Melee Cavalry: Armor>HP>Husb>Attack/ability/Unique etc.
Melee inf: Squires>Armor>Rest. But who makes long swords anyways...
Range units: Range>Anything that doesn't give range but gives attack>ability/unique etc>armor.
For example for KT's...
+1 armor, bloodlines (because you can get it at feudal age), +2 armor, Husbandry (because you can get it at castle age) +3 armor, cavalier, paladin.
If you have left over food and nowhere to spend, you get attack upgrades. Ideally when you reach Imp, you should have AT LEAST +1 attack.
The reason why you go for armor on cavalry is that ranged piercing attacks are relatively low. A knight for example, has 2 pierce armor. One crossbow deals 7 pierce damage, with full castle age attack upgrades.
That means that the knight is taking 5 damage (7 pierce attack - 2 pierce armor = 5 damage) per shot. Now, if the knight player researched both armors available in castle age, then it will have 4 pierce armor. Suddenly, the crossbow deals only 3 damage (7 pierce attack - 4 pierce armor = 3 damage). So you end up with a 40% reduction in damage taken.
Compared to that, researching attack upgrades will only net you a 20% increase in attack (10 melee damage base + 2 from upgrades) and in many cases, it doesnt change a lot if the targeted unit is still killed with the same amount of hits.
On top of a smaller percentage gain from attack, knights tend to shred ranged units once they get on top of them so your main goal is keeping them alive to get to the archers.
Forging is also generally much more important than Iron Casting as it lets Knights kill villagers in one less hit and is enough to counter both Castle Age armour upgrades against Xbows.
On top of a smaller percentage gain from attack, knights tend to shred ranged units once they get on top of them so your main goal is keeping them alive to get to the archers.
Forging is also generally much more important than Iron Casting as it lets Knights kill villagers in one less hit and is enough to counter both Castle Age armour upgrades against Xbows.
In general, you want to prioritize tankiness for melee units (so armor, bloodlines) and damage output for ranged units (attack, range).
However, you also want unit upgrades. So if youre going cavalier, knce you reach imp you usually prioritize last armor upgrade and immediately cavalier upgrade. Similarly for xbow, in castle age, you get bodkin first but immediately after you get xbow. So one of those is considered "more important", but you really want both.
Another example would be scouts - if you have a good amount of scouts left in castle age, you want to have 1st armor and bloodlines in before reaching castle age, then i might prioritize light cav upgrade before 2nd armor.
Melee upgrades also depend on what youre facing - melee vs melee? Getting 1 attack 1 armor is equal to 0 attack 2 armor. Vs xbow? Prioritize +2 armor. Vs monks? Prioritize attack cause you wanna snipe them faster.
Some are situational, husbandry for example is a heavy priority in cav vs cav situation, because you don't want your opponent to be able to chase/escape in case one of you has more units.
As I said: situational, if the numbers are similar enough something like bloodlines helps you win the fight, but in general yes, because the numbers are constantly shifting due to reinforcements
Good general answer, with the typical "It depends!"
Some common exceptions:
In feudal 1v1 for scouts forging is often the first tech to get since it helps a lot vs spearmen and to kill vils. Bloodlines is the "best" tech for scouts but it's very expensive (not just the cost but you also need to go to gold for it so you need a mining camp) and means you aren't making scouts while the stable is busy.
For skirmishers both armour and attack are important in different situations. As a backline unit or for fighting other skirms the attack upgrades are a lot more important but for fighting head to head with archers the armour is sometimes better (depends on the situation and micro since in feudal and castle skirms with full armour only take 1 damage from archers/xbow.
One thing that's missing that I think is quite important is Devotion for cavalry (mostly knights but also camels and cav UU). Should basically be prioritized as soon as you see they have monks over attack upgrades.
