Uhlan

The Uhlan is a light cavalry unit unique to the Germans in Age of Empires III.

Overview
The Uhlan functions as the German version of the Hussar. Whereas the Hussar has hit points and the Cossack (a unique Russian unit) has cost-effectiveness on their side, the Uhlan has a much higher attack than all other hand cavalry (excluding mercenaries). The Germans can build them at the Stable, or can receive them from most (non-Uhlan) Home City shipment cards starting with 2 in the colonial age, and increasing by one every Age.

From Colonial Age Uhlans are received from the Home City with every shipment, including unit upgrades. The only exception to this are any Discovery Age, TEAM, Uhlan and mercenary shipments. Mercenary shipments however have additional mercenaries in comparison to other civilizations' mercenary shipments, for example Germany gets nine Black Riders while others receive only seven.

To balance out these "free" units, all German shipments require an additional 10% experience, until a cap of 2500 experience needed per shipment is reached. This means that the typical first shipment (300 experience gained) will require 330 experience instead.

Uses and Counters
Uhlans are like Hackapells; cavalry with low hitpoints but deal massive damage in return. Uhlans should avoid fighting heavy infantry and ranged cavalry, which have bonus damage against them (excluding Muskteers, who only have this for their melee attack), as they will be easily destroyed in battle if they attack them without any support.

The high damage of the Uhlan, in addition to being a cavalry unit, allows players to use both their speed and damage to flank enemy artillery, which easily destroys the player's infantry and have very high resistance to ranged attacks. Artillery will have reduced damage against cavalry, but the low hitpoints of the Uhlan makes them unable to withstand 2-3 shots from an Imperial Field Gun. The high damage is also useful for raiding, as it takes a fully upgraded Imperial Czpaka 2-3 hits to take down an unupgraded settler, although they should not attempt to do this if defensive measures have been put in place by the opponent.

A fully upgraded Imperial Czpaka will have a minimum of 88 attack.

Upgrades
Uhlans benefit from the Cavalry Cuirass and Pillage Technologies found at the Arsenal. Players can upgrade Uhlans to Veteran, Guard, and Imperial status at Fortress Age and beyond.

Veteran Uhlan
Veteran Uhlan is the first upgrade for the Uhlan found at the Stable available for and  once the Fortress Age is reached, it increases attack and hit points.


 * Hit Points: 228
 * Hand Attack: 44
 * Guardian Attack: 44
 * Siege Attack: 24

Czapka Uhlan
The Czapka Uhlan is the second upgrade for the Uhlan found at the Stable and is available for and  once the Industrial Age is reached and further increases attack and hit points. The Czapka Uhlan is equal to the Guard level of other units.


 * Hit Points: 304
 * Hand Attack: 59
 * Guardian Attack: 59
 * Siege Attack: 32

Imperial Czapka
The Imperial Czapka is the final and most powerful upgrade for the Uhlan found at the Stable and is available for and  once the Imperial Age is reached which increases attack and hit points even further. Notice that the hit points and the attack doubles compared to the original Uhlan.


 * Hit Points: 399
 * Hand Attack: 77
 * Guardian Attack: 77
 * Siege Attack: 42

History
"Uhlans grew out of Polish light cavalry used by the Prussians and from the Tartars that settled in Lithuania after their defeat by Tamerlane. These Tartars were - like their forefathers - an elite mounted cavalry. In the nineteenth century, Prussian cavalry from Poland were called uhlans, and before long light cavalry in general were referred to as uhlans. Uhlans wore a distinctive four-cornered hat, the czapka, which was tall and sometimes decorated with plumes, and a jacket called an ulanka. They were armed with lances, sabers and, later, pistols."

Shipments
This is a list of shipments that benefit Uhlans in any way.

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

Germans

 * }

Trivia

 * With 77, the fully upgraded Uhlan is the Melee Cavalry has the strongest attack.