Archer (Age of Empires II)

"Quick and light. Weak at close range; excels at battle from distance."

- Age of Empires II description

The Archer is an archer unit in Age of Empires II that can be trained at the Archery Range. While mediocre in terms of attack, HP, and armor, it compensates for that by having a ranged attack, which can easily decimate enemy infantry of early Ages.

Tactics
Archers are extremely proficient raiding units in the Feudal Age due to their ranged attack. With it, they can easily pick off enemy infantry such as Men-at-Arms or Spearmen and disrupt the enemy's economy by harassing their Villagers. However, they are extremely ineffective against all buildings, Scout Cavalry, and Skirmishers. Archers often are the Feudal Age rush unit of choice, because they are the most effective Feudal Age unit against Villagekills, and negating small quick-Walls) and they don't cost food, allowing the player to stockpile food for advancing to the Castle Age. The Feudal Age counters to Archers (Scouts and Skirmishers) are quite food intensive, delaying the defending player's Castle Age advance substantially, if they aren't prepared for it. Mid-sized to large groups of Archers make extremely good early harassment soldiers due to the absence of Knights from both sides. It can still be effective mid-game, but its power rapidly diminishes with the introduction of not only Knights, but also Scorpions and Mangonels. Many early rush strategies like the Tower rush can become more successful if supported with Archers as they can garrison in the attacking Towers and increase the number of arrows fired.

Their ranged attack can also prove helpful when defending from an early raid. When garrisoned inside Watch Towers or placed behind a Wall, they can be very effective.

Civilization Bonuses

 * Aztecs: Archers are created 15% faster.
 * Britons: Archers have +1/+2 range in the Castle/Imperial Age.
 * Burmese: Researching Faith is 50% cheaper.
 * Celts: Archers can convert herdables even if enemy units are next to them.
 * Chinese: Technologies that benefit Archers are 10%/15%/20% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
 * Ethiopians: Archers fire 15% faster.
 * Mayans: Archers are 10%/20%/30% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
 * Portuguese: Archers cost 15% less gold.
 * Spanish: Blacksmith upgrades that benefit Archers don't cost gold.
 * Turks: Chemistry is free.
 * Vietnamese: Archers have 10%/15%/20% more hit points in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age. Conscription is free.

Team Bonuses

 * A team containing Berbers: With Kasbah researched, researching Conscription is 25% faster.
 * A team containing Britons: Archers are created and upgraded 20% faster. Researching Thumb Ring is 20% faster.
 * A team containing Magyars: Archers have +2 LOS.
 * A team containing Malians: Researching Chemistry and Ballistics is 80% faster.
 * A team containing Saracens: Archers have +1 attack against buildings.
 * A team containing Teutons: Archers are more resistant to conversion.

The Age of Kings

 * Archers train in 27 seconds.

The Conquerors

 * Archers now train in 35 seconds.
 * Archers receive an attack bonus of +3 against Spearmen.
 * Heresy introduced.
 * Thumb Ring introduced.
 * Britons: Yeomen introduced. It is only available in the Imperial Age.

The Forgotten Changes

 * Britons: Yeomen moved to the Castle Age.
 * Mayans: Obsidian Arrows introduced.

The African Kingdoms Changes

 * Italians: Pavise now affects Archers.

Trivia

 * In terms of wood, the units from the Archer line are the cheapest archers in the game.
 * With 30, the Archer has the fewest hit points of all military units, tied with the Skirmisher, the Gbeto, and the Karambit Warrior; the Villager is the only trainable unit with less HP (25 without Loom).
 * The Archer line units are the only common archer units that don't have any base melee armor nor pierce armor.
 * In pre-release versions of Age of Empires II, Archers and Crossbowmen were two separate lines. Archers were trash units that were cheap, fast firing, inaccurate, and weak, and consisted of the Archer itself, and the Composite Archer. Crossbowmen were expensive, costed wood and gold, slower firing, more accurate, and gave a high damage output.

History
"The bow remained an important military weapon after the fall of Rome, although less so in areas of Europe covered by dense forests. Archers could fight from a distance, from behind walls or other cover, and from ambush. They were usually not decisive in battle on the attack because they could not physically take ground from the enemy like infantry could. They acted mainly as defensive troops and as light troops that disrupted enemy formations prior to the decisive moment when the armies clashed hand-to-hand. If barrages of arrows could cause casualties and drain the fighting spirit of the enemy prior to the clash, friendly troops had a better chance of breaking the will of the enemy and being victorious. Archers were also very useful when both defending and attacking a castle."