The Tatars are a cavalry-oriented civilization that focus on cavalry archers, but also have late-game potential with upgraded Trebuchets. Due to the nature of their bonuses on predetermined maps, this civilization is more suitable for players with more experience at micromanaging ranged units.
Strengths[]
Tatars have some of the best Cavalry Archers in the entire game. Not only do they have all technologies, they also get Thumb Ring and Parthian Tactics for free, a line-of-sight boost, an enhanced high ground attack bonus, and 1 extra melee and pierce armor from the Silk Armor upgrade. All of this combined leaves them with a great Cavalry Archer rush that continues its power through the late game.
Their cavalry also benefits from several bonuses, including a diverse Stable tree with almost all cavalry upgrades, missing only Paladin and the Battle Elephant line. Their Light Cavalry and Steppe Lancers also are better with Silk Armor, giving them one extra melee and pierce armor, and their unique unit, the Keshik, is a relatively cheap, high-HP cavalry unit that generates gold when fighting.
They have no Bombard Cannons and Siege Onagers, but Tatars also have a competent siege unit roster, as their Trebuchets also receive a range boost via Timurid Siegecraft, giving them the highest range in the entire game. They also have Flaming Camels, a quickly moving Petard equivalent with significant bonus damage against cavalry (especially elephants).
Weaknesses[]
The Tatars have the weakest infantry of all civilizations, since they lack Champions and Chain Mail Armor. They therefore have to rely on Camel Riders and Flaming Camels to counter cavalry effectively, and they must rely on Steppe Lancers to counter Eagle Warriors effectively in the Castle Age. They also have some of the worst Monks (due to the absence of Redemption, Sanctity, and Theocracy), and their units are very prone to Conversion, as they lack Heresy and Faith.
Strategy[]
On standard matches, the Tatar herdable bonus results in almost 400 additional food, assuming all 8 starting herdable animals are harvested. This bonus helps for every early game strategy, and Tatars can have more Villagers gather food from herdable animals without running out as quickly. The Tatar player can delay placing Farms, freeing more wood for Feudal Age buildings or an Archer rush. The extra 400 food also helps with a scout rush, as scouts are an effective raiding unit with a high food cost. The player will also find it easier to afford Feudal Age technologies. The bonus helps for advancing to the next age quickly, as it both saves wood for Feudal Age buildings and assists in fulfilling the Castle Age food requirement. Overall, the Tatar bonuses help out by quite a bit for any Feudal Age strategy.
A challenging but effective strategy with the Tatars is the three-Stable scout rush. The extra 400 food is most evident in the early Feudal Age, where a player has exhausted their livestock. The build involves advancing with 20-21 Villagers (standard scout rush start), but saving up enough wood for three Stables instead of two and a Blacksmith while advancing. The key difference is the extra 400 food, which allows creating up to five extra Scout Cavalry from the third Stable, without requiring more Villagers. The added effect of four Scout Cavalry (the first three created from the three Stables plus the starting Scout Cavalry) as opposed to three can take down Villagers quicker, handle a Spearman without losing a Scout Cavalry, and potentially separate into two groups for harassment on multiple resources. Sustaining all three Stables and Villagers is not easy, and the third may be idle after it has produced its fifth Scout Cavalry, but by that point the scout rush would have had its effect.
In addition, the Sheep bonus helps recover from a difficult start for the Tatars. If the opponents lames the player by stealing a Wild Boar or Sheep, the player can rely on the additional food provided from the herdables to keep up with them.
Effective units for the Tatar player in the Castle age include the Knight, Steppe Lancers, Crossbowmen, Cavalry Archer. While Cavalry Archers are normally slow to get out, the free Thumb Ring bonus allows Tatars to go into Cavalry Archers relatively fast. The opponent's response to a scout rush will most likely be Spearmen, while the optimal counter to Archers is Skirmishers and the opponent's own Archers. Once the Tatar player has raided to their full potential and clicked up to the Castle Age, they can effectively counter either of the opponent's units effectively with archers against Spearmen or cavalry against Skirmishers and Archers.
The Tatars excel on open and elevation-heavy maps where their Lancers and Cavalry Archers can harass the enemy from multiple fronts and feign retreats to the top of a hill when at a disadvantage. Their lack of a defensive bonus or solid Castle/early Imperial economy bonus means they must always be on the offensive and inflict damage to the opponent whenever possible. As most counters to Steppe Lancers and Cavalry Archers are slow-moving units, the Tatar player can easily avoid unfavorable matchups.