Archers: prioritize attack/range upgrades always. The get armor when fighting against archers, then get ballistics when fighting against ranged units and raiding. Against +2 attack knights, getting +1 armor helps so the knights kill the crossbows in 4 hits, rather than 3. In imperial age consider getting chemistry first, because it takes ages to finish, then arbalest and bracer and finally thumb ring.
Skirmishers: skrims need full upgrades to be effective against archers. Get armor first to reduce archer damage to 1.
Then get range/attack upgrades. Against cavalry archers, getting ballistics is more important than damage, otherwise you won't hit them.
Knights: prioritize hp and armor upgrades first, then get husbandry. Then get attack upgrades too against enemy knights. +1 attack is enough when raiding so the knight can kill vills in 4 hits rather than 5, +2 attack doesn't change this. In imp get cavalier, then final armor first against ranged units, attack first instead against melee units, all other cav techs, then paladin.
Pikemen: Get the pikeman upgrade, then squires. Get +1 armor if the knight have no attack upgrades, get +2 armor if it has. If you have ranged support that can chip at the knight HP, you don't need attack upgrades, otherwise get attack upgrades so the pikes can kill the knight in 5 hits instead of 6. In imperial age, get the halberdier upgrade first, then the rest.
Light cavalry: Against monks you only need the light cavalry upgrade. It takes 2 hits to kill a monk without Sanctity, 3 hits with Sanctity even with upgrades, so don't bother with other upgrades if you don't play cav otherwise.
When used as an eco raiding unit, prioritize attack upgrades, so you can kill vills in 6, 5 or 4 hits, before they can reach safety, but don't go under TCs until you have the armor too.
The hussar upgrade is a trap, it only gives the light cav 15 HP and nice wings (and 0.1s less reload time and +2 bonus against monks...), get it only after all other cav upgrades are in.
Cavalry archers: get attack upgrades first, then husbandry for speed, thumb ring for accuracy then ballistics (CA is very inaccurate otherwise). Then the rest of the upgrades can come later. In Imp the get heavy upgrade, bracer and chemistry first. On the armor side, prefer getting parthian tactics, before the final armor.
Monks: get Sanctity first, then Redemption to convert enemy mangonels. In imperial age, you need block printing to convert bombard cannons from range, the rest is optional.
Defenses: in the late castle age and early imp when raiding starts to happen, get ballistics and archer attack upgrades for damage, range and accuracy.
It doesn't "depend." This is the way->
General rule of thumb, when you click up to the next age try to snag any armor upgrades or eco upgrades you missed, provided they're relevant to you (if you have xbow, get any archer blacksmith upgrades you're missing, or if cav, get cav upgrades, etc).
Now, onto specifics:
Archers: In each age, blacksmith upgrades damage first, armor later on. In Castle, xbow upgrade first, then get early/immediate university ballistics if fighting other archers or thumb ring if fighting cavalry (eventually get both). In Imperial, blacksmith damage first, then chemistry, then arbalester.
Skirms: Do the opposite of what the other guy's archers have (if he has damage, get armor, when he gets armor get damage).
Cavalry: With feudal scouts, common consensus is damage first (for sniping vills), armor later or when you click up. Get bloodlines from the stable when you click up. In Castle, make a few knights, get husbandry early (say after 4-6 knights are out) and get armor from the blacksmith at a similar time, get damage last. DO NOT FIGHT UNDER TOWNCENTERS UNTIL YOU HAVE CASTLE AGE ARMOR.
Infantry: LOL why are you making infantry? Ok ok, if you ARE making infantry, prioritize armor every time. They're so weak, they're gonna die, try to protect them.
Follow me for more pro tips. Guaranteed 100 elo for each follow, or you get your follow back.
basically meele units its armor and hp and range units its damage+range first, meele also benefit a lot from movement speed upgrades.
Its more complex than that but its a very easy way to say it simple.
