Camel unit

This article is about the military units riding camels. For the animal, see Camel.

Camel units are mounted units riding a camel instead of a horse. They appear in every game of the Age of Empires series.

Overview[]

Excluding Age of Empires III (where most camel units are identical to horse mounted units other than in appearance), the camel units across games can be broadly summed up as specialist anti-cavalry mounted units, with bonus attack against other mounted units but less attack overall, hit points, armor, or speed than them. Since they still have similar cost and training time to horse units, camel units should generally not be used as the backbone of an army but as auxiliary to other forces.

As camels are native to dry areas of Africa and Asia, these units are usually exclusive to civilizations that were historically native to or held sway over such regions.

Age of Empires[]

Camel Rider render — The Camel Rider in *The Rise of Rome*.

In Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome, one generic unit is introduced: the Camel Rider. The Camel Rider is trained at the Stable and has an attack bonus against other mounted units. The Palmyrans probably have the most reliable Camel Riders with +25% movement speed. The Carthaginians also have very effective Camel Riders with +15% hitpoints. Civilizations with complete upgrades for their Camel Riders include the Egyptians, Hittites, Minoans, and Persians.

The civilizations that lack Camel Riders are the Choson, Greeks, Lac Viet, Macedonians, Romans, and Yamato.

Age of Empires II[]

In Age of Empires II the common Camel Rider is a melee cavalry unit that is trained and upgraded at the Stable. A few civilizations have additional unique camel units that are trained in their Castle, such as the Saracens' Mameluke, which deals melee damage at a short range; the Berbers' Camel Archer, a mounted archer more effective against other mounted archers than against melee cavalry; and the Khitans' Mounted Trebuchet, a siege weapon whose projectiles spawn hazard area, but is less effective against buildings than other siege weapons. The Tatars' Flaming Camel is the only siege suicide camel unit in the series, and is available at the Siege Workshop.

Camel units take no bonus damage from anti-cavalry attacks, but from anti-camel attacks. This works in their favor because the anti-camel bonus damage of other units is always lower than anti-cavalry bonus damage. However, camel units are still intended to be used mostly against other mounted units.

List of camel units[]

Camel units AoE2 DE — All controllable camel units in *Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition*

Camel Scout ( Gurjaras only) - Camel Rider - Heavy Camel Rider - Imperial Camel Rider (the latter Hindustanis only)
Mameluke - Elite Mameluke ( Saracens only)
Camel Archer - Elite Camel Archer ( Berbers only)
Flaming Camel ( Tatars only)
Mounted Trebuchet ( Khitans only)

Scenario Editor units[]

Camel heroes[]

Babur (Imperial Camel Rider) (The African Kingdoms)
Musa ibn Nusayr (Camel Archer) (The African Kingdoms)
Saladin (Mameluke) (The Forgotten)
Young Babur (Heavy Camel Rider) (Dynasties of India)

Civilizations[]

Thirteen civilizations have access to camel units. All of them have access to Camel Riders, and only the Cumans lack access to Heavy Camel Riders.

The Berbers, Gurjaras, Hindustanis, Khitans, Malians, Saracens, and Tatars all boast unique technologies or bonuses advantageous for their camel units.

Civilization bonuses[]

Berbers: Camel Riders are 15/20% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.
Byzantines: Camel Riders are 25% cheaper.
Cumans: Camel Riders move 10/15% faster in the Castle/Imperial Age.
Gurjaras: Camel Riders deal +20%/+30%/+40% bonus damage in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age. Camel Riders can Auto Scout.
Hindustanis: Camel Riders attack 20% faster.
Khitans: Camel Riders receive double benefit from Blacksmith attack upgrades.
Saracens: Camel units have +25% hit points.
Tatars: Camel units deal +20% damage (+50% instead of +25%) when fighting on higher ground.

Team bonuses[]

Britons: Researching Thumb Ring is 10% faster.
Bulgarians: Blacksmith upgrades are researched 80% faster.
Gurjaras: Camel units are created 25% faster.
Hindustanis: Camel units have +2 attack against standard buildings.
Huns: Camel Riders are created and upgraded 20% faster. Researching Bloodlines and Husbandry is 20% faster.
Magyars: Camel Archers are created 25% faster.
Malians: Researching Ballistics and Chemistry is 80% faster.
Lithuanians: Researching Devotion, Faith, and Heresy is 20% faster.
Portuguese: Technologies that benefit camel units are researched 25% faster.
Tatars: Camel Archers have +2 Line of Sight.
Teutons: Camel units are more resistant to conversion.

