“ | Heavy cavalry with a trample attack. | ” |
—In-game description |
The Cuirassier is a melee heavy cavalry unit in Age of Empires III that is unique to the French and can be trained at a Stable, Fort, and Galleon. It is one of the strongest cavalry units in the game.
Overview[]
Cuirassiers can only attack in melee combat, but deal splash damage, which makes them extremely effective against large armies but are still vulnerable to heavy infantry and ranged cavalry. If combined with Imperial Voltigeurs, they form a deadly combo which is often used by French players and very hard to counter if properly managed. They are also very efficient at defeating enemy artillery, due to their AoE attack.
Compared to the Hussar, the mainline cavalry of most other civilizations, Cuirassiers have relatively high hit points, nearing that of a Sipahi and behind a Mameluke. Their relatively high health allows them to tank heavy infantry, and to a lesser extent, enemy cavalry (excluding Imperial War Wagons, who can kill them in a few hits). However, Cuirassiers' attacks do AoE damage, surpassing Hussars in almost any situation and makes them a good, cheap method to deal with clumped groups of enemies, although Falconets and Heavy Cannons are better suited for this task.
Massing a large amount of Cuirassiers can be extremely expensive, due to their very high cost. However, this can somewhat be remedied because of the Coureur des Bois, who have a slightly faster gathering rate. If this is not enough, players can set both Factories to Coin while having Coureurs collecting food and coin from their respective sources. In addition, a large amount of population will be needed when massing them, as they cover 3 slots each, preventing the player from making any support units if they have a relatively large number of Coureurs gathering resources.
Counterplay[]
As many French players carry a mix of Gendarmes and Voltigeurs as their army composition, they can be hard to counter as heavy infantry will be disposed of quickly from the Voltigeurs' bonus damage against heavy infantry, and Skirmishers and archers will quickly be cleaned up by the Gendarmes' AoE attacks. However, German armies are a great threat because of their powerful anti-cavalry units. Doppelsoldners, while being heavy infantry (and therefore weak to Voltigeurs), can deal a lot of damage and their Area of Effect attacks ensure that nearby enemies will get hurt also, like the Gendarmes' attacks. War Wagons make it worse as they can deal up to 250 damage per hit against melee cavalry and literally punch through groups of Gendarmes with little effort. The best counter to the Gendarmes and Voltigeurs combo would be making only heavy hand cavalry, as they counter Voltigeurs, and trade more or less equally with Gendarmes in terms of cost-effectiveness.
Mercenaries are an effective counter as well, particularly Ronin (which cost the same with the "Mercenary Loyalty" Home City Card) which can be guaranteed at a Saloon via the "Dance Hall" card due to possessing high hit points, hand resistance and area of effect damage of their own. The Dutch excel at this strategy due to the significant gold bonus provided by their Banks.
The Japanese may use Ronin as well, paying slightly less export to gain them (Hatamoto Samurai) than other civilizations pay in coin (even with the "Mercenary Loyalty" card). However, Hatamoto Samurai are not exactly identical to Ronin, and export gathers slower than all other resources.
Upgrades[]
The Cuirassier starts at the Veteran level, giving them +20% hit points and attack.
Age | Upgrade | Cost | Effect |
---|---|---|---|
Gendarmes | 850 wood 850 coin |
Upgrades Cuirassiers to Gendarme Cuirassiers (+40% hit points and attack) | |
Imperial Gendarmes | 1,500 wood 1,500 coin |
Upgrades Gendarme Cuirassiers to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack); requires Gendarmes |
Civilization differences[]
- The Haudenosaunee can ship up to 13 Cuirassiers through the "5 Renegade French" Home City Card, and the "8 Renegade French" Home City Card, which also upgrades them to Gendarmes.
Variants[]
“ | Heavy cavalry with a trample attack. | ” |
—In-game description |
The Gendarme is a counterpart of the Cuirassier, which starts with +10% hit points and attack, but trains much slower.
Upgrades[]
The Gendarme is automatically upgraded in the Fortress Age, Industrial Age, and Imperial Age:
Civilization differences[]
- Chinese and Indians can get Gendarmes by allying with the French at the Consulate, which provides French Expeditionary Force, French Expeditionary Army, and French Brigade that includes 3, 6, and 15 Gendarmes respectively.
- The Maltese can get Gendarmes named Order Cuirassiers through the "French Tongue" Home City Card, which ships 9 Order Cuirassiers, and allows them to be trained at Commanderies and Forts. These Order Cuirassiers have 33 XP train and kill bounty, 165 food, 165 coin cost and 66 seconds train time.
- The Mexicans can ship 6 Gendarmes named Tulancingo Cuirassiers through the "Tulancingo Cuirassiers" Home City Card, which also allows them to be trained at Forts.
The Repressive Cuirassier is a treasure guardian variant of the Cuirassier. It uses slightly modified stats from the base unit.
