Sappers is a technology in Age of Empires II available at the Castle upon reaching the Imperial Age. Once researched, it grants Villagers +15 attack against buildings and stone defense, and also +3 attack against rams. This makes Villagers far more effective when it comes to destroying enemy buildings, rams, Trebuchets, Armored/Siege elephants, and Siege Towers.
However, many players see Sappers as an unnecessary technology to research, since Villagers are intended for gathering resources and building structures. Nevertheless, Sappers can come in handy when it comes to accessing resources walled off by enemies or destroying enemy Mining Camps or Lumber Camps located near the player's resources, or having to defend against enemy rams.
Sappers can also be used to destroy towers placed next to the player's Villagers. Also, if a player has surplus Villagers and needs to free up population space for military units, they can research Sappers, then send their Villagers as fodder to chip away at enemy buildings.
With Sappers researched, Villagers also chop down trees with only one strike, which essentially speeds up wood gathering, even if by a very small margin. This comes from the increased attack bonus vs buildings effect, since trees take all types of attack bonuses.
Availability chart[]
Available | Unavailable |
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Civilization bonuses[]
Team bonuses[]
- Portuguese: Researching Sappers is 25% faster.
Changelog[]
The Age of Kings[]
Dynasties of India[]
- With update 81058, Sappers costs 400 food, 200 wood. Sappers now also adds +3 attack bonus vs Armor class: Ram for villagers.
History[]
ā | Men who specialized in the techniques of attacking fortifications became known as sappers. They dug the trenches to bring weapons up close and they undermined walls to cause their collapse. Armies without a contingent of sappers were handicapped when attempting to take a castle or fortified town. Many sappers worked as mercenaries for the highest bidder. | ā |