| “ | The mere mention of the Goths struck terror into the inhabitants of the Roman Empire. Migrate across thousands of miles and overwhelm your enemies with floods of infantry numerous as the grains of sand on a beach. Drive a once-great empire into anarchy, distribute plunder to your warbands, and establish your own kingdom where others once stood. Your Huskarls, pride of any chieftain or king, fear neither barbed arrow nor spear. | ” |
| —Description | ||
The Goths are a Central European civilization in Age of Empires II. They focus on infantry.
The Goths were a collection of Eastern Germanic tribes that constantly warred with the Roman Empire during its later years, known for bringing Rome to its knees and traveling all over Europe, bringing devastation with them. Following the fall of the Empire, the Goths divided into the Ostrogoths (East Goths) who settled in Italy, and the Visigoths (West Goths) who settled in the region that would later become Portugal and Spain. The leaders of the Goths and their Age of Empires II equivalents were the Huskarls, the Gothic unique unit.
As the Goths were known for their raiding prowess, the medium infantry Huskarls have high pierce armor and shrug off damage from fortifications. This also makes them very powerful against archers, and they also move quick enough to chase them down. The Goths were known as flexible nomads with mostly nonexistent formal government, so their first unique technology Anarchy allows their leaders, the Huskarls, to be trained at the Barracks like normal infantry, as early as the Castle Age.
Their second unique technology Perfusion allows them to train infantry extremely fast. As the Goths were known for being able to mass soldiers very quickly, they are able to spam more units already available to all civilizations, thanks to their infantry costing less as they advance to Feudal Age and their Barracks naturally working faster. As raiders, Gothic infantry get extra attack bonus against buildings. Being nomads gave them other distinct advantage: their Villagers can hunt bigger game effectively and carry more meat. Finally, the Goths get a higher population limit to reflect their ability to field armies quickly.
They are one of the ancestors of the Spanish and Portuguese civilizations. Hence, this is most likely why the Goths have access to gunpowder units such as Hand Cannoneers and Bombard Cannons since both the Portuguese and the Spanish used gunpowder in warfare to expand their empires (although this can also be for gameplay balance purposes since the Goths have a lackluster Siege and Archery unit line).
Overview
The Goths are an infantry civilization. As a result, infantry is the way to go since the Goths' advantages predominantly lay there. The main advantages there are the fast creation speed and low cost which offset lacking Plate Mail Armor by far. The Goths have weak archers, but they can fully upgrade their Skirmishers and Hand Cannoneers. The cavalry branch is not very prominent with the Goths albeit being overall acceptable, featuring Hussars with Bloodlines, but lacking Paladins and Plate Barding Armor. The Siege Workshop is also average without Siege Rams and Siege Onagers. Siege Engineers are also not available, but the Goths primary raiding units are Huskarls, anyway, so this is not that much of a drawback. Their navy is fairly useable, but Dry Dock is missing, so their ships lack speed. The Gothic Monks are way below average, missing four out of ten technologies, and their defenses are downright abysmal. Their economy is good, however.
Summing it all up the Goths may seem a civilization below average, but their infantry rushing capabilities make up for their overall lacking tech tree and are feared for a reason.
Campaign appearances
The Goths have a campaign devoted to their civilization: Alaric. Furthermore, they feature in various campaigns representing different peoples. Notable appearances include:
Genghis Khan
- The Horde Rides West
- Russians (in the original edition)
- The Promise
- Polish (in the original edition)
Barbarossa
- Holy Roman Emperor
- Austria
- Henry the Lion
- Poland (in the original edition)
Attila the Hun
- The Great Ride
- Naissus (in the original edition)
- The Walls of Constantinople
- Marcianopolis
- The Catalaunian Fields
- Ostrogoths
- Visigoths
Battles of the Conquerors
- Hastings
- Harold's Raiders
- Harold the Saxon
- Saxon Navy
Bari
- Arrival at Bari
- Lombards
- The Rebellion of Melus
- Friendly Lombards
- Rebels
Tariq ibn Ziyad
- The Battle of Guadalete
- Locals
- Roderic's Army
- Visigoths
- Consolidation and Subjugation
- Visigoth Garrison
- Merida
- Guadalajara
- Divide and Conquer
- Template:Colour
- Locals
- Kingdom of Asturias
- Narbonne
- Crossing the Pyrenees
- Locals
- Asturians
- Visigoths
Characteristics
Unique unit
Huskarl: Infantry unit that is virtually immune to archer fire
Unique technologies
- Anarchy: Allows the creation of Huskarls at the Barracks.
- Perfusion: Increases the working speed of Barracks by +100%.
Civilization bonuses
- Infantry are 20%/25%/30%/35% cheaper in the Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
- Infantry have +1/+2/+3 attack bonus against standard buildings in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
- Villagers have +5 attack against Wild Boars and carry +15 food from hunting.
- Loom is free.
- +10 population cap in the Imperial Age.
Team bonus
- Barracks work 20% faster.
Changelog
The Age of Kings
- Can research Treadmill Crane.
