The Jurchens were the ancestors of the modern Manchus, they are known for their rule over China with the Jin Dynasty and later the Qing Dynasty as the Manchus.
The Jurchens were known to be fierce horsemen that were known to wear heavy armor in combat and known for their strong cavalry tactics where they chained the legs of the horses together to deal more collateral damage in combat (known as Guaizi Ma). This is highlighted with their Castle Age unique tech in the namesake that allows cavalry units to deal trample damage, and their civilization bonus where Knights get more armor in Castle Age, and even more armor in Imperial Age, making their Knights more resistant to melee attacks. Their unique unit, the Iron Pagoda, further highlights the use of heavy cavalry in battle where they have relatively high pierce armor and deals bonus damage vs. foot archers, skirmishers, and siege weapons. The Jurchens were sedentary people that live in small walled villages with advanced agriculture and raised livestock. This is highlighted with their civilization bonus where they can train herdables from Town Centers and Mills at a cost of small amount of food, which would lead to a food surplus regardless (Goats and Sheep cost 25 food to train, but yield 100 food, while Cows cost 50 food, but yield 150 Food). Horseback archery is a tradition for the Jurchens, and their mastery of mounted archery allowed the Jurchens to be strong hunters. To highlight this, the Jurchens get Parthian Tactics and Heavy Cavalry Archer upgrades for free.
Even though the gunpowder was considered to be a Chinese invention, the Jurchens during the Jin dynasty made further improvements in gunpowder and made effective use in battle against the Mongols (despite failing to prevent the eventual fall of the Jin dynasty). This is highlighted with their Bombard Cannons having lower minimum range, and their second unique unit, the Elite Hand Cannoneer, which is basically the unique unit upgrade for the Hand Cannoneer. Their Imperial Age tech, Huo Pao, highlights the Jurchen's improvement of gunpowder where Bombard Cannon and Trebuchet projectiles can forcefully eject any units garrisoned in buildings. Much of the Jurchen technological developments of gunpowder were used by many other civilizations such as the Turks, the Indians, and even the Mongols. This is highlighted with their team bonus where gunpowder units deal more damage against buildings.
Overview[]
The Jurchens are a cavalry and gunpowder based civlization with a strong archery, cavalry, and siege line. The Jurchens have access to all the cavalry upgrades (minus Husbandry and Plate Barding Armor), making Jurchens as one of the few East Asian civilizations to have access to the Paladin upgrade. The lack of Plate Barding Armor will hurt the Jurchen cavalry defensive capacity against arrows, but the Knights bonus armor and their anti-archer Iron Pagodas, makes up for it, making their Knights more durable against melee attacks and Iron Pagodas being their strong anti-archer and anti-siege cavalry support. Their Castle Age unique tech, Guaizi Ma, allows their cavalry to deal trample damage. The Jurchens have access to a full archery tech tree, and rushing cavalry archers is a viable tactic since they get Heavy Cavalry Archer and Parthian Tactics for free. However, due to the Jurchens lacking Husbandry , their cavalry archers will be less mobile. That being said, the Jurchens have access to a unique upgrade for their Hand Cannoners, the Elite Hand Cannoneer, which is basically a stronger version of the Hand Cannoneer. The Jurchens also have a strong siege line, only missing out in the Siege Ram and Siege Onager upgrade. But their biggest strength in their siege weapons will be their Bombard Cannons and Trebuchets, where the minimum range is reduced by 2, meaning that the Jurchen Bombard Cannons will have 3 minimum range instead of 5; while their Imperial Age unique tech, Huo Pao, improves their Trebuchet and Bombard Cannon sieging capacity by forcefully ejecting any garrisoned units inside. Their team bonus allow Petards, Bombard Towers, and gunpowder units deal more damage against buildings, making the Jurchen Bombard Tower drops in the enemy base to be very threatening. Being able to train herdables, the Jurchens have a strong early game economy since villagers gather food faster from herdables than Farms, which makes up for their weaker lategame economy of not having access Two-Man Saw and Guilds. The Jurchens have a decent infantry line, but the lack of Champions, Squires, and Plate Mail Armor can hurt their infantry lategame. Their navy is very poor, lacking many essential upgrades for their ships. Their defensive capacity is also very horrible until the Imperial Age since they cannot upgrade their Watch Towers and Stone Walls, and cannot even research Arrowslits, but they have access to fully upgradable Bombard Towers. Their monk and Monastery line is notoriously horrendous, having only access to Herbal Medicine, Sanctity, and Fervor. The lack of Heresy and Faith means that the Jurchen cavalry is incredibly vulnerable to conversion, making them incredibly vulnerable to civilizations with strong monks such as the Aztecs and the Spanish. They are, however, a formidable foe to the Britons and the Ethiopians, due to their strong anti-archer and anti-siege capacity of the Iron Pagodas, and having a more durable frontline.
