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:
- m denotes melee attack / armor.
- p denotes pierce attack / armor.
- If the attacker has a bonus AttackBonusi against the armor class i, then the bonus (minus BonusResisti) is added to the total damage. Usually, and . The attacker is said to deal bonus damage against the target when and .
- kelev is the elevation multiplier (applied to both cliffs and hills), equal to 0.67 if a melee unit attacks below its target, 1.5 if a ranged unit attacks above its target, and 1 otherwise.
The damage formula against buildings is:
Units dealing pierce damage[]
The following units and buildings deal pierce damage and are affected by their target's pierce armor:
- Slingers
- All Archery Range units
- Ballistae and Helepolises
- Scout Ship line
- Towers
Technologies[]
To improve pierce armor for all infantry units, technologies from the Storage Pit must be researched.
The Ballista line, 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:
- 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, .
- p denotes pierce attack / armor.
- If the attacker is a Composite Bowman, .
- If the attacker has a bonus AttackBonusi against the armor class i, then the bonus (minus BonusResisti) is added to the total damage. Usually, . When , the target is said to have the armor class i (in those cases BonusResisti is usually less than 100).
- kelev is the elevation multiplier. It is 1.25 if a unit attacks above its target (hills and cliffs), 0.75 if a unit attacks below its target (hills only), and 1 otherwise.
- For Tatars, this value is changed to 1.5 when a unit attacks above its target (hills and cliffs).
- If the target is a Georgian unit or building above its attacker (hills only), this value is changed to 0.6.
- kcracked is equal to 1.2 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:
- All Archery Range units
- All unique archer units
- Janissaries
- Conquistadors
- Organ Guns
- Hussite Wagons
- Scorpions
- Ballista Elephants
- Trebuchets
- Galley line
- Fire Galley line*
- Longboats
- Caravels
- Thirisadai
- * 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, 6 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)
- Archers
- Imperial Skirmisher: 11 (for the Lithuanians with a Vietnamese ally only, 9 for Vietnamese and other allies)
- Elite Rattan Archer: 10 (Vietnamese only)
- Elite Skirmisher: 10 (for the Lithuanians only, 8 for the other civilizations)
- Elite Genitour: 10 (for the Lithuanians with a Berber ally only, 9 for the Tatars with a Berber ally only, 8 for Berbers and other allies)
- Elite War Wagon: 8 (Koreans only)
- Elite Elephant Archer: 8 (for the Bengalis only, 6 for the Dravidians, 4 for the Gurjaras)
- / Elite Ratha: 7 (Bengalis only)
- Heavy Cavalry Archer: 7 (for the Tatars only, 6 for the other civilizations)
- Cavalry
- Elite Battle Elephant: 9 (for the Burmese only, 7 for the other civilizations)
- Elite Tarkan: 8 (Huns only)
- Savar: 8 (Persians only)
- Cavalier: 8 (for the Sicilians only, 6 for the other civilizations)
- Elite War Elephant: 7 (Persians only)
- Elite Boyar: 7 (Slavs only)
- Elite Ballista Elephant: 7 (Khmer only)
- Elite Keshik: 7 (Tatars only)
- Elite Centurion: 7 (Romans only)
- Paladin: 7
- Hussar: 7 (for the Tatars and Turks only, 6 for the other civilizations)
- Elite Steppe Lancer: 7 (for the Tatars only, 6 for the Cumans, 4 for the Mongols)
- Siege units
- Siege Ram: 195
- Capped Ram: 190
- Battering Ram: 180
- Siege Elephant: 154
- Trebuchet: 150 (unpacked; packed: 8)
- Armored Elephant: 144
- Siege Tower: 100
- Elite Hussite Wagon: 10
- Ships
Ships have higher pierce armor than most land units.
- Thirisadai: 11 (Dravidians only)
- Galleon: 10 (for the Portuguese and Romans only, 9 for the other civilizations)
- Elite Caravel: 10 (Portuguese only)
- Elite Cannon Galleon: 10 (for the Hindustanis and Portuguese only, 9 for the other civilizations)
- Transport Ship: 10 (for the Portuguese only, 9 for the other civilizations)
- Fast Fire Ship: 9
- Elite Longboat: 9 (Vikings only)
- Dromon: 8 (for the Romans only, 7 for the other civilizations)
- Trade Cog: 8 (for the Portuguese only, 7 for the other civilizations)
- Elite Turtle Ship: 7 (Koreans only)
- Fishing Ship: 7 (for the Japanese only, 6 for the Portuguese only, 5 for the other civilizations)
- Other
Technologies and bonuses[]
The first place to upgrade a military unit's pierce armor is the Blacksmith. Infantry, cavalry, and archers can get +4 pierce armor there.
- Infantry
- Scale Mail Armor (+1)
- Chain Mail Armor (+1)
- Plate Mail Armor (+2)
- Gambesons (+1, Militia line only)
- Cavalry
- Scale Barding Armor (+1)
- Chain Barding Armor (+1)
- Plate Barding Armor (+2)
- Archers
- Padded Archer Armor (+1)
- Leather Archer Armor (+1)
- Ring Archer Armor (+2)
- Parthian Tactics (+2, mounted archers except Genitours only)
At the Dock, the pierce armor of all ships can be improved:
- Careening: Improves pierce armor of ships (+1).
At the Town Center, Villagers are improved:
- Loom: Improves pierce armor of Villagers (+2).
Also, a few unique technologies researched at the Castle improve the pierce armor of certain units:
Technology | Unit(s) | Addition |
---|---|---|
Carrack | Ships | 1 |
Fabric Shields | Eagle Warriors, Kamayuks, and Slingers | 2 |
Hauberk | Knight line | 2 |
Howdah | Battle Elephants | 1 |
Pavise | Condottiero Foot archers except Skirmishers |
1 |
Silk Armor | Scout Cavalry and Steppe Lancer Mounted archers |
1 |
Supremacy | Villagers | 2 |
Tower Shields | Skirmisher, Genitours and Spearman | 2 |
The following civilization bonuses improve the pierce armor of certain units:
- Bengalis: Monks get +3 pierce armor.
- Burmese: Battle Elephants get +1 pierce armor.
- Hindustanis: Gunpowder units get +1 pierce armor.
- Japanese: Fishing Ships have +2 pierce armor.
- Malians: Barracks units get +1/+2/+3 pierce armor in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
- Romans: Infantry armor upgrades give +2 pierce armor instead of +1. Galley line and Dromons get +1 pierce armor.
- Turks: Scout Cavalry line gets +1 pierce armor.
Buildings can also get their pierce armor upgraded at the University.
- Masonry (+1)
- Architecture (+1)
Furthermore, most buildings gain +1 pierce armor per Age.
If the pierce armor of a unit is improved with technologies or bonuses, the added value is separately shown in the infobox (see image above).
Age of Empires III[]
In Age of Empires III, pierce armor has been replaced by the resist parameter.
- Main article: Resist
Age of Empires IV[]
In Age of Empires IV, pierce attack and armor are called ranged attack and armor. This is a simplification of the first two games of the series, since these games had some ranged melee attacks, most notably by siege units, siege ships, and Fire Galleys. However, here too not all attacks at range are called ranged attacks. Excluding melee weapons and torch throwers which have negligible range, there are some ships and siege units which deal siege attacks, which ignore all armor (siege armor for all units and buildings is 0).
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