Archery ranges can be built in the Feudal
Age, the second age in the game. Here are the units that are trained in the archery range,
divided by age.
Feudal Age Archer:
The standard, unarmored bowman.
Skirmisher: A bowman with a modicum of piercing armor (armor against ranged attacks
that provides no protection from melee attacks); used to counter enemy archers but less
effective against cavalry and infantry.
Castle Age Cavalry archer: Horse-mounted archers. Crossbowman: The crossbowmen generally have greater range and accuracy than other
archers but fire at a slower rate. Elite skirmisher: An improved version of the skirmisher.
Imperial Age Arbalest: A heavy crossbowman with better range, accuracy, and firepower. Hand cannoneer: A gunpowder unit that does more damage than any other archer unit but
also has the slowest attack rate. Heavy horse archer: A better version of the cavalry archer. Its mobility makes up for its
lack of range and firepower.
Stables
This is the building where you create
cavalry units. It doesn't become available until the second age (Feudal Age), but even
then it doesn't really do much besides create scouts. However, if you make the jump to the
third age (Castle Age), the stable suddenly becomes a powerful war factory, cranking out
some of the game's faster and better units.
Feudal Age Scout:
This unit is analogous to the scout from Age I. It has excellent speed but little in the
way of armor and attack strength. They have better-than-average protection against
conversion and archers. This, coupled with their long line of sight, makes them ideal for
scouting the map.
Castle Age Light cavalry: This is a lightly armored horse-mounted warrior. They have a good mix of
speed, armor, and attack strength. Their speed lets them close with archers and monks
quickly, making them better against these two ranged units than infantry. However,
infantry in turn can take down the light cavalry, as can all the later-age stable units.
Knight:
This is a slower but more powerful version of the light cavalry. These mounted warriors
are good against ranged units and stronger than regular infantry.
Imperial Age Cavalier: This is the upgrade of the Knight. It has even better attack and armor
but is highly vulnerable to lines of pikemen and the camel riders of the Middle East.
Stable Technologies
In addition to providing units, the stable also offers a few technology advances that can
boost the effectiveness of the units trained there. These advances give the Stables' units
a boost in reconnaissance and speed but don't unbalance them by adding any attack bonuses.
Scout line of sight: Researched in the Feudal Age. This upgrade increases the line of sight
for the scout.
Husbandry: Researched in the Castle Age. This upgrade increases the speed of all
stable units.
Church
This is the Asian Church. No specific info
has been released yet, but everything indicates that it will be more or less like the
Temple in Age of Empires. There's a good chance that Monks (Priests) will be a unit
available there, as well as some (or all) of its upgrades.