

[@THOTHGames]

38 seconds. This was live for 38 seconds before I clicked it. I've got to find something to do with my day..

[@jacobwood3326]

Wow this was interesting. I mainly play the civ with the most expensive unit on the list and I had no idea!

[@XtReMz98]

While debatable for every unit, I feel Persian’s War Elephants should include Devotion+Faith to be considered ‘Fully Upgraded’, having Monks as their main counter.

[@guilhermecesar9185]

Great Video! I notice that some cheap units that looks expensive usually have one or two high cost upgrade and then they are ok, while the contrary( expensive unit that somehow looks cheap) had gradative upgrades that become costly in the end. Also, I wish to add that War Elephants used to be more expensive due to Mahouts tech, while the Cuman Kipchaks dont had "Husbandry" tech, as they receive 5% bonus cav. movespeed per age. Also, Cataphracts and War Elephants being cheap, makes them more special as UU's as before! Hahaha

[@nicolaaffatati5355]

About villager you forgot to mention the Sappers tecnology that, even if it doesn't visually oncrease their stats, it hugely increases their value against buildings, making spanish villagers vith supremacy, a cheaper siege unit to win the game, also forgotto mention the treadmill crane uprgrade specifically to buildings but it reflects directly to villagers work rate

[@YossarianVanDriver]

I recall you pointed out once in a video Cataphracts are way better out the gate than their reputation suggests, which helped me figure out using them a lot; I wasn't so worried about holding them back until I had every upgrade.

[@TheOhioNews]

Love the video! Classic SotL math content ❤

[@CG-eh6oe]

Did you forget ballista elefant? They come in at 5700 ressources with the stable upgrades, cav armor, SE/Chemistry, a rather expensive elite upgrade as well as double xbow; they should be tied for 9th with the longboat.

[@Zwijger]

I remember Magyar Cavalry Archers being insane in imperial age in his top 5 lists, so it makes sense in hindsight.

[@kazogai]

I guessed number 1 spot correctly. I love that unit and I could never afford the technologies when I advance to Imperial age especially as that civilization.

[@big_lump_of_cheese]

You could argue that the Monaspa is the most expensive to fully upgrade at 7235. To get the plus four attack you need another 28 Monaspas which is a further 3045 resources on top of the 4190 for the stable/elite/blacksmith upgrades.

[@siiiiiiiiiimo]

1:43 casually throwing shade at the Spanish Archers hahaha

[@cannnds]

nobody expects the spanish inquisition

[@timothykurdt7645]

@8:05 not mentioning Saracens is a travesty! Counterweights is only 50 gold less than Furor Celtica!

[@kOaMaster2]

To be fair though, until end of April this year Ratha was indeed the most expensive unit to fully tech into (including Parthian Tactics), ending up at 6915 ressources. In theory, one could also add monk resistancy as an upgrade in which case e.g. sicilian cavaliers would get rather expensive as well (devotion, faith, hauberk, first crusade, all cav & blacksmith techs) while Magyar for example do not have faith, bengalis do. Or one could go into combinations with an ally and having magyar cuman kipchaks (although I'm not sure recurve bow does affect kipchacks) - even more expensive!

[@erikdw8379]

Technically, since the latest update where Bengalis lost Parthian Tactics, they actually now share that spot with the Konnik, who had that spot to themselves before Dynasties of India.

[@andrzejandrzejski229]

You need to add devotion on top to the units like knights or unique cavalry.

[@VonSvenenberg]

Condotierros are a another top pick for low upgrade investment. They just kinda show up ready to rumble, especially if you dont have another viable infantry, or your civ has generic bonuses towards infantry countered by missing technology that doesn't apply to Condos (like missing Champ or Supplies for Goths).

[@LeicaFleury]

Blew my mind the whole Konnik and Cataphract info, though to be quite honest I'm surprised Turk Cav Archers didn't make it to the top 10 or were ever mentioned. Maybe I should do the math myself and see where they actually landed. Regarding the byz cata I guess even though the data is awesome to put an end to the slander as you say, we gotta remember that byzantines have no eco bonus -though a wide eco tech tree- so they're still slow to get rolling. The reason they keep up with their other units is usually due to the discounts, haha.

