Arquebus

This article is about the technology in Age of Empires II HD: The African Kingdoms. For the unit in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties, see Arquebusier.

Arquebus
Original
Availability
Introduced in	The African Kingdoms
Civilization	Portuguese
Age	Imperial Age
Research
Researched at	Castle
Food	700
Gold	400
Research time	40 seconds
Effect
Gunpowder units fire more accurately at moving targets Increases projectile speed of Bombard Cannons and Bombard Towers by +0.2

Arquebus is a technology in Age of Empires II HD: The African Kingdoms that is unique to the Portuguese and can be researched at the Castle once the Imperial Age is reached. Once researched, it provides Portuguese gunpowder units with the same accuracy boost that arrow-using units gain by researching Ballistics, i.e. they aim at moving targets as accurately as at non-moving targets. Arquebus also increases the speed of the projectiles.

Researching Ballistics is not necessary to make Arquebus work.

Strategy

Arquebus is the cornerstone of the Portuguese army in the Imperial Age. It is highly useful if the player favors the use of Hand Cannoneers and Organ Guns due to it increasing the accuracy of those units at longer ranges. This lets them neutralize incoming melee units more effectively, thus remedying one of their major weaknesses. It also benefits Bombard Cannons, Bombard Towers, and Cannon Galleons, making them more effective when dealing with moving targets, which helps them defending a location.

Team bonuses

• A team containing Berbers: With Kasbah researched, researching Arquebus is 25% faster.

Changelog

The African Kingdoms

• Arquebus increases the projectile speed of Bombard Cannons and Bombard Towers by +0.5.

Rise of the Rajas

• Arquebus now has a smaller effect on gunpowder units, the speed modifier is reduced by 75%.
• With patch 5.2, the speed modifier for Bombard Cannons and Bombard Towers is removed.
• With patch 5.7, the speed modifier for Bombard Cannons and Bombard Towers is now +0.2.

Trivia

• Despite the reduced powder load, the arquebus was indeed more accurate than the hand cannons it replaced; this was primarily due to the fact that its matchlock mechanism allowed the weapon to be aimed with both hands and the attention of the gunner to be focused upon the target, not on priming their weapon.
• Bombard Towers already benefit from regular Ballistics, however they can still easily miss, as their cannonballs travel quite slowly. The additional speed increase of Arquebus makes them a lot more potent than regular Bombard Towers with Ballistics.
• The Arquebus effect on projectile speed is relatively minute:
  • For Cannon Galleon, projectile speed is increased by 25% (1.95 → 2.45 tiles per second) (compare it with 7 t / sec for Spanish Cannon Galleon projectile);
  • For gunpowder units, projectile speed is increased by 9% (5.5 → 6 t / sec);
  • For Bombard Tower, projectile speed is increased by 6.7% (3 → 3.2 t / sec);
  • For Bombard Cannon, projectile speed is increased by 5% (4 → 4.2 t / sec).