Swiss Pikeman

This article is about the mercenary unit in Age of Empires III. For other uses of the term, see Pikeman.

Swiss Pikeman
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Infantry Heavy infantry Hand infantry Pikeman Archaic infantry* Mercenary
Age	Fortress Age
Training
Trained at	Tavern (Europeans) Monastery (Asians) Saloon (Americans) Palace (Africans) Barracks (Swedes with the "Contract Swiss Pikemen" Home City Card) Fort (Swedes with the "Contract Swiss Pikemen" Home City Card) Lombard (Italians)
Population	2
Coin	160
Train time	36 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	325
Resistance	30% Hand
Speed	5.0
Line of Sight	12
XP train bounty	16
XP kill bounty	16
Hand attack
Damage	22 Hand
Bonus damage	×5.0 vs. Cavalry ×3.5 vs. Shock infantry
Rate of Fire	1.5
Siege attack
Damage	64 Siege
Range	6
Rate of Fire	3.0

“	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

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

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

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Cavalry, shock infantry, buildings
Weak vs.	MercType2, light infantry, counter-skirmishers, artillery
Improvements
Hit points	Corselet (+25%; Spanish only) Maya Cotton Armor (+20%) Infantry Breastplate (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Gadaa System (+5%; Ethiopians only) Navajo Weaving (+5%) Tar Kilns (+5%)
Attack	Customized Merc Weapons (+30%; John Black's Mercenaries only) Zapotec Cult of the Dead (+20%) Carib Kasiri Beer (+10%) Master Lessons (+10%) Yoga (+5%) Mapuche Tactics (+50% siege attack) Pillage (+25% siege attack vs. buildings)
Resistance	Somali Oryx Hide Shields (+5% ranged resistance) Hualcana (+5%; Inca only)
Line of Sight	Town Watch (+3)
Speed	Tilly's Discipline (+20%; Germans only) Military Drummers (+10%) Quechuan Mountaineering (+10%) Akan Fontomfrom (+5%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
Train time	Standing Army (-25%) Akan Fontomfrom (-20%) Blue Nile Ties (-15%; Ethiopians only) Quechuan Diet (-15%) Immigrants (-10%) New Mexico Immigration (-10%; United States only) Philhellenism (-10%) Strangers' Quarters (-10%; Africans only)
Cost	Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost) Golden Liberty (-5% coin cost) Blue Nile Ties (-15%; Ethiopians only) Philhellenism (-10%) Somali Oryx Hide Shields (-10%) Yemeni Relations (exchanges cost for 50% coin, 50% influence; Ethiopians only)
Other	Multinationalism (ships 8 random European mercenaries)
Penalties	Corselet (-15% speed; Spanish only) Coffee Trade (-10% speed; Dutch only) Tilly's Discipline (+10% cost; Germans only)

Home City Cards

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

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

All

Card	Description	Age
Liberation March	Infantry, cavalry, and shock infantry get +5% speed and -35% train time
Fencing School	Infantry and shock infantry train time -40% (also +2 Uhlans for the Germans; +1 Villager for the Indians)
Outlaw Combat	Outlaws and mercenaries get +15% hit points and attack (also upgrades Filibusters to Veteran for Baja California; costs 750 coin for Baja California, Hungary, and Revolutionary Mexicans)

• "Liberation March" is available to the Mexicans and Spanish.
• "Fencing School" is available to the Europeans (except the French, Maltese, Ottomans, and Spanish) and Indians.
• "Outlaw Combat" is available to the Mexicans upon revolting to Baja California and Europeans upon revolting to the Barbary States, Hungary, and Mexico.

