Ruyter

Ruyter
Information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Cavalry Light ranged cavalry Ranged cavalry Gunpowder cavalry
Civilization(s)	Dutch
Age	Fortress Age
Training
Trained at	Stable Fort Fluyt
Cost	30 Food 75 Coin 1 Population
Train time	31 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	140
Resistance	10% Ranged
Speed	7.25
Line of Sight	14
Train XP	11
Kill XP	11
Ranged attack
Damage	14 Ranged
Range	12
Rate of Fire	3.0
Bonus damage	3.0x vs. Heavy cavalry 2.25x vs. Hand shock infantry 2.0x vs. Artillery 0.5x vs. Villager
Siege attack
Damage	6 Siege
Range	6
Rate of Fire	3.0
Hand attack
Damage	7 Hand
Rate of Fire	1.5
Bonus damage	3.0x vs. Heavy cavalry 2.25x vs. Hand shock infantry 2.0x vs. Artillery

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

The Ruyter is a gunpowder light ranged 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

Ruyters can be trained in the Commerce Age with the "TEAM House of Aviz" Home City Card. They will be automatically upgraded to Veteran once the player reaches the Fortress Age.

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect
	Veteran Ruyters	Automatically	Upgrades Ruyters to Veteran (+20% hit points and damage)
	Carabineers	850 wood 850 coin	Upgrades Ruyters to Carabineers (Guard Ruyter with +10% hit points and damage, and +1 ranged attack range)
Imperial Age	Imperial Carabineers	1,500 wood 1,500 coin	Upgrades Carabineers to Imperial Carabineers (+50% hit points and damage); requires Carabineers

• Guard Ruyter grants +30% hit points and damage like other Guard upgrades.

Consulate Carabineer

Carabineer
Information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties
Type	Cavalry Light ranged cavalry Ranged cavalry Gunpowder cavalry Consulate unit
Civilization(s)	Japanese
Age	Fortress Age
Training
Banner army	Dutch Expeditionary Force Dutch Expeditionary Army
Trained at	Consulate
Cost	1 Population
Statistics
Hit points	140
Resistance	10% Ranged
Speed	7.25
Line of Sight	14
Kill XP	11
Ranged attack
Damage	14 Ranged
Range	12
Rate of Fire	3.0
Bonus damage	3.0x vs. Heavy cavalry 2.25x vs. Hand shock infantry 2.0x vs. Artillery 0.5x vs. Villager
Siege attack
Damage	6 Siege
Range	6
Rate of Fire	3.0
Hand attack
Damage	7 Hand
Rate of Fire	1.5
Bonus damage	3.0x vs. Heavy cavalry 2.25x vs. Hand shock infantry 2.0x vs. Artillery

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

The Carabineer is a counterpart of the Ruyter, which starts with +10% hit points and damage.

Upgrades

The Carabineer is automatically upgraded in the Fortress Age, Industrial Age, and Imperial Age:

• +20% hit points and damage
• +30% hit points and damage, +1 ranged attack range
• +50% hit points and damage

Civilization differences

• The Japanese can get Carabineers by allying with the Dutch at the Consulate which provides Dutch Expeditionary Force and Dutch Expeditionary Army that includes 8 and 16 Carabineers respectively.

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Heavy cavalry, hand shock infantry, artillery
Weak vs.	Heavy infantry, light infantry
Improvements
Hit points	Comanche Horse Breeding (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%) Tar Kilns (+5%)
Attack	Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+10%) Smokeless Powder (+10%) Yoga (+5%)
Resistance	Sudanese Quilted Armor (+10% hand resistance)
Speed	Apache Endurance (+5%) Comanche Mustangs (+5%)
Line of Sight	Town Watch (+3) Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2)
Range	Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2)
Cost	Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost) Golden Liberty (-5% coin cost)
Train time	Cheyenne Horse Trading (-40%) Mass Cavalry (-35%) Quechuan Diet (-15%) Immigrants (-10%) Shaman Drums (-10%)
Other	Jagiellonian Legacy (delivers 9 Ruyters if The Cavalry Marshal was chosen for the Dutch) Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)

