Kasbah is a technology in Age of Empires II HD: The African Kingdoms that is unique to the Berbers and can be researched at the Castle. Once researched, it increases the working speed of Castles by +25% for the entire team, which technically makes Kasbah a team bonus. It does not apply to Kreposts and Donjons.
Strategy[]
Researching Kasbah should be a high priority upon reaching the Castle Age as it will provide them and their whole team, if applicable, with a handy Castle unit creation speed boost. Even if the Berber player and/or their allies don't make particularly much use of their unique units, being able to create Trebuchets at a faster rate is always a good thing, especially if the player has a habit of building their Castles close to the enemy base enabling the team to perform a better Castle drop.
Another interesting thing about it is that its effect stacks up if the team contains two or more Berbers. This makes the spamming of Trebuchets, Petards, and unique units even more effective if all the Berber players on a team research Kasbah. It also stacks up with the Turkish team bonus if other allies have a gunpowder unit as a Castle unique unit (like the Portuguese or Spanish). The creation of the free Kipchaks provided by Cuman Mercenaries is also enhanced.
Team bonuses[]
- Portuguese: Researching Kasbah is 25% faster.
Changelog[]
The African Kingdoms[]
- Initially, Kasbah increases not only the team Castles' working speed by 25%, but also the Castles of the researching player by another +25% (resulting in a total +56.25% bonus). With patch 4.8, Kasbah only affects the researching player's Castles once.
History[]
Kasbah (قصبة) is Arabic for a type of fortress, often found in the Maghreb region from which the Berbers hailed, so it's fitting for the technology to improve Castles. In various languages, the Arabic word, or local words borrowed from the Arabic word, can also refer to a settlement, a fort, a watchtower, or a blockhouse. The tribalistic and politically fractured nature of the region throughout the Middle Ages resulted in the fortification of numerous cities, trade posts and granaries. With the Islamic conquest of Spain, the Moors carried this tradition to Iberia, where the word was borrowed as alcazaba, meaning 'fortress'.