Maceman (Age of Empires III)

This article is about the unit in Age of Empires III. For the unit in Chronicles, see Maceman (Chronicles).

Maceman
Information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition
Type	Infantry Heavy infantry Siege trooper Hand infantry
Civilization(s)	Inca Peru
Age	Fortress Age Revolution (Peru)
Training
Trained at	Kallanka Stronghold Community Plaza (Supay Ceremony) Fort American Citadel
Cost	100 Food 100 Coin 2 Population
Train time	45 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	260
Resistance	0% Hand 20% Ranged 10% Siege
Speed	4.25
Line of Sight	12
Train XP	30
Kill XP	30
Anti-ship attack
Damage	72 Siege
Range	6
Rate of Fire	3.0
Siege attack
Damage	72 Siege
Area of Effect	2.5
Range	2
Rate of Fire	3.0
Bonus damage	0.67x vs. Economy and Military units 0.0x vs. Herdable animals
Hand attack
Damage	36 Hand
Area of Effect	2.5
Range	2
Rate of Fire	2.25
Bonus damage	2.0x vs. Cavalry 1.6x vs. Shock infantry

“	Powerful Heavy hand infantry which inflicts area damage with a large bludgeon. Good against buildings, cavalry and anything within range.	”
—In-game description

The Maceman is a melee heavy infantry unit in Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition that is unique to the Inca and can be trained at the Kallanka and Stronghold, and obtained through Supay Ceremony at the Community Plaza. It is slow and expensive, but the most powerful non-mercenary melee infantry unit in the game.

Overview

Like the Aztec Skull Knight, Macemen are powerful melee units with Area of Effect melee damage. Coupled with their high base attack, they can effortlessly wipe out groups of clustered units. However, they are very slow and require backup from other units.

Additionally, unlike many other units, Macemen do not have a ranged siege attack. They will instead run up to the building and smash it down. Although their high siege damage allows them to destroy buildings quickly, this melee siege range means that other units, such as Huaracas, are better for destroying buildings.

If the "Tupac Rebellion" card is sent, Macemen will be converted into Guard Soldados for one time only.

Upgrades

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect
	Elite Macemen	Automatically	Upgrades Macemen to Elite (+25% hit points and damage); Inca only
	Champion Macemen	400 wood 200 coin	Upgrades Macemen to Champion (+25% hit points and damage)
Imperial Age	Legendary Macemen	1,500 wood 1,500 coin	Upgrades Macemen to Legendary (+50% hit points and damage); requires Champion Macemen

Civilization differences

• The Portuguese and Spanish can get Macemen upon revolting to Peru through the "Manco Inca" Home City Card, which ships 10 Macemen, or train them at the Stronghold when the "Machu Picchu" card is sent. These Macemen do not have the Elite level and are automatically upgraded to Champion.

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Most units, buildings
Weak vs.	Light infantry, artillery
Improvements
Hit points	Corselet (+25%; Spanish only) Maya Cotton Armor (+20%) Infantry Breastplate (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%) Tar Kilns (+5%)
Attack	Zapotec Cult of the Dead (+20%) Carib Kasiri Beer (+10%) Master Lessons (+10%) Yoga (+5%) Mapuche Tactics (+50% siege attack) Somali Ajuran Engineers (+20% multiplier vs. Frontier fortification)
Resistance	Somali Oryx Hide Shields (+5% ranged resistance) Hualcana (+5%; Inca only)
Speed	Military Drummers (+10%) Quechuan Mountaineering (+10%) Akan Fontomfrom (+5%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
Line of Sight	Town Watch (+3)
Cost	Somali Oryx Hide Shields (-10%) Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost) Golden Liberty (-5% coin cost)
Train time	Standing Army (-25%) Akan Fontomfrom (-20%) Quechuan Diet (-15%) Immigrants (-10%)
Other	Royal Festival (delivers 1 Maceman for every 4 minutes of the game time, up to 30 minutes) Jagiellonian Legacy (delivers 8 Macemen if The Warrior was chosen for the Inca to reach the Imperial Age) Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)
Penalties	Corselet (-15% speed; Spanish only)

Home City Cards

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Maceman

Some cards are highlighted with:
Green	TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team
Purple	Shipment that can be sent an INFINITE number of times
Blue	Shipment that arrives fast (5 seconds)

Chinese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Yongle Infrastructure	Delivers 1 Mongol Scout; infantry, land villager, healing unit, Envoy, and Disciple speed +5%

• "TEAM Yongle Infrastructure" does not stack with the Inca "TEAM Inca Bridges" card.

Dutch

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Infantry Hitpoints	Infantry hit points +10%; Dutch-only infantry hit points +15% instead

Europeans

Card	Description	Age
Manco Inca	Delivers 14 Macemen, 10 Espadachins, and 1 Manco Inca; costs 1,500 coin

• "Manco Inca" is available to the Portuguese and Spanish upon revolting to Peru.

