Rattan Shield

Rattan Shield
Unit information
Introduced in	The Asian Dynasties
Type	Shock infantry Melee infantry Native warrior
Age	Commerce Age
Training
Trained at	Trading Post (Shaolin Temple) Native Embassy
Food	50
Wood	60
Training time	30 seconds
Training limit	16 per Shaolin Temple settlement
Statistics
Hit points	185
Resists	20% vs. Ranged
Speed	6.25
Line of Sight	12
XP train bounty	11
XP bounty	11
Melee attack
Damage	16
Rate of Fire	1.5
Siege attack
Damage	10
Range	6
Rate of Fire	3.0

“	Fast Chinese warrior armed with a shield and a sword. Heavily armored and good against archers, skirmishers, and artillery.	”
—In-game description

The Rattan Shield is a melee shock infantry native warrior in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties that can be trained at a Trading Post built on a Shaolin Temple settlement. It is armed with a sword and a shield, and lacks any multipliers making it more of a fodder unit rather than an essential part of an army.

Overview

Rattan Shields are cheap and can get rid of long-range/ranged infantry and artillery with ease. They are very vulnerable to heavy infantry, basically working like a weaker shock infantry version of the Hussar. They do not, however, take bonus damage from ranged cavalry, so can be used effectively against Skirmishers or archers guarded by Dragoons. They are fast, cheap, lack any negative multipliers and are resistant to ranged attacks from defensive buildings, making them solid raiding units against Settlers and Villagers. 

Upgrades

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect
	Shaolin Discipline Training	200 wood, 150 coin	Upgrades Rattan Shields to Disciplined (+25% hit points and attack)
	Shaolin Honor Training	400 wood, 300 coin	Upgrades Rattan Shields to Honored (+40% hit points and attack); requires Shaolin Discipline Training
	Legendary Native Warriors Exalted Natives	1,500 food, 1,500 wood	Upgrades native warriors to Legendary/Exalted (+50% hit points and attack)

The Legendary Native Warriors improvement is available in the Capitol for European civilizations and in the Town Center for Native American and Asian (as Exalted Natives) civilizations.

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Ranged infantry, artillery
Weak vs.	Heavy infantry, light cavalry
Improvements
Hit points	Infantry Breastplate (+10%) Comanche Horse Breeding (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Maya Cotton Armor (+20%) Navajo Weaving (+5%)
Attack	Carib Kasiri Beer (+10%) Mapuche Tactics (+50% siege attack) Zapotec Cult of the Dead (+20%) Yoga (+5%) Dim Mak (+50%) Master Lessons (+10%)
Speed	Apache Endurance (+5%)
Sight	Town Watch (+2)
Other	Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)
Penalties	Thin Red Line (-25% speed, British only) Coffee Trade (-10% speed, Dutch only) Tilly's Discipline (+10% cost, Germans only)

