Imperial Gajah

Overall strategy
So what's worse than 6 tonnes of fat and muscle bound in the thickest animal hides known to man with a bad temper? this, that's what! the Imperial Gajah is in effect a more heavily armoured and deadlier version of the War Elephant and Light Gajah. It not only is a far stronger beast, capable of resisting most melee units, but is also capable of even greater violence, thanks to its complement of Longbowmen, trained from the ranks of India's hereditary warrior castes, and equipped with the best weapons that money can buy.

Only armour-piercing weapons, such as javelins and crossbows, can hope to have any effect against this monstrosity, although some elite units like the Bulgar Kopienosti, the Chinese Chosen Spearmen or the Roman Kontaraton infantry can deal serious damage to these units. Thankfully, Imperial Gajah units are costly -- so for factions such as the barbarian factions of Europe, or the Turks, there is hope: attacking this unit with Javelin Cavalry, or Levy Crossbowmen can usually have a devastating effect, so always be sure to keep as many missile units as possible, particularly Levy Crossbowmen, if you find yourself facing the Indians as a foe. Understandably, defending these living tanks with whatever you have, such as Longbow Levy and Longbowmen is thus important. An Imperial Gajah - Longbow - Scorpion build can be devastating, but the relatively immobile nature of this combination means that the Imperial Gajah is best used on maps where the amount of land mass for battles is small. Otherwise, it is best used for defence, the main bulk of your assault corps as the Indians comprising mercenary cavalry, as long as you can raise the coin to finance it.

Unit summary
Is an upgrade of both Light Gajah and War Elephant. Available from the Noble Residence.