Yumi Archer

The Yumi Archer is a Japanese long-ranged unit featured in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties.

Overview
The Yumi Archer is a Japanese archer with a high attack that is good against heavy infantry and light cavalry, and has a very long range. The Yumi Archer has regular unit upgrades, that increase its Hit Points and range to 20, making it the third longest ranged archer in Age of Empires III. The only two that have longer range are the Longbowman (22 (26 with Yeomen) ) and the Arrow Knight (30).

It has an attack bonus as a card from the Home City, it has aura boosts from the Daimyo and Shogun, it can have the passive attack boost from the Japanese Consulate, and it can have the passive attack or speed boost from the Golden Pavilion, making it powerful in combat as it progresses through the Ages.

History
"The word “yumi” means either a long or short bow used in kyudo, the ancient Japanese art of archery. The traditional yumi stands at over 6 feet fall, often dwarfing the archer, and is made from laminated bamboo, wood, and animal hide, in a process that is still the same today as it was two thousand years ago. The yumi’s unique asymmetric design, where the upper and lower curves differ, is a style that dates to around 250 BCE. It is believed the asymmetric shape was designed for use on horseback, so the bow could be switched from one side of the horse to the other with relative ease."

Trivia
The yumi are depicted inaccurately in the game. A close view shows that the bows of the in game Yumi Archers are symmetric, however, the strongly asymmetric design is an important characteristic of the traditional yumi. Ironically, this fact is even mentioned in the game's history text but not implemented in the yumi archers' design.

The yumi archer is a mix between a regular archer and a skirmisher. Their ranged rate of fire is 3.0 opposed to most other archers rate of fire of 1.5. The yumi, unlike other archers fires immediately, instead of having a long drawing animation. Because they fire immediately, they can be used for hit and run much more effectively than other archers.

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