Orthodoxy was a technology in Age of Empires II HD: The Forgotten that was unique to the Slavs and can be researched at the Castle. Once researched, it gave Monks +3/+3 armor.
It was removed with Dynasties of India, being replaced with Detinets.
Strategy[]
Slavs have almost all Monastery technologies, lacking only Heresy, so Slavic Monks are above average. With Orthodoxy, the Slavs had one of the best and most durable Monks in the game, as Orthodoxy gave them armor so they could support the front lines and resist enemy attacks. That is important because three of the core units of the Slavic army are melee units (Champion, Boyar, and Halberdier) and in many cases they require the support of Monks to become more durable in battle.
The major benefit of Orthodoxy was the better performance against ranged units, the major counter of Monks, which results in, for example, 12 hits from Crossbowmen and 22 hits from Elite Skirmishers being needed to kill them in the Castle Age once Sanctity has been researched, up from 7 and 9 hits, respectively. On a similar note, when engaging with Hussars; even Monks with Sanctity researched will die in two hits from a fully upgraded Hussar, while Slavic Monks require three hits if they have Orthodoxy. That gave Slavic Monks an important improvement against the common Monk counters.
Furthermore, due to being already available in the Castle Age, Orthodoxy was a superb support for a Monk rush strategy, adding to the Slav's cheaper siege and great economic bonuses, which allowed them to quickly organize their economy around wood and gold to provide the siege, Monks and technologies, with fewer Villagers needed on farms to keep producing Villagers, Knights and/or infantry if desired.
Changelog[]
Dynasties of India[]
- With update 61321, Orthodoxy is removed from the game.
History[]
Orthodoxy is the form of Christianity maintained by the Greek Orthodox Church and the countries evangelized from it.[1] Christianity was first introduced to East Slavic State of Kievan Rus by Greek missionaries in the 9th century. Eventually, Christianity became the official state religion of Kievan Rus after its prince, Vladimir, was baptized in 988.[2]
Trivia[]
- With update 66692, Bengalis get a new civilization bonus with the same effect of Orthodoxy. It was replaced because getting the advantage of the extra armor on Monks came too late, as a Castle was needed, and the player also needed to invest resources on the technology.
References[]
- ↑ http://www.dictionary.com/browse/orthodox-church
- ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite. 2008. "Russian Orthodox church". Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica.
