Yojimbo

Yojimbo
Unit information
Introduced in	The Asian Dynasties
Type	Cavalry Light cavalry Ranged cavalry Gunpowder cavalry Mercenary
Civilization	Japanese
Age	Fortress Age
Training
Trained at	Monastery
Requires	Atonement Home City Card
Coin	400
Training time	50 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	540
Resists	40% vs. Melee
Speed	6.8
Line of Sight	20
Population	4
XP train bounty	40
XP bounty	40
Melee attack
Damage	35
Multipliers	x2.0 vs. Heavy cavalry x1.5 vs. Coyote Runner
Area of Effect	2
Rate of Fire	1.5
Ranged attack
Damage	35
Multipliers	x2.0 vs. Heavy cavalry and Artillery x1.5 vs. Coyote Runner x0.5 vs. Villager
Range	12
Rate of Fire	1.5
Siege attack
Damage	40
Range	6
Rate of Fire	3.0

“	Heavily armed mercenary cavalry good with both a bow and a sword. Good against cavalry.	”
—In-game description

The Yojimbo is a Japanese mercenary ranged cavalry in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties. It is an hybrid of Cavalry Archer and heavy cavalry (particularly to Cuirassiers) in some respects.

Overview

The Yojimbo can be trained at the Stable and Monastery with the Atonement Home City Card.

At first glance, the Yojimbo might seem as a superior version of the Yabusame, but in reality, it plays more like a highly improved, mercenary version of the Cavalry Archer. The Yabusame itself is more comparable to a Culverin, as it has a very high bonus versus artillery combined with a good range and strong ranged resistance (50% to be precise).

On the other hand, the Yojimbo is meant to be a shock unit, quickly destroying enemy cavalry and artillery with arrow volleys, and when enemy light cavalry or infantry arrive in the battlefield, going for the kill in melee combat, where they particular excel, as they have great melee armor, combined with a strong attack, but most important of all, area damage.

Not unlike Cuirassiers or other cavalry in Trample Mode, this makes them excellent against masses of weak units, such as Strelets or Macehualtins.

All in all, Yojimbos are spectacular mercenaries, but by no means should they replace Yabusames, as they are much more expensive, and not as cost effective against Artillery, while larger masses of Light Cavalry may wreak havoc on Yojimbo.

Campaign

In the Japanese campaign, they are featured in the first scenario as woodcutters who were going to be executed for rebelling. When they are freed, they will make a remark about regaining their honor and join your forces.

Further statistics

As Yojimbo are unique to the Japanese, only technologies that they have access to are shown in the following table:

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Heavy cavalry, light infantry, artillery
Weak vs.	Heavy infantry, ranged infantry, light cavalry
Improvements
Hit points	Comanche Horse Breeding (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%)
Attack	Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+10%) Carib Kasiri Beer (+10%) Carib Garifuna Drums (+1.0x multiplier vs. villagers) Seminole Bowyer (+25%) Tupi Poison Arrow Frogs (+10%) Yoga (+5%)
Range	Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2)
Sight	Town Watch (+2) Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2)
Speed	Comanche Mustangs (+10%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
Creation speed	Mass Cavalry (-50%) Cheyenne Horse Trading (-25%) Incan Chasquis Messengers (-25%)
Train cost	Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost)

Home City Cards

As Yojimbo are unique to the Japanese, only their cards and other civilizations' TEAM cards are shown in the following tables:

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Yojimbo

Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team Red: Shipment that can be sent TWICE (Japanese only) French Card Description Age HC level TEAM Hand Cavalry Attack Heavy cavalry and Coyote Runners get +15% attack 10 Germans Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cavalry Attack Heavy cavalry, light cavalry, and light infantry get +15% attack 10 Indians Card Description Age HC level TEAM Shivaji's Tactics All units get +5% hit points and attack 25 Japanese Card Description Age HC level Hire Japanese Mercenary Army Ships 5 Ronin and 5 Yojimbo; costs 2,000 coin 25 Hire Yojimbo Cavalry Archers Ships 4 Yojimbo; costs 1,000 coin 10 Russians Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cavalry Scouts Cavalry and light infantry get +10% hit points and +4 LOS 1 Spanish Card Description Age HC level TEAM Inquisition All units get +10 LOS 10

In-game dialogue

Main article: Japanese (Age of Empires III)#In-game dialogue

• は [Ha.] ("Yes."; a variant of hai (はい "Yes") pronounced with a short, strong breath; old-fashioned, typically said by fictional archaic characters, especially of the feudal ages, in response to the instructions or remarks of their superior person, with an attitude of respect toward that person)
• ご命令を [Gomeirei o.] ("Your instructions?")
• 御意（に） [Gyoi (ni).] ("At your will.")
• はい！ [Hai!] ("Yes!")
• いざ [Iza.] ("Now.")
• 直ちに [Tadachi ni.] ("Immediately.")
• 仰せの通り（に） [Ōse no tōri (ni).] (Literally "As you say."; it means "In accordance with your will.")
• いざゆかん！ [Iza yukan!] ("Let's go now!")
• 戦じゃ！ [Ikusa ja!] ("Fight!")
• や！ [Ya!] (an interjection)

Trivia

• The Yojimbo is the only cavalry archer that have area of effect melee attack.
• The Yojimbo are classified as gunpowder units, despite obviously using arrows. While they're normally not affected by this classification, it does prevent them from benefiting from any archer-related native upgrades, such as the Carib bonus against Villagers.
• The Yojimbo bears physical resemblance to the fictional character Sanjuro from a 1961 Jidaigeki film with the same name.

History

“

A yojimbo is a bodyguard or security warrior often hired from the ranks of wandering ronin, or masterless samurai.

”

Gallery

A Yojimbo under white background

An in-game Yojimbo

The Yojimbo Cavalry Archer's history portrait

Yojimbo stats

It is possible the the Yojimbo was based on Sanjuro from the namesake 1961 Jidaigeki film

Add a photo to this gallery