Persians (Age of Empires II)

The Persians in the Age of Empires II are a Middle Eastern civilization based on the large number of Persian dynasties that existed throughout the Middle Ages. They were best known for their rivalry with the Roman Empire and gradual absorption into the Islamic caliphate following the rise of Islam and Arab invasions. Like their predecessor in the original game, the Persians have a strong cavalry and navy.

Overview
The Persians are a Cavalry oriented civilization. They have full cavalry tech and their team bonus allows them and their allies to do bonus damage to archers. For being one of the civilization least impacted by the Dark Age, they have a bonus for Town Centers and Docks and begin with extra resources in a standard game. Their unique unit is the War Elephant, a type of very-heavy cavalry. It deals massive damage to all units and has a huge amount of Hit Points which makes it powerful in melee combat able to take down multiple units but is very slow. This coupled with their powerful cavalry gives them powerful offensive capabilities. However, their defenses and infantry are somewhat lacking. The War Elephant is strong against buildings, but its shortcoming is archers, heavy siege weapons and fully upgraded spearmen. War Elephants are especially vulnerable to enemy Monks which can easily convert them due to their inability to research Heresy. They cannot build Fortified Walls and their towers are mediocre. In addition they are unable to research the Two Handed Swordsmen and Champion upgrades for their infantry units.


 * Unique Unit: War Elephant (slow yet strong and devastating cavalry)
 * Unique Technologies: Mahouts (War Elephants move faster), Boiling Oil (Castles do extra damage vs. rams)

Civilization Bonuses

 * Start game with +50 Food and +50 Wood
 * Town Centers and Docks have +100% HP and work 10% faster in Feudal Age, 15% in Castle Age, 20% in Imperial Age
 * Team Bonus:Knights have +2 attack bonus vs archers

In-game dialogue language (Persian)

 * Āri (آری) (yes)
 * Āmāde (آماده) (ready)
 * Farmān (فرمان) (order?)
 * Salām (سلام) (hello)
 * Sahih (صحیح) (correct)
 * Mikonam (می‌کنم) (I'm doing it)
 * Chubbor (چوب‌بر) (lumberer)
 * Olufe jam'kon (علوفه جمع‌کن) (gather the harvest)
 * Shekārchi (شکارچی) (hunter)
 * Māhigir (ماهی‌گیر) (fisher)
 * Mikonam (می‌کنم) (for farming)
 * Ma'danchi (معدن‌چی) (miner)
 * Me'mār (معمار) (builder)
 * Ta'mir kār (تعمیر کار) (repairer)
 * Hamle! (حمله!) (attack!)
 * Bejangid! (بجنگید!) (fight!)
 * Bejangid? (بجنگید؟) (fight?)

History
The Persians as a culture existed for many centuries when the Middle Ages began. It had been reassembled following the conquest by Alexander in the fourth century BC and the subsequent breakup of his empire in later centuries.

The Persians had been fighting the Romans since the third century AD. The first dynasty during the Middle Ages, the Sassanid Empire stretched from Mesopotamia to India and from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf, encompassing the modern nations of Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan. They fought the Romans, and later the Byzantines, for control of modern Syria, Turkey, Palestine, Israel, Egypt, and Arabia. The capital of the Persian Empire was Ctesiphon, called Baghdad today. This dynasty is represented in the Attila the Hun campaign in the game, as the Huns briefly tried to invade their lands.

The lands of the Sassanids were eventually conquered by the Arabs in 651 AD, and became part of a larger empire for a time, before a new Persian dynasty emerged in 819 AD, the Samanids. Persian dynasties continued to come and go throughout the middle part of the Middle Ages, some of them being founded by peoples to the north of Iran, such as the Turks. The final of these dynasties, the Khwarezmid Empire, was eventually conquered in 1220 AD by the Mongols under Genghis Khan. As a result this dynasty is represented in the Genghis Khan campaign in the game.

When the Mongol Empire split up, Persian became controlled by the Ilkhanate (1256-1335 AD), which eventually became more Persian than Mongol in culture. The Ilkhanate eventually fell apart and Iran became divided. A warlord from central Asia, known as Timur took control of Iran, with much bloodshed taking place. Eventually this dynasty took on a Persian culture.

The final Persian dynasty during the Middle Ages were the Safavids. They took control of Persia in 1501 AD from the Timurids, who had already been weakened by civil wars and disputes during the preceding century. The Safavids were arguably the most powerful Persian dynasty since the Sassanids and were a challenge both to the Ottoman Empire, and the Mughal Empire in India, which had been taken over from a descendant from the Timurid Dynasty.