Squires
Barracks - CastleEvolution
Squires
Castle
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"+10% Speed for infantry"
Coach's Tip
Squires increases the movement speed of all infantry by 10%. This helps your infantry keep up with cavalry, catch archers, and reach battles faster. Essential for infantry-focused strategies.
Strategic Analysis
Strategic Identity
Squires increases the movement speed of all infantry by 10%. This helps your infantry keep up with cavalry, catch archers, and reach battles faster. Essential for infantry-focused strategies.
When to Research
High Priority
Research Squires as soon as you have the resources and are using infantry units.
Combat Impact
+10% Speed for infantry
Affected Units
This technology improves 12 units.
Civilization Access
* 47 civilizations have access to this technology.
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Other Technologies to Explore
AoE Coach analysis
Context & meta
Squires is a Castle Age Barracks technology costing 100 food and taking 40 seconds to research. Its effect is exact and simple: Infantry moves 10% faster. The affected list includes the Militia line, Spearman line, Eagle line and Condottiero. It is therefore a movement upgrade for a defined family, not a generic speed bonus for every military unit. The research belongs in an infantry plan where faster contact, reinforcement and retreat change the number of fights the army can choose. It changes reach, not raw combat power.
History & balance
Squires is a good example of a technology that changes behavior without changing a unit card. Infantry normally pays for its strength by needing time to reach a target; ten percent more movement turns that delay into a smaller tactical tax. The upgrade does not create damage or armor, and it does not make infantry cavalry. It simply improves the moments around combat: arriving before a wall closes, catching a retreating ranged line, reinforcing an ally and leaving a bad fight. Its historical flavor is the training of the soldier; its practical value is tempo.
In pro play
Research Squires when your Barracks units have a job that depends on contact. A Spearman line uses the speed to meet cavalry, a Militia line uses it to reach an exposed economy, and an Eagle line uses it to turn vision into a surround. Pay 100 food and reserve the 40-second research window before a decisive movement, not after the army has already missed the timing. The bonus is strongest when several affected units share one plan; it is weak value for a single defensive infantryman parked at home. Move with purpose, then use the speed to disengage as well as to attack.
How to counter it
Squires has no combat counter because it is a movement technology. The timing mistake is treating the research as mandatory in every Castle Age, or researching it after the infantry window has already passed. When the opponent is building distance with ranged units, blocking routes with walls or relying on cavalry to disengage, Squires is valuable before the move that must connect. If no affected infantry is queued, the 100 food is often better kept for the army or economy. Read the map, research before contact and punish the player who spent the resource without a plan. If you do not know when to take that timing, AoE Coach reads your match-up and gives you the composition and timing.