This article is about the unit in Age of Empires III. For other uses of the term, see Pikeman. |
“ | Archaic heavy infantry. Good against cavalry and buildings. | ” |
—In-game description |
The Pikeman is a melee heavy infantry in Age of Empires III that can be trained at Barracks, Fort, and Galleon/Fluyt.
Pikemen are available to European civilizations except Ottomans and Russians.
Overview[]
An archaic unit, the Pikeman has low attack and three main advantages: high siege damage, high speed, and large multipliers against cavalry and shock infantry. While they are not suited to fighting any other units except cavalry and shock infantry, they are effective at supporting other units who are harassing the enemy. This is mainly by threatening their key buildings such as their military production. If they are engaged by infantry at all, their best move is to simply run out of range, thanks to their high speed. For example, Pikemen themselves should not be engaging Settlers/Villagers because Settlers actually have higher hand damage and can actually defeat the Pikemen in a duel. Despite having more speed than most infantry, they are not fast enough to pursue cavalry and are better used defensively to respond against cavalry attacks, rather than chasing them.
Pikemen are usually created in small numbers and rarely created outside of the Commerce Age. This is for multiple reasons: firstly, while the Pikeman is 20% cheaper in raw resources than a Musketeer, it costs wood, which is slower to chop. Secondly, the other anti-cavalry units (Musketeers and Dragoons) are vastly more versatile unit options because they can engage other units than cavalry without requiring overwhelming numbers. Thirdly, army sizes increase to the point that dedicated siege warriors are no longer necessary to threaten buildings. Fourthly, the other units can be further upgraded to stay useful in later ages, whereas archaic units largely cannot be upgraded. In short, other infantry units replace its siege role while also having melee capabilities, while ranged cavalry replaces its ability to quickly fend off cavalry attacks, and while they can't fulfill an identical role to the Pikemen, overall these units are a better replacement.
They can be defeated by most other units, but are particularly countered by ranged infantry and artillery. In the Commerce Age, they are useful for destroying buildings, since most civilizations lack artillery at that stage. Pikemen are useful as a front line defense for ranged units to position 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.
Spanish players have the option of being able to train Crossbowmen and Pikemen very quickly (6.75 seconds) in the Commerce Age, due to the "TEAM Archaic Soldier Training" and "Liberation March" cards. If Standing Army from the Church is used, Pikemen and Crossbowmen can be created instantly.
The Portuguese can train Crossbowmen and Pikemen more quickly (5.4 seconds) in the Commerce Age, due to the Ordenança technology from the Church, sent by the "Treaty of Tordesillas" card, and the "Fencing School" card.
In the Definitive Edition, The Papal Guard politician upgrades the Pikemen into the Guard level for free and allows them to be upgraded to Imperial. This opens some new strategies for the five aforementioned European civilizations. A French player, for example, should consider Pikemen as a faster and cheaper alternative to Halberdiers if they just serve to protect artillery/Skirmishers from melee cavalry or boost anti-building damage of the player's own cavalry. All civilizations in question, except for the Swedes, can do the same with their Crossbowmen, which allows the player to keep using the archaic combo into the late game. Keep in mind that gather rates for wood and infinite coin are equal (when equally upgraded) and Skirmishers have better multipliers agains heavy infantry, so this strategy is best if the player a) already has a big stockpile of food and wood, but lacks coin (most likely to be the case immediately after reaching the Industrial Age), b) really likes investing coin into expensive artillery or c) has access to additional upgrades for either archaic infantry in general or archers in particular, be it through native civilizations or TEAM cards.
