Camel units

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

Age of Empires Edit

In Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome, one generic unit is introduced: The Camel Rider. This Camel Rider has a +8 attack bonus against cavalry. The Palmyrans probably have the most reliable Camel Riders with +25% movement speed. Civilizations with complete upgrades for their Camel Riders are: Egyptians, the Hittites, the Minoans, and the Persians.

Civilizations that completely lack camel units are the Choson, Greeks, Macedonians, Romans, and the Yamato.

Age of Empires II Edit

Camel units are a unit branch in Age of Empires II. While similar in appearance to, sharing characteristics with, and often being summarized with cavalry units, camel units take no bonus damage from anti-cavalry attacks, but from anti-camel attacks. That works in their favor, as the anti-camel bonus damage of other units is always lower than anti-cavalry bonus damage. Generally speaking, camel units are designed to engage enemy cavalry.

Note that, before The African Kingdoms was released, camel units did not yet have a separate armor class, but shared one with ships. That caused camel units to take high bonus damage from ships and defensive structures.

List of camel units Edit

• Camel Rider - Heavy Camel Rider - Imperial Camel Rider (the latter Indians only)
• Mameluke - Elite Mameluke (Saracens only)
• Camel Archer - Elite Camel Archer (Berbers only)
• *Flaming Camel

* Though the unit is a camel, it is not cavalry as there's no one riding it.

Camel heroes Edit

• Babur - Imperial Camel Rider
• Musa ibn Nusayr - Camel Archer
• Saladin - Mameluke

Civilizations Edit

Only twelve civilizations have access to camels:

Berbers

Byzantines

Chinese

Cumans

Ethiopians

Indians

Malians

Mongols

Persians

Saracens

Tatars

Turks

The Berbers, Indians, Malians, Saracens, and Tatars all boast advantages in unique technologies or bonuses for their camel units, making them the most prominent civilizations.

Civilization bonuses Edit

• Berbers: Camels are 15/20% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.
• Byzantines: Camels are 25% cheaper.
• Cumans: Camels move 10/15% faster in the Castle/Imperial Age.
• Indians: Camels have +1 pierce armor.
• Tatars: Camels deal 50% more damage when fighting on higher ground.

Team bonuses Edit

• Huns: Stables work 20% faster.
• Indians: Camel units have +5 attack against buildings.

Unique technologies Edit

• Berbers: Maghrabi Camels (Camel troops regenerate)
• Malians: Farimba (+5 attack for Camels)
• Saracens: Zealotry (+30 HP for camel units)
• Tatars: Timurid Siegecraft (Unlocks Flaming Camels)

Age of Mythology Edit

In Age of Mythology, only the Egyptians have access to camel units. These units are:

• Camelry: A cavalry unit with a 1.75x damage multiplier against other cavalry units
• Camel Caravan: A non-combat trade unit

Age of Empires III Edit

In Age of Empires III, only the Indians have access to camel units. These units are:

• Zamburak: A ranged unit with a 3.5x damage multiplier against melee cavalry
• Sowar: A camel unit that functions as a heavy cavalry unit and has no attack bonus against cavalry

Trivia Edit

• The fact that Minoans receive Camel Riders is odd, as apart from not being a desert civilization, camels didn't live in Crete or the Aegean Islands. In fact, it would be slightly more realistic if Romans received them instead, as camel troops (known as Dromedarii) were into use from the 2nd century (at least the Byzantines received them).
• Excluding the above-mentioned Minoans and Byzantines (who are transcontinental civilizations), all camel units are correctly available only to African and Asian civilizations.