Is Age of Empires 2 Mongolian Mounted Archer really strong? In fact, it's all game made up

This is the 580th original article of the Old Boy Game Box, by @Ordinary Happiness

Age of Empires 2, a civilized real-time strategy game created by Microsoft in 1999, still has a place on my computer today. It is different from the sci-fi color of "StarCraft", but also different from the historical overhead of "Red Alert", it is the various historical events of world civilization and then perfectly presented in the game, the game covers most of the war facts from the decline of the Roman Empire to the Middle Ages, including some historical events in East Asia, a total of 13 civilizations for players to choose, its bright game screen, novel play, convenient control, are breathtaking.

"Age of Empires 2" has a number of Eastern civilizations for us to choose from, as a force that cannot be ignored in Chinese history and even world history, "Mongolia" is a heavyweight force among them. Mongolian Mounted Archer (Mongolian Horseman), as an elite class in the Mongolian army, is one of the strongest troops in the late game, not only loved by game fans, but also talked about by military fans and various historical research

In the game, Mongolian mounted archers as a representative class of Mongolia, integrating all the characteristics of the player's ideal "kite flying" playing style, although the health points, attack power, etc. are not satisfactory, but the victory is flexible, the most important thing is that there is an advantage in siege weapons, imagine the other party set up a catapult and attacked our castle, but encountered the scene of Mongolian horses firing in unison in our castle.

How fast do Mongol mounted archers fight siege weapons? Dismantling stone carts and ballistae is like dismantling blocks, which is probably because of the rocket shot (at least it looks like).

However, Mongolian mounted archers also have many shortcomings, such as hitting buildings that are really not amazing, like the picture below so many Mongolian mounted archers surround an enemy temple, that is more than ten minutes, fortunately the computer is very easy, otherwise I don't know how many people the computer will send out to let these Mongolian horse shooters suffer from the enemy. It can be said that in terms of offensive ability, an elite Mongolian horse archer is not as good as a villager with full skill points going up and slashing with an iron shovel.

There is also in the encounter, the range of the Mongolian mounted archer is not farther than the general long-range troops, if it is against the elite spear thrower, the Mongolian mounted archer is not as good as the other party, pay attention to the picture below, the Mongolian mounted archer there quietly bears the spear of the spear thrower, this kite seems to have a feeling of reaction.

Even though Mongolian mounted archers have so many shortcomings, Age of Empires 2's Mongolia is still made too sci-fi, because in history, such a powerful mounted shooter is almost impossible to exist. From 1219 to 1260 AD, the Mongol Empire launched three western expeditions, all the way to the bank of the Danube River, establishing a large Mongol Empire of about 28.4 million to 31.08 million square kilometers, for these Western expeditions of the Mongols, Europeans were terrified, comparing it to another yellow attack on Islamic civilization and Christian civilization after the Hun king Attila invaded the West 800 years ago, also known as the "whip of God", and later called it the "yellow peril", which became an indelible nightmare in the hearts of Europeans.

Because this history is too far away, the scene of the Mongol cavalry conquest in all directions made up by everyone's brains is probably on the endless plain, the Mongolian horse archers are galloping to kill the enemy's phalanx, accompanied by a rain of arrows, the enemy phalanx dozens of meters away quickly melts like ice and snow under the scorching sun, or with a whistle, the Mongol cavalry shooters are fighting and retreating, using the tactic of flying kites to exhaust the enemy's forces little by little, this pleasant feeling wants to quickly open "Empire" and "Interstellar" Real-time strategy games like Hit & Run are a hit & run to ravage the computer.

But unfortunately, these only exist in everyone's imagination, because at that time, the main force of the Mongol Empire across Eurasia was heavy cavalry accounting for about 40% of the total strength, and at that time Mongolia had basically pocketed East Asia into its arms, and had almost inherited the full set of science and technology trees of Jin and Song, and these heavy cavalry can be said to be humanoid tanks on the steppe, probably similar to the shape below.

Why is the Mongolian mounted archer not the killer of the Mongol army? The reason is very simple, you might as well ride a bicycle while pedaling with a dart and throw it to try to see the head, or go downstairs to the supermarket next to the rocking chair, which is the "what is mom's mother, mom's mom is grandma".

Then sit up and get a small dart or a small water gun to try? You think about the horse on the back of the horse at a speed of tens of kilometers per hour, the shoulder blades of the horse shook and shook an earthquake, and you had to hold the horse's belly between your legs to prevent it from falling, at that time you don't talk about archery, being able to sit firmly is not something that ordinary people can do.

In history, people who can ride and shoot on horseback at high speed and shoot in a hundred shots are basically rare, even if it is the flying general Li Guang during the Western Han Dynasty, Dong Zhuo who can open the bow left and right in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the "flying general" Lü Bu, Tang Taizong Li Shimin and the famous general Di Qing of the Northern Song Dynasty, just because of the "good riding and shooting", these people can leave a great name in the history books of ink and gold, it can be seen that if the Mongolian army of tens of thousands can be good at riding and shooting, it is not as simple as sweeping Eurasia at all.

In fact, the characteristics of Mongolian mounted archers in "Age of Empires 2" also show from the side that the role played by Mongolian mounted archers in history is to harass, that is, to constantly harass, with the help of the speed advantage of war horses to run out of the enemy's range, and then dismount to stand and throw or shoot arrows directly, and after the invasion is completed, get on the horse and run directly. Note that this is still to shoot arrows at places where the enemy's infantry and shooters are weakly defended, because the real power of mounted archers is not comparable to those infantry archers, after all, people are fighting positional battles, they are down-to-earth and shoot against you, and the general range of the infantry bow is higher than that of the horse bow, don't be shot as a hedgehog before the enemy is in front of the enemy. In this way, when the opponent's lineup is loosened, it is time for the hoplites to appear.

Therefore, the real Mongolian mounted shooter is probably far less godly than the game portrayed. In the future, when you go out or play "Age of Empires 2" online with others, if others say that the Mongolian Mounted Archer is the killer of the Mongolian Legion, you can smile and lead him to the rocking chair next to the supermarket, then throw a dollar coin to let him sit in, and give him a water gun to let him simulate it.

Author: Ordinary happiness

Editor: Xiao Lei