Upgrades[]
Age | Upgrade | Cost | Effect | Civ. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Veteran Pikemen | 200 wood 200 coin |
Upgrades Pikemen to Veteran (+20% hit points and attack, +0.5 hand attack range) | ||
Guard Pikemen | 600 wood 600 coin |
Upgrades Pikemen to Guard (+30% hit points and attack, +0.5 hand attack range); Requires Veteran Pikemen and The Papal Guard | ||
Ordinance Pikemen | 750 wood 750 coin |
Upgrades Pikemen to Ordinance Pikemen (Guard Pikemen with +10% hit points and attack, and -25% cost); Requires Veteran Pikemen | ||
Tercio | 750 wood 750 coin |
Upgrades Pikemen to Tercios (Guard Pikemen with +10% hit points and attack); Requires Veteran Pikemen | ||
Dalkarl | Upgrades Pikemen to Dalkarls (Guard Pikemen with +10% hit points and attack, and -15 food, -15 wood cost); Requires Veteran Pikemen | |||
Imperial Pikemen | 1,500 wood 1,500 coin |
Upgrades Pikemen to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack, +0.5 hand attack range); Requires Guard Pikemen and The Papal Guard | ||
Imperial Ordinance Pikemen | Upgrades Ordinance Pikemen to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack, +0.5 hand attack range); Requires Ordinance Pikemen | |||
Imperial Tercio | Upgrades Tercios to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack, +0.5 hand attack range); Requires Tercio | |||
Imperial Dalkarl | Upgrades Dalkarls to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack, +0.5 hand attack range); Requires Dalkarl |
Civilization differences[]
- (Definitive Edition) Choosing The Logistician to advance into the Commerce Age with the Portuguese gives Pikemen +1 Line of Sight and +0.5 hand attack range, and enables to train them at Town Centers. Aditionally, researching the Ordenança technology at the Church after sending the "Treaty of Tordesillas" Home City Card allows them to train 30% faster.
- As seen above, the Portuguese*, Spanish, and Swedes are the only civilizations with access to Pikemen that can upgrade them beyond Veteran.
- (Definitive Edition) For the French, Germans, Italians, and Maltese, choosing The Papal Guard to advance into the Industrial Age allows them to upgrade Pikemen to Guard for -50% cost, and also allows them to be upgraded to Imperial.
- For the Portuguese, The Papal Guard allows them to upgrade Pikemen to Royal Guard for -60% cost.
- The Knights of St. John, John Black's Mercenaries, and United States in Act III can only upgrade Pikemen to Veteran.
Revolutionary[]
- (Definitive Edition) Haiti can upgrade their Pikemen to Pickets through the "Pickets" Home City Card. This upgrades Pikemen to Guard, changes cost from 40 food, 40 wood to 60 food and allows them to attack 15% faster, also updates their visual and icon.
Variants[]
“ | Archaic heavy infantry. Good against cavalry and buildings. | ” |
—In-game description |
The Tercio is a counterpart of the Pikeman, which starts with +10% hit points and attack.
Upgrades[]
The Tercio is automatically upgraded in the Fortress Age, Industrial Age, and Imperial Age:
- +20% hit points and attack
- +30% hit points and attack, +0.5 hand attack range
- +50% hit points and attack, +0.5 hand attack range
Civilization differences[]
- The Japanese can get Tercios by allying with the Spanish at the Consulate which provides Spanish Expeditionary Company that includes 11 Tercios.
- (Definitive Edition) Tercios can also be obtained by United States through the "Spanish Immigrants" Home City Card, which makes their Levy spawn Tercios instead of Minutemen from the Commerce Age.
The Deserted Pikeman is a treasure guardian variant of the Pikeman. It uses slightly modified stats from the base unit.
Further statistics[]
Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
---|---|
Strong vs. | Cavalry, shock infantry, buildings |
Weak vs. | Light infantry, counter-skirmishers, artillery |
Improvements | |
Hit points | Corselet (+25%; Spanish and Knights of St. John only) Grand Encampment (+25%; campaign United States 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) |
Resistance | Somali Oryx Hide Shields (+5% ranged resistance) |
Line of Sight | Town Watch (+3) |
Speed | Tilly's Discipline (+20%; Germans only) Military Drummers (+10%) Push of Pike (+10%; Swedes only) Quechuan Mountaineering (+10%) Akan Fontomfrom (+5%) Apache Endurance (+5%) |
Train time | Ordenança (-30%; Portuguese only) Standing Army (-25%) Akan Fontomfrom (-20%) Quechuan Diet (-15%) Immigrants (-10%) |
Cost | Somali Oryx Hide Shields (-10%) |
Other | Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost) |
Penalties | Grand Encampment (-25% speed; campaign United States only) Corselet (-15% speed; Spanish and Knights of St. John only) High Crusade (-5% hit points; Knights of St. John only) Push of Pike (+10% training time; Swedes only) Tilly's Discipline (+10% cost; Germans only) |
Home City Cards[]
- Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Pikeman
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 |
Red | Shipment that can be sent twice |
Blue | Shipment that arrives fast (5 seconds) |
British[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
Gentlemen of the Pike | Ships 17 Pikemen and upgrades them to Veteran (if not already) and Guard; allows researching Imperial Pikemen for -75% cost |
Chinese[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Yongle Infrastructure | Ships 1 Mongol Scout; infantry, land villagers, healing units, Envoys, and Disciples get +5% speed |
- "TEAM Yongle Infrastructure" does not stack with the Inca "TEAM Inca Bridges" card.
