Berbers/Strategy

The Berbers are a cavalry-oriented civilization, with very all-rounded mounted units, from strong Cavalry Archers, Camels and cheaper Stable units.

Strengths
The Berbers are a good anti Mongol/Hun civilization because their unique units and techs can counter the majority if not all of the units that Hun and Mongol players rely on. Both unique units can be used to defeat mangudai and Hun/Mongol Cavalry Archers and their regenerative Camels can fight Mongolian Hussars and Hun Paladins/Tarkans. They have Hussars and Cavaliers to fight Mongol Archers. They lack Paladins, but their cheaper Cavaliers makes up for this. With Bombard Cannons they can out-range Hun and Mongol siege weapons. Fast Fishing Ships and Villagers means a better economy to have a more advanced and large army. Fast ships keeps the Berbers strong on water as well with a good tech tree only missing Shipwright.

Weaknesses
The Berbers defensively are more vulnerable, missing good late game towers and architecture. They lack Halberdiers, making camels essential. Bombard Cannons and Heavy Scorpions will be the main line siege against units, because the siege onager is not present and siege rams are not available. Cavalry archers will be less useful in the Imperial Age, as they lack Parthian Tactics, and are generally made obsolete by the better camel archer counterpart (provided wood isn't an issue, as both the unit itself and its elite upgrade will be more wood intensive). Ships will be more expensive without Shipwright.

The Berbers may be weakest to infantry-heavy civilizations, especially the Goths, whose cheap Huskarl/Halberdier flood will make short work of the main line of Berber heavy camels, camel archers, and Genitours. Berbers miss out on Arbalest, but do get access to Hand Cannoneers, making this perhaps the Berber's best anti-infantry counter. Conversely, the Berbers are a formidable opponent to any civilization that relies on Cavalry Archers (such as the Mongols and the Huns), thanks to their strong anti-Cavalry Acher capacity with Genitours and Camel Archers.

Strategy
The Berbers have the most powerful knight rush in the game due to their 15% reduced cost. This strength extends into the Imperial age until much later, when paladin tech becomes a viable option for opponents (since Berbers miss out on it). Their camels and hussar are also affected by this bonus and have full tech tree, giving a powerful advantage against other cavalry civs, and a hussar line cheaper than the Magyars. This one bonus eclipses those of other civs while also affecting more units, and is not to be under-estimated.

The first unique unit of the Berbers is the Camel Archer, a Cavalry Archer that has a bonus against other Cavalry Archers including the War Wagon, the Elephant archer and the Mangudai which makes them a formidable counter unit. Its stats compare well to the standard Cavalry Archer, meaning it can be fielded more readily without knowing what an opponent is making while at the same time being an excellent harassing unit like any other cavalry archer on a raid. With a Heavy Camel - Camel archer combo they arguably can counter the typical Hussar - Cavalry archer tactic employed by civilizations such as Turks, Mongols, Huns and Magyars but perform slightly less effectively in a regular raid than those civilizations, Their two unique Technologies benefits and furthers their Heavy Camel - Camel archer combo as the Kasbah will improve the Camel archer creation speed while Maghrabi Camels will give to both units regeneration ability improving the lifespan of the Berbers' camelry. Kasbah technology also enables to the Berbers to create Petards and Trebuchets faster making the petard spamming tactic and Castle drops more effective.

The Genitour is the second unique unit of the Berbers, and it's built at the Archery Range. The genitour is a mounted skirmisher, with slightly less range and more health, speed, and attack. Just like the skirmisher, it costs only food and wood. A less obvious bonus is that since the Genitour is mounted, it receives +20 hitpoints from bloodlines, giving it a considerably larger health pool than its cousin the elite skirmisher.

Berbers are a very versatile civilization in many kinds of maps and strategies, they are able to boom and rush effectively while having also many defensive advantages. Early on the game their villager speed bonus gives them a small economic edge as they can save time when retrieving the resources to their buildings or just moving between resources, this bonus also helps heavily when performing a rush as the villagers will reach the enemy towns earlier in order to create forward military structures like the barracks or Towers ( enabling for them to perform a Tower Rush or a Feudal age Rush) their villager bonus also helps defensively as they will have a better chance to escape from enemy military units.

In Water maps the Berbers have a heavy advantage since the beginning of the game but they may struggle a little on the late game as they lack shipwright. Their Ship speed bonus applies to all their navy enabling for them to have a strong naval economy with their fishing ships and trade cogs, while also having a tactical advantage over opponent naval armies with their speed bonus enabling to their ships to perform hit and run tactics on the water better than their opponents. Also their transport ships will reach faster the land to unload the troops.

The Berbers will struggle to deal with some civilizations such as Indians, due to the superior camels and the hand cannoneers doing misery against Berbers' skirmishers. The Berbers excel against civilizations like Huns who rely on cavalry and cavalry archers.

Alliances
Berbers are a very special civilization when playing on a team, as they have the only unique technology (Kasbah) that benefit their entire team in addition to their team bonus (Genitour available in archery range), making them a formidable ally in most kinds of maps and in a wide variety of situations.

Kasbah enables allied players to produce their unique units faster along with their petards and trebuchets. So it is advisable for a team that includes Berbers to make the Berber player their spring in order to research this technology early. This technology also stacks with the Ethiopian technology Royal Heirs, making the Shotel Warrior the unique unit with the fastest creation speed of the game. Kasbah also synergizes with the Turkish team bonus (gunpowder units are created faster). Considering that the Spanish Conquistador, the Turkish Janissary and the Portuguese Organ Gun are gunpowder units created at the castle, a team including Turks, Berbers and Spanish or Portuguese is a formidable combination.

The Berbers' Genitour is a great addition for many allied civilizations, especially the ones with civ bonuses and technologies that benefit the unit:
 * Aztecs: Genitours are created 15% faster and benefit from the Atlatl upgrade (+1 range and attack). They are the only mounted unit naturally available to the Aztecs without conversion.
 * Huns: Genitours are 15% cheaper in the Castle Age and 20% cheaper in the Imperial Age. They work better in conjunction with the Hun cavalry than the slower skirmishers.
 * Mongols: Genitours fire 20% faster and benefit from the almost full mounted archer tech tree (only lacking Ring Archer Armor). They work better in conjunction with the fast Mongol cavalry than the slower skirmishers.
 * Saracens: Genitours gain +3 damage against buildings and can serve a supporting function in raids. They also benefit from the full mounted archer tech tree.
 * Turks: A fully upgraded Turkish Elite Genitour  will receive +20 hitpoints, +1 armor, and +2 pierce armor when compared to that of the Berbers. As a Trash Unit it ties in very well with the heavily gold-reliant Turkish army.

A team containing Berbers and Magyars will have arguably the best and more diverse trash unit army, as they will have Genitours from both players, cheaper regular Hussars, and Magyar Huszars. Having Britons and Berbers on the same team will help that team to spam Archers faster, including the Genitour.

Berbers benefit greatly from team bonuses that improve their Cavalry and Camels. Having a Indian ally (+6 Camel attack versus buildings) will further the already cheaper and versatile Camels and Camel Archers. Having a Hun ally (+20% faster stables) will further the creation speed from stable units that in Berbers case are already cheaper.

In Water maps, having a Viking ally (-15% Dock cost) will can help with taking the water in early game. The Berbers also make a good synergy with the Japanese (+2 Galley line of sight), making the Berbers' Galleys excellent scouts with their faster speed. The Spanish bonus (+33% Gold from trade) applies to the Trade Cog, so the faster Berber trade cogs will generate gold even faster.