Manchu

"Chinese cavalry archer mercenary."

—In-game description

The Manchu is a mercenary mounted archer in Age of Empires III. It is a fierce mounted archer from China.

Overview Edit

The Manchu is the mercenary version of the Cavalry Archer. It has a high rate of fire and an impressive amount of hit points. It also has a very high melee armor and base damage. All these factors combined make it an extremely effective counter to cavalry, without having to worry about micro-managing them or kiting. Unlike nearly every other mercenary, it takes the same amount of population space as its base unit; this allows it to be used even in the latest stages of the games without sacrificing military size, should it be available at the Saloon/Monastery.

This unit is of particular interest to the Chinese civilization. As China is unable to mass produce anti-cavalry, and the units it can mass are fairly weak, the Manchu (if available at the Monastery) can be trained to fill this usual hole in their composition, without sacrificing population space or draining limited wood supplies.

Further statistics Edit

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Heavy cavalry, light infantry, artillery
Weak vs.	Heavy infantry, ranged infantry, light cavalry
Improvements
Hit points	Comanche Horse Breeding (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%)
Attack	Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+10%) Customized Merc Weapons (+30%, John Black's Mercenaries only) Carib Kasiri Beer (+10%) Carib Garifuna Drums (+1.0x multiplier vs. villagers) Seminole Bowyer (+25%) Tupi Poison Arrow Frogs (+10%) Yoga (+5%)
Range	Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2)
Sight	Town Watch (+2) Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2)
Speed	Comanche Mustangs (+10%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
Creation speed	Mass Cavalry (-50%) Cheyenne Horse Trading (-25%) Incan Chasquis Messengers (-25%)
Train cost	Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost)
Penalties	Coffee Trade (-10% speed, Dutch only)

Home City Cards Edit

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

Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team All Edit Card Description Age HC level Riding School Cavalry train time -40% 10 Hire Manchurian Cavalry Archers Ships 9 Manchu; costs 1,000 coin 10 The Riding School card is not available to Chinese and Japanese. The Hire Manchurian Cavalry Archers card is available to Chinese, Ottomans, and Russians. Chinese Edit Card Description Age HC level Western Reforms All units get +8% hit points and attack 40 Acupuncture Unit train time -20% 10 Hire Mandarin Mercenary Army Ships 10 Manchu and 7 Iron Troopers; costs 2,000 coin 25 TEAM 5 Manchu Ships 5 Manchu; costs 1,000 coin 25 Europeans Edit Card Description Age HC level Cavalry Combat Cavalry gets +15% hit points and attack 10 Hire Asian Mercenary Army Ships 7 Manchu and 5 Ronin; costs 2,000 coin 25 The Cavalry Combat card is available to Dutch, Ottomans, and Russians. The Hire Asian Mercenary Army card is available to Ottomans, Portuguese, and Spanish. Germans Edit Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cavalry Attack Heavy cavalry, light cavalry, and light infantry gets +15% attack 10 Spanish Riding School Cavalry gets +10% speed +4 Uhlans 25 Improved Mercenaries Mercenaries get +20% hit points and attack +3 Uhlans 10 Indians Edit Card Description Age HC level Dravidian Martial Arts All units get +15% melee attack +1 Villager 40 TEAM Shivaji's Tactics All units get +5% hit points and attack 25 Ottomans Edit Card Description Age HC level Irregulars Light cavalry gets +2.0x multiplier against villagers 25 Russians Edit Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cavalry Scouts Cavalry and light infantry gets +10% hit points and +4 LOS 1 Spanish Edit Card Description Age HC level TEAM Inquisition All units get +10 LOS 10

In-game dialogue Edit

Unlike other units native to China, the Manchu speaks their own Manchu language (Manju Gisun), an endangered language of Tungusic origin native to Manchuria and one of the official languages of the Qing dynasty.

• ᠵᡝ [Je?] (Yes?)
• ᡨᡝᠮᡤᡝᡨᡠ ᠰᡝᠯᡤᡳᠶᡝᠨ [Temgetu selgiyen?] (Official order(s)?)
• ᠴᠣᠣᡥ? ᠪᡝᠯᡥᡝᠮᡝ ᠵᡠᡵ? ᠮᠪᡳ [Qouha belheme jurambi.] (Troop(s) ready to set out.)
• ᠪᡳ ᡠᡨᡥ? ᡳ ᡤᡝᠨᡝᠮᠪᡳ [Bi uthai genembi.] (I immediately go.)
• ᠵᡝ [Je!] (Yes!)
• ᠪᡳᡵᡝ [Bire!] (Charge!)
• ᠸ? [Wa!] (Kill!)

Many thanks to Librarhyme for his contribution in verifying these dialogues.

History Edit

"The Manchu people overthrew the Ming dynasty in the middle of the seventeenth century. They established the Ch'ing dynasty and tried to remain separate from the general populace of China. They had been a nomadic people once, riding and fighting from horseback, and tending crops and herds. The Ch'ing dynasty ruled China for about 300 years.

Manchurian soldiers and warriors fought with recurve bows, swords, lances, halberds, and even their bare hands. They wore heavy robes that hung to the knee, allowing free movement on foot and horseback."

—In-game history section

Gallery Edit

An in-game Manchu

Manchus attacking Settlers

The Manchu's history portrait

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