Home City Cards

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Ruyter

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

• Definitive Edition
• The Asian Dynasties

Dutch

Card	Description	Age
Belgian Revolution	Transforms all Pikemen, Halberdiers, and Ruyters into Revolutionaries; costs 500 food, 500 wood, 500 coin
7 Ruyters	Delivers 7 Ruyters
11 Ruyters	Delivers 11 Ruyters
9 Ruyters	Delivers 9 Ruyters
13 Ruyters	Delivers 13 Ruyters
17 Ruyters	Delivers 17 Ruyters
Dutch Counter Cavalry Force	Delivers 10 Halberdiers and 4 Ruyters
Cavalry Combat	Cavalry hit points and damage +15%
Riding School	Cavalry train time -40%; Cuirassier, Oprichnik, and Hakkapelit train time -35% instead; Gatling Camel train time -20% instead
Dutch States Army	Mercenary train time -15%, speed (except Napoleon Gun and Li'l Bombard) +7%; mercenary shipment arrive time -20%; enables Highlander to be trained at Barracks and Taverns, Royal Horseman at Stables and Taverns; Pikeman, Halberdier, Skirmisher, Hussar, and Ruyter cost +10%
Guard of Honor	Ruyter hand attack damage +200%, but all hand attack bonus damage removed; grants Carabineers; upgrades Dragoons to Independence Dragoons (Guard Dragoons with a lance hand attack); enables Independence Dragoons to be trained at Stables, Forts, and Fluyts (if revolting from the Dutch)
Wagon Warfare	Fully replaces Dragoons/Ruyters with War Wagons at Stables, Forts, and Galleons/Fluyts; grants Guard War Wagons and enables Imperial War Wagons to be researched; costs 1,000 wood (arrives in 60 seconds)
Wanderlust	Land military and land villager hit points +5%; land villager and construction wagon speed +5% (can be sent 3 times)
Lee's Continental Light Dragoons	Delivers 12 Carbine Cavalry; fully replaces Dragoons/Ruyters/Hakkapelits with Carbine Cavalry at Stables, Forts, Galleons/Fluyts, and on the map; grants Guard Carbine Cavalry; enables Veteran Carbine Cavalry (if revolting from the Dutch)

• "Guard of Honor" is available upon revolting to Brazil.
• "Wagon Warfare" and "Wanderlust" are available upon revolting to South Africa, and can be sent 3 times.
• "Lee's Continental Light Dragoons" is available upon revolting to the United States.

Germans

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Cavalry Attack	Heavy cavalry, light ranged cavalry, and shock infantry damage +10%; Germans-only heavy cavalry, light ranged cavalry, and shock infantry damage +15% instead

• "TEAM Cavalry Attack" does not stack with the Italian "TEAM Cavalry Attack" card card.

Indians

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics	Unit hit points and damage +5%

Italians

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Cavalry Attack	Heavy cavalry, light ranged cavalry, and shock infantry damage +10%; Italians-only heavy cavalry, light ranged cavalry, and shock infantry damage +15% instead

• "TEAM Cavalry Attack" does not stack with the German "TEAM Cavalry Attack" card.

Japanese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Sengoku	Unit upgrades cost -20%
Good Faith Agreements	Consulate unit train time -50%; Consulate technology cost -40% (-300 export for Brigades), research time -50% (except Brigades)
Bakufu	Daimyo and Shogun Tokugawa speed +5%, Line of Sight +10, training and research work rate +15%; land military train time -20%, artillery and banner army train time -10% instead

Lakota

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Mustangs	Cavalry and shock infantry cost -10%

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%

Portuguese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM House of Aviz	Enables Dragoon, Ruyter, Cavalry Archer, Rifle Rider, Musket Rider, Yabusame, and Carbine Cavalry to be trained from the Commerce Age; Zamburak, Eagle Runner Knight, Bolas Warrior, Black Rider, and Ming Army train time -15%; Mongolian Army train time -7%

Russians

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Kamchatka Expeditions	Cavalry and shock infantry hit points +10%, Line of Sight +4

Spanish

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Spanish Inquisition	Delivers 1 Inquisitor; military and economic unit Line of Sight +10

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 damage		10
Riding School	Cavalry train time -40%		10

Germans

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Cavalry Attack	Heavy cavalry, light ranged 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 damage		25

Japanese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
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

Portuguese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Early Dragoons	Dragoons, Ruyters, Cavalry Archers, Rifle Riders, Musket Riders, and Yabusame can be trained in the Commerce Age; Zamburak train time -15%; Ming Army and 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 Line of Sight		1

Spanish

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Inquisition	All units get +10 Line of Sight		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).
  • With update 14.43676, the Ruyter got an actual carbine after upgrading it to Carabineer.
• 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 (Veteran) Ruyter

The Ruyter history portrait

In-game (Imperial) Carabineer Ruyter model

In-game (Veteran) Ruyter in the Definitive Edition

In-game (Imperial) Carabineer Ruyter in the Definitive Edition

(Imperial) Carabineer Ruyter since update 14.43676

Ruyter image from the Compendium section

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