[@teddyhaines6613]

Regarding Turkish cav archers, Sipahi is a cheaper unique tech than either Magyar Recurve Bow or the Tatar Silk Armor. Meanwhile, remember Turks also get Chemistry for free, so that's 500 resources less to fully upgrade, while Tatars save the res for Thumb Ring and Parthian Tactics. Magyars win out among the three because they get no free cav archer techs and the most expensive unique tech.

[@Apoz]

Nice, if I'd play more active again i would calculate the break-even point for each of these units (T.Upgrade cost / Unit cost) And then do another calc for the HP/T.Upg cost, Atk/Tcost, Def/Tcost, etc. Then conditionally format it to show the unit with the best stats per total upgrade costs.

[@thomasdemetz6145]

We have been waiting too long for this 🥳

[@rabid123fox]

Before watching my immediate thought for most expensive is mangudai

[@nelsonmejiaslozada9362]

I did not think in him because not UT, just regular upgrades.

[@cannnds]

i was thinking about FU cav archers, but definitely not mangudai, because mangudai is fkin strong in castle age already with the attack speed. one drawback for them is the lack of armor upgrade (but you do have parthian tactics)

[@parkerbond9400]

I would love to see the rest of this list including where houfnice falls

[@physixger]

Video idea: purchasing power parity scale for AoE2, by age and resource. A tech in Dark Age is far more expensive in terms of game time required for the resources than in castle or imp, as the total GDP/res collected of a player is lower. Suggestively one could take an average number of villagers by game time/age, factor in the eco techs, and availability/market (for gold and stone), and even factor in the diminished eco efficiency of a player/APM limitation - and try to get approximate PPP weights for each age and resource. I'd be curious how this switches around the results of this list - as right now it's dominated by generally expensive imp techs. (this may also explain why the Villager seems so cheap; you have to get many eco upgrades early)

[@lord_ehrgeiz9107]

Druzhina is pronounced with a stress on I, not on "U", which while sounding like a short "I" in "sit", is a twice longer sound. So it's "droozhi-i-ina(h)". "Дружина". Funny fact. This word use to mean "an army", or "a personal guard", but in modern Ukrainian language it means "a wife".😂🎉

[@Hennu_TRM]

I thought Magyar CA would be expensive, but I was starting to doubt myself near the end of that list...

[@redeyedrandy645]

Magyar ca is worth every Penny, that thing is a beast in late imp

[@lukasvideosify1596]

It's my birthday and Spirit make a new video. Thank you for that!

[@darkdill]

Along with how much it costs to fully tech up the unit, you have to consider the cost per unit. Cataphracts feel costly because you gotta pay all at once in a short span of time, which is pretty damn hard without stockpiling (which is usually suicide in pro play), and each one costs more than a Knight. It doesn't help that you're not going to set up getting Cataphracts right from the get-go; you're getting them as a counter unit.

[@reddyaquaria689]

I can’t believe I guessed the #1 unit from the start, but I doubted myself because of how many new civs there are that I don’t know much about

[@erwinwendler4621]

For the villagers you gotta add treadmill crane as well for faster building time, with that 500 extra res they might enter the top10 or even flemish revolution since they are technically buffed in every single way

[@nicholase2868]

The Konnik continues to deliver surprises!

[@achsoer8694]

Hey Spirit of the law, guys here ✅

[@thehunk23]

Top 10 most expensive cavalry archers to fully upgrade.

[@gaijinsenjapon]

How is it possible the #1 rank was missed?? Ethiopian Siege Onager. TOTAL: 6950 res onager: 1300 res SO: 2450 res chemistry: 500 res siege engineers: 1100 res torsion engines: 1600 res

[@BrownFoxWarrior]

Could you post the full full list in a community post? I'm curious to see all of them.

[@lucaszarate4161]

I'd love to see it too! I wonder if SOTL did the numbers himself or if there is a collection of forum posts that crunch the numbers

[@MegaGouch]

I expected Mangudai to be the most expensive so 14th was surprising, not suprised the see so many cav archers in the top 10. Interesting to not how expensive both archers and heavy cav seem to be to fully tech into, and how somewhat OP gunpowder is. However, my biggest take away from this how elephants need to have their conversion resistance increased so that we see more of them, war elephants are criminally under used at the top level.

[@OytheGreat]

You kinda forgot about the Devotion & Faith (+Heresy or even Conscription) techs, which are of course also unit upgrades. But since they're mostly shared accross al civs, we'll let it slide. 11

[@duytoannguyen6055]

Magyar's Recurve Bow Cav Archers taking the top spot isn't too surprising, given when massed and have some light cavs supporting them, they just kinda shred everything...

