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This article is about the unit in Age of Empires II. For other uses, see Scout Cavalry. |
| “ | Fast cavalry for scouting and raiding. Resistant to conversion. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II description | ||
The Scout Cavalry is a light cavalry unit in Age of Empires II that can be trained at the Stable. In a standard game playing with a non-American civilization, but not Gurjaras, the player starts off with a Scout Cavalry. It has a weak attack, but is quick and are effective against enemy Villagers and Archers from the Feudal Age on. They have an innate resistance against conversion and a +6 attack bonus against Monks.
Scout Cavalry are available to all civilizations except for the Aztecs, Incas, and Mayans.
Tactics[]
In the Dark Age, Scout Cavalry are primarily used as scouting units, as they do not have an attack powerful enough to be an effective battle unit. This also includes the collection of Sheep and other herdables, and locating resources for mining gold and stone.
However, upon researching the Feudal Age, Scout Cavalry are automatically upgraded and gain +2 attack, +2 Line of Sight, and +0.35 movement speed. Then, they are often used for harassing enemy Villagers. Civilizations like the Lithuanians (extra food), Magyars (cheaper cost and free attack upgrades), and Mongols (faster-gathering hunters, extra vision and extra hit points for their Scout Cavalry line) excel at performing a Scout rush. It might still be useful even until a bit after Castle Age hits due to its mobility, but the coming of Pikemen and the ever-increasing amount of Archers (who are also able to take them down easily in large enough numbers), soon to be upgraded into Crossbowmen, cause Scouts to be more and more underwhelming.
In the Castle Age, Stables are often used to train Knights instead, which are much stronger units with the same training time. However, in high ranked games, Scout Cavalry are often used in the early Castle Age, due to their ability to counter Monks. On Arena and similar closed maps where it is safe for the enemy to age up quickly, Monk-Siege pushes are common, which is only countered effectively by Scout Cavalry line and Eagle Scout line. The upgrade to Light Cavalry is available to all civilizations (bar the Teutons) and well worth obtaining for performing the above roles, as well as the fact that Light Cavalry are more useful as trash units than Scout Cavalry in the late game.
Further statistics[]
| Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Skirmishers, Villagers, siege weapons, Archers in low numbers, Monks |
| Weak vs. | Infantry, cavalry |
| Upgrades | |
| Hit points |  Bloodlines (+20)
|
| Attack |  Forging (+1) Iron Casting (+1) Blast Furnace (+2) Farimba (+5, Malians only) Manipur Cavalry (+5 against archers, Burmese only) Lechitic Legacy (33% blast damage in 0.5 tile radius, Poles only) Wootz Steel (attack ignores armor, Dravidians only)
|
| Firing Rate |  Stirrups (+33% attack speed, Bulgarians only)
|
| Armor |  Scale Barding Armor (+1/+1) Chain Barding Armor (+1/+1) Plate Barding Armor (+1/+2) Silk Armor (+1/+1, Tatars only)
|
| Speed |  Husbandry (+10%)
|
| Conversion defense |  Faith Heresy  First Crusade (Sicilians only)
|
| Creation speed |  Conscription (+33%) Chivalry (+40%, Franks only) Steppe Husbandry (+100%, Cumans only)
|
| Train cost | Kshatriyas (-25%, Gurjaras only)
|
| Upgrades |  Light Cavalry
|
Civilization bonuses[]
- Berbers Scout Cavalry are 15%/20% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.
- Bulgarians: Blacksmith upgrades that benefit Scout Cavalry cost -50% food.
- Burmese: Researching Faith is 50% cheaper.
- Burgundians: Researching Husbandry and upgrading to Light Cavalry is 50% cheaper.
- Celts: Scout Cavalry can convert herdables even if enemy units are next to them.
- Chinese: Technologies that benefit Scout Cavalry are 10%/15%/20% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
- Cumans: Scout Cavalry move 5%/10%/15% faster in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
- Franks: Scout Cavalry have +20% hit points starting in the Feudal Age.
- Gurjaras: Scout Cavalry deal +50% bonus damage.[note 1]
- Magyars: Forging, Iron Casting, and Blast Furnace are free. Scout Cavalry are 15% cheaper.
- Portuguese: Upgrades that benefit Scout Cavalry are researched 30% faster.
- Sicilians: Scout Cavalry absorb 50% of all incoming bonus damage.
- Spanish: Blacksmith upgrades that benefit Scout Cavalry cost no gold.
- Tatars: Scout Cavalry deal 50% bonus damage from elevations (instead of 25%).
- Teutons: Scout Cavalry gain +1/+2 melee armor in the Castle/Imperial Age.
- Turks: The Light Cavalry upgrade is free. Scout Cavalry gain +1 pierce armor.