- Infantry are 10%/15%/25% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
- Non-Elite Huskarls train in 26 seconds.
- Huskarls have 4 pierce armor, Elite Huskarls 6.
- Huskarls have a +3 attack bonus against archers, Elite Huskarls +4.
- Huskarls move at a speed of 0.9.
The Conquerors
- With patch 1.0b, infantry are 35% cheaper starting in the Feudal Age.
- Anarchy introduced.
- Perfusion introduced.
- Non-Elite Huskarls now train in 16 seconds.
- Huskarls now have 6 pierce armor, Elite Huskarls 8.
- Huskarls now have a +6 attack bonus against archers, Elite Huskarls +10.
- Huskarls now move at a speed of 1.05.
The Forgotten
- Treadmill Crane removed from the technology tree.
The African Kingdoms
- Initially can research Arrowslits. With patch 4.8, it was removed from the technology tree.
Definitive Edition
- With update 35584, Infantry are 35% cheaper in all ages. With update 36202, the civilization bonus affecting the cost of infantry units has now been staggered per Age: 20% cheaper → 25% cheaper → 30% cheaper → 35% cheaper.
- With update 36202, they no longer have access to the Arson technology.
- With update 36202, the civilization bonus boosting infantry attack vs. buildings now increments by +1 attack per Age (starting in the Feudal Age).
- With update 36906, they get free Loom as a civilization bonus.
In-game dialogue language
In-game, Gothic units speak classical Old or Middle High German, which is also spoken by the Teutons. Historically, however, they spoke their very own Gothic language, which was related to Old Norse as much as to Old High German, and became extinct in the 8th or 9th century. A closely related language called Crimean Gothic possibly survived until the 18th century.
- Ja? - Yes?
- Heisse? - Order?
- Bereyte - Ready
- He, ja -Why, yes
- Reyte - Right
- Das ich soll - That I shall
- Des ware - Truly
- holza - To cut wood
- holzer - Lumberjack
- jägere - To hunt
- fischere - To fish
- suocha - To seek, gather
- gebuure - To go farming
- houwa - To quarry, cut
- buuwere - To build
- Flickmann - Tinkerer, repairer (of small objects)
- Se stöörme! - Storm them!
- Sassa! - To battle!
- Striitet! - Fight!
AI player names
- Athaulf (𐌰𐍄𐌷𐌰𐌿𐌻𐍆; c. 360-415): King of the Visigoths from 411-415. Led his people from Italy to Southern Iberia, building the Visigothic state into a major political power. Successor and brother-in-law of Alaric I.
- Athanaric or Atanaric (𐌰𐍄𐌰𐌽𐌰𐍂𐌹𐌺; Latin: Athanaricus; died 381): was king of several branches of the Thervingian Goths for at least two decades in the 4th century.
- General Theodemir (𐍄𐌷𐌴𐍉𐌳𐌴𐌼𐌹𐍂; died 743): Prominent count and general in the Visigothic kingdom. Attempted to halt the Moorish conquest of Iberia, however his forces were defeated by emir Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa in 713.
- Alaric II (𐌰𐌻𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃; c. 458/466-507): King of the Visigoths from 484-507. Defeated by Franks under Clovis at the Battle of Vouillé, killed in the fighting allegedly by Clovis himself. Son of Euric the Visigoth.
- King Euric the Visigoth (𐌴𐌿𐍂𐌹c𐌷; c. 440-484): King of the Visigoths from 466-484. Defeated other factions of Visigoths to become the first ruler of a unified kingdom of Visigoths. Father of Alaric II.
- Ermanaric the Amal (𐌴𐍂𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌰𐍂𐌹c): is identified as a Greuthungian king who ruled territories in modern Ukraine.
- Fritigern (𐍆𐍂𐌹𐍄𐌹𐌲𐌴𐍂𐌽; fl. 370s): was a Thervingian Gothic chieftain whose decisive victory at Adrianople during the Gothic War (376–382) led to favourable terms for the Goths when peace was made with Gratian and Theodosius I in 382.
- King Leovigild (𐌻𐌴𐍉𐍈𐌹𐌲𐌹𐌻𐌳; c. 519-586): Visigothic King of Hispania and Gallia from 568-586. Known for expanding his Visigothic kingdom through successful military campaigns, as well as for his introduction of the Code of Leovigild, which guaranteed equal rights for Goths and Hispano-Romans within his territories.
- King Wallia (𐍅𐌰𐌻𐌻𐌹𐌰; c. 385-418): King of the Visigoths from 415-418. Formed an alliance with the Roman Emperor Honorius, mounted a successful campaign against the Siling Vandals.
- Radagaisus (𐍂𐌰𐌳𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌹𐍃𐌿𐍃; died 23 August 406): was a Gothic king who led an invasion of Roman Italy in late 405 and the first half of 406.
- Teias the Goth (𐍄𐌴𐌹𐌰𐍃; died c. 552): Last Ostrogothic king in Italy. Led Ostrogoths in the Gothic War against the Byzantine Empire, defeated at the Battle of Mons Lactarius in Southern Italy, where he was killed.
