Pierce armor

Pierce Armor is an armor type used in the Age of Empires and Age of Empires II. Unlike ordinary armor which resists melee damage, pierce armor resists missile damage.

Damage Formula
In Age of Empires, the damage formula is:
 * n denotes normal attack / armor
 * p denotes pierce attack / armor
 * If the target belongs to the category i and the attacker has a bonus AttackBonus against i, then the bonus (minus BonusResist if the target has one) is added to the total damage.
 * kelev is the elevation multiplier (applied to both cliffs and hills), equal to 2/3 if a melee unit attacks below its target, 3/2 if a ranged unit attacks above its target or 1 otherwise.

Units dealing Pierce Damage
The following units and buildings deal pierce damage and are affected by their target's pierce armor:
 * Slingers
 * All Archery Range units
 * Ballistas and Helepolis
 * Scout Ship line
 * Towers

Technologies
To improve pierce armor for all infantry based units, technologies from the Storage Pit must be researched.

Damage Formula
In Age of Empires II, the damage formula is:
 * n denotes normal attack / armor
 * p denotes pierce attack / armor
 * If the target belongs to the category i and the attacker has a bonus AttackBonus against i, then the bonus (minus BonusResist if the target has one) is added to the total damage.
 * The elevation multiplier kelev is 5/4 if a unit attacks above its target (hills and cliffs), 3/4 if a unit attacks below its target (hills only) or 1 otherwise.

Units dealing Pierce Damage
The following units deal pierce damage and are affected by their target's pierce armor:
 * All Archery Range units
 * All unique archer units
 * s
 * s
 * s
 * s
 * line
 * s*
 * s
 * s
 * s

* Fire Ships and Fast Fire Ships also deal melee damage.

Also, all buildings deal pierce damage. (The Bombard Tower only since patch 1.0c.)

Units with high Pierce Armor
The following units have high pierce armor and excel at battle against units dealing pierce damage (values for fully upgraded units): Infantry Archers Cavalry Siege Units Ships
 * (10)
 * (8; 10 for the Incas)
 * (10)
 * (9)
 * (9)
 * (8)
 * (8)
 * (8)
 * (8)
 * (7)
 * (7; 9 for the Burmese)
 * (7)
 * (7)
 * (195)Siegeraminfo.png, the horror of all Castles]]
 * (packed: 8, unpacked: 150)
 * (100)
 * (8)
 * (10)
 * (9)
 * (9)
 * (9)
 * (9)
 * (9)

Technologies
The first place to upgrade a military unit's pierce armor is the. infantry ,cavalry, and archers can get +4 pierce armor there. Additionally, s can be further improved at the : At the, the pierce armor of all ships can be improved: At the, s are improved: Also, a few unique technologies researched at the improve the pierce armor of certain units:
 * Infantry: (+1), (+1),  (+2)
 * Cavalry: (+1),  (+1), (+2)
 * Archers: (+1), (+1), (+2)
 * Improves pierce armor of Cavalry Archers (+2).
 * Improves pierce armor of ships (+1).
 * Improves pierce armor of Villagers (+2).
 * Improves pierce armor of archer (+1, only for before .)
 * Improves pierce armor of ships (+1).
 * Improves pierce armor of s(+3).
 * Improves pierce armor of s, s, and s (+2, since ).

Buildings can also get their pierce armor upgraded at the.
 * (+1), (+1)

If the pierce armor of a unit is improved with technologies, the added value is separately shown in the infobox (see image above).

Age of Empires III
In Age of Empires III, pierce armor has been replaced by the resist parameter.