Camel Rider (Age of Empires II)

"Excels at killing other mounted units." - Age of Empires II Description

The Camel is a Cavalry unit that is good against cavalry.

Overview
The Camel is the first mounted anti-Cavalry unit available in the game. For reduced effectiveness, higher cost and less adaptability compared to Spearmen, the Camel is a faster and therefore more agile anti-Cavalry unit. Camels will annihilate most hostile Cavalry, their bonus against Cavalry tripling a weak base damage. Unfortunately, this weak base damage make them ineffective against anything else. They are available only to the Byzantines, Chinese, Mongols, Persians, Indians, Saracens, and Turks. The Heavy Camel upgrade in the Imperial Age gives a total bonus of +18 to deal with Elite Cavalry.

Tactics
The Camel has an attack bonus of +10 against horse-cavalry/elephants and +9 against other camels (+5 in Conquerors). Cavalry can more easily escape from Spearmen, Pikemen and Halberdiers than they can from Camels, at the cost of higher food and gold costs. Using Camels against civilizations that revolve around cavalry units, such as Franks, Saracens, Persians, and Mongols often lend great results. Upgrading to Heavy Camel in the Imperial Age helps them keep pace.

Camels are best used only against melee cavalry or to ambush groups of cavalry archers. They are at a disadvantage against Infantry, Archers, and of course, Spearmen, Pikemen, and Halberdiers. They also lose their bonus against the resilient Cataphract, which has a defense against anti-cavalry attack bonuses. The Cataphract's bonus defense is very high, at 16; the Heavy Camel upgrade's bonus against cavalry of 18 is reduced to two, and the Cataphract negates entirely the cavalry bonuses of Camels (10) and Mamelukes (9, or 12 at Elite). It even halves Halberdier's immense 32 bonus damage.

Only Mongols, Chinese and middle east civilizations (Saracens, Turks, Persians, Indians, Byzantines) have camels.

Civilizations bonuses

 * Chinese: Technologies that benefits Camels are 10%/15%/20% cheaper in Feudal/Castle/Imperial age.
 * Byzantines Camel units are 25% cheaper.
 * Indians Camels have +1 armor/+1 pierce armor.

Team Bonuses

 * A team containing Huns: Camels are produced 20% faster.
 * A team containing Teutons: Camels are more resistant to conversion.
 * A team containing Indians: Camels have +6 attack vs buildings.

The Conquerors Changes

 * Camels gain 0.05 speed and gain 5 damage against other Camels (but no longer count as cavalry, resulting in a net loss of 4 damage against Camels).

The Forgotten Changes

 * Upgrade to Heavy Camel takes -20 seconds to research.
 * Camels have +1 base attack (6), but -1 attack bonus vs. cavalry (9).

Trivia

 * The camel is one of the few units whose availability among civilizations corresponds very well with real-world history. The camel was used by different armies between the Mediterranian sea and India from antiquity to modern day. While it is not known if the Mongols and Chinese used the camel for combat, they certainly used it for transporting ammunition, and for food, respectively.
 * The Far Eastern civilizations of the Mongols and the Chinese would have been as likely to domesticate the lesser known of the two species of camel, the Bactrian (two hump) Camel, native to the steppes of Central Asia, as the familiar Middle Eastern Dromedary; both would have been introduced by Silk Road traders.
 * Camels are one of two military units that do not make the usual military sound when created, the other being Trebuchets.
 * Camels are treated as ships by the game and therefore receive bonus damage from towers and the heated shot upgrade.
 * The Camel make the same sound effects as the Camel Rider.

History
"The Camel was a useful mount for warriors in desert regions of the world because it could move quickly across sand and could go long periods without water. In addition, horses shied away from the presence of camels. The Saracens made good use of camels during the Crusades; camel riders appeared out of the desert to raid Crusader outposts and caravans and then escaped back into terrain that horses could not cross."