Crossbowman (Age of Empires III)

This article is about the unit in Age of Empires III. For other uses, see Crossbowman.

Crossbowman
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Infantry Ranged Infantry Archer
Civilization	See description
Age	Commerce Age
Training
Trained at	Barracks Fort Galleon
Food	40
Wood	40
Training time	27 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	100
Resists	20% vs. Ranged
Speed	4.0
Line of Sight	20
Population	1
XP train bounty	8
XP bounty	8
Melee attack
Damage	7
Multipliers	×2.0 vs. Light Cavalry and Eagle Runner Knights ×1.25 vs. Heavy Infantry ×0.75 vs. Cavalry and Coyote Runners
Rate of Fire	1.5
Ranged attack
Damage	16
Multipliers	Same as melee
Range	16
Rate of Fire	3.0
Siege attack
Damage	8
Range	6
Rate of Fire	3.0

“	Archaic archer. Good against infantry.	”
—In-game description

The Crossbowman is an archer in Age of Empires III that can be trained at a Barracks, Fort, and Galleon.

Crossbowmen are available to the French, Germans, Maltese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedes.

Overview

Crossbowmen are ranged infantry units that use crossbows in battle. They are counter infantry units that are useful for attacking heavy infantry such as Musketeers, but are easily defeated by melee cavalry and artillery. They are similar in many ways to Skirmishers. Although the Crossbowmen might be out-ranged by their Skirmisher counterparts, they are cheaper and are trainable earlier in the game. The exceptions to this rule reside in the Dutch who can train Skirmishers in the Commerce Age and the French through the use of the "TEAM Early Skirmishers" Home City Card which allows them and their allies to train Skirmishers in the Commerce Age.

Spanish players have the option of being able to almost instantly train (2.7 seconds) Crossbowmen and Pikemen in the Commerce Age, due to the "TEAM Archaic Soldier Training" and "Fencing School" cards, and can train instantly if the cards are also used with the Standing Army improvement.

Upgrades

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect	Civ.
	Veteran Crossbowmen	200 wood, 200 coin	Upgrade Crossbowmen to Veteran (+20% hit points and attack)
	Guard Crossbowmen	600 wood, 600 coin	Upgrade Crossbowmen to Guard (+30% hit points and attack); requires Veteran Crossbowmen and The Papal Guard
	Ordinance Besteiro	1,000 wood, 1,000 coin	Upgrade Crossbowmen to Ordinance Besteiros (Guard Crossbowman with +10% hit points and attack); requires Veteran Crossbowmen and The Papal Guard
	Arbalesters		Upgrade Crossbowmen to Arbalesters (Guard Crossbowman with +10% hit points and attack, +1 range); requires Veteran Crossbowmen
	Imperial Crossbowmen	1,500 wood, 1,500 coin	Upgrade Crossbowmen to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack); requires Guard Crossbowmen and The Papal Guard
	Imperial Ordinance Besteiros		Upgrade Ordinance Besteiros to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack); requires Ordinance Besteiro and The Papal Guard
	Imperial Arbalesters		Upgrade Arbalesters to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack); requires Arbalesters

Civilization differences

• (Definitive Edition) Choosing The Papal Guard to advance into the Industrial Age automatically upgrades Crossbowman to Guard (Royal Guard for the Portuguese) and allows them to be upgraded to Imperial.
  • Before the Definitive Edition, the Portuguese have Besteiros, which upgrades their Crossbowmen to Veteran (if not already) and gives them +30% hit points and attack, and renames them to Besteiro.
  • However, the Swedes are the only civilization with access to Crossbowman who cannot upgrade them beyond Veteran, even with The Papal Guard.
• Indians and Japanese can get Crossbowmen by allying with the Portuguese, which provides Portuguese Expeditionary Company and Portuguese Expeditionary Force that includes 7 and 10 Crossbowmen (named Ordinance Besteiro) respectively. These Crossbowmen start with +10% hit points and attack than their regular counterpart, and are automatically upgraded in each Age starting from the Fortress Age (see here for the exact values).
  • The Ethiopians can ship 10 Crossbowmen (named Ordinance Besteiro) with Portuguese Crusaders, which also allows them to be trained at War Camps for 40 food and 40 coin. These Crossbowmen are automatically upgraded in each Age starting from the Fortress Age like their Consulate version.

