“ | Stealthy ranged infantry. Good against infantry and in an ambush. | ” |
—In-game description |
The Forest Prowler is a gunpowder ranged infantry unit in Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs that is unique to the Haudenosaunee and can be trained at the War Hut once the Fortress Age is reached.
Overview[]
The Forest Prowler has a long range and the stealth ability. It's good against heavy infantry and light cavalry at a range, while it's at a disadvantage in hand-to-hand fighting versus most units.
An excellent unit to use as an ambush warrior by switching to stealth and placed at a strategic point, such as a mountain pass on the map Himalayas-Upper, or Painted Desert. By combining them with Light Cannon they can take on any unit except rushing heavy cavalry such as Hussars, Sipahis, and Cuirassiers, thus it is wise to protect these expensive (when compared to Aennas) warriors with a screen of Tomahawks or a flanking force of Musket Riders.
The quality of Forest Prowlers are unparallelled when fighting units such as Doppelsoldners, Samurai, Musketeers, Ashigaru, Landsknechts, to name a few. They are more effective against light cavalry than most other rifle-armed units, and can take down Hussars with relative ease, if not forced into hand combat. Forest Prowlers are at perhaps their most effective in Turtles, as they can be within the protection of walls, using their superior range to slaughter enemy units endeavoring to siege the walls. When walls possess Bastion, the power of this strategy is compounded.
Upgrades[]
The Forest Prowler starts at the Elite level, giving them +25% hit points and attack.
Age | Upgrade | Cost | Effect |
---|---|---|---|
Champion Forest Prowlers | 400 wood 200 coin |
Upgrades Forest Prowlers to Champion (+25% hit points and attack) | |
Legendary Forest Prowlers | 1,500 wood 1,500 coin |
Upgrades Forest Prowlers to Legendary (+50% hit points and attack); requires Champion Forest Prowlers |
Further statistics[]
As Forest Prowlers are unique to the Haudenosaunee, only technologies that they have access to are shown in the following table:
Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
---|---|
Strong vs. | Heavy infantry, light ranged cavalry, ranged shock infantry |
Weak vs. | Heavy cavalry, hand shock infantry, counter-skirmishers, artillery |
Improvements | |
Hit points | Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%) Tar Kilns (+5%) |
Attack | Smokeless Powder (+10%) Armatoloi (+5%) Yoga (+5%) Clenched Fist (+25% hand attack) Somali Jile Daggers (-35% hand attack Rate of Fire) Counter Infantry Rifling (+1.0 multiplier vs. heavy infantry) Kalthoff Repeaters (+0.1 multiplier vs. light infantry) |
Resistance | Somali Oryx Hide Shields (+5% ranged resistance) |
Range | Lacrosse (+2) Schützenfest (+1) |
Line of Sight | Lacrosse (+2) Schützenfest (+1) |
Speed | Quechuan Mountaineering (+10%) Akan Fontomfrom (+5%) Apache Endurance (+5%) |
Train time | Akan Fontomfrom (-20%) Quechuan Diet (-15%) Immigrants (-10%) |
Cost | Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost) Golden Liberty (-5% coin cost) |
Other | Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost) |
Home City Cards[]
As Forest Prowlers are unique to the Haudenosaunee, only their cards and other civilizations' TEAM cards are shown in the following tables:
- Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Forest Prowler
Some cards are highlighted with: | |
Green | TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team |
Blue | Shipment that arrives fast (5 seconds) |
All[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Senegalese Riflemen | Ranged infantry get +10% attack; French and Hausa-only ranged infantry get +15% attack instead |
- "TEAM Senegalese Riflemen" is available to the French and Hausa.
Chinese[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Yongle Infrastructure | Ships 1 Mongol Scout; infantry, land villagers, healing units, Envoys, and Disciples get +5% speed |
- "TEAM Yongle Infrastructure" does not stack with the Inca "TEAM Inca Bridges" card.
Dutch[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Infantry Hitpoints | Infantry get +10% hit points; Dutch-only infantry get +15% hit points instead |
Ethiopians[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Coffee Consumption | Ranged infantry get +5% speed |
French[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM House of Bonaparte | Skirmishers, Cassadores, Forest Prowlers, Wakina Rifles, Sharpshooters, Neftenyas, Imperial Army, and Territorial Army can be trained in the Commerce Age; Bersaglieri can be trained in the Fortress Age; Strelet, Jaeger, Longbowman, Salteador, Otontin Slinger, Gurkha, Yumi Archer, Jungle Bowman, Leather Cannon, and Desert Archer train time -20% |
Haudenosaunee[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
6 Forest Prowlers | Ships 6 Forest Prowlers | |
8 Forest Prowlers | Ships 8 Forest Prowlers | |
13 Forest Prowlers | Ships 13 Forest Prowlers | |
Warhut Warrior Attack | Aenna, Tomahawks, and Forest Prowlers get +15% attack | |
Warhut Warrior Hitpoints | Aenna, Tomahawks, and Forest Prowlers get +15% hit points | |
Warhut Warrior Combat | Aenna, Tomahawks, and Forest Prowlers get +15% hit points and attack | |
TEAM Scout Infantry | Ships 1 Native Scout; infantry get +8 Line of Sight | |
Conservative Tactics | Infantry get +10% hit points and attack | |
Advanced War Huts | War Huts gets +25% hit points and +6 build limit; Aenna, Tomahawk, and Forest Prowler train time -40% | |
Battlefield Construction | Aennas, Tomahawks, and Forest Prowlers can build War Huts, Corrals, and Siege Workshops | |
Wampum | Training units and constructing buildings grants +35% XP; unit train time -20%, siege unit and artillery train time -5% instead | |
Seneca Support | Ships 10 Forest Prowlers and 2 Travois; costs 1,000 coin | |
National Unity | Cayuga Support