Civilization Bonuses[]
- Knights +1 armor in Castle Age and +2 armor in Imperial Age (+3 armor total)
- Heavy Cavalry Archer and Parthian Tactics upgrades are free.
- Bombard Cannons have lower minimum range.
- Can train herdables (Goats, Sheeps, and Cows) in Town Centers and Mills.
- Team Bonus: Petards, Bombard Towers, and gunpowder units deal 10% more damage vs. buildings.
Unique Unit[]
Iron Pagoda (heavy cavalry with extremely high pierce armor that deals bonus damage against foot archers, skirmishers, and siege weapons), Elite Hand Cannoneer (unique upgrade of the Hand Cannoneer)
Unique Tech[]
Guaizi Ma (Stable units and Iron Pagodas deal trample damage), Huo Pao (Trebuchets and Bombard Cannons' projectiles can forcefully eject garrisoned units upon projectile impact)
Tech Tree[]
Archery Range []
Units
- Archer -> Crossbowman -> Arbalest
- Skirmisher -> Elite Skirmisher
- Cavalry Archer -> Heavy Cavalry Archer
- Hand Cannoneer -> Elite Hand Cannoneer
Technologies
Barracks[]
Units
- Militia -> Man-at-Arms -> Long Swordsman -> Two-Handed Swordsman
- Spearman -> Pikeman -> Halberdiers
Technologies
Stable[]
- Scout Cavalry -> Light Cavalry -> Hussar
- Knight -> Cavalier -> Paladin
- Camel -> Heavy Camel
Technologies
Dock[]
- Fishing Ship
- Transport Ship
- Fire Galley
- Galley -> War Galley -> Galleon
- Demolition Raft -> Demolition Ship
- Cannon Galleon
- Trade Cog
Technologies
Fish Trap[]
Outpost[]
Watch Tower[]
Bombard Tower[]
Palisade Wall[]
Palisade Gate[]
Gate[]
Stone Wall[]
Monastery[]
Units
Technologies
Castle[]
Units
Technologies
- Guaizi Ma
- Huo Pao
- Sappers
- Conscription
- Spies/Treason
House[]
Town Center []
Units
Technologies
Siege Workshop[]
- Mangonel -> Onager
- Battering Ram -> Capped Ram
- Scorpion -> Heavy Scorpion
- Bombard Cannon
- Siege Tower
Blacksmith[]
Technologies
- Padded Archer Armor -> Leather Archer Armor -> Ring Archer Armor
- Fletching -> Bodkin Arrow -> Bracer
- Forging -> Iron Casting -> Blast Furnace
- Scale Barding Armor -> Chain Barding Armor
- Scale Mail Armor -> Chain Mail Armor
University []
Technologies
Mining Camp[]
Technologies
Lumber Camp[]
Technologies
Market[]
Units
Technologies
- Cartography -> Caravan
- Coinage -> Banking
Mill[]
Technologies
Farm[]
Unique Unit: Iron Pagoda[]
The Iron Pagoda is a unique unit for the Jurchens that deals incredibly large damage against foot archers, skirmishers, and siege weapons. The Iron Pagodas can be upgraded into Elite Iron Pagodas in the Imperial Age, where the training time will be reduced to 18 seconds from 25.
Strategy[]
The Iron Pagodas is almost a reverse of the Boyar unit while the Boyar has a strong melee armor, higher attack, and vulnerable to archers; the Iron Pagoda has higher HP, more pierce armor, but much lower attack and melee armor. In fact, the Iron Pagoda takes more anti-cavalry damage from melee attacks, making them perfectly countered by Halberdiers and Camels and can lose to a fully upgraded Paladin in a 1v1 fight. That being said, the Iron Pagodas are incredibly powerful against foot archers, skirmishers, and siege units due to their high mobility, high pierce armor, and bonus damage against the said units. Given the Iron Pagoda's high pierce armor, they also make excellent raiding units. That being said, they are more expensive than the Knight unit line and should only be considered when you have enough resources to spare. However, because the Jurchens lack Plate Barding Armor, their Paladins will be more vulnerable to arrow fire, making Jurchens a better alternative for dealing with enemy archers and skirmishers than the Paladin due to their high-pierce armor and bonus damage vs. archers. With Guaizi Ma unique tech, the Iron Pagodas will be very devastating in the frontlines due to the trample damage.