In the Castle Age, the Tatar player can also make use of Keshiks. Their high attack and hit points relative to their total cost for a Castle Age unit and ability to generate gold while attacking make them excellent raiding units. A powerful strategy is to attract the opponent's attention with Cavalry Archers or Lancers and hit-and-run their military while a group of Keshiks raid their economy. The gold generated can be modest, but the player still earns around four gold per enemy villager killed. Population space might be better spent on Cavalry Archers, Steppe Lancers, or siege, but Keshiks are cost-effective against most other cavalry and ranged units. Raiding an opponent's trade line in the Imperial Age or sniping Town Centers to harass villagers is also a possibility with a tempting gold reward.
The Imperial Age is where the Tatars shine. Their instant Parthian Tactics and increased Cavalry Archer Line of Sight allows them to have the strongest Cavalry Archers in the early Imperial Age. The resources a typical Cavalry Archer civilization spends on Parthian Tactics should be spent on Silk Armor, the Castle Age technology which gives their Cavalry Archers and Light Cavalry one extra melee and pierce armor. Additionally, their Imperial Age technology Timurid Siegecraft gives their Trebuchets two extra range. Depending on the player's gold availability, the ideal Tatar army is composed of durable Heavy Cavalry Archers with 18-range Trebuchets against Castles and Siege Rams for destroying buildings en masse, with Hussars, Elite Steppe Lancers, or Elite Keshiks serve as the powerful meat shield, depending on gold availability. Hussars are especially effective at soaking up arrow fire and only cost food, leaving wood and gold for Heavy Cavalry Archers and siege as the main power units.
The Tatars should almost never make infantry, even at some point the Pikemen line. They lack Champions, and are the only civilization to lack the second infantry armor upgrade entirely. Investing in infantry therefore results not only in wasting wood that could be used for Cavalry Archers and Trebuchets, but also food for their cavalry. Monks are best used for just collecting Relics in the Castle Age, as their Monastery technologies are weak throughout the game.
Patch changes[]
In update 34055, the Steppe Lancer was downgraded overall, but the Keshik got an overhaul from being a weaker and harder-to-get Paladin-like unit to the role of a medium cavalry unit, with the gold cost reduced from 80 to 40, the hit points increased by 10 for both standard and elite, but the attack reduced from 12 to 9 for standard and 14 to 11 for elite, aiming to make Keshiks more popular and easier to mass, and making the gold generation by attacks more practical (since less attack leads to more hits to kill, thus more gold earned).
Since update 35584, the Tatars now receive Halberdiers, giving them a better and stronger option to counter heavy cavalry and, especially, Camel Riders, which were their biggest weakness, but remains as the civilization with the weakest Halberdier.
Tatars were greatly buffed in update 36202; they now get Thumb Ring for free, enabling them to better perform archer and cavalry archer rushes. Their unique technology Silk Armor now benefits Steppe Lancers, enabling this unit to soak better pierce damage (which also allows better raiding against enemy towns). Timurid Siegecraft now increases Trebuchet range by +2. Flaming Camels are a great counter to massed cavalry. Keshiks training time was also reduced, making this unit much easier to spam.
The Tatars lose the Supplies tech in update 37650, which further highlights the Tatars' already weak infantry.
In update 42848, their Town Centers spawn two Sheep starting in the Feudal Age, and any additional Town Centers built will spawn two Sheep, which synergizes well with their herdable bonus and allows them to save wood for their archer units, particulary their cavalry archers. It also allows a "safety net" of herdables should their herdables be stolen by an enemy player. A booming strategy into fast Castle Age with two Town Centers is a viable strategy for the Tatars. Silk Armor also got improved, as it now provides +1 melee armor, putting their Hussars, Heavy Cavalry Archers, and Steppe Lancers at the toughest in melee fights.
Strategy changes in Lords of the West[]
However, after update 44725, the two extra Sheep only spawn at newly constructed Town Centers in the Castle Age, in order to level their booming capabilities and prevent them from saving too much wood in the early game, and also not making the drushing fast Castle into Cavalry Archers or Crossbowmen strategies so easy and fast to execute. The Keshik food cost was also increased to 60 food, making them harder to mass, but still a very strong option. Despite that, the Cavalry Archer civilizations (particularly the Tatars) were greatly benefited by the attack delay reduction of Cavalry Archers, making them much easier to micromanage and use in hit-and-run tactics.
Dynasties of India[]
Flaming Camels are buffed because of their disuse, since they have low bonus attack against buildings compared with the Petard. Keshik training time was 1 second longer in order to balance their buffed Elite Steppe Lancers, which share the same pierce armor when fully upgraded.
