In the civilization overview, the team bonus is shown at the bottom.
A team bonus is a specific civilization bonus introduced in Age of Empires II that applies to every player on the team from the start of each game. Although the bonuses are referred to as "team" bonuses, they do apply in 1v1 games since one is considered to be on their own team.
Two of the same civilization's team bonuses do not stack, but a team bonus can stack with another bonus. Should a player be defeated or resigns, their team bonus remains active for their allies.
A team bonus functions as a technology that is researched at the beginning of the game, and as such, changing allies during a game will not transfer the team bonus. This is specially relevant in diplomacy games (games with no locked teams) and campaigns. Unless players set others as allies in diplomacy games at the start, team bonuses will not affect them.
Age of Empires[]
Team bonuses were introduced for Age of Empires civilizations in Return of Rome.
Assyrians: Siege Workshops work 20% faster.
Babylonians: Builders work 10% faster.- Carthaginians: Academies work 20% faster.
- Choson: Buildings have +2 Line of Sight.
- Egyptians: Priests have +1 pierce armor.
- Greeks: Markets cost -50%.
- Hittites: Towers provide +4 population room.
- Lac Viet: Houses and Farms are built 50% faster.
- Macedonians: Houses have +50 hit points.
- Minoans: Docks cost -20%.
- Palmyrans: Technologies researched 30% faster.
- Persians: Stables work 20% faster.
- Phoenicians: Archers have +2 line of sight.
- Romans: Priests +50% heal speed.
- Shang: Town Centers provide +4 population room.
- Sumerians: Town Centers cost -25%.
- Yamato: Stables and Archery Ranges cost -33% wood.
Age of Empires II[]
- Armenians: Infantry have +2 Line of Sight.
- Aztecs: Relics generate +33% gold.
- Bengalis: Trade units yield 10% food in addition to gold.
- Berbers: Genitours are available at the Archery Range starting in the Castle Age.
- Bohemians: Markets work 80% faster.
- Britons: Archery Ranges work 10% faster.
- Bulgarians: Blacksmiths work 80% faster.
- Burgundians: Relics generate 0.5 food/s in addition to gold.
- Burmese: Relics are visible on the map from the game start.
- Byzantines: Monks heal 100% faster.
- Celts: Siege Workshops work 20% faster.
- Chinese: Farms and Pastures contain +10% food.
- Cumans: Palisade Walls have +33% hit points.
- Dravidians: Docks provide +5 population space.
- Ethiopians: Outposts +3 Line of Sight and stone cost removed.
- Franks: Knights have +2 Line of Sight.
- Georgians: Repairing buildings costs -25% resources.
- Goths: Barracks work 20% faster.
- Gurjaras: Camel and elephant units are created 25% faster.
- Hindustanis: Camel units and light cavalry units have +2 attack against standard buildings.
- Huns: Stables work 20% faster.
- Inca: Start with a free Llama.
- Italians: Condottieri are available at the Barracks.
- Japanese: Galleys have +4 Line of Sight.
- Jurchens: Gunpowder units +2 Line of Sight
- Khitans: Infantry units +2 attack vs ranged soldiers
- Khmer: Scorpions have +1 range.
- Koreans: Villagers have +3 Line of Sight.
- Lithuanians: Monasteries (and Fortified Churches) work 20% faster.
- Magyars: Mounted archers are trained 25% faster.
- Malay: Docks have +6 Line of Sight.
- Malians: Universities work +80% faster.
- Maya: Walls and gates (both Palisade and Stone) are 50% cheaper.
- Mongols: The Scout Cavalry line has +2 Line of Sight.
- Persians: Knight line has +2 attack against archers.
- Poles: The Scout Cavalry line has +1 attack vs. archers.
- Portuguese: All technologies (excluding Age ups) are researched 25% faster.
- Romans: The Scorpion-line's minimum range is reduced to 1.
- Saracens: Foot archers have +3 attack against standard buildings.
- Sicilians: Transport Ships have +5 Line of Sight and cost -50%.
- Shu: Foot archer units except Skirmishers +2 Line of Sight
- Slavs: Barracks, Archery Ranges, Stables, and Siege Workshops provide +5 population.
- Spanish: Trade units generate +25% gold.
