Infantry unit (Age of Empires)

This article is about the infantry units in Age of Empires. For infantry in other games of the series, see Infantry.

Infantry in Age of Empires is one of the four combat forces on land, the other ones being archers, cavalry, and siege weapons. Infantry units are non-ranged foot soldiers.

General information

Infantry cost food and gold, with the exception of the Clubman and Axeman, which only cost food. The main bonus of infantry is that they are cost effective and easy to mass, and can be used for assaults on enemy fortifications, while siege weapons and archers provide backup. Weak at first glance, infantry can be extremely important, since they are the cheapest unit branch, available early in the game, created quickly, and usually hold a medium to high attack.

Due to their low speed and lack of range, infantry units are easily taken down by archers or converted by Priests.

Infantry units can be classified on the basis of their armor, speed, attack, and building into light and heavy infantry.

Light infantry

Infantry units created at the Barracks are considered light infantry for they are lightly armored, faster, and lightly armed.

Armor class

Light infantry have their own armor class dictating which sources they take attack bonuses from.

Units

• Explorer
• Clubman - Axeman
• Short Swordsman - Broad Swordsman - Long Swordsman - Legionary

Attack bonuses

• Bowman - +2
• Cavalry - +5
• Heavy Cavalry - +6
• Cataphract - +7

Heavy infantry

Infantry units created at the Academy (the Hoplite line) are considered heavy infantry, for they are heavily armored, slower, and heavily armed.

Heavy infantry are not as good for fast assaults as the Short Swordsman, since Hoplites are slow and expensive, although they have a large amount of hit points so they can suck up damage that would kill the faster (but weaker) Swordsmen, who have lower armor and hit points.

No unit has attack bonus against heavy infantry.

List of infantry units

Infantry unit	Building	A	HP	At	Ar	PA	ROF	LOS	Sp	Food	Gold	TT
Clubman	Barracks		40	3	0	0	1.5	4	1.0	50	0	26
Axeman	Barracks		50	5	0	0	1.5	4	1.0	50	0	26
Short Swordsman	Barracks		60	7	1	0	1.5	4	1.0	35	15	26
Broad Swordsman	Barracks		80	9	1	0	1.5	4	1.0	35	15	26
Long Swordsman	Barracks		100	11	2	0	1.5	4	1.0	35	15	26
Legionary	Barracks		140	13	2	0	1.5	4	1.0	35	15	26
Hoplite	Academy		120	17	5	0	1.5	4	0.87	60	40	36
Phalangite	Academy		120	20	7	0	1.5	4	0.87	60	40	36
Centurion	Academy		160	30	8	0	1.5	4	0.87	60	40	36

Technologies

Listed below are technologies that benefit infantry units. This list does not contain unit upgrades.

Technology	Researched at	Age	Civilizations	Effect
Toolworking	Storage Pit		All	Increases attack by +2
Metalworking			All	Increases attack by +2
Metallurgy			12	Increases attack by +3
Leather Armor Infantry	Storage Pit		All	Increases armor by +2
Scale Armor Infantry			All	Increases armor by +2
Chain Mail Infantry			13	Increases armor by +2
Bronze Shield	Storage Pit		15	Increases pierce armor by +1
Iron Shield			12	Increases pierce armor by +1
Tower Shield			9	Increases pierce armor by +1
Logistics	Government Center		16	Barracks units cost 1/2 population
Aristocracy	Government Center		11	The Hoplite line moves 25% faster (required for Centurion upgrade)

Civilization bonuses

The following civilizations have bonuses that specifically benefit infantry units:

• Carthaginians: The Hoplite line has +25% hit points.
• Choson: Axemen have +5 hit points. Short/Broad/Long Swordsmen and Legions have +15/20/60/80 hit points respectively.
• Greeks: The Hoplite line moves 30% faster and is 20% cheaper.
• Lac Viet: Infantry units are trained 25% faster.
• Macedonians: The Hoplite line has +1/+2 pierce armor in the Bronze/Iron Age. Melee infantry have +2 Line of Sight. Infantry units are 4 times more resistant to conversion.
• Romans: The Short Swordsman line attacks 50% faster.

Team bonuses

• Palmyrans: Technologies that benefit infantry units are researched 30% faster.

Gallery

Short Swordsman line in Return of Rome

Infantry trained at the Academy in Return of Rome

All infantry units in the Definitive Edition