Haudenosaunee

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Scout Infantry	Delivers 1 Native Scout; infantry Line of Sight +8

Inca

Card	Description	Age
3 Macemen	Delivers 3 Macemen
7 Macemen	Delivers 8 Macemen
5 Macemen	Delivers 5 Macemen
Melee Infantry Combat	The Inca War Chief, Plumed Spearman, Chimu Runner, and Maceman hit points and damage +15%
Road Building	Land military speed +10%
Couriers	Infantry, cavalry, and shock infantry train time -45%
TEAM Inca Bridges	Delivers 1 Chasqui; infantry, land villager, healing unit, and Envoy speed +5%
Tupac Rebellion	Transforms all villagers into Revolutionaries, Plumed Spearmen into Guard Musketeer, Chimu Runners into Guard Hussars, Jungle Bowmen into Guard Skirmishers, Bolas Warriors into Veteran Dragoons, Huaracas into Guard Grenadiers, and Macemen into Guard Soldados; costs 1,500 food, 1,500 wood, 1,500 coin
Chanca Support	Delivers 10 Macemen; Maceman resistance +5%; costs 1,500 coin

• "TEAM Inca Bridges" does not stack with the Chinese "TEAM Yongle Infrastructure" card.

Indians

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics	Unit hit points and damage +5%

Japanese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Sengoku	Unit upgrade cost -20%

Maltese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Knights of the Round Table	Delivers 1 Hospitaller for each Town Center and Command Post present on the map; unit hit points +2%

Mexicans

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Mariachi	For the next 30 seconds, military building training and research work rate +400%, unit speed +10%

Portuguese

Card	Description	Age
Fencing School	Infantry (except Warrior Priest and Skull Knight) and shock infantry train time -40%

Spanish

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Hand Infantry Attack	Hand infantry damage +15%
Archaic Infantry Hitpoints	Hand infantry and foot archer hit points +15%; Rodelero hit points +20% instead
Archaic Infantry Combat	Hand infantry and foot archer hit points and damage +15%
Liberation March	Infantry, cavalry, and shock infantry train time -35%, speed +5%
TEAM Spanish Inquisition	Delivers 1 Inquisitor; military and economic unit Line of Sight +10

Swedes

Card	Description	Age
TEAM House of Bernadotte	Heavy infantry hit points +15%

Changelog

Definitive Edition

• Originally, Macemen have a speed of 4.0 and train in 55 seconds. With update 9476, they have a speed of 4.25 and train in 48 seconds.
• Macemen cost 3 population, have 30% hand resistance, a ×1.5 multiplier against cavalry, a ×1.3 multiplier against shock infantry, 3 Area of Effect, and its upgrades are calculated using the Fortress Age base statistics.
• Macemen have 400 hit points and cost 150 food, 150 coin.

The African Royals

• With update 47581, Macemen have 20% ranged resistance, a ×2.0 multiplier against cavalry, a ×1.6 multiplier against shock infantry, 2.5 Area of Effect, and its upgrades are now calculated using the Commerce Age base statistics.

Knights of the Mediterranean

• With update 13.27885, Macemen have 325 hit points, cost 100 food, 100 coin, have 10% siege resistance, and benefit from the Target Lock feature.
• With update 13.58326, Macemen cost 2 population.

Trivia

• Despite its name, the Maceman actually wields a club. It is also one of several anti-cavalry units in the series to use a club, the others being the Nootka Clubman, the Nootka War Chief, the Club Warrior, Mapuche Ironwood Clubman, and the Yamabushi from Age of Empires III, as well as the Katapeltes from Age of Mythology.
• The Maceman is the only melee infantry unit in Age of Empires III that, when attacking buildings, does not throw torches. Instead, it uses its mace to attack buildings.
• The Maceman is one of several units that uses hand attacks on buildings, the others being the Ram, the Flail Elephant, the Mahout Lancer, and the Sufi War Elephant.

History

“

The standing army of the Inca was formed primarily by nobles, but the Sapa Inca could raise an army of able-bodied men from the general populace at will. Military discipline was strictly enforced when the troops were on the march and the army, although variously specialized, was extremely well trained. Drawing on the resources of a vast empire, the Inca recruited warriors from numerous subordinate tribes with their own military traditions. The Chimu, inheritors of the ancient Moche culture were once bitter enemies of the Inca but, once subdued, provided the Inca with some of their most formidable and loyal troops. The Chimu were known for their use of maces and clubs in warfare. Some warriors strode fearlessly into battle, carrying massive maces that required both hands to swing and decimated anything in their path. These elite shock troops posed a deadly threat to any opponent, whether in the field or in a fortification under siege.

”

Gallery

In-game Maceman

In-game Elite Maceman

In-game Champion Maceman

In-game Legendary Maceman

Image from the Compendium section

See also

• Doppelsoldner – German equivalent
• Skull Knight – Aztec equivalent
• Ram – Haudenosaunee equivalent
• Samurai – Japanese equivalent
• Hospitaller – Maltese equivalent