Home City Cards

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Rattan Shield

Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team Purple: Shipment that can be sent an INFINITE number of times All Card Description Age HC level Native Treaties Each different allied native tribe sends a shipment of their respective native warriors 1 Native Warriors Native warriors cost -25% 10 Native Warrior Combat Native warriors get +25% hit points and attack 25 TEAM Native Warrior Societies Native warrior train limit +30% 25 Blood Brothers Upgrades native warriors to Elite/Disciplined and Champion/Honored (if not already) 25 The Native Treaties and Native Warriors cards are available to European and Native American civilizations. The Native Treaties card ships 4 Rattan Shields if the player had built a Trading Post on a Shaolin Temple settlement. The Native Warrior Combat card is available to French and Haudenosaunee. The Blood Brothers card is available to Aztecs, French, Germans, Haudenosaunee, Portuguese, Russians, Lakota , and Spanish. The TEAM Native Warrior Societies card is available to Aztecs, Dutch, Haudenosaunee, and Lakota . Asians Card Description Age HC level Native Alliance Native warrior train limit +20% and cost -10% (also +1 Villager for the Indians) 1 Native Warrior Hitpoints Native warriors get +30% hit points and +10% speed (also +1 Villager for the Indians) 10 Native Warrior Attack Native warriors get +30% attack and train time -25% 10 The Native Alliance card is not available to the Chinese. The Native Warrior Hitpoints card is not available to the Japanese. The Native Warrior Attack card is not available to the Indians. Chinese Card Description Age HC level Western Reforms All units get +8% hit points and attack 40 Acupuncture Unit train time -20% 10 Hire 10 Rattan Shields Ships 10 Rattan Shields; costs 500 coin 10 Hire 26 Rattan Shields Ships 26 Rattan Shields and upgrades them to Disciplined (if not already); costs 1,000 coin 25 Hire 30 Rattan Shields Ships 30 Rattan Shields and upgrades them to Disciplined (if not already); costs 2,000 coin 40 French Card Description Age HC level Wilderness Warfare Coureurs des Bois, Skirmishers, and native warriors get +20% hit points 25 TEAM Improved Native Warriors Native warriors get +15% hit points and attack 1 Germans Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cavalry Attack Heavy cavalry, light cavalry, and shock infantry get +15% attack 10 Indians 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 Japanese Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cheaper Unit Upgrades Unit upgrades cost -20% 1 Russians Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cavalry Scouts Cavalry and shock infantry get +10% hit points and +4 LOS 1 Lakota Card Description Age HC level Black Arrow Native warrior train time -85% 10 Spanish Card Description Age HC level TEAM Hand Infantry Attack Melee infantry get +15% attack 10 TEAM Inquisition All units get +10 LOS 10

Changelog

The Asian Dynasties

• Rattan Shields have 15 melee attack and a 15 build limit per Shaolin Trading Post.

Definitive Edition

• Rattan Shields have 16 melee attack and a 16 build limit per Shaolin Trading Post.

In-game dialogue

Main article: Chinese (Age of Empires III)#In-game dialogue

Words before the slash sign are rendered in simplified Chinese. Words after the slash sign are rendered in traditional Chinese.

• 准备就绪 / 準備就緒 [Zhǔnbèi jiùxù.] ("Ready")
• 怎么了 / 怎麼了 [Zénmele?] ("What [is happening]?")
• 请下命令 / 請下命令 [Qǐng xià mìnglìng.] ("Please command")
• 是的 [Shì de.] ("Yes")
• 遵命 [Zūnmìng.] ("Affirmative")
• 好的 [Hǎo de.] ("OK")
• 出发 / 出發 [Chūfā.] ("Embarking")
• 攻击! / 攻擊! [Gōngjí!] ("Attack!")
• 开战 / 開戰 [Kāizhàn!] ("To battle!")

Trivia

• While the history section hints that the Rattan Shield is a unit that is meant to represent south Chinese Ming loyalist troops, they instead represent Shaolin monks.
  • Also, as with Iron Troopers, they speak Mandarin rather than Hokkien or Wu Chinese.
• Rattan Shields have only four ranged counters, Caroleans, Nizam Fusiliers, Fusiliers and Revolutionaries; all other counters to Rattan Shields must be in melee to do bonus damage.

History

“

The practice of rattan shield fighting is an art form consisting of six distinct fighting methods that is still practiced in parts of Taiwan. During the Chinese battles of Formosa in the seventeenth century, Ming military leader Koxinga expected every member of his army, from the generals to the foot soldiers, to be versed in the methods of the rattan shield. Rattan shields were widely used for a variety of reasons. Palms blanketed the regions of Taiwan and Hokkien, China, making rattan readily available. The shields were extremely light but uncommonly strong, able to block incoming projectiles, including bullets. They were even so buoyant as to be used by soldiers as flotation devices when crossing shallow bodies of water.

”

Gallery

A group of Rattan Shields, close to the Yellow River

Player 2 Rattan Shields

Rattan Shield concept art