It would be cool if they gave Tarkans bonus damage vs villagers. It would be a unique bonus while fitting nicely into the theme of Huns being a nomadic raiding civ and carve out a somewhat larger niche for Tarkans as a superior raiding unit compared to Paladins.
@@MrFatalSilence They are strong against buildings but halberdiers and even regular champion destroy them. Paladin at least beat champion and also can beat halberdiers before halberdiers gaining number advantage but Tarkan get wrecked by even small number of halberdiers.
It’s always seemed clear to me that Tarkans are designed to eat TCs in Castle Age. They’re a raiding unit, which fits thematically. Tarkans are even carrying a torch!
@Emperor AlHasan Teutons' cavalry, Saracens' archer, Tatars and Cumans' Cavalry archers, Bulgarian's infantry and other changes. I think the changes are a lot:)
Agreed, I used Tarkans against multiple single units as multiple horses. Quite didn't work out but the Tarkan DPS fared well against Castles and other Defensive buildings.
Yep definitely. I think the only reason they are somewhat comparable to knights, is simply so that you could hold your own vs enemy cavalry instead of having to make a split army of your own just to compensate for going with Tarkans. Historically it's also more accurate to see them as a raiding unit that would pillage and burn the enemy town and quickly move on to the next before anyone could ever send a message for help or warning. That's how they got their vast empire.
Them being an almost-kinda-knight at the same time basically just means you can get a whole lot more of them without being too one-trick leaning, some extra versatility can make a huge difference in complex engagements.
Plumed archer is the only archer Tarkans shine against since they're the only archer that caps out at 9 damage (perfect for Tarkans 8 Pierce armor). Very situational, but yeah Tarkans feel situational in general.
This is why I wish the Huns would get Steppe Lancers. It makes sense for them from a historical perspective, since the Huns are a nomadic raiding culture originating from central Asia, and Steppe Lancers would be the perfect melee compliment to Tarkans. Tarkans are archer resistant and great against buildings, while Steppe Lancers could use their +1 range to attack from behind the Tarkans. I think it would be fine from a balance perspective as well, since having Steppe Lancers doesn't address any of the Huns biggest weaknesses, like their vulnerability to camel civs or their very weak late game siege. In Castle Age people always go for Knights over Steppe Lancers already, so no change there, and in Imperial Age Elite Tarkans + Steppe Lancers could be an fun alterative to Paladins. Also, its very unlikely that a player will be able to afford Elite Tarkans, Heavy Cavalry Archers, Elite Steppe Lancers, and Paladins all in one game (outside of very long team games) so going for Tarkans + Steppe Lancers vs going for Paladins would be a choice you would have to commit to in most cases. I just wish Tarkans would see more use since I think they are a cool unique unit but right now Paladins just seems to be hands down the better play in most games.
I wonder why Huns are in AoE2 even if they belongs to the ancient world. It makes much more sense they were in AoE1. Even their campaign is set way before the date of 476 AD, which set the end of ancient era and the beginning of middle ages. At least, we wouldn't have West Rome represented by Byzantines in that campaign.
@@renzoraschioni3886 Age 1 is set BCE. The Huns appear way too late to be relevant to Age 1. The Huns don't belong in a game with civs like the ancient Egyptians and Carthaginians. They belong in the common era and are a better fit for Age 2.
@@gabrielmelnik6796 You mean like the Persians, Magyars, Spanish, Franks, Lithuanians, and Teutons? God forbid we have a bit more variety in this game...
Thank you by the way, Spirit of the Law, for keeping a steady stream of content going. I hope it's not taking too heavy of a toll. My house recently burned and my computer was in it and was destroyed so I'm unable to play AoE2:DE at this time. videos like this keep me going but more importantly, keep me informed so I never miss things going on in the game. 'ppreciate it my dude.
Back in the day you'd always argue about exactly what the Tarkan's weapon was due to the janky graphics. Is it a burning torch? A flail? A cat of nine tails? No one could agree entirely.
@@Chraan I'm talking about the original low-resolution game, where it only animated on attacking buildings and was so small you can't really make out what it is at all.
Yeah, it was always rather confusing with the old graphics. I figured it out by looking up the basis for the unit to settle exactly what it was hitting buildings with.
@@kauske I can't agree on that. I remember that I had trouble with some other units, but the torch was really distinctive. Also you are wrong that it only animated on buildings, the sparks showed up attacking all units as well.
you made an error at 6:00 when you compare upgrade times of Knights to Paladins and Tarkans. since you compare Huns Cav you must add the faster working Stables.
The tarkan should be regarded as the "super hussar" Its a better meatshield than hussar, its got better damage. But like the hussar it cant out-perform the raw power of the paladin. Its role in the hunnic army is a mix of hussar + siege in one unit. Though I would say its a better option if its an option for someone since they are kinda like faster but less powerful rams with hussar built-in.
i like to mix in ~1/5 tarkans when playing knights with huns. keep them on a separate control group and prioritize towers and such with them and its really nice. kinda falls apart in imp though because you really have to choose one to upgrade then
I used them for sniping in regicide games. Basically I spam a bunch of them, research spies, and target them directly on the castle their king is in. The plan relies on their advantage against buildings to get through walls and destroy the castle before they are all killed and their speed to just blitz through everything. You have to accept a decent amount of casualties but it can very quickly take our powerful opponents without needing to face most of their army. Of course I mainly play against computers so not sure how it work against people.
Hey spirit One thing you didn't consider here which i was also missing in the stirrups video, a comparison with equal costs actually factoring in the Paladin cost, since especially in 1v1s, that's a huuge investment, so "How well would x amount of Paladin do against y amount of Elite Tarkans (or Stirrups Chevalier) when you have same res for the units themselves AND the upgrade cost combined", maybe you could add that in case you do a similar video on Farimba or other techs of that kind :D
Spirit actually made a video about exactly this (see "is the paladin upgrade worth it", pt. 1 and 2). The conclusion was basically that if you're not making at least 40ish units in the knight line, the paladin upgrade is not worth it (so 20 paladins vs 20+(paladin upgrade cost worth) of cavaliers, the paladins lose).
