| Unit Information | Game Strategies | History |
Elephants are a special type of Cavalry and a standalone unique unit line for the Indians and the Persians, unlike other unique units that replaces a standard unit.
Elephants have high hit points, the highest armor in the game, have a 100% damage bonus against Heavy Infantry, and do +20% damage against Artillery Weapons, but have do -5% damage against Heavy Cavalry, and -34% damage penalty against Civilians and Support Units. Their most dangerous foes are Foot Archers, which do +70% damage against them, and Heavy Cavalry, which do +15% damage. Age also affects their attack, for they do -10% damage against 
Enlightenment Age units and buildings, -20% damage against 
Industrial Age units and buildings, -30% damage against 
Modern Age units and buildings, and -40% damage against 
Information Age units and buildings.
The first Elephant unit of this type, the War Elephant, can only attack in melee, while its upgrade the Mahout, and the other two subsequent Elephant upgrades switch to a ranged attack, and can fire while moving (note that the Mahout and its upgrades still appear to have a dedicated melee attack in addition to their ranged attack, but this melee attack is not functional and deals no damage). Besides the obvious strategic flexibility implied by this ability, it also brings some differences in damage bonuses and penalties between War Elephants and Mahouts, which are the following:
- War Elephants have a 50% damage penalty against Citizens, and Light Infantry has a 50% damage bonus against them.
- Mahouts are closer to Ranged Cavalry in terms of stats and bonuses (they share the OBJ_MASK flags OMR and OMG and the damage bonuses of Ranged Cavalry, as well as being able to fire while moving), and all damage bonuses that other units have against Ranged Cavalry will also work on Mahouts.
List of Elephants[]
| Age | Unit |
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Unit costs[]
Elephants' production cost increases progressively with every Stable unit on the field or currently in production. The default increase is 3 
Food and 3 
Wealth for the second unit created, increasing further with every new unit until the cost cap is reached, which for military units is +125% of their original base value.
Nation powers[]
- The Indian Power of Majesty: Elephants are 15% cheaper and upgraded for free.
Wonders[]
- The Angkor Wat reduces the cost of Stable units, including the
Enlightenment Age Culverin Mahout, by 25%.
Trivia[]
- Elephants are the only unit type comprised entirely of unique units, and also the only unique unit line to be shared by two nations.
- The usage of war elephants by the Persians has been widely popularized by the Age of Empires series, specially in the ambit of strategy games.
- Although true, their role in Persian armies tended from small to null. Only in the Sasanian period were elephants deployed in any significant capacity, acquired from the Indians, and in a supportive role at that; used mostly as firing platforms for archers and for the intimidation factor that their presence inspired.
- In contrast, war elephants were a fundamental part of Indian armies for centuries, and were commonly deployed by the hundreds, and even thousands.
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