Qiang Pikeman

This article is about the Chinese variant of the unit in Age of Empires III. For other uses of the term, see Pikeman.

Qiang Pikeman
Information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties
Type	Infantry Heavy infantry Hand infantry Pikeman Archaic infantry*
Civilization(s)	Chinese
Age	Commerce Age
Training
Banner army	Old Han Army Ming Army
Cost	60 Wood 1 Population
Train time	24 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	105
Resistance	10% Hand
Speed	5.0
Line of Sight	12
Train XP	6
Kill XP	6
Siege attack
Damage	30 Siege
Range	6
Rate of Fire	3.0
Hand attack
Damage	7 Hand
Range	2
Rate of Fire	1.5
Bonus damage	5.0× vs. Cavalry 3.5× vs. Shock infantry

“	Foot warrior armed with a pike. Good against cavalry and buildings.	”
—In-game description

The Qiang Pikeman is a melee heavy infantry in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties that is unique to the Chinese and are trained as part of Old Han Army and Ming Army. It functions identically to the European Pikeman and the Aztec Puma Spearman.

Overview

Like the European Pikeman and the Aztec Puma Spearman, the Qiang Pikeman is a cheap, Commerce Age heavy infantry unit. It is effective in combat against melee cavalry and, to an extent, Shock Infantry, while also having a decent siege attack. However, it fares poorly against anything else, particularly artillery or Shock Infantry at range. In later ages it mostly becomes obsolete as its role is taken by Changdao Swordsmen and Keshiks. However, if the player sends the "Old Han Reforms" Home City Card, it increases the overall combat effectiveness of the Qiang Pikeman, allowing the player to use the Qiang Pikeman in later Ages.

Upgrades

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect
	Disciplined Qiang Pikeman	100 wood 50 coin	Upgrades Qiang Pikemen to Disciplined (+20% hit points and damage, +0.5 hand attack range)
	Honored Qiang Pikeman	300 wood 300 coin	Upgrades Qiang Pikemen to Honored (+30% hit points and damage +0.5 hand attack range); requires Disciplined Qiang Pikeman
Imperial Age	Exalted Qiang Pikeman	750 wood 750 coin	Upgrades Qiang Pikemen to Exalted (+50% hit points and damage +0.5 hand attack range); requires Honored Qiang Pikeman

Further statistics

As Qiang Pikemen are unique to the Chinese, only technologies that they have access to are shown in the following table:

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Cavalry, shock infantry, buildings
Weak vs.	Light infantry, counter-skirmishers, artillery
Improvements
Hit points	Maya Cotton Armor (+20%) 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)
Speed	Quechuan Mountaineering (+10%) Akan Fontomfrom (+5%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
Cost	Somali Oryx Hide Shields (-10% wood cost; Old Han Army and Ming Army)
Train time	Cheyenne Horse Trading (-20%; Ming Army) Akan Fontomfrom (-20% Old Han Army, -10% Ming Army) Immigrants (-10%; Old Han Army and Ming Army)
Other	Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)

Home City Cards

As Qiang Pikemen are unique to the Chinese, only their cards and other civilizations' TEAM cards are shown in the following tables:

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Qiang Pikeman

Some cards are highlighted with:
Green	TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team
Blue	Shipment that arrives fast (5 seconds)

• Definitive Edition
• The Asian Dynasties

Chinese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Yongle Infrastructure	Delivers 1 Mongol Scout; infantry, land villager, healing unit, Envoy, and Disciple speed +5%
9 Qiang Pikemen	Delivers 9 Qiang Pikemen
14 Qiang Pikemen	Delivers 14 Qiang Pikemen
21 Qiang Pikemen	Delivers 21 Qiang Pikemen
New Army	Transforms all Chu Ko Nus into Arquebusiers, and Qiang Pikemen into Changdao Swordsmen; costs 400 food
Old Han Reforms	Chu Ko Nu, Qiang Pikeman, Steppe Rider, and Keshik hit points and damage +50%; Old Han Army, Standard Army, Ming Army, and Mongolian Army cost +25%
Manchu Combat	Qiang Pikeman, Changdao Swordsman, Keshik, and Meteor Hammer hit points and damage +15%
Western Reforms	Unit hit points and damage +8%
Acupuncture	Unit (except monk) train time -20%; Summer Palace banner army, Flying Crow, and Heavy Cannon spawn time -5%
Banner School	Banner army train time -30%; Summer Palace banner army spawn time -7%

