Standard Army

Standard Army
Information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties
Civilization(s)	Chinese
Age	Commerce Age
Training
Trained at	War Academy Blockhouse Fort Fuchuan
Cost	255 Food 170 Coin 5 Population
Train time	27 seconds
Statistics
Train XP	43
Composition
3 Chu Ko Nu 2 Steppe Riders

“	A flexible army of archers and hand cavalry.	”
—In-game description

The Standard Army is a Chinese banner army in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties that can be trained at War Academy and Fuchuan, or automatically spawned for free by the Summer Palace Wonder. It consists of three Chu Ko Nu and two Steppe Riders.

Strategy

The Chu Ko Nu is an archer unit effective against heavy infantry that has slightly more speed than an average archer, and a much higher multiplier against heavy infantry than a normal archer unit. The Steppe Rider is effective against light infantry, such as the Skirmisher, and has a x2 multiplier against non-heavy infantry, making it more cost effective than other hand cavalry units like the Hussar.

The Standard Army is highly cost effective against its counters, and if micromanaged well, is a strong option for the Commerce Age. The Steppe Rider starts to lose effectiveness in the Fortress Age as it is replaced by stronger cavalry units; Iron Flails and Meteor Hammers.

Training the Standard Army gives 43 XP instead of the expected 45. However, killing all members of the army gives the enemy 45 XP, unlike what the description says.

Alliance with the Russians allows training the Standard Army at the Blockhouse and Fort.

Changelog

The Asian Dynasties

• The Standard Army trains in 25 seconds.

Knights of the Mediterranean

• With update 13.58326, the Standard Army trains in 27 seconds.