Cassador

The Cassador is a unique Portuguese unit that is featured in Age of Empires III. They are able to be trained at the Barracks, Galleon or Fort starting at the Fortress Age. They function as the Portuguese version of the Skirmisher, sacrificing hitpoints for attack. Because of their high attack power and anti-infantry bonus, they can pretty much tear apart most infantry, especially heavy infantry. But be careful, as they are extremely weak to any types of cavalry. Surrounding them with a wall of musketeers and pikemen is a good idea as it will keep your Cassador safe inside while they keep shooting. The Cassador is the most powerful light infantry in the game in terms of damage. Fully upgrading them with the arsenal upgrades plus cards will make them very dangerous to nations relying on heavy infantry for their army core (Ex. British)

Upgrades
They start the game already as Veterans and can be upgraded into Guard Cassadores at Industrial Age and further upgrade into Imperial Cassadores at Imperial Age. They benefit from such improvements as Counter Infantry Rifling from Arsenal which make them do more damage to heavy infantry. They also benefit with Paper Cartridge, Flintlock and Military Drummers. Military Drummers and Flintlock are musts for Cassadors since they have low health and will need the extra speed in case of escape or engaging in infantry faster. Paper Cartrige will be welcome later in the game.

Home City Cards
4 different Cards from Home City ship forth Cassadores. First sending 7, second sending 10. third sending 8 and last sending 12. 3 other Cards improves Cassadores such as Gunpowder Infantry Hitpoints which increases their Hitpoints as well as other ranged infantry units from both in your army and allies for having the TEAM card benefit. Gunpowder Infantry Attack increases theirs and Musketeers attack. Gunpowder Infantry Combat increases their and musketeers both Hit points and Attack. Also, 6 Cassadores and 6 Dragoon ships together with Portuguese Expedition Force.

In Other Languages

 * Spanish: Caçador