Africans

Card	Description	Age
Feudal Armies	All units' train time -15%; hero respawn time -15%
Loyal Warriors	Native warriors, mercenaries, and outlaws cost -15% (also affects shipments)

Chinese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Western Reforms	All units get +8% hit points and attack		40
Acupuncture	All units' train time -20%		10

Dutch

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Infantry Hitpoints	Infantry get +10% hit points; Dutch-only infantry get +15% hit points instead		10
Waardgelders	Ships 4 Swiss Pikemen and allows their recruitment from Tavern and Barracks for 155 coin; costs 500 coin		N/A
Dutch States Army	Mercenary train time -15% and shipments arrive time -20%, and get +7% speed (except Napoleon Guns and Li'l Bombards); enables training of Highlanders at Barracks, Royal Horsemen at Stables, and both at Tavern; Pikeman, Halberdier, Skirmisher, Hussar, and Ruyter cost +10%		N/A

Ethiopians

Card	Description	Age
Ignatian Spirituality	All units get +5% hit points and regeneration capability even while in combat

Europeans

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Hire Highland Mercenary Army	Ships 8 Swiss Pikemen, 6 Highlanders, and 4 Harquebusiers; costs 2,000 coin		25
Hire Swiss Pikemen	Ships 12 Swiss Pikemen; costs 1,000 coin		10
Loyal Warriors	Native warriors, mercenaries, and outlaws cost -15%; "TEAM 4 Zenata Rider", "Recruit Xebec", "Recruit Xebecs", and "15 Berber Allies" cost no coin		N/A
Kraton Guards	Pikemen get +25% hit points and attack; Revolutionaries get +15% hit points and attack		N/A
Wanderlust	Land units get +5% hit points; land villagers and wagons get +5% speed		N/A

• "Hire Highland Mercenary Army" is available to the British, Dutch, Germans (with +1 extra Swiss Pikeman, Highlander, and Harquebusier), Russians, and Spanish.
• "Hire Swiss Pikemen" is available to the Dutch, French, and Spanish.
• "Loyal Warriors" is available to the Italians, Maltese, Ottomans, and Portuguese upon revolting to the Barbary States.
• "Kraton Guards" is available to the Dutch and Portuguese upon revolting to Indonesia.
• "Wanderlust" is available to the British and Dutch upon revolting to South Africa, and can be sent 3 times.

French

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Royal Fencing School	Infantry and shock infantry train time -40%; +3 Royal Musketeers		N/A

Germans

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Improved Mercenaries	Mercenaries get +15% hit points and attack; +3 Uhlans		10

Haudenosaunee

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Scout Infantry	Ships 1 Native Scout; infantry get +8 Line of Sight		10
Conservative Tactics	Infantry get +10% hit points and attack		10

Hausa

Card	Description	Age
Sahelian Kingdoms	Native warriors get +15% hit points and attack; mercenaries and outlaws get +10% hit points and attack

Inca

Card	Description	Age
Road Building	Land military units get +10% speed
TEAM Inca Bridges	Ships 1 Chasqui; infantry, land villagers, healing units, and Envoys get +5% speed

Indians

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Dravidian Martial Arts	All units get +15% hand attack; Rajputs get +20% hand attack instead; +1 Hindu Villager		40
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics	All units get +5% hit points and attack		25
Zamindars	Infantry train time -20%; receives 2 Sepoys instead of 1 Villager with every Home City shipment; +2 Sepoys		1

Italians

Card	Description	Age
Infantry Hitpoints	Infantry get +15% hit points
Schiavoni Swords	Infantry and cavalry get +15% hand attack

Japanese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Onin War	Infantry get +33% siege attack		40
Bakufu	Daimyo and Shogun Tokugawa get +10% speed, +20 Line of Sight and train units 15% faster; land military unit train time -20%; Banner army train time -10%		10

Lakota

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Moccasins	Infantry get +10% speed		10

Maltese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Knights of the Round Table	Ships 1 Hospitaller for each Town Center owned by the player; all units get +2% hit points
Squires	Military buildings train and research work 80% faster, except Forts which train and research work 340% faster

