Tag

Some old tag icons in the original Age of Empires III

The Tag (also known as "Unittype/Abstract") system is a part of Age of Mythology and Age of Empires III. It features attribute classes that used to easily associate units under a shared 'class', without bloating code, and is generally used for effects on attack bonus, penalties and technologies for units and buildings. Most tags are shown in the description (in Age of Empires III) or mentioned by descriptions (in Age of Mythology), but some are hidden. Bonus and penalties are shown in the unit attack panel.

Both games specify the tags in variables by the <unittype>

Age of Mythology

• Retold
• Original

The following are unit types used for the purposes of damage bonus in Retold:

• AbstractArcher
• AbstractArcherShip
• AbstractCavalry
• AbstractCloseCombatShip
• AbstractFarm
• AbstractFortress
• AbstractInfantry
• AbstractSiegeWeapon
• AbstractTitan
• AbstractVillager
• BerryBush
• Building
• Herdable
• Hero
• House
• HumanSoldier
• Huntable
• MythUnit
• NonConvertableHerdable
• SeaSnake
• SentryTower
• Serpent
• Ship
• TitanKronos
• TownCenter
• Tree
• WildCrops

The following unit types are displayed in the information panel of units:

• archer ship
• building
• cavalry
• close-combat ship
• flying unit
• hero
• human soldier
• infantry
• myth unit
• archer
• ship
• siege ship
• siege weapon
• titan
• tower
• villager
• wall

Beyond these, there are even more unit types which are used to denote which units or buildings are affected by which technologies, abilities, god powers, etc. For eg:

• MajorHero: It is used for campaign heroes, Greek heroes, Pharaoh, Son of Osiris, and Gullinbursti. This gives them a bold circular outline.
• LogicalTypeMythUnitThatGeneratesFavor: This determines if the myth unit can generate favor while in combat. Used for Norse myth units other than Fimbulwinter Wolf and Walking Woods.

Note that there are "flags" which are separate from unit types, and determine other types of behaviours. For eg, the KnockoutDeath flag allows campaign heroes to be revived.

All tag classes used by Age of Mythology are as follows:

• Unit
• Hero
• Economic
• HumanSoldier
• MythUnit
• Ship
• MythUnitInfantry (Vanilla only)
• MythUnitArcher (Vanilla only)
• MythUnitCavalry (Vanilla only)
• AbstractArcher
• AbstractInfantry
• AbstractCavalry
• AbstractScout
• AbstractTradeUnit
• AbstractVillager
• AbstractTitan
• AbstractWall
• AbstractSettlement
• AbstractPharaoh
• AbstractDock
• AbstractFortress
• AbstractSiegeWeapon
• AbstractArmory
• AbstractBarracks
• AbstractMonument
• AbstractTemple
• AnimalPredator
• AnimalPrey
• AnimalReactive
• Building
• BuildingsThatShoot
• ConvertableBuilding
• MilitaryBuilding
• FoodDropsite
• WoodDropsite
• GoldDropsite
• Huntable
• SharedBuilding
• Arrow Ship
• SiegeShip
• HammerShip
• UtilityShip
• WildCrops

Age of Empires III

In Age of Empires III tags are under the </armor> attribute and the bonus and penalties against them are specified by the <damagebonus type>

Technology-only cards

These tags are only affected by technologies and shipments:

• Unit
• Economic
• Villager
• Healing unit
• Herded animal
• Land military
• Ranged
• Hand infantry
• Ranged infantry
  • Musket infantry
  • Rifle infantry
  • Hand skirmisher
  • Counter skirmisher
• Archer
  • Foot archer
• Grenade trooper
• Hand cavalry
  • Lance cavalry
• Ranged cavalry
  • Ranged heavy cavalry

• Gunpowder unit
  • Gunpowder infantry
  • Gunpowder cavalry
• Native warrior
• Outlaw
• Wonder
• Warship
• Fishing boat
• Camel
• Elephant
• Transport

Counter system

These tags can be affected by technologies and cards, but also by attack bonus and penalties, and they form the structure of the counter system of Age of Empires III:

• Infantry
  • Heavy infantry
    • Hand infantry
      • Pikeman
  • Light infantry
• Cavalry
  • Heavy cavalry
    • Hand cavalry
  • Light ranged cavalry
• Shock infantry
  • Hand shock infantry
  • Ranged shock infantry
• Siege unit
• Artillery
  • Siege Elephant
• Ship
  • Recruiting ship
• Building
  • Resource enclosure
  • Wall
• Hero
• Mercenary
• Outlaw
• Pet
• Villager
• Huntable
• Treasure guardian

Changelog

Age of Empires III

• Light Infantry exist for Crossbowman-like and Skirmisher-like units.

