Pikeman (Age of Empires III)

The Pikeman are basic foot soldiers armed with a long pike in Age of Empires III.

Overview
Pikeman in can be trained in the Barracks, Galleon, and Fort, and they can also shipped from the player's Home City. They are archaic infantry that have low attack, but high siege damage and large multipliers against cavalry. They have more speed than most infantry, but still not enough to pursue cavalry, so they are best used to defend against horsemen, not attack them. They can be countered by light Infantry and Artillery. In the Colonial Age they are useful for destroying buildings since most civilizations lack artillery at that stage.

Archaic units usually cannot be upgraded beyond Veteran level, but the Spanish are able to do so with Pikemen even up to Royal Guard and Imperial level. This makes Spanish pikemen quite powerful in melee combat and useful past the Colonial Age. Pikeman are useful as a front line defense for ranged units to hide behind. Using them with Crossbowman is an effective combo early in the game as they can take out infantry at long range while the Pikemen defeat any cavalry that get too close. This tactic is, however, vulnerable to artillery and anti-infantry, and should be escorted with cavalry.

Civilization Bonuses

 * The Spanish are able to research the Tercio upgrade in the Industrial Age, and Imperial Tercio in the Imperial Age and are the only civilization to upgrade Pikemen beyond the Fortress Age.
 * The Ottomans and the Russians are the only European civilizations not to have Pikemen, and the only civilizations to lack hand infantry in the Colonial Age without use of natives.

Upgrades
The overall stats for Pikeman can be improved by investing resources on technologies found in the Arsenal.

Veteran Pikeman
Veteran Pikeman is the first upgrade for the Pikeman. It is available for and  once Fortress Age is reached. Since both Musketeers and Halberdiers are available at the Veteran level during the same age and are better than Pikeman, players often ignore the upgrade and invest resources on other units instead. However it is recommended for the Spanish since they can upgrade them further than other civilizations and lack the Halberdier.
 * Hit Points: +20% (144)
 * Hand Attack: +20% (9)
 * Siege Attack: +20% (38)

Tercio
Tercio Pikeman is the second upgrade for the Pikeman, available only to the Spanish. It is available for and  once Industrial Age is reached.
 * Hit Points: +40% (192)
 * Hand Attack: +40% (12)
 * Siege Attack: +40% (51)

Imperial Tercio is the third upgrade for the Pikeman, available only to the Spanish. It is available for and  once Imperial Age is reached.
 * Hit Points: +50% (252)
 * Hand Attack: +50% (16)
 * Siege Attack: +50% (67)

Arsenal provides:
 * Infantry Breastplate: increases hitpoints by 10%.
 * Military Drummers: increases speed by 10%.

Shipments
This is a list of shipments that benefit Pikemen in anyway.

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" style="width:100%; margin-bottom:0px; margin-top:1px;" ! sab="1148" | Click for a list of Pikemen related home city cards
 * - sab="1147"
 * - sab="1149"
 * sab="1150" |

Spanish

 * }

Trivia
Villagers can actually defeat unupgraded Pikemen in 1 on 1 fights, due to the fact that Pikemen are only effective against cavalry and buildings.

History
"Pikemen fought in very tight formations that maximized the danger to enemies as they approached. The front rank would set their pikes against a cavalry charge, placing the butt of the staff against the ground, braced by the instep of their back foot, with the tip raised up at an angle. The rank standing just behind the first would hold their pikes straight out at about shoulder height to add still more stabbing spearheads. As firearms developed, they were integrated into units of pikemen. By the mid-seventeenth century an infantry regiment might be composed of two-thirds musketeers and a third pikemen. Eventually firearms with mounted bayonets came to replace pikes, which were little seen or used after the nineteenth century. A typical pike was a 10- to almost 20-foot spear-like wooden staff with a steel or iron spear point. Some pikemen also carried swords and axes to attack any enemies who survived the deadly bristling of pike formation. They wore helmets, and sometimes breastplates, to defend themselves against attacks."