- Vietnamese: Conscription is free.
Team bonuses[]
- A team containing Bulgarians: Blacksmith upgrades are researched 80% faster.
- A team containing Hindustanis: Scout Cavalry have +2 attack against standard buildings.
- A team containing Huns: Scout Cavalry are created and upgraded 20% faster. Researching Bloodlines and Husbandry is 20% faster.
- A team containing Lithuanians: Researching Heresy and Faith is 20% faster.
- A team containing Mongols: Scout Cavalry have +2 Line of Sight.
- A team containing Poles: Scout Cavalry +1 attack vs. archers.
- A team containing Teutons: Scout Cavalry are more resistant to conversion.
Changelog[]
The Conquerors[]
- Scout Cavalry receive an attack bonus of +6 against Monks.
- Heresy introduced.
- Bloodlines introduced.
The Forgotten[]
The African Kingdoms[]
- Berbers: Initially, Scout Cavalry were 20% cheaper from the Castle Age on. With patch 4.8, the bonus was staggered to 15%/20% in the Castle/Imperial Age.
- Franks: Scout Cavalry benefit from the civilization bonus and have +20% HP.
Rise of the Rajas[]
- Burmese: Initially, Manipur Cavalry gives Scout Cavalry +6 attack against buildings. With patch 5.3, the bonus is spread over the two building classes (building and standard building) equally.
- Magyars: With patch 5.5, Scout Cavalry are 15% cheaper.
Definitive Edition[]
- Bulgarians: With update 42848, Blacksmith upgrades that benefit Scout Cavalry cost -50% food. As team bonus, Blacksmiths work 80% faster (up from 50% faster).
- Burmese: With update 37650, Manipur Cavalry gives Scout Cavalry +6 attack against standard buildings and no damage against buildings.
- Cumans: Initially, Scout Cavalry move 10% faster. With update 34055, the bonus was staggered to 5%/10%/15% in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age and Cumans lost access to Husbandry.
- Franks: Cavalry +20% HP bonus only available from the Feudal Age, so the Scout Cavalry get normal HP in the Dark Age.
- Indians: With update 42848, Scout Cavalry have +1/+2 pierce armor in the Castle/Imperial Age. Indians lose access to Plate Barding Armor.
- Lithuanians: Initially, Scout Cavalry gained +1 attack for each garrisoned Relic, up to +5. With update 34055, this bonus no longer affects Scout Cavalry.
- Portuguese: With update 42848, technologies are researched 30% faster.
- Teutons: With update 36906, Stable units get +1/+2 melee armor in the Castle/Imperial Age.
- Turks: With update 42848, Scout Cavalry have +1 pierce armor.
Dawn of the Dukes[]
- Burmese: With update 56005, Manipur Cavalry gives Scout Cavalry +5 attack against archers.
Trivia[]
- Once the Feudal Age is reached, the Scout Cavalry gains +0.35 speed, making it the second fastest land unit in the game, even faster than its successors, the Light Cavalry and the Hussar. The only land unit which is faster is the Shrivamsha Rider.
- The Cuman Scout Cavalry in the Imperial Age is the fastest land unit in the game at 1.7825 speed.
- The fully upgraded Teutonic Scout Cavalry in the Imperial Age is tied with Teutonic Halberdier with the highest melee armor of all trash units with 5 melee armor.
- In the The Age of Kings manual, the upgrades list says that the Scout Cavalry is affected by Metallurgy. However, there is no such technology in Age of Empires II. Either it was a cut technology from alpha or beta, or the developers were careless while writing the manual, confusing it with the technology of the same name in Age of Empires.
- Before update 34055, Lithuanian Scout Cavalry gained +1 attack for each garrisoned Relic, up to +5.
- Their attack sounds are the same as the Villager's.
- The Sicilian Scout Cavalry line with the Faith and First Crusade technologies researched with a Teuton ally is the hardest unit to be converted.
History[]
| “ | The importance of fast horse units for scouting had been learned in ancient times and carried forward into the Middle Ages. Even Middle Age armies built around heavy knights maintained a force of lightly armored scout cavalry to act as the eyes of an army on the march. Scout cavalry employed horses bred for stamina and speed. They would range far in advance and to the flanks of an army to gather information about enemy movements. Scout cavalry were less useful in battle because the men wore little armor and light weapons. They were very useful, however, once an enemy was defeated and routing. Then scout cavalry were effective in running down fleeing survivors and capturing equipment, wagons, and prisoners. | ” |
Gallery[]
Notes[]
Videos[]
SCOUT CAVALRY (Teutons) vs EVERY UNIQUE UNIT (Total Resources) - AoE II- Definitive Edition