Mexicans

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Mariachi	For the next 30 seconds, military buildings work 400% faster and units get +10% speed
Colegio de San Nicolás	Ships 500 XP; units get +4 and buildings (except Walls) get +8 Line of Sight; sees what enemies can see for 20 seconds
National Servant	All units get +10% hit points; Padre healing 200% faster
Bastimento	Infantry train time -25%; Revolutionary train time -50%; Villager train time -20%
Pok Ta Pok	Infantry get +10% speed and -10% train time

• "Colegio de San Nicolás" is available upon selecting the Michoacán Federal State.
• "National Servant" is available upon selecting the Estado de México Federal State.
• "Bastimento" is available upon revolting to Rio Grande.
• "Pok Ta Pok" is available upon revolting to the Maya.

Ottomans

Card	Description	Age
Matrakci School	Infantry and shock infantry train time -30%; Janissary, Azap, Nizam Fusilier, Abus Gunner, and Humbaraci train time -40% instead

Russians

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Ransack	Infantry get +50% siege attack		25
Dueling School	Infantry train time -25%		25

Spanish

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Hand Infantry Attack	Hand infantry get +15% attack		10
Archaic Infantry Hitpoints	Hand infantry and foot archers get +15% hit points; Rodeleros get +20% hit points instead		10
Archaic Infantry Combat	Hand infantry and foot archers get +15% hit points and attack		25
TEAM Spanish Inquisition	Ships 1 Inquisitor; all units get +10 Line of Sight		10

Swedes

Card	Description	Age
Hand Infantry/Hand Cavalry Attack	Hand infantry and hand cavalry get +15% attack
Hand Infantry/Hand Cavalry Hitpoints	Hand infantry and hand cavalry get +15% hit points
TEAM House of Bernadotte	Heavy infantry get +15% hit points
Contract Swiss Pikemen	Ships 12 Swiss Pikemen; Swiss Pikemen available at military buildings; costs 1,000 coin
German Mercenary Contracts	Mercenaries get +20% hit points and attack; Jaegers and Landsknechts can be trained at Barracks and Galleons; Black Riders can be trained at Stables and Galleons

United States

Card	Description	Age
United States Army	The General, Minutemen, and heavy infantry get +15% hit points and attack
Poker	Ships 13 random mercenaries; up to 3 random mercenaries available at Saloon; costs 3,500 coin
Indiana Mobilization	Ships 1 Carbine Cavalry for each shipment sent so far this game including this one; unit train time (except Heavy Cannons), technology research time, and age-up time -10%; costs 250 food, 250 wood
Hamilton's Own	Ships 4 Napoleon Guns and 2 Li'l Bombards; mercenaries get +25% hit points and attack; costs 2,500 coin

• "Indiana Mobilization" is available upon selecting the Indiana Federal State.
• "Hamilton's Own" is available upon selecting the New York Federal State.

Changelog

The African Royals

• Although it is not listed in the patch notes, with update 13.4412, Swiss Pikemen are tagged as archaic infantry.

In-game dialogue

The Swiss Pikeman speaks German, but in modern Zürich German unlike the German civilization's ones. However, an older Swiss German accent would have been more period appropriate.

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

• Select 1 Ja? - Yes?
• Select 2 Bereiit (Bereit) - Ready
• Select 3 Uftrag (Auftrag) - Order?
• Move 1 Jawoll (Jawohl) - Yes, sir
• Move 2 Verschtande (Verstanden) - Understood
• Move 3 Wird gmacht (Wird gemacht) - It will be done
• Attack 1 Aagriff (Angriff) - Attack!
• Attack 2 Vorwärts (Vorwärts!) - Forward!
• Attack 3 Jawoll! (Jawohl!) - Yes, sir!

History

“

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.

”

Trivia

• 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.

Gallery

In-game Swiss Pikeman in the Definitive Edition

An in-game Swiss Pikeman in the original game

The Swiss Pikeman's history portrait