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hey guys spirit of the law here in this
video I'm gonna talk about the top 5
trash unit civilizations now if you
don't know trash units are in Age of
Empires term that doesn't mean trashy or
garbage it simply means they're military
units that don't cost any gold usually
that refers to a set of three units that
you ultimately have to rely on making a
lot of if you don't have access to trade
like in a one verse one gain now I've
done a few top five civilization list
before but this is probably the most
subjective of any ranking I've done
since it comes down to how to balance
the three types of trash units there are
also a lot of contenders that are hard
to sort that might be good in one area
but have a weakness in another but I do
want to take a firm stand on a top five
in making this list I'm really after
which civilizations are in the best
position to thrive when gold runs low so
let's check it out starting off at
number five is the Byzantines now I know
some people out there are gonna say this
is their number one they have a 25%
discount on halberdiers and skirmishers
on top of access to the hazhar now
normally I'm all about discount bonuses
and a 25% discount actually translates
to 33% more units for the same cost you
could certainly argue that offsets
missing the last attack upgrade for
their Halberdier and hazhar as well as
missing bloodlines trash fights also
tend to be a slow grind and having 40%
more HP on all of your barracks ranges
and stables you're creating means it's
just that much slower for your opponent
to make progress the reason I don't put
them higher though is I'm not as sold on
discount bonuses for trash in particular
simply because population efficiency is
often the number one concern in the
super late game like this if you and
your opponent are both fully boomed in
at 200 population the person making
headway will often be the one that has
less unit turn over both the Byzantine
Halberdier and hazhar lose in one-on-one
matchups against many other
civilizations cost efficiency puts them
in the top five but in this case for me
the lack of unit quality meant it wasn't
enough to move them higher next up at
number four is the spam
now they're a bit unique for being the
only civilization with all three trash
units being fully upgraded but that's
not all they have going for them after
supremacy the villagers are especially
resilient to rating by taking more hits
than usual and even being able to hold
their own against halberdiers another
advantage that's easy to forget is their
blacksmith Tech's don't cost gold
meaning as you transition into a trash
fight you don't have to stress about not
being able to afford your upgrades or
having to sell a bunch of wood and food
at the market it's easy to take all of
the upgrades as a given when talking
about this stage of the game but if you
haven't been making archery range units
for example it's a lot of resources to
make that tech switch if you wait until
you're almost completely out of gold
just the Hazara and how pedir upgrades
together are a combined 12-hundred gold
being able to save at least only
blacksmith gold cost takes away at least
some of that pressure the reason for
them not being higher is mostly because
although they have access to all of the
trash units fully upgraded there's no
one overpowered stand out which they can
make the backbone of their late-game
army for that we need to look at my
number three the Magyars they're carried
in the late game by the unique unit the
elite major has are their base cost
normally includes 10 gold but after
their unique unit mercenaries they lose
the gold cost meaning they fit the
description of a trash unit there a
higher HP and attack form of the normal
azar making them a more expensive but
population efficient version like I
mentioned with the Byzantines low unit
turnover can be really important since
it means you're able to keep your
momentum when everyone's at their
population limit they also have an
attack bonus against siege often in
trash battles you do a bit of selling
food and wood at the market to buy the
odd siege unit either at mixing in a few
grams or trebuchet is to take out
buildings or an auditor to thin out
groups of enemy units mega has ours 8
extra damage against siege help them
pick off those very expensive and
critical units their main weakness is
that they require castles to create
which is a big stone investment to build
and repair but at the end of the day
they actually have a discount on their
stable kazars as well which are nearly
as good at braiding and chasing down
skirmishers they also have a bonus for
free melee attack upgrades at the
blacksmith which helps in a similar
way to the spanish blacksmith discount
ultimately what kept them out of the top
two was missing the last infantry armor
upgrade if your opponent is going for
mass Halberdier it's hard to make
progress with cavalry and the mayor's
own halberdiers will often lose ground
to those other civilizations as
overwhelming as their cavalry push candy
the fact that a few how good your
civilizations can easily withstand it
means this is as high as I can
comfortably put them to be talked to a
civilization really needs essentially no
answer to its late-game
so what civilizations have something
like that well at number 2 we have the