@@nicholasscarsdale1608 that video was only about generic paladin compared to generic chevaliers, not about stirrups, tarkans, maybe farimba or other unique techs/units
In pro games the research time is a massive factor. In a scenario where you are against franks going cav and you get to imp at the same time with the same numbers you just completely destroy. Cav civs are most vulnerable right after reaching imp when researching upgrades but this is less true for huns which often get to elite tarken before a different cav civ gets cavillier
A too-much under-rated unit: people seem to look weird when I say I like Huns on black forest: Good cav archers take out all trade carts and good tarkans take out all markets! You cannot bring rams and trebs to take out markets - or if you can, you already won the game anyways. Most people tend to do paladins to kill markets, but tarkans are just must more effective and also effective to ttake out shallow walls they might put up fast... On open maps I like to send tarkans to attack houses to house the enemy. Mobile anti-building force :-)
I have been running into an increasing number of players, particularly in team games, that play Huns basically for the sole purpose of getting a group of Tarkans and straight up winning the game by swooping in and destroying your entire eco in the blink of an eye, and there is essentially nothing you can do about it unless you can win before they do it (not likely). Think about it. What do you usually do to protect from raids? TCs close to your vills, castles in or around your eco, even stone wall your entire eco? Tarkans don't care. At All. They will happily chew through every bit of stone you just threw in the garbage to stop them, and then mop up all your vills. They will happily run around your base avoiding all the halbs that are too slow to catch them, and shrug off any arrow fire, even from large numbers of cav archers that can actually keep up with them. It seems that the only possible answer is to have an equal or larger number of paladins constantly sitting around your eco, at which point, you've already lost. Tarkans are race car speed siege rams that can also slaughter vills better than hussar while still being immune to range fire, and in my opinion, it is not ok.
Doing a mechanic video of a unit right before the big patch that the devs have been teasing? Quite bold, staying true to your words in the Keshik video I see
@@sliceofbread2611 it's a 4v4 scenario in which each player has to defend their 4 castles. You automatically produce your (elite)UU untill you got 60. You age up by getting a certain amount of kills, which depends on each civ. Most civs start at feudal age, but some in castle age. You get vils by razing a certain amount of buildings, which usually is in the range of 1-4, although you need 7 to get vils with huns, because tarkans are amazing at getting razes. When you get vils, it's common to start with building 2 walls, the first one to protect your castles, the second to protect your gates at the front. After that, you start building military production buildings to start spamming the preferred unit(s), usually arbs, hca's, eagles, or cavaliers/paladins, sometimes camels, it depends a bit on your tech tree and your matchups (don't make archers against goths for example). You only should start the spam with castle age units, and you can't build eles (depends a bit on the version), mangonels, scorps and everything from your castle. You can't build castles and bbt's as well. It's impossible to get res, but you got practically infinite res at the start. It's very popular, got even it's own varieties and combines quite well with 3×/6×/9× tech
@@bartelvandervelden9894 i have been thinking of a gamemode similar to this, to make it a bit more like mount and blade.. but the scenario editor was so before DE with all the triggers and such, so i never tried.. i dont know if the trigger editing changed in DE, i should have a look. i did make a map once where one player has to invade an island and destroying certain buildings in villages on the island would give certain resources to allow reinforcements to be created.. but nobody really wanted to play/test it with me so it never got anywhere.
Wasn't the whole "basically a cavalry-ram" pretty well known since the original conquerors? As far as I remember the bonus-damage against buildings was there from the start. Basically, you keep the enemy paladins busy with some trash (the huns have halberds and elite skirms) while tearing down town centers, towers and castles.
Yea I never knew anyone actually questioned the use for Tarkans. Pillage and burn is their strength, running around in enemy eco, killing and sacking buildings, while disregarding arrowfire and outpacing pikemen.. So difficult to get rid of. Not meant as a main battlefield unit.
I think the problem is that people don't really appreciate the tactic of Eco raiding as much as they appreciate frontline battles. Hence they assess tarkan abilities as a frontline unit first and as a raider later. Their missing out. TC sniping with tarkans is one of the most fun tactics in the game.
@@robincray116 In AoE3 it's even more infuriating because pikemen (cheapest throwaway unit of them all) have an anti-building bonus and a single batch can destroy unprotected trading outposts in a reasonable amount of time - you may not notice if you are currently defending your base.
You are 100% right. That was my only use for them. And they were really efficient at that too. Perfect with the overall strategy of Huns relying heavily on cavalry to use siege units as fast as cavalry.
Chad Tarkan >too badass to wear armor >still tanks more arrows >sets buildings on fire using torch, just like it's supposed to be >has refined taste in architecture and doesn't enjoy destroying fully upgraded buildings
Honestly what I think holds Tarkans back is their high gold cost relative to their performance. If it was reduced a little further I think it'd be a more useful unit as it'd also have the option to act as a middle-line calvary between Paladins and Hussars.
Hey, Spirit of the Law! Any chance you will release a CBA playthrough or video like you have with Roll the Dice or Jurassic Park? I've been playing CBA since the earliest maps on HD in 2013. With the release of DE, there hasn't been much publicity, and as such, good maps and scripting have been missing. DE is certainly the better platform to play on but without good maps or balancing, the community won't move to DE. I would hope that more publicity/interest would build a stronger community that isn't divided between the two platforms and allow map scripters a chance to showcase their work. Thanks for all the content! I watch every video!
@@nicolinrucker5181lol the knights always beat the cataprachts. The knight line has more armor, higher attack, more hp. A generic paladin has 30 more hp amd 4 more attack.
One factor to also consider vs archers, is that Tarkans may have a greater benefit vs hit-and-run tactics. When you are not in all out wars, the player with archers will often try to micro them around and try to put distance between the archers and the cavalry. Here the Tarkans will be able to withstand more arrows, so they more easily can close the distance even when the archers keep pulling back again and again, whereas the Knights might fall too quickly to offer much meaningful damage. Then again I never saw Tarkans as direct anti archer versions of the Knight - more so a raiding version of the Knight which can more comfortably run under TC and tower fire while raiding eco and putting preassure on buildings as well, especially early on where 2+2 knights are considered a big deal, tarkans will naturally be even more difficult to deal with if you have xbows and quickwalls / house walls etc.
I just got the DE and Tarkans during the Attila's campaign are my go to unit, they eat town centers and castle's so fast. They really improved them and I'm really glad my fav unit got better
Tarkans are already extremely useful if you treat them the way they are designed. If you go against a fortified enemy and you want to quickly burst through and raid not just their eco but also their buildings, Tarkans are the best unit. Having a group of Tarkans in your base is so much more terrifying than a group of Knights, because even if you wall your villagers or garrison them, the Tarkans will still find a way through. Just don't use them as your main frontline unit in the big fights outside the enemy base.