Unique technologies[]

Berbers:
- Kasbah (Castle camel units created and upgraded 25% faster, for both the player and allies)
- Maghrebi Camels (Camel units regenerate 0.25 HP/s)
Ethiopians:
- Royal Heirs (Camel Riders receive -3 damage from mounted units)
Gurjaras:
- Kshatriyas (Camel Riders cost -25% food)
- Frontier Guards (Camel Riders have +4 melee armor)
Khitans:
- Ordo Cavalry (Camel Riders regenerate 150% HP/min when attacking units)
Malians:
- Farimba (Camel Riders have +5 attack)

Trivia[]

Between The Conquerors and The African Kingdoms, camel units did not have their own separate armor class but shared one with ships. This caused camel units to take high bonus damage from ships and defensive structures (and ships to be unexpectedly vulnerable to Pikemen attacks).
- In The Age of Kings, camels and cavalry shared the same armor class, making camels pretty intiuitive to counter.
Flaming Camels are unique among camel units in not benefiting from cavalry armor upgrades (or any other armor upgrade).
In the scenario Wonder of the World, the Sicilians can train Camel Riders even though they cannot otherwise. And in the scenario Reconquista, the Spanish player begins with six Heavy Camel Riders, but cannot train more.
Since update 56005 of the Definitive Edition, the Trade Carts of the Middle Eastern civilizations, Hindustanis, Gurjaras, and Tatars are pulled by camels instead of horses, but this is a purely aesthetic difference.
The Camel Scout is the only camel unit available before the Castle Age, when it upgrades automatically and free of charge into the Camel Rider.
The beta sprite of the Heavy Camel Rider, reused in the beginning for the Imperial Camel Rider, has the camel wearing a caparison. Although this is not the case in the final sprites, the icon for the Heavy Camel Rider upgrade still shows a camel with a caparison, and the icon for the Imperial Camel Rider upgrade shows the camel with caparison and armor.
Since the update 107882, the "cameleon" cheat code turns all of the player's camel units into Flaming Camels.

Age of Mythology[]

In Age of Mythology, only the Egyptians have access to camel units. They can train them from the Heroic Age onwards, and these units are:

Camel Rider: A cavalry unit with a 2x damage multiplier against other cavalry units and a 1.25× damage multiplier versus ranged soldiers, created at the Migdol Stronghold.
Camel Caravan: A non-combat trade unit created at the Market.

Unique upgrades and technologies[]

Ra: +15% hit points*.
Heavy Camel Riders and Champion Camel Riders: +15%/+20% attack, +1/+1 Line of Sight, and +15%/20% hit points.
Levy Migdol Soldiers and Conscript Migdol Soldiers: -20% training time.
Dark Water (Sobek): +10% hit points, regenerate +0.5 hit points per second.
Funeral Rites (Nephthys): Refunds 8 gold on death.
Desert Wind (Osiris): +15% hit points, attack, and movement speed.
Valley of the Kings (Thoth): Another spawns for free when one is trained at an empowered Migdol Stronghold.

Age of Empires III[]

Zamburak melee — Zamburaks using their secondary melee attack against enemy Settlers.

In Age of Empires III, only the Indians and African civilizations have regular access to camel units, though other civilizations can acquire them as mercenaries or from allying with an African Kingdom. The Berber Camel Rider, Gatling Camel, Sowar and the Zamburak (and their respective Mansabdar versions) have the AbstractCamel tag in the game files, related to the "Camel Attack" and "Grazing" (except Gatling Camels) Home City Cards. All units that have this tag also have the cavalry tag.

List of camel units[]

Sowar and Mansabdar Sowar: An Indian heavy cavalry unit that strong against light infantry (has no bonus damage against cavalry).
Zamburak and Mansabdar Zamburak: An Indian light ranged cavalry that strong against heavy cavalry and hand shock infantry.
Berber Camel Rider: A Berber native melee light ranged cavalry with bonus damage against heavy cavalry.
Gatling Camel: A mercenary light ranged cavalry-artillery unit.

Other units[]

These units have a camel model, but are not camel units:

Berber Sultan: A Berber native heavy cavalry hero created after researching Berber Dynasties.
Emir: A Hausa ranged cavalry Hero.
Desert Raider: An african heavy cavalry outlaw that can be trained at the Watch Tower, and other mercenary buildings.
Berber Salt Camel: A Berber native wagon that turns itself into a Salt Mine.

Age of Empires IV[]

Abbasid Dynasty Camel Archers in *Age of Empires IV.*

In Age of Empires IV, the Abbasid Dynasty and their variant civilization, the Ayyubids, have access to camel units:

Camel Archer (Abbasid Dynasty): Ranged cavalry with bonus damage against Spearmen.
Camel Rider (Abbasid Dynasty): Light melee cavalry that deals bonus damage against all Cavalry.
Desert Raider (Ayyubids): Camel unit capable of quickly switching between ranged and melee combat stances - available at both the Archery Range and Stable.
Camel Lancer (Ayyubids): Camel unit which has a tactical charge which deals more damage the further it travels before impact.