Malay

The Malay are Southeast Asian civilization based on various kingdoms on the Malay Archipelago before European conquest, mainly Srivijaya and Majapahit. They are featured in Age of Empires II HD: Rise of the Rajas as an infantry and naval civilization.

Kingdoms on Malay Archipelago were able to field large number of troops because of the archipelago's large population. To reflect this, Malay have a cheap unique unit named Karambit Warrior and a unique technology named Forced Levy which enables the Malay to train Militia-line units without spending gold. Because Malay Archipelago is strategically located between India and China trade route, the archipelago was often visited by people from both regions who introduced new cultures and technologies to the locals. This is reflected by one of their bonuses: the Malay advance to the next Ages twice as fast as the other civilizations.

Coastal defence is essential for kingdoms located in the region. To reflect this, Malay Docks and their allies have much longer line of sight. Malay also possess Thalassocracy technology to give their Docks new ability to defend themselves. The vast sea with huge amount of fish is reflected by their Fishing Ship and Fish Trap bonuses. The Sumatran forest had large number of wild elephants and they were often tamed by local people to do various tasks. This is reflected by Malay's cheaper Battle Elephant bonus.

The Malay also incorporated elements from Sultanate of Malacca that controlled Malay Peninsula and part of Sumatra Island at its peak. When Portuguese captured Malaccan capital in early 16th century, it was reported that Malaccan army possessed thousand land cannons. This is reflected in the game with Malay access to Bombard Tower and Bombard Cannon.

Overview
The Malay in retrospect are a naval civilization that puts a lot of emphasis on strong Fish Trap economic bonuses, since Fish Traps and Fishing Ships are not only cheaper, but provide unlimited food. This in turn allows the Malay to completely ignore building any Farms in water maps and put all of their Food economy on fish and Fish Traps, since Fish Traps will allow the Malay to save wood in the long run. The naval line is very strong, only lacking the Heavy Demolition Ship, and thanks to the wood saved from unlimited Fish Traps, the Malay can easily produce more Naval ships in water maps. To add extra defensive measures for Fish Traps and Fishing Ships, researching Thalassocracy upgrades their Docks to Harbors, allowing them to shoot down any ships that attempt to raid the Fishing Ships and Fish Traps. Their ability to advance to the next Age faster means the Malay can save a lot of Town Center time, allowing the Malay to have an early game lead over their opponents in both water and land maps.

In terms of their tech tree, their tech tree is very similar to the Vikings in retrospects (since both civilizations are strong early game civilizations in land maps that fall off lategame due to a limited army composition). Both civilizations have fully upgradable Arbalests and Elite Skirmishers at their Archery Range, but lack Hand Cannoneers, Parthian Tactics, and Heavy Cavalry Archer upgrades. Both have a solid infantry line, a unique tech that boosts their infantry, and unique infantry unit where they lack a key important unit upgrade for their infantry (in Malay's case, it'll be the Champion upgrade to offset their strong Forced Levy Imperial Age tech where Two-Handed Swordsmen doesn't cost gold). In the case of the Malay, Karambit Warrior are infantry units that spawn nearly instantly akin to a Shotel Warrior, but far more frail (although Karambit Warriors only take up half a population space to offset their frailness). Both Vikings and the Malays also have solid siege weapon lines (in the Malay's case, they put more emphasis on long range sieging thanks to them having access to Bombard Cannons in exchange of not having Siege Rams). Both the Vikings and Malays have the worst cavalry in the game and the Malay takes the step further of not only lacking Bloodlines, but also lacking the Chain Barding Armor and Plate Barding Armor at the same time. That being said, much like the Viking Knight rush, the Malay have a viable cavalry rush in which despite having one of the worst cavalry lines in the game, is compensated with their strong economic bonuses. In the case of the Malays, the Malay Battle Elephant rush is suboptimal, but viable thanks to their age advancement bonus and a civilization bonus where their Battle Elephants are cheaper than Knights in terms of gold efficiency (as Malay Battle Elephants will cost 96 food and 56 gold as opposed to Knights that cost 60 food and 75 gold).