@@Real_MisterSir I know they can destroy tc’s and castles by ease but they are not good without c archers or any archers if they are against another unit.But i know a tactic with them it was the only tactic i was able to succeed with.send a pack of them to the enemy base while his main army is fighting.But you gotta be careful with the town raid units cuz if you don’t pay attention they can die without doing anything.But thx for the info.
the Tarkan seems to be a raiding unit rather than an anti archer unit. - they are fast. - they have bonus vs buldings/walls so they can get inside your base to raid it., also take your town centers. - they have good pierce armor, so castles, town centers, towers do less damage. - they cost less gold and food than paladins. - you can build them of a stable so you can replenish them faster. ps: one time i tried to trap a tarkan army againts my walls with my pikeman, turns out they destroyed my walls super fast, get inside my base, detroyed my town centers and make a mess inside my base, by the time i cleared them up the game was over.
since conquerors i saw tarkans as siege cavalary. they are just fast building destroyers for hit and run. and the purpose of the extra pierce armor (even if astetic wise doesnt make sense) is so they can tank towers tc and castle better as they hit and run. while most siege is clunky and sometimes doesnt deal good damage to military (looking at you ram) that was the niche tarkans fufilled
Damn, I didn't realize that Tarkans are specialized stone-busters. It seems like their best performances really are just breaking through fortifications, busting through towers, and sniping castles and town centres, huh.
Yep indeed. They are more like highly mobile mini rams, than combat units - even though they can hold their own if they have to. They aren't anti archer either, but rather anti "enemy arrow defenses" such as castles, towers, and TCs, which allows them to raid more without being deterred by arrowfire.
@@Real_MisterSir Perhaps it's best to describe Tarkans as specialized raider against fortified area of enemy's base, since they can take out defensive structure so easily. They're like the opposite of Keshik as a raid unit - Tarkans is for destroying any passive defense set up and damaging bases, leaving for opportunities for light cav raid in the future unless enemy rebuild their fortification, or forced to leave some of their or forces to defend against more Tarkans raid. Keshik on the other hand is more diverse that it can either be in the main army being cost effective alternative of knights, or also raid enemy for instant and up front damage by both killing villagers AND getting some gold in the process. Because of Tarkans, quite arguably Huns is the best raiding civ one can pick on AOE2
As a KId, I was cavalry orientated player and did always struggled with the Aztecs Campaing. I remember that in some of the missions you can capture horses to get cavalry units of your own. I was really excited to get some horses to support my army. Then the horses turned into Tarkans and I was mad disappointed. Back then, I didnt see potential in Tarkans outside of niche plays and with current video it seems that they arent very verstile to use and you need to be skillful to properly get full use of them.
Aztecs, Spanish, Teutons, Burmese, and then Saracens, ranked from #1 to #5. Aztecs are an obvious #1 with their HP bonus, and get extra credit for getting more gold from relics. Spanish monks can convert better with Inquisition, and they also get credit for the Missonary. Teutons can heal from twice the normal distance. Burmese are missing one Monastery tech, but the rest are 50% cheaper. And Saracens have a full tech tree Madrasah to get some of your Monk gold back if they are killed. Honorable Mentions: Byzantines, Lithuanians, Malians, Portuguese, Slavs
@Emperor AlHasan This is a matter of philosophy. If Monks are meant to largely be healers, then Byzantine monks are the best. I however view healing as something Monks can do when recharging from conversions, and thus worth a lot less weight.
Really, if the game developers wanted to make the Tarkan to be loved again by most of all players, instead of making a crappy technology like Marauders and Atheism, they should have made the Tarkan *to gain a passive ability like the Age of Mythology's Fenris' Brood Wolves or the Age of Empires II* : *The Warchiefs' Tashunke Prowlers* . The former have increased damage when grouped with up to 5 other Fenris' Brood Wolves and the latter have increased attack and hit point when grouped with up to 14 other Tashunke Prowlers. For the purpose of a "mounted battering ram", this ability should become very handy when dealing with civilizations that heavily rely on defense (like Byzantines, Teutons and Khmer). It's pretty balanced, considering that the Tarkans has not melee armor and their attack is lower than the Knight's, and thus the only way to counter them is using mass spearmen to reduce their numbers and weaken their offensive strength before they could reach critical mass alongside Cavalry Archers and Paladins and become a city-killer deathball. Also, *Marauders should be revamped* : instead of allowing Stables to train Tarkans, the Tarkans themselves could gain the ability to produce an income of resources (perhaps Gold) each time they attack an enemy building (like Keshik Gold-producing attacks on enemy units). Again, this would become pretty handy for the Huns, who doesn't have any other economic advantage aside from not requiring houses to support population and their cheap Cavalry Archers compared to other cavalry archer civilizations like the Mongols (Hunters gather faster), the Tatars (Herdables have more Food) and the Cumans (earlier TC in Feudal), although it's more a middle-game bonus once the player enters the Castle Age. With all this, I think anyone reading this would grab it and reclaim the game developers to add this to the game itself. I imagine that there're many Huns-mains would really like to have stronger mass Tarkans and a resource-producing Unique Tech available and mown through enemy cities while crying loudly " _Uragshaa davshaad!_ ".
I'd love to see a game where a player uses a group of tarkans to snipe farms, burning through the opponents wood and slowing their food collection in one.
Tarkans and cav archer has always been one of my favorite ways of playing the huns. It's especially good against the AI, it just can't figure out how to solve that one.
I like the bulk of my fighting force to be knights for securing positions on the map and such, but I like to keep a few tarkans in my back pocket for raiding exclusively.
I normally start with a small scout rush, then Knights and Cav Archers in Castle age until I can get a castle up and research Marauders. Then I stick with Tarkans through Imperial Age because I figure buying more Cav Archers with the gold I save on Tarkans over Knight line (and their upgrades) offsets the difference in performance. Once I have Tarkans and Cav Archers fully upgraded I go for the Hussar upgrade as well, so whatever surplus food I have after blowing all my gold on CA and Tarkans goes into Hussars. Basically the only thing I have to worry about is heavy cavalry or camels forcing a direct engagement, and if my opponent can afford to do that I clearly am not using my army properly given it's basically purpose-built for eco raiding.
When playing Huns, I use archer cavalry to lure enemy units into a wild goose chase while my tarkins hit the infrastructure of the base - destroy the enemy’s houses, recruiting facilities and economic structures as there forces play with the archers.
