Persians (Age of Empires II)/Strategy

The Persians are an economy and cavalry oriented civilization.

Strengths
They have access to all cavalry techs. Their unique unit, War Elephant, is a unit that is slow and expensive but with a large area of attack and massive amount of hitpoints.

They are one of the only two civilizations in the game to possess all the final gathering-rate technologies, the other being the Byzantines. This obviously allows for an all-round economy in matches where the Imperial Age is played extensively.

Weaknesses
They have the weakest infantry in the game, missing both the Two-Handed Swordsman and Champion upgrades for their infantry. In addition War Elephants are slow and very vulnerable to conversion by enemy monks. Since the Persians cannot research Heresy the enemy could amass an army of War Elephants of their own.

Even though building Cavalry Archers is viable for the Persians thanks to them accessing Parthian Tactics, the Persians lack Bracer.

Strategy
Persians have a different start up than other civilizations, +50 Food and +50 wood, this means that they can build an additional house at the beginning or just gather another 50 Wood for their lumbercamp or their mill saving gathering time, the same goes for the extra food that is just enough for an extra villlager. Persian town centers also have a better workrate than other civilizations, starting in the Feudal Age so a Persian player can spawn their villagers a little faster, giving them an economic edge. This start-up bonuses allows to the Persians to perform well Feudal rush techniques, or go for a fast castle since aging up is also sped up. Persian Town centers also have more hitpoints, this bonus allows the Persians to defend better in early game. Unlike other civilizations Persians can perform a really strange rush commonly known as The Douche Persian Rush which consist on creating several villagers, gather wood and stone in order to delete their town center in dark age and rebuilt it near to the opponent base, Persian town centers have more hitpoints so it will stand for long time and the villagers should then build towers and steal enemy resources.

Normally a Persian player will focus on the cavalry, Persian Knights have attack bonus against archers, and they have also full blacksmith upgrades for cavalry, this make their cavalry excellent for countering ranged units. Their expensive unique unit, the War Elephant, is a slow melee unit with a lot of hitpoints. Such characteristics make them considerably versatile: they are excellent against buildings and suited for even the most pitched battles. In fact, thanks to their trampling damage, they can damage multiple units simultaneously. Although very powerful, this unit is not invincible and can be countered with masses of Halberdiers, Camels, Archers and monks, so the player must always remember to support their elephants: the high cost per unit makes losing War Elephants even more painful. If dealing with enemy halberdiers War Elephants must be paired with Hand Cannoneers plus Scorpions if the resources allow it; if dealing against monks, which pose an enormous threat to War Elephants, the player must create some scout cavalry.

Another huge threat to Elephants are massed Mamelukes, against which the Persians have no highly efficient counter (like most civs). Against the Saracen, it is advised to deploy massed skirmishers, which should already be present to counter enemy archers and cavalry archers.

In water maps the Persians must take over since early game, their workrate bonus for their docks gives them an edge in this area, allowing  for large fleet to be created quickly.

The Persians are incredibly good at punishing archer civilizations such as the Britons and Mayans due to their team bonus that grants knights +2 attack vs. archers and a well-rounded melee cavalry options (including lategame Paladins). On the other hand, they are more vulnerable to civilizations with strong monks (such as the Aztecs and Spanish) due to the lack of Heresy and their dependence on expensive units such as Paladins, Heavy Camels and War Elephants, meaning that said units will be more vulnerable to conversion. The Goths, Byzantines, Japanese, and Ethiopians are a threat to the Persians lategame due to their cost effective and superior Halberdiers that would shred the Persian cavalry easily, while Indians and Saracens superior camels can easily destroy the Persian cavalry.

Strategy changes in The Forgotten
Persians' new unique tech, Boiling Oil, gives Castles an attack bonus vs rams, slightly improving their defense.

Alliances
Persians are valuable allies for other knight-oriented civilizations such as Huns, Franks and Spanish, as their team bonus helps them take down archers more quickly.

Allying with Italians lets Persians train the Condottiero, which can take the place of the weak Persian infantry. Their speed make Condottieri ideal for repealing enemy Halberdiers and Camels. An allied Hun player is also good for Persians because of the faster stable bonus. Britons can be of great use if the Persian player wants to fields a lot of cavalry archers. The Teutonic conversion resistance bonus is helpful if the enemy counters war elephants with monks.

Berber allies also offer fast, gold-free Genitours, quality monks, fully-teched Champions, versatile camelry with both the Maghrabi Camels and the Kasbah upgrades, allowing Persian players to save gold to amass Paladins and War Elephants quicker than before, in exchange for melee support from Persian Paladins and Halberdiers, plus also fully-teched anti-archer Cavaliers.

Khmer allies grant range boost for Persian Scorpions, together with Ballista Elephants with the Double Crossbow upgrade, while receiving supporting charges from Persian camelry and Paladins in return.

Malay allies also grant Persian players far-sighted docks for fast-response garrison fleet and coastal defence, together with cheaper, Heresy-enhanced Battle Elephants, fully-teched Arbalests, swift Karambit Warriors and "gold-free" infantry hordes with full blacksmith techs, Arson and Forced Levy to swarm horrified opponents, particularly in the Trash Wars. As rewards, they enjoy efficient joint support from the fast-response contingents of Persian Paladins, Hussars, Cavalry Archers, Hand Cannoneers and Camels.

Burmese allies support the team with high-quality monks, and reveal the exact location of all relics for their teammates. Fully-teched Champions and Arambai excel at "crowd control", in exchange for more versatile Cavaliers with Manipur Cavalry upgrade, efficient screening from Persian Halberdiers and War Elephants and late-game firepower support from Persian Hand Cannoneers.

Vietnamese players can also create win-win synergies with their Persian teammates. Persian War Elephants and other cavalry can screen Vietnamese archers and Battle Elephants effectively since the Castle Age, while allowing the latter to snipe enemy Monks or bar enemy Pikemen and Halberdiers to close in at relative ease. In return, once advanced to the Imperial age, with Elephants and Bombard Cannons as their common components, the Vietnamese can mass-produce Champions, Imperial Skirmishers, Rattan Archers and other archers quickly by free Conscription, plus grant their Persian teammates decent bankroll via Paper Money, while receiving Cavaliers enhanced with anti-archer expertise, plus extra joint support from Persian Camels, Paladins, Halberdiers, Hand Cannoneers and advanced Cannon Galleons as lucrative rewards.