Dutch[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
Belgian Revolution | Turns all Pikemen, Halberdiers, and Ruyters into Revolutionaries; costs 500 food, 500 wood, 500 coin | |
Infantry Attack | Pikemen, Halberdiers, Skirmishers, Revolutionary Sharpshooters, and Musketeers get +15% attack | |
TEAM Infantry Hitpoints | Infantry get +10% hit points; Dutch-only infantry get +15% hit points instead | |
Infantry Combat | Pikemen, Halberdiers, Skirmishers, Revolutionary Sharpshooters, and Musketeers get +15% hit points and attack | |
Dutch States Army | Mercenary train time -15% and shipments arrive time -20%, and get +7% speed (except Napoleon Guns and Li'l Bombards); enables training of Highlanders at Barracks, Royal Horsemen at Stables, and both at the Tavern; Pikemen, Halberdiers, Skirmishers, Hussars, and Ruyters cost +10% |
Europeans[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
8 Pikemen | Ships 8 Pikemen | |
10 Pikemen | Ships 10 Pikemen | |
12 Pikemen | Ships 12 Pikemen | |
24 Pikemen | Ships 24 Pikemen | |
Fencing School | Infantry and shock infantry train time -40% | |
Pickets | Upgrades Pikemen to Pickets (Guard Pikemen which cost 60 food instead of 40 food, 40 wood and have -15% Rate of Fire) | |
Kraton Guards | Pikemen get +25% hit points and attack; Revolutionaries get +15% hit points and attack | |
Wanderlust | Land units get +5% hit points; land villagers and wagons get +5% speed | |
Rhode Island Militia | Ships 10 Veteran State Militia and 5 Militiamen; Caravels, Galleons/Fluyts, Frigates, and Ironclads get +10% ranged attack per garrisoned State Militia and/or Militiaman (up to +60%); turns all Crossbowmen/Longbowmen and Pikemen into State Militia; State Militia replace Crossbowmen, Longbowmen, Pikemen, and Halberdiers at Barracks and Forts, and can be upgraded to Guard |
- "8 Pikemen" is available to the Dutch, Maltese, Spanish and Swedes.
- "10 Pikemen" is available to the British, Dutch, French, Maltese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedes.
- "12 Pikemen" is available to the Maltese, Spanish, and Swedes.
- "24 Pikemen" is available to the French, Maltese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedes.
- "Fencing School" is not available to the French, Maltese, and Spanish.
- "Pickets" is available to the British and French upon revolting to Haiti.
- "Kraton Guards" is available to the Dutch and Portuguese upon revolting to Indonesia.
- "Wanderlust" is available to the British and Dutch upon revolting to South Africa, and can be sent 3 times.
- "Rhode Island Militia" is available to the British, Dutch, French, Italians, and Swedes upon revolting to the United States.
French[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
Cent-Suisses | Crossbowmen, Pikemen, and Halberdiers get +10% hit points and resistance | |
Royal Fencing School | Infantry and shock infantry train time -40%; +3 Royal Musketeers |
Germans[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
Hand Infantry Attack | Pikemen and Doppelsoldners get +15% attack; +2 Uhlans | |
Hand Infantry Hitpoints | Pikemen and Doppelsoldners get +15% hit points; +2 Uhlans | |
Hand Infantry Combat | Pikemen and Doppelsoldners get +15% hit points and attack; +3 Uhlans | |
March Revolution | Turns all villagers and Pikemen into Revolutionaries, and Settler Wagons into Guard Hussars; costs 1,000 food, 1,000 wood, 1,000 coin |
Haudenosaunee[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Scout Infantry | Ships 1 Native Scout; infantry get +8 Line of Sight |
Inca[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Inca Bridges | Ships 1 Chasqui; infantry, land villagers, healing units, and Envoys get +5% speed |
- "TEAM Inca Bridges" does not stack with the Chinese "TEAM Yongle Infrastructure" card.
