Hindustanis — Counters & Civilization Overview

How to play against the Hindustanis — plus bonuses, unique units, unique techs and the full tech tree.

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Hindustanis emblem

The Hindustanis are a Camel and Gunpowder civilization in Age of Empires 2. Their unique units are the Ghulam, Imperial Camel Rider. Below: what counters the units they bring, where their tech tree runs out, and the full civilization overview. Jump to the Hindustanis tech tree.

How to counter the Hindustanis

Their unique and regional units are the part of the matchup a generic army does not prepare you for. Hard counters beat the unit decisively and win even at a cost disadvantage — usually through bonus damage, area damage, conversion or a speed advantage it cannot escape. Soft counters win the fight too, but only with good numbers and positioning.

Ghulam Castle Age · Castle

Hindustani unique Infantry that thrusts its spear through multiple targets.

Countered by

  • Scorpion hard Area pierce – Ghulams are often grouped
  • Samurai UU hard Attack bonus vs. unique units (+12)
  • Crossbowman soft Pierce damage
  • Knight soft Cavalry vs. infantry
  • Onager soft Area damage

Imperial Camel Rider Imperial Age · Stable

Hindustani unique fast moving anti-cavalry Cavalry.

Countered by

Siege Elephant Imperial Age · Siege Workshop

Anti-building Siege Cavalry.

Countered by

What the Hindustanis are strong against

The other side of the matchup: these are the fights their own units are built to win. Walking one of these into them plays to their strengths.

What the Hindustanis cannot answer

Every civilization is missing something. What matters in a match is which of those gaps you can actually attack. Below are the Hindustanis gaps that change how a fight plays out — the economic ones are left out on purpose.

Mounted units

  • Knight — No Knight — their Stable never produces a heavy cavalry line, so the Castle Age arrives without the usual mounted threat and your Spearman line can stay small.
  • Parthian Tactics — No Parthian Tactics — their Cavalry Archers keep base armour and no bonus damage against your Spearman line, so Pikemen still trade into them.

Anti-cavalry

  • Halberdier — Their Spearman line stops at the Pikeman — against Paladins and other heavy cavalry they never get the Halberdier's bonus damage. The Imperial Camel Rider covers the anti-cavalry role instead: it deals bonus damage to mounted units.

Blacksmith and unit upgrades

  • Arbalester — Their Archer line stops at the Crossbowman — no Arbalester, so their massed archer fire stays a tier behind yours in the Imperial Age.
  • Plate Mail Armor — No Plate Mail Armor — their infantry stays short on armour in the Imperial Age, so massed archers keep working against it.
  • Gambesons — No Gambesons — their infantry stays a pierce armour short, so archers and Skirmishers cut through it faster.

Siege

  • Battering Ram — No Battering Ram — their Siege Workshop offers no ram line at all, so your walls, towers and Castles are safe from the cheapest way through them.
  • Siege Onager — Their Onagers never become Siege Onagers — no single shot that clears a whole group of your units, and no felling of your walls from range.
  • Heavy Scorpion — Their Scorpions stay at the base tier — less range, attack and accuracy, so your archers out-range them.

Monastery and conversion

  • Heresy — No Heresy — units your Monks convert stay converted instead of dying, so a Monk push against them pays double.
  • Atonement — No Atonement — their Monks cannot convert yours, so your Monks win the Monastery duel by default.

Defensive buildings

  • Keep — No Keep — their towers stay at Guard Tower strength, so your siege takes a tower line down noticeably faster.
  • Bombard Tower — No Bombard Tower — their towers never become gunpowder towers, so your siege can set up against a tower line instead of being shelled off it.
  • Arrowslits — No Arrowslits — their towers hit softer at close range, so rams and infantry clear them with fewer losses.
  • Heated Shot — No Heated Shot — their towers and Castles have no bonus damage against ships, so a shore landing stays safe for longer.
  • Architecture — No Architecture — their buildings keep base armour and hit points, so your siege takes them down faster.

