Bloodlines
Stable - FeudalEvolution
Bloodlines
Feudal
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"+20 HP for mounted units"
Coach's Tip
Bloodlines is the most important early upgrade for any cavalry civilization. The +20 HP bonus applies to all mounted units including Scouts, Knights, Cavalry Archers, and even Elephants. This upgrade should be researched as soon as you plan to use cavalry.
Strategic Analysis
Strategic Identity
Bloodlines is the most important early upgrade for any cavalry civilization. The +20 HP bonus applies to all mounted units including Scouts, Knights, Cavalry Archers, and even Elephants. This upgrade should be researched as soon as you plan to use cavalry.
When to Research
High Priority
Research Bloodlines as soon as you have the resources and are using cavalry units.
Combat Impact
+20 HP for mounted units
Affected Units
This technology improves 17 units.
Civilization Access
* 34 civilizations have access to this technology.
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Other Technologies to Explore
AoE Coach analysis
Context & meta
Bloodlines is the most universally researched Castle Age technology in the game: 150 food and 100 gold over 50 seconds, and +20 HP for every mounted unit — Scout line, Knight line, camels, cavalry archers and Steppe Lancers alike, those already trained as well as those still to come. On a 100 HP Knight that is a fifth of a body, and it compounds across every unit in the army, which is why a cavalry plan normally researches it first on reaching the Castle Age. Thirty-four of the fifty-three civilizations have it; among the nineteen that do not are Britons, Franks, Mayans and Vikings.
History & balance
Bloodlines is designed to be a decision that is not really a decision. Its effect is broad enough to touch anything mounted, affordable at the exact moment cavalry starts to matter, and permanent in a way that rewards researching it before an army exists rather than after. The interesting design work is not in the technology at all — it is in the list of civilizations denied it. Removing a research that everyone else takes automatically weakens a cavalry plan without touching a single unit statistic, and it is why several otherwise strong civilizations simply never fight an even cavalry battle.
In pro play
Take Bloodlines before you take numbers. A player who spends the same resources on two more Knights has a slightly bigger army; a player who researches instead has a better one, and the difference grows with every unit produced afterwards. Time it with the age-up rather than after the first fight — the research also improves the units already standing on the map, which is exactly why waiting wastes it. When you face a civilization that cannot research it, stop trading cavalry politely: an even-looking engagement is not even, and the advantage is yours as long as you force it.
How to counter it
Bloodlines itself can't be countered — it's a passive HP buff. The strategic answer is timing: if you know your opponent's Bloodlines is delayed (by Monk play, by raids on their gold, by an early aggression), engage their cavalry before the +20 HP lands. Anti-cavalry counters (Pikemen, Camels, Monks) work regardless of Bloodlines — but factor +20 HP into your kill-count math. A 6-hit kill window becomes 7 hits, which can lose engagements at the edge.