Bengalis¶
Kite Tank elephant tank + flexible ranged.
| Spawn unit | Starting age | Kills to Castle | Kills to Imp | Razes to vill | Cap | Interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ratha (Elite on unlock). Whether it defaults to ranged or melee mod... | Feudal | 300 | 550 | 2 | 60 | 12 s |
⚡ Quick reference¶
- Baseline: +1 villager on age-up, cav +2 vs Skirms, elephants take reduced bonus damage & are conversion-resistant, Monks +2 armor, ships regen, team trade also generates food. UU Ratha (mode-switch ranged/melee). UT Paiks (+atk speed Rathas/elephants).
- Requiem v294: starting age Feudal; kills-to-Castle 300; razes-to-vill 2. Castle spawns 60 Battle Elephants; 30 Elephant Archers option per Requiem table.
- CBA role: elephant tank + flexible ranged.
- Opening: default ranged Ratha; switch to melee only for deliberate closes.
- Post-vill: elephants as screen; Ratha + EA + BE mixed army.
- Strong vs: archer-only comps; general durability.
- Weak vs: dedicated spear/camel anti-elephant, Halb + Camel + Onager.
- Micro: never mono-elephant vs Halb/BBC; keep Ratha alive.
📜 Deep playbook¶
🏛️ Standard DE profile
- Civ bonuses
- Villagers take 25% less bonus damage.
- Town Centers and Docks provide +1 population each.
- Stable units gain +2 pierce armor in Castle Age, +2 (total +4) in Imperial.
- Trash units (Skirm, Pike, Light Cav) generate 1 gold per kill in Imperial.
- Team: Fishing Ships +15% attack, +10 HP, +2 pierce armor.
- Unique units
- Castle UU: Ratha (dual-mode ranged/melee cavalry, switchable stance).
- Unique techs
- Castle Age — Paiks (Rathas and Elephants attack 25% faster).
- Imperial Age — Mahayana (Villagers +10% work rate, count as 0.9 pop).
- Notable missing techs
- No Champion (Two-Handed max), no Arbalester (Crossbow max), no Ring Archer Armor, no Heavy Camel until Imp, no Bombard Tower, no Siege Onager, no Heavy Scorpion — Scorpion line stops early.
- Walls: full set.
🏰 CBA REQUIEM v294 profile
(v294 numbers: Fandom wiki, retrieved 2026-08-21)
- Starting age: Feudal (Requiem v294 start table).
- Spawn unit: Ratha (Elite on unlock). Whether it defaults to ranged or melee mode at spawn is not listed in the v294 wiki table — ask in the Requiem Discord — check v294.
- Spawn interval / cap: 12 s per Castle; cap 60.
- Kills to Castle / Imperial: 300 (Castle) / 550 (Imperial).
- Razes: standard drop.
- Free starting tech: Paiks likely applied; Forging + Iron Casting (+2 melee attack); Chemistry; Castle Age Silver technologies.
- Elite unlock: on Imperial promotion.
- Available buildings after villagers: Barracks, Archery Range, Stable, Siege Workshop. Elephants disabled per v294 elephant blacklist unless specifically exempted. Trebuchet enabled.
CBA role & archetype
- Primary role: Hybrid cavalry — kite in ranged mode, dive in melee mode.
- Secondary role: Anti-swarm with melee-mode splash.
🌅 Opening play
- Minute 0–3: pick a mode and stay in it for the first engagement; switching mid-fight loses ~1 second per unit.
- Patrol: short-patrol in ranged mode; attack-move in melee mode.
- Preferred fights: Skirmisher-heavy civs, weak-cavalry civs (Aztecs, Mayans without Eagle mass).
- Refuse: Camels (Saracens, Berbers, Persians Imperial Camel), Halberdier walls, Cataphracts.
⚔️ Kill accumulation strategy
- Safe farm: Vikings (no cavalry counters), Aztecs (no cavalry counters), Britons in the open (Rathas out-range base Longbow if in melee-charge range? no — stick to ranged).
- Avoid: Saracens (Mamelukes), Berbers (Camel Archer + Genitour), Byzantines (Cataphract + camel discounts).
🏚️ Raze allocation
- Second raze priority. Bengali eco is decent (Mahayana + villager pop discount) but Rathas need gold, and the civ is not a top-tier scaler like Mongols.
👷 Post-villager composition
- Wall order: standard back-diagonal.
- Standard build: 2 Stables, 1 Range, 1 Siege Workshop, 1 Barracks.
- Imperial composition: Elite Ratha + Halberdier + Siege Ram. Onager if available in v294.
- Silver-UT priority: Paiks (if not free), then Mahayana for eco.
⚖️ Strong against / Weak against
- Strong vs: Aztecs, Mayans, Vikings, Japanese, Celts (Rathas kite Woad Raiders in ranged mode).
- Weak vs: Saracens, Berbers, Byzantines, Persians (all camel/elephant civs).
🤝 Team synergies
- Best pairs: Persians (elephant + Ratha overwhelms), Celts (Onager cover), Britons (double ranged threat).
- Conflicts: Cumans (redundant cavalry).
🎮 Key micro rules
- Commit to a stance for the whole engagement.
- Never fight camels in melee mode.
- Use ranged mode to soften, melee mode to raze after villagers.
- Rathas cost gold — do not attrition.
⚠️ Common mistakes
- Constantly toggling stance and losing DPS.
- Trying to raze with ranged mode (much slower).
🔒 Version-locked (Requiem v294)
- Whether v294 lets Bengalis field Elephant Archer or Battle Elephant post-villagers is a whitelist question — assume disabled unless the v294 table says otherwise.