Malay to be fair there are a few things
right away not to like here
there's no hazhar and in fact they only
get the first armored upgrade on their
light cavalry they don't even have a
bonus for their skirmishers or
halberdiers so what's the catch well it
all comes down to their unique tech
forced levy which makes their swordsmen
line cost 65 food instead of the usual
60 food and 20 gold when you think about
counting units to trash units champions
are always in that discussion so it is
very powerful to spam a go to trash
killer with nothing but food now true
they aren't actually champions since
Malay only get access up to two handed
swordsmen but they're still great in
trash fights let's check out why first
of all compared to a halberd ear they
have one more pierce armor they also
don't take bonus damage from skirmishers
meaning they often end up receiving a
third the damage that halberdiers do
while skirmishers are typically a soft
counter unit to late-game halberdiers
against two-handed swordsmen they're on
the back foot even when matched up
directly against enemy halberdiers the
two-handed swordsmen have six more
attack letting them easily win with
equal numbers against as ours remember
you still have access to the help of
deer but the two-handed swordsman can do
reasonably well in that matchup anyway
the fact you're able to focus your
economy almost exclusively on a single
resource in this case food also gives
its own benefit of making you much less
reliant on refreshing lumber camps and
controlling wood lines simply set up
your infinite fish traps or 80 farmers
and just flood the map with two-handed
swordsmen they even have a bonus against
buildings reducing your need to
Great Siege now before we get to number
one I have a few honorable mentions of
civilizations I strongly considered
including but just didn't quite make it
the first is the Berbers they have both
cheaper kazars and also give their team
access to a mounted skirmisher the
genitor technically the only thing
they're missing is the help adir upgrade
but for me that's kind of a big one it's
not so much about the extra 5 HP and to
attack but for the increased damage it
does against cavalry
even without at Berbers are above
average in trash games for sure but it's
too big of a weakness to be in the top 5
another is the Vietnamese who I'd put in
a similar category with their Imperial
skirmishers combined with extra HP for
skirmishers already it's a formidable
unit especially it when masked
unfortunately they miss blast furnace
and the Hazara upgrade meaning however
good they're skirmishers are they're
fundamentally flawed and too
one-dimensional for me in trash battles
overall third was a bit more of a
contender and that's the slobs first
they have their unique tag to Xena
letting them damage adjacent units
whenever they attack that makes their
halberdiers the best in the game in
really tightly packed battles they also
have cheaper siege meaning those few
critical siege units I mentioned earlier
are easier to sneak out they also have
their faster farming bonus letting them
get away with fewer villagers and more
trash units as a result unfortunately
they're missing bracer and thumb ring on
their skirmishers which was just a bit
too much of a weakness for me there were
also a couple of new definitive edition
civilizations are considered but it was
a little too afraid of nerfs in the near
future to really commit to the list the
first of those is the bulgarians they're
missing the archer bring Armour tech but
they're 'has arse attack 33% faster if
that bonus doesn't change they'd be on a
top 5 has our list for sure and even
hold up well against the elite mega
hazhar I also considered the lithuanian
so you have a big edge in a late-game
first of all they're skirmishers and
halberdiers are 10% faster they also
have a unique tag for one extra pierce
armor on those units though they're
missing a blacksmith tech leaving their
halberdiers a bit worse off with their
original bonus of light cavalry gaining
+1 attack from each relic that would
probably have been a top three but as it
is a bit of speed being treated for
somehow pedir
just doesn't stand out quite enough
there's probably another ten that could
be mentioned here including my beloved
Japanese but for me the others are just
above average and not talked here so
which is the best well my number one
trash unit civilization is the Persians
before definitive edition this would
have been a fringe honorable mention but
that completely changed with their new
unique tech making their crossbows cost
fifty would they may be missing bracer
but for what it's worth I'd still take
it over the Vietnamese Imperial
skirmisher maybe I'm a sucker for gold
units becoming trash units through
unique text but to me they're just a
better alternative to skirmishers
against anything besides archers the
crossbows extra to attack much faster
firing rate and lack of minimum range
mean they deal with halberdiers and
other infantry just fine while
performing much better against Azar's
even if they can't quite cut it on their
own you still have fully upgraded
halberdiers and has ours to mix into
your army as well when gold runs out
there's really no other civilization I'd
rather have but those are my top five
trash units thanks for watching guys and
I'll see you next time
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