Navy

  • Fast Fire Ship — Their Fire Ship line stops before the Fast Fire Ship — slower and weaker in exactly the close-range fights fire ships are built for.
  • Siphons — No Siphons — their Fire Ships never gain the explosive charge attack, so they close on your fleet with nothing but their standard attack.
  • Incendiaries — No Incendiaries — their Fire Ships simply sink instead of detonating, so killing one costs your fleet nothing extra.
  • Heavy Demo Ship — Their Demolition Ships stay at the base tier — no Heavy Demo Ship, so one detonation no longer wipes a group of your warships.
  • Dry Dock — No Dry Dock — their ships stay a pierce armour short, so your own warships and shore towers cut through them faster.
  • Shipwright — No Shipwright — their warships cost more and build slower in the Imperial Age, so a replaced fleet comes back later than yours.

Everything the Hindustanis do and do not have, unit by unit, is in the Hindustanis tech tree further down.

Hindustanis: Civilization and Team Bonuses

Civilization Bonuses

  • Villagers cost -8/13/18/23% in Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age
  • Camel Riders attack +20% faster
  • Gunpowder Units +1 melee/+1 pierce armor
  • Can build Caravanserai in Imperial Age

Team Bonus

Scout Cavalry-line and Camel Units +2 attack vs. buildings

Unique Units

Ghulam
Ghulam · InfantryHindustani unique Infantry that thrusts its spear through multiple targets. Exceptionally strong vs. Archery Units and Spearman-line. Weak vs. Cavalry.
Imperial Camel Rider
Imperial Camel Rider · CavalryHindustani unique fast moving anti-cavalry Cavalry. Strong vs. Mounted Units. Weak vs. Infantry, Monks and Foot Archers.

Unique Technologies

Grand Trunk RoadAll gold income +10% faster; Market trading fee reduced to 10%
ShatagniHand Cannoneers +2 range

Hindustanis Tech Tree

The full Hindustanis tech tree in Age of Empires 2 — every unit, upgrade and technology they can research, and everything they cannot. Units are shown as their upgrade lines, followed by the technologies available at each building. Greyed-out entries are missing from the Hindustanis tech tree.

Barracks

  1. Militia D
  2. Man-at-Arms F
  3. Long Swordsman C
  4. Two-Handed Swordsman I
  5. Champion I
  1. Spearman F
  2. Pikeman C
  3. Halberdier I
  1. Arson F
  1. Gambesons C
  1. Squires C

Archery Range

  1. Archer F
  2. Crossbowman C
  3. Arbalester I
  1. Skirmisher F
  2. Elite Skirmisher C
  1. Cavalry Archer C
  2. Heavy Cavalry Archer I
  1. Hand Cannoneer I
  1. Thumb Ring C
  1. Parthian Tactics I

Stable

  1. Scout Cavalry F
  2. Light Cavalry C
  3. Hussar I
  1. Knight C
  2. Cavalier I
  3. Paladin I
  1. Camel Rider C
  2. Heavy Camel Rider I
  3. Imperial Camel Rider I
  1. Bloodlines F
  1. Husbandry C

Siege Workshop

  1. Battering Ram C
  2. Capped Ram I
  3. Siege Ram I
  1. Armored Elephant C
  2. Siege Elephant I
  1. Mangonel C
  2. Onager I
  3. Siege Onager I
  1. Scorpion C
  2. Heavy Scorpion I
  1. Siege Tower C
  1. Bombard Cannon I

Castle

  1. Ghulam C
  2. Elite Ghulam I
  1. Petard C
  1. Trebuchet I
  1. Grand Trunk Road C
  1. Shatagni I
  1. Hoardings I
  1. Conscription I
  1. Sappers I
  1. Spies/Treason I

