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Saracens

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This article is about the civilization in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. For the civilization in Age of Empires IV, see Abbasid Dynasty.
Civilization Technology tree Strategy

“ In the 7th century, the nomadic desert tribes of Arabia rallied around a charismatic prophet and established one of the most far-reaching and vibrant religious cultures that the world has ever seen. Lead swift cavalry and tough camelry to conquer from Iberia to India, construct strong navies to prowl the seas, and foster rich scholarship and religious contemplation. Your well-trained Mamelukes, fearsome and fearless warriors, are the only warriors strong enough to halt the advance of the dreaded Mongol hordes! ”
—Description[1]

The Saracens are a Middle Eastern civilization in Age of Empires II. They focus on camels and ships. They represent the medieval Arabian peoples of the Middle East and Northern Africa and their polities such as the caliphates and emirates, as well as other Muslim peoples and states in and around the region like the Buyids, the Zengids, and the Ayyubid and Mamluk Sultanates.

The Saracens are represented as the Abbasid Dynasty and the Ayyubids in Age of Empires IV. In Age of Empires III, they appear as a part of the Ottomans, as mercenary and outlaw units such as the Mameluke and Desert Archer, as well as alliance options like the Arabs.

Characteristics[]

Unique unit[]

Mameluke: Camel cavalry with ranged melee attack, and an attack bonus against mounted units.

Unique technologies[]

Civilization bonuses[]

Team bonus[]

Foot archers have +3[note 1] attack against standard buildings.

Overview[]

The Saracens are classified as a camel and naval civilization. Apart from lacking the Cavalier upgrade, their mounted units are excellent, because they get all other upgrades, +25% hit points on their Camel Riders, and the very threatening Mameluke. On the sea, they get excellent Galleons that fire faster, and extra garrison capacity and hit points for their Transport Ships. Their archers get every single upgrade, and deal additional damage against buildings, making it harder to defend against a Saracen Archer rush. Their siege weapons are strong as they have everything except for the Heavy Scorpion, and Counterweights offsets this, as it gives their Trebuchets and Siege Onagers increased damage. Their Monks are good, as they have access to all Monastery technologies. Their Market bonus is very powerful, as it lets them exchange any resource for another for much lower cost.

Despite their well-rounded nature, the Saracens do have several notable weaknesses. The strengths of the Saracen Camel Rider does not completely cover the lack of Cavaliers or Halberdiers. The lack of Shipwright means that their late-game navy can fall behind if they are unable to match the opponent's production. Lastly, as strong as their Markets are, the lack of a clear and consistent bonus means it requires a lot of strategizing to be used to its fullest.

Overall, the Saracens are a very flexible civilization with a tricky but powerful economy bonus. They are also one of the best late-game civilizations due to their powerful Mamelukes and Siege Onagers.

Changelog[]

The Conquerors[]

The Forgotten[]

  • New bonus: Markets cost -75 wood (100 wood).
  • Non-Elite Mamelukes attack increased (7 → 8).
  • Madrasah introduced.
  • Camelry removed, classified as a bug.

The African Kingdoms[]

  • The ship armor class is removed from Mamelukes, and they receive a new camel armor class. Now only anti-camel, but not anti-ship attacks affect Mamelukes.
  • With patch 4.8, Elite Mamelukes' attack delay increased (0 → 0.5 seconds).

Rise of the Rajas[]

  • With patch 5.8, the cavalry armor is replaced with a new Mameluke armor class. This effectively reduces their damage taken from Halberdiers by 5 (47 → 42), while leaving them the same against every other unit.

Definitive Edition[]

  • Civilization bonus granting Cavalry Archers +4 attack against standard buildings changed to all Archers (except Skirmishers) deal +3 bonus damage vs. standard buildings.
  • Market cost reduction increased (-75 wood → -100 wood) (new total: 75 wood).
  • (Elite) Mameluke firing delay reduced (0.6 (Non-Elite)/0.5 (Elite) → 0.4/0.2).
  • Halberdiers deal less bonus damage to Mamelukes (42 → 37).
  • With update 34055, the archer anti-building bonus was staggered (+3 (All) → +1 (Feudal Age)/+2 (Castle Age)/+3 (Imperial Age)).
  • With update 37650, Zealotry costs less gold (800 gold → 700 gold).

Lords of the West[]

  • With update 44725:
    • Archer anti-building bonus replaced with a new bonus granting camel units +10 hit points.
    • Zealotry effect decreased (+30 → +20 hit points) but cost decreased (750 food, 700 gold → 500 food, 450 gold).
    • Team bonus's anti-building damage increased (+2 → +3).

Dynasties of India[]

  • With update 61321:
    • Zealotry is available earlier (Imperial Age → Castle Age).
    • Counterweights becomes available in the Imperial Age and Madrasah is removed from the game.
    • (Elite) Mamelukes no longer have the archer armor class.
  • With update 66692, Saracens Market's minimum buy price is now (re)set to 21 to avoid an exploit that could generate infinite gold.
  • With update 81058:

The Mountain Royals[]

  • With update 95810,
    • Camel units +10 hit points civilization bonus changed to Camel units +25% hit points.
    • (Elite) Mameluke hit points increased (65 (80) → 80 (90)).
    • Zealotry unique technology replaced with Bimaristan: Monks automatically heal multiple nearby units.

