Maya (revolutionary)

This article is about the revolutionary civilization in Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition. For other uses, see Maya.

Maya
Revolutionary nation
Nation information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition - Mexico Civilization
Revolt from	Yucatán (Mexicans)
Revolt Age	Revolution
Continent	North America
Home City	Chan Santa Cruz
Demonym	Maya

Maya is one of the revolutionary nations in Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, unique to the Mexicans and only accessible if the Mexican player revolts to Yucatán beforehand.

Revolting from Yucatán to Maya costs 2,000 food, 2,000 wood, 2,000 coin, making it the most expensive revolution option, and it is irreversible.

Unlike other Mexican revolutions, revolting to Maya replaces the player's entire deck, including Federal Cards.

Effects

• Inherits bonuses and penalties from the Yucatán revolution: Settlers are disabled at Town Centers (Haciendas can still train Settlers), Fishing Boats are disabled at Docks, Yucateco Insurgentes are available to train, Hacienda technologies are free to research, and the Factory cannot train nor upgrade Heavy Cannons.
• The entire deck is replaced with a new deck of 31 cards. The player can no longer access their Federal Cards from the Commerce Age Federal State, Fortress Age Federal State, and the Yucatán revolution.
• Advances the player into the Imperial Age, with limitations on the available technologies. The Inspiring Flag gains the Imperial radius and Large Scale Agriculture, Deforestation, Legendary Native Warriors, Spies, and Blockade are available in the Town Center.
• Maya Holcan Javelineers are available at the Barracks, War Hut, Native Embassy, and Fort, and they receive their Warrior Societies and Champion upgrades for free. They have an initial build limit of 10, and every Home City shipment sent as the Maya increases the train limit of Maya Holcan Javelineers by 1.
• Transforms all Soldados and Revolutionaries into Cruzob Infantry. Cruzob Infantry replaces Soldados at the Barracks, Fort, and Field Hospital. Although they are transformed to Cruzob Infantry and their Guard and Imperial upgrades are not available, Soldados are upgraded to Veteran for free. As of update 15.59076 Soldados may still be trained from the American Citadel, and, while not outright disabled, Revolutionaries are removed from the buildings that could train them as Yucatán.
• Salteadores receive their Veteran and Vigilantes upgrades for free, and are further upgraded into Cruzob Avengers, gaining additional range, line of sight, and movement speed.
• Disables Stables and replaces them on the map with War Huts, which are upgraded into Strong War Huts for free. The War Hut can train the same units as the Barracks, but unlike normal Native American civilizations the Mighty War Hut upgrade is not available.
• Disables the training and upgrading of Chinacos and Dragoons, and transforms them into Cuatreros.
• Disables the training and upgrading of Falconets, Culverins, Mortars, and Horse Artillery, allows the training of Light Cannons and Captured Mortars instead. Light Cannons can be upgraded to Field Cannons, but the Legendary upgrade is not available.
• The Dock gets a different model and can no longer train nor upgrade Steamers, Frigates, and Ironclads (Sloops are still trainable). Allows the training of War Canoes and Chaac Canoes (Tlaloc Canoes which can train Yucateco Insurgentes, Cruzob Infantry, and Cruzob Avengers) instead.
• The player is treated as allied with the Maya for the purposes of the "Native Treaties" card, and the Maya Cotton Armor, Maya Calendar, and Maya Pyramids technologies are available at the Native Embassy.
• The General becomes the Cruzob General with a different model and portrait, but is otherwise identical.
• The Padre becomes the Cruzob Padre with a different model and portrait, but is otherwise identical.
• Sets the training limit of Privateers to 5 (Home City Cards can ignore the limit).
• Enables the training of Native Scouts at the Town Center and Native Embassy, and adds 1 population cost to them.
• Forts become Maya Forts with a different model and they can no longer research Revetment and Star Fort. They can train Yucateco Insurgentes, Cruzob Infantry, Cruzob Avengers, Holcan Javelineers, and Light Cannons.
• Disables the bonus experience effect of the "Seven Laws" card (this may be a bug).
• Upgrades Priestess to Imperial Age stats, gives them +30% damage, -25% train time, and a +20.0 multiplier against heroes
• The Fortified Outpost upgrade is disabled.
• The Redoubts upgrade is disabled.
• The Arsenal technologies Cavalry Cuirass and Ranged Cavalry Caracole are disabled.
• While the Capitol is disabled, if the player does somehow have one it is transformed into a Town Center.
• The in-game demonym changes to "Maya".

