Black Rider (Age of Empires III)

"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 Edit

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 Edit

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Heavy cavalry, light 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%) Incan Chasquis Messengers (-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 Edit

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 Edit Card Description Age HC level Riding School Cavalry train time -40% 10 The Riding School card is not available to Chinese and Japanese. Chinese Edit Card Description Age HC level Western Reforms All units get +8% hit points and attack 40 Acupuncture Unit train time -20% 10 Europeans Edit Card Description Age HC level Cavalry Combat Cavalry gets +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 Edit Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cavalry Attack Heavy cavalry, light cavalry, and light infantry gets +15% attack 10 Spanish Riding School Cavalry gets +10% speed +4 Uhlans 25 Improved Mercenaries Mercenaries get +20% hit points and attack +3 Uhlans 10 Indians Edit 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 Edit Card Description Age HC level Irregulars Light cavalry gets +2.0x multiplier against villagers 25 Russians Edit Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cavalry Scouts Cavalry and light infantry gets +10% hit points and +4 LOS 1 Spanish Edit Card Description Age HC level TEAM Inquisition All units get +10 LOS 10

In-game dialogue Edit

Main article: Germans#In-game dialogue

• Ja? (Yes?)
• Bereit! (Ready!)
• Auftrag? (Order?)
• Jawohl! (Yes!)
• Verstanden! (Understood!)
• Wird erledigt! (It will be done!)
• Angriff! (Attack!)
• In den Kampf! (Into the fight!)

History Edit

"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 Edit

An in-game Black Rider

Black Riders

The Black Rider's history potrait

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