- Theodoric the Goth (𐍄𐌷𐌴𐍉𐌳𐍉𐍂𐌹𐌺; c. 454-526): Also known as Theodoric the Great; King of the Ostrogoths from 475-526. Founded an Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy, and presided over a relatively peaceful period in the kingdom's history.
- Totila the Ostrogoth (𐍄𐍉𐍄𐌹𐌻𐌰; died July 1 of 552): was the penultimate King of the Ostrogoths, reigning from 541 to 552 AD. A skilled military and political leader, Totila reversed the tide of the Gothic War, recovering by 543 almost all the territories in Italy that the Eastern Roman Empire had captured from his kingdom in 540.
- Sarus the Goth (𐍃𐌰𐍂𐌿𐍃; d. 413 AD): was a Gothic chieftain and commander for the emperor Honorius. He was known for his hostility to the prominent Gothic brothers-in-law Alaric I and Ataulf, and was the brother of Sigeric, who ruled the Goths briefly in 415.
History
The Goths were a Germanic tribe on the Danube River frontier known to the Romans from the first century AD. Pressured and then displaced when the Huns moved west out of Central Asia, the Goths moved west into Europe and over the Danube River to escape the oncoming hordes. After taking part in the fall of Rome, they vied with other barbarians for the leavings of the Western Roman Empire during the Early Middle Ages.
The Goths originated on the island of Gotland in the Baltic, to the best of our knowledge, and split into two groups as they migrated south across Central Europe. The Visigoths, or West Goths, settled in modern Romania during the second century. The Ostrogoths, or East Goths, settled farther to the east on the northwest coast of the Black Sea. In 376 AD the Visigoths were driven from modern Romania by the Huns and moved south across the Danube. Their strength was estimated at 60,000 men, women, and children. They defeated a Roman army from Constantinople, settled briefly south of the Danube, and then pushed into Italy. In 409 they sacked Rome under their king Alaric and then moved north into Gaul. The Romans gave them southwestern Gaul. From there they eventually extended their rule into all of modern Spain and Portugal.
The Ostrogoths broke away from Hunnish rule and followed their cousins into Italy late in the fifth century. They were encouraged to invade by the Eastern emperor, who wanted deposed the barbarian then ruling as viceroy. Under Theodric, king of modern Switzerland and the Balkans already, the Goths entered Italy in 488, completing its conquest in 493.
Theodric’s kingdom did not last long following his death in 526. Using a struggle for succession as an excuse, the Byzantines sent an army to Italy in 536 led by their great general Belisarius. The Byzantines hoped to regain Italy and restore the old Roman Empire in the West. The war dragged on, devastating the countryside in conjunction with plague and famine. In 552 the Ostrogoths were finally defeated in Italy. They ceased to exist as a separate group by the late sixth century when northern Italy was invaded by a new group of barbarians called the Lombards.
The Visigoth kingdom lasted somewhat longer. In the late fifth century Clovis of the Franks pushed the Visigoths out of France and over the Pyrenees Mountains. Following the death of Clovis his kingdom fragmented and the Visigoths were temporarily left alone. In 711 a new threat appeared from the south. Islamic armies crossed over from North Africa and destroyed the last Gothic kingdom in four years.
The Goths are remembered for being the first to sack Rome and thereby beginning the final collapse of the ancient world order in Europe. Their admiration for Rome and attempts to preserve it, however, allowed much of the Roman culture to survive. For example, the modern languages of Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, and Romania are derived from Latin influenced by later settlers. They are not variations of German, as was the case in England.[1]
Trivia
- Goths' portrayal as a heavy-infantry-rush civilization Age of Empires II is somewhat historically accurate; however, contemporary authors also recognized the supportive role of Gothic heavy, light, and missile cavalry.
- The Goths have among the weakest defenses in the game; until the introduction of the Cumans in the Definitive Edition, they were the only civilization unable to build Stone Walls and Gates.
- In The Conquerors, the Goths are the only civilization with two unique technologies.
- In the The Conquerors instruction booklet, the Goths are represented by a Hussar, as opposed to the other civilizations, which are represented by their unique unit(s). This may be due to a possible misunderstanding, as "Huskarl" and "Hussar" sound similar.
- In the Definitve Edition, the Goths are the only civilization that lack Arson and Supplies, which is reasoned in the fact that they already have bonuses that make their infantry much cheaper and deal more damage against buildings.
- The Goths' civilization icon is based on visigothic eagle-shaped fibulae.
- Their free Loom bonus was originally possessed by the Aztecs in patch 1.0b for The Conquerors. Since the release of The Forgotten. however, the bonus was removed from the Aztecs and, instead, they received +50 gold at the start of the game.
- The Goths had a fundamental role in the destiny of Europe in the first centuries of the Middle Ages, however they had a discreet presence in the following centuries, keeping the Gothic culture alive until the 16th century in some parts of Mediterranean Europe, as is the case of the Crimean Goths, who lost their independence in 1475 to the Turks. That would explain the reason why the Gothic civilization has access to technologies such as gunpowder
Gallery
Video overview
