The Burgundians are a cavalry civilization that relies primarily on heavy cavalry and gunpowder units for combat, and good timing for their economy, since they can research economic technologies one age earlier. Compared to other civilizations they are difficult to learn, being both mechanically complex and micro-intensive.
Strengths[]
Their economy is one of the best in the game, as they can research all economic technologies one age earlier and with reduced food cost. They have Burgundian Vineyards as a unique technology, which enables their farmers to generate gold (31 Villagers equals approximately 1 Relic). Relics captured by Burgundians and their allies also generate a trickle of food.
Their Knights can be upgraded to Cavaliers in the Castle Age, and all Stable technologies cost 50% less. They have the Coustillier as their unique unit, which is a variant of the Knight with lower statistics overall, but with a powerful charge attack that enables them to kill most foot units in one strike. The Coustillier can hit-and-run opponents to allow it to repeatedly use this attack.
They have good gunpowder units that get 25% more attack, and they may turn their Villagers into a military unit (the Flemish Militia) through the Flemish Revolution unique technology, granting them an immediate and massive power spike. The Burgundians have solid defensive options.
Weaknesses[]
Despite cavalry bonuses Burgundians lack Bloodlines, putting them at a late-game disadvantage. Additionally, the Coustillier can struggle against bulkier targets that do not get killed with their charge attack. Similarly, with their gunpowder units, they lack Ring Archer Armor and Siege Engineers, so their Hand Cannoneers are less protected, and the Bombard Cannons have less range.
In contrast with their cavalry, their archers are weak, lacking most upgrades and technologies. The same goes for their Siege Workshop, since aside from the Bombard Cannons with better attack, they not only lack Siege Engineers, but they can't fully improve any of the other Siege units, lacking Heavy Scorpion, Siege Onager, and Siege Ram.
Aside from stronger Cannon Galleons, their navy is mediocre and lacks crucial upgrades like Dry Dock and Shipwright.
Because the Burgundians lack any military bonuses in the Dark and Feudal Age and have a slow economy, they are susceptible to rush strategies.
Similarly, their unique technology Flemish Revolution is strong but requires the correct situation or else it can backfire if used inappropriately. Flemish Revolution converts all Villagers into Flemish Militia units, sacrificing their economy for a lot of infantry.
Finally, the Burgundians are a civilization that requires precise timing when researching economic technologies to have an advantage over the opponent. This means the Burgundians will need to boom to have a significant advantage over their opponent and research economic technologies in the right time.
Strategy[]
When playing with the Burgundians, timing is essential. They can in theory start the game by researching Wheelbarrow, but that is not recommended, as it takes a long time to research, and its effect only pays off with a decent number of Villagers. To get the most benefit of their early economic technologies, the player must have a plan in mind beforehand and research those technologies when they can optimally make use of their effects. Normally, a player with Burgundians will research Double-Bit Axe first, since taking wood early in the Dark Age will enable them to create buildings and Farms earlier; Wheelbarrow may be researched in some circumstances (not all) when the player has at least 23 population; and Horse Collar, and Gold Mining should be researched once the player is advancing to the Feudal Age. Since Stone is not essential for the early economy, Stone Mining and Stone Shaft Mining may be left ignored, unless the player wants to make an unorthodox Tower Rush with the Burgundians. The Burgundians, unlike any other civilization, may delay their advance to the Feudal Age to improve their economy. However, they would miss the ability to create more Town Centers.
One of their best strategies is an Economic Boom into Cavalier Rush in Castle Age. For this, once the player is in the Feudal Age, they must research Bow Saw and Heavy Plow as soon as possible. In the case of Hand Cart, it should only be researched if the player has at least 8 Farms already. The player must create two buildings for Aging up and Stables; and once aging up, research Gold Shaft Mining. Once in the Castle Age, the player must research the Cavalier upgrade as early as possible. Again, when doing all of this, the timing is important. If water is available, the player should also research Gillnets for their Fishing Ships.
