Parthian Tactics

Parthian Tactics is a technology in Age of Empires II: The Conquerors that can be researched at the Archery Range once the Imperial Age is reached. Once researched, it improves Cavalry Archers, increasing their armor by +1/+2 and giving them an attack bonus of +4 against Pikemen.

Note that it also applies to the Mongol and Indian unique units, the Mangudai and the Elephant Archer, respectively, but the attack bonus against Pikemen is only +2 in their case. Additionally, note that although many Cavalry Archer technologies and bonuses apply to Genitours, this technology does not.

Team Bonuses

 * A team containing Britons: Researching Parthian Tactics is 20% faster.

History
"The horse archers of Parthia, now part of modern Iran, were renowned for their ability to shoot arrows at pursuers, whether the archers were in real or feigned retreat. Being able to shoot at enemies while withdrawing was very irritating to the enemy, especially when pursuers were too slow to close the gap. Although the Parthians were an ancient people, their tactics were adopted by later civilizations that employed horse archers and their name remained attached to the maneuver. The phrase “parthian shot” has come to mean any comment made while exiting a discussion."

- The Conquerors manual

Trivia

 * Prior to The Forgotten, the Japanese were the only civilization that had access to Parthian Tactics, but not Bloodlines. With the Forgotten expansion giving the Japanese Bloodlines, every civilization that has access to Parthian Tactics also has access to the Heavy Cavalry Archer and Bloodlines upgrades.
 * Of the civilizations that have access to Parthian Tactics, only three are missing key techs for their Cavalry Archers. Not counting the pre-Forgotten Japanese, the Huns and Mongols lack Ring Archer Armor, and the Persians lack Bracer.