CELTS

An ancient culture stretching back before the rise of Rome, the Celts dominated lower Britain before their exile into the highlands with the invasion of the Angles and Saxons. Becoming what we know today as Scotland, the Celts were a more primitive people but fiercely protective of their homeland, using the mountainous terrain to their advantage when combating the conquest-hungry Britons.
The Celts of Age of Kings are renowned for their extra powerful siege weapons and faster infantry, and are while a lesser player civilisation have popularity in their own right.

--Celtic Bonuses--

Siege Workshops 20% faster

Infantry move 15% faster

Lumberjacks work 15% faster

Siege Weapons fire 20% faster

Sheep not converted if in one Celtic unit’s line of sight
Siege Workshops 20% faster
The Celtic team bonus significantly cuts down the generally long siege production time, and is helpful to the extra powerful Celtic siege. This makes reliance upon siege weapons less risky and more practical.

Infantry move 15% faster
A self explanatory bonus, Celtic infantry rivals some of the fastest units in the game for speed. Celtic Halberds are only fractionally slower than Paladins, and this makes them better Cavalry counters than most civilisations Halberds. In the same way Celtic Champions are more efficient at archer countering because ranged units get in fewer hits and find it harder to run.

Lumberjacks 15% faster
Truly the Celts greatest bonus is their increased wood gathering speed. Their farming is more productive, their galley rush is faster, their economy overall is more powerful moving through the early ages.

Siege Weapons fire 20% faster
A simple, self explanatory bonus, this one makes the Celtic Siege all that more volatile. That means the enemy Town Center is dying to your Mangonel in 20% less time. You’re inflicting 20% more damage on the enemy cavalry trying to kill your Scorpions. You’re doing 20% more damage to the enemy castle before Knight eventually kill it. You might look and scoff, but it’s that little bit extra that counts.

Sheep not converted if in one Celtic unit’s line of sight
Heralded as the most useless bonus in Age of Kings, I’m inclined to agree with the critics. In nearly all games the player has 8 sheep, which are likely all gone by the 5 minute mark. Chances of an enemy stealing them and succeeding are minimal anyway. Heh. Well…no comment.

--Celtic Strengths--

Infantry
The obvious feature of the Celtic tech tree is their infantry. Fully upgraded Champions and Halberds that also benefit from the faster move bonus; plus the Celtic unique unit, the super fast Woad Raider.

Siege
Benefiting from faster production times, faster attack rates, and receiving an additional 50% hit points with the Celtic unique technology Furora Celtica, Celtic siege is indubitably the most formidable in the game, lacking only Bombard Cannons to have a full technology array. Celtic siege is the counterbalance for the weak ranged units and monks they Celts have.

--Celtic Weaknesses--

Archers
With arguably the weakest archer units in the game, Celts are decidedly lacking in conventional ranged units, being forced to rely on more expensive siege weapons or try and compensate with their faster infantry.

--Through the Ages--

The Celtic Dark Age is slightly faster moving, especially on water maps; thanks to their significantly faster lumberjacks. Besides this, they are little different from other civilisations.

The Celtic Feudal Age is unremarkable, though the Celts are one of the more effective Galley rushers due to their wood gathering speed boost, and can take field more Galleys than any other civilisation in a similar situation.

Upon reaching the Castle Age, the Celt becomes a little more worthy of comment, packing extra effective rams and mangonels, produced and fielded faster; with wood cost less of an issue due to the woodchopping bonus; the same bonus that benefits the production of the more effective Celtic Pikemen which the enterprising general will use more prolifically than with other civilisations; their speed granting them greater ability to keep up with and therefore counter enemy cavalry. Upon building a Castle, the Celt can take advantage of Woad Raiders, more powerful than their regular counterpart the Longswordsman, and as fast as a meso-American Eagle Warrior too, having some of the raiding qualities of Knights without the vulnerability to Pikes or the high cost.

After a less than admirable earlier game, the Celts really begin to shine when they reach the Imperial Age. Their faster Champions are extra effective at combating ranged and faster moving units, their Woad Raiders even more so. With Furora Celtica, they can field unstoppable armies of Scorpions backed with their fast infantry.

--Combined arms--

Every civilisation in the game has some weakness in some form. Striking at these weaknesses should be a high priority of enemy tactics, as is the game’s nature. To prevent this you must cover these weaknesses at all costs. The best way to do this is by even more extensively accentuating the strengths of the civilisation in question. This reinforces my law of AoK: A unit is only as good as your ability to back it up. In doing this, we create what are commonly called ‘combos’ or using multiple units in our tactics to cover the weaknesses of one with the strengths of another.

Response units: Woad Raiders, Cavalry
The Celts’ reaction unit to unexpected threats such as siege or archers, Celts hardly have the reliance of other civilisations on the tenuous security cavalry provides. Their super fast Woad Raiders are cheaper and don’t carry the same vulnerability to Halberds as the cavalry does. However, Celts do have the option of employing Paladins, even if theirs are the weakest in the game; and Hussars, even if they aren’t the most powerful either.

General combat unit: Champions
Always the greater part of any infantry-reliant civilisations military complement, Champions are hailed as *the* unit of AoK. They cost 20 gold, have no counter that costs less gold, and are produced in a handy 16 seconds; and dole out 17 attack fully upgraded. Celtic Champions overcome the main weakness of other civilisations’ ones, in their greater speed increasing the odds of combating archers and other ranged units.

Support units: [Heavy] Scorpion, Onager
With a terrifying 17 attack and 75 hit points, Celtic Scorpions are indubitably the most terrifying unit within the Celtic arsenal; dealing the same damage to every unit within its line of fire. Scorpions are ideal for taking down large numbers of melee unit quickly. Onagers, likewise, are the solution applied to enemy ranged units and are not just capable of crushing them faster, but stand up longer to response units like Cavalry with an extra 50% hit points granted upon researching Furora Celtica.

--Advantageous Alliances--

Koreans
Koreans are another siege powerhouse to complement the Celts, as well as giving +1 range to their Mangonel/Onager line with their team bonus in the same way the Celt benefits the Korean with the faster workshops bonus. Celts also have the melee power to support the Koreans range.

Chinese
As with the Koreans, the Celtic production speed bonus benefits the Chinese siege strength also, as do the powerful Celtic front line units supplement the Chinese ranged units.

Goths
Benefited by the extra fast Gothic barracks, Celts gain an extra infantry boost that make them all that more powerful in a real power-struggle game where new armies take to the field every minute.

--Key Technologies--

Champion unit upgrade
The effective offensive capability of any civilisation is reliant upon practical easy to field units, such as the Champion in the case of the Celts. Their Infantry’s power is reliant on getting the upgrades. The Champion upgrade costs a fair bit considering you’re trying to buy it basically 3 minutes into Imperial, so even if you’re forced to sell or buy resources to afford it, get it as quickly as possible. The power of Champions compared to their ease of affordability and production is phenomenal.

Heavy Scorpion unit upgrade, Furora Celtica
The only realistic heavy combat weapon the Celts field, their Heavy Scorpions are terror weapons of the first degree and make a perfect accompaniment to Celtic Infantry. While difficult to put to the field, are one of the strengths the enterprising general must make use of if he intends to work the Celts to their full potential in combat. Furora Celtica as with all unique technologies is hardly cheap, but the realistic power boost to your Scorpions makes them far more effective in combat.

--Conclusion--

I recall my friend Emissary’s words on the Celts, ‘I used to like the Celts…and then I finished the learning campaign’. While a somewhat cynical view, it does represent what some players think of the Celts. Perhaps those players should look again at the power of the Celts and their unique combat approaches.