Cavalry (Age of Empires)

This article is about the unit in Age of Empires. For the unit class, see Cavalry.

Cavalry
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires
Type	Cavalry
Civilization	All except Egyptians and Sumerians
Age	Bronze Age
Training
Trained at	Stable
Food	70
Gold	80
Training time	40 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	150
Melee attack	8
Attack bonus	+5 vs. Light infantry
Reload time	1.5
Melee armor	0
Pierce armor	1
Armor class	Mounted units
Speed	1.66
Line of Sight	4
Unit evolution
Upgrades to	Heavy Cavalry
Upgrade cost	350 food, 125 gold
Upgrade time	90 seconds

“	Horseman armed with a sword. Inflicts extra damage against infantry.	”
—In-game description in the Definitive Edition

The Cavalry is a heavy cavalry unit in Age of Empires available in the Bronze Age at the Stable. It is available to all civilizations except the Egyptians and Sumerians.

Cavalry can be upgraded in the Iron Age to Heavy Cavalry and later to Cataphract.

Gameplay

The stats can be upgraded from the technologies found in the Storage Pit and they also benefit from the Nobility upgrade, which increases the hit points from 150 to 172.

Cavalry deal +5 damage against Light infantry. Their fast speed, good pierce armor, and high hit points let them chase Villagers, archers, Stone Throwers, and Slingers. Hence, they are a good base for an early raiding army, and the go-to units for countering ranged units. Despite their bonus against the Short Swordsman line, they are not cost effective against them due to being three times more expensive. However, they are quite effective in terms of population space, in particular if the enemy has not researched Logistics yet.

Cavalry quickly become obsolete with Iron Age technologies, and do not deal attack bonus against Academy units, being countered by them instead.

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Archers, siege units, Slingers
Weak vs.	Infantry, War Elephants, Camel Riders, 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%)
Upgrades	Heavy Cavalry

Civilization bonuses

• Lac Viet: Cavalry are trained 25% faster.
• Macedonians: Cavalry have +2 Line of Sight and are four times more resistant to conversion.
• Shang: Cavalry attack 10% faster.*
• Yamato: Cavalry cost -15%. Upgrading Cavalry to Heavy Cavalry costs -30%.*

Team bonuses

• Palmyrans: Heavy Cavalry upgrade and technologies that benefit Cavalry are researched 30% faster.
• Persians: Cavalry are created 20% faster.

Changelog

Age of Empires

• Cavalry have 1.5 reload time.

Definitive Edition

• With update 9, Cavalry get +1 pierce armor.

Return of Rome

• Upon release, Cavalry had 1.3 reload time. With update 87863, they have 1.5 reload time again.
• Shang: Cavalry attack 10% faster.
• Yamato: Upgrading Cavalry to Heavy Cavalry costs -30%.
• Team bonuses added:
  • Palmyrans: Technologies benefiting Cavalry are researched 30% faster.
  • Persians: Cavalry are trained 20% faster.

History

“

Horses were domesticated around 4000 BC for use as work animals. They first appeared in the Middle East around 2000 BC but were kept only as expensive pets. Gradually they were found useful in the civilized world as draft animals, but were rarely ridden. The concept of cavalry was introduced to the Assyrians from the plains of Russia during the dark age that followed the catastrophe of 1200 BC. The Assyrians added cavalry to their armies in order to fight the barbarians on the plains to their north. Israelite king Solomon was renowned for his large cavalry force. It eventually became clear that cavalry was more efficient than chariots. Two men, each on his own horse, were more useful than two men in a chariot that could be disabled with increasing ease. Cavalry was cheaper to maintain than chariotry and could enter more difficult terrain, but was no less fast and intimidating to infantry.

”

Gallery

The Cavalry unit line in Return of Rome, with the Cavalry on the left

A group of Cavalry in the original game

Cavalry in the Definitive Edition

Unused icon, possibly for an unlocking technology

Video

CAVALRY vs EVERY UNIT - Age of Empires- Definitive Edition

Tech tree

		Requires Barracks
	➞		➞		➞
				Requires Wheel	➞
					➞		➞
							➞