Persians (Age of Empires)/Strategy

Strategy
The Persians have a quick, stable economy on early games due to their ability to hunt faster than other civilizations. However as food from animals begin to run out later in the game, the bonus becomes useless and the negative atribute for farming will make a significant impact from bronze age onward. The Persians also have the inability to research economic upgrades from the market during the bronze age, making their economy much slower than other civilizations. However, the Persians make this up for it by having their ability to transport elephants 50% faster than other civilizations, making them faster than infantry and siege weapons. Although this bonus is thought to be useless by other players, the bonus actually increases the strength of Persian elephant units since their weakness from siege engines and archers are removed, being able to penetrate enemy lines and defensive fronts. Thus, if played as the Persians, implementing an "elephant rush" is possible and can be very devastating if this rare type of rush is executed properly. The Persians are also effective on water since their triremes can fire 2X faster than ordinary triremes, making them deadly when building them in large numbers.

Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths Weaknesses
 * Excellent choice on both land and water maps.
 * Most powerful in the Iron Age.
 * Best cavalry units in the game.
 * Good choice for deathmatches.
 * Can train a variety of elite units.
 * Cannot implement hit and run attacks.
 * Not as powerful from tool age to bronze age.
 * Slow economy on later games.
 * All ranged units have lower range.
 * Not recommended in short, early games.