Camel Rider (Age of Empires)

This article is about the unit in Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome. For other uses, see Camel Rider.

Camel Rider
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome
Type	Cavalry
Civilization	See table
Age	Bronze Age
Training
Trained at	Stable
Food	70
Gold	60
Training time	30 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	125
Melee attack	6
Attack bonus	+8 vs. Mounted units
Reload time	1.5
Melee armor	0
Pierce armor	0
Speed	1.66
Line of Sight	4

“	Rider with increased damage against all horse and elephant units.	”
—In-game description in the Definitive Edition

The Camel Rider is cavalry unit in Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome. Camel Riders are fast and a good counter to cavalry. They are the very first camel units to appear in the Age of Empires series and are the predecessor of the unit of the same name in Age of Empires II.

Camel Riders are primarily used in the Bronze Age as a counter to cavalry, but become less effective in the Iron Age.

Availability chart

Available	Unavailable
Assyrians Babyloniansx Carthaginians+ Egyptiansx Hittitesx Minoansx Palmyrans+ Persiansx+ Phoenicians Shangx- Sumerians+	Choson Greeks Lac Viet Macedonians Romans Yamato

^x indicates that the civilization can fully upgrade their Camel Riders, i.e. gets Nobility, Metallurgy, and Chain Mail Cavalry.

^- indicates that the civilization does not get Conscription.

⁺ indicates that the civilization has at least one civilization bonus that benefits the combat strength of their Camel Riders.

Gameplay

Camel Riders receive a +8 attack bonus against horse units, and +4 against chariot and elephant units. Because of their otherwise weak attack and lack of armor, they are basically only useful against cavalry in the Bronze Age. Beyond the Bronze Age, Camel Riders are no longer the best option as an anti-cavalry unit since a fully upgraded Cataphract can take down a Camel Rider. Thus, the best units to counter cavalry in the Iron Age are by far War Elephants and Centurions.

However, Camel Riders are faster than and remain more than a match for a fully upgraded Heavy Cavalry in the Iron Age, and can easily dispense with Horse Archers and Heavy Horse Archers (Horse Archers can use hit-and-run tactics against them, however).

Palmyran Camel Riders are the fastest in the game, having a 25% increase in speed, which makes them excellent for raids and rushes early in the Bronze Age and allows them to catch up to even the agile Heavy Horse Archers in the late game.

Comparison among noteworthy civilizations

Civilization	Persians	Fully upgraded	Palmyrans	Sumerians	Carthaginians
Hit Points	144				162
Attack	6+7		6+4
Armor	0+6/0			0+6/0+1	0+4/0
Movement Speed	1.66		2.075	1.66
Training Time	25	30

Further statistics

Strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Cavalry-line (but not Cataphracts), Horse Archers, Chariots, Chariot Archers
Weak vs.	Infantry, War Elephants, Priests

Upgrades
Hit points	Nobility (+15%)
Attack	Toolworking (+2) Metalworking (+2) Metallurgy (+3)
Armor	Leather Armor Cavalry (+2/0) Scale Armor Cavalry (+2/0) Chain Mail Cavalry (+2/0)
Creation speed	Conscription (+25%)

Civilization bonuses
Hit points	Carthaginians (+15%)
Armor	Sumerians (0/+1)
Movement speed	Palmyrans (+25%)

Team bonuses
Creation speed	Persians (+20%)

Indirect civilization bonuses

• Carthaginians: Nobility is free (requires a Government Center).

Indirect team bonuses

• Palmyrans: Technologies that benefit Camel Riders are researched 30% faster.

Changelog

The Rise of Rome

• Camel Riders take 30 seconds to train.
• Camel Riders have no attack bonus against the War Elephant and Elephant Archer.

Definitive Edition

• Camel Riders take 32 seconds to train. With update 38862, they take 30 seconds to train again.
• Camel Riders have an attack bonus of +4 against the War Elephant and Elephant Archer.

Return of Rome

• Sumerians: Camel Riders have +1 pierce armor.
• Team bonuses added, Palmyrans: Technologies benefiting Camel Riders researched 30% faster. Persians: Camel Riders are trained 20% faster.

Heroes

There is one hero in the game with the appearance of a Camel Rider:

• Queen Zenobia

History

“	The camel was adopted for military use at a very early date, perhaps before the horse in the Middle East. Camels were particularly useful for moving quickly across the desert wastes and favored by small raiding parties. They were also used in battle by desert civilizations such as the Assyrians. Riders fought with spears and swords. Like light cavalry, they could take part in the pursuit of a beaten army. They were also useful against cavalry because horses were unaccustomed to the camels' odor and often refused to come near them.	”
—The Rise of Rome manual

Trivia

• The Minoans' access to Camel Riders is odd, as camels are not native to Crete and the Aegean.
• Though the Romans have no access to Camel Riders in the game, they had a camel force in reality called the Dromedarii. This is likely because the game's Romans are based on the Roman Republic and early Empire, while the Dromedarii existed in later times and consisted of Arab and Syrian auxiliaries, not Romans.
  • In Age of Empires II, the Byzantines (representing the Eastern Roman civilization) have access to cheaper Camel Riders than other civilizations.

Gallery

A group of Camel Riders

Camel Riders raiding a Lumber Camp

Camel Riders battling Scythe Chariots

A Camel Rider in the Definitive Edition

A render of the Camel Rider model

Technology tree

		Requires Barracks
	➞		➞		➞
				Requires Wheel	➞
					➞		➞
							➞