Further statistics[]
Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
---|---|
Strong vs. | Light infantry, hand shock infantry, artillery |
Weak vs. | Heavy infantry, light cavalry, ranged shock infantry |
Improvements | |
Hit points | Cavalry Cuirass (+10%) Comanche Horse Breeding (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%) Tar Kilns (+5%) |
Attack | Yoga (+5%) Pillage (+25% siege attack multiplier vs. buildings) Wind Horses (-10% Rate of Fire) |
Resistance | Sudanese Quilted Armor (+10% handresistance) Pancerni (+10% ranged resistance) |
Line of Sight | Town Watch (+3) |
Speed | Apache Endurance (+5%) Comanche Mustangs (+5%) Wind Horses (+0.5) |
Train time | Cheyenne Horse Trading (-40%) Mass Cavalry (-35%) Quechuan Diet (-15%) Immigrants (-10%) Shaman Drums (-10%) |
Cost | Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost) Golden Liberty (-5% coin cost) |
Other | French Brigade (ships 15 Gendarmes; Chinese and Indians only) Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost) |
Home City Cards[]
- Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Cuirassier
Some cards are highlighted with: | |
Green | TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team |
Purple | Shipment that can be sent an INFINITE number of times |
Blue | Shipment that arrives fast (5 seconds) |
All[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
Cavalry Combat | Cavalry get +15% hit points and attack |
- "Cavalry Combat" is available to the French and Mexicans.
Asians[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
Good Faith Agreements | Consulate units' train time -50%; Consulate technologies' cost -40% (-300 export for Brigades) and research time -50% (except Brigades) (also +1 Villager for the Indians) |
Chinese[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
Western Reforms | All units get +8% hit points and attack | |
Acupuncture | All units' train time -20% | |
Banner School | Banner army train time -30%; Summer Palace banner army spawn time -7% |
French[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
Richelieu's Regiment | Ships 6 Hussars and 2 Cuirassiers | |
2 Cuirassiers | Ships 2 Cuirassiers | |
3 Cuirassiers | Ships 3 Cuirassiers | |
5 Cuirassiers | Ships 5 Cuirassiers | |
4 Cuirassiers | Ships 4 Cuirassiers | |
Thoroughbreds | Hussars, Cuirassiers, and Dragoons cost -15% | |
6 Cuirassiers | Ships 6 Cuirassiers | |
TEAM Hand Cavalry Attack | Hand cavalry and hand shock infantry get +15% attack | |
Hand Cavalry Hitpoints | Hussars and Cuirassiers get +15% hit points | |
Riding School | Cavalry train time -40%; Cuirassier train time -35% instead | |
Grande Armée | Imperial upgrades for military units are available and cost -50% |
- "Grande Armée" is available upon revolting to Revolutionary France.
Germans[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Cavalry Attack | Heavy cavalry, light cavalry, and shock infantry get +10% attack; Germans-only heavy cavalry, light cavalry, and shock infantry get +15% attack instead |
- "TEAM Cavalry Attack" does not stack with the Italian "TEAM Cavalry Attack" card.
Haudenosaunee[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
Cavalry Hitpoints | Cavalry get +15% hit points | |
Cavalry Damage | Cavalry get +15% attack | |
5 Renegade French | Ships 5 Cuirassiers; costs 500 coin | |
8 Renegade French | Ships 8 Cuirassiers; upgrades Cuirassiers to Gendarmes; costs 1,000 coin |
Indians[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
Dravidian Martial Arts | All units get +15% hand attack; Rajputs get +20% hand attack instead; +1 Hindu Villager | |
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics | All units get +5% hit points and attack |
Italians[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Cavalry Attack | Heavy cavalry, light cavalry, and shock infantry get +10% attack; Italians-only heavy cavalry, light cavalry, and shock infantry get +15% attack instead |
- "TEAM Cavalry Attack" does not stack with the German "TEAM Cavalry Attack" card.
Japanese[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Sengoku | Unit upgrades cost -20% |
Lakota[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Mustangs | Cavalry and shock infantry cost -10% |
Maltese[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Knights of the Round Table | Ships 1 Hospitaller for each Town Center owned by the player; all units get +2% hit points | |
Auberges | Commanderies now support 10 population; Order Units get -10% resources cost (rounded to 5, 10, or 15 less resources) and -10% train and kill bounty | |
Squires | Military buildings train and research work 80% faster, except Forts which train and research work 260% faster | |
French Tongue | Ships 9 Order Cuirassiers and 1 Commandery Wagon; Commandery build limit +1; Commanderies can train Order Cuirassiers; costs 1,500 wood |
Mexicans[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
Plan of Casa Mata | [Plan] Turns all Dragoons into Chinacos; hand cavalry get +5% speed; costs 250 food, 250 wood | |
TEAM Mariachi | For the next 30 seconds, military buildings work 400% faster and units get +10% speed | |
Tulancingo Cuirassiers | Ships 6 Gendarme Cuirassiers and allows them to be trained at Forts; costs 500 food, 500 wood | |
Colegio de San Nicolás | Ships 500 XP; units get +4 and buildings (except Walls) get +8 Line of Sight; sees what enemies can see for 20 seconds | |
National Servant | All units get +10% hit points; Padre healing 200% faster |
- "Colegio de San Nicolás" is available upon selecting the Michoacán Federal State.
- "National Servant" is available upon selecting the Estado de México Federal State.
