Cavalry Archer (Age of Empires III)

"Ranged cavalry. Good against cavalry."

- In-game description

The Cavalry Archer is a ranged counter-cavalry unit in in Age of Empires III. It is available to the Ottomans and Russians in place of the Dragoon.

Overview
Cavalry Archers function similarly to Dragoons, but have slower speed than their counterpart unit. Cavalry Archers can be trained from the Stable in the Fortress Age. The Russians have the Tartar upgrade, making cavalry archers more effective.

Cavalry archers do considerably less damage than a Dragoon but attack faster, they resist 30% melee damage as well as having more HP, so they are more capable of fighting against hand infantry and can take some of them down with them, though it is still not recommended to attack any hand infantry with them. They have multipliers against artillery, as well as cavalry, and paired with their high hit points, they can easily take down most cannon. Normally ranged cavalry do half damage to villagers, but with the Irregulars upgrade they gain an attack bonus against villagers making them an effective unit for slowing down the enemy's economy. They can also be used to lure enemies into a trap using guerilla tactics.

Upgrades
The Cavalry Archer is automatically upgraded to Veteran (+20% hit points and attack) at the Fortress Age.

Home City Cards
As the Cavalry Archer is exclusive to Ottomans and Russians, only other civilizations' TEAM cards that affects them are listed here. {| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" style="width:100%;" ! sab="1148" | Click for a list of related Home City cards
 * - sab="1147"
 * - sab="1149"
 * sab="1150" |

Russians

 * }

Trivia

 * Russian Royal Guard Cavalry Archers are named after the Tatar people (which in the past is often misspelled as Tartar, after the Tartary region where the Tatars live) who are renowned for their fierce horse archers.
 * The Loyalist part of their upgrade's name possibly refers to the Golden Horde, from which the majority of Tatar khanates later conquered by the Russian Empire originates.

History
"Nomadic cavalry archers roamed with their herds in eastern and southern Russia. They raided, traveled, and conquered into what would become Russia and eastern Europe. The Europeans called these fierce cavalrymen the Tartars, though the Tartars were only one of a conglomeration of many distinct nomadic tribes and people. Their colorful tents earned them a more poetic name, the "Golden Horde." The Golden Horde, united under Tokhtamysh, sacked Moscow, but was soon wracked by a civil war that splintered the Horde into several Khanates. The new Russian nation of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, allied with some of the splinter groups, while the Ottoman Empire under Mehmed II allied with others. Cavalry Archers wore light clothes - baggy pants, vests, long coats, and furred hats. Blue and red were popular colors, and embroidery a popular decoration to garments. Soldiers carried a variety of arms, primarily bows, but also swords, spears, and later, firearms. Though the Tartars are most commonly thought of as cavalry, they were competent infantry as well."