Elite Army Tactics

Elite Army Tactics
Availability
Introduced in	Age of Empires IV
Civilization	All civilizations
Age	Imperial Age
Research
Researched at	University/Madrasa Istanbul Observatory Hisar Academy
Food	400
Gold	800
Research time	90 seconds
Effect
Melee infantry +20% damage, +4 melee armor*
Notes
Replaced by Oda Tactics for the Japanese, which is functionally similar

Elite Army Tactics is a technology in Age of Empires IV that can be researched at the University/Madrasa in the Imperial Age.

It increases the base and bonus damage of all melee infantry units by +20% and grants them +4 melee armor.

Civilization bonuses

• Abbasid Dynasty: Research speeds are +15%/+20% faster while Golden Age tiers 2/3 are active. If Preservation of Knowledge has been researched, this technology costs -20%.
• Ayyubids: Research speeds are 25% faster while Golden Age tier 2 is active
• Byzantines: Research speeds are 30% faster per water level at buildings within the influence of a Cistern with the Dialecticus ability active.
• Chinese and Zhu Xi's Legacy: The technology researches 150% faster when the University is supervised by an Imperial Official. For Zhu Xi's Legacy, this can be improved to 300% faster after researching Regional Inspection.
• Delhi Sultanate: The technology is free, but takes as long to research (1,320 seconds instead of 90 seconds).
• Japanese: The technology is called Oda Tactics. In addition to melee attack, it also increases torch damage by 20% (+4 for most melee infantry units).
• Malians: Technologies take less time to research based on how much gold has been obtained through trade.
• Mongols: The technology is available in the Blacksmith. Can research the improved technology for another 1,200 stone to grant infantry +10% additional hit points (+30% total) and +2 additional melee armor (+6 total).

Changelog

• Originally, Elite Army Tactics increases hit points and damage by 10%. With update 8324, it increases by 20%. With update 12.0.1974, the hit points bonus was removed and replaced with +4 melee armor (+6 melee armor for Mongols' improved version).
• Originally, the base research time for the Delhi Sultanate was 5x default (450 seconds). With update 8324, this was increased to 15x default (1350 seconds). With Season Two Update 17718, it takes 12x as long (900 seconds). With update 12.0.1974, it was increased to 1,320 seconds (14.67x)
• Originally, Elite Army Tactics cost 300 food, 700 gold and the Mongol improved version cost 1,000 stone. With update 12.0.1974, it cost 500 food, 1,000 gold and the Mongol improved version cost 1,500 stone. With patch 12.1.2454, it costs 400 food, 800 gold and the Mongol improved version cost 1,200 stone

Campaign version

Because campaigns do not get rebalanced with each update, Elite Army Tactics maintains the same stats in the The Sultans Ascend campaign that it had upon its release. Therefore:

• It costs 300 food, 700 gold
• Instead of increasing melee armor, it increases melee infantry hit points by +20%.

Elite Army Tactics is not available in the original four campaigns, but a similarly named technology, Elite Spear Tactics, can be researched at the Blacksmith.