Civilization Bonuses:

Team Bonus: Monks: 3 times heal speed

• Buildings: +10% HPs Dark Age, +20% Feudal Age, +30% Castle Age, +40% Imperial Age.
• Camels, skirmishers, Pikemen cost -25%
• Fire ships +20% attack
• Advance to Imperial Age costs -33%

Q) Most people don't build monks with short ranges, they don't work against siege, people aim for them with cavalry, and suck in battle when trying to convert or heal.
ES_Sandyman:  A) If people don't want to build monks, so? The Byzantine healing bonus is not the reason people choose the civ. People aim for monks with cavalry because they're scared, not because monks are weak. If you fear losing monks, group them in a defensive formation such as a box, with troops surrounding them (such as paladins, or teutonic knights).

Q) So what is the range of a monks healing, and if a unit is hurt right by it, does it start to heal it?
ES_Sandyman:  A) Not very far, and yes, monks auto-heal injured units they see nearby. Including those guardian troops on the outside of the box formation protecting the monks.

Unique Unit:

• The Cataphract:  A powerful anti-infantry cavalry unit

  "The Byzantine army carried on many of the military traditions of the old Roman Empire into the Middle Ages. This was a professional force that was well trained and well led. Officers studied tactics and command. The army was organized into formal units that maintained their own traditions for centuries. The best units in the Byzantine army were partially armored cavalrymen called cataphracts. They fought with several weapons, including the bow and sword. With plains to the east and north of their empire, the cataphract was ideally suited for combat against the unarmored cavalries of their enemies. The Byzantine army went into decline partially because it lost the plains of Anatolia, from which it had drawn both horses and cavalrymen for service." -Gamespot Showcase

  Q) Do Camels get any kind of generic anti-infantry bonus, or do they function just like in RoR?
  ES_Sandyman: A) I believe that the only unit with an anti-infantry bonus is the Cataphract.

History

Gamespot Showcase

History of the Byzantine Empire by Cherub Dimitrios