Pierce armor

Pierce armor is an armor type used in the Age of Empires and Age of Empires II. Unlike ordinary armor which resists melee damage, pierce armor resists missile damage.

Age of Empires[]

Damage formula[]

In Age of Empires, the damage formula against units is:

$Damage=\max(1,(\max(0,Attack_{m}-Armor_{m})+\max(0,Attack_{p}-Armor_{p})+$

$\sum _{i}\max(0,AttackBonus_{i}-BonusResist_{i}))\times k_{elev})$

m denotes melee attack / armor.
p denotes pierce attack / armor.
If the attacker has a bonus AttackBonus_i against the armor class i, then the bonus (minus BonusResist_i) is added to the total damage. Usually, $AttackBonus_{i}\leq 0$ and $BonusResist_{i}=0$ . The attacker is said to deal bonus damage against the target when $BonusResist_{i}<0$ and $AttackBonus_{i}>BonusResist_{i}$ .
k_elev is the elevation multiplier (applied to both cliffs and hills), equal to 2/3 if a melee unit attacks below its target, 3/2 if a ranged unit attacks above its target, and 1 otherwise.

The damage formula against buildings is:

$Damage=\max(1/10,(\max(0,Attack_{m}-Armor_{m})+\max(0,Attack_{p}-Armor_{p})+$

$\sum _{i}\max(0,AttackBonus_{i}-BonusResist_{i}))\times k_{elev}\times 1/5)$

Units dealing pierce damage[]

The following units and buildings deal pierce damage and are affected by their target's pierce armor:

Technologies[]

To improve pierce armor for all infantry units, technologies from the Storage Pit must be researched.

Siege weapons, ships, and buildings (except walls and towers) have 0 pierce armor and it cannot be increased by technologies or bonuses.

Age of Empires II[]

Damage formula[]

In Age of Empires II, the damage formula is:

$Damage=\max(1,(\max(0,Attack_{m}-Armor_{m})+\max(0,Attack_{p}-Armor_{p})+$

$\sum _{i}\max(0,k_{resist}\times AttackBonus_{i}-BonusResist_{i}))\times k_{elev}\times k_{cracked})$

m denotes melee attack / armor.
- If the attacker is a Leitis or a Dravidian infantry/cavalry unit with Wootz Steel researched and the target is a non-siege land unit, $Armor_{m}=0$ .
p denotes pierce attack / armor.
If the attacker has a bonus AttackBonus_i against the armor class i, then the bonus (minus BonusResist_i) is added to the total damage. Usually, . When , the target is said to have the armor class i (in those cases BonusResist_i is usually less than 100).
- k_resist is the bonus reduction multiplier, equal to 1/2 if the target is a Sicilian infantry, cavalry, or archer unit; 3/4 if the target is a Bengali elephant; and 1 otherwise.
k_elev is the elevation multiplier. It is 5/4 if a unit attacks above its target (hills and cliffs), 3/4 if a unit attacks below its target (hills only), and 1 otherwise.
- For Tatars, this value is changed to 3/2 when a unit attacks above its target (hills and cliffs).
k_cracked is equal to 6/5 if the target is a building on a desert cracked terrain, and 1 otherwise.

Units dealing pierce damage[]

The following units deal pierce damage and are affected by their target's pierce armor:

*Fire Galleys also deal 0 melee damage, while Fire Ships and Fast Fire Ships deal 1 melee damage.

Also, all buildings deal pierce damage (the Bombard Tower since patch 1.0b of The Conquerors).

Units with high pierce armor[]

The following units have high pierce armor and excel at battle against units dealing pierce damage (values for fully upgraded units):
Infantry

Elite Huskarl: 10 (Goths only)
Elite Eagle Warrior: 10 (for the Incas only, 8 for the other civilizations)
Elite Serjeant: 8 (Sicilians only)
Elite Ghulam: 8 (Hindustanis only)
Champion: 8 (for the Malians only, 5 for the other civilizations)
Condottiero: 7 (for the Malians only, 5 for the Italians only, 4 for the other civilizations)
Pikeman: 7 (for the Malians only, 4 for the other civilizations)
Elite Teutonic Knight: 6 (Teutons only)
Elite Obuch: 6 (Poles only)
Elite Kamayuk: 6 (Incas only)