Chariot
Age: | Bronze | |
Prerequisites: | Build Town Center, build Barracks, build Granary, build Stable, build Market, research Wheel. | |
Upgrade Cost: | – – – | |
Cost: | 40 food, 60 wood | |
Hit Points: | 100 | |
Attack: | 7 | |
Armor: | 0 | |
Piercing Armor: | – – – | |
Range: | – – – | |
Speed: | Fast | |
Upgrade of: | – – – | |
Special: | High resistance to conversion; double attack against Priest. |
Description:
The Chariot is a fast, two-wheel cavalry unit pulled by horses. You must research the Wheel before you can research the Chariot.
Researching Nobility increases hit points. Toolworking, Metalworking, and Metallurgy increase attack strength. Leather Armor, Scale Armor, and Chain Mail increase armor.
Comments
The Chariot is a rather run-of-the-mill Bronze Age military unit. Much cheaper than the Cavalry, he also has less hitpoints and less attack strength. In fact, the Short Swordsman is as strong as the Chariot and he’s much cheaper. Chariots are especially useful against priests, because of their high resistance to conversion (according to the documentation they’re three times more resistant, according to experiments they’re in fact closer to eight times more resistant). Because they’re fairly cheap, fast and don’t cost gold, the Chariots are among the most popular units in the game.
Peter
History
Chariots originated in Sumeria before 2500 BC as four-wheeled carts pulled by onagers. These chariots were slow and cumbersome compared to later chariots, but provided a protected platform for spearmen and archers. How they were used in combat remains unclear, although all charging animals were intimidating on the battlefield. At this time the horse was not widely domesticated in the civilized parts of the world. In the first half of the Second Millennium BC the chariot basket was reduced in size and mounted on only two wheels. Horses were substituted eventually to provide greater speed. The fast two-wheeled chariot was especially intimidating in battle because of its speed and the shock value of charging horses. At this time horses were rarely being ridden. Charioteers became the elite of the civilized armies for the next 600 or so years. Chariots were often manned by the nobility because of their elite status, the glory to be won, and the high cost of building and maintaining chariots and their horse teams.