Warrior
“We fight with what we have. Clubs, stones, bare hands if we must.”
The Warrior is the most basic military unit, representing the earliest armed fighters of any civilisation. Armed with crude weapons – clubs, stone axes, and sharpened sticks – these fighters lack the training and equipment of later soldiers but make up for it with raw determination and the desperate need to defend their homes.
Stats
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Attack | 8 |
| Defence | 5 |
| Movement | 2 |
| Range | – |
| Cost | 20 Production |
| Required Tech | None |
| Required Resource | None |
Abilities
- Melee Attack – Standard melee combat against adjacent units.
- Fortify – Digs in on the current hex for a defensive bonus.
Available Promotions
- Combat I – +10% attack (5 XP)
- Combat II – +10% attack (15 XP, requires Combat I)
Upgrade Path
| Direction | Unit | Gold Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Upgrades from | – | – |
| Upgrades to | Swordsman | 30 gold |
Full chain: Warrior –> Swordsman –> Musketman –> Rifleman
Strategy
Warriors are cheap, available immediately, and essential for early survival. Your first Warrior should begin exploring the map to locate nearby city-states, rival empires, and barbarian encampments. A second Warrior provides crucial defence for your capital while your Scout ranges further afield.
Do not underestimate the Warrior’s limitations. With only 5 Defence, Warriors crumble against anything more advanced. Upgrade to Swordsmen as soon as you research Iron Working and have access to Iron. In the meantime, use terrain bonuses – hills, forests, and rivers – to shore up your Warriors’ mediocre defensive stats. Two Warriors fighting together on favourable ground can punch well above their weight.
Historical Background
Before the Bronze Age revolutionised warfare, early human conflicts were fought with weapons fashioned from wood, bone, and stone. Archaeological evidence from sites like Jebel Sahaba in Sudan (circa 13,000 BCE) reveals that organised violence predates civilisation itself, with skeletal remains showing injuries from stone projectile points.
The transition from hunter-gatherer skirmishes to organised warfare coincided with the rise of settled agriculture. As communities accumulated surplus food and permanent structures, they acquired both something worth fighting over and the population density to field larger fighting forces. The earliest known fortifications, such as the stone tower of Jericho dating to approximately 8,000 BCE, testify to the antiquity of organised defence.