The best thing about Tarkans is the reinforced neck the protects them from Force chokes. Even Sith lords who routinely choke out admirals with no consequence have to respect and form working relationships with Tarkans. (Less ironic humor - the character is probably named after the historical warriors. Naming bad guys after Huns and Saracens is a popular way of writers establishing 'this guy is evil'. )
I know it wouldn't make any major difference, but it surprises me that the Tarkan, a unit that carries a torch, has a fairly average Line of Sight for a Unique Unit.
This video made me gain more respect for tarkans. In a stalemate game, imagine raiding with Tarkans instead of Hussards? They're stronger at everything and can fend off Paladin patrols. Maybe a slight gold decrease would make them very viable
They are also far better against Mayan Plumed Archers, as even the elite versions only deal 1 damage per hit to Elite Tarkans instead of 2 like they do to Paladins and 3 to Cavalier
It’s crazy to me how huns manage to be top tier, almost entirely because of only fully upgraded knights and cheaper cav archers. Like, that’s it really. Their unique castle options are all doodoo water, the treb buff is negligible at best, and the not needing houses thing is alright, but not the craziest “eco” bonus.
Some civs just aren't famous for their _unique_ stuff. Franks for example are most notable for their Paladins, not their axe throwers (though admittedly Chivalry _is_ a neat unique tech)
The huns barely have fortifications themselves but their Tarkans are meant to attack enemy fortifications and go in on the villagers, the cheap cav archers and other units are meant to help them. Which is also why huns miss so many techs.
I think tarkans are great to go with knights as they do bonus damage to buildings. I like to use them to damage watch towers and castles while knights take care units. Considering they are calvary they can maneuver around arrows from towers and such.
A mobile anti-building unit seems like a lot of raiding potential to me. I love using cavalry archers, but while rams/trebs are also among my very favorite units (I have a thing for disruption I guess), both have huge issues in that hit-and-run type of engagement where you aren't controlling ground in range of a good attack launch that requires more commitment. The fact they then also hold up decently in some other respects seems to make them a pretty balanced unit to me, even some flashy game-winning sudden blitzkrieg potential. I also just love raiders, they generate value throughout the game, get out mostly unscathed, can add to your defenses, and are there again for big fights.
the Tarkan really needs something to reflect the "psychological warfare" kind of tactics the huns used, maybe they should give them a bit of trample damage, or boost their eco raid potential by increasing the damage they do to villagers and/or "civilian" buildings (houses, resource buildings and farms)
Knight: has shield
Tarkan: has TORCH
Tarkan gets the extra anti arrow armor
Uhh... The fire from the torch burns the arrow?
Yea lets go with that.
Arrows are made out of wood
torches burn wood
checkmate Paladins!
It makes perfect sense:
Tarkans: use Torch
Archers: are blinded and miss the shots
Just like the uruk pikemen in The two towers...
The pure confidence of Tarkans gives them extra plot armor
Tarkans are better riders and can dodge arrows on horseback.
It would be cool if they gave Tarkans bonus damage vs villagers. It would be a unique bonus while fitting nicely into the theme of Huns being a nomadic raiding civ and carve out a somewhat larger niche for Tarkans as a superior raiding unit compared to Paladins.
It'd be like the Oprichnik in AoEIII. I like it but there should have to be a trade off
@@EsquivadorDePala u have lots of trade off. Less dps, mele armor and Hp
If anything, Karambit Warriors should have that bonus instead.
Oh God please no. You obviously haven't been raided by tarkans if you think they need to be better at it.
@@MrFatalSilence They are strong against buildings but halberdiers and even regular champion destroy them. Paladin at least beat champion and also can beat halberdiers before halberdiers gaining number advantage but Tarkan get wrecked by even small number of halberdiers.
It’s always seemed clear to me that Tarkans are designed to eat TCs in Castle Age. They’re a raiding unit, which fits thematically. Tarkans are even carrying a torch!
Somebody call Hoang
The problem is they used to be so so bad, but Huns were so good that buffing their UU would have been a bit silly.
Yep, I always used Tarkans as fast/light siege units, rather than a cavalry line troop.
remember that Hoang started off with huns, perhaps that's where he got his appetite from...
Making the video 11:11 minutes, on 11/11? That's such a SOTL thing to do :P
how do you guys notice this kind of stuff 0.o
11
I was about to comment the shame 1111 hahahaha
1111
Give this man 1111 likes
I sense a Hun overview remaster coming.
I wish he would do a new huns overview
Top 5 civs remaster could be awesome (like top 5 cavalry or archer etc.)
@Emperor AlHasan Teutons' cavalry, Saracens' archer, Tatars and Cumans' Cavalry archers, Bulgarian's infantry and other changes. I think the changes are a lot:)
I've always considered Tarkans the equivalent to highly mobile rams. I'm certain the devs had in mind for them to be city-razers, not combat units.
Agreed, I used Tarkans against multiple single units as multiple horses. Quite didn't work out but the Tarkan DPS fared well against Castles and other Defensive buildings.
I'm not sure they're quite strong enough against buildings to justify building them at the moment, especially non-fortification buildings
Yep definitely. I think the only reason they are somewhat comparable to knights, is simply so that you could hold your own vs enemy cavalry instead of having to make a split army of your own just to compensate for going with Tarkans. Historically it's also more accurate to see them as a raiding unit that would pillage and burn the enemy town and quickly move on to the next before anyone could ever send a message for help or warning. That's how they got their vast empire.
Why didnt they made Tarkans stealing resourses from enemy buildings then. Maybe not even Gold as this is a bit too mainstream but Food.
I love how the entire video he was comparing Tarkans to Knights (which is the main point of the video)
and then suddenly
*Huskarls*
Castle: *is designed and built specifically to protect against mounted raiders with torches*
Tarkans: hi
tldr:
Tarkan: fight your opponents base
Knight: fight most units (in the field)
So basically what we expect from a dude on a horse with a torch.
Them being an almost-kinda-knight at the same time basically just means you can get a whole lot more of them without being too one-trick leaning, some extra versatility can make a huge difference in complex engagements.
I hope I am not making a mistake, but for now, WE RIDE WITH THE HUNS!
Keep in mind, Bleda will lead us to ruin
@@tomaszsmol3920 It would be a shame if there is an accident with a boar...
@@AgeofNoob It was an ambush! Bleda tried to kill Attila! He is not fit to rule!
"why were the archers hiding in the forest?"
I see a lot of men of culture here. Faith in humanity restored.
