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This article is about the unit in Age of Empires II. For the unit in other games of the series, see Chu Ko Nu. |
| “ | Chinese unique archer with rapid-fire attack. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II description | ||
The Chu Ko Nu is a unique unit of the Chinese in Age of Empires II. It is a foot archer that fires multiple arrows in quick succession.
Only the first arrow does full damage, however. All the other arrows fired deal 3 pierce damage and 0 melee damage; this is not the same as dealing no melee damage. This results is them doing additional damage to rams, which have negative melee armor. A regular Chu Ko Nu fires three arrows per volley, and an Elite Chu Ko Nu fires five.
Chu Ko Nu can be upgraded to Elite Chu Ko Nu in the Imperial Age.
Tactics[]
Chu Ko Nu cost more wood than Arbalesters, but less gold. They are usually used in combination with Halberdiers and Light Cavalry as front-line support and with Siege Rams against buildings. They are decent against non-defensive buildings and great against most units. Units without any pierce armor (such as Monks) or with negative melee armor (such as rams) are especially vulnerable to the additional projectiles.
The Chu Ko Nu, in a similar fashion to Kipchaks, has the distinction of still faring fairly well against archer-resistant units. This is because archer-resistant units (such as Elite Skirmishers) can survive archer fire due to their pierce armor. However, the high number of arrows fired by the Chu Ko Nu (especially Elite) still deals a considerable amount of damage. However, they should still try to avoid anti-archer units if they can and they match poorly against Huskarls and Ghulams. Most other archers have one more range than Chu Ko Nu and can hit-and-run them. Meanwhile, Chu Ko Nu are not good at hit-and-run due to how their multiple shots work in terms of reloading, and due to their long attack delay.
Chu Ko Nu are best countered with longer ranged archers, Huskarls, Ghulams, or siege weapons that deal splash damage.
Further statistics[]
As Chu Ko Nu are unique to the Chinese, only technologies that are available to them are shown in the following table:
| Strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Infantry, archers, cavalry |
| Weak vs. | Elite Skirmishers, Scorpions, Mangonels, Huskarls, Eagle Warriors, Genitours, Ghulams |
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
| Attack | (Primary projectile only) Fletching (+1) Bodkin Arrow (+1) Bracer (+1) Chemistry (+1)
|
 Range
|
Fletching (+1) Bodkin Arrow (+1) Bracer (+1)
|
| Accuracy |  Thumb Ring (increases primary projectile accuracy to 100%) Ballistics (hit moving targets)
|
| Armor |  Padded Archer Armor (+1/+1) Leather Archer Armor (+1/+1) Ring Archer Armor (+1/+2)
|
| Conversion resistance |  Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max)
|
 Attack speed
|
Thumb Ring (+25%)
|
| Creation speed |  Conscription (+33%) Kasbah (+25%, with a Berber ally only)
|
| Upgrading |  Elite Chu Ko Nu
|
Civilization bonuses[]
Chinese: Technologies that benefit Chu Ko Nu are 5%/10%/15% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
Team bonuses[]
- Britons: Researching Thumb Ring is 10% faster.
- Bulgarians: Blacksmith technologies are researched 80% faster.
- Lithuanians: Devotion and Faith are researched 20% faster.
- Malians: Researching Chemistry and Ballistics is 80% faster.
- Portuguese: Upgrades that benefit Chu Ko Nu are researched 25% faster.
- Saracens: Chu Ko Nu have +3 attack against standard buildings (only their first arrow carries the bonus attack).
- Teutons: Chu Ko Nu are more resistant to conversion.
Changelog[]
The Age of Kings[]
- Non-Elite Chu Ko Nu train in 19 seconds.
- Elite Chu Ko Nu have a base pierce attack of 8.
- The Elite Chu Ko Nu upgrade has a base cost of 950 food, 950 gold.
The Conquerors[]
- Chu Ko Nu gain a +2 attack bonus against Spearman.