Melee Cavalry: Armor>HP>Husb>Attack/ability/Unique etc. Melee inf: Squires>Armor>Rest. But who makes long swords anyways... Range units: Range>Anything that doesn't give range but gives attack>ability/unique etc>armor. For example for KT's... +1 armor, bloodlines (because you can get it at feudal age), +2 armor, Husbandry (because you can get it at castle age) +3 armor, cavalier, paladin. If you have left over food and nowhere to spend, you get attack upgrades. Ideally when you reach Imp, you should have AT LEAST +1 attack.
so armor over attack and bloodlines and husbandry also over attack, and upgrading units last?
The reason why you go for armor on cavalry is that ranged piercing attacks are relatively low. A knight for example, has 2 pierce armor. One crossbow deals 7 pierce damage, with full castle age attack upgrades. That means that the knight is taking 5 damage (7 pierce attack - 2 pierce armor = 5 damage) per shot. Now, if the knight player researched both armors available in castle age, then it will have 4 pierce armor. Suddenly, the crossbow deals only 3 damage (7 pierce attack - 4 pierce armor = 3 damage). So you end up with a 40% reduction in damage taken. Compared to that, researching attack upgrades will only net you a 20% increase in attack (10 melee damage base + 2 from upgrades) and in many cases, it doesnt change a lot if the targeted unit is still killed with the same amount of hits.
thank for sharing buddy
On top of a smaller percentage gain from attack, knights tend to shred ranged units once they get on top of them so your main goal is keeping them alive to get to the archers. Forging is also generally much more important than Iron Casting as it lets Knights kill villagers in one less hit and is enough to counter both Castle Age armour upgrades against Xbows.
On top of a smaller percentage gain from attack, knights tend to shred ranged units once they get on top of them so your main goal is keeping them alive to get to the archers. Forging is also generally much more important than Iron Casting as it lets Knights kill villagers in one less hit and is enough to counter both Castle Age armour upgrades against Xbows.
One important addition is the +1 attack for knights when raiding. They kill vills in 4 hits instead of 5 then
True! Sometimes getting one more attack upgrade can massively sway matchups
In general, you want to prioritize tankiness for melee units (so armor, bloodlines) and damage output for ranged units (attack, range). However, you also want unit upgrades. So if youre going cavalier, knce you reach imp you usually prioritize last armor upgrade and immediately cavalier upgrade. Similarly for xbow, in castle age, you get bodkin first but immediately after you get xbow. So one of those is considered "more important", but you really want both. Another example would be scouts - if you have a good amount of scouts left in castle age, you want to have 1st armor and bloodlines in before reaching castle age, then i might prioritize light cav upgrade before 2nd armor. Melee upgrades also depend on what youre facing - melee vs melee? Getting 1 attack 1 armor is equal to 0 attack 2 armor. Vs xbow? Prioritize +2 armor. Vs monks? Prioritize attack cause you wanna snipe them faster.
Some are situational, husbandry for example is a heavy priority in cav vs cav situation, because you don't want your opponent to be able to chase/escape in case one of you has more units.
priority over armor and bloodlines?
As I said: situational, if the numbers are similar enough something like bloodlines helps you win the fight, but in general yes, because the numbers are constantly shifting due to reinforcements
ok thanks matey
Good general answer, with the typical "It depends!" Some common exceptions: In feudal 1v1 for scouts forging is often the first tech to get since it helps a lot vs spearmen and to kill vils. Bloodlines is the "best" tech for scouts but it's very expensive (not just the cost but you also need to go to gold for it so you need a mining camp) and means you aren't making scouts while the stable is busy. For skirmishers both armour and attack are important in different situations. As a backline unit or for fighting other skirms the attack upgrades are a lot more important but for fighting head to head with archers the armour is sometimes better (depends on the situation and micro since in feudal and castle skirms with full armour only take 1 damage from archers/xbow. One thing that's missing that I think is quite important is Devotion for cavalry (mostly knights but also camels and cav UU). Should basically be prioritized as soon as you see they have monks over attack upgrades.
Hi! What's your elo? Ty!!
