The Knight is a Medieval Era heavy cavalry unit in Civilization VI. It upgrades from the Heavy Chariot (or its replacements, except the Maryannu Chariot Archer), the Hetairoi, or the War-Cart and requires Iron.
In the Gathering Storm expansion, the Knight's Production cost is increased from 180 to 220, its Gold purchasing cost is increased from 720 to 880, and its Gold maintenance cost is increased from 3 to 4. It upgrades to a Cuirassier, and requires 20 Iron to train.
- Attributes:
- Ignores enemy zone of control.
Strategy[]
The Knight is the most powerful standard land unit up until the Renaissance Era, being slightly weaker only to Pikemen with their special bonus against cavalry. A veritable mountain of iron armor equipped with a sharp lance, the Knight is a specialist in charging and breaking the enemy line. With its superior Combat Strength, a force of Knights can lay waste not only to armies, but also to poorly defended cities.
In Gathering Storm, the Knight no longer totally dominates the Medieval battlefield, as it now has competition in the form of the Courser, the new Medieval light cavalry unit. The Knight-Courser pairing follows the classic strength formula: the heavy cavalry unit has slightly higher raw Combat Strength but is slower which, together with their respective promotion tables, makes the heavy cavalry an expert in domination while the light cavalry is better at pillaging and harassing.
Killing a unit with a Knight triggers the Eureka for Military Science.
Civilopedia entry[]
In the Middle Ages, a knight was usually the wastrel son of a noble family who, having served his apprenticeship in war as a page and squire, had been raised to honorable rank and bound to chivalrous conduct (more an ideal than a practice). Since the mounts and accoutrements and life-style of a knight were extremely expensive, it just wasn’t for the commoners (they got to be foot-soldiers). The knightly tradition arose from the Roman equites, an equestrian order that comprised the lower of the two aristocratic ranks of the Empire. Through the Dark Ages (and slightly beyond) knights dominated the open battlefield, able to trample the fleeing commoners. Unfortunately, not many battles were fought on dry, open ground. Too, eventually the unchivalrous commoners were armed with pikes and longbows, the bane of mounted knights. And so the day of the knight passed away, despite those archaic “knightly” orders still scattered about.
See also[]
- Knight in other games