Seeing Huskarls just eat through arbalests like they're nothing always gives me a giggle
Plumed archer is the only archer Tarkans shine against since they're the only archer that caps out at 9 damage (perfect for Tarkans 8 Pierce armor). Very situational, but yeah Tarkans feel situational in general.
This is why I wish the Huns would get Steppe Lancers. It makes sense for them from a historical perspective, since the Huns are a nomadic raiding culture originating from central Asia, and Steppe Lancers would be the perfect melee compliment to Tarkans. Tarkans are archer resistant and great against buildings, while Steppe Lancers could use their +1 range to attack from behind the Tarkans. I think it would be fine from a balance perspective as well, since having Steppe Lancers doesn't address any of the Huns biggest weaknesses, like their vulnerability to camel civs or their very weak late game siege. In Castle Age people always go for Knights over Steppe Lancers already, so no change there, and in Imperial Age Elite Tarkans + Steppe Lancers could be an fun alterative to Paladins. Also, its very unlikely that a player will be able to afford Elite Tarkans, Heavy Cavalry Archers, Elite Steppe Lancers, and Paladins all in one game (outside of very long team games) so going for Tarkans + Steppe Lancers vs going for Paladins would be a choice you would have to commit to in most cases. I just wish Tarkans would see more use since I think they are a cool unique unit but right now Paladins just seems to be hands down the better play in most games.
I loved this. I hope SotL takes a look at this comment.
Just go for knights lol
I wonder why Huns are in AoE2 even if they belongs to the ancient world. It makes much more sense they were in AoE1. Even their campaign is set way before the date of 476 AD, which set the end of ancient era and the beginning of middle ages. At least, we wouldn't have West Rome represented by Byzantines in that campaign.
@@renzoraschioni3886 Age 1 is set BCE. The Huns appear way too late to be relevant to Age 1. The Huns don't belong in a game with civs like the ancient Egyptians and Carthaginians. They belong in the common era and are a better fit for Age 2.
@@gabrielmelnik6796 You mean like the Persians, Magyars, Spanish, Franks, Lithuanians, and Teutons? God forbid we have a bit more variety in this game...
Thank you by the way, Spirit of the Law, for keeping a steady stream of content going. I hope it's not taking too heavy of a toll. My house recently burned and my computer was in it and was destroyed so I'm unable to play AoE2:DE at this time. videos like this keep me going but more importantly, keep me informed so I never miss things going on in the game. 'ppreciate it my dude.
Man, your voice is so chill. I've been listening to your videos and eventually falling asleep for like half an a year lol.
Back in the day you'd always argue about exactly what the Tarkan's weapon was due to the janky graphics. Is it a burning torch? A flail? A cat of nine tails? No one could agree entirely.
No? I never had any doubts it would be a torch, especially with the sparks coming out with every hit
@@Chraan I'm talking about the original low-resolution game, where it only animated on attacking buildings and was so small you can't really make out what it is at all.
Yeah, it was always rather confusing with the old graphics. I figured it out by looking up the basis for the unit to settle exactly what it was hitting buildings with.
@@Chraan Ok, good for you, you must have had a huge monitor, because the rest of us back in 1999 had trouble making out a blob of pixels...
@@kauske I can't agree on that. I remember that I had trouble with some other units, but the torch was really distinctive. Also you are wrong that it only animated on buildings, the sparks showed up attacking all units as well.
what a birthday gift , my fav underrated unit no less, thanks for making it
you made an error at 6:00 when you compare upgrade times of Knights to Paladins and Tarkans. since you compare Huns Cav you must add the faster working Stables.
Good point. Should be more like a 3 min difference. Nice catch.
@@SpiritOfTheLaw you don’t make mistakes just happy accidents
Love this kind of content. It gives new players like me insight on the Civs I don't play often.
Wanted this for too long.
Thank you Spirit of the Law.
The tarkan should be regarded as the "super hussar" Its a better meatshield than hussar, its got better damage. But like the hussar it cant out-perform the raw power of the paladin.
Its role in the hunnic army is a mix of hussar + siege in one unit. Though I would say its a better option if its an option for someone since they are kinda like faster but less powerful rams with hussar built-in.
What a nice segue into the ram comparison.
i like to mix in ~1/5 tarkans when playing knights with huns. keep them on a separate control group and prioritize towers and such with them and its really nice. kinda falls apart in imp though because you really have to choose one to upgrade then
Oh my... I’ve waited for this video for a long time! Greetings from Brazil
I used them for sniping in regicide games. Basically I spam a bunch of them, research spies, and target them directly on the castle their king is in. The plan relies on their advantage against buildings to get through walls and destroy the castle before they are all killed and their speed to just blitz through everything. You have to accept a decent amount of casualties but it can very quickly take our powerful opponents without needing to face most of their army. Of course I mainly play against computers so not sure how it work against people.
I forgot this unit existed tbh. I never play huns.
Btw. You have the best intro music ever
Hey spirit
One thing you didn't consider here which i was also missing in the stirrups video, a comparison with equal costs actually factoring in the Paladin cost, since especially in 1v1s, that's a huuge investment, so "How well would x amount of Paladin do against y amount of Elite Tarkans (or Stirrups Chevalier) when you have same res for the units themselves AND the upgrade cost combined", maybe you could add that in case you do a similar video on Farimba or other techs of that kind :D
Spirit actually made a video about exactly this (see "is the paladin upgrade worth it", pt. 1 and 2). The conclusion was basically that if you're not making at least 40ish units in the knight line, the paladin upgrade is not worth it (so 20 paladins vs 20+(paladin upgrade cost worth) of cavaliers, the paladins lose).
@@nicholasscarsdale1608 that video was only about generic paladin compared to generic chevaliers, not about stirrups, tarkans, maybe farimba or other unique techs/units
Somehow the guy with plated armour and a shield is more vulnerable to arrows than guy in leather armor that just holding a burning stick.