Dock

  1. Fishing Ship D
  1. Transport Ship D
  1. Fire Galley F
  2. Fire Ship C
  3. Fast Fire Ship I
  1. Galley F
  2. War Galley C
  3. Galleon I
  1. Hulk F
  2. War Hulk C
  3. Carrack I
  1. Demolition Raft F
  2. Demolition Ship C
  3. Heavy Demo Ship I
  1. Trade Cog F
  1. Cannon Galleon I
  2. Elite Cannon Galleon I
  1. Fishing Lines F
  1. Medium Warships C
  2. Heavy Warships I
  1. Gillnets C

Monastery

  1. Monk C
  1. Devotion C
  2. Faith I
  1. Redemption C
  1. Atonement C
  1. Herbal Medicine C
  1. Heresy C
  1. Sanctity C
  1. Fervor C
  1. Illumination I
  1. Block Printing I
  1. Theocracy I

Blacksmith

  1. Padded Archer Armor F
  2. Leather Archer Armor C
  3. Ring Archer Armor I
  1. Fletching F
  2. Bodkin Arrow C
  3. Bracer I
  1. Forging F
  2. Iron Casting C
  3. Blast Furnace I
  1. Scale Barding Armor F
  2. Chain Barding Armor C
  3. Plate Barding Armor I
  1. Scale Mail Armor F
  2. Chain Mail Armor C
  3. Plate Mail Armor I

University

  1. Masonry C
  2. Architecture I
  1. Fortified Wall C
  1. Ballistics C
  1. Guard Tower C
  2. Keep I
  1. Heated Shot C
  1. Murder Holes C
  1. Careening C
  2. Dry Dock I
  1. Clinker Construction C
  2. Carvel Hull I
  1. Siphons C
  2. Incendiaries I
  1. Treadmill Crane C
  1. Chemistry I
  2. Bombard Tower I
  1. Siege Engineers I
  1. Arrowslits I
  1. Shipwright I

Market

  1. Trade Cart F
  1. Caravan C
  1. Coinage C
  2. Banking I
  1. Guilds I

Mill

  1. Horse Collar F
  2. Heavy Plow C
  3. Crop Rotation I

Lumber Camp

  1. Double-Bit Axe F
  2. Bow Saw C
  3. Two-Man Saw I

Mining Camp

  1. Gold Mining F
  2. Gold Shaft Mining C
  1. Stone Mining F
  2. Stone Shaft Mining C

Town Center

  1. Villager D
  1. Feudal Age D
  2. Castle Age F
  3. Imperial Age C
  1. Loom D
  1. Town Watch F
  2. Town Patrol C
  1. Wheelbarrow F
  2. Hand Cart C

Caravanserai

  1. Caravanserai I

D Dark F Feudal C Castle I Imperial · struck through = not available for the Hindustanis

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Frequently Asked Questions

How do you counter the Hindustanis?

The Hindustanis field Ghulam, Imperial Camel Rider and Siege Elephant. Halberdier, Scorpion and Samurai counter most of what they build. Their tech tree also leaves out Knight, Parthian Tactics and Halberdier.

What is the Hindustanis tech tree missing in AoE2?

No Knight — their Stable never produces a heavy cavalry line, so the Castle Age arrives without the usual mounted threat and your Spearman line can stay small. No Parthian Tactics — their Cavalry Archers keep base armour and no bonus damage against your Spearman line, so Pikemen still trade into them. Their Spearman line stops at the Pikeman — against Paladins and other heavy cavalry they never get the Halberdier's bonus damage. The Imperial Camel Rider covers the anti-cavalry role instead: it deals bonus damage to mounted units.

Which units do the Hindustanis have that other civilizations do not?

Ghulam: Hindustani unique Infantry that thrusts its spear through multiple targets. Imperial Camel Rider: Hindustani unique fast moving anti-cavalry Cavalry. Siege Elephant: Anti-building Siege Cavalry.

Not sure what counters this unit?

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