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This article is about the building in Age of Empires II HD: Rise of the Rajas. For the building in Age of Empires IV: Dynasties of the East, see Harbor (Age of Empires IV). |
| “ | Unique building of the Malay that automatically attacks enemies within range. Used to build and upgrade ships, deposit food from Fishing Ships, and trade with other players by sea. | ” |
| —In-game description | ||
| “ | Used to build and improve ships, deposit food from Fishing Ships, and trade with other players by sea. | ” |
| —In-game description | ||
The Harbor is a military and economic building in Age of Empires II HD: Rise of the Rajas that is unique to the Malay and becomes available once Thalassocracy is researched. The Harbor is an improved Dock and does everything a Dock does, but has more hit points, an increased Line of Sight, and attacks enemies with arrow fire.
Tactics and placement[]
Like the Dock, the Harbor serves for both economy and naval warfare, as it produces all kinds of vessels, while also being a drop site for Fishing Ships, Fishermen, and Trade Cogs. They must be used depending on the kind of map of the game; also, as this building has an attack and more hit points than the Dock, it may be used as part of a fortification, with the advantage that this building only costs wood.
When playing on maps like Archipelago or Islands, having Harbors is highly beneficial, as they help to secure the shoreline, while at the same time they protect the allied Fishing Ships and Fish Traps to some extent. That is especially important for the Malay, as they are a vital part of their economy, especially in these kind of maps. It can be a viable tactic to wall an island with Harbors as this makes it very difficult for enemy Transport Ships to approach the shore without needing to patrol the shoreline.
On maps like Coastal, Baltic, and Continental with important water bodies but where the settlements are not separated by water, the use of Harbors can make a huge difference, as they can protect the shore, along with Castles and towers. They also help to support their navy in many situations and protect the naval economy.
On maps like Rivers, Highland, or others that feature rivers and/or lakes, Harbors become part of the defensive structures as the rivers and lakes represent a barrier for land troops, and in this case, using Harbors and naval units becomes more helpful to aid fortifications near the shoreline and the shallows, which on these kind of maps, are the only narrow points usable for land troops in order to cross rivers. Having Harbors along the rivers walling the entire coast of those water bodies helps to perform a turtle strategy.
It is important to learn that Harbors should be a supplement to naval defenses, not the replacement. It is not advised to leave the Harbors alone, even with their attack and improved hit points, since they can be outranged by many naval units. It is advisable to support them with siege units on the shore and other kind of fortified buildings such as towers or Castles. Having a navy defending the Harbors also helps to defend the shore.
When playing team games, Harbors are also highly valuable, as the naval trade routes can be secured a bit more easily, as they provide coverfire to Trade Cogs that approach. So when trading on water, it is usually safer to choose a Malay player (if available) as a trade partner.
Harbors may only be built in shallow water or on shallows, next to the coast. On amphibious maps, this can be taken into great advantage, by placing Harbors in strategic spots where both naval and land units converge, preferably adjacently to a forest, so that less units have the chance to damage it, while also shocking units with Demolition Ships.
Even on maps with lower-than-average water, such as Cenotes, one may take advantage of Harbors to project power and act as a deterrent to nearby enemy Villagers.
Trainable units and technologies[]
As Harbors are unique to the Malay, the Malay Dock technology tree is shown here. When a Harbor is converted, the trainable units and researchable technologies naturally change to the available pool of the new owner's civilization.
Rusty red: Generic buildings- Aqua blue: Generic units
- Forest green: Technologies
- Deep violet: Unique units
- Deep cornflower blue: Regional units
- Reddish-orange: Regional buildings
- Crimson pink: Unique buildings
Clicking on the icon links to the corresponding page.
