Bagains is a technology in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition that is unique to the Bulgarians and can be researched at the Castle once the Imperial Age is reached. Once researched, it gives +5 melee armor to the Two-Handed Swordsman.
Strategy[]
Bulgarians lack the Champion upgrade. But with Bagains, their Two-Handed Swordsmen have 9 melee armor, only behind the Elite Teutonic Knight and the Elite Boyar. As a consequence, they receive only 1 damage from fully upgraded Halberdiers and Hussars without Blast Furnace. Bagains reinforces Two-Handed Swordsmen role as anti-trash units and also adds more protection against Eagle Warriors and Huskarls.
Two-Handed Swordsmen with Bagains can defeat fully upgraded Champions, with some exceptions: Aztecs (with Garland Wars researched), Burmese, Dravidians (with Wootz Steel researched completely negates the melee armor) Japanese, Slavs (with Druzhina researched and massed), and Teutons, all in equal numbers. And they are arguably tied with Viking Champions. With all upgrades, they have the third-highest melee armor of all units, being only beaten by the Elite Boyar with 11 melee armor and the Elite Teutonic Knight with 13 melee armor.
However, Cataphracts and Jaguar Warriors are still devastating against them, as their bonus attack against infantry outperforms their high melee armor, this high melee armor can also be downgraded by the Obuch's attacks. The Leitis and Urumi Swordsman with Wootz Steel ignore melee armor, so this will be totally useless when facing them.
Team bonuses[]
Portuguese: Researching Bagains is 25% faster.
Changelog[]
Definitive Edition[]
- Initially, Bagains gives +3 armor. With update 34055, it now gives +5 melee armor.
History[]
The technology's name comes from the Anglicized plural form of bagain (багаин), a Bulgarian aristocratic title for the lowest-ranking commanders during the 7th and 8th centuries, in the time of the First Bulgarian Empire. By the 9th century, the Bagains were high officers but still below the high aristocrats of noble birth called the Boilas (Bulgar language title that which would mutate to Boyar as it was adopted by Slavic nations) and above the common people, serving as a military caste in the middle of the social hierarchy. The Bagains were commanders of small military detachments and were in charge of the maintenance and storage of heavy armor and helmets.
Trivia[]
- Theoretically, it affects the entire swordsman line, but since Militia-line upgrades are free for the Bulgarians, and they lack the Champion upgrade, only the Two-Handed Swordsman is affected in practice.