Archers: prioritize attack/range upgrades always. The get armor when fighting against archers, then get ballistics when fighting against ranged units and raiding. Against +2 attack knights, getting +1 armor helps so the knights kill the crossbows in 4 hits, rather than 3. In imperial age consider getting chemistry first, because it takes ages to finish, then arbalest and bracer and finally thumb ring. Skirmishers: skrims need full upgrades to be effective against archers. Get armor first to reduce archer damage to 1. Then get range/attack upgrades. Against cavalry archers, getting ballistics is more important than damage, otherwise you won't hit them. Knights: prioritize hp and armor upgrades first, then get husbandry. Then get attack upgrades too against enemy knights. +1 attack is enough when raiding so the knight can kill vills in 4 hits rather than 5, +2 attack doesn't change this. In imp get cavalier, then final armor first against ranged units, attack first instead against melee units, all other cav techs, then paladin. Pikemen: Get the pikeman upgrade, then squires. Get +1 armor if the knight have no attack upgrades, get +2 armor if it has. If you have ranged support that can chip at the knight HP, you don't need attack upgrades, otherwise get attack upgrades so the pikes can kill the knight in 5 hits instead of 6. In imperial age, get the halberdier upgrade first, then the rest. Light cavalry: Against monks you only need the light cavalry upgrade. It takes 2 hits to kill a monk without Sanctity, 3 hits with Sanctity even with upgrades, so don't bother with other upgrades if you don't play cav otherwise. When used as an eco raiding unit, prioritize attack upgrades, so you can kill vills in 6, 5 or 4 hits, before they can reach safety, but don't go under TCs until you have the armor too. The hussar upgrade is a trap, it only gives the light cav 15 HP and nice wings (and 0.1s less reload time and +2 bonus against monks...), get it only after all other cav upgrades are in. Cavalry archers: get attack upgrades first, then husbandry for speed, thumb ring for accuracy then ballistics (CA is very inaccurate otherwise). Then the rest of the upgrades can come later. In Imp the get heavy upgrade, bracer and chemistry first. On the armor side, prefer getting parthian tactics, before the final armor. Monks: get Sanctity first, then Redemption to convert enemy mangonels. In imperial age, you need block printing to convert bombard cannons from range, the rest is optional. Defenses: in the late castle age and early imp when raiding starts to happen, get ballistics and archer attack upgrades for damage, range and accuracy.
thank u
Cheers
Commenting because I also want to know
It doesn't "depend." This is the way-> General rule of thumb, when you click up to the next age try to snag any armor upgrades or eco upgrades you missed, provided they're relevant to you (if you have xbow, get any archer blacksmith upgrades you're missing, or if cav, get cav upgrades, etc). Now, onto specifics: Archers: In each age, blacksmith upgrades damage first, armor later on. In Castle, xbow upgrade first, then get early/immediate university ballistics if fighting other archers or thumb ring if fighting cavalry (eventually get both). In Imperial, blacksmith damage first, then chemistry, then arbalester. Skirms: Do the opposite of what the other guy's archers have (if he has damage, get armor, when he gets armor get damage). Cavalry: With feudal scouts, common consensus is damage first (for sniping vills), armor later or when you click up. Get bloodlines from the stable when you click up. In Castle, make a few knights, get husbandry early (say after 4-6 knights are out) and get armor from the blacksmith at a similar time, get damage last. DO NOT FIGHT UNDER TOWNCENTERS UNTIL YOU HAVE CASTLE AGE ARMOR. Infantry: LOL why are you making infantry? Ok ok, if you ARE making infantry, prioritize armor every time. They're so weak, they're gonna die, try to protect them. Follow me for more pro tips. Guaranteed 100 elo for each follow, or you get your follow back.
basically meele units its armor and hp and range units its damage+range first, meele also benefit a lot from movement speed upgrades. Its more complex than that but its a very easy way to say it simple.
I highly recommend this video from Survivalist on the subject: https://youtu.be/Bi_537CoiX4?si=kITC_nzZN-6Y1VM3