Swiss Pikeman

"Elite Swiss mercenary armed with a pike. Good against cavalry."

—In-game description

The Swiss Pikeman is mercenary heavy infantry in Age of Empires III.

Overview Edit

The Swiss Pikeman are a serious threat to many units, due to their hit points and multipliers, especially cavalry. In addition, they have a high siege attack, allowing them to destroy buildings fairly easily and are also quite fast for infantry making them a good all-around unit. However like all infantry they will be defeated by artillery.

When using Swiss Pikemen, be on the lookout for Spy and Ninja units as they will be a threat, killing them with ease due to bonuses against fighting mercenaries.

Campaign appearances Edit

In some campaign scenarios, Swiss Pikemen appear to assist the players' forces. For example, in the Act I: Blood level Into the Caves, three Swiss Pikemen are provided at the start to help defend the player's colony.

Further statistics Edit

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Cavalry, light infantry, buildings
Weak vs.	Skirmishers, archers, artillery
Improvements
Hit points	Infantry Breastplate (+10%) Thin Red Line (+20%, British only) Corselet (+25%, Spanish only) Cree Tanning (+5%) Maya Cotton Armor (+20%) Navajo Weaving (+5%)
Attack	Customized Merc Weapons (+30%, John Black's Mercenaries only) Carib Kasiri Beer (+10%) Mapuche Tactics (+50% siege attack) Zapotec Cult of the Dead (+20%) Yoga (+5%) Master Lessons (+10%)
Speed	Military Drummers (+10%) Tilly's Discipline (+20%, Germans only) Incan Road-building (+20%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
Sight	Town Watch (+2)
Creation speed	Standing Army (-25%) Incan Chasquis Messengers (-25%)
Train cost	Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost)
Penalties	Thin Red Line (-25% speed, British only) Coffee Trade (-10% speed, Dutch only) Tilly's Discipline (+10% cost, Germans only) Corselet (-15% speed, Spanish only)

Home City Cards Edit

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Swiss Pikeman

Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team All Edit Card Description Age HC level Fencing School Infantry train time -40% 10 The Fencing School card is not available to Chinese, Japanese, and Ottomans. Chinese Edit Card Description Age HC level Western Reforms All units get +8% hit points and attack 40 Acupuncture Unit train time -20% 10 Dutch Edit Card Description Age HC level TEAM Infantry Hitpoints Infantry gets +15% hit points 10 Europeans Edit Card Description Age HC level Hire Swiss Pikemen Ships 12 Swiss Pikemen; costs 1,000 coin 10 Hire Highland Mercenary Army Ships 6 Highlanders, 4 Hackapells, and 8 Swiss Pikemen; costs 2,000 coin 25 The Hire Swiss Pikemen card is available to Dutch, French, and Spanish. The Hire Highland Mercenary Army card is not available to Ottomans and Portuguese, and ships 1 extra Highlander, Hackapell, and Swiss Pikeman for the Germans. Germans Edit Card Description Age HC level Improved Mercenaries Mercenaries get +20% hit points and attack +3 Uhlans 10 Indians Edit 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 Iroquois Edit Card Description Age HC level TEAM Scout Infantry Infantry gets +8 LOS 10 Japanese Edit Card Description Age HC level Onin War Infantry gets +33% siege attack 40 Russians Edit Card Description Age HC level Ransack Infantry gets +50% siege attack 25 TEAM Dueling School Infantry train time -25%; Skull Knights spawn 25% faster; banner army train time -12% 25 Spanish Edit Card Description Age HC level TEAM Hand Infantry Attack Melee infantry gets +15% attack 10 TEAM Inquisition All units get +10 LOS 10

In-game dialogue Edit

The Swiss Pikemen speaks German, but in their native dialect unlike the German civilization's ones.

The normal text below denotes the Swiss Pikeman's dialogue in the Swiss dialect versus the standard German pronunciation in italic.

• Uftrag / Auftrag (Order)
• Bereiit / Bereit (Ready)
• Verschtande / Verstanden (Understood)
• Wird gmacht / Wird gemacht (It will be done)
• Jawoll! / Jawohl! (Yes, sir!)
• Aagriff / Angriff (Attack)
• Vorwärts / Vorwärts! (Forward!)

Trivia Edit

• Historically, the mercenary corps of Switzerland (Reisläufer) were bitter rivals of the Landsknecht, in large part due to the latter being considered their imitators, yet became increasingly popular upon introduction to the point of supplanting the Swiss all but entirely in service. The two forces were often opposed during the major European conflict of the early sixteenth century, the Great Italian Wars, where the results of their many clashes were often horrific.

History Edit

"Swiss soldiers hired themselves out as mercenaries in many European nations. They were known for their discipline and drill with pike and halberd, but by the end of the sixteenth century had adopted the arquebus, and even mounted soldiers armed with arquebuses. Swiss pikemen were ruthless on the battlefield. They were known to hang their own men for panicking, for giving no quarter to enemies who surrendered, and for loyalty as long as they were paid. The phrase, "No silver, no Swiss," referred to the price of their loyalty, and the consequences of not paying them.

Swiss mercenaries wore a variety of uniforms, favoring colorful Landsknecht-style dress with striped leggings and mismatched stockings, and bright, slashed doublets and sleeves in alternating colors."

Gallery Edit

An in-game Swiss Pikeman

The Swiss Pikeman's history portrait

Add a photo to this gallery