In pro games the research time is a massive factor. In a scenario where you are against franks going cav and you get to imp at the same time with the same numbers you just completely destroy. Cav civs are most vulnerable right after reaching imp when researching upgrades but this is less true for huns which often get to elite tarken before a different cav civ gets cavillier
A too-much under-rated unit: people seem to look weird when I say I like Huns on black forest: Good cav archers take out all trade carts and good tarkans take out all markets! You cannot bring rams and trebs to take out markets - or if you can, you already won the game anyways. Most people tend to do paladins to kill markets, but tarkans are just must more effective and also effective to ttake out shallow walls they might put up fast... On open maps I like to send tarkans to attack houses to house the enemy. Mobile anti-building force :-)
I have been running into an increasing number of players, particularly in team games, that play Huns basically for the sole purpose of getting a group of Tarkans and straight up winning the game by swooping in and destroying your entire eco in the blink of an eye, and there is essentially nothing you can do about it unless you can win before they do it (not likely). Think about it. What do you usually do to protect from raids? TCs close to your vills, castles in or around your eco, even stone wall your entire eco? Tarkans don't care. At All. They will happily chew through every bit of stone you just threw in the garbage to stop them, and then mop up all your vills. They will happily run around your base avoiding all the halbs that are too slow to catch them, and shrug off any arrow fire, even from large numbers of cav archers that can actually keep up with them. It seems that the only possible answer is to have an equal or larger number of paladins constantly sitting around your eco, at which point, you've already lost. Tarkans are race car speed siege rams that can also slaughter vills better than hussar while still being immune to range fire, and in my opinion, it is not ok.
Takes 85/170 arrows to kill...
"Sir, we're under attack !! ... By... Hedgehogs..?
Do video on Bulgarian post imperial swordsmen pls. How does it compare to other infantry unites?
Doing a mechanic video of a unit right before the big patch that the devs have been teasing? Quite bold, staying true to your words in the Keshik video I see
Ahhh... the music, much love
FINALLY! CBA BEING MENTIONED IN A BIG AOE2 CHANNEL!
what is cba?
@@sliceofbread2611 it's a 4v4 scenario in which each player has to defend their 4 castles. You automatically produce your (elite)UU untill you got 60. You age up by getting a certain amount of kills, which depends on each civ. Most civs start at feudal age, but some in castle age. You get vils by razing a certain amount of buildings, which usually is in the range of 1-4, although you need 7 to get vils with huns, because tarkans are amazing at getting razes. When you get vils, it's common to start with building 2 walls, the first one to protect your castles, the second to protect your gates at the front. After that, you start building military production buildings to start spamming the preferred unit(s), usually arbs, hca's, eagles, or cavaliers/paladins, sometimes camels, it depends a bit on your tech tree and your matchups (don't make archers against goths for example). You only should start the spam with castle age units, and you can't build eles (depends a bit on the version), mangonels, scorps and everything from your castle. You can't build castles and bbt's as well. It's impossible to get res, but you got practically infinite res at the start.
It's very popular, got even it's own varieties and combines quite well with 3×/6×/9× tech
@@bartelvandervelden9894 ah, bedankt, sounds pretty crazy.
@@sliceofbread2611 it is, and ~90% of my total playtime comes from cba
@@bartelvandervelden9894 i have been thinking of a gamemode similar to this, to make it a bit more like mount and blade.. but the scenario editor was so before DE with all the triggers and such, so i never tried.. i dont know if the trigger editing changed in DE, i should have a look.
i did make a map once where one player has to invade an island and destroying certain buildings in villages on the island would give certain resources to allow reinforcements to be created.. but nobody really wanted to play/test it with me so it never got anywhere.
Wasn't the whole "basically a cavalry-ram" pretty well known since the original conquerors? As far as I remember the bonus-damage against buildings was there from the start. Basically, you keep the enemy paladins busy with some trash (the huns have halberds and elite skirms) while tearing down town centers, towers and castles.
Yea I never knew anyone actually questioned the use for Tarkans. Pillage and burn is their strength, running around in enemy eco, killing and sacking buildings, while disregarding arrowfire and outpacing pikemen.. So difficult to get rid of. Not meant as a main battlefield unit.
Yeah, I've been using them for that for 20 years lol.
I think the problem is that people don't really appreciate the tactic of Eco raiding as much as they appreciate frontline battles. Hence they assess tarkan abilities as a frontline unit first and as a raider later.
Their missing out. TC sniping with tarkans is one of the most fun tactics in the game.
@@robincray116
In AoE3 it's even more infuriating because pikemen (cheapest throwaway unit of them all) have an anti-building bonus and a single batch can destroy unprotected trading outposts in a reasonable amount of time - you may not notice if you are currently defending your base.
You are 100% right. That was my only use for them. And they were really efficient at that too. Perfect with the overall strategy of Huns relying heavily on cavalry to use siege units as fast as cavalry.
Highly mobile “light siege” is basically how I think of the Tarkan and they are extremely useful for that. Underrated
Tarkans in my mind are like the Oprichniks of AOE2
The chad Tarkan vs the Virgin Knight
Chad Tarkan
>too badass to wear armor
>still tanks more arrows
>sets buildings on fire using torch, just like it's supposed to be
>has refined taste in architecture and doesn't enjoy destroying fully upgraded buildings
@@DommHavai i lost it at the last one
@@DommHavai >destroy stone fortification cause real men didn't hide in building
@@bigbroarivus lol so true
Virgin knight fight with sword, the most boring weapon, chad tarkan's burning stick destroy archer and castle alike
Honestly what I think holds Tarkans back is their high gold cost relative to their performance. If it was reduced a little further I think it'd be a more useful unit as it'd also have the option to act as a middle-line calvary between Paladins and Hussars.
Hey, Spirit of the Law! Any chance you will release a CBA playthrough or video like you have with Roll the Dice or Jurassic Park? I've been playing CBA since the earliest maps on HD in 2013. With the release of DE, there hasn't been much publicity, and as such, good maps and scripting have been missing. DE is certainly the better platform to play on but without good maps or balancing, the community won't move to DE. I would hope that more publicity/interest would build a stronger community that isn't divided between the two platforms and allow map scripters a chance to showcase their work.
Thanks for all the content! I watch every video!
Could you compare the knight line to cavalry unique units? (not camels)
knight line will always win. except for boyars.
@@aminghasemi2621 konniks and leitis can as well
@@aminghasemi2621 also War elephant, Leitis and Konnik
@@aminghasemi2621 Cataphracts, fool.
@@nicolinrucker5181lol the knights always beat the cataprachts. The knight line has more armor, higher attack, more hp. A generic paladin has 30 more hp amd 4 more attack.
One factor to also consider vs archers, is that Tarkans may have a greater benefit vs hit-and-run tactics. When you are not in all out wars, the player with archers will often try to micro them around and try to put distance between the archers and the cavalry. Here the Tarkans will be able to withstand more arrows, so they more easily can close the distance even when the archers keep pulling back again and again, whereas the Knights might fall too quickly to offer much meaningful damage. Then again I never saw Tarkans as direct anti archer versions of the Knight - more so a raiding version of the Knight which can more comfortably run under TC and tower fire while raiding eco and putting preassure on buildings as well, especially early on where 2+2 knights are considered a big deal, tarkans will naturally be even more difficult to deal with if you have xbows and quickwalls / house walls etc.
