Genitour (mounted)

"Berber unique unit. Mounted Skirmisher."

- Age of Empires II description

The Genitour is the second unique unit of the Berbers in Age of Empires II HD: The African Kingdoms. It can be trained at the Archery Range once the Castle Age is reached. It is essentially a mounted Skirmisher. Since Genitours cost no gold, they are considered trash units.

Genitours can be upgraded to Elite Genitours in the Imperial Age.

The Genitour is a shared unique unit, i.e. it is available to any player allied with a Berber, so in essence, it is their team bonus.

Tactics
Genitours are excellent counters against any archer-using opponent. Due to their comparatively high hit points and attack bonus against all archer units, Genitours emerge winning against almost any archer unit in the game. They can also be used to hit-and-run infantry, but the regular Cavalry Archer is much better suited for that due to its higher base attack. Encounters with cavalry and siege weapons should be avoided, because the Genitours cannot make use of any of their beneficial traits against these units.

Comparison to the Skirmisher
While in general similar in terms of use on the battlefield, the Genitour has advantages and drawbacks in comparison with a standard Skirmisher. It is faster, has significantly more hit points (especially for civilizations with access to Bloodlines), and has slightly more attack. On the other hand, it requires twice the amount of food to train, has less range and is vulnerable to anti-cavalry units like Camels and Pikemen. It also lacks an attack bonus against Pikemen, but as opposed to the Skirmisher, they can hit-and-run infantry.

Whether or not to use Genitours depends much on the player's playing style, their civilization, and the current situation. For the Berbers, Genitours are usually preferred in the Imperial Age, because they fit in nicely with the Berber cavalry army and don't lag behind like Skirmishers do. In general, Genitours are favorable against Cavalry Archer using civilizations and, naturally, for the Turks as they lack Elite Skirmishers and have fantastic Genitours with their Sipahi technology.

Civilization bonuses

 * Aztecs: Genitours are created 15% faster.
 * Celts: Genitours can convert herdables even if enemy units are next to them.
 * Chinese: Technologies that benefit Genitours are 15%/20% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.
 * Franks: Genitours have +20% hit points.
 * Huns: Genitours are 10%/20% cheaper in the Castle Age/Imperial Age.
 * Mongols: Genitours fire faster.
 * Saracens: Genitours have +3 attack against buildings.
 * Spanish: Blacksmith upgrades that benefit Genitours don't cost gold.
 * Vietnamese: Genitours have +15%/20% HP in the Castle/Imperial Age.

Team bonuses

 * A team containing Britons: Genitours are created and upgraded 20% faster. Researching Thumb Ring is 20% faster.
 * A team containing Huns: Researching Bloodlines and Husbandry is 20% faster.
 * A team containing Malians: Researching Chemistry and Ballistics is 80% faster.
 * A team containing Teutons: Genitours are more resistant to conversion.

The African Kingdoms

 * Non-Elite Genitours initially have 4 attack and 3 range. With patch 4.8, they have 3 attack and 4 range.
 * Aztecs: Initially, the civilization bonus that gives a 15% creation speed boost to all military units does not apply to Genitours. With patch 4.8, however, that was fixed and Genitours are created 15% faster.

Trivia

 * Prior to the release of The Conquerors, the Genitour was originally planned to be the unique unit of the Spanish, behaving largely similar to how it does now, though due to reasons unknown it was scrapped and replaced with the Conquistador. The WIP unit lived on, however, as an untrainable unit in the Scenario Editor in the form of a Militia that tosses arrows with each swing of its club.
 * The term "Genitour" is derived from "Jinete", meaning "horseman" in Spanish. Jinetes were historically deployed as a kind of mounted fast-moving skirmishers, which is depicted rather accurately in the game, though the use of the term is rather odd for a civilization such as the Berbers. A more accurate iteration of the in-game name would be "Zenata", which is appropriate seeing as it served as the original root for "Jinete".
 * Genitours are one of only three unique trash units. The others are Imperial Skirmishers and Magyar Huszars (if Mercenaries is researched).
 * The Genitour is also one of the very few units where its upgrade does not cost any gold. The others are the Capped Ram, the Siege Ram (both since patch 1.0c), the Heavy Scorpion, and the Plumed Archer.
 * The Turks are arguably the most grateful for access to the Genitour. Their skirmishers are the worst in the game, and Sipahi puts their Genitours among the best.