Indians[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics | All units get +5% hit points and attack |
Italians[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
Roman Tactics | Pavisiers, Pikemen, and Halberdiers get +10% hit points, and get +0.3% attack for each Pavisier, Pikeman, and Halberdier in a radius of 34 (up to +15%) | |
Infantry Hitpoints | Infantry get +15% hit points | |
Schiavoni Swords | Infantry and cavalry get +15% hand attack |
Japanese[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
Onin War | Infantry get +33% siege attack | |
TEAM Sengoku | Unit upgrades cost -20% | |
Bakufu | Daimyo and Shogun Tokugawa get +5% speed, +10 Line of Sight and train units 15% faster; land military unit train time -20%, artillery and banner army train time -10% instead | |
Good Faith Agreements | Consulate units' train time -50%; Consulate technologies' cost -40% (-300 export for Brigades) and researche time -50% (except Brigades) |
Maltese[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Knights of the Round Table | Ships 1 Hospitaller for each Town Center owned by the player; all units get +2% hit points | |
20 Pikemen | Ships 20 Pikemen | |
Archaic Soldier Attack | Crossbowmen and Pikemen get +15% attack | |
Archaic Soldier Hitpoints | Crossbowmen and Pikemen get +15% hit points | |
Archaic Soldier Combat | Crossbowmen and Pikeman get +15% hit points and attack | |
Squires | Military buildings train and research work 80% faster, except Forts which train and research work 260% faster |
Mexicans[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Mariachi | For the next 30 seconds, military buildings work 400% faster and units get +10% speed |
Portuguese[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
Constable | Pikemen, Halberdiers, Hussars, and Llaneros get +15% hit points and attack; Spies get +15% hit points and +10 hand attack | |
Naval Infantry | Caravels can train Crossbowmen, Ordinance Riflemen (if available), Pikemen, and Halberdiers; Monitors and Ironclads can train Musketeers, Cassadores, and Grenadiers (if available); Frigates can train all Barracks units; Battleships can train all Barracks units and Grenadiers; Caravels, Frigates, Monitors, Ironclads, and Battleships now tagged as recruiting ships |
Spanish[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Hidalgos | Pikeman, Crossbowman, Aenna, Cetan Bow, Longbowman, Otontin Slinger, Yumi Archer, and Pavisier train time -40%; Old Han Army train time -30%; Jungle Bowman, Plumed Spearman, Fulani Archer, Desert Archer, Puma Spearman, Insurgente, Standard Army, and Ming Army train time -15% | |
Spanish Square | Ships 20 Pikemen; Pikemen get +10% melee and ranged resistances | |
Tercio Tactics | Turns all Pikemen into Rodeleros | |
TEAM Hand Infantry Attack | Hand infantry get +15% attack | |
Archaic Infantry Hitpoints | Hand infantry and foot archers get +15% hit points; Rodeleros get +20% hit points instead | |
Archaic Infantry Combat | Hand infantry and foot archers get +15% hit points and attack | |
Liberation March | Infantry, cavalry, and shock infantry get +5% speed and -35% train time | |
TEAM Spanish Inquisition | Ships 1 Inquisitor; all units get +10 Line of Sight |
Swedes[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
Dalcarlian Rebellion | Turns all Pikemen into Halberdiers | |
Hand Infantry/Hand Cavalry Attack | Hand infantry and hand cavalry get +15% attack | |
Hand Infantry/Hand Cavalry Hitpoints | Hand infantry and hand cavalry get +15% hit points | |
TEAM House of Bernadotte | Heavy infantry get +15% hit points | |
Cudgel War | Pikemen, Halberdiers, and Poruchiks get -10% Rate of Fire and +10% speed |
- "Cudgel War" is available upon revolting to Finland.