The WarChiefs

• Light Infantry reworked (Coyote Runner-like units).

Definitive Edition

• Light Infantry renamed to Shock Infantry.
• Musket Infantry, Rifle Infantry and Foot Archer added.
• More tags are visible on the unit description.
• Units with penalties against Hand Infantry added.

The African Royals

• New icons for the counter system.

Knights of the Mediterranean

• Light Infantry readded (Crossbowman-like and Skirmisher-like units).
• Counter Skirmisher added.
• Units with penalties against Pikeman added.
• Icons for hidden tags added (Ranged Shock Infantry, Outlaw, Resource Enclosure, Siege Elephant, etc.)
• Recruiting Ship tag added.

Trivia

• Unused file assets in Age of Mythology reveal that unit types were more pronounced beyond flavor text with icons representing the unit's class appearing on the side of the central stats (i.e Horseshoe for Cavalry). This feature, however, went unused, though it was brought back in Age of Empires III.
• In Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition - The African Royals, update 43871 added icons for some tags which previously had none (such as Heavy Cavalry, Hand Cavalry and Hand Shock Infantry). One of the icons added is for Ranged Cavalry, but since no unit have multipliers against Ranged Cavalry to be displayed in the UI, the icon remains unused in the game files.

Gallery

The explanation image of the counter system of Age of Empires III.

Unused Ranged Cavalry icon added in update 43871 of Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition - The African Royals

External links

• Sheet with a tag resume (outdated)

Gameplay elements in the Age of Empires series
Age Ability (II · M · III · IV) Architecture set (II · III) Area of Effect (Trample damage) Armor (Melee I & II · Pierce I & II · M · IV) Armor class (I - original · I - Return of Rome · II) Artificial intelligence Attack (IV) Attack ground Aura (IV) Auto Scout Building (I · II · M · III · IV · C · AoE:DS) Civilization (I · II · M · III · IV · C) Civilization bonus Cheat code (I · II · M · III · IV) Conversion Counter Diplomacy Gaia/Mother Nature Game modes Garrison Gather Point Healing Hit points Hotkey Line of Sight Mini map Mobile building Pass-through damage Player Population Range Rate of Fire Regeneration Relic (II · M · IV) Repairing Resists Resource (Renewable resource) Scenario Editor (I · II · M · III · IV) Score Signal Allies/Flare Snare Soundtrack (I · II · M · III · IV) Speed Stealth mode Taunt Technology (I · II · M · III · IV · C · Unique) Technology tree (I · II · IV · C) Terrain (AoE:DS · AoM:DS) Town Bell Trade (IV) Tribute Unit (I · II · M · III · IV · C · AoE:DS · AoM:DS) Unit formation Unit stance (III) Unit type/tag (II · M · III · IV) Upgrade (I · II · III · IV) User interface Victory Villager Priority
Genie Engine-exclusive
Frame delay · Full Tech Tree · Team bonus
Age of Empires	Ruins · Discovery
Age of Empires II	Projectile duplication
Bang Engine-exclusive
Autoqueue · Multiplier
Age of Mythology	God (Major · Minor) · God power · Settlement (Settlement Victory) · Weight class
Age of Empires III	Age-up methods (Politician/Tribal Council/Wonder/Federal State/Alliance) · Banner army · Consulate · Damage Cap · Home City · Home City Card · Inspiring Flag · Minor civilization · Promotion · Revolution · Target Lock · Trade Monopoly · Trade Route · Treasure
Age of Empires IV-exclusive
Generic	Influence · Landmark · Point of Interest · Sacred Site · Variant civilization
Civilization-unique	Bounty · Dynasty · Golden Age · Imperial Council (Vizier Point) · Commanderie
If a gameplay element has different pages across games, like civilization, the individual pages are linked in brackets.