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Khmer

Kite Tank elephant tank + pass-through siege.

Spawn unit Starting age Kills to Castle Kills to Imp Razes to vill Cap Interval
Ballista Elephant (Elite, per v294 signature) Post-Imperial 300 600 2 30 15 s

⚡ Quick reference

  • Baseline: no building prereqs, farmers need no drop site, Villagers hide in Houses, BE +10% speed. Allied Scorpions +1 range. UU Ballista Elephant (pass-through). UTs Double Crossbow, Tusk Swords.
  • Requiem v294: starting age Feudal; kills-to-Castle 300; razes-to-vill 2. Castle spawns 30 Battle Elephants (interval 15 s — the longest); cap 30 (the lowest).
  • CBA role: elephant tank + pass-through siege.
  • Opening: protect BE mass behind screen; attack through columns.
  • Post-vill: BE + Ballista/Scorpion in Imperial.
  • Weak vs: anti-elephant, fast siege snipe, surrounds.

📜 Deep playbook

🏛️ Standard DE profile

  • Civ bonuses:
  • Villagers can garrison in Houses.
  • No buildings required as prerequisites (e.g., Stable without Barracks, Siege Workshop without Barracks).
  • Battle Elephants +15% movement speed.
  • Farmers drop off food automatically at Mill/Town Center without walking.
  • Scorpions +1 range (Castle) / +1 range (Imperial) — total +2 range at Imperial.
  • Team bonus: Scouts have +3 line of sight.
  • Unique unit: Ballista Elephant (Castle UU — scorpion on an elephant chassis).
  • Unique techs:
  • Castle Age: Tusk Swords — Battle Elephants +3 attack.
  • Imperial Age: Double Crossbow — Ballista Elephants and Scorpions fire a second projectile.
  • Notable missing techs: no Bloodlines, no Plate Barding Armor, no Heavy Cav Archer, no Halberdier.
  • Walls: all three tiers available.

🏰 CBA REQUIEM v294 profile

(v294 numbers: Fandom wiki, retrieved 2026-08-21)

  • Starting age: Post-Imperial.
  • Spawn unit: Ballista Elephant (Elite, per v294 signature).
  • Spawn interval / unit cap: 15 s per Castle; cap 30.
  • Kills to Castle / Imperial: 300 (Castle) / 600 (Imperial).
  • Razes to first villagers: 2 — Khmer are typically mid-queue given they hit hard.
  • Free starting tech: none listed in the v294 wiki table.
  • Silver-UT unlock: not listed in the v294 wiki table — ask in the Requiem Discord (Double Crossbow is the natural silver in v294 if included).
  • Available buildings / disabled: elephants are the signature; Battle Elephant secondary and Scorpion access depend on v294 whitelist — mark not listed in the v294 wiki table — ask in the Requiem Discord where uncertain.

CBA role & archetype

  • Primary role: siege-shooter / anti-massed-infantry. Ballista Elephants are heavy-armored ranged units that shred pierce-vulnerable stacks.
  • Secondary role: pusher — can force a lane by walking through arrow fire.

🌅 Opening play

  • Minute 0–3: hold a middle lane, not a flank; Ballista Elephants are slow and need friendly cover on both sides.
  • Preferred fights: massed archer stacks, massed infantry, static defensive walls.
  • Fights to refuse: Camel civs, Halb-heavy comps, monk civs (conversion).
  • Micro: stagger fire, keep 1-tile spacing so the second bolt (with Double Crossbow) doesn't waste. Do not clump.

⚔️ Kill accumulation strategy

  • Safest farms: Britons, Mayans, Vietnamese, Ethiopians — archer civs cannot pierce Ballista Elephant armor efficiently.
  • Avoid: Saracens, Berbers, Malians, Indians (Gurjaras/Hindustanis) — camel-line UUs and anti-elephant bonuses shred you.
  • Anti-cage: never advance a lone Ballista Elephant — it will be surrounded and killed slowly.

🏚️ Raze allocation

  • Priority: low-to-mid. Khmer can farm kills raw without needing raze eco urgently.
  • Feed razes to: Persians, Turks, Mongols, Ethiopians (BBC/Torsion Engines want the resource injection more).

👷 Post-villager composition

  • Wall order: backwall + siege-workshop wall; Ballista Elephants want a fortified staging line.
  • Standard build: 2 Siege Workshops (Scorpion / Onager mix if allowed), 1 Stable (Battle Elephant support). UU production and Castle research run from your pre-placed Castles. (verify availability in the loaded scenario — v294 notes list BBC/treb/mangonel/scorpion as disabled)
  • Imperial composition: Elite Ballista Elephant + Battle Elephant + Onager/Scorpion. Fill gaps with Halb-substitute (Pikeman — no Halb tech).
  • Silver-UT priority: Double Crossbow the instant it unlocks — it is the single biggest DPS multiplier in the game.

⚖️ Strong against / Weak against

  • Strong vs.: Britons, Mayans, Chinese, Vietnamese, Koreans (War Wagon eats bolts poorly), any archer-first civ.
  • Weak vs.: Saracens (Mameluke), Berbers (Camel Archer + Genitour), Malians (Gbeto + Farimba cav), Malay (Karambit swarm), Persians (War Elephant slugfest — attrition unfavorable).

🤝 Team synergies

  • Best pairs: Franks (Paladin front-line while Ballista Elephants shoot from behind), Teutons (Teutonic Knight wall for Ballista Elephants), Koreans (Onager screen).
  • Conflicts: pairing with another slow siege civ (Turks BBC + Khmer Ballista) leaves the team with zero mobility.

🎮 Key micro rules

  1. Stagger — never clump Ballista Elephants; each one is a shooter, not a tank.
  2. Retreat before HP dips below ~40%; heal in a friendly monk arc if available.
  3. Get Double Crossbow before any generic upgrade.
  4. Move through friendly Halbs/Pikes; never through open ground vs. cavalry.
  5. Always face-shoot — don't kite backwards; the elephant is too slow.

⚠️ Common mistakes

  • Trying to raid with Ballista Elephants — they are not raiders.
  • Clumping them (loses the stagger benefit and invites Mangonel splash).

🔒 Version-locked (Requiem v294)

  • Ballista Elephant as spawn (vs. Battle Elephant) is v294 specific.
  • Double Crossbow being the silver unlock depends on v294 UT gating.