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This article is about the alliance in Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition - The African Royals. For other appearances of the faction in the series, see Berbers. |
The Berbers are a Commerce Age Alliance option for the Hausa. Allying with the Berbers to advance into the Commerce Age or higher provides the following benefits:
Units[]
- Palace and Native Embassy
Technologies[]
| Technology | Cost | Description |
|---|---|---|
 Berber Kings of the Desert
|
400 influence | Villager get +35% hit points; Berber Nomads get +5.0× and +3.4× multiplier against cavalry and shock infantry, respectively |
 Berber Ghorfas
|
620 influence | Mills, Estates, Farms, Rice Paddies, and Fields reduce the speed of enemy military units around them by 30% |
Alliance[]
The player is considered to be allied with the Berbers for the Native Treaties Home City Card effects.
Shipments[]
1 Native Embassy Builder and 300 influence- 4 Berber Camel Riders
- 5 Berber Camel Riders
- 10 Berber Camel Riders
Strategy[]
The Berbers alliance is focused primarily on economic growth and defenses. They give access to Berber Nomads, which are villagers that have +33% gathering rates for gathering natural resources, but -33% penalties for gathering from buildings, and wgo gain +5% hit points and +0.1 speed per other Berber Nomad within 20 range (hit point bonus is capped at +50%). If the player picks the Berbers for aging up to the Commerce Age, they should immediately build the Native Embassy with the Native Embassy Builder and use the 300 influence shipped for training Berber Nomads. The Berber Nomad is also a resilient villager that can better deal with enemy raids.
The Berber Kings of the Desert technology improves the hit points of all villagers and gives Berber Nomads +5.0× multiplier vs. cavalry and +3.4× multiplier vs. shock infantry, enabling the player to defend even better with their villagers. The Berbers also enable the Berber Salt Camel that can be turned into a Salt Mine which holds 10,000 coin. As long as the Salt Mine is in place, the player cannot train another Berber Salt Camel. This unit allows the player to secure coin generation. Once the player places their Salt Mine, they should start to gather it with the Berber Nomads due to their natural resource-gathering bonus.
Berber Ghorfas makes enemy military units in an area of effect of 9.5 around Mills, Estates, Farms, and Rice Paddies, and an area of effect of 5 around Fields, have their speed reduced by 30%. This technology enables the player to make it difficult a retreat to their opponents and will make the enemy army easier to catch up with.
If used for aging up into the Fortress Age onward, the player will get Berber Camel Riders instead of the Native Embassy builder and influence. The Berbers alliance also enables the player to train Berber Camel Riders at the Palace and at the Native Embassy, making it a good choice if the player wants more cavalry options, and particularly if the player needs a specialized counter against all kinds of cavalry units. However, they are considered light cavalry despite having a melee attack, and are weak against ranged heavy infantry like Musketeers and ranged light infantry such as Crossbowmen and Skirmishers.
The Berber alliance also activates the Berbers' native alliance, which means it is also a good pick when focusing on native units and will count for the Native Treaties shipment. They make a good combination with the Akan and Yoruba alliances.
Recommended alliances[]
Akan[]
- Enables the Akan alliance for Native Treaties
- Akan Gold Economy Ships 1 Gold Prospector Wagon and makes Villagers gather from mines 10% faster, which also applies to the Salt Mine and Berber Nomads.
Moroccans[]
- Mass Cavalry reduces cavalry train time by 35%; this includes Berber Camel Raider.
- Enables City Walls and Gas Lighting at the Mosque (provided by this alliance) for better defenses.
- Arma Garrisons ships 1 Watch Tower Builder; Corsair Marksman available at Watch Tower
Songhai[]
- Allows Songhai Raid, which spawns 5 Raiders. Useful for a cavalry strategy.
- Enables the Mansa Musa Epic technology, which gives coin equal to 10% of the total resources earned by the player from mining (100,000 coin max.) and Trade Routes (2,000 coin max.). Synergistic with the Berber Nomads and the Salt Mine.
Yoruba[]
- Enables the Yoruba alliance for Native Treaties.
- Enables Yoruba Eso Riders for more cavalry options.
British[]
- The Arsenal technologies provided will be helpful for the Berber Camel Riders.
Fulani[]
- Gerewol Festival: Changes Villager (including Berber Nomad) train bounty from experience to influence.
Hausa[]
- This alliance focuses on gaining map control through the use of Hausa Builders and Kingdom Builders, which enables the player to perform a turtle strategy
Shipments[]
- Any economic upgrade for villagers, especially Establish Ironmonger, TEAM Zuma Rock Lore, Silversmith, and Pulaaku Code.
- Feudal Armies: All units' train time -15%.
- Loyal Warriors: Native warriors, mercenaries, and outlaws cost -15%.
- Sahelian Kingdoms: Native warriors get +15% hit points and attack; mercenaries and outlaws get +10% hit points and attack.
- Military unit shipments that may cover Berber Camel Rider weaknesses.
- Massina Madrasahs: Universities get +10 LOS and their Sphere of Influence now also increases nearby villagers' tree and mine gather rates.
- Palace and Watch Tower related shipments.
- Native Treaties.
- Dambe Wrestling: Villagers get +50% hit points and -33% hand attack Rate of Fire, but their ranged attack now have a minimum range of 8; units affected by villager upgrades get +15% hit points and -33% hand attack Rate of Fire.
