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 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.
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.
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.