Man, I really would have needed this video 4 hours ago, when I watched in horror a small group of Tarkans take down my castles!
Late halloween event in your town.
Sooo the comparison is exactly what the game states: tarkans beeing antibuilding and paladins vs melee. Still fun video 👌
I just got the DE and Tarkans during the Attila's campaign are my go to unit, they eat town centers and castle's so fast. They really improved them and I'm really glad my fav unit got better
I think they would be useful with a faster attack rate.
Tarkans are already extremely useful if you treat them the way they are designed. If you go against a fortified enemy and you want to quickly burst through and raid not just their eco but also their buildings, Tarkans are the best unit. Having a group of Tarkans in your base is so much more terrifying than a group of Knights, because even if you wall your villagers or garrison them, the Tarkans will still find a way through. Just don't use them as your main frontline unit in the big fights outside the enemy base.
@@Real_MisterSir I know they can destroy tc’s and castles by ease but they are not good without c archers or any archers if they are against another unit.But i know a tactic with them it was the only tactic i was able to succeed with.send a pack of them to the enemy base while his main army is fighting.But you gotta be careful with the town raid units cuz if you don’t pay attention they can die without doing anything.But thx for the info.
Can huns do anything vs archers? Yes, they tarCAN! #dadjokeoftheday
The exit is behind you and just to the left.
@@legion2590 don't sent me. It's dark out. Sending someone out during knight is very harsh of you.
the Tarkan seems to be a raiding unit rather than an anti archer unit.
- they are fast.
- they have bonus vs buldings/walls so they can get inside your base to raid it., also take your town centers.
- they have good pierce armor, so castles, town centers, towers do less damage.
- they cost less gold and food than paladins.
- you can build them of a stable so you can replenish them faster.
ps: one time i tried to trap a tarkan army againts my walls with my pikeman, turns out they destroyed my walls super fast, get inside my base, detroyed my town centers and make a mess inside my base, by the time i cleared them up the game was over.
Nice story. You should have made a wall of pikeman intead. Then sandwich the tarkans and eat Tc, i mean eat tarkans...
Teuton may want to say something about at 4:55.
I always thought the Tarkan dude was holding the Olympic torch as a kid
Super excellent vidéo once again
since conquerors i saw tarkans as siege cavalary. they are just fast building destroyers for hit and run. and the purpose of the extra pierce armor (even if astetic wise doesnt make sense) is so they can tank towers tc and castle better as they hit and run. while most siege is clunky and sometimes doesnt deal good damage to military (looking at you ram) that was the niche tarkans fufilled
AOE logic, when you have a shield on your model, you lose one pierce armor
Going way back, I always considered them anti-building (Fortifications) cavalry. Not a good choice against other mounted units and infantry.
Damn, I didn't realize that Tarkans are specialized stone-busters. It seems like their best performances really are just breaking through fortifications, busting through towers, and sniping castles and town centres, huh.
Yep indeed. They are more like highly mobile mini rams, than combat units - even though they can hold their own if they have to. They aren't anti archer either, but rather anti "enemy arrow defenses" such as castles, towers, and TCs, which allows them to raid more without being deterred by arrowfire.
@@Real_MisterSir Perhaps it's best to describe Tarkans as specialized raider against fortified area of enemy's base, since they can take out defensive structure so easily. They're like the opposite of Keshik as a raid unit - Tarkans is for destroying any passive defense set up and damaging bases, leaving for opportunities for light cav raid in the future unless enemy rebuild their fortification, or forced to leave some of their or forces to defend against more Tarkans raid. Keshik on the other hand is more diverse that it can either be in the main army being cost effective alternative of knights, or also raid enemy for instant and up front damage by both killing villagers AND getting some gold in the process.
Because of Tarkans, quite arguably Huns is the best raiding civ one can pick on AOE2
Huns - Getting the Flammwerfer before it was cool
As a KId, I was cavalry orientated player and did always struggled with the Aztecs Campaing. I remember that in some of the missions you can capture horses to get cavalry units of your own. I was really excited to get some horses to support my army. Then the horses turned into Tarkans and I was mad disappointed. Back then, I didnt see potential in Tarkans outside of niche plays and with current video it seems that they arent very verstile to use and you need to be skillful to properly get full use of them.
Tarkans used to be way worse in AoC. They had 90HP, 7 attack and 1/2 armor compared to 100HP, 8 attack and 1/3 armor now.
Can you do top 5 monk civs
1. Aztecs
Monke civilization
Aztecs, Spanish, Teutons, Burmese, and then Saracens, ranked from #1 to #5.
Aztecs are an obvious #1 with their HP bonus, and get extra credit for getting more gold from relics. Spanish monks can convert better with Inquisition, and they also get credit for the Missonary. Teutons can heal from twice the normal distance. Burmese are missing one Monastery tech, but the rest are 50% cheaper. And Saracens have a full tech tree Madrasah to get some of your Monk gold back if they are killed.
Honorable Mentions: Byzantines, Lithuanians, Malians, Portuguese, Slavs
@Emperor AlHasan This is a matter of philosophy. If Monks are meant to largely be healers, then Byzantine monks are the best. I however view healing as something Monks can do when recharging from conversions, and thus worth a lot less weight.
Every time the Goths get a bit of love, even just with the throw away Huskarl references, my heart skips a beat.
Thank you for the important analisis
Really, if the game developers wanted to make the Tarkan to be loved again by most of all players, instead of making a crappy technology like Marauders and Atheism, they should have made the Tarkan *to gain a passive ability like the Age of Mythology's Fenris' Brood Wolves or the Age of Empires II* : *The Warchiefs' Tashunke Prowlers* . The former have increased damage when grouped with up to 5 other Fenris' Brood Wolves and the latter have increased attack and hit point when grouped with up to 14 other Tashunke Prowlers.
For the purpose of a "mounted battering ram", this ability should become very handy when dealing with civilizations that heavily rely on defense (like Byzantines, Teutons and Khmer). It's pretty balanced, considering that the Tarkans has not melee armor and their attack is lower than the Knight's, and thus the only way to counter them is using mass spearmen to reduce their numbers and weaken their offensive strength before they could reach critical mass alongside Cavalry Archers and Paladins and become a city-killer deathball.
