| “ | Bohemian unique siege unit. Siege weapon with long range. | ” |
| —In-game description | ||
The Houfnice is the second unique unit of the Bohemians in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Dawn of the Dukes. It can be trained at the Siege Workshop in the Imperial Age once Chemistry is researched. As an upgrade to the Bombard Cannon, it is a long-ranged gunpowder siege unit.
Unlike most unique units, the Houfnice do not have an Elite version, as they are already a final unique upgrade.
Tactics[]
Compared with a regular Bombard Cannon, the Houfnice has +10 hit points, +1 pierce armor, +10 melee damage, +0.2 tiles of blast radius (0.7), +10 bonus damage vs. ships, stone defenses, and Heavy siege, and +50 bonus damage vs. buildings. The upgrade does cost a sizable 1,100 food, 800 gold, but it pays for itself quicker than it would seem as Bombard Cannons are already costly.
The Houfnice can take up to 23 fully upgraded Arbalester bolts, compared to 16 for a Bombard Cannon. It also has a 40% larger blast radius, making it more effective against mass infantry and foot archers. It flips the trade against Siege Onagers, which kills the Houfnice in two shots (one shot if 4–5 extra Siege Onager projectiles hit the Houfnice with an attack order (not attack ground), depending on Chemistry) but only needs one Houfnice shot to be killed (guaranteed on attack ground). It is the other way around for ordinary Bombard Cannons.
Its higher pierce armor also means it takes 1 damage from fully upgraded Elite Skirmishers, rather than 2 damage like a Bombard Cannon would.
Although not defined in-game, the firing arc of the Houfnice appears to strike much lower than that of a Bombard Cannon, and far lower than that of a Trebuchet. This allows Houfnice units to destroy moving siege weapons as long as they are directly in front of them; their cannonballs will strike the unit's hitbox and do full damage, never reaching their attack point.
Comparison with Siege Onager and Warwolf Trebuchet[]
 Houfnice
|
 Siege Onager
|
Warwolf  Trebuchet
| |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research cost | 1,100 food, 800 gold 140 seconds |
1,450 food, 1,000 gold 150 seconds |
800 wood, 400 gold 40 seconds |
| Hit Points | 90 | 70 | 150 |
| Armor | 2/6 | 0/8 | 2/8 OR 1/150 |
| Blast Radius | 0.7 | 1.5 | 0.5 |
| Range | 12 | 8 | 16 |
| Main Role | anti-siege and anti-building | anti-unit and anti-siege clearing forests |
anti-building monk-resistant and archer-resistant |
| Availability | Bohemians | 13 civilizations | Britons |
Further statistics[]
As Houfnices are unique to the Bohemians, only technologies that are available to them are shown in the following table:
| Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Buildings, units in dense formations, slow moving units, ships, foot archers, siege weapons |
| Weak vs. | Melee units at close range, especially Condottieri, Eagle Warriors, and Magyar Huszars, Mangudai |
| Upgrades | |
| Attack |  Siege Engineers (+20% attack against buildings)
|
| Range | Siege Engineers (+1)
|
| Speed |  Wagenburg Tactics (+15%)
|
| Conversion defense |  Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max) Heresy (die upon getting converted)
|
Team bonuses[]
Celts: Houfnices are created 20% faster.- Lithuanians: Researching Heresy, Devotion, and Faith is 20% faster.
- Malians: Researching Chemistry and Siege Engineers is 80% faster.
- Portuguese: Upgrades that benefit Houfnices are researched 25% faster.
- Teutons: Houfnices are more resistant to conversion.
- Turks: Houfnices are created 25% faster.
Changelog[]
Dawn of the Dukes[]
- Houfnices cost 950 food, 750 gold to upgrade, have 55 melee attack and attack bonuses vs Ships and Heavy siege, and 0.85 blast radius.
Dynasties of India[]
- With update 61321, Houfnices have 50 melee attack and attack bonuses vs Ships and Heavy siege, and 0.80 blast radius.
- With update 61321, Houfnices are now resistant to armor-ignoring attacks similarly to buildings.
- With update 78174, Houfnices cost 1,100 food, 800 gold to upgrade and had their blast radius reduced to 0.7.
History[]
The Czech word houfnice is the origin of the German and English word howitzer. It derives in turn from the word houf, meaning crowd.
In the Hussite Wars of the 1420s and 1430s, the Czechs used short-barreled houfnice cannons to fire at short distances into crowds of infantry, or into charging heavy cavalry, to make horses shy away.
Trivia[]
- The Houfnice and Flaming Camel are the only unique units trained at the Siege Workshop.
- In conjunction with stronger Halberdiers against cavalry and overall being better than the Bombard Cannon, the Houfnice is often subject of criticism because of how strong it is on closed maps on choke points due to the high attack and blast radius. This is the reason for the unit having several stats reduced over time.
- The English word 'howitzer' is derived from Houfnice.
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