Rai Stones is a technology in Age of Empires II: The Oceanic Kingdoms that is unique to the Micronesians and can be researched at the Castle. Once researched, it Allows trade units to generate stone additional to the gold per each trip.
Strategy[]
Rai Stones is the cornerstone of Micronesian success at mid to late-game. Micronesians are higly reliant on their defenses especially on water maps so getting an extra source of stone is usually needed. The Stone generated is 40% lower in quantity than the gold generated and considering the Self-trade bonus Micronesians have, the same proportion of stone generated still applies in self trading ( 50% less resource generated in self-trade). While it may doesn't seems worth the investment in the short term in single matches or FFA at frst glance, since micronesians can trade with themselves ( however the player requires to make two markets or two docks for this) this enables micronesians to have a highly reliable source of stone than can be very helpful on long games. The stone generated by the Trade units can be compared to the stone generated by Portuguese Feitorias with the difference that the micronesians can get the extra stone earlier but it can be more easily raided if the trade route is not well defended. Micronesians should research this technology as soon as they have two markets or two docks at far distance from each other and enough Trade carts or Trade Cogs.
On team games this technology is still highly helpful as Stone is the rarest resource in the game, and Micronesians can tribute it to allies that require it and have depleted their stone mines. One important note is that The technology does not stack with the spanish team bonus so players must not expect more stone if the Spanish team bonus is present.
Team bonuses[]
Trivia[]
The Rai Stones was a monetary system developed in the island of Yap. The Rai stones were large circular stones made of Limestone that came from Palau island. Unlike other monetary systems since the Rai Stones were usually very large and heavy, the Micronesians on Yap island decided that in order to make a transaction with the Rai stones those stones do not required to be moved from its place, The ownership of a Rai Stone can also be partial or total and all transactions made with Rai stones were recoreded orally by all the settlers in Yap, so basically the Rai stones was an economic system based on trust. A Rai stone felt into the ocean once, but the Yapese Micronesians decided that it still holds value and can still be traded even when the Rai stone cannot be seen anymore.