Home City Cards

• Purple: Shipment that can be sent an INFINITE number of times

Card	Description
Maya Ceramics	Ships 200 coin for every shipment that has been sent before this one; grants "Tonalá Ceramics" (villagers gather coin from Estates, Rice Paddies, Fields, and Haciendas 15% faster)
Jungle Villages	Each existing House spawns three jungle trees containing 300 wood each, and Houses get a cosmetic appearance change
Cenotes	Ships 2 Trading Post Travois; Trading Posts generate 1 XP/sec.
Huipils	Existing and new Town Centers and Haciendas muster 3 Villagers which will wait in queue if the player is at the Villager build limit
Kuchkabal	Ships 12 Villagers; Villagers can be trained at Town Centers
Nojpetén	Ships 6 Fishing Boats; Fishing Boats can be trained at Docks, cost -70% Wood, but get -70% hit points
Exotic Hardwoods	Villagers gather wood 20% faster
Sustainable Agriculture	Villagers gather food from Mills, Farms, Rice Paddies, Fields, and Haciendas 15% faster; Haciendas auto gather food 15% faster
11 Cruzob Infantry	Ships 11 Cruzob Infantry
Maya Architecture	All buildings except Forts get +30% hit points; buildings now give food as well as experience when built; grants Redoubts
Old Kowoj Traditions	Ships 1 Tapir for every Home City shipment sent including this one; the Tapirs contain 500 Food each
Old Yalain Traditions	Trees last 500% longer
4 Light Cannon	Ships 4 Light Cannons
Warrior Culture	Villagers get +20 attack, and now attack enemies automatically; units affected by villager upgrades get +3 attack
Chan Santa Cruz	Upgrades Yucateco Insurgentes to Guard (if not already); Yucateco Insurgentes, Cruzob Infantry, and Cruzob Avengers can be upgraded to Imperial; costs 2,000 food, 2,000 coin
Jungle Warfare	Yucateco Insurgentes, Cruzob Avengers, and Maya Holcan Javelineers poison the enemy when attacking; the poison does 1 Siege damage per second and lasts for 8 seconds
Native Warriors	Native warriors cost -25% resources
Petén Itzá	Ships 1 Fort Wagon; Fort build limit +1
Native Warrior Combat	Native warriors get +15% hit points and attack
Native Treaties	Each different allied native tribe sends a shipment of their respective native warriors; By revolting to Maya you are allied with them, so this ships 5 Holcan Javelineers even without any native posts
Blood Brothers	Upgrades native warriors to Elite/Disciplined and Champion/Honored (if not already)
Kinship Ties	Villagers can be trained at the Native Embassy, which is also available
Pok Ta Pok	Infantry get +10% speed and -10% train time
Cult of the Talking Cross	Heroes get +1,500 hit points, +100% attack, and get more resources from treasures; costs 1,000 food
Advanced Scouts	Native Scouts get +50% hit points, +200% attack, +20.0× multiplier vs. Heroes, +10.0× multiplier vs. Mercenaries, and +20 train limit
Food Silos	Villager gather food from Mills, Farms, Rice Paddies, Fields, and Haciendas 15% faster
British Weapon Trade	Ships 12 Redcoat Musketeers and 4 Rockets; Light Cannons get +70% hit points and +1.0× multiplier vs. Artillery; costs 1,000 wood
Recruit Buccaneer Fleet	Ships 4 Privateers; costs 500 coin
María Uicab	Ships 1 Priestess named María Uicab with +150% hit points and +12 Conversion range; María Uicab can be retrained at the Cathedral for 300 coin
Bandit Gang	Ships 20 random outlaws; costs 2,000 coin
Poot's Plan	Ships 4 Stealth Petards (Petard that can use stealth mode)

Strategy

General

The Maya are a very unique revolution. For players that use Mexico, getting the Maya revolution is almost like transforming Mexico into an entirely different civilization as the player will gain access to unique units, cards, buildings, and even cosmetic changes. The Maya are a very map-dependent revolt, due to their interactions with natives.

Since the only way to get the Maya revolution is through the Yucatán revolution, consider it as a specialization from that revolution that focuses even more on infantry and defenses while introducing a lot more economic shipments, defensive shipments, and shipments that improve native units. One important thing about revolting with the Maya is that the player must ship any cards from Yucatán and Mexico that they need before revolting, as the entire deck is replaced, even the Federal Cards, unlike all the other Mexican revolutions.

