Armor refers to various types of covering worn to protect the wearer from harm. In the Age of Empires series, armor is a vital statistical value for units and buildings.
In Age of Empires and Age of Empires II, attacks are applied against armor of the corresponding type.
In Age of Empires, attacks other than melee/pierce usually have a non-positive value, meaning the attacker deals bonus damage against units (or buildings) whose corresponding armor has a lower negative value. If the target's corresponding armor is 0 (the generic base armor), the attacker will deal no bonus damage.
In Age of Empires II, attacks usually have a non-negative value. If the target is in the corresponding armor class, the corresponding armor is usually 0 (exceptions include the Cataphract and Condottiero), so the bonus damage will fully apply. If an armor value is not equal to 0, the damage is reduced by this value. Units almost always have non-negative armor, the only exceptions being Houses*, rams, Siege Towers, Elephant Archers, Armored Elephants, and War Wagons. If the target is not in the corresponding armor class, the armor is 10,000 (the generic base armor), thus the corresponding attack will do no damage.
All units have two basic types of armor: melee armor (simply called 'armor') and pierce armor, which protects against most ranged attacks such as arrows. However, some units like the Throwing Axeman and the Mameluke in Age of Empires II deal melee damage (i.e. reduced by melee armor) at range. Depending on the unit type, the units may have additional armor classes.
Age of Empires[]
Damage formula[]
In Age of Empires, the damage formula against units is:
- m denotes melee attack / armor.
- p denotes pierce attack / armor.
- If the attacker has a bonus AttackBonusi against the armor class i, then the bonus (minus BonusResisti) is added to the total damage. Usually, and . The attacker is said to deal bonus damage against the target when and .
- kelev is the elevation multiplier (applied to both cliffs and hills), equal to 0.67 if a melee unit attacks below its target, 1.5 if a ranged unit attacks above its target, and 1 otherwise.
The damage formula against buildings is:
Units dealing melee damage[]
The following units deal melee damage and are affected by their target's armor:
- Villagers
- All Barracks and Academy units, except for the Slinger
- All Stable units
- Stone Thrower line
- Catapult Trireme and Juggernaut*
Technologies[]
To improve armor for infantry, cavalry, and archer units, technologies from the Storage Pit must be researched.
The Ballista line, ships, and buildings have 0 melee armor and the Stone Thrower line has -2 melee armor. In both cases, the armor cannot be increased by technologies or bonuses.
Age of Empires II[]
Damage formula[]
In Age of Empires II, the damage formula is:
- m denotes melee attack / armor.
- If the attacker is a Leitis or a Dravidian infantry/cavalry unit with Wootz Steel researched and the target is a non-siege land unit, .
- p denotes pierce attack / armor.
- If the attacker is a Composite Bowman, .
- If the attacker has a bonus AttackBonusi against the armor class i, then the bonus (minus BonusResisti) is added to the total damage. Usually, . When , the target is said to have the armor class i (in those cases BonusResisti is usually less than 100).
- kelev is the elevation multiplier. It is 1.25 if a unit attacks above its target (hills and cliffs), 0.75 if a unit attacks below its target (hills only), and 1 otherwise.
- For Tatars, this value is changed to 1.5 when a unit attacks above its target (hills and cliffs).
- If the target is a Georgian unit or building above its attacker (hills only), this value is changed to 0.6.
- kcracked is equal to 1.2 if the target is a building on a desert cracked terrain, and 1 otherwise.
Units dealing melee damage[]
The following units deal melee damage and are affected by their target's melee armor:
- All Barracks and Stable units
- All unique infantry and cavalry units (except for cavalry archers)
- Villagers
- Petards
- Battering Ram line
- Armored Elephant line
- Mangonel line
- Bombard Cannons
- Demolition Ships
- Fire Galley line*
- Cannon Galleons
- Turtle Ships
- Flaming Camels
- Dromons
*The Fire Galley line also deals pierce damage.
The Bombard Tower used to deal melee damage before patch 1.0b.
While Chu Ko Nu, Kipchaks, and Scorpions main damage is pierce, they also deal 0 melee damage per projectile, meaning each projectile will do more than 1 damage to units with very high pierce armor but negative melee armor such as Rams and Siege Towers. In particular, Chu Ko Nu and Kipchaks are a good counter against rams since they fire multiple arrows, each of them doing 0-(-3)=3 damage.
