Howdahs are elephants that carry a howdah - which gave the units its name - on their backs, with a gunner in the howdah. The man in the howdah uses his gun to shoot at units at a fairly good range and with a high attack, making it the most powerful ranged cavalry in the game. However, it costs a lot of resources and population, which is its main disadvantage. They are similar to German War Wagons, but have a ranged resistance.
Note: Elephant population can be decreased by a single point through use of the Professional HandlersHome City Card.
Howdah pack the toughness of a War Elephant with an extremely powerful ranged attack able to kill most units in only one or a few shots. Howdah has a large amount of hit points, and a huge ranged attack. They can kill any hand cavalry unit in only a few shots, and are incredibly durable, but they are very slow for ranged cavalry units, and are hard to micromanage, balancing out their incredible military power. The Howdah is an excellent counter to Hand Cavalry and artillery, and does well against most units, although they should stay out of melee combat with Heavy Infantry, and should usually stay away from ranged infantry altogether. The Howdah also has a quite high siege attack for a ranged Cavalry unit, and a group of them can do a fairly good job of taking out buildings, but this is offset by their huge cost and population usage.
Howdahs can be overwhelmed by cavalry if they are not properly micromanaged; however, they do have one unique attribute shared with only the Yojimbo: a splash damage when set into melee mode. If Howdahs become surrounded by cavalry, activating melee mode allows them to attack multiple units simultaneously and increases the rate of fire. Coupled with their high damage and multipliers, this allows them to defeat large numbers of cavalry, similar to Doppelsoldners or Ronin. This splash damage can also be effective against infantry, artillery, or Villagers, but it is usually better to attack at range.
Compared to Zamburaks, Howdahs have a few distinct advantages. Firstly, they have vastly superior range, allowing them to target units from a safer distance. As the Indians lack Ranged Cavalry Caracole, they cannot even bring Zamburaks up to the standard 14 range of Dragoons. Furthermore, Zamburaks are incredibly frail, and are unable to withstand artillery fire. A few Heavy Cannons will easily clear up Zamburaks, whereas Howdah can withstand an incredible amount of damage. Finally, Howdahs train much quicker, by stacking Riding School, Tame Elephants and Terror Charge. This is of course compounded when pure firepower is taken into consideration; 5 Zamburaks take longer to train than 5 Howdahs, and 5 Howdahs are considerably more powerful.
Howdahs can also make a strong counter to artillery. Siege Elephants have a range advantage, and do siege damage, making them very effective, but have several shortcomings that Howdahs do not. One primary weakness of Siege Elephants is that Culverins, ranged cavalry, Skirmishers, and heavy cavalry (especially Meteor Hammers and Kanya Horsemen due to multipliers) all make effective counters to Siege Elephants; Howdah are only really hard countered by Skirmishers or extremely powerful heavy infantry. Other concerns are cost, and Siege Elephants having a very poor attack vs most units. In this way, Howdahs can prove a more well-rounded counter to artillery in situations where Siege Elephants are unable to be effective.
While the Howdah is light cavalry, it does not benefit from the "TEAM House of Aviz" card, which reduces the train time of Commerce Age light cavalry and enables Fortress Age light cavalry to be trained in the Commerce Age.
Mansabdar Howdah[]
“
Inspires all nearby Howdahs. High hitpoints ranged elephant cavalry effective against cavalry and artillery.
”
—In-game description
The Mansabdar Howdah is a stronger version of the Howdah that can be trained from the Charminar Gate wonder or shipped from the Home City as part of the Howdah Regiment. As a Mansabdar unit, the Mansabdar Howdah has twice the hit points of a Howdah and Imperial Service that increases the hit points and damage of nearby Howdahs, but are two times more expensive.
Special ability[]
Imperial Service (passive): The Mansabdar Howdah increases the hit points and damage of Howdahs in a radius of 24 around them by 10%.
Elephant hit points and damage +20%, +1 Hindu Villager
Professional Handlers
Mahout Lancer, Howdah, and Flail Elephant population cost -1; Siege Elephant population cost -2, +1 Hindu Villager
Tame Elephants
Elephant cost and train time -10%, +1 Hindu Villager
Mughal Elephant Armors
Mahout Lancer and Howdah hand resistance +10%, Flail Elephant siege resistance +10%, Siege Elephant ranged resistance +10%, +1 Hindu Villager; costs 500 wood, 500 coin
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics
Unit hit points and damage +5%
Riding School
Cavalry train time -40%; Cuirassier, Oprichnik, and Hakkapelit train time -35% instead; Gatling Camel train time -20% instead, +1 Hindu Villager
Foreign Trading Companies
Adds 0.75 to export trickle rate; banner army export cost -15%; Indian unit cost +2.5% (Hindu Villager, Fishing Boat, and Sacred Cow cost +5% instead), +1 Hindu Villager
Grazing
Camel (except Gatling Camels) auto gather food 0.05; elephant auto gather wood 0.1; Sacred Cow auto gather coin 0.075, +1 Hindu Villager
Howdahs have no melee multiplier against Coyote Runners, a ×0.5 melee multiplier against villagers, and a ×2.25 ranged multiplier against Coyote Runners.
Mansabdar Howdahs have a ×3.0 multiplier against heavy cavalry, a ×2.75 multiplier against Coyote Runners, a ×2.5 multiplier against artillery, and a ×0.5 multiplier against villagers.
Howdahs have a ×2.2 melee multiplier against hand shock infantry, no melee multiplier against villagers, and a ×2.2 ranged multiplier against hand shock infantry.
Mansabdar Howdahs have the same multipliers as the Howdahs, both melee and ranged.
With update 20322, Mansabdar Howdahs cost 6 population.
History[]
“
Howdah is the traditional name for a carriage that is strapped across an elephant's back, allowing it to carry human riders, including the "mahout," the beast's human handler. Howdahs often featured grand decoration and were used as processional carriages. Early Mughal rulers preferred travel by elephant because of the impression it made, both during peacetime and at war. Although elephants have been used in warfare for centuries, the Mauryan Empire of ancient India first used the howdah in combat in about 300 BCE. Soon afterwards, elephant howdahs provided safety to many Carthaginian archers and javelineers during the Punic Wars of 264-146 BCE.
In battle, elephants with ornate howdahs acted as standard bearers, visual representations of the army's might. More importantly, they provided a relatively safe location from which ranged units could gain a more expansive view of the battlefield and fire on their enemy from above. From this elevated vantage point, they could choose their targets more effectively.
Note: Elephant population can be decreased by a single point through use of the Professional Handlers Home City Card.
Honored Howdah
Exalted Howdah
Ignatian Spirituality
Feudal Armies
TEAM Cavalry Attack
Dravidian Martial Arts
2 Howdahs
Howdah Regiment
3 Howdahs
Elephant Combat
Professional Handlers
Tame Elephants
Mughal Elephant Armors
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics
Riding School
Foreign Trading Companies
Grazing
TEAM Sengoku
TEAM Mustangs
TEAM Knights of the Round Table
TEAM Mariachi
TEAM Kamchatka Expeditions
TEAM Spanish Inquisition