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Heavy infantry, light cavalry, Eagle Runner Knights
Weak vs.	Heavy cavalry, Coyote Runners, artillery
Improvements
Hit points	Infantry Breastplate (+10%) Besteiros (+30%; Portuguese only) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%)
Attack	Besteiros (+30%; Portuguese only) Carib Kasiri Beer (+10%) Carib Garifuna Drums (+1.0x multiplier vs. villagers) Iroquois Lacrosse (+10%; vanilla Age of Empires III only) Seminole Bowyer (+25%) Tupi Poison Arrow Frogs (+10%) Yoga (+5%) Clenched Fist (+30% melee attack) Somali Jile Daggers (-35% melee attack ROF)
Armor	Somali Oryx Hide Shields (additional +10% melee/ranged resistance)
Speed	Military Drummers (+10%) Tilly's Discipline (+20%; Germans only) Quechuan Mountaineering (+20%) Apache Endurance (+5%) Akan Fontomfrom (+5%)
Sight	Town Watch (+2)
Creation speed	Standing Army (-25%) Quechuan Diet (-25%) Akan Fontomfrom (-20%)
Other	Besteiros (ships 22 Crossbowmen and grants the Veteran upgrade; Portuguese only) Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost) Portuguese Crusaders (ships 10 Crossbowmen and allows them to be trained at War Camps; Ethiopians only)
Penalties	Tilly's Discipline (+10% cost; Germans only) High Crusade (-5% hit points; Knights of St. John only)

Home City Cards

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Crossbowman

Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team

Dutch

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Infantry Hitpoints	Infantry get +15% hit points		10

Ethiopians

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Coffee Consumption	Ranged Infantry get +5% speed

Europeans

Card	Description	Age	HC level
8 Crossbowmen	Ships 8 Crossbowmen (also +2 Uhlans for the Germans)		1
10 Crossbowmen	Ships 10 Crossbowmen (also +3 Uhlans for the Germans)		1
24 Crossbowmen	Ships 24 Crossbowmen		10
Long-range Infantry Hitpoints	Crossbowmen and Skirmishers get +15% hit points		10
Fencing School	Infantry train time -40%		10

• "8 Crossbowmen" and "10 Crossbowmen" are not available to the Spanish.
• "Long-range Infantry Hitpoints" is available to French and Germans (in the Industrial Age and at a level 1 Home City, also ships 4 Uhlans).
• "24 Crossbowmen" is not available to Germans and Portuguese.

French

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Ranged Infantry Attack	Ranged infantry get +15% attack		10
Tirailleurs	Turns Crossbowmen into Skirmishers		40

Haudenosaunee

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Scout Infantry	Infantry get +8 LOS		10

Incas

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Inca Bridges	Infantry and civilian units get +5% speed; +1 Chasqui

Indians

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics	All units get +5% hit points and attack		25

Japanese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Cheaper Unit Upgrades	Unit upgrades cost -20%		1

Russians

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Dueling School	Infantry train time -25%; Banner army train time -12%		25

Spanish

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Archaic Soldier Training	Pikeman, Plumed Spearman, Crossbowman, Longbowman, Otontin Slinger, Aenna, Cetan Bowman, Yumi Archer, Jungle Bowman, Fulani Archer, and Desert Archer train time -50%; Old Han Army, Standard Army, and Ming Army train time -25%		10
TEAM Inquisition	All units get +10 LOS		10

Changelog

Definitive Edition

• Crossbowmen ranged attack inaccuracy removed.
• Guard and Imperial upgrades are available to the French, Germans and Spanish through the Papal Guard. Portuguese can now upgrade Royal Besteiros to Imperial.
• With update 14825, the Swedes can train Crossbowmen, but cannot upgrade them to Guard and Imperial.

Trivia

• Portuguese Royal Guard/Consulate Crossbowmen are named after the Ordenanças.
  • Before the Definitive Edition, they are simply named "Besteiro", which means "crossbowman" in Portuguese.
• The Dutch originally had access to training the Crossbowman, and there are unused voice files for Dutch Crossbowmen in the game files and in the Scenario Editor.
• In the Definitive Edition, the Swedish Crossbowman uses the Swedish dialogue originally spoken by the Fusilier, while the Fusilier is a French mercenary unit and uses the French Grenadier's dialogue files.

History

“

Handheld crossbows began to appear in the tenth and eleventh centuries. Crossbowmen were attractive to military leaders because they took much less time to train than archers using bows. Firearms eclipsed Crossbows by the end of the sixteenth century. Europeans, chiefly the Spanish, included crossbows amongst the muskets and cannon they brought to the New World. Cortes arrived with more than two dozen crossbows and less than ten muskets. Columbus' crew had crossbows when they landed in the West Indies. When the original stockpile of munitions ran out it was difficult or impossible to make or trade for more. Explorers had to be very careful with their limited supply.

”

Gallery

An in-game Crossbowman

An in-game Veteran Crossbowman

The Crossbowman's history portrait

The in-game stats of a Crossbowman

The in-game stats of a fully upgraded Veteran Crossbowman

An in-game Consulate Besteiro

Crossbowman detailed model for cutscenes

Crossbowman in the Definitive Edition

Veteran Crossbowman in the Definitive Edition

Guard Crossbowman in the Definitive Edition

Imperial Crossbowman in the Definitive Edition

An in-game Consulate Ordinance Besteiro Crossbowman in the Definitive Edition

See also

• Longbowman – British counterpart
• Aenna – Haudenosaunee counterpart
• Cetan Bowman – Lakota counterpart
• Chu Ko Nu – Chinese counterpart
• Yumi Archer – Japanese counterpart
• Jungle Bowman – Inca counterpart
• Fulani Archer – Hausa counterpart