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. If a unit (or building) does not have a certain kind of armor, 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 deal melee damage (i.e. reduced by melee armor) at range. Depending on the unit type, the units may have additional armor classes, usually with the value 0, so the bonus damage will fully apply (exceptions include the Cataphract and Condottiero).
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 rams, Siege Towers, Elephant Archers, and Ballista Elephants.
Age of Empires
Damage formula
In Age of Empires, the damage formula is:
- n denotes normal attack / armor
- p denotes pierce attack / armor
- If the target belongs to the category i and the attacker has a bonus AttackBonus against i, then the bonus (minus BonusResist if the target has one) is added to the total damage.
- kelev is the elevation multiplier (applied to both cliffs and hills), equal to 2/3 if a melee unit attacks below its target, 3/2 if a ranged unit attacks above its target or 1 otherwise.
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 Juggernaught
Technologies
To improve armor for all infantry based units, technologies from the Storage Pit must be researched.
Age of Empires II
Damage formula
In Age of Empires II, the damage formula is:
- n denotes normal attack / armor
- p denotes pierce attack / armor
- If the target belongs to the category i and the attacker has a bonus AttackBonus against i, then the bonus (minus BonusResist if the target has one) is added to the total damage.
- The elevation multiplier kelev is 5/4 if a unit attacks above its target (hills and cliffs), 3/4 if a unit attacks below its target (hills only) or 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
- Mangonel line
- Demolition Ships
- Fire Ships*
- Cannon Galleons
- Turtle Ships
*Fire Ships and Fast Fire Ships also deal pierce damage.
The Bombard Tower used to deal melee damage before patch 1.0c.
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 - 8 (for the Bulgarians only, 5 for the Teutons only, 3 for the other civilizations)
- Champion - 6 (for the Teutons only, 4 for the other civilizations)
- Condottiero - 6 (for the Teutons only, 4 for the other civilizations)
- Elite Berserk - 5 (Vikings only)
- Elite Jaguar Warrior - 5 (Aztecs only)
- Halberdier - 5 (for the Teutons only, 3 for the other civilizations)
Archers
- Heavy Cavalry Archer - 5
- Elite Janissary - 5 (Turks only)
- Elite Conquistador - 5 (Spanish only)
- Elite Genoese Crossbowman - 5 (Italians only)
- [1] Arbalester - 4 (Italians only)
Cavalry
- Elite Boyar - 9 (Slavs only)
- Paladin - 7 (for the Teutons only, 5 for the other civilizations)
- Elite Cataphract - 5 (Byzantines only)
- Elite Battle Elephant - 5 (for the Burmese only, 4 for the other civilizations)
- Scout Cavalry - 5 (for the Teutons only, 3 for the other civilizations)
Siege units
- 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)
- Bombard Cannon - 2 (6 for the Teutons)
- Elite Organ Gun - 2 (Portuguese only)
- Siege Tower - 2 (for the Teutons only, -2 for the other civilizations)
Ships
- Elite Turtle Ship - 8
- Transport Ship - 4 (5 for the Portuguese only)
Technologies
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:
- Carrack: Improves melee armor of ships (+1).
- Couriers: Improves melee armor of Eagle Warriors, Kamayuks, and Slingers (+1).
- Howdah: Improves melee armor of Battle Elephants (+1).
- Ironclad: Improves melee armor of Siege units (+4).
- Orthodoxy: Improves melee armor of Monks (+3).
- Pavise: Improves melee armor of archers (+1).
- Supremacy: Improves melee armor of Villagers (+2).
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, the added value is separately shown in the infobox.
Age of Mythology
Displayed here is the armor of Kastor, with all Heroic Age Armory upgrades.
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.