Bulgarians/Strategy

The Bulgarians are an infantry and cavalry oriented civilization.

Strengths
They are great at rushing, since their Militia-line infantry automatically upgrades upon advancing to the next age, while their team bonus enables their blacksmith to rapidly upgrade their units. Also, these units retain their value as their unique technology Bagains gives their Militia-line Infantry +3 melee armor. They have most upgrades available for infantry, only lacking the Champion upgrade.

Their unique unit, the Konnik, is a cavalry unit that when killed becomes an infantry unit (with all its implications). The strength of this unit relies on their durability, as they have to be killed twice, while they can also mess with the possible opponents' response to cavalry. They can be created at Kreposts, which are a fortification similar to a Castle, but weaker and cheaper (about half the price of a Castle). The attack speed of the Konnik can be improved with their Castle Age unique technology Stirrups, who also improves the attack speed of the Scout Cavalry line. Regarding the Stable they have full upgrades for both the Paladin and the Hussar.

They have good siege units, as they have almost all the relevant technologies, only lacking Bombard Cannons.

Defensively, they fare well thanks to the Kreposts and the fact that their Town Center cost 50 less stone, letting them save some stone for more fortifications.

Weaknesses
Despite the fact that their Militia upgrades automatically and they have a unique technology that adds more armor to them, they still lack the Champion upgrade, which may make them vulnerable in the long run against well-rounded units or ranged units.

Their Archery Range is mediocre, as they lack the Crossbowman and Arbalest upgrades and the Ring Archer Armor upgrade at the Blacksmith.

They can create Kreposts that can help defend their position, but lack several defensive technologies like Hoardings, Bombard Tower, Fortified Wall and Arrowslits, making them rely almost only on the Krepost for that purpose (which despite being cheaper than a Castle is still more expensive and takes longer to built than towers).

They have lackluster naval technologies (no Shipwright, Dry Dock, Elite Cannon Galleons, Heavy Demolition Ships, or Fast Fire Ships) so they should avoid using ships unless it is necessary.