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  Thalassocracy | |||||||
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  War Galley |
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  Chemistry |
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Further statistics[]
As Harbors are unique to the Malay, only technologies that are available to them are shown in the following table:
| Strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Ships, Villagers, Trade Carts |
| Weak vs. | Siege units, Tarkans, Huskarls, War Elephants |
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
 Hit points
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 Masonry (+10%)
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| Attack |  Fletching (+1) Bodkin Arrow (+1) Bracer (+1) Heated Shot (+4 against ships) Chemistry (+1)
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 Range
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Fletching (+1) Bodkin Arrow (+1) Bracer (+1) Murder Holes (eliminates minimum range)
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| Accuracy |  Ballistics (hit moving targets)
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| Armor | Masonry (+1  melee / +1  pierce, +3 building armor)
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| Conversion resistance |  Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max) Heresy (gets destroyed upon getting converted)
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| Line of Sight |  Town Watch (+4)
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| Creation speed |  Shipwright (+54%)
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| Build speed |  Treadmill Crane (+20%)
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| Team bonuses | |
|---|---|
| Conversion resistance |  Teutons (+3 min, +1 max)
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| Line of Sight |  Malay (+6)
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| Resource cost |  Vikings (-15%)
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| Research speed |  Portuguese (+25%)
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| Other |  Dravidians (+5 population) Georgians (repairing costs -25%)
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Team bonuses[]
- Bulgarians: Fletching, Bodkin Arrow, and Bracer are researched 80% faster.
- Lithuanians: Devotion, Faith, and Heresy are researched 20% faster.
- Malians: University technologies that benefit Harbors are researched 80% faster.
- Portuguese: Technologies that benefit Harbors are researched 25% faster.
Changelog[]
Rise of the Rajas[]
- Harbors have no minimum range and do not require Murder Holes to attack enemy units attacking its base
- Initially, Harbors have 2,200 HP, a reload time of 2.5, 6 base attack, no minimum range, and +9 bonus attack vs ships. With patch 5.3, the hit points are reduced to 2,000 and the reload time is increased to 3.0.
The Last Khans[]
- Harbors have a minimum range of 1. Requires Murder Holes to reduce to 0 range.
- Harbors have a base attack of 3, bonus attack vs ships of 10.
- With update 36906, Harbors now (properly) receive the benefits of Chemistry, Murder Holes, and Heated Shot when Thalassocracy is researched before any of these technologies, and serve as drop sites for Fishermen.
Trivia[]
- Prior to update 141935, Malay Harbors do not benefit from the Line-of-Sight-boost provided by Town Watch, Town Patrol, and Fletching-line upgrades, since they are already at the hardcoded maximum 20. Harbors for other civilizations can benefit from them, but since the maximum is 20, they may not benefit from Bracer. Since then, it is guaranteed that only Town Patrol does not benefit them.
- When a Harbor is placed in the Scenario Editor for any other civilization than a Southeast Asian one, it has the appearance of a regular Dock.
- When a Harbor is placed in the Scenario Editor for any other civilization, it fails to pick up any upgrades (like Fletching, Murder Holes, or Heated Shot) other than those affecting regular Docks (like Masonry or Town Watch). These technology effects are tracked separately and can be seen via the Advanced Genie Editor.
- The Harbor's three secondary projectiles are the same as the Longboat's, and thus they have only +1 attack vs. ships, +1 vs. Fishing Ships, and +1 vs. camel units. These attack bonuses do not matter because such projectiles always do 1 damage to any intended target they hit. They deal 1 damage to ships and camels even when hit unintentionally, but no damage to other unintentional targets.
- Harbors have a theoretical maximum of 9 secondary projectiles, but they cannot go past 3 because no unit can garrison in Harbors to increase the arrows.
- While the Gurjaras' Docks and Harbors (via Scenario Editor shenanigans) can garrison Fishing Ships, they do not add any attack value.
- Harbors are the only structures that in essence act as an upgrade to a non-defensive structure and the only one to convert said structure into a defensive structure. As such, they are the only upgrade which takes more bonus damage from its predecessor, since it gains Armor class: Stone defense.
- Harbors are also the only upgraded item that gain a new armor class from its predecessors.
- Harbors are also the only defensive structures where land units cannot garrison.
- The arrows fired by Harbors are arced in a downward curve significantly more than arrows fired by other arrow-shooting building, whose projectiles fly almost in a straight line.
- The tall structure on Harbor seems to be modeled after a temple structure. High-rising tower is mentioned in the late 12th century Javanese Kakawin Bhomāntaka, which is denoted as waruga in the text. In stanza 6.11 the waruga is called "observation tower" (Old Javanese: Paṅuṅaṅ/Pangungang). In the Bhomāntaka, it seems to refer to a kind of watch-tower or lighthouse to monitor approaching ships.[1] Temple structure like on the model usually only has 1 level, making them almost useless for observation.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Jákl, Jiří (2020). The Sea and Seacoast in Old Javanese Court Poetry: Fishermen, Ports, Ships, and Shipwrecks in the Literary Imagination. Archipel, 100, 69–90. https://doi.org/10.4000/archipel.2078
