New Civ Concept: Khazars

Hello everyone, ChuKoNoob here for AOE2 Civ Concepts LLC, and this week u/anatarion and I are back with another weekly civ concept: the Khazars! As always, we try our best to make them at least somewhat faithful to history while still having unique civ bonuses, a distinctly aoe2 play-style, and of course, a balanced power level. We hope that feedback on previous civ posts has improved our designs and promoted a healthy discussion of civ balance.

Note: Since this civ concept was scheduled to be released today, it was not meant to steal the thunder from a Moor Civ Concept which was posted some hours ago.

With that in mind, here is our latest civ idea:

Khazars (defensive and cavalry civ, specializes in late-game raids and counter-raids)

Architecture/Ship Design: Eastern European

Spoken Language: Chuvash

Civ Bonuses

• Towers shoot 15% faster
• Archer armour upgrades are free
• Cavalry archers create 20% faster
• Scorpions -1 and BBC’s -2 minimum range

Team Bonus: Trade units have 2X HP

Unique Building: Fixed Ballista - low strength fortification with pass-through damage available in castle age

Cost: 125W, 100S (1x1 tile)

Combat Stats: 1500 HP (2000 heavy), 12 pierce damage (16 heavy), 4 range (6 heavy), 0/7 armor, 3.6 RoF, 50% pass-through damage

Build Time: 60 seconds

Attack Bonuses: +10 vs ships, +2 vs spearmen, +1 vs camels

Upgrade to Heavy Fixed Ballista: 800F, 800W

Missing Techs

• Barracks: Halberdier, Champion, eagle warrior line, Squires
• Archery Range: Arbalest, Heavy Cav Archer, Hand Cannoneer
• Stable: Camel and Battle Elephant Lines
• Blacksmith: Blast Furnace
• Siege Workshop: Siege Onager
• Monastery: Faith, Block Printing, Herbal Medicine
• Economy: Gold Shaft Mining, Two-Man Saw
• University: Treadmill Crane, Heated Shot
• Navy: Fast Fire Ship, Heavy Demo Ship, Cannon Galleon
• Castle: None

Unique Techs

Castle Age: Nomadic Horseman: Light Cavalry, Hussar get +5/+7 attack vs cavalry respectively

Cost: 500F, 300G

Imperial Age: Composite Bow, Cavalry Archers +4 attack

Cost: 700F, 500G

Unique Unit

Arsiyah, anti-cavalry cavalry archer

Cost: 70G, 40W

Combat Stats: 55 HP (65 elite), 4 pierce attack (5 elite), 4 range, 1/0 armor, 2 RoF

Attack Bonuses: +4 (+6 elite) vs cavalry, +2 vs spearmen

Classification: unique unit, archer, cavalry, cavalry archer

Other stats: 1.3 movement speed, 25 seconds creation time, unaffected by heresy

Elite Upgrade Cost: 900F, 600G

Wonder: White Tower of Sarkel (Fortress built for Khazars by Byzantine engineers)

Civ Design/Synergy Blurb

As I am a little short on time today, this civ's strategy blurb will be somewhat shorter than normal, but I will try to hit the major points.

Early game, it's true that this civ lacks a defined eco bonus. However, they can trush well if they need to with the 15% faster firing towers, a bonus which also affects the unique building, although the fixed ballista is much too expensive for a tower rush eco to afford. The tower firing rate is best used, however, to defend your own base from enemy towers, making it a defensive bonus. Archer armor upgrades being free does benefit their cavalry archers later, but it also is a nice boost (but not as important as fletching!) to an archer rush, either accompanying towers or scouts/men-at-arms.

In the Castle Age, however, things start getting interesting. The Khazars were known for their skill with cavalry archery, so to reflect this, their cavalry archers are created faster. In the Castle, however, they have a more expensive version of the cavalry archer which counters cavalry. This is to reflect the expert huntsmen turned mercenary marksmen that were used by the Khazar rulers to devastating effect against traditional cavalry, targetting the horses of cavalry units to break up cavalry charges and throw a retreating army into chaos. However, it has a lower base attack than standard cavalry archers, so are more of a niche unit. Additionally, a small nod to history is their being unaffected by heresy, due to an interesting period in history in which the Khazar Empire, which hosted multiple different religions within its borders, attempted to use its Muslim Arsiyah mercenaries against an invading Muslim army, and they refused. That combined with a low base attack makes the Arsiyah slightly vulnerable to monks.

Additionally, this civ gets fully upgraded knights and light cavalry in Castle Age, allowing them to effectively launch raids.

In Imperial, the civ comes into its own, with siege bonuses to improve their scorpions and BBCs, a boost to their Hussars which makes them a quasi-stand-in for camels, and a whopping 4 extra attack for cavalry archers, making them Mangudai-tier. But wait! They're missing Heavy Cavalry Archer! So what they end up with instead is a cavalry archer with higher attack but lower HP and armor than a standard cavalry archer, making them hit harder but take hits worse, making them vulnerable to skirmishers, onagers, other civs' buffed cavalry archers, and Camel Archers, but stronger against infantry and cavalry (especially with the UU!). The Imperial UT also costs the same as the Heavy Cavalry Archer upgrade, to show that it's meant to be a stand-in.

The civ misses Blast Furnace, so their Paladins aren't FU, but they are pretty close, while the infantry is not good at all. Hussar also are affected by the missing tech, however they end up dealing 5 more damage to enemy cavalry with the UT than normal Hussar.

Finally, since the Khazars made enormous profits from their central position on the Silk Road by controlling trade routes and guarding caravans, their team bonus gives a solid buff to trade carts and cogs, which is not only a historical boost, but ties into their persona as a raid and anti-raid civ. Faster firing towers, fixed ballista, trade HP, and anti-cavalry units helps defend against raids effectively, while hard-hitting cavalry archers and a strong stable allows them to raid their opponents as well.

So there you have it, the Khazars! We hope you enjoy discussing and looking at our handiwork, and we appreciate any feedback and look forward to seeing your comments!

Cheers!

Previous Civ Concepts:

• Bantu
• Chola
• Dutch
• Georgians
• Helvetians
• Iroquois
• Kanembu
• Mississippians
• Nepalese
• Nubians
• Polynesians
• Tartars
• Thai

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