Chronicles: Battle for Greece[]

  • With update 141935, the Transport Ship garrison capacity civilization bonus was increased (+5 → +20).

Campaign appearances[]

The Saracens have a campaign devoted to their civilization: Saladin. They are also the playable civilization in some scenarios from the El Cid campaign.

They are the second playable civilization in the Co-op version of the Tariq ibn Ziyad campaign. They are also playable in all but the sixth scenario of the co-op version of the Saladin campaign.

They also appear as allies or enemies in:

Toggle campaign appearance list

Saladin[]

This campaign is played as the Saracens.

Barbarossa[]

El Cid[]

The Exile of the Cid and Black Guards are played as the Saracens.

Battles of the Conquerors[]

Bari[]

Tariq ibn Ziyad[]

Sundjata[]

Francisco de Almeida[]

Yodit[]

Tamerlane[]

Edward Longshanks[]

  • A Man of God
    • Aleppo - Enemy
    • Mamluks - Enemy
    • Nazareth - Enemy

The Hautevilles[]

Tamar[]

Ismail[]

Victors and Vanquished[]

The Art of War[]

Mongol Raiders[]

  • Saracens - Enemy

In-game dialogue language[]

In-game, Saracen units speak Arabic. The Arabic language is not unisex, so there are two titles (such as farmer, woodcutter, etc.) for each task assigned to a Villager, one for the male and another for the female.

Villager
Military
Monk
King

AI player names[]

When playing a random map game against the computer, the player may encounter any of the following Saracen AI characters:

  • al-Mansur Qalawun (المنصور قلاوون): Seventh Bahri Mamluk sultan of Egypt, he ruled Egypt from 1279 to 1290, waging war against the Crusaders by defeating them in 1289.
  • al-Mu'tasim (المعتصم): The eighth Abbasid caliph, ruling from 833 to his death in 842.
  • Baibars (بيبرس), reigned 1260-1277: The fourth Sultan of Egypt in the Mamluk Bahri dynasty which is of Cuman origin. He was one of the commanders of the Egyptian forces that inflicted a defeat on the Seventh Crusade of King Louis IX of France. He also led the vanguard of the Egyptian army at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, which marked the first substantial defeat of the Mongol army and is considered a turning point in history. In 1263, he launched a siege of Arce, but it was a failure and forced him to made a peace agreement with the crusaders.
  • Caliph Abu Bakr (خَلِيْفَة أَبُو بَكْر): A senior companion (Sahabi) and—through his daughter Aisha—the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632 to 634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad's death.
  • Caliph al-Muizz (خَلِيْفَة المعز): was the fourth Fatimid Caliph and 14th Ismaili imam, reigning from 953 to 975.
  • Caliph Muawiyah I (خَلِيْفَة معاوية): was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate.
  • General Shirkuh (شيركوه): A Kurdish military commander, and uncle of Saladin. His military and diplomatic efforts in Egypt were a key factor in establishing the Ayyubid family in that country.
  • Kerbogha (كربغا): Atabeg of Mosul during the First Crusade and was renowned as a soldier. In 1095 he served under the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mustazhir in his attempted reconquest of Aleppo.
  • Imad ad-Din Zengi (عماد الدین زنكي): An atabeg who founded the Zangid dynasty and ruled the cities of Aleppo, Hama and Mosul.
  • Khalid ibn al-Walid (المغيرة المخزومي): An Arab Muslim general born in Mecca. He was one of the two generals involved in the Islamic successful expansion under the Prophet Muhammad. He was also involved in numerous battles like the Siege of Aleppo and the Siege of Damascus.
  • Nur ad-Din (نور الدين): A member of the Oghuz Turkish Zengid dynasty which ruled the Syrian province of the Seljuk Empire. He reigned from 1146 to 1174.
  • Saladin (الناصر صلاح الدين يوسف بن أيوب, An-Nasir Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub), reigned 1174-1193: The first sultan of Egypt and Syria and the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish ethnicity, Saladin led the Muslim military campaign against the Crusader states in the Levant. At the height of his power, his sultanate included Egypt, Syria, Upper Mesopotamia, the Hejaz, Yemen, and other parts of North Africa.

The following AI players are only present before the Definitive Edition:

  • Atabeg Zangi (أتابك زنكي): (Imad al-Din Zengi) A Oghuz Turkish atabeg who ruled Mosul, Aleppo, Hama, and Edessa. He was the namesake of the Zengid dynasty.
  • Caliph Yazid (خَلِيْفَة يزيد): Refer either Umayyad caliph Yazid I, Yazid II or Yazid III.