Burgundians reach their peak in the Castle Age, when they can research all economic technologies and produce Cavaliers or their unique unit: the Coustillier. The Coustillier is a heavy cavalry like the Knight line, but with a powerful charge attack. This causes their first strike deal a lot more damage than the subsequent attacks, but must be recharged (like Monk's faith), which takes 40 seconds. Coustilliers excel at Hit-and-Run tactics, recharging their ability while retreating, or raiding the opponent's economy, as they can kill Villagers in two attacks (one when Elite). Optimal use of the Coustillier's ability requires good timing.
Burgundians and their allies gain small amounts of food passively from Relics in addition to their gold. Their Castle Age unique technology Burgundian Vineyards gives farmers a trickle of gold. This gives Burgundians an edge in the late game, particularly in "Trash Wars", since they have alternative ways to generate food and gold, unlike most civilizations.
In the Imperial Age, Burgundians can keep on making cavalry raids, but they also get their second unique technology, Flemish Revolution, which upgrades all their existing Villagers into Flemish Militia (which is an infantry like a Halberdier) and enables this unit at the Barracks. Burgundians using this technology can finish off an opponent in one massive attack, but alternatively, they can use this for quick defense in case of an emergency or for breaking a stalemate if both players are sustaining a battle with no clear winner. The player must remember to reestablish their economy later. Burgundians in the Imperial Age have access to attack-boosted gunpowder units, which are a great addition for backing their army at range.
On water maps, Burgundians have few advantages, since their Cannon Galleons' attack is better, but outside of this, the rest of the navy is mediocre at the late game and naval encounters must be avoided.
Patch updates[]
In update 47820, the Burgundians have their economic technologies cost 50% less food. While the Burgundians are still vulnerable to Dark and Feudal Age rushes, the food discount makes it significantly easier for the Burgundians to boom and hit their powerspikes earlier than their opponent. It is possible to boom up into the Castle Age and transition into their Cavalier rush in 15 minutes. In addition, the Burgundian Vineyards unique technology now only converts half of the food stockpile into gold instead of their entire food stockpile, and farmers generate even more gold from Farms. Their team bonus has also been buffed where the food generation is equal to that of Relic gold generation, making them more viable in team games. The Flemish Militia bonus damage is also nerfed, but they are nonetheless still a strong well-rounded infantry unit.
With the food discount of economic technologies in mind, it is now possible for Burgundians to make a starting build order like this: Town Center creates one Villager, researches Loom, then creates another two Villagers. Villager 1 gathers food from Sheep, the second Villager gathers 10 wood, then gathers Sheep, and the third Villager creates a House and a Lumber Camp. Immediately research Double-bit Axe, then create the second House and return to gathering wood. With this start build order, the player will be able to sustain wood economy with just one Villager until they have at least 12 Villagers (11 working on food and the lumberjack). From that point, the player may add more lumberjacks, then create a Mining Camp for gold and a Mill and research the technologies on those buildings. Another build order that can be made due to this change which is more viable in closed maps like Arena is basically do the same but instead make two Houses and two Villagers early; make one Villager, research Wheelbarrow, Loom and Double bit Axe, use two Villagers for gathering 25 wood for making the first House, then place one of them on food while the remaining lumberjack repeats a cycle of collecting wood then make a House (since in this build order, the player exhausts the wood stockpile). When finishing to research the Town Center technologies, start to make more Villagers, which will be already improved; while this second startup has a time cost and will require manual drop off of resources, since Wheelbarrow occupies the same time of researching as creating three Villagers, these early improvements will start to pay off even before the player clicks on the Feudal Age.
Dawn of the Dukes[]
Both Burgundian unique technologies were nerfed. First, Burgundian Vineyards no longer converts food into gold. It still cannot compensate for the late game while food is cheaper than gold. Flemish Revolution is more expensive and Flemish Milita lost their bonus against buildings, as a lot of players like to boom a lot of military units with just a cost of Villagers to take down enemy bases in seconds in closed maps. However, since Hand Cannoneers have been buffed, they can use them more efficiently in their army.
