Persians (Age of Empires II)/Strategy

The Persians are an offensive cavalry oriented civilization.

Strengths
They have access to all cavalry techs and their knights do extra damage to archers. Their unique unit, the War Elephant, is an ultra-heavy cavalry unit that is slow and expensive but with a large attack and massive amount of hitpoints. War Elephants will usually form the core of a Persian army, with Paladins and Cavalry Archers used as support to take down fast units the War Elephant can't catch up with. If managed properly this is a devastating combination. The War Elephant can destroy any unit in direct combat and the faster Paladins can kill ranged units that can use guerilla tactics on the elephants while the Cavalry Archers provide ranged support. The Paladins and Cavalry Archers can also be used to quickly slay any enemy monks that try to convert the elephants. This is especially important as the Persians cannot research Heresy.

Weaknesses
Although the Persians are excellent at rushes, they have a weak defense, lacking the Fortified Wall upgrade and the Bombard Tower. They have the weakest infantry in the game, missing both the Two-Handed Swordsman and Champion upgrades for their infantry. In addition War Elephants are slow and very vulnerable to conversion by enemy monks. Since the Persians cannot research Heresy the enemy could amass an army of War Elephants of their own if the player is careless. Spearmen and camels, if produced in large numbers, can devastate a Persian army since usually the majority of their army will be composed of cavalry.