Attack (Age of Empires IV)

In Age of Empires IV, attacks are the means by which units and buildings deal damage. Attacks are primarily defined by their damage type, base damage amount, attack bonus, Rate of Fire, and range. They may also deal Area of Effect damage or inflict additional effects upon their target. Attack properties can be improved by various technologies or abilities.

Overview

Differing from the rest of the games in the series, attacks in Age of Empires IV are defined independently of units. All attacks correspond to a weapon template or blueprint, and then each unit is assigned one or more of these weapons. Every weapon template has its own properties, animations, and models. This approach allows different attacks to be easily added or taken away from units; for example, ranged infantry in the original four campaigns all have a melee attack, which was removed for the rest of the game modes. Theoretically this also allows creating new combinations from any of the units and weapons currently in the game using the editor; for example, putting an Ozutsu cannon on a Camel Rider. Different attacks can either be used at different times - for example, how most heavy melee cavalry use their torch attack, charge attack, and standard attack - or they can be used concurrently with independent rate of fires - such as on elephant units or Baochuans with Thunderclap Bombs. All relevant weapon attributes are given in the UI, including a weapon name, such as 'Khilij' or 'Axe'. These weapon descriptions (which sometimes do not match the actual weapon being used) are purely cosmetic, and do not have any effect on gameplay.

Attack bonus

An attack bonus is an additive damage increase applied only when an attack is used against a specific unit type (check link for full list of attack bonuses). They are intended to give units specific roles, allowing them to deal large amounts of damage against certain types of units without making them too oppressive against all units in general. Although other attributes like range and speed are important, attack bonuses are the primary method by which the unit counter system is defined. While additive, as shown in the below damage formula, many attack bonuses, when added to the base attack, result in an integer multiplicative value of the base attack, such as 2x for archers against light melee infantry. Unlike in Age of Empires II, attack bonuses do not interact with separate armor classes, and are affected by standard melee and ranged armor just like base attack damage.

Damage formula

The basic damage formula is:

$Damage=\max(1,(A_{Base}+U_{Base})\cdot M_{Base}+(A_{Bonus}+U_{Bonus})\cdot M_{Bonus}-Armor)$

• $A_{Base}$ and $A_{Bonus}$ denote the default base attack damage and bonus damage respectively of the attacking unit.
• $U_{Base}$ and $U_{Bonus}$ denote additive upgrades to the base and bonus damage respectively, such as from Blacksmith Technologies or Serpentine Powder.
• $M_{Base}$ and $M_{Bonus}$ denote multiplicative (percent-based) modifiers to the base and bonus damage respectively, such as from Elite Army Tactics (both base and bonus), Incendiary Arrows (base attack only), or Chemistry (bonus attack only). They also include debuffs such as from the Camel Unease ability.
• $Armor$ denotes the relevant armor of the attacked unit, that is, melee armor when the attacking unit is melee, and ranged armor when the attacking unit is ranged.

Because additive upgrades are applied before multiplicative upgrades, it can sometimes seem like units gain more attack from an upgrade than stated. For example, if an Elite Man-at-Arms upgrade with only Elite Army Tactics will deal 16.8 (rounded to 17) damage. If it is then upgraded with all three Blacksmith upgrades plus Two-Handed Weapons, one might expect from the upgrade descriptions for it to gain +5 = 22 damage. However, the extra 20% from Elite Army Tactics will also to the additive upgrades, so the final damage value will actually be (14+5) * 1.2 = 22.8 (rounded to 23).

Damage types

There are four primary damage types in Age of Empires IV. Any attack can only deal one of these damage types, but a unit may have separate attacks which deal different types of damage.

Melee

Melee damage is dealt by all melee infantry, melee cavalry, as well as most civilizations' Villagers. It is characterized by its short range, typically less than 1 tile, and is reduced by melee armor. Melee attacks can be powerful but scale more poorly in larger numbers since units must find a path to their targets, which is more difficult in higher numbers. Melee damage attacks are used exclusively against other units, with the exception of the tusk attacks of elephant units, which are also used against buildings.

Ranged

Ranged damage is dealt by almost all ranged infantry, all ranged cavalry, some siege engines, some ships, and defensive buildings. It is reduced by ranged armor. The range of these attacks can vary considerably, but is at least 3.5 tiles for all units. Because ranged units do not need to move close to their targets to attack them, they scale well in larger groups. Ranged damage attacks are used both against units and buildings.

Siege

Siege damage is dealt by many siege engines and gunpowder naval units as well as some human units and defensive emplacements. Siege damage is also known as 'true' damage in the game files, since there is currently no way to reduce it using armor (although a true armor variable does exist in the editor). Among all damage types, siege damage is uniquely dealt both at close range, such as with the Battering Ram and Incendiary ship, and at far range, such as the Bombard or Counterweight Trebuchet

Fire

Villagers and most melee infantry and cavalry units have the 'torch thrower' unit type. This indicates that they have a 'torch attack' which they employ against buildings, ships, and the Tower of the Sultan instead of their melee attack. These attacks deal fire damage and are reduced by the amount of fire armor possessed by the target. Villagers also use this torch attack to attack all siege engines (other melee units use their melee attack). The exception to this are the elephant units, which attack buildings using their melee attack and do not have a torch attack. For the most part, all torch thrower units deal the same amount of damage, and, unlike other types of attacks, this damage increases with Age, not with unit upgrade level. The damage is as follows:

10
13
17
21

Fire Lancers and Gilded units are currently the only torch throwers which deal higher damage than usual.

In addition to torch throwing units, there are a few other examples of units which deal fire damage. The Ayyubids' Manjaniq can alternate between the standard Mangonel projectile (which deals siege damage) and a unique incendiary projectile which deals fire damage. In the original four campaigns, all Mangonels had this ability, and additionally, the Incendiary Arrows technology gave most ranged units a fire attack which was used against siege engines and buildings. However, in other game modes, Incendiary Arrows, grants siege damage. Note that despite the appearance of the attack, the Dromon also deals siege damage, not fire damage.

Charge attack

Charge attacks are a subset of melee attacks available to melee infantry and cavalry. These units, when ordered to attack an enemy unit, either directly or through an attack move, will charge when their target comes within a certain distance. Charge attacks also have a minimum range, from which they will not trigger. For most units, the charge only increases their speed and displays a unique attack animation when their target is reached. This helps melee units close in on retreating targets. The speed increase varies from unit to unit, and is as low as ~6% for Horsemen (technically ~16%, but limited by the maximum speed cap), to as high as ~29% for Men-at-Arms. For most heavy cavalry, however, the charge attack also does additional damage. After engaging with their charge attack, units will switch to their standard melee attack. Charge attacks have a relatively quick cooldown, however, and can be repeated by retreating and then re-engaging again once outside the charge attack's minimum range. For heavy cavalry, this is very useful in hitting and running while raiding and in avoiding prolonged conflicts.

Spearmen and their unique equivalents can negate cavalry charge attacks by bracing, provided they are stationary or attacking enemy units, and that they are not attacked from behind. Longbowmen can also stop charges and deal damage with their Place Palings ability. These charge interruptions have the additional effect of stunning enemy cavalry for 2.5 seconds.