Victors and Vanquished[]
Flaming Camels are made easier to produce due to not requiring Timurid Siegecraft. The training time increase from 20 seconds to 30 seconds does not matter much due to shifting production from the Castle to the Siege Workshop, which is far easier to build.
Alliances[]
When playing on a team, it is preferable for the Tatars to get the flank position, since they are great at raiding. In team games, Tatars play similarly to civilizations like Huns and Mongols, as their cavalry and Cavalry Archers can keep up on the move for checking different opponents at once if properly micromanaged. They prefer going into their Cavalry Archers, so they work best with a cavalry civilization. Their team bonus is rarely useful for allies, as only a select few civilizations will also go for Cavalry Archers during the stages of the game where the bonus helps.
Franks: Franks appreciate the Cavalry Archer support from the Tatars, and the Tatars' Knights perform better with the extra +2 Line of Sight.- Hindustanis: They appreciate the Heavy Cavalry Archer support for their Imperial Camels, and their team bonus aids the Tatars' own Light Cavalry and Camel Riders.
- Huns: Both the Huns and Tatars will appreciate the other player's team bonus. The Huns can go into Paladin, which pairs up very well with Tatar Heavy Cavalry Archers.
- Magyars: Both civilizations can appreciate each other's bonuses, and the Magyar Paladin pairs well with the Tatar Heavy Cavalry Archer.
- Mongols: The Mongols offer extra Line of Sight to the Tatars 'Scout Cavalry, and the Tatars give the Mangudai extra Line of Sight.
- Persians: Another civilization with great Paladins that can also aid the Tatars with their team bonus (+2 damage vs archers).
Compared advantages and disadvantages[]
Advantages vs other civilizations[]
- The Keshik, being a medium cavalry unit with an attack that generates gold, is a solid option for functioning as a meat-shield for their Cavalry Archers. Its gold generation and low cost makes it more cost-efficient than the standard Knight line.
- The Flaming Camel is a fast-moving anti-cavalry unit that deals high damage in one blow, a powerful weapon against civilizations that rely heavily on cavalry units and elephant units, putting civilizations heavily reliant on cavalry at a disadvantage against Tatars.
- As they have most upgrades for cavalry, they fare well against civilizations that may rely on siege engines or have poor mobility.
- As they can improve the melee and pierce armor of Cavalry Archers, the Light Cavalry line, and Steppe Lancers with Silk Armor, they can very effectively survive longer in fights.
- They have all technologies for Cavalry Archers, which also have more LOS, free Thumb Ring and Parthian Tactics, and better melee and pierce armor thanks to Silk Armor. All of this means they have a very strong Cavalry Archer rush and late-game Heavy Cavalry Archers.
- Their herdables have 50% more food and they receive two Sheep for free in the Castle Age and for additional Town Centers, so the Tatars can save significant amounts of wood which can be used for military buildings and archer units, making them an exceptionally strong civilization on open maps like Arabia.
Disadvantages vs other civilizations[]
- Keshiks are fairly weak in terms of melee combat with their low attack. Additionally, they do not have the Paladin, so their cavalry is not very powerful.
- Despite the devastating damage done by Flaming Camels against cavalry and elephants, they deal poor damage against buildings, infantry, and archers.
- Despite having the Trebuchets with the longest range through Timurid Siegecraft, they lack Siege Onagers and Bombard Cannons, so civilizations with powerful siege weapons (like the Celts, Ethiopians or Koreans) can destroy the Tatar Siege. Also, Tatar Trebuchets only depend on their range and not attack force or accuracy.
- Tatars have arguably the worst infantry in the game, as they lack Chain Mail Armor, Plate Mail Armor, Gambesons, and the Champion upgrade, so all of their infantry take between 2-4 extra damage per enemy attack by the late game. Their lack of good infantry means they can struggle against enemy compositions that normally require good infantry.
Situational advantages[]
- As their herdables hold +50% food, they can get a huge economic advantage on maps that have more than the usual 8 herdable animals, such as Ghost Lake, Yucatán, or Oasis.
- In Budapest, as every player has double start-up (2 Town Centers, double Villagers, and 2 scouts) they also get an advantage, as of course they get 2 Scout Cavalry that can be improved with Silk Armor.
- In the Capture the Relic game mode, as they can turn the extra food out of their herdables into more Light Cavalry and can improve them with Silk Armor, they can prevent enemy Monks from getting the Relic.
- It is much better to pick Tatars in maps that depict tons of elevations than on flat maps, as they can naturally turn their elevation damage bonus into a crushing weapon if their armies are properly micromanaged.