Also, *Marauders should be revamped* : instead of allowing Stables to train Tarkans, the Tarkans themselves could gain the ability to produce an income of resources (perhaps Gold) each time they attack an enemy building (like Keshik Gold-producing attacks on enemy units). Again, this would become pretty handy for the Huns, who doesn't have any other economic advantage aside from not requiring houses to support population and their cheap Cavalry Archers compared to other cavalry archer civilizations like the Mongols (Hunters gather faster), the Tatars (Herdables have more Food) and the Cumans (earlier TC in Feudal), although it's more a middle-game bonus once the player enters the Castle Age.
With all this, I think anyone reading this would grab it and reclaim the game developers to add this to the game itself. I imagine that there're many Huns-mains would really like to have stronger mass Tarkans and a resource-producing Unique Tech available and mown through enemy cities while crying loudly " _Uragshaa davshaad!_ ".
You simply don't skip the intro when watching SoTL.
It's fact
*Guitar music intensifies*
Villager with *supremacy*
Goth game *plan*
Reminded me of the "one does not simply" meme
I did sorry
I have always regarded and used Tarkens as siege unites and it works out fine for me.
When I hear the intro, I know I'm home.
I'd love to see a game where a player uses a group of tarkans to snipe farms, burning through the opponents wood and slowing their food collection in one.
Tarkans and cav archer has always been one of my favorite ways of playing the huns. It's especially good against the AI, it just can't figure out how to solve that one.
Upload date: 11/11
Video length: 11:11
...
Tarkans vs knights??? 11... 11... 11...
I like the bulk of my fighting force to be knights for securing positions on the map and such, but I like to keep a few tarkans in my back pocket for raiding exclusively.
I normally start with a small scout rush, then Knights and Cav Archers in Castle age until I can get a castle up and research Marauders. Then I stick with Tarkans through Imperial Age because I figure buying more Cav Archers with the gold I save on Tarkans over Knight line (and their upgrades) offsets the difference in performance. Once I have Tarkans and Cav Archers fully upgraded I go for the Hussar upgrade as well, so whatever surplus food I have after blowing all my gold on CA and Tarkans goes into Hussars.
Basically the only thing I have to worry about is heavy cavalry or camels forcing a direct engagement, and if my opponent can afford to do that I clearly am not using my army properly given it's basically purpose-built for eco raiding.
the OP's back
humanity restored
I really hope you will do a remake of Huns overview. I was waiting that video for a long time.
When playing Huns, I use archer cavalry to lure enemy units into a wild goose chase while my tarkins hit the infrastructure of the base - destroy the enemy’s houses, recruiting facilities and economic structures as there forces play with the archers.
I never knew that the turkish singer is so strong...
I see them as something to be produced in small numbers out of a forward castle to raid while knights fight.
I remember in AOC, wiping out someone base with Tarkins while their army was away. Good times.
The best thing about Tarkans is the reinforced neck the protects them from Force chokes. Even Sith lords who routinely choke out admirals with no consequence have to respect and form working relationships with Tarkans.
(Less ironic humor - the character is probably named after the historical warriors. Naming bad guys after Huns and Saracens is a popular way of writers establishing 'this guy is evil'. )
I know it wouldn't make any major difference, but it surprises me that the Tarkan, a unit that carries a torch, has a fairly average Line of Sight for a Unique Unit.
This video made me gain more respect for tarkans. In a stalemate game, imagine raiding with Tarkans instead of Hussards? They're stronger at everything and can fend off Paladin patrols. Maybe a slight gold decrease would make them very viable
I think one interesting comparison would be a typical situation in castle age 2v2 knight + xbow against then tarkan + xbow
They are also far better against Mayan Plumed Archers, as even the elite versions only deal 1 damage per hit to Elite Tarkans instead of 2 like they do to Paladins and 3 to Cavalier
Does this mean we are getting a new Huns civ overview
A civ whose castle shoots in multiple directions simultaenously would be interesting.
Spirit, Tarkans can be created at Stables with the Castle Age Unique Tech of the Huns (Marauders?).
Does that means the new Huns civ overview is on the making?
>8:17 "...impacted by masonry or architecture..."
Sounds like an euphemism for being at the wrong place at the wrong time during an earthquake.
the architecture icon looks like a nightmare i had 7:33
It’s crazy to me how huns manage to be top tier, almost entirely because of only fully upgraded knights and cheaper cav archers. Like, that’s it really. Their unique castle options are all doodoo water, the treb buff is negligible at best, and the not needing houses thing is alright, but not the craziest “eco” bonus.
Some civs just aren't famous for their _unique_ stuff. Franks for example are most notable for their Paladins, not their axe throwers (though admittedly Chivalry _is_ a neat unique tech)
I guess that make sense. if your weapon is burning torch, you probably do pretty well against building in comparison to someone with a sword.
The huns barely have fortifications themselves but their Tarkans are meant to attack enemy fortifications and go in on the villagers, the cheap cav archers and other units are meant to help them. Which is also why huns miss so many techs.
Hey, Spirit of the Law, did you play Knights and Merchants back in the day? You seem to be the type
I think tarkans are great to go with knights as they do bonus damage to buildings. I like to use them to damage watch towers and castles while knights take care units. Considering they are calvary they can maneuver around arrows from towers and such.
How would castles with hoardings affect this? (I think that's what the castle tech that gives more HP is called)
Age of empires unit :- *takes more than 5 arrows *
Sotl:- Boromir memes
Mounted Battering Ram :D nice one
This will be my new Arena Civ now. Just get to around 12 Tarkans as quickly as possible and attack.
Would you consider doing a video of Eagles vs a variety of units, namely cavalry units through the ages? Scout line and knight line
A mobile anti-building unit seems like a lot of raiding potential to me. I love using cavalry archers, but while rams/trebs are also among my very favorite units (I have a thing for disruption I guess), both have huge issues in that hit-and-run type of engagement where you aren't controlling ground in range of a good attack launch that requires more commitment. The fact they then also hold up decently in some other respects seems to make them a pretty balanced unit to me, even some flashy game-winning sudden blitzkrieg potential. I also just love raiders, they generate value throughout the game, get out mostly unscathed, can add to your defenses, and are there again for big fights.
the Tarkan really needs something to reflect the "psychological warfare" kind of tactics the huns used, maybe they should give them a bit of trample damage, or boost their eco raid potential by increasing the damage they do to villagers and/or "civilian" buildings (houses, resource buildings and farms)