| “ | Georgian unique cavalry unit that becomes stronger when other Monaspas or Knight-line units are nearby. | ” |
| —In-game description | ||
The Monaspa is the unique cavalry unit of the Georgians in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - The Mountain Royals. It can be trained at the Castle starting in the Castle Age.
Monaspas can be upgraded to Elite Monaspas in the Imperial Age.
Ability[]
Mountain Affinity (passive): Monaspas gain extra attack from nearby Monaspas and Knight-line units.
The Monaspa gains +1 attack for every seven Knights and/or Monaspas within 15 tiles, up to a cap of +4. The Monaspa gaining the attack does not count for the calculation. Hence groups of eight, fifteen, twenty-two, and twenty-nine (and above) have +1, +2, +3, and +4 attack respectively. Knights do not gain any attack being near Monaspas though. The effect does not chain in that if eight Monaspas are in a straight line with consecutive ones being 2.15 tiles apart, the first and last Monaspas will not get a boost because they individually do not have seven Monaspas within their fifteen tile radius.
The extra attack is not frozen upon conversion, but is re-calculated for the new owner. This works for both converted Monaspas and converted Knight line units. In other words, if a Monaspa surrounded by 14 of the player's Knights and 21 of the opponent's Knights is converted, it gains another attack. Similarly, if a player having a Monaspa surrounded by 13 of the player's Knights brings in a converted Knight, the Monaspa gains another attack.
Tactics[]
The Monaspa is a peculiar case of heavy cavalry - it has higher attack, armor, and speed, with the former increasing in groups, but lower hit points. In essence, it is a "glass cannon" unit, functioning similar to the Leitis. Both units can have up to 22 attack - the Elite Leitis by having 4+ Relics collected, and the Elite Monaspa in a group of 29+, though the Elite Leitis also has its armor ignoring ability. Another similarity both units share is their cheap gold cost compared to other heavy cavalry, which helps players to train more of them in 1vs1.
The Monaspa is one of the fastest creating cavalry unit, equal to lighter cavalry such as the Tarkan and Magyar Huszar, at fourteen seconds only, compared to the thirty seconds of both Scout Cavalry and Knight lines. Hence, one Castle Monaspa production is slightly better than two Stable Knight production. This aid is important since the Monaspa needs to be massed to be more effective due to its ability. However, going for Knights first and then mixing in Monaspa is also viable since the Knight also boosts the Monaspa (but does not get boosted itself or from the latter).
The Monaspa is designed to fulfill a different role than the Knight line, which has more hit points but has lower melee armor and is slightly slower. While the former's extra melee armor will not help against units with large attack bonuses, like those of Pikeman, Camel Rider, Mameluke, and Genoese Crossbowman (with the latter two being more effective due to their ranged attacks), the Monaspa crushes every unit with its higher attack which can be as high as +6 (+2 base, upto +4 with their ability) over the Knight line. Even when bonus damage is not involved, the Monaspa struggles against archers because it cannot tank enough damage compared to the Knight. Hence, the Monaspa is specialized at dealing damage (melee combat), while the Knight line is better at tanking damage, especially against archers. However, the Knights and Monaspas should not be taken at face value for the Georgians since they have multiple bonuses going on for them. Firstly, they regenerate 10 or 15 hit points per minute, which makes both units better at retaining value, since as fast units, they can abandon a fight to somewhere safe easily. Next, Georgian units take less damage at higher elevations, which makes them defending from a hill easier. Next, with Aznauri Cavalry researched, they take -20% population. The latter helps negate the units' hit points disadvantage (Monaspas have naturally lower hit points, while the Georgian Knights lack the Paladin upgrade).
The Elite upgrade provides +10 hit points, +2 melee armor, +2 attack, and +1 Line of Sight. It does not provide any boost to its ability, nor does it increase the range of the aura.
Monaspas still struggle against brute force melee units like the Teutonic Knight, Boyar (though Monaspas can beat Boyars in equal resources), War Elephant, Leitis, and Dravidian infantry with Wootz Steel. The unit struggles against archer units due to its lower hit points, but has decent pierce armor nonetheless (unlike the Leitis), and when being fully massed at 29+ units, fully upgraded Elite Monaspas can kill Arbalesters that lack Ring Archer Armor in two hits. While they last shorter against ranged attacks, they can overwhelm them in larger numbers due to their cheaper cost and do more damage when reaching their targets. Monaspas do worse against counter-units than other cavalry units. For instance, Halberdiers can slay them in 3 hits.