Russians[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Kamchatka Expeditions | Cavalry and shock infantry get +10% hit points and +4 Line of Sight |
Spanish[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Spanish Inquisition | Ships 1 Inquisitor; all units get +10 Line of Sight |
Asians[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
Good Faith Agreements | Consulate units' train time -50%; Consulate technologies' cost -40% (-400 export for Brigades) and research time -50% (except Brigades) (also +1 Villager for the Indians) | 1 |
Chinese[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
Western Reforms | All units get +8% hit points and attack | 40 | |
Acupuncture | All units' train time -20% | 40 | |
Banner School | Banner army train time -30%; Summer Palace banner army spawn time -7% | 10 |
French[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
Richelieu's Regiment | Ships 6 Hussars and 2 Cuirassiers | 25 | |
2 Cuirassiers | Ships 2 Cuirassiers | 1 | |
3 Cuirassiers | Ships 3 Cuirassiers | 10 | |
5 Cuirassiers | Ships 5 Cuirassiers | 10 | |
4 Cuirassiers | Ships 4 Cuirassiers | 25 | |
Thoroughbreds | Cuirassier cost and train time -15% | 40 | |
6 Cuirassiers | Ships 6 Cuirassiers | 25 | |
TEAM Hand Cavalry Attack | Heavy cavalry and Coyote Runners get +15% attack | 10 | |
Hand Cavalry Hitpoints | Hussars and Cuirassiers get +15% hit points | 10 | |
Cavalry Combat | Cavalry get +15% hit points and attack | 25 | |
Riding School | Cavalry train time -40% | 10 |
Germans[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Cavalry Attack | Heavy cavalry, light cavalry, and shock infantry get +15% attack | 10 |
Indians[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
Dravidian Martial Arts | All units get +15% hand attack; +1 Hindu Villager | 40 | |
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics | All units get +5% hit points and attack | 25 |
Iroquois[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
Cavalry Hitpoints | Cavalry get +15% hit points | 10 | |
5 Renegade French | Ships 5 Cuirassiers; costs 500 coin | 1 | |
8 Renegade French | Ships 8 Cuirassiers; costs 1,000 coin | 10 |
Japanese[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Cheaper Unit Upgrades | Unit upgrades cost -20% | 1 |
Russians[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Cavalry Scouts | Cavalry and shock infantry get +10% hit points and +4 Line of Sight | 1 |
Spanish[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Inquisition | All units get +10 Line of Sight | 10 |
Changelog[]
Age of Empires III[]
- Imperial Gendarmes increases Cuirassier hit points and attack by 50%.
- The Thoroughbreds card decreases Cuirassier train time by 15%.
- Cuirassiers have 500 hit points and 30 hand attack as Fortress Age statistics.
Definitive Edition[]
- Imperial Gendarmes increases Cuirassier hit points and attack by 40%. With update 20322, it has been reverted to 50%.
- The Thoroughbreds card no longer decreases Cuirassier train time.
- With update 20322, Cuirassier upgrades are now calculated using the Commerce Age base statistics rather than the Fortress Age.
- With update 20322, Cuirassiers have 425 hit points and 25 hand attack as Commerce Age statistics.
Knights of the Mediterranean[]
- With update 14.43676, Cuirassiers train in 55 seconds, and received new models for the Veteran and Gendarme upgrades.
History[]
“ | Several nations fielded these heavy cavalry units in differing numbers and armaments. Early cuirassiers resembled medieval knights, but eventually only wore a breastplate and backplate for armor. In time, cuirassiers evolved into other cavalry such as hussars, dragoons, and lancers. The breastplate, or cuirass, gave these mounted soldiers their name. Napoleon favored cuirassiers and had over dozen regiments of them. They were used to crash into the ranks of enemy soldiers, hacking and stabbing their way through lines of infantry and more poorly armed and armored cavalry. Horses and men both had to be big to carry the weight of their namesake armor, and these big men and their imposing mounts were given the nickname "big brothers." They carried straight-bladed swords that killed with stabbing thrusts and primitive pistols with a range and rate of fire that was so poor the cuirassiers might have been just as well off without them. | ” |
Trivia[]
- The Cuirassier has several distinct appearances:
- The pre-14.43676 Cuirassier is inaccurately based on British Household Cavalry combining their ceremonial helmet and cuirass with combat pants.
- The pre-14.43676 Gendarme/Imperial Gendarme is inaccurately based on British Household Cavalry wearing their Napoleonic era combat uniform.
- The post-14.43676 Cuirassier reuses the same model as the earlier version but with pants and boots changed to more appropriate French ones.
- The post-14.43676 Gendarme/Imperial Gendarme is based on proper Napoleonic French Cuirassiers.
- Royal Guard and Consulate Cuirassiers are named after the medieval term for the Gendarmerie, which translates to "armed people".
- The Mexicans' ability to access Gendarme Cuirassiers through the "Tulancingo Cuirassiers" Home City Card is a reference to the heavy cavalry regiment of the same name[1] (Spanish: "Coraceros de Tulancingo"), which served the Mexican Army from 1840 to 1847 and fought against the United States Army during the Mexican-American War.