Persians
CavalryTeam Bonus
Knight-line +2 attack vs. Ranged Soldiers
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"The Persians are a cavalry civilization with bonus starting resources, faster and tougher Town Centers and Docks, and the mighty War Elephant."
Civilization Bonuses
- 1
Start with +50 wood and +50 food
- 2
Town Centers and Docks +100% HP and work +5/10/15/20% faster in Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age
- 3
Parthian Tactics available in Castle Age
- 4
Can build Caravanserai in Imperial Age
Unique Units
Unique Technologies
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AoE Coach analysis
Context & meta
Persians are a cavalry-and-economy civilization built around a strong start and a powerful late game. They begin every game with +50 wood and +50 food, enabling some of the fastest and most flexible build orders in the game. Their Town Centers and Docks have +100% HP and work 5/10/15/20% faster per age, snowballing villager production over a long match. Persians get Parthian Tactics in Castle Age (early Cavalry Archer armor) and field two cavalry unique units: the War Elephant (a slow, devastating 450-HP battering ram of a unit) and the Savar, an upgraded heavy cavalry powerhouse. Their team bonus gives the entire Knight-line +2 attack versus ranged units.
History & balance
The Persian +50 wood/+50 food start has been a defining bonus since The Conquerors, accelerating the build order by roughly a house and a half worth of resources. The Definitive Edition added the Savar unique unit and the Kamandaran/Citadels unique techs, reshaping their identity from a one-dimensional Elephant civ into a flexible cavalry power. The TC/Dock work-rate bonus was added and tuned in DE to give them a real economic identity beyond the starting resources. War Elephant cost and speed have been adjusted across patches to keep the unit a niche map-breaker rather than a default win condition.
In pro play
Pros use the Persian starting resources for a wide range of openings — fast Scouts, drush-into-fast-castle, or a flexible men-at-arms opening — because the +50/+50 covers the cost of an extra early house or a faster loom. The faster Town Center work rate makes Persians a first-rate "boom" civilization on semi-open and Arena maps, where they out-villager the field and crush the late game with Paladins (they have the full Cavalier-line) backed by the Knight-line +2 vs ranged team bonus. War Elephants see play on Black Forest, Hideout and other closed maps where their slow speed is hidden behind walls and their HP simply cannot be killed quickly.
How to counter it
Camel civilizations hard-counter the Persian cavalry plan — Camels shut down Knights, Paladins and even punish War Elephants. Monks are devastating: War Elephants are slow and expensive, so a single conversion swings huge resources, and Persians lack a fast answer to Monk play. Halberdiers trade efficiently into the entire cavalry roster. The strategic counter is denying the late game: Persians want long matches where their work-rate and HP bonuses compound, so apply early pressure on Arabia before their boom matures. Against War Elephants specifically, never clump your army — their potential trample-adjacent splash and high HP reward you for spreading out and kiting with ranged units.