Black Rider (Age of Empires III)

This article is about the Age of Empires III mercenary unit. For the cheat unit in Age of Empires, see Black Rider (Age of Empires).

Black Rider
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Cavalry Light cavalry Ranged cavalry Gunpowder cavalry Mercenary
Age	Fortress Age
Training
Trained at	Tavern (Europeans) Monastery (Asians) Saloon (Americans) Palace (Africans)
Coin	270
Training time	47 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	520
Resists	40% vs. Melee
Speed	7.25
Line of Sight	15
Population	3
XP train bounty	27
XP bounty	27
Melee attack
Damage	10
Multipliers	x2.0 vs. Heavy cavalry and Coyote Runner x2.5 vs. Artillery
Rate of Fire	1.5
Ranged attack
Damage	40
Multipliers	x2.0 vs. Heavy cavalry and Coyote Runner x2.5 vs. Artillery x0.5 vs. Villager
Range	12
Rate of Fire	3.0
Siege attack
Damage	14
Range	6
Rate of Fire	3.0

“	Heavily armed German mercenary cavalry armed with pistols.	”
—In-game description

The Black Rider is a mercenary light cavalry in Age of Empires III. The Black Rider fights on horseback, wearing black armor, and wields powerful handguns.

Overview

The Black Rider is a swift unit with a reasonable long range attack which can also take a lot of hits due to their substantial armor. Like its basic version, the Dragoon, the Black Rider is a type of ranged counter-cavalry unit. It is also good for killing enemy Artillery. With 12 Missionaries (Japanese ally), Unction, all attack improvement upgrades and cards (German and Indian allies), the Spanish German Black Rider is the ranged cavalry with the highest ranged attack, 100.32.

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Heavy cavalry, Shock Infantry, artillery
Weak vs.	Heavy infantry, ranged infantry, light cavalry
Improvements
Hit points	Comanche Horse Breeding (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%)
Attack	Customized Merc Weapons (+30%, John Black's Mercenaries only) Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+10%) Yoga (+5%) Smokeless Powder (+30% siege attack)
Range	Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2)
Sight	Town Watch (+2) Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2)
Speed	Comanche Mustangs (+10%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
Creation speed	Mass Cavalry (-50%) Cheyenne Horse Trading (-25%) Quechuan Diet (-25%)
Train cost	Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost)
Other	Order of the Tower and the Sword (ships 11 Black Riders, Portuguese only)
Penalties	Coffee Trade (-10% speed, Dutch only)

Home City Cards

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Black Rider

Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team All Card Description Age HC level Riding School Cavalry train time -40% 10 The Riding School card is not available to Chinese and Japanese. Chinese Card Description Age HC level Western Reforms All units get +8% hit points and attack 40 Acupuncture Unit train time -20% 10 Europeans Card Description Age HC level Cavalry Combat Cavalry get +15% hit points and attack 10 Hire German Black Riders Ships 7 Black Riders; costs 1,000 coin 10 Hire Holy Roman Army Ships 4 Landsknechte, 5 Black Riders, and 7 Jaeger; costs 2,000 coin 25 The Cavalry Combat card is available to Dutch, Ottomans and Russians. The Hire German Black Riders card is available to Dutch, French, and Germans (which ships 2 extra Black Riders). The Hire Holy Roman Army card is available to Dutch, French, Germans (which ships 1 extra Landsknecht, Black Rider, and Jaeger), and Russians. Germans Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cavalry Attack Heavy cavalry, light cavalry, and Shock Infantry get +15% attack 10 Spanish Riding School Cavalry get +10% speed +4 Uhlans 25 Improved Mercenaries Mercenaries get +20% hit points and attack +3 Uhlans 10 Indians Card Description Age HC level Dravidian Martial Arts All units get +15% melee attack +1 Villager 40 TEAM Shivaji's Tactics All units get +5% hit points and attack 25 Ottomans Card Description Age HC level Irregulars Light cavalry get +2.0x multiplier against villagers 25 Russians Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cavalry Scouts Cavalry and Shock Infantry get +10% hit points and +4 LOS 1 Spanish Card Description Age HC level TEAM Inquisition All units get +10 LOS 10

In-game dialogue

The Black Rider, similar to the units of the Germans, speaks modern Standard German with a standard theater pronunciation ("Bühnendeutsch"), although this does not represent the form of German spoken in the Age of Empires III timeframe.

• Select 1 Ja? - Yes?
• Select 2 Bereit - Ready
• Select 3 Auftrag? - Order?
• Move 1 Jawohl - Yes
• Move 2 Verstanden - Understood
• Move 3 Wird erledigt - It will be done
• Attack 1 Angriff! - Attack!
• Attack 2 In den Kampf! - Into the fight!
• Attack 3 Jawohl! - Yes!

History

“

Black Riders were also known as "devil riders" because of the blackened armor they wore. They first appeared in Germany in the sixteenth century. The Riders developed a special tactic known as "caracole," which allowed them to effectively bombard infantry units with constant weapons fire. In caracole, cavalry units created a tight formation. The units in front fired their weapons, and then quickly charged to the back to reload. The units that were just behind them fired immediately after the first row charged backwards to reload.

”

Gallery

An in-game Black Rider

Black Rider model

The Black Rider's history potrait