Aztecs (Age of Empires II)/Strategy

The Aztecs are an infantry and monk oriented civilization. Their unique technology, Garland Wars, increases the attack of all infantry by four, a fairly hefty amount. This gives all of their infantry massive attack compared to those of other civilizations. Their unique unit, the Jaguar Warrior, benefits greatly from this. The Jaguar Warrior already has a large attack and a bonus against other infantry. When coupled with their unique technology they can defeat any other infantry unit in the game. Their monks are also the best in the game. The Aztecs can research every single monastary technology and their monks recieve extra hitpoints every time one is researched. Any relics captured by the Aztecs generate gold 33% faster, which is a large bonus and if enough relics are captured negates the need to gather gold, freeing up villagers to perform other tasks. They also have good siege weapons being able to research both the Siege Ram and Siege Onager upgrades.

However as a Mesoamerican civilization they cannot build any mounted units. Their lack of cavalry is somewhat compensated with by the Eagle Warrior, a fast infantry unit. Eagle Warriors move very quickly and can fulfill most of the roles cavalry play but are more fragile and have less attack compared to the heavy cavalry of other civilizations. However the Aztecs can cancel out their lower attack with their unique technology.

In addition to their lack of cavalry they have several other weaknesses. They lack gunpowder units and as such they cannot build Bombard Cannons, Hand Cannoneers, or Cannon Galleons. They also have the weakest navy in the game. In addition to the lack of Cannon Galleons they also cannot research the Galleon upgrade and do not have access to Demolition Ships. They are the only civilization to be missing these, which puts their navy at quite a disadvantage. As such naval battles should be avoided for the Aztecs. Their defense is somewhat lacking, missing the Keep and Bombard Tower upgrades.