[@coffeebeenzz]

Hey guys. Spirit of the law here My day just immediately became better

[@mastrkents]

Do you have a video that explains which technologies have the best ROI? If no, I think you'd enjoy running the analyses on the different techs, to see which ones give you the best bang for your buck. I haven't played in a while, but I love this game and so I watch the videos even though my friends don't play that often

[@SvanTowerMan]

Before getting into this video, I knew the Ratha would be high up on the list.

[@pn13740]

What about Ethiopian siege onagers? By my calculation they’d cost 6950 resources, making them the most expensive of all!

[@nocomment6421]

Bro im so happy you exist. I would have never had the time to research this stuff - i love you for that.

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

Before watching, I feel the ratha will score high, being 2 units at once.

[@davidgretzschelcommunicati1630]

If you count treadmill crane, you should also count masonry, architecture, guard tower, keep, fortified wall, hoardings, Feudal, Castle and Imperial Age for increasing their absolute repair rate and lowering absolute repair cost. Vills win!

[@abhishekjain3148]

I was watching anime with japanese subtitles before this. But gotta say, KZbin did a good job in autotranslation. I saw nothing wrong with what was written. Though I'm only N4 level, I watch and read enough to feel this is correct for the most part.

[@michaelandreipalon359]

In short, having horses, being good with hands and eyes, plus being darn good with bows and arrows is a pricey endeavor.

[@AeroChaoss]

Fun how you analyze any type of AOE

[@SampoPaalanen]

It kind of makes sense that Cataphract is cheaper then the Centurion as many Eastern Roman units were the budget versions of their western/classic counterparts, Byzantines largely lost the economic and logistical resources that had allowed classic Rome to field the more expensive units (and Western Rome was conquered before they were forced to swap).

[@PauxloE]

1:19 - Arguably, for the non-unique gunpowder units one would need to count the cost of Chemistry, as this is a prerequsite of even making them. Though we also don't count the age-up costs to get to Imperial Age.

[@Alexplainshow]

I am surprised SotL didn't realize Cavalry Archers would dominate this list

[@disafear3674]

That was very informative

[@TheAzoable]

I kinda would like to see a video with the same content except where the gold weight is kind of considered with the unit creation. Like for example if you massing a gold heavy unit and the upgrades are super gold heavy then that cost is weighted higher etc.

[@xXSlytzerXx]

Could you make a variant of these calculations factoring in unit costs, so what units are the cheapest/most expensive to fully upgrade and create "mimimum viable mass" and/or 60 (maximum selectable)?

[@kenc00l]

Eye opening, I never chose paladin route because I thought they are an expensive upgrade and not enough micro to have fun, didn't knew archers costed more.

[@chirantans2162]

All Cav archers for some reason are expensive to upgrade to FU. Not sure why Elite Mangudai isnt on the list or the Ele Archer and the Camel archer. They need bloodlines, then the Cav fast tech (husbandry?), then ballistics, chemistry, thumb ring and then they need Parthian tactics to deal with pikes. All these are in addition to Elite upgrade and the Blacksmith upgrades!!

[@giangargo669]

a lot of sense in the comments, what i would like to add is that how much expensive something feels also depends from the economy of the civ, with persians everything feels free since they have that busted economy, the roman centurions are expensive, if i were to tweak the cost i would probably discount the unique tech a little, it's a strong tech but if you need to do those centurions it's very very hard, that's also why magyars feel so hard to play in team games, your best units are nothing exceptional compared to picked civs, and you don't have a good eco to get there so they feel slow

[@Tocaraca]

Why did you mention bombards/trebs/petards but not Hand Cannoneers? Theoretically, the cheapest unit to upgrade is the Hand Cannoneer for civs like Franks and Burgundians who lack Ring Archer Armor (tied with Turk ones, since they have that tech but don't need to research Chemistry)

[@IanMainBliss]

Would have been nice to include a graph with all the units on it!!??

[@talmagejones]

If it's not too much trouble, I'd love a Reddit post of this with the spreadsheet of cost

[@ZorroOfTheLaw]

Oooo Sotl uploaded.

