| “ | Micronesian unique unit. Infantry with moderately good melee armor, and attack bonus vs Gold free units, Foot Archers and Champions. Weak against Eagle Warriors | ” |
| —Age of Empires II description | ||
The Kiribati Warrior is the unique unit of the Micronesians in Age of Empires II: The Oceanic Kingdoms. It is a infantry unit with an attack bonus against Gold free units (Colloquially known as "Trash units") as well as a small bonus attack vs villagers and bonus attack as well against Magyar Huszars, the Champion line and the Arbalest line.
Kiribati Warrior can be upgraded to Elite Kiribati Warrior in the Imperial Age.
Tactics
Micronesians lacks the Champion upgrade, however Kiribati Warriors fullfill the role of the Champion line as a counter to gold free units to even a greater extent as their attack bonuses enables them to obliterate all kinds of trash units, these includes: Genitours, Hussars, Halberdiers, Catamarans and Skirmishers. They also have a smaller bonus vs Magyar Huszars, the Champion line and the Arbalest line so even Persian Crossbowmen with Kamandaran, Malay Two-handed swordsmen with Forced Levy and Magyar Huszars with Corvinian Army should also avoid them. This last bonus attack in combination with their trash busting bonus also makes them quite effective as infantry counters and a partially effective foot archer counter, in this regard the player must remember that the Kiribati Warrior advantage do not apply to Slingers, Hand Cannoneers, Eagle Warriors, unique Infantry or unique archers. Kiribati Warriors also have a small bonus vs Villagers so they are also effective for raiding.
Kiribati Warriors also have medium armor both pierce and melee which enhances a bit its role as a specialized trash buster. Since Micronesians are considered a late game civilization due to their self-trade bonus, having a unit like the Kiribati Warrior enables them to quite effective dominate and finish their opponents at the very late-game. However they are not invincible, regular infantry counter units can easily decimate them, also despite the fact they have a bonus vs the arbalest line Arbalesters can still hit and run them, and Eagle Warriors have a substantial bonus attack against them. When dealing against Kiribati Warriors it is recomended that the player should make the aformentioned counter units on masse and try to cut off the Micronesian trade routes. Using Heavy cavalry also works against Kiribati Warriors.
Kiribati Warriors can be improved at Imperial age with the Micronesian Unique technology Sharktooth Weaponry which increases all their attack bonuses by +2 emphazising even more their trash-buster and counter-unit role.
Pairing Eagle Warriors with Kiribati Warriors works particularly well, Kiribati Warriors can protect Eagle Warriors from Champions and Halberdiers, while Eagle Warriors can deal with units that may be problematic for Kiribati Warriors.
Compared to the Two-handed swordsmen the Elite Kiribati Warrior completely lacks bonuses vs Eagle Warriors and Buildings as well as having less base attack but more Hit points and armor.
Further statistics
As Kiribati Warriors are unique to the Micronesians, only technologies that are available to them are shown in the following table:
| Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Pikemen, Skirmishers, Light cavalry, Champions, Arbalesters, Villagers |
| Weak vs. | Slingers, Hand Cannoneers, Eagle Warriors, heavy cavalry especially Cataphracts and War Elephants, non Arbalester non Skirmisher Foot Archers |
| Upgrades | |
| Attack |  Forging (+1) Iron Casting (+1) Blast Furnace (+2) Arson (+2 attack against standard buildings)File:Unique-tech-imperial.jpgSharktooth Weaponry (attack bonuses increased by +2) |
| Armor |  Scale Mail Armor (+1/+1) Chain Mail Armor (+1/+1) Plate Mail Armor (+1/+2)
|
| Speed |  Squires (+10%)
|
| Sight |  Tracking (+2)
|
| Conversion defense |  Faith Heresy
|
| Creation speed |  Conscription (+33%)
|
| Upgrades |  Elite Kiribati Warrior
|
Team bonuses
- A team containing Berbers: With Kasbah researched, Kiribati Warriors are created and upgraded 25% faster, and Conscription is researched 25% faster.
- A team containing Bulgarians: Blacksmith upgrades are researched 50% faster.
- A team containing Goths: Researching Squires and Arson is 20% faster.
- A team containing Lithuanians: Faith and Heresy are researched 20% faster.
- A team containing Teutons: Kiribati Warriors are more resistant to conversion.
Trivia
- People along the Micronesian region in the Pacific ocean did developed weaponry and armory made from coconut fiber, wood, human hair and parts of animals most prominently Shark tooth. In the Gilbertese islands (Kiribati) and some other archipielagos of the region warriors wore all of these equipment along having helmets made of porcupine fishes. The effectiveness in battle of most of these war equippment was more due to psychological warfare rather than practicality, however it has been proven that their Coconut fiber armory ( except their porcupine fish helmets) worked ok against wood and stone weapons.