Ruyter

Ruyter
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Cavalry Light cavalry Ranged cavalry Gunpowder cavalry
Civilization	Dutch
Age	Fortress Age
Training
Trained at	Stable Fort Fluyt
Food	30
Coin	75
Training time	31 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	140
Resists	10% vs. Ranged
Speed	7.25
Line of Sight	14
Population	1
XP train bounty	11
XP bounty	11
Melee attack
Damage	7
Multipliers	×3.0 vs. Heavy cavalry ×2.25 vs. Hand Shock Infantry ×2.0 vs. Artillery
Rate of Fire	3.0
Ranged attack
Damage	14
Multipliers	×3.0 vs. Heavy cavalry ×2.25 vs. Hand Shock Infantry ×2.0 vs. Artillery ×0.5 vs. Villager
Range	12
Rate of Fire	3.0
Siege attack
Damage	6
Range	6
Rate of Fire	3.0

“	Ranged cavalry armed with pistols. Good against cavalry and artillery.	”
—In-game description

The Ruyter is a ranged light gunpowder cavalry unit in Age of Empires III that is unique to the Dutch, which replaces the Dragoon, and can be trained at Stables, Forts, and Fluyts once the Fortress Age is reached.

Overview

The Ruyter wields pistols in combat and works best in groups to eliminate groups of heavy cavalry and hand shock infantry. Compared to the Dragoon, they operate almost identically in combat, albeit with lower individual stats. They counter artillery at range, but fare even better if set to melee mode, as long as the enemy does not have heavy infantry in melee mode guarding the cannons, in which case stagger mode would be best.

However, Ruyters take only 1 population slot, making them very population effective. It is also one of the Dutch Royal Guard units, meaning each unit can be upgraded higher than other Dutch units. They are also significantly cheaper, as coin is barely an issue for Dutch players due to the presence of Banks. The Ruyter costs mainly coin, and thanks to the Dutch Settler sharing the coin resource cost, the Ruyter fulfills a similar economic niche to Musketeers within standard civilizations, which use Food for both of those units of theirs. Finally, Ruyters work well with the Dutch infantry units because they all benefit from Arsenal upgrades. Be sure to research Ranged Cavalry Caracole to help improve both their offensive and defensive capabilities.

Upgrades

The Ruyter starts at the Veteran level, giving them +20% hit points and attack.

If they are made available in the Commerce Age with the "TEAM Early Dragoons" Home City Card, Ruyters will be automatically upgraded to Veteran once the player reaches the Fortress Age.

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect
	Carabineers	1,000 wood, 1,000 coin	Upgrade Ruyters to Carabineer Ruyters (+40% hit points and attack)
	Imperial Carabineers	1,500 wood, 1,500 coin	Upgrade Carabineer Ruyters to Imperial Carabineers (+50% hit points and attack); requires Carabineers

Civilization differences

• The Japanese can get Ruyters by allying with the Dutch at the Consulate (requires a level 25 Home City) which provides Dutch Expeditionary Force and Dutch Expeditionary Army that includes 7 and 9 Ruyters (named Carabineer) respectively. These Ruyters start with +10% hit points and attack than their regular counterpart, and are automatically upgraded in every Age starting in the Fortress Age (see here for the exact values).

Further statistics

As Ruyters are unique to the Dutch, only technologies that they have access to are shown in the following table:

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Heavy cavalry, Shock Infantry, artillery
Weak vs.	Heavy infantry, ranged infantry, light cavalry
Improvements
Hit points	Comanche Horse Breeding (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%)
Attack	Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+10%) Yoga (+5%) Smokeless Powder (+30% siege attack)
Armor	Sudanese Quilted Armor (+10% melee resistance)
Range	Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2)
Sight	Town Watch (+2) Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2)
Speed	Comanche Mustangs (+10%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
Creation speed	Mass Cavalry (-35%) Cheyenne Horse Trading (-25%) Quechuan Diet (-25%)
Train cost	Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost)
Other	Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)
Penalties	Coffee Trade (-10% speed)

Home City Cards

As Ruyters are unique to the Dutch, 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 Ruyter

Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team Brazil Card Description Guard of Honor Upgrade Ruyters to Royal Guard (if not already); Ruyters get +250% melee attack but all melee attack multipliers removed; Independence Dragoons can be trained at Stable, Fort, and Fluyt Dutch Card Description Age HC level 7 Ruyters Ships 7 Ruyters 1 11 Ruyters Ships 11 Ruyters 1 9 Ruyters Ships 9 Ruyters 10 13 Ruyters Ships 13 Ruyters 10 17 Ruyters Ships 17 Ruyters 40 Dutch Counter Cavalry Force Ships 10 Halberdiers and 4 Ruyters 25 Cavalry Combat Cavalry get +15% hit points and attack 10 Riding School Cavalry train time -40% 10 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 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 Portuguese Card Description Age HC level TEAM Early Dragoons Dragoons, Cavalry Archers, Ruyters, Musket Riders, Rifle Riders, Yabusame, and Carbine Cavalry can be trained in the Commerce Age; Eagle Runner Knight, Zamburak, Ming Army, Bolas Warrior, and Black Rider train time -15%; Mongolian Army train time -7% 1 Russians Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cavalry Scouts Cavalry and shock infantry get +10% hit points and +4 LOS 1 Spanish Card Description Age HC level TEAM Inquisition All units get +10 LOS 10

Trivia

• Due to a bug, upgrading the Ruyter to Carabineers and Imperial Carabineers does not change their model, while the Consulate Carabineer Ruyters change their model as they get auto-upgraded. This has been fixed in the Definitive Edition.
• Royal Guard and Consulate Ruyters are named after the carabiniers (although the Dutch word "karabinier" would be more appropriate).
• As stated in the in-game history, "Ruyter" is cognate with the German "Reiter", which is also in the game as a Mercenary unit (Black Rider).

History

“

Ruyters were a light cavalry who used pistols as their primary weapon. These soldiers were known as "Riders," and often carried several pistols with them - even having aids or servants whose job it was to carry extra pistols - because they wouldn't have time to reload the weapons when in range. Short-range fire with pistols was often deadly, but even shots that were not immediately lethal usually killed due to infection or disease because of the state of medicine at the time. Ruyters were able to fire their relatively small arms while on the move and this mobility made them fierce combatants. Ruyters wore light armor and carried several sets of pistols. They were known to carry sabers and axes as sidearms for use when their complement of loaded pistols had been spent.

”

Gallery

An in-game Ruyter

The Ruyter history portrait

In-game Carabineer Ruyter model

See also

• Dragoon
• Cavalry Archer – Ottoman and Russian equivalent
• Eagle Runner Knight – Aztec equivalent
• Musket Rider – Haudenosaunee equivalent
• Rifle Rider – Lakota equivalent
• Zamburak – Indian equivalent
• Yabusame – Japanese equivalent
• Hakkapelit – Swedish substitute. Note that it's a ranged heavy cavalry useful against infantry
• Carbine Cavalry – United States equivalent