Boyardo

The Boyar is a heavy cavalry unit akin to the Knight line which importantly has high melee armor but moves slightly slower. Importantly, it has the same pierce armor as the Knight line and costs when compared to the Knight's cost. The high melee armor greatly enhances its strength when fighting light units which do not deal significant bonus damage, such as light cavalry, Karambit Warriors, Eagle Warriors, Ghulams, and Throwing Axemen. When compared to a generic but fully upgraded Knight, say a Spanish one, the Elite Boyar lags behind in hit points when compared to the Paladin, but has the same attack. However, when compared to the Slavic Knight line, which lacks the Paladin upgrade, the Boyar is the much superior option even ignoring the cost difference, aside from its slower attack rate, which is same as that of the Paladin. Its production time is decent, as one Castle Boyar production is same as two Stable Knight production. The Castle Age Boyar has +2 melee armor and +2 attack over the Knight. In melee fights, this roughly translates to a Lithuanian Knight with four Relics. Another way to look at this is that compared to a Burgundian Cavalier, the Boyar has +2 melee armor. In other words, in melee situations, the Castle Age Boyar provides the same strength as the Imperial Age unit, the Cavalier. The Elite Boyar takes the melee armor boost even further and has +6 melee armor over the Knight line's, which is always 2. Melee armor aside, it has +10 hit points, +1 pierce armor, and +2 attack over the Cavalier, but -30 hit points when compared to the Paladin. While the Boyar holds up better in melee fights better than the Knight line, it does not play very differently than the Knight line. It is countered by the same units, such as Monks, Halberdiers, Heavy Camel Riders, etc. Stronger melee units such as War and Battle Elephants can also deal with Boyars. While the Monaspa loses in equal numbers, large groups of Monaspa can beat the Boyar due to the extra attack they get, while also costing less resources, as well as having self-regeneration and high melee armor. The Leitis, Wootz Steel infantry, and Composite Bowmen deserve a special mention since they ignore all armor. However, the Boyar is not countered by the non-Heavy Camel Rider, though it remains as a cost-effective counter. Since Boyars move slower than Knights, mounted archers, such as the Mangudai, are an even bigger threat. The threat of Monks is enhanced by the Slavs lack of Heresy. There is no one unit in the Slavic technology tree which perfectly complements the Boyar. As such, one must mix and match units depending on what the opponent is making. Light Cavalry are great against Monks. Scorpions are good against infantry and archers. Infantry is good against Heavy Camel Riders. The Slavs have bonuses to support the production of all these units. While enemy heavy cavalry and elephants can be fought with both Boyars and Pikemen, it is wiser to convert them, which is supported by another bonus for Monks (faster movement). Boyars on the other hand are the main shock troops. They can raid, destroy towns, and even raze Castles in addition to fighting enemy troops head-on. However, the player may instead use a combination of siege and infantry as their main army, in which case, Boyars are supposed to deal with enemy siege, mainly Siege Onagers and Bombard Cannons, which can destroy this composition. Getting a good number of Boyars requires having multiple Castles to sustain a good production, and researching the Castle Age unique technology Detinets turns the Castle cost from to , thus making Castles more accessible and massing Boyars easier. Being created from Castles also means they are more accessible when creating Castles across the map to secure map control.