Dynasties of India[]
The Burgundian food discount for their economic technologies was reduced to 40% and later to just 33%, making it easier for early game civilizations to rush them. In addition, the Coustillier charge damage was dampened, making it harder to micromanage their charge attack, and they are no longer able to kill Villagers or Arbalesters with one charge attack.
Update 81058 saw a massive nerf to their final powerspike, Flemish Revolution, with its price adjusted to (200 + 10n) food, (150 + 5n) gold where 'n' is the number of Villagers converted into Flemish Militia when researched. This means the more Villagers the player owns, the more expensive technology is (although if the player has exactly 100 Villagers, it's about the same price as prior to the update). On top of that, the Flemish Militia's stats were nerfed to be weaker than a Two-Handed Swordsman, making the Flemish Revolution powerspike more manageable to deal with for many infantry, archer, and gunpowder civilizations. Conversely, the Flemish Militia can now be trained at the Barracks instead of the Town Center, and their training cost has been adjusted to 50 food, 15 gold, making them a cheaper alternative to their Militia line unit in trash wars, since they lack Supplies for their Militia line unit, and Flemish Militia are now affected by Conscription.
Alliances[]
Burgundians are an interesting case in team games. They can be played as a Sling or as a Spring on Sling tactics, due to their early access to economic upgrades and access to heavy cavalry and gunpowder. It is preferable that they stay in the pocket position in order to perform an economic boom and use their resource surplus for paying tribute to their allies. The Burgundians pair best with archer civilizations to complement their strong cavalry. Their team bonus helps out any ally.
Berbers: They may not be an obvious option, but Kasbah can boost the Burgundians' creation rate of their potent Coustilliers. The Berbers also have the powerful Camel Archer to assist the Burgundians' cavalry.- Chinese: Burgundians also benefit from economic team bonuses in regard to the farm production, as they already have early access to farm upgrades, Wheelbarrow, and Hand Cart; in this case, the Chinese team bonus adds more food for each farm. The Chinese also have the strong archer options to aid the Burgundians and appreciate the Burgundians' better Bombard Cannons.
- Franks: The Frankish team bonus increases the Line of Sight of the early Burgundian Cavaliers and their Paladins.
- Huns: The Hunnic team bonus will add creation speed to the Stable, enabling the Burgundians to train their Cavaliers and Paladins even faster. The Huns also pair well with the Burgundians with their discounted Cavalry Archers.
- Persians: Their team bonus is also helpful, as this furthers the capabilities of the Paladin when facing archers.
- Teutons: Heavy cavalry are common targets for Monks, due to their high cost and powerful stats, so having a Teuton as an ally will help against them.
- Turks: Burgundians benefit from team bonuses that encourage the use of gunpowder units, and the Turks' team bonus is probably the most useful for creating those units faster. The Turks also can support Burgundian troops with their stronger Cavalry Archers.
Compared advantages and disadvantages[]
Advantages vs other civilizations[]
- One of the biggest strengths of the Burgundians is their ability to boom, thanks to their civilization bonus of being able to research economic technologies an age earlier. As such, they have an economic advantage against civilizations who lack any early game economic bonus and do not have the ability to apply early game pressure on the opponent.
- The Burgundians have relatively solid cavalry, only missing out on Bloodlines, but can research Cavalier in the Castle Age and the Paladin upgrade costs less in the Imperial Age. This allows them to perform a strong Cavalier Castle Age rush after booming and advancing into the Castle Age. In addition, the Coustillier is a cavalry unit with a charged attack that excels in small, micromanaged fights, and can pick-off important units with low hit points such as archers, Villagers, and Monks.
- Their Hand Cannoneers and Bombard Cannons have additional attack, which allows them to deal more damage. As such, they have an advantage against civilizations with strong infantry and civilizations with strong siege.