- Tatars: Mounted archers have +2 Line of Sight.
- Teutons: Units and buildings resist conversion (+3/+1 min/max conversion intervals).
- Turks: Gunpowder units are created 25% faster.
- Vietnamese: Imperial Skirmisher upgrade is available at the Archery Range (requires the Imperial Age and Elite Skirmisher).
- Vikings: Docks are 15% cheaper.
- Wei: Cavalry units +2 attack vs siege weapons
- Wu: Houses built +100% faster
While the Berber and Cuman unique technologies Kasbah and Cuman Mercenaries are not team bonuses (as the player or one of their allies has to pay for them), they share the property that they apply to the whole team. Another difference these two technologies have from team bonuses is that their effects stack if multiple teammates research them. For example, if two Berber teammates research Kasbah, their team's Castles will work 56.25% faster (instead of 25%).
While "Reveal enemy initial Town Centers' location" is a Vietnamese civilization bonus, it can be considered as a team bonus. Since update 73855, shared Line of Sight is the default setting, so enemy initial Town Centers' location is revealed to the whole team at the start.
Out of all 65 unique units in the game, three are available as team bonuses: the Condottiero, Genitour, and Imperial Skirmisher. These are often used to supplement lacking unit lines (for example Condottieri can make up for the Persians' lacking Militia line; Aztec Imperial Skirmishers surpass the Aztec Arbalester; and Turks as they lack Elite Skirmishers and have fantastic Genitours with their Sipahi technology.), or to cover a niche, such as a late Imperial Age trash game.
The Bengali and Spanish team bonuses are almost useless in 1vs1 games. Since some maps like Marketplace have neutral markets which can be used to trade with, they are not entirely useless.
Age of Mythology[]
While the concept of team bonuses is technically absent from Age of Mythology, some god bonuses act as team bonuses, such as:
- The Titans: Oranos - "Shares visibility with allies of all Settlements on the map." Oranos' bonuses were reworked in Retold, and as such, this civilization bonus no longer exists.
Moreover, certain gameplay elements, god powers, and technologies can benefit them directly or indirectly.
- Players can grant convertible god power buildings to allies, such as Healing Spring (which is very beneficial for the Greeks), Plenty, and Hesperides. However, these are not exclusive to allies, since enemies and neutral players can "steal" these buildings as well.
- Players can boost an ally's buildings with Sentinel, Citadel, and Gullinbursti.
- Players can invoke Son of Osiris on an ally's Pharaoh and Great Hunt on animals near them, and even provide raw resources using Dwarven Mine and Gaia Forest.
Further, Caravans trading with an ally's Town Center bring in extra gold.
Age of Empires III[]
While Age of Empires III does not have team bonuses per se, it does have TEAM cards, which are shipments that affect the entire team and vary between civilizations. They also depend on deck composition. Much like Age of Empires II team bonuses, these cards do not stack and can be sent only once each in a team alliance, even if two allied players have them in their deck (they are considered "researched" once the first player sends them). Some TEAM cards are units and structures, while others are upgrades and improvements.
Chronicles[]
- Achaemenids: Houses are built 100% faster (-50% time taken).
- Athenians: Shipyard technologies research 50% faster (-33.33% time taken).
- Spartans: Barracks technologies (except the Paragon upgrade) research 50% faster (-33.33% time taken). Paragon is researched in 61.67 seconds.
Notes[]
- ↑ The bonus is applied after Farm technologies, so a Farm with Horse Collar researched starts with food.
- ↑ The following units are considered light cavalry units: Scout Cavalry line, Magyar Huszar, Steppe Lancer, and Shrivamsha Rider.
- ↑ 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. - ↑
- The effect on the Paragon upgrade is a reduction by 23.33 seconds resulting in 61.67 seconds (37.83% faster), rather than the expected reduction by 28.33 seconds which would have resulted in 56.67 seconds (50% faster). Due to not being described in the in-game team bonus as such, this is likely a bug.
- The interaction of this team bonus with the bonuses of civilizations such as Bulgarians, Slavs, etc. which grant certain Barracks technologies or upgrades for free is buggy. Those technologies are still free, but no longer instantly researched upon attaining the requisite Age. The player needs to research them manually at the Barracks and they require the default research time.
