Samurai (Age of Empires II)

The Samurai and its elite counterpart, the Elite Samurai, are the unique units for the Japanese in Age of Empires II.

Tactics
Samurai actively seek out the strongest among the enemy's ranks and possess an attack bonus against other unique units. Like all unique units, Samurai may be upgraded to elite versions of themselves. Elite Samurai have better stats than normal Samurai. At first glance, Samurai appear to be weaker in combat than its equivalent swordsman from the Barracks, (the Long Swordsman in the Castle Age, and the Champion in the Imperial Age), the Japanese bonus to infantry attack speed makes them roughly equal in combat ability in general combat. However due to their bonus against unique units (10 for Samurai, 12 for Elite Samurai) the samurai fares better in the late-game, when unique units play a bigger role in combat. However, the unique units they aren't cost effective against are Cataphracts, War Elephant, and Teutonic Knights (though they are effective against Teutonic Knights en masse. Ex. 1 samurai loses to 1 Teutonic Knight but 20 samurai win to 20 Teutonic Knights.) The fully upgraded Jaguar Warrior is especially effective too. They can lose one-on one against any heavy cavalry, especially Paladins.

Samurai perform well when paired with Pikemen and Halberdiers (who also receive the Japanese infantry attack bonus) to mitigate the first two of these issues, and Samurai are cheaper than and build, move and attack faster than Teutonic Knights, meaning it is easier to overwhelm them with numbers.

Samurai are very effective against heavy infantry, with a quick, powerful attack which can safely take out other infantry with ease. Their attack bonus makes them especially deadly against civilizations that rely on their unique unit towards the end of the game.

Team bonuses

 * A team containing Teutons, Samurais are more resistant to conversion.

The Conquerors expansion changes
In Age of Empires II: The Conquerors, the Samurai gain 2 damage against Eagle Warriors and 5 damage against Unique Units. Elite Samurai gain 3 damage against Eagle Warriors and gain 6 damage against Unique Units, and both gain 0.1 speed and gain 1 pierce armor.

Trivia
When the Samurai is out of hit points, one of his death animations shows him stabbing himself with his sword, then dropping to the ground. This was their means of ritual suicide, known as seppuku, ('belly-cutting') or, more familiarly, hara-kiri.

History
''When knights were coming into dominance as lords and warriors in Europe, a similar social and military change was taking place simultaneously in Japan. A weak central government and a scramble for control of land gave rise in Japan to a local military ruling class called the samurai. These men of noble birth trained continuously in the military acts, as well as various cultural arts, They put great emphasis on honor and tradition, as did European knights with the code of chivalry. Samurai fought with a variety of weapons, including the bow and their unique curved swords made of the strongest steel. They sought out high-ranking enemies on the battlefield for personal duels and were trained to seek death in battle to increase their aggression and avoid hesitancy.''