If a player makes a base deck that only has shipments from the Exploration, Commerce, and Fortress Ages, then they may pick Yucatán and then Maya, since they will not need any Industrial Age shipments, and it will be as if the player has a deck with 78 cards in total (discounting a few redundant shipments the Maya have with Yucatán). It is virtually impossible to pick all 78 shipments in just one match, but this allows for a lot of strategic flexibility that cannot be compared with any other revolution.

One strategy involving the Maya revolution for defense is to place a lot of Stables (more than 7) before revolting, as those will be turned into War Huts, and War Huts have a creation limit of just 7. The player can thus surpass the creation limit of the War Hut.

As the Maya can train Holcan Javelineers and each shipment they send increases their build limit (not considering the great shipment repertory allowed by this revolution), it is a good strategy to pick the Trade Route in the Exploration and Commerce Ages in order to amass a Holcan Spearmen horde in the alternative Imperial Age of the Maya revolution. In regard to getting more shipments, the player should save the Día de Muertos technology after revolting and after sending several waves of units against opponents in order to get a good return of experience for several shipments from the Maya revolution.

When using Solís Shredders to generate wood with the Maya (only possible if sent before revolting to Maya) with Haciendas, it is preferable that villagers be tasked to gather food and coin and Cows be tasked to generate wood. This is because the gather rate of Cows for wood is much higher than their gather rates for other resources (and Cow gather rates are not affected by upgrades), but the gather rate of wood for villagers ends up being slightly subpar, as it is not affected by upgrades.

Map-dependent variables

The Maya's interactions with natives are very eccentric depending on the map, which makes it a very map-dependent revolution. Similarly, the sheer amount of card slots the Maya revolution frees up allows a powerful early fish boom, which requires a good map to do that in. Notable examples of map effects which change the usefulness of the Maya revolt dramatically are:

• Maps with the Maya minor civilization: This makes the Maya revolution significantly worse, as the unlocking of the Maya technologies from the native embassy upon revolting is mostly pointless.
• Maps with natives which allow training pets: Pets are good in the late game for tanking in the front line due to few enemy units having an increased multipliers versus them (they count as hand infantry, but don't have the infantry tag, like hand shock infantry), them being automatically upgraded in each Age, and their Age-up upgrades being much stronger than normal. Maya Cotton Armor buffs pet hit points, making them even better for the role. Especially effective if the pets are also native warriors so benefit from the native warrior upgrade cards.
• Maps where training of the Wokou Junk is enabled by building a Trading Post on a Holy Site: The Wokou Junk enables the training of Old Doug, the Orangutan, which is useful for the same reason as the previous bullet point.
• Maps with the House of Oldenburg: Royal Huntsman being both a villager and a military unit means it benefits greatly from the villager stat upgrade cards of Yucatán and Maya. In this case never upgrading them to the Royal Hunter is likely preferable, as Royal Hunters are not affected as strongly by villager upgrades. This makes them into incredibly strong units with the downside of a low train limit.
• Maps with the House of Bourbon or the House of Habsburg: Considering that the Maya revolution is highly reliant on the sheer amount of shipments the player gets access to, these two Royal Houses may help a lot for getting more shipments, as both of them enable technologies that give experience to the player. The House of Bourbon enables the Bourbon Reforms technology, which gives 20% of resources spent on technologies as XP, and 60, 140, 200 and 320 XP for each Exploration Age, Commerce Age, Fortress Age, and Industrial Age shipment sent, respectively, up to a maximum of 2,000 XP. The House of Bourbon also provides the player with the Maison du Roi technology, which makes every future shipment ship an additional Royal Horseman. This synergizes with the large Maya deck. House of Habsburg, on the other hand, allows the player to research Congress of Vienna (gives 1 Home City shipment) and Crown Lands (gives 20 XP for each building owned by the player).
• Maps with an easy fish boom e.g. because they are easy to defend. This allows the early fish boom, which can enabled by Maya freeing up a lot of card slots, to be even more potent.
• Maps with natives with hero synergy, like the Akan or Aztec (minor native) (only available in exceptional circumstances like randomly spawning on the Unknown map): Synergizes with being able to advance to the Imperial Age and Cult of the Taking Cross.
• Maps with a lot of Trading Post sites: Synergizes with Cenotes.
• Maps with a lot of minor civilization sites: Synergizes with Cenotes and all the native warrior upgrades.