Late game, Iron Pagodas should be mixed in with Elite Hand Cannoneers, Heavy Cavalry Archers, and Paladins. The Elite Hand Cannoneers and Heavy Cavalry Archers will finish off any enemy Halberdiers while the higher melee armor with their Paladins due to the Jurchen's civilization bonus help offset the Iron Pagoda's low melee armor.
Further Statistics[]
| Unit Strengths and Weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Archers, Cavalry Archers, Villagers, siege weapons, Light Cavalry |
| Weak vs. | Nearly every melee unit. More specifically, the Samurai, Pikemen, Mamelukes, Camels, and Kamayuks, Monks. |
| Upgrades | |
| Hit Points | Bloodlines |
| Attack | Forging, Iron Casting, Blast Furnace, Guaizi Ma (trample damage) |
| Armor | Scale Barding Armor, Chain Barding Armor |
| Creation Speed | Conscription, Kasbah (if allied with Berbers) |
Unique Unit: Elite Hand Cannoneer[]
The Elite Hand Cannoneer is the second unique unit for the Jurchens. It is an upgrade for the Jurchen Hand Cannoneer and can be built in the Archery Range in the Imperial Age.
Strategy[]
The Elite Hand Cannoneer is an upgrade to the Hand Cannoneer with more HP, better accuracy, and a higher attack (including a stronger anti-infantry attack). The Elite Hand Cannoneer also takes one less damage from any anti-archer attacks (although having Elite Hand Cannoneers attacking Elite Skirmishers is still a bad idea). Given the Jurchen's main strength of gunpowder units along with cavalry, the Elite Hand Cannoneers should be mixed in with Paladins and Iron Pagodas to help protect the Elite Hand Cannoneers. The Elite Hand Cannoneers are also very threatening to buildings thanks to the Jurchen's team bonus of increased damage against buildings.
Much like the regular Hand Cannoneers, the Elite Hand Cannoneers are still vulnerable to Huskarls, Elite Skirmishers, Mangonels and Scorpions, and Condottiero.
Because the Elite Hand Cannoneer is treated as a unit upgrade to the Hand Cannoneer, it will not take bonus damage from the Samurai.
Further Statistics[]
| Unit Strengths and Weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Infantry |
| Weak vs. | Skirmishers, Scorpions, Onagers, heavy cavalry, Huskarls, Condottieri |
| Upgrades | |
| Armor | Padded Archer Armor, Leather Archer Armor, Ring Archer Armor |
| Creation Speed | Conscription |
| Other | Chemistry (prerequisite to access this unit) |
Unique Tech: Guaizi Ma[]
Guaizi Ma is a unique tech for the Jurchens that can be researched at the Castle in Castle Age. It allows all Stable units and Iron Pagodas deal 5 trample damage.
Strategy[]
Because cavalry is important for the Jurchen army, researching Guaizi Ma is a must research tech for the Jurchens. The trample damage will make the Jurchen cavalry (especially Knights) very threatening even against a group of Pikemen since the cavalry will damage adjacent units. The trample damage is also very useful for the Jurchen Camels, allowing the Camels to be very damaging against other cavalry units when clumped near each other. Much like Druzhina, researching other Blacksmith techs beforehand should not be disregarded, since Guaizi Ma happens to be a very expensive tech that is far more expensive than Druzhina.
Trivia[]
- Guaizi Ma is one of the few techs where the Castle Age tech is more expensive than the Imperial Age tech, Huo Pao.
- There is a debate among historians whether or not the Guaizi Ma was used by the Jin/Jurchen dynasty or the Song dynasty. It was believed that the Jurchen cavalry wore heavy armor in battle where three cavalryman chained the horses together to improve combat capacity. However, historians have argued it was possibly a Song cavalry tactic against the Jin dynasty.
Unique Tech:Huo Pao[]
Huo Pao is a Jurchen unique tech that be researched at the Castle once Imperial Age is reached. Once researched, it allows Trebuchets and Bombard Cannons to forcefully eject units garrisoned in buildings.
Strategy[]
Huo Pao enhances the Jurchen's Trebuchet and Bombard Cannon sieging capacity by forcefully ungarrison units that are garrisoned in buildings. This includes Town Centers, Castles, and towers. Any units that are garrisoned in unit production buildings via waypoint such as Barracks, Archery Ranges, etc. will be ejected when the projectile strikes the building. Similarly, any relic garrisoned in Monasteries will automatically be ejected, thus denying the enemy player gold generation.
This is tech useful against civilizations that greatly benefit from garrisoning units inside towers and Castles for more defensive power (such as the Teutons and the Japanese).