Keshik

Keshiks are an interesting case: a medium cavalry unit similar to a Tarkan with an economic quirk. Their high attack and hit points and ability to generate gold while attacking make them excellent raiding units. Additionally, their relatively low cost makes them more cost-efficient than other heavy cavalry units (such as the Paladin), despite their weaker stats. Keshiks should be preferred over Knights in the early Castle Age for a rush if the player starts with a Castle, as they are much cheaper while also generating gold. However, they are not strong enough compared to Knights to justify making a Castle early. They can make a great difference in the late Imperial Age, especially in 1vs1 or FFA games, as their gold generation may help to sustain late game gold economy and delay the "trash wars" a bit (but the player should still take Relics and support Keshiks with trash units). The Keshik is slightly faster than a Knight, but this speed advantage allows them to keep up with all mounted archers, which should be the ideal composition for Tatars in late-game in presence of gold. The Keshik being a medium cavalry is still slower than both Camel Riders and Light Cavalry. The Elite Keshik upgrade, despite being expensive, comes in extremely fast, in just 40% of the time of the Cavalier upgrade. As such, it can turn the tide of the game in the early Imperial Age. The Keshik also fills a design-hole of the technology tree. Tatars lack even Chain Mail Armor for their infantry. As such, their Swordsman-line is almost useless. The Keshik can be used to counter Eagle Warriors due to its decent armor and attack, fast speed, and cheap cost. While certainly usable, Tatar Knights do not have anything going for them in the long run. All other units in the Tatar technology tree range from holding their own but not being true a counter (such as Hussars) to getting hard countered (such as Heavy Cavalry Archers). While the melee fight of a Cavalier and Keshik can go either way, the player should prefer the Keshik because of its higher HP and pierce armor, making it more durable in a variety of situations, most importantly raiding. This is ignoring the facts that it is cheaper in gold as well as generating gold. Another factor favoring the Keshik is the extra Line of Sight over non-Frank Cavaliers', equaling non-Frank Paladins'. The Elite Keshik has the same pierce armor as the Paladin, meaning that it is supposed to be good vs archers. However, the Tatar light cavalry units have Silk Armor, which lifts their pierce armor to that of Keshiks and Paladins. The Elite Keshik faces a lot of competition in the Tatar technology tree. At the Stable, they have Hussars (which have the same armor as Keshiks due to a unique technology), Elite Steppe Lancers, Heavy Camel Riders, and Cavaliers. At the Castle, the superior Tatar Trebuchets demand work time to be created. The player should use their judgement to decide which units need to be created, since the Trebuchets can be replaced by perfectly viable Siege Rams at close range. The specific drawback of Keshiks compared to Paladins is the lower melee attack, which makes it harder for them to defeat an enemy army. Thankfully, the Tatars have great Cavalry Archers to aid them in this role. Even being a very cost-effective cavalry unit, they quickly fall to any anti-cavalry unit or stronger units like Paladins, Teutonic Knights, Samurai, Boyars, Konniks, Leitis, Battle Elephants and War Elephants, making the use of other units to protect Keshiks a must. Keshiks are extremely vulnerable to conversion due to lacking both Faith and Heresy. As a result, using Tatars' excellent Hussars to kill Monks is also essential. On release, the Keshik was a heavy cavalry unit similar to the Paladin. It compared rather poorly, however, as it has less durability and only compensated for its gold generation. As a result, it was generally better to use Hussars thanks to their lower cost. The comparison tables below mark the differences between all horse cavalry units available to the Tatars, sorted in increasing order of "heaviness", along with the next upgrade of the Knight line. The comparison of the (Standard/Elite) Keshik with the Cavalier/Paladin is used for highlighting the differences between medium and heavy cavalry. === Ability === The (Elite) Keshik's gold generation works similar to the Feitoria, but only when it attacks units. The gold generation works on all units equally, but not buildings. The gold generation of both forms is same and is directly proportional to Resource 213, more specifically, Gold = R213 * 0.00725 per second. Since the gold generation is dependent on time spent attacking, not the attacks themselves, micromanaging attacks can generate less gold than normal, even if damage inflicted is the same. It also means that gold generation is higher when time taken to kill the enemy unit is longer, which means that attack upgrades and Elite upgrade (the latter provides a +2 attack boost) reduce the amount of gold generated per unit. It is a continuous trickle of resources; hence, it is independent of completion of the attack (1.9 seconds), completion of the attack animation (1.4 seconds), and death of the unit (seen with infantry with Chieftains against Villagers, Monks, or Trade Carts). Like all Tatar units, Keshiks also deal +20% damage (+50% instead of +25% elevation bonus) from elevations.