Synergistic shipments

Base deck

• Land Grab, 1 Hacienda Wagon and Alhondiga de Granaditas: Haciendas are a vital part of Mexico's economy. Also, they may act as shipment points for military units. Also, Yucatán and consequently the Maya have several shipments that use Haciendas or improve them.
• San Marcos Fair: Ships 3 semi-fattened Cows and 3 more for every 5 minutes of the game time, up to 30 minutes; useful, as Cows can work at Haciendas.
• 3 Trading Post Wagons and Advanced Trading Post: the Maya are an experience-intensive revolution, so getting control of the Trade route early is important.
• 1 Covered Wagon: Useful for a Yucatán-Maya boom.
• Machetes: Insurgentes get +15% attack and +5% speed.
• Leather Soldiers: Changes the coin cost of Salteadores to wood the first time, and vice-versa the second time
• Native Lore: Native technologies cost no coin, and this applies to the Maya Calendar, Maya Pyramids, and Mayan Cotton Armor at the Native Embassy.
• Independence Movements: Mexican revolutions (including returning to Mexico and Maya revolution) cost -20%, this will save 150 of each resource when revolting to Yucatán, and 400 of each resource when returning to Mexico or revolting to Maya.
• Improved Buildings: Buildings get +40% hit points. Highly useful for the Maya revolution.
• Palace of Iturbide: Town Centers gain a bombard attack that can be used even when not garrisoned by villagers. Useful for a turtle strategy especially if going for Maya revolution.
• Advanced Arsenal: The technologies are helpful for Insurgentes, Salteadores, Revolutionaries, and all Maya units.
• Presidios: The General can build Outposts; Fort build limit +1; Walls cost -20%; Outposts cost -30%; Forts cost -40%; Wall, Outpost, and Fort build time -20%. Useful for a Yucatec turtle followed by the Maya Revolution.
• Plan of Iguala: Second Guarantee are useful for Salteadores. Third Guarantee is useful after reverting to Mexico or revolting with Maya.
• Liberation March: Infantry and Shock Infantry get +5% speed and -35% train time. This is good for all units.
• Seven Laws: All Mexican unique units and buildings' train/build bounty +50% as long as at least one of each had been trained at any point in the game (this card is bugged as of update 15.59076, and while it will work for Yucatan, it is disabled upon becoming the Maya).
• Barbacoa: Useful for the Hacienda boom with Yucatán, and can be also useful for Maya.
• Rancheros: Haciendas can automatically spawn Cuatreros. More useful if the player intends to go for Maya revolution, as this will be one of the few ways to still get cavalry.
• Mexican Mint, Cigar Roller and Rum Distillery: Villagers gather coin faster from Haciendas, which stacks up with Textile Mill from Yucatan. The coin can be invested later in Maya shipments such as "Bandit Gang", "Recruit Buccaneer Fleet", and "han Santa Cruz".
• Refrigeration: Stack up with Food Silos.
• Jalapeno Peppers: The lasting effect stack up with Textile Mill and Food Silos.
• TEAM Nuevo México Territory: Ships 1 Covered Wagon; Town Center build limit +1; Existing and new Town Centers spawn 1 Post Wagon.
• Tulancingo Cuirassiers: Ships 6 Gendarme Cuirassiers and allows them to be trained at Forts. Useful if going for Maya revolution, as this enables a second cavalry option in that case.
• Cards that make combinations previous to Industrial age

Federal cards

• Querétaro Haciendas (Querétaro): Haciendas support 20 population; Ships 1 Hacienda Wagon. Helpful for Yucatán Hacienda boom followed by a Maya revolution.
• Tzotzil Uprising (Chiapas): Ships 4 Maya Holcan Javelineers for every Hacienda built. Useful for Maya revolution.
• Maya Crops (Chiapas): Existing and new Haciendas spawn 300 food. Useful for Yucatán Hacienda boom followed by Maya revolution.
• Tlaxcala Alliance (Tlaxcala): Provides the Smokeless Powder and Flying Buttress technologies at the Native Embassy, which benefits Revolutionaries, Salteadores and buildings; Tlaxcaltec Scouting/Raiding/War Party available at the Town Center, which enables the player to have Aztec Jaguar Warriors. Also, enables Conquistadors, and the player is considered to be allied with Jesuits. Highly useful if going for Maya revolution.
• Tlaxcala Textiles (Tlaxcala): Ships 2 Settlers; Each new and existing Hacienda spawns 2 Settlers. Helpful for the reboom after revolting into Maya or Yucatán.
• Colegio de San Nicolás (Michoacán): Ships 500 XP; Units and buildings get +8 LOS. As the Maya are an experience-intensive revolution, this shipment helps a bit for geting one more shipment.
• Empresarios (Coahuila): Hacienda Settler training time reduced, which is helpful for rebooming.
• Land of Zaragoza (Coahuila): Synergizes with "Yucatecan" and "Cult of the Talking Cross".
• Tabascan Separatists (Tabasco): Upgrades Salteadores to Veteran (if not already); Ships 1 Salteador for every Home City shipment before this one.
• Tabasco Fruits (Tabasco): For the next 60 seconds, villagers gather from Haciendas 250% faster. Useful for rebooming.