[@ordinaryrat]

I think there should have been some distinction between wood, gold and food cost. The Cataphract cost is mostly Food and has a lot of gold while the Kipchak had a large amount of wood besides food and gold.

[@BigGhilz]

I think the video sort of misses the forest for the trees in certain ways. A briton upgrading his arbalesters isnt just upgrading his arbalesters, most of those upgrades are shared between them, skirmishers, and the longbowmen. Which are all units an archer-heavy civ may wanna use. Whereas something like the Cataphract has 2 upgrades who only affect it, and their wider tech tree mean that upgrading them can be a hard pivot.

[@hugogartor1705]

I'm now considering if upgrade building build cost should be added, I mean you can probably not count the cost of the building that recruit the unit, but in some cases the unique tech add 650 resources for the castle. And the winnee itself requires like 5 diferent buildings, that you may build anyway most games but...

[@Tei]

I'm actually surprised it's Viking Longboats and not Korean Turtle Ships being in the top 10 given the Turtle Ship needs an elite upgrade plus shipwright, but also Siege Engineers. Guess the blacksmith ranged upgrades plus chemistry is just that hard to beat.

[@Link1506]

nah - he just made some mistake. turtle ships are more expensive! He porbably forgot they now also need siege engineers.

[@dfhy65]

Mmm i thought aztec monks would appear

[@21solomonspace]

Feel like this video should give more value to gold over wood. Imperial age Wood isn't really an issue at all

[@MouseDestruction]

Can't really go into siege or gunpowder tech before you get the units, and you probably haven't for cavalry either unless you go early scouts. Its quite easy to pick up a few infantry or archer techs in the feudal age, which is useful if you have that type of unique unit.

[@Isvoor]

2:47 It was at this moment that I realized we see the front of the elephant in the stable because the devs don't trust us to recognize an elephant's ass.

[@dinoson7007]

Regarding the cheapest upgrade cost unit, I think you forgot Xolotl Warrior since you just need atk upgrades from blacksmith. At best counting Redemption as a necessary condition to train them.

[@matthewmcneany]

I think the thing about the cataphract compared to a Briton arbalester is how much more integral logistica and elite cataphract are to cataphracts being an effective unit. Sure going from 10 to 11 range is important but it's not nearly as important as getting any of the cataphract upgrades. Without any one of elite, logistica or plate armour they're just not a particularly effective unit. If you're missing a single tech with britons you've got like a 80-90% effective unit. If you're missing a single Byzantine tech you've got like a 60-70% effective unit.

[@tomascostanzo3673]

Just imagine the amount of hours of work poured into this

[@nishthedude]

havent watched the whole thing but i think its gonna be the elite battle elephant

[@josueromerotorrico4453]

You can technically add some gold and food fore everyone when you factor in faith and devotion

[@programmer437]

(posting my guess before actually watching the video) Gotta be Ratha or Siege Elephant

[@PraveenR7]

Does Parthian tactics apply to camel archers? I didn't see it included

[@teddyhaines6613]

Does not matter since Berbers don't get it.

[@PraveenR7]

@@teddyhaines6613 Do Magyars miss it as well? I don't see it for them also

[@acentialpapd9418]

I was absolutely sure it would be the Ratha .

[@amyloriley]

0:14 I have to ask. How did you get that turtle ship up there? 😮

[@ArawnOfAnnwn]

Scenario editor

[@FFKonoko]

It crawled, like a turtle. Serious answer, either placed there in aoe editor for sake of thumbnail or placed there in video editor for sake of thumbnail? Probably the first one.

[@nicholasdalby5178]

A UNIT'S COST IS A PART OF IT'S STATISTICS so that TECH NEEDS TO BE INCLUDED for the Gurjara's, period. This should be reworked. You take into account the other civs DISCOUNTED techs--Chinese for ex.--but yet this having a DIRECT impact on the EXPENSE OF THE UNIT ITSELF which IS A STAT is left out? You should rework this, I am not kidding. And I only mention because I have respect for everything you do. 8:55 See, this is why I mentioned the Gurjara Elephant Archer REQUIRING a RECALIBRATION of the total RAW COST to FU as any tech that DIRECTLY impacts your efficiency and effectiveness of deploying the unit FULLY UPGRADED MUST BE ACCOUNTED FOR, just as with VILLAGERS 10:20

[@lindor941]

Before watching the video, my guess is siege onager with that one civ's unique blast radius tech