- Because Burgundian Vineyards allows their Farmers to slowly generate gold, this allows the Burgundians to have steady source of gold in the late Imperial Age when all of the Gold Mines are exhausted. This allows the Burgundians to have a sustainable production of their late-game units such as Paladins, Hand Cannoneers, Bombard Cannons, Flemish Militia, and Coustilliers, giving the Burgundian the edge over other civilizations in "trash wars" scenarios.
- The Flemish Militia is an anti-cavalry infantry unit that has a stats similar to that of a Champion, thus allowing the Flemish Militia to double down as a "trash killing" unit. This gives the Burgundian an edge against civilizations with strong cavalry and civilizations with weak trash units.
- Having all available defensive buildings and upgrades, the Burgundians can play defensively while they boom, giving an edge over civilizations that are unable to muster the military needed to take them down.
- They have a good Monastery technology tree, lacking only Heresy and Theocracy, while having a bonus with Relics, and their unique technology Burgundian Vineyards allows farmers to earn gold. Thus, they can easily punish gold-relying units such as Paladins and elephants.
Disadvantages vs other civilizations[]
- While the Burgundian cavalry is strong, thanks to their ability to research Cavalier in the Castle Age, the Burgundians lack Bloodlines for their Paladin and Hussar, thus putting the Burgundians at a disadvantage in the later stages of the game.
- The Coustillier is a cavalry unit that excels in small, micromanaged fights and wins trades with careful micromanagement. However, Coustilliers struggle in larger scale battles, as their base stats are a bit weaker than a fully upgraded Cavalier. So, civilizations that can train substantial number of units in the battlefield quickly will make it difficult for the Burgundians to micromanage their Coustilliers properly. Additionally, since they rely heavily on their strong initial attack, units that can resist this first attack like elephants and the Teutonic Knight can also do well against them.
- The Burgundian Archery Range units are weak, with their Hand Cannoneer being their only reliable ranged unit, so civilizations with strong archers or civilizations with strong Skirmishers can handle their Hand Cannoneers.
- Despite having strong Bombard Cannons, their other siege weapons are considered weak and below average, so they can struggle against mass infantry or archers.
- While the Burgundian Monastery tree is decent, they lack Heresy, making their cavalry and Coustilliers vulnerable to conversion. Civilizations with good Monks will have a chance to convert their Paladins and Coustilliers.
- While the Flemish Militia is a strong anti-cavalry unit that can also serve as a trash-killing unit, they are still vulnerable to their typical anti-infantry counters, such as Hand Cannoneers and Siege Onager. While the Flemish Militia are not classified as Spearman units, they can still be withered down by civilizations with strong Cavalry Archers through hit-and-run tactics.
- Despite the Burgundians' ability to boom by researching economic technologies one age earlier, they are still vulnerable to Dark and Feudal Age rushes, as the Burgundians lack any noticeable military bonuses in the Feudal Age. So, civilizations with strong Dark Age or Feudal Age rushing potential will make it difficult for the Burgundians to boom effectively.
Situational advantages[]
- It is much more advantageous to pick Burgundians in matches that start in the Dark and Feudal Ages thanks to their ability to research economic technologies one age early; picking Burgundians in matches starting in the Imperial Age or Post-Imperial Age is not recommended.
- The Burgundians excel in high population cap setting, as Burgundian Vineyards and Flemish Revolution will be more impactful.
- Maps that start off with Stone Walls and/or Palisade Walls (such as Arena and Hideout) allow the Burgundians to safely boom and reach their strengths of the civilization.
- In the Budapest map, the Burgundians start off with two Town Centers, making it easier for them to boom, since one of those can be used for researching Wheelbarrow and Hand Cart earlier without interrupting Villager production, as well as having additional Town Centers to train their Flemish Militia in the late game.
- Because the Burgundian team bonus slowly generates food alongside gold, the Burgundians have an advantage in maps with large number of Relics in the map (such as Wolf Hill).
- Flemish Revolution can still be researched even in Post-Imperial starts.