Comparison with similar units[]
Georgian Knight[]
 Monaspa line
|
 Knight line
| |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | 60 food, 45 gold | 60 food, 75 gold |
| Creation time | 14 seconds | 30 seconds |
| Speed | 1.4 | 1.35 |
 Castle Age
|
Monaspa
|
Knight
|
| Hit points | 70 | 100 |
| Melee armor | 3 | 2 |
| Melee attack | 12 + upto 4 | 10 |
| Line of Sight | 4 | 4 |
| Upgrade time and cost |
1,000 food, 700 gold 45 seconds |
300 food, 300 gold 100 seconds |
 Imperial Age
|
 Elite Monaspa
|
 Cavalier
|
| Hit points | 80 | 120 |
| Melee armor | 5 | 2 |
| Melee attack | 14 + upto 4 | 12 |
| Line of Sight | 5 | 4 |
- Common
- Pierce armor - 2
- Rate of Fire - 1.8
Leitis[]
| Monaspa line
|
 Leitis line
| |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | 60 food, 45 gold | 70 food, 50 gold |
| Rate of fire | 1.8 | 1.9 |
| Pierce armor | 2 | 1 |
| Other | Takes -25% damage on higher elevation Can take -20% population |
Attacks ignore melee armor |
| Castle Age
|
Monaspa
|
Leitis
|
| Hit points | 70 | 100 |
| Regeneration | 10 hit points per minute | 0 |
| Melee attack | 12 + upto 4 | 13 + upto 4 |
| Melee armor | 3 | 1 |
| Training time | 14 seconds | 20 seconds |
| Line of Sight | 4 | 5 |
| Upgrade cost | 1,000 food, 700 gold | 750 food, 750 gold |
| Imperial Age
|
Elite Monaspa
|
 Elite Leitis
|
| Hit points | 80 | 130 |
| Regeneration | 15 hit points per minute | 0 |
| Melee attack | 14 + upto 4 | 16 - 2 + upto 4 |
| Melee armor | 5 | 2 |
| Training time | 14 seconds | 18 seconds |
| Line of Sight | 5 | 5 |
- Common
- Speed - 1.4
- Upgrade time - 45 seconds
Further statistics[]
As Monaspas are unique to the Georgians, only technologies that are available to them are shown in the following table:
| Strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Most melee units (when used in large numbers), siege weapons. |
| Weak vs. | Pikemen, Kamayuks, Berserks, Genoese Crossbowmen, Teutonic Knights, Mamelukes, Camel Riders, Monks, War Elephants, Battle Elephants, Leiciai, large groups of archers (especially in low numbers) |
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
 Hit points
|
 Bloodlines (+20)
|
| Attack |  Forging (+1) Iron Casting (+1) Blast Furnace (+2)
|
| Armor |  Scale Barding Armor (+1/+1) Chain Barding Armor (+1/+1) Plate Barding Armor (+1/+2)
|
| Conversion resistance |  Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max) Heresy (die upon getting converted)
|
 Movement speed
|
 Husbandry (+10%)
|
| Creation speed |  Conscription (+33%) Kasbah (+25%, with a Berber ally only)
|
| Other |  Aznauri Cavalry (-20% population space)
|
| Team bonuses | |
|---|---|
| Conversion resistance |  Teutons (+3 min, +1 max)
|
| Other |  Portuguese (Elite upgrade is researched 25% faster)
|
Team bonuses[]
Bulgarians: Researching Blacksmith upgrades is 80% faster.- Huns: Researching Bloodlines and Husbandry is 20% faster.
- Lithuanians: Researching Heresy, Devotion, and Faith is 20% faster.
- Portuguese: Technologies that benefit Monaspas are researched 25% faster.
Changelog[]
The Mountain Royals[]
- (Elite) Monaspa have 75 (90) hit points, are trained in 11 seconds and nearby unit requirement for additional attack is every 5 units.
Victors and Vanquished[]
- With update 107882, (Elite) Monaspa are trained in 14 seconds and nearby unit requirement for additional attack is every 7 units.
- With update 125283, (Elite) Monaspa have 70 (80) hit points.
History[]
David IV (reigned 1089-1125), also called David the Builder or Davit IV Aghmashenebeli, carried out reforms in the military and administration of Georgia in 1118-1120. This included establishing an elite royal guard and a household force known as the 'mona-spa', consisting of lower nobility and mercenaries.
Trivia[]
- The Monaspa's unique ability of being stronger in groups is the same as that of Fenris Wolf Brood of the Norse in Age of Mythology, as well as the Tashunke Prowler of the Lakota, the State Militia of the United States, and the Pavisiers, Pikemen, and Halberdiers of the Italians after sending the Roman Tactics Home City card in Age of Empires III.
- In a group of 29 or more, the fully upgraded Elite Monaspa can reach up to 22 attack, which is the second highest attack among melee units in the game, tied with the Elite Shotel Warrior and the Elite Leitis with 4 Relics collected.
- When idle, the Monaspa has very similar figure to the Leitis.
- The Monaspa is the second cheapest of the heavy cavalry units in the game, costing only 105 resources, rivalling medium cavalry units viz the Coustillier with 110 resources, and the Keshik with 100 resources. This title of the cheapest heavy cavalry unit controversially stands with the Polish Knight line with Szlachta Privileges, which makes them cost only 90 resources, but they lack Paladin and Plate Barding Armor, which makes them "lighter" in the Imperial Age.
- The Monaspa shield is also the Georgian civilization icon.
- Since its introduction, the Monaspa has been often the main reason why Georgians are frequently banned in most tournaments[1], thanks to having several advantages over other cavalry unique units (self-regeneration, being the cheapest among the heavy cavalry units trained at Castles, taking even less damage than others when fighting at higher elevation, less population space with Aznauri Cavalry, high melee armor and decent pierce armor, moving faster than the Knight line, scaling up to +4 attack when massed while already having high base attack, and having a faster training time than other cavalry unique units), to the point that just one big army of fully upgraded Elite Monaspas was enough to to win large battles, even against armies of anti-cavalry units such as Halberdiers and Heavy Camel Riders (at release, there was even a bug that made massed Monaspas do more damage than they should against Camel units). For this reason, the Monaspa has been subject of various changes: making their training time longer, needing more units to get the attack boost, and a hit point reduction.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
