"A dangerous outlaw on horseback."
—In-game description
The Comanchero is a standard Outlaw unit in Age of Empires III which can be trained from the Saloon or Monastery beginning in the Colonial Age.
Overview 
Edit
The Comanchero is a mounted outlaw with a pistol. At 120 coin and seven population (five with the Dance Hall or equivalent card), it is the most expensive outlaw unit. Compared to standard Dragoons, they are slightly bulkier but have less firepower.
Like other outlaws, Comancheros are most useful in the Colonial Age and depreciate in value as the game progresses, as upgraded standard light cavalry (and mercenaries) will outclass it.
Further statistics Edit
| Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Heavy cavalry, artillery |
| Weak vs. | Heavy infantry, ranged infantry, light cavalry |
| Improvements | |
| Hit points |  Comanche Horse Breeding (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%)
|
| Attack |  Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+10%) Carib Kasiri Beer (+10%) Carib Garifuna Drums (+1.0x multiplier vs. villagers) Seminole Bowyer (+25%) Tupi Poison Arrow Frogs (+10%) Yoga (+5%)
|
| 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)
|
History Edit
"The name “comanchero” refers to those non-Indians, especially the Spanish, who traded with the Comanches of New Mexico. During the late 1800s in the U.S. Southwest, comancheros inhabited a shadowy world of commerce between dealers of guns, ammunition, and other forbidden commodities with the local Native Americans. Even though the Sioux, Apache, and other Native Americans were quite often provided firearms by the U.S. military, a significant black market emerged that the comancheros were more than happy to exploit."
Outlaw Rider Edit
The Outlaw Rider is the treasure guardian version of the Comanchero, usually found in large or resourceful treasures. The Outlaw Riders has much higher hit points but more vulnerable to cavalry and artillery. However, they are better at dealing with villagers, so they are recommended to be used in raiding. Spanish and Portuguese can get 10 Outlaw Riders along with Outlaw Pistoleros through revolution by selecting Hidalgo. If one has a War Chief, one should not use it on him for fighting other treasure guardians, but use him as ranged cavalry.
History Edit
"The term "outlaw" is derived from a Scandinavian designation for the worst sort of criminal imaginable - one who lived outside the protections of the law and should be killed on sight. The gun-slinging, horse-riding, bandana-wearing outlaw of the American frontier is a common image. One such outlaw, Jesse James, used his knowledge of guerilla tactics in warfare to execute a series of bank robberies. He and his brothers lived a life of crime for decades, before James was killed by one of his own gang members when his bounty grew too high to resist."
In-game dialogue Edit
The Comanchero speaks in Western American English, which is shared with Renegados, Pistoleros, and Sheriff Billy Holme, while the Outlaw Rider reuses the Spanish Mortar's dialogues.
- Hi
- Whatcha need?
- Yeah
- I'm ready
- Okay
- Sure thing
- Right!
- You got it!
- I'll get 'em!
Trivia Edit
- The Comanchero and the Outlaw Rider appears to use a muzzle-loading pistol as one can see the hand movement at the muzzle of the gun after a shot not like the other outlaws units (despite the weapon in their portrait and in-game model resembling a revolver rather than a muzzle-loading pistol).
- The hand attack of the Comanchero unexpectedly shows the siege damage symbol instead of the usual hand attack symbol to denote the damage inflicted using melee attacks.
Gallery Edit
| Mercenary units in Age of Empires III | |
| Mercenaries | |
|---|---|
| Infantry | Swiss Pikeman · Landsknecht · Barbary Corsair · Highlander · Fusilier · Arsonist · Ninja · Jaeger · Ronin · Iron Troop |
| Cavalry | Hackapell · Stradiot · Elmeti · Mameluke · Manchu · Black Rider · Jat Lancer · Yojimbo Cavalry Archer |
| Artillery | Li'l Bombard |
| Navy | Privateer · Wokou Junk |
| Outlaws | |
| Infantry | Pirate · Wokou Pirate · Dacoit · Wokou Ronin · Pistolero · Renegado · Thuggee · Wokou Monk |
| Light cavalry | Comanchero · Wokou Horseman |
