Talk:Cataphract (Age of Empires II)/@comment-27977344-20160315134638/@comment-27274076-20160316071148

Actually, the bonus defense works a little differently. It is unaffected by armor. Take a Spearman for example and put him against a Paladin. It does not matter if Forging and Iron Casting are researched or not, the Spearman will always do 15 damage (even though Forging and Iron Casting improve its attack), because the regular attack is soaked by the Paladin's armor and it only recieves the bonus damage. Researching Blast Furnace will increase the damage dealed, because the Spearman then has 7 attack against the 5 armor of the Paladin.

So the bonus damage is added to the regular damage after the regular attack and armor have been put into consideration. And that is when the bonus armor of Cataphracts and Condottieri jumps in.

The Spearman does only one (!) damage to an Elite Cataphract. (Again it is irrelevant if Forging and Iron Casting are researched.) That's what makes them so awesome.