• "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

Haudenosaunee

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

Inca

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Inca Bridges	Delivers 1 Chasqui; infantry, land villager, healing unit, and Envoy speed +5%

• "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 upgrades 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%

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%
TEAM Hand Infantry Attack	Hand infantry damage +15%
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%

Chinese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
9 Qiang Pikemen	Ships 9 Qiang Pikemen		1
14 Qiang Pikemen	Ships 14 Qiang Pikemen		1
21 Qiang Pikemen	Ships 21 Qiang Pikemen		10
New Army	Turns all Chu Ko Nus into Arquebusiers, and Qiang Pikemen into Changdao Swordsmen; costs 200 food		40
Old Han Reforms	Chu Ko Nus and Qiang Pikemen get +100% hit points and damage but Old Han Army and Standard Army cost +50%		40
Manchu Combat	Qiang Pikemen, Changdao Swordsmen, Keshiks, and Meteor Hammers get +15% hit points and damage		25
Western Reforms	All units get +8% hit points and damage		40
Acupuncture	All units' (except Shaolin Masters, Heavy Cannons, Flying Crows, and Summer Palace banner armies) train time -20%		10
Banner School	Banner army train time -30%, Summer Palace banner army spawn time -7%		10

Dutch

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Infantry Hitpoints	Infantry get +15% hit points		10

Indians

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics	All units get +5% hit points and damage		25

Iroquois

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Scout Infantry	Infantry get +8 Line of Sight		10

Japanese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Cheaper Unit Upgrades	Unit upgrades cost -20%		1

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 Hidalgos	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
TEAM Hand Infantry Attack	Hand infantry get +15% attack		10
TEAM Inquisition	All units get +10 Line of Sight		10

Changelog

The Asian Dynasties

• Qiang Pikemen have a ×2.25 multiplier against shock infantry, and give 7 XP when trained or killed.

Definitive Edition

• Qiang Pikemen have a ×3.5 multiplier against shock infantry.

The African Royals

• Although it is not listed in the patch notes, with update 13.4412, Qiang Pikemen are tagged as archaic infantry.

Knights of the Mediterranean

• With update 13.27885, Qiang Pikemen gain +0.5 attack range with each direct unit upgrade.
• With update 13.58326, Qiang Pikemen give 6 XP when trained or killed.

Trivia

• "Qiang" (槍) means "spear" in Chinese, referring primarily to the flexible-pole variant. Later, it gradually came to refer to personnel-based light firearms, such as arquebuses, muskets, and handguns; i.e., the way the word "gun" is used in English (excluding the meaning of "light cannon").
• Before the Definitive Edition, the Qiang Pikeman used to perform poorly against Shock Infantry, due to its small base hand attack and its once-weak attack bonus against Shock Infantry.

History

“

The qiang spear is often called the "King of Weapons" because of its ubiquitous role as one of the longest used and most reliable Chinese weapons. Its flexible wax wood shaft varied from 7 feet long (for infantry) to nearly 13 feet (for cavalry). The qiang spear was popularized during the Shang Dynasty (seventeenth century-eleventh century BCE) and was used up until the end of the Qing Dynasty (1616-1911 CE). In that time, it changed very little. The qiang spear featured a leaf-shaped blade atop a horse-hair tassel. When a spearman made a slashing motion, the tassel created a blur effect that kept the enemy from being able to effectively target and seize the weapon from its wielder. The hair tassel is said to have also served a secondary purpose, to stop the blood on the blade from flowing down onto the wooden shaft, which would leave the wood slippery or sticky and thus make it more difficult to handle.

”

Gallery

An in-game Qiang Pikeman

The Qiang Pikeman's history portrait

Qiang Pikeman image from the Compendium section

In-game Qiang Pikeman in the Definitive Edition

In-game Disciplined Qiang Pikeman in the Definitive Edition

In-game Honored/Exalted Qiang Pikeman in the Definitive Edition

See also

• Pikeman – European counterpart
• Puma Spearman – Aztec counterpart