Units with high melee armor[]
The following units have high melee armor and excel at battle against units dealing melee damage (values for fully upgraded units):
Infantry
- Elite Teutonic Knight: 13 (Teutons only)
- Two-Handed Swordsman: 9 (for the Bulgarians only, 6 for the Teutons only, 4 for the other civilizations)
- Elite Serjeant: 7 (Sicilians only)
- Legionary: 6 (Romans only)
- Champion: 6 (for the Teutons only, 4 for the other civilizations)
- Condottiero: 6 (for the Teutons only, 5 for the Italians* and Romans only, 4 for the other civilizations)
- Elite Berserk: 5 (Vikings only)
- Elite Jaguar Warrior: 5 (Aztecs only)
- Elite Kamayuk: 5 (Incas only)
- Elite Obuch: 5 (Poles only)
- Elite Dismounted Konnik: 5 (Bulgarians only)
- Halberdier: 5 (for the Teutons only, 4 for the Romans only, 3 for the other civilizations)
Archers
- / Elite Ratha: 6 (Bengalis only)
- Heavy Cavalry Archer: 6 (for the Tatars only, 5 for the other civilizations)
- Elite Elephant Archer: 6 (for the Gurjaras only, 4 for the Bengalis, 3 for the Dravidians)
- Elite Janissary: 5 (Turks only)
- Elite Conquistador: 5 (Spanish only)
- Elite Genoese Crossbowman: 5 (Italians only)
- Elite Composite Bowman: 5 (Armenians only)
- Hand Cannoneer: 5 (for the Hindustanis only, 4 for the other civilizations)
Cavalry
- Elite Boyar: 11 (Slavs only)
- Elite Monaspa: 8 (Georgians only)
- Paladin: 7 (for the Teutons only, 5 for the other civilizations)
- Cavalier: 7 (for the Teutons only, 6 for the Sicilians only, 5 for the other civilizations)
- Heavy Camel Rider: 7 (for the Gurjaras only, 3 for the other civilizations)
- Savar: 6 (Persians only)
- Elite Centurion: 6 (Romans only)
- Elite Battle Elephant: 6 (for the Burmese only, 4 for the other civilizations)
- Elite Cataphract: 5 (Byzantines only)
- Elite Coustillier: 5 (Burgundians only)
- Elite Konnik: 5 (Bulgarians only)
- Elite Leitis: 5 (Lithuanians only)
- Scout Cavalry: 5 (for the Teutons only, 4 for the Tatars only, 3 for the other civilizations)
Siege units
- Bombard Cannon: 6 (for the Teutons only, 3 for the Hindustanis only, 2 for the other civilizations)
- Trebuchet: 6/5 packed/unpacked (for the Teutons only, 2/1 for the other civilizations)
- Heavy Scorpion: 4 (for the Teutons only, 0 for the other civilizations)
- Elite Organ Gun: 2 (Portuguese only)
- Siege Tower: 2 (for the Teutons only, -2 for the other civilizations)
Ships
- Elite Turtle Ship: 8 (Koreans only)
- Transport Ship: 5 (for the Portuguese only, 4 for the other civilizations)
Other
Technologies and bonuses[]
The first place to upgrade a military unit's melee armor is the Blacksmith. Infantry, cavalry, and archers can get +3 melee armor there.
Infantry
- Scale Mail Armor (+1)
- Chain Mail Armor (+1)
- Plate Mail Armor (+1)
Cavalry
- Scale Barding Armor (+1)
- Chain Barding Armor (+1)
- Plate Barding Armor (+1)
Archers
- Padded Archer Armor (+1)
- Leather Archer Armor (+1)
- Ring Archer Armor (+1)
Additionally, Cavalry Archers can be further improved at the Archery Range:
- Parthian Tactics: Improves melee armor of Cavalry Archers (+1).
At the Town Center, Villagers are improved:
- Loom: Improves melee armor of Villagers (+1).
Also, a few unique technologies researched at the Castle improve the melee armor of certain units:
- Bagains: Improves melee armor of Militia-line (+5).
- Carrack: Improves melee armor of ships (+1).
- Fabric Shields: Improves melee armor of Eagle Warriors, Kamayuks, and Slingers (+1).
- Frontier Guards: Improves melee armor of Camel Riders and Elephant Archers (+4).
- Hauberk: Improves melee armor of Knights (+1).
- Howdah: Improves melee armor of Battle Elephants (+1).
- Ironclad: Improves melee armor of Siege units (+4).
- Pavise: Improves melee armor of Condottiero and foot archers (except Skirmishers) (+1).
- Silk Armor: Improves melee armor of Scout Cavalry, Cavalry Archer, and Steppe Lancer (+1).
- Supremacy: Improves melee armor of Villagers (+2).
The following civilization bonuses improve the melee armor of certain units:
- Bengalis: Monks get +3 melee armor.
- Burmese: Battle Elephants get +1 melee armor.
- Hindustanis: Gunpowder units get +1 melee armor.
- Romans: Infantry armor upgrades give +2 melee armor instead of +1. Galley-line and Dromons get +1 melee armor.
- Teutons: Barracks and Stable units get +1/+2 melee armor in the Castle/Imperial Age.
Buildings can also get their melee armor upgraded at the University.
- Masonry (+1)
- Architecture (+1)
Furthermore, most buildings gain +1 melee armor per Age.
If the melee armor of a unit is improved with technologies or bonuses, the added value is separately shown in the infobox.
Age of Mythology[]
In Age of Mythology, there are three types of armor: hack armor (the same as 'armor' in the previous games), pierce armor, and crush armor. All units and buildings have ratings for all three armor types, given in percentages. The percentage quoted is the proportion of damage that is absorbed by the armor type.
For example, a Huskarl has 50% pierce armor, which halves the attack of an Arcus from 6 to 3. Units typically have 99% crush armor and much lower hack and pierce armor ratings, while buildings tend to have very high pierce armor and much lower crush and hack armor.
Armor can be improved by researching technologies at the Armory (or, when playing Thor, at the Dwarven Foundry).
Age of Empires III[]
Age of Empires III does not use the armor system of its predecessors. Instead, the concept of resists is used.