- Main and secondary projectiles additionally deal 0 melee damage (i.e., +3 damage vs rams with –3 melee armor).
- Thumb Ring introduced.
- Rocketry introduced.
The Forgotten[]
- Non-Elite Chu Ko Nu train in 16 seconds.
Lords of the West[]
- With update 50292, Chu Ko Nu add the correct amount of extra projectiles to fortifications when garrisoned inside them.
Chronicles: Battle for Greece[]
- With update 141935:
Heroes[]
There is one hero in the game with the appearance of an Elite Chu Ko Nu:
History[]
| “ | The crossbow was invented in China in ancient times and the chu ko nu was an improved crossbow invented there during European Middle Ages. The chu ko nu was something like a semi-automatic crossbow. It was fitted with a magazine of bolts. When the operator pulled back the bowstring, a new bolt was automatically loaded. When the bowstring reached its limit, the weapon fired automatically. The operator pulled back as quickly as he could to maintain a rapid fire. The weaknesses of the weapon were a short range and weaker power compared to larger single-shot crossbows. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings manual | ||
Trivia[]
- Chu Ko Nu (諸葛弩) literally means "The crossbow of Zhuge". Zhuge Liang was a famous strategist-tactician who lived and died during China's Three Kingdoms era. However, the Chinese more commonly refer to it as the "Lian Nu" (連弩), literally translating to "Repeating Crossbow".
- "The Zhuge Nu is a handy little weapon that even the Confucian scholar or palace women can use in self-defence... It fires weakly so you have to tip the darts with poison. Once the darts are tipped with "tiger-killing poison", you can shoot it at a horse or a man and as long as you draw blood, your adversary will die immediately. The draw-back to the weapon is its very limited range." - from the Gujin Tushu Jicheng, the Imperial Encyclopedia (Qing Dynasty).
- The earliest metal crossbow-locks and crossbow bolts are indeed found in Shandong, China and dated to around 650 BCE; however, linguistic evidence possibly indicates that crossbows might have been invented by ancient Austroasiatic-speakers.
- Despite its name, the Chu Ko Nu was not invented by Zhuge, being in use some two hundred years before his birth. However, it is likely that he improved its design to make it a more effective weapon of war.
- The actual Chu Ko Nu had a firing rate of around two arrows per three seconds, making it the most rapid-firing weapon in existence until the invention of the Gatling gun 1800 years later.
- Due to a quirk in the engine in regards to duplicate projectiles and the design of the arrow projectile, Chu Ko Nu's arrows do 0 melee damage along with the extras dealing 3 pierce damage. Normally this makes no difference, but because Rams have -3 melee armor, each arrow actually deals 3, not 1 damage to Rams. This makes Chu Ko Nu one of the best anti-Ram units in the game as an Elite Chu Ko Nu can deal 15 damage per volley at a distance to Rams.
- Historically, Chinese military writers considered repeating crossbows to be too weak for battle, but rather was a weapon for home defense against wildlife. Nevertheless, there have been reports of repeating crossbows being used as late as the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894.
- Before Return of Rome, the Elite upgrade has the second highest gold cost among unique units (base value), costing 950. Only the Elite War Elephant upgrade costs more gold with 1,200. The Chinese civilization bonus, however, reduces the cost to 760.
- Since The Mountain Royals, the Elite upgrade of Chu Ko Nu becomes the most expensive in terms of gold at base value. Their civilization bonus now reduces the gold cost to 807, which is the third most expensive of all unique unit upgrades in terms of gold.
- Even if the target stands right in front of a Chu Ko Nu, the latter can still fail to hit with every arrow in the volley.
- With 14 attack, a fully upgraded Elite Chu Ko Nu has the highest attack of all foot archers as well as the second highest attack of all ranged units outside of the siege and gunpowder section (only behind the Elite Arambai, with 15 attack).
- The Chu Ko Nu is the unit that benefits the most from Thumb Ring in firing rate improvement, at 25%.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
