Unit Information | Game Strategies | History |
In the Extended Edition, this unit/building is affected by a damage bug.
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Fire Lances are the Chinese unique Gunpowder Infantry of the Medieval Age that replaces the standard Elite Javelineers.
Overview[]
Unlike Elite Javelineers and all other unique units that replace them, which are Light Infantry, the Fire Lances are Gunpowder Infantry, the first in the game. This means Fire Lances gain all the benefits of Gunpowder Infantry (such as doing +33% damage against all units and +80% damage against Heavy Infantry, cumulative multiplicatively) combined with the lower price of Light Infantry. Compared to Elite Javelineers, Fire Lances have +1 attack strength, +4 attack range, +7 attack speed, +3 line of sight, and faster projectiles (90 frames per second compared to Light Infantry's 80). On paper this makes the Fire Lances one of the strongest unique units in the game, but unfortunately the unit is severely hamstrung by long attack wind-up animations, causing their average DPS to only slightly exceed that of their counterpart in most circumstances.[1]
Trivia[]
- The Fire Lance is the only gunpowder unit of the Medieval Age, reflecting both the discovery and invention of gunpowder by the Chinese in the 9th century, and the earliest weapons made with it.
- Fire Lances, Heavy Fire Lances, Flaming Arrows, Heavy Flaming Arrows, and Flamethrowers are the only units that trigger a special burning death animation when killing enemy infantry units and civilians.