Musketeer

The Musketeer is a standard infantry unit used by many civilizations in Age of Empires III. It is used by the British, Spanish, French, Russians and Portuguese.

Overview
Musketeers are infantry units armed with a smoothbore musket to fight other infantry, and a bayonet to fight cavalry in close-quarter combat. Musketeers are short-ranged and never miss but they have a slow rate of fire compared to most archer units such as the longbowman. Musketeers are fairly weak against artillery and light infantry, but when in large numbers they can easily kill certain cavalry and light infantry.

Some civilizations, such as the Ottomans, Germans and Dutch do not have musketeers. The Ottomans have the similar Janissary unit, the Dutch receive the Stadhouder if the Religious Freedom card is sent, and the Germans use the Doppelsoldner. The Japanese have the Ashigaru Musketeer and the Indians have Sepoy instead. The Chinese do not have an equivalent; the Arquebusier is a type of Skirmisher instead, with the heavy infantry role filled by the melee-only Changdao Swordsmen.

Age of Empires III
The British & Portuguese Musketeers can be upgraded to Royal Guard, making them the strongest musketeers in the game. British Royal Guard Musketeers are called Redcoats while Portuguese ones are called Guerreiro.

The WarChiefs
In The WarChiefs the Spanish musketeer becomes the most damaging, population-effective musketeer when influenced by unction. Unction costs and. The cost of unction can be reduced even further, down to 500 of each resource if Spain allies with the Russians (TEAM Cheap Priests).

Civilization Bonuses

 * The British are able to research Redcoats upgrade in the Industrial Age, which are more powerful than Guard Musketeers.
 * Likewise, The Portuguese are able to research Guerreiros upgrade in the Industrial Age.
 * Russian Musketeers are automatically trained in a group of five from their Blockhouses.
 * The Ottomans have Janissaries instead of Musketeers.
 * Not available for Dutch and Germans.

Upgrades
Musketeers can be upgraded into a Veteran Musketeer, Guard Musketeer and Imperial Musketeer depending on the age reached. They can further be improved with home city shipments, minor civilization upgrades, unique Church upgrades and Arsenal upgrades (especially when using the "Advanced Arsenal" card).

Arsenal

 * Socket Bayonet increases hand attack.

Advanced Arsenal

 * Flint Lock increases hit points.
 * Paper Cartridge increases attack.
 * Military Drummers increases speed.

Normal Upgrades
Veteran Musketeers are slightly better than ordinary Musketeers with higher hit points and better attack. Veteran Musketeers are the lowest rank and the first upgrade of the Musketeer. They are available at the Barracks once Fortress Age is reached.


 * Hit Points: 180
 * Ranged Attack: 27
 * Siege Attack: 24
 * Hand Attack: 15 (45 vs Cavalry)
 * Cost: [[File:Resources wood.png]] and [[File:Icon coin.gif]]

Guard Musketeers are better than Veteran Musketeers in terms of the amount of hit points and the amount of damage it inflicts on a certain unit. The upgrade is available at the Barracks once Industrial Age is reached.


 * Hit Points: 225
 * Ranged Attack: 34
 * Siege Attack: 30
 * Hand Attack: 19 (57 vs Cavalry)
 * Cost: [[File:Resources wood.png]] and [[File:Icon coin.gif]]

The Imperial Musketeer is the final and strongest form of the Musketeer and is the successor of the Guard Musketeer. Imperial Musketeers have the highest amount of hit points and deals the most damage out of all types of Musketeers in the game due to their high rank. The upgrade is available at the Barracks once the Imperial Age is reached.


 * Hit Points: 300
 * Ranged Attack: 46
 * Siege Attack: 40
 * Hand Attack: 26 (78 vs Cavalry)
 * Cost: [[File:Resources wood.png]] and [[File:Icon coin.gif]]

Royal Guard Musketeers
The British and Portuguese have Royal Guard Musketeers which are stronger than Guard Musketeers. British Royal Guard Musketeers are called Red Coats. Portuguese Royal Guard Musketeers are called Guerreiros. Royal Guard Musketeers are available once the Industrial Age is researched.


 * Hit Points: 240
 * Ranged Attack: 36
 * Siege Attack: 32
 * Hand Attack: 20 (60 vs Cavalry)
 * Cost: [[File:Resources wood.png]] and [[File:Icon coin.gif]]

The British and Portuguese can also upgrade Royal Guard Musketeers into Imperial Guard Musketeers which are stronger than Imperial Musketeers. British Royal Guard Musketeers are called Imperial Red Coats. Portuguese Royal Guard Musketeers are called Imperial Guerreiros. Imperial Guard Musketeers are available once the Imperial Age is researched.
 * Hit Points: 315
 * Ranged Attack: 48
 * Siege Attack: 42
 * Hand Attack: 27 (81 vs Cavalry)


 * Cost: [[File:Resources wood.png]] and [[File:Icon coin.gif]]

Outlaw Musketeer
Outlaw Musketeer is a treasure guardian. This unit is usually featured in abundant treasures, but considered rare. It is one of the treasure guardians which has multiplier effect against a type of unit. In overall, this unit is better than the normal musketeer and should be considered for taming.

Shipments
This is a list of shipments that benefit Musketeers in any way.
 * Note that the Spanish do not have any shipments regarding Musketeers.

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" style="width:100%; margin-bottom:0px; margin-top:1px;" ! sab="1148" | Click for a list of Musketeer related home city cards
 * - sab="1147"
 * - sab="1149"
 * sab="1150" |

Russians

 * }

History
"Musketeers were infantry soldiers who stood in ranks two and three men deep, taking turns firing while other ranks reloaded. Musketeers were drilled and disciplined to stand as close as 80 yards away from an enemy firing at them. Musket balls ranged from about a half inch in diameter to three-quarters of an inch in diameter. Until long guns with rifled barrels that could be fired more than once every two minutes were developed, muskets were the ranged weapon of choice for infantry. Muskets had a relatively short range and were wildly inaccurate. Musketeers fought a lot like longbowmen, firing volley after volley in the direction of the enemy with no specific target. The barrage of lead was bound to hit something. A competent musketeer could fire three shots in a minute - four times slower than a longbow and twice as fast as an early rifle."

Trivia

 * The Germans and Dutch originally had the musketeer in the beta version of the game.
 * The musketeer has 4 visual upgrades in total, the first upgrade is unused in the game.
 * Unused game file voices for the Dutch and Germans exist in the scenario editor and game files
 * The Russians were originally not able to build musketeers in the beta game.
 * John Black's Mercenaries, Spanish, and United States of America are the only civilizations that can create the musketeer but do not have home city upgrade cards for them besides from advanced arsenal
 * The British are considered to have the strongest musketeers in the game(Fully upgraded Redcoat possesses 405 hitpoints) but the Russians musketeers are considered better for their better siege attack, cost effectiveness, train time and fort building
 * Besides from the Russians, for civilizations who can build the musketeer, it is their only colonial gunpowder unit, same goes with the ashiguru. (Grenadiers are not considered gunpowder units for gameplay purposes and Indians can also train Zamburaks, Sepoys and Gurkhas in age 2)
 * According to the game developers, the musketeer unit was the one of the main inspirations for age of empires 3 vanilla.
 * Unupgraded settlers can actually beat colonial Russian Musketeers in melee.
 * Courer De bois with market upgrades, home city cards, team home city cards, trading post upgrades and treasures can beat colonial Russian Musketeers in ranged.