Arrowslits (Age of Empires II)

Arrowslits
Availability
Introduced in	Age of Empires II HD: The African Kingdoms
Civilization	See table
Age	Imperial Age
Research
Researched at	University
Food	250
Wood	250
Research time	25 seconds
Effect
Watch Tower/Guard Tower/Keep/Donjon +1/+2/+3/+3 attack

Arrowslits is a technology in Age of Empires II HD: The African Kingdoms available at the University upon reaching the Imperial Age (it was available in the Castle Age before patch 4.8). Once researched, it gives Watch Towers/Guard Towers/Keeps and Donjons +1/+2/+3 attack.

After researching Arrowslits, the number of extra arrows fired from a Keep with five garrisoned fully upgraded Arbalesters is reduced from four arrows down to three, resulting in the same DPS (60 per volley before and after researching Arrowslits). However, taking pierce armor into account, the damage output is, in general, higher after researching Arrowslits. The main exceptions to this are rams (as each arrow only does 1 damage either way), ships (as each arrow deals significant bonus damage), and stone defenses (as each secondary arrow of a tower deals bonus damage against the latter two).

Availability chart

Available	Unavailable
Aztecs Bengalis Berbers Bohemians Britons Burgundians Byzantines Celts Chinese Dravidians Franks Georgians Incas Italians Japanese Koreans Poles Saracens Sicilians Spanish Teutons Turks Vietnamese Vikings	Armenians Bulgarians Burmese Cumans Ethiopians Goths Gurjaras Hindustanis Huns Khmer Lithuanians Magyars Malay Malians Mayans Mongols Persians Portuguese Romans Slavs Tatars

Civilization bonuses

• Chinese: Arrowslits is 15% cheaper.
• Italians: Arrowslits is 33% cheaper.
• Spanish: Receive 20 gold after researching Arrowslits.

Team bonuses

• Malians: Researching Arrowslits is 80% faster.
• Portuguese: Researching Arrowslits is 25% faster.

Changelog

The African Kingdoms

• With patch 4.8:
  • Arrowslits is moved to the Imperial Age (from the Castle Age).
  • Arrowslits becomes unavailable to 11 civilizations (see table above).
  • Arrowslits's cost increased (150 food, 150 wood → 250 food, 250 wood).
  • Arrowslits gives Watch Towers/Guard Towers/Keeps +1/+2/+3 attack.
  • Arrowslits affects secondary arrows (previously only affected the primary arrow).

Lords of the West

• Italians: With update 44725, Arrowslits is 33% cheaper.

Trivia

• None of the four civilizations introduced in The Last Khans have access to Arrowslits. Both civilizations introduced in Lords of the West and Dawn of the Dukes have access to it.

History

“	The invention of the arrowslit is attributed to Archimedes during the siege of Syracuse in 214–212 BC (although archaeological evidence supports their existence in Egyptian Middle Kingdom forts around 1860 BC). Slits "of the height of a man and about a palm's width on the outside" allowed defenders to shoot bows and scorpions (an ancient siege engine) from within the city walls. Although used in late Greek and Roman defences, arrowslits were not present in early Norman castles. They are only reintroduced to military architecture towards the end of the 12th century, with the castles of Dover and Framlingham in England, and Richard the Lionheart's Château Gaillard in France. In these early examples, arrowslits were positioned to protect sections of the castle wall, rather than all sides of the castle. In the 13th century, it became common for arrowslits to be placed all around a castle's defences	”
—Wikipedia