United States[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
United States Army | The General, Minutemen, and heavy infantry get +15% hit points and attack | |
Spanish Immigrants | [Immigrant] Ships 1 Outpost Wagon; gives a trickle of 1.70 XP/sec.; Levy spawns 6 Tercios from the Commerce Age; costs 300 food |
Dutch[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
Infantry Attack | Pikemen, Halberdiers, and Skirmishers get +15% attack | 10 | |
TEAM Infantry Hitpoints | Infantry get +15% hit points | 10 | |
Infantry Combat | Pikemen, Halberdiers, and Skirmishers get +15% hit points and attack | 25 |
Europeans[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
8 Pikemen | Ships 8 Pikemen | 1 | |
10 Pikemen | Ships 10 Pikemen | 1 | |
12 Pikemen | Ships 12 Pikemen | 10 | |
24 Pikemen | Ships 24 Pikemen | 10 | |
Fencing School | Infantry train time -40% | 10 |
- "8 Pikemen" is available to the Dutch and Spanish.
- "10 Pikemen" is available to the British, Dutch, French, Portuguese, and Spanish.
- "12 Pikemen" is available to the Spanish.
- "24 Pikemen" is available to the French, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Germans[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
Hand Infantry Attack | Pikemen and Doppelsoldners get +15% attack; +2 Uhlans | 10 | |
Hand Infantry Hitpoints | Pikemen and Doppelsoldners get +15% hit points; +2 Uhlans | 10 | |
Hand Infantry Combat | Pikemen and Doppelsoldners get +15% hit points and attack; +3 Uhlans | 25 |
Indians[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics | All units get +5% hit points and attack | 25 |
Iroquois[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Scout Infantry | Infantry get +8 Line of Sight | 10 |
Japanese[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
Onin War | Infantry get +33% siege attack | 40 | |
TEAM Cheaper Unit Upgrades | Unit upgrades cost -20% | 1 | |
Good Faith Agreements | Consulate units' train time -50%; Consulate technologies' cost -40% (-400 export for Brigades) and research time -50% (except Brigades) | 1 | |
Intervention | The Consulate ally sends a shipment of their units | 10 |
- "Intervention" ships 11 Tercios (if Spanish allies are picked).
Russians[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
Dueling School | Infantry (except Skull Knights), Old Han Army, and Territorial Army train time -25%; Black Flag Army, Standard Army, Ming Army, and Imperial Army train time -12% | 25 |
Spanish[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Archaic Soldier Training | Pikeman, Longbowman, Crossbowman, Aenna, Cetan Bow, Otontin Slinger, Yumi Archer, and Old Han Army train time -50%; Standard Army and Ming Army train time -25% | 10 | |
20 Pikemen | Ships 20 Pikemen | 10 | |
Spanish Square | Ships 10 Pikemen and 8 Rodeleros | 25 | |
Tercio Tactics | Turns all Pikemen into Rodeleros | 40 | |
TEAM Hand Infantry Attack | Hand infantry get +15% attack | 10 | |
Hand Infantry Hitpoints | Pikemen get +15% hit points; Rodeleros get +20% hit points | 10 | |
Hand Infantry Combat | Pikemen and Rodeleros get +15% hit points and attack | 25 | |
TEAM Inquisition | All units get +10 Line of Sight | 10 |
Changelog[]
The African Royals[]
- Although it is not listed in the patch notes, with update 13.4412, Pikemen are tagged as archaic infantry.
Knights of the Mediterranean[]
- With update 13.27885, Pikemen get +0.5 hand attack range with each direct unit upgrade.
- With update 14.43676, the Tercio and Dalkarl upgrades received new models.
Trivia[]
- Spanish Royal Guard/Consulate Pikemen are named after the Tercio infantry organization system used by Spain during the Habsburg era.
- Swedish Royal Guard Pikemen's name refers to the Dalecarlians.
- Portuguese Ordinance Pikemen are based on Napoleonic Wars Portuguese Ordenanças militias that actually used pikes.
- The Russians originally had the Pikeman, as there are voice files for Russian Pikeman in the game files and in the Scenario Editor which are used by the Russian Petard.
- Italians are the only civilization that has Halberdiers and Guard/Imperial Pikemen without being enabled by The Papal Guard politician.
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. | ” |
Gallery[]
See also[]
- Puma Spearman – Aztec counterpart
- Qiang Pikeman – Chinese counterpart
- Plumed Spearman – Inca counterpart