Rattan Shields are cheap and can get rid of long-range/ranged infantry and artillery with ease. They are very vulnerable to heavy infantry, basically working like a native warrior version of Coyote Runners.
They are fast, cheap, lack any negative multipliers and are resistant to ranged attacks, making them solid raiding units against Settlers and Villagers.
Upgrades native warriors to Elite/Disciplined/Veteran and Champion/Honored/Royal Guard (if not already); Native Embassies get +40% hit points and +5 build limit (also +4 Uhlans for the Germans)
Infantry and shock infantry train time -40% (also +2 Uhlans for the Germans; +1 Hindu Villager for the Indians)
"Native Treaties" is available to Europeans (except the Maltese) and Native Americans, and ships 2 Tiger Claws if the player had built a Trading Post on a Bhakti Temple.
"Native Alliance" is available to the Aztecs, Inca, Indians, and Japanese.
"Native Warriors" is available to Europeans and Native Americans (except the Haudenosaunee).
"Native Warrior Combat" is available to the French, Haudenosaunee, Inca, and Mexicans (upon revolting to the Maya).
"TEAM Native Weapon Trade" is available to the Dutch, Native Americans (except the Inca), and also British and French upon revolting to Canada.
"Blood Brothers" is available to the Aztecs, French, Germans, Haudenosaunee, Lakota, Portuguese, Russians, and Spanish.
"Liberation March" is available to the Mexicans and Spanish.
"Fencing School" is available to the Aztecs, Europeans (except the Maltese, Ottomans, and Spanish), and Indians.
Maroons, native warriors, and Villagers now regenerate hit points at a rate of 0.25% per second when idle; Yoruba Eso Rider hit point degeneration rate -60% and Militiaman hit point degeneration rate -10%, and for both stops at 25% hit points
Each different allied native tribe sends a large shipment of their respective native warriors and upgrades them to Elite and Champion (if not already); native warriors train time -10%; native warrior shipments and "Native Treaties" arrive time -50%; costs 500 food, 500 wood
"Indian Friendship"/"Chimayo Genizarios" ships 9 Rattan Shields if the player had built a Trading Post on a Shaolin Temple.
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
"Indiana Mobilization" is available upon selecting the Indiana Federal State.
While the history section hints that the Rattan Shield is a unit that is meant to represent south Chinese Ming loyalist troops, they instead represent Shaolin monks.
Also, as with Iron Troopers, they speak Mandarin rather than Hokkien or Wu Chinese.
The practice of rattan shield fighting is an art form consisting of six distinct fighting methods that is still practiced in parts of Taiwan. During the Chinese battles of Formosa in the seventeenth century, Ming military leader Koxinga expected every member of his army, from the generals to the foot soldiers, to be versed in the methods of the rattan shield.
Rattan shields were widely used for a variety of reasons. Palms blanketed the regions of Taiwan and Hokkien, China, making rattan readily available. The shields were extremely light but uncommonly strong, able to block incoming projectiles, including bullets. They were even so buoyant as to be used by soldiers as flotation devices when crossing shallow bodies of water.
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Gallery[]
A group of Rattan Shields, close to the Yellow River