User blog:Dark Paladin X/Dark Paladin X Civ Crafting Corner: The Khmers

The Khmers are a Southeast Asian civilization in Age of Empires II: HD Edition. They are a well-rounded civilization with a focus on economic booming, foot archers, and siege weaponry.

The Khmer Empire was one of the greatest and most prosperous empires in Southeast Asia, where their peak of the empire was around the 11th and 13th centuries. The Khmers highly depend on their agriculture in the vast lands with their rice fields. This is depicted with their civilization bonus where farm upgrade effects are doubled (with Crop Rotation having additiona 50% effect). Most of the Khmer military heavily depends on elephants, some equipped with crossbows and balistas. This is reflected with their unique unit, the Balista Elephant, an elephant siege unit with a balista mounted on the back that deals huge damage against infantry units. Khmer soldiers were equipped crossbows, which is highlighted with their free archer unit line upgrades.

The Khmers mastered siege warfare thanks to them learning the secrets of gunpowder and siege weaponry from Chinese engineers through trade, and have incorporated siege weapons with their armies (particularly balistas and gunpowder). To highlight this, their Scorpions have no minimum range and one of their unique techs, the Sna boosts the power of their Bombard Cannons, Trebuchets, Onagers, and Scorpions  where Blacksmith  archer attack and ranges and Thumb Ring affect them, as well as Parthian Tactics affecting their Hand Cannoneers, archers, and Scorpions. Much of the Khmer empire's prosperity is mostly factored to the diverse resources in the region as well as their extensive trade with China, India, and their nearby neighbors. Buddhism and Hinduism from India played an important part to the rise of the Khmer Empire and thei empire's prosperity. To highlight this, their unique tech, Devaraja, make their farmers, lumberjacks, trade carts, and trade cogs more effective by dropping off 20% more resources and relics slowly generating stone.

Finally, the Khmers were some of the most sosphicated architects during the time period, using various wood and stone for their buildings. Many of their religious temples and shrines dedicated to Buddhism and Hindu gods were built in stone and many of their cities and palaces were well-constructed and complex. While many of the Khmer wooden buildings were perished over time, some of the Khmer stone temples, shrines, and palaces still stand to this day even after the fall of the Khmer empire and were well-maintained during and after the Khmer Empire. Their architectural style had a large influence in Southeast Asia. To highlight this, their civilization bonus allows Khmer villagers to repair ships, buildings, and siege weapons 25% faster, and their team bonus allows allied villagers to spend less resources when repairing.

Civilization Overview
The Khmers are a well-rounded civilization that can adopt to many strategies. More importantly, the Khmers are more focused on long-range sieging with their archers getting free unit upgrades, scorpions  having no minimum range, and having access to all the siege weapons. They have access to every archer unit except for the Heavy Cavalry Archer upgrade. Their unique tech, the Sna, further boosts the offensive power of their ranged siege weapons by being affected by Blacksmith archer attack and range upgrades (such as Fletching, Bodkin Arrow, and Bracer ) and Thumb Ring, which help compensate the Khmer's lack of Siege Engineers. The tech also have Hand Cannoneers, archers, and Scorpions being affected by Parthian Tactics, making the said ranged foot soldiers and scorpions more durable and more threatening against Pikemen. They also have a strong economy, with farm upgrades having double the effect (with Crop Rotation having an additional +50% effect), making their farms very cost efficient. Their unique tech, the Devaraja, allows farmers, lumberjacks, and trade carts and cogs dropping off more resources, and relics slowly generating stone, thus allowing Khmers for tower dropping strategies should the Khmers manage to collect enough relics. The Khmers fare well defensively, having access to all tower and building upgrades. Their civilization bonus of faster repairers and the team bonus that lowers repair costs make them viable for defensive gameplay. Their navy strong is also very strong, as they have access to every ship upgrade except for the Fast Fire Ship, with the faster repair rate and lower repair costs helping their ships greatly.

The Khmers have access to important infantry and cavalry upgrades only missing out in Squires, Paladins, and Camels. However, their frontline is very weak, missing out in the Imperial Age armor upgrades for their infantry and cavalry and Blast Furnace. As such, their frontline infantry and cavalry should be treated as cannon fodder for their powerful siege weapons and ranged units. The monk line is also below average, missing out on Redemption, Atonement, Block Printing, and Theocracy. They are missing out in Heresy, making their Balista Elephants, siege weapons, and Hand Cannoneers incredibly vulnerable to conversion.

Civilization Bonuses

 * Scorpions have no minimum range.
 * Archer unit line upgrades are free.
 * Farm upgrade effects are doubled (Crop Rotation +50% effect, totaling 822 food).
 * Repair ships, buildings, and siege weapons 25% faster.
 * Team Bonus:
 * Repairing ships, siege weapons, and buildings cost 33% less resources.

Unique Unit
Balista Elephant (Balista mounted on an elephant with high pierce armor and HP. Extremely good against infantry)

Unique Tech
Devaraja (Farmers, Lumberjacks, and trade carts/cogs return 20% more resources, relics slowly generate stone). Sna (Bombard Cannons, Trebuchets, Onagers, and Scorpions are affected by Thumb Ring and Blacksmith  Archer's range and attack upgrades. Hand Cannoneers, Archers, and Scorpions  are affected by Parthian Tactics)

Unique Unit: Balista Elephant
The Ballista Elephant is a unique unit of the Khmers. It is an elephant with a balista mounted on it's back that deals a lot of damage against infantry and has high amount of HP, attack, and pierce armor.

The Ballista Elephant is a one of the few unique units that is classified as a siege weapon and a Cavalry Archer at the same time. This means that the Ballista Elephant has characteristics of cavalry archer and siege weapon. Unlike most elephant units, researching Redemption is required to convert the Ballista Elephant since it is classified as a siege unit. However, unlike most Siege weapons, the Ballista Elephant can be healed by a monk since it's classified as a cavalry archer, and can benefit from Bloodlines, Blacksmith Archer upgrades, Parthian Tactics, and Husbandry. However, as both a cavalry archer and a siege weapon, the Ballista Elephant will take bonus damage from Magyar Huszars, Skirmishers, Genitours, Camel Archers, Pikemen, Camels, and Genoese Crossbowman (although it should be noted that it would require the enemy player to mass a large number of ranged units to take down the Ballista Elephant thanks to it's natural tankiness and high pierce armor). As with all siege weapons, they are incredibly vulnerable to fast moving units, especially Huskarls and Cavalry.

In comparison to the Scorpion, the Ballista Elephant has more HP, more pierce armor, and more attack power, and deals more damage vs. infantry; but has less range, moves slower, has a slower firing rate, is more expensive, and has negative melee armor, meaning they take more melee damage. However, a fully upgraded Ballista Elephant will have the same range as a Heavy Scorpion with Siege Engineers (although still less range than a Khmer Heavy Scorpion with Sna. Regardless, the Ballista Elephant's main strength is their strong anti-infantry capacity.

Keep in note that as with any Elephant unit, the Ballista Elephant is incredibly vulnerable to conversion. In fact, the Ballista Elephant will deal less damage against Monks. Players should urge caution when mess producing Ballista Elephants and should use Light Cavalry instead to deal with enemy Monks.