In terms of civilization matchups, much like the Mayans and the Ethiopians, facing the Goths will be a nightmarish matchup for the Malays. This is because the Malays have no cost effective answer to the Huskarl unit (across from their Forced Levy Two-Handed Swordsman, but even so, a Malay Two-Handed Swordsman will not always win a melee trade with the Huskarl), the Goth's faster spawning and cheaper Champions will outshine the Malay Two-Handed Swordsmen with Forced Levy and Karambit Warrior, and the Goth's cheaper Halberdiers will make quick work on the Malay's already fragile Battle Elephants. Conversely, the Malays are a top-tier civilizations against civilizations with incredibly poor trash unit lines such the Turks and the Malians, since even without the Champion upgrade, the Two-Handed Swordsman with Forced Levy is enough to make them trash units that counters trash unts.


 * Unique Unit: Karambit Warrior (infantry with very cheap production cost)
 * Unique Technologies: Thalassocracy (upgrade Docks to Harbors, which shoot arrows), Forced Levy (Militia-line costs no gold)

Civilization bonuses

 * Advancing to Ages takes only of the usual time
 * s cost -33%
 * Fish Traps provide unlimited food
 * s 25% cheaper
 * Team Bonus: Docks +100% line of sight

In-game Dialogue Language
Their in-game language is the combination of Old Malay and Sanskrit language.

Villager

 * Siap. (Ready.)
 * Iya. (Yes.)
 * Swasti. (Prosper.)
 * Aku pangarti. (I understand.)
 * Aku mengumpulkan. (I'm gathering)
 * Aku menggali tambang. (I'm digging mine.)
 * Aku pemangun gedung. (I'm the builder.)
 * Aku panumbang kayu. (I'm the lumberjack.)
 * Aku memanen. (I'm harvesting.)
 * Aku pamarbaik. (I'm the repairer.)

Monk

 * Iya. (Yes.)
 * Titah baginda? (Order, your majesty?)
 * Om maheshwaraya.
 * Benar. (Right.)

Military Unit

 * Iya? (Yes?)
 * Iya, baginda. (Yes, your majesty.)
 * Aku pangarti. (I understand.)
 * Angkat sanjata! (Raise the weapon!)
 * Maju! (Onward!)
 * Tabik! (Salute!)

Trivia

 * If a player picks the Malay civilization, the bottom left and center of the navigation bar will show a ship image and a spherical symbol respectively. The ship image is based on a carving at the Borobudur Temple wall, while the spherical symbol is based on Surya Majapahit (Sun of Majapahit), a symbol commonly found in the ruins of Majapahit era.
 * The Malay are the only non-American civilization who don't have access to Chain Barding Armor at the Blacksmith.
 * Despite the Malay being loosely based on the inhabitants of Malay Archipelago, some of the civilization's traits are primarily borrowed from the Javanese that would later become part of modern Indonesia. Their campaign focuses on Gajah Mada, the chief minister of the Majapahit Empire based on the island of Java, who is considered a significant figure in Indonesian history. Their wonder is Kalasan Temple, which is located in central Java.
 * The Karambit however, while a popular weapon with the peasants of Java, is actually said to originate from Sumatra (from where the Srivijaya Empire originated), and more specifically from the Minangkabau people, based in West Sumatra (Sumatera Barat) and known today as the largest matrilineal society in the world.
 * The Malay are also the second civilisation in the game to receive a unique building, after the Portuguese.
 * According to Majapahit-era literature, Majapahit Empire controlled parts of the island of New Guinea, which geographically belongs to Australasia. This technically means that with the inclusion of the Malay, Age of Empires II (with Rise of the Rajas installed) represents parts from all continents, except Antarctica.
 * If a Malay player starts fishing from a fish trap that is initially built by another civilization, it will still provide unlimited food. If a non-Malay player fishes from a fish trap that is built by the Malay, the fish trap will only provide 715 food.