This blog post is an attempt to determine which civilizations in Age of Empires II have the "strongest" economic bonuses.
To accomplish this, civilizations are judged based on their potential discounts, bonus resources, and savings by the end of the Dark, Feudal, and Imperial Ages. Note that a standardized number of buildings and Villagers are being used for many calculations. However, civilizations whose main bonuses are discounts on military units will not be represented, since those savings vary greatly depending on game length. I will give a few of these civilizations shoutouts in the Honorable Mentions.
Note that this list will fail to actually determine the strongest economic bonuses. Receiving something like Wheelbarrow for free upon immediately entering the Feudal Age is worth far more than I can calculate using the simple cost of the technology. Likewise, it's hard to calculate the value of time spent by Frank villagers when not foraging.
Consider this less of an authoritative list and more of a shoutout to some of the strong economic bonuses out there.
#10 Persians[]
Persians have a fairly modest set of bonuses. Their town centers and docks work a bit faster and they start with 50 extra Food and Wood. However, getting those resources in the Dark Age makes a lot of difference. That's enough to build an extra villager and two houses in the early game, when a few lost seconds looking for sheep can cripple a player. Though the Persian resource bonus fades quickly, it is one of the strongest economic bonuses in the early game.
#9 Lithuanians[]
The Lithuanians start with 150 extra Food. That's enough for 3 Villagers or two and a half Militia. With this bonus, you can delay food income to focus on an aggressive Dark Age rush, advance to the Feudal Age a minute early, arrive at the Feudal Age with enough resources to build units and research technologies at once, or just skip straight to the Castle Age more quickly. It's a powerful early bonus, even if it is ephemeral.
#8 Indians[]
Indians get the bonus of having a discount on Villagers. This discount starts at 10%, and grows as the game progresses. Still, this means having roughly 120 more Food in the bank by the time one advances to Feudal Age, and this number will easily rise several times over by the end of the Imperial Age, when Villager counts are above 100 and discounts reach 25%.
#7 Franks[]
Even without counting their foraging bonus, the Franks get this high due to two factors: their free farming upgrades and their discounted Castles. By the end of the game, it is likely that this will save the Franks a total of over 1200 Food, Wood, and Stone combined. The only weakness of these is that without the Foraging bonus, we can't say that these bonuses have an impact before the mid-game.
#6 Burmese[]
The Burmese largely mirror the Franks as a civilization that gets stronger mid-to-late game bonuses. First, they get free Lumberjack upgrades starting in the Feudal Age. Second, all of their Monastery technologies are 50% cheaper. This saves them a combined 925 Food, 350 Wood, and 1464 Gold, for a whopping total of over 2730 resources saved by the end of Imperial Age. The catch is, players often wont get most Monastery technologies, rendering part of this bonus underused.
#5 Vietnamese[]
The Vietnamese have a strange economic bonus; no economic upgrades cost Wood. This seemingly underwhelming bonus ends up adding up to 1550 Wood saved over the course of the game, enough for dozens of the Archer units they excel at making. Furthermore, this bonus begins as early as the Feudal Age, and keeps on paying off up through the Imperial Age.
#4 Chinese[]
Technically, the Chinese have the strongest economic bonus in the game: 10% off the cost of technologies in the Feudal Age, 15% in the Castle Age, and 20% in the Imperial Age. Assuming that the Chinese player gets all technologies in the age they are first available, this adds up to over 4800 saved resources. Even if the average player only saves half that much, a more likely sum, it is still an enormous saving. The problem is that this bonus does not help at all in the early game, when the only technology is Loom. For the top tier civilizations, we need some with early-acting economic bonuses.
#3 Tatars[]
I'm surprised too. However, let's look at the 50% more Food that Tatars get from herdable animals. Assuming you get 8 sheep that lose 11% of their food through decay, that's still an extra 356 Food available within the Dark Age, which is the strongest Dark Age bonus in the game when measured through resources gained. Later in the game, they also get Thumb Ring and Parthian Tactics for free, saving an extra 1000 resources that they were probably going to spend on their archers and cavalry archers anyway. That's an amazing early-game bonus combined with a decent late-game bonus.
#2 Malians[]
The Malians have one of the most consistent bonuses in the game: a 15% Wood discount on buildings. Even within the Dark Age, this saves a projected 121 Wood (assuming 5 houses, 1 Barracks, and 5 economic buildings are made). As the game goes on, this will help during the construction boom of the mid-game and keep on helping until the last Lumber Camp is replaced in the Imperial Age, saving somewhere around 700 to 800 Wood. To top it off, they get Gold Mining for free, which saves another 175 resources and immediately improves their Gold economy.
Honorable Mentions[]
- Celts - Have a great lumberjack bonus that keeps them ahead of the game until the very end.
- Cumans - The impact of a second town center can't be ignored.
- Italians - Reaching new Ages sooner both adds up to about 500 resources, but also more flexibility. Various unit discounts also help.
- Turks - They get a ton of cheap and discounted stuff in the Imperial Age.
- Vikings - One of the best economies in the game due to free Wheelbarrow and Handcart, but I don't know how to measure that.
#1 Japanese[]
The main Japanese economic bonus, besides better Fishing Ships, is cheaper economic buildings. 50 Wood saved per building doesn't sound like much, but consider the ramifications. A Japanese player can build a Mill, Lumber Camp, and four Houses with their starting Wood. They will likely save 250 Wood in the Dark Age alone. Even if they don't build any more economic buildings in the Feudal Age, 250 resources is one of the strongest Feudal Age economic bonuses. By the late game, the Japanese will have saved hundreds of more Wood. In terms of quantity, this isn't too much. But what matters is that the Japanese player is saving a lot of resources at every point in the game.