Crossbowman (Age of Empires III)

This article is about the Age of Empires III unit. For the unit of the same name in Age of Empires II, see Crossbowman (Age of Empires II).

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 ×2.0 vs. Eagle Runner Knights ×1.25 vs. Heavy infantry ×0.75 vs. Cavalry ×0.75 vs. 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 Barracks, Fort, and Galleon.

Crossbowmen are available to the French, Germans, 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	Upgrades Crossbowmen to Veteran (+20% hit points and attack)	French Germans Portuguese Spanish Swedes
	Guard Crossbowmen	600 wood, 600 coin	Upgrades Crossbowmen to Guard (+30% hit points and attack); requires Veteran Crossbowman and The Papal Guard politician	French Germans Spanish
	Ordinance Besteiro	1,000 wood, 1,000 coin	Upgrades Crossbowmen to Ordinance Besteiros (+10% hit points and attack, as well as upgrading to Guard, granting another +30% hit points and attack); requires Veteran Crossbowman and The Papal Guard politician	Portuguese
	Imperial Crossbowmen	1,500 wood, 1,500 coin	Upgrades Crossbowmen to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack); requires Guard Crossbowman and The Papal Guard politician	French Germans Spanish
	Imperial Ordinance Besteiros		Upgrades Ordinance Besteiros to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack); requires Ordinance Besteiro and The Papal Guard politician	Portuguese

Civilization differences

• As seen on the table above, Crossbowmen will be automatically upgraded to the Guard level (Royal Guard for the Portuguese) by choosing The Papal Guard to advance into the Industrial Age, which also allows them to be upgraded to the Imperial level.
  • Before the Definitive Edition, the Portuguese have the Besteiros technology, which upgrades their Crossbowmen to the "Guard" level by granting the Veteran upgrade (if not already) and giving them +30% hit points and attack.
• 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 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).

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)
Speed	Military Drummers (+10%) Tilly's Discipline (+20%, Germans only) Incan Road-building (+20%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
Sight	Town Watch (+2)
Creation speed	Standing Army (-25%) Incan Chasquis Messengers (-25%)
Other	Besteiros (ships 22 Crossbowmen and grants the Veteran upgrade, Portuguese only) Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)
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 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 The 8 Crossbowmen and 10 Crossbowmen cards are not available to the Spanish. The Long-range Infantry Hitpoints card is available to French and Germans (in the Industrial Age and at a level 1 Home City, also ships 4 Uhlans). The 24 Crossbowmen card 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 all Crossbowmen into Skirmishers 40 Indians Card Description Age HC level TEAM Shivaji's Tactics All units get +5% hit points and attack 25 Iroquois Card Description Age HC level TEAM Scout Infantry Infantry get +8 LOS 10 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, Crossbowman, Longbowman, Macehualtin, Aenna, Cetan Bow, and Yumi 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

• Besteiro, the Portuguese Royal Guard and Consulate Crossbowmen, 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.

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

Imperial Crossbowman in the Definitive Edition

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

• Chu Ko Nu – Chinese counterpart