History[]

“ The name Saracen applied originally to nomadic desert peoples from the area stretching from modern Syria to Saudi Arabia. In broader usage the name applied to all Arabs of the Middle Ages. These desert nomads erupted suddenly in the seventh century and established a far-reaching empire within a century and a half. Their conquest was fueled by faith and high morale. Following the teachings of the prophet Mohammed, their intent was to change the religious and political landscape of the entire planet. ”

“ By 613 the prophet Mohammed was preaching a new religion he called Islam. Largely ignored in his home city of Mecca, he withdrew to Medina, built up a strong following there, and returned to attack and capture Mecca. Following his death in 632, his teachings were collected to form the Koran, the Islamic holy book. In 634 his followers began their jihad, or holy war. Within five years they had overrun Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. Their tolerance of Jews and Christians eased their conquest because these people had been suffering some persecution under the Byzantines.

In the next 60 years, both North Africa to the west and Persia to the east fell to Islam. In the early eighth century, Saracens from Tangiers invaded the Iberian Peninsula and conquered the Visigoth kingdom established there after the fall of Rome. In Asia they took Asia Minor from the Byzantines and attempted to capture Constantinople with a combined attack from land and sea. The great walls of the city frustrated the land attack and the Saracen fleet was defeated at sea. In the west, Charles Martel of the Franks stopped a Saracen invasion of modern France in 732 at Poitiers.

Frustrated in the west, the forces of Islam turned east. By 750 they had conquered to the Indus River and north over India into Central Asia to the borders of China.

In 656 the Muslim world fell into civil war between two factions, the Sunnites and the Shiites. They differed on several points, including who should be caliph and interpretation of the Koran. The result of the 60-year war was that the Islamic state broke into pieces, some governed by Sunnites (the Iberian Peninsula) and others by Shiites (Egypt and modern Iraq). The new Islamic states acted independently, thereafter.

Muslim Spain developed into one of the great states of Europe during the early Middle Ages. Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together in relative harmony, and a rich culture rose out of these multiple influences. There was a flowering of the arts, architecture, and learning. By 1000, however, Muslim Spain had divided into warring factions. This civil war facilitated the slow reconquest of the peninsula (the Reconquista) by the emerging states of Castile and Aragon, completed finally in 1492.

Asia Minor and the Middle East were conquered by Muslim Turks in the early eleventh century. In response to a call for aid from the Byzantines, a series of Crusades was launched from Europe to regain Palestine from the Turks. The independent Muslim states in the area lost Palestine and the Eastern Mediterranean coast to the First Crusade. In the last part of the twelfth century, the great Saracen leader Saladin succeeded in uniting Egypt, Syria, and smaller states, and he retook Jerusalem.

The Muslim states remained independent long after the Middle Ages and eventually developed into the modern Arab nations of the Middle East and North Africa. They went into economic decline, however, when the European nations opened trade routes of their own to Asia in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. 		”
—[1]

Trivia[]

  • The Saracens' civilization icon is based on the Rub el Hizb, an Islamic symbol, and the black represents the Abbasid Caliphate.
  • The user interface artwork in the Definitive Edition is a calligraphic rendition of the Arabic word "Bismillah" (meaning In the name of the Lord). Before the Definitive Edition, it depicted Bahamut, an Arabic variation of the Behemoth.
  • The following heroes available in the Scenario Editor are themed on the Saracens: Archer of the Eyes (alongside Ethiopians who represent Nubians), Imam (as per campaign appearance), Saladin, and Musa ibn Nusayr.
  • The Saracens are one of the two civilizations to get all seven technologies introduced in The Conquerors, the other being the Magyars who were added in The Forgotten.
  • The Saracens are one of six civilizations with access to all Monastery technologies.
  • They, alongside the Japanese, are also the only civilization that have access to all Archery Range units and technologies (with the exception of Elephant Archers, which are regional units).
  • The Saracens, along with the Dravidians and Japanese, are one of the three civilizations that have access to fully upgradable Champions and Arbalesters.
  • The Saracens are the only civilization capable of training the Knight-line that cannot upgrade them to Cavalier.
  • With The Mountain Royals, the Saracens and Persians become the first civilizations to have both of their original unique technologies changed.

Gallery[]

Notes[]

  1. ↑ The Saracen team bonus displays +2 in the technology tree, even though it gives +3 attack against the standard building armor class. This is by design, since the description is meant to tell players about the effect in practice, not the value in the data files. Archers typically do a minimum damage of 1 against buildings. The +3 attack bonus against buildings results in an additional 2 damage being dealt to buildings; hence the +2 in the technology tree.
    However, in some cases the extra damage is indeed +3, such as against buildings with low pierce armor (Outposts, palisades, and Gates). For example, a Feudal Age Saracen Archer (4 pierce damage) attacking an Outpost (0 pierce armor) deals 7 damage instead of 4.
    The Saracen team bonus affects Skirmishers and Slingers because they are in the same unit class as the Archer-line. It does not affect Hand Cannoneers, because they have their own unit class.

References[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.forgottenempires.net/age-of-empires-ii-definitive-edition/civilizations/saracens
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