Dutch Allies

The Dutch are a Consulate ally in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties available only to the Japanese. Like all Consulate allies, it requires 100 export to ally with them (25 export if the Diplomatic Intrigue Home City Card was sent). Doing so grants the player a passive generation of 0.8 coin per second.

The Dutch are also available as a Consulate ally for the Japanese in the Act I: Japan campaign. They have the same bonus as the standard game, but a different list of Consulate armies.

Description

The Dutch are a Consulate ally focused on wagons that are used to build European economic and support buildings. The army options grant the player access to Blue Guards, Carabineers, and Mortars. The time required to train these armies varies, but can be reduced by 50% with the "Good Faith Agreements" Home City Card.

Technologies

Age	Improvement	Cost	Research time	Effect
	Church Wagon	150 export	30 seconds	Delivers 1 Church Wagon
	Bank Wagon	450 export		Delivers 1 Bank Wagon
	Arsenal Wagon	300 export		Delivers 1 Arsenal Wagon
	Livestock Pen Wagon*	900 export		Delivers 1 Livestock Pen Wagon
Imperial Age	Dutch Brigade	2,300 export	90 seconds	Delivers 28 Blue Guards and 4 Mortars

• The Good Faith Agreements card reduces technology cost by 40% and research time by 50%, except for Brigades, whose cost are reduced by 300 export and do not research faster.

Armies

Standard game

Age	Army	Cost	Train time	Pop.	Consists of
	Dutch Expeditionary Company	400 export	20 seconds	6	6 Blue Guards
	Dutch Expeditionary Force	800 export	40 seconds	14	8 Carabineers 6 Blue Guards
	Dutch Expeditionary Army	1,600 export	60 seconds	24	16 Carabineers 2 Mortars

Campaign-only

Age	Army	Cost	Train time	Pop.	Consists of
	Dutch Expeditionary Company (campaign)	400 export	20 seconds	6	1 Horse Artillery
	Dutch Expeditionary Force (campaign)	800 export	40 seconds	10	2 Falconets
	Dutch Expeditionary Army (campaign)	1,600 export	60 seconds	36	4 Horse Artillery 3 Mortars

• The Good Faith Agreements Home City Card reduces army train time by 50%.

Strategy

As a Consulate ally, the Dutch provide many benefits to the Japanese. First of all, their passive bonus can be used to train the powerful but expensive units of the Japanese, such as the Samurai, the Ashigaru Musketeer, the Daimyo, and the Shogun Tokugawa. They grant wagons to build a selection of Europeans buildings that give economic and military benefits, and can be rebuilt if are destroyed.

The Church Wagon allows the player to build a Church to train Priests, who are more effective than Sohei Archers with the Reiki technology in healing Japanese units. In addition to its trickle of 0.7 XP per second, the Church provides technologies that help both in turtle, rush and boom. Town Watch and Gas Lighting increase the Line of Sight of units and buildings, respectively. Standing Army can help train the powerful Japanese infantry faster, while Mass Cavalry does the same for cavalry. These technologies also affect Daimyos and the Shogun Tokugawa, allowing these units to train military units faster. Mercantilism gives a large amount of XP that can be used to send Home City Cards. The Church can also train Spies that can used as scout units and to defeat dangerous mercenaries, as they are cheaper than Ninjutsu-Zukai and cost coin instead of export, which is more difficult to obtain.

The Bank Wagon builds a Bank that generates a trickle of 2.75 coin per second, which stacks with the ally's passive bonus, allowing Shrines to focus on producing food or wood.

The Arsenal Wagon builds an Arsenal which, although it does not have all the technologies that the European counterpart have, still provides a great improvement to the Japanese military units. Infantry Breastplate increases the hit points of all Japanese hand infantry and foot archers. Socket Bayonet improves the hand damage of Ashigaru Musketeers, Blue Guards, and other musket infantry units. Cavalry Cuirass increases the hit points all heavy cavalry, including Daimyos and Shogun Tokugawa. Finally, the Gunner's Quadrant and Heated Shot technologies increase the Line of Sight of artillery and gives artillery and buildings +50% attack multiplier against ships, respectively. The Arsenal technologies can be combined with Home City Cards, minor civilization technologies, passive special abilities of Daimyos and the Shogun Tokugawa, and the technologies and bonuses of the Golden Pavilion Wonder.

Finally, the Livestock Pen Wagon builds a Livestock Pen that trains Goats, which can be tasked to Shrines and the Toshogu Shrine Wonder and are easier to protect than huntable animals, increasing the already powerful boom. In addition, Goats generate more resources when tasked to Shrines than huntable animals. 6 Shrines and the Toshugu Shrine Wonder can be filled with the 30 Goats that the Japanese can train.

Both Carabineers and Blue Guards are good support units for the Japanese. The first costs only 1 population instead of the 2 that the Yabusame cost, and together with Blue Guards, they can be a great support for the Japanese against civilizations focused on heavy cavalry (such as the French and Indians). These two Consulate units work well with the powerful Japanese heavy cavalry and hand infantry units, such as Naginata Riders and Samurai, that can protect Carabineers and Blue Guards, while Yumi Archers eliminate heavy infantry and Naginata Riders counter the light infantry that are a threat to these Consulate units.

The Dutch Expeditionary Army can be combined with cavalry or hand infantry supported by Yumi Archers guarding from the rear. Consulate Mortars, if are well protected by Carabineers, infantry, or cavalry, can destroy important buildings from afar, such as Forts, Factories, Town Centers, and Wonders, and can quickly destroy enemy bases, especially poorly defended ones.

In general, the Dutch are allies that are good for boom strategies, since they provide buildings that help the Japanese economically and militarily, in addition to its three useful Consulate units.