Redundant shipments

These Shipments may be available in the base deck or in Yucatán's deck, so technically speaking this revolution has them, but they can't be shipped twice. So if picking Maya, it is preferable to have a deck without the following cards, as the player can get them through this revolution and through Yucatán:

• Fortified Haciendas (Durango)
• Factory
• Reservistas
• Observers
• Guerrilla Tactics
• Textile Mill
• Blood Brothers
• Native Warriors
• Native Treaties
• Exotic Hardwoods
• Sustainable Agriculture

The following cards are redundancies between the Maya and Yucatán:

• Food Silo
• Jungle Warfare

Changelog

The African Royals

• Originally, the Holcan Javelineer started with a build limit of 23 and gained +2 build limit per shipment. Cruzob Infantry had 2.5 Ranged attack Heavy Cavalry multiplier, 5 Speed, and resistance to ranged attacks. Field Hospitals could train Soldados with the Bustamante card, and the Cruzob Avenger has +3 range. With update 56860, the Holcan Javelineer starts at a build limit of 10 and gains +1 build limit per shipment. Cruzob Infantry have 1.5 Ranged attack Heavy Cavalry multiplier, 4 Speed, and resistance to hand attacks. Field Hospitals train Cruzob Infantry with the Bustamante card, and the Cruzob Avenger has +2 range. The "Maya Architecture" card no longers buffs the hitpoints of Forts. The "American Allies" card was removed from the deck, and a bug was fixed where the "Native Lore" and "Native Alliance" cards were activating upon revolting.
• Update 56860 accidentally lowered Maya Holcan Javelineers' initial build limit to 7. With update 61213, the build limit was set to the intended 10, and the "British Weapons Trade" card additionally improves Light Cannon hit points by +70%.
• With update 61213, War Canoes and Chaac Canoes are now affected by the Armor Plating and Carronade upgrades.

Knights of the Mediterranean

• With update 13.9057, the cards "Food Silos", "Native Warriors", and "Sustainable Agriculture" were added to the revolution deck.
• With update 13.18214, the Maya Pyramids technology became available at the Native Embassy.
• With patch 15.30007, the "Observers" card no longer increases the range, line of sight, and speed of Salteadores/Cruzob Avengers, and it gained the effects of the "Ambuscade" card, which was removed from the game.
• With update 15.59076, the range of Cruzob Infantry was reduced to 16 (down from 18), the "Nojpetén" card also sends 6 Fishing Boats, the "Cult of the Talking Cross" card adds bonus resources from treasures, and the Priestess sent by the "Maria Uicab" card gains stats equivalent to a Legendary Incan Priestess, has a build limit of 1, has a unique icon, and can be retrained from the Cathedral for 300 Coin.

Trivia

• Cruzob (Cruzo'ob) units are based on a religious Mayan rebel movement of the Yucatán Caste War, that mixes Catholicism and Mayan spirituality. They revolted against the Yucatán Republic and formed a de facto Mayan state called Chan Santa Cruz that lasted from 1847 to 1893, although guerilla warfare lasted until the 1940s.
  • The name has its origin in Cruz (Cross in Spanish) and the Mayan affix O'ob that makes the word plural.
• The Maya are the only case where an Age of Empires III player can consecutively revolt twice, firstly as Yucatán, and then as the Maya.
• While the Maya do get access to other Imperial Age technologies, they do not get access to Excessive Taxation. This is likely because the revolt is trying to mimic the Native American civilizations (the Aztecs, Haudenosaunee, Lakota, and Inca), which get access to Excessive Tribute instead. However, the Maya do not get access to Estates either by default (because the base civilization is the Mexicans) or through shipments. Thus, there is no way for them to research Excessive Tribute. Large Scale Agriculture is probably included in the Town Center for balance reasons.
• While clearly trying to mimic the Native American civilizations with its mechanics, the Maya do not get access to Farms. If they had access, their Farms would be extremely strong, as their technologies affect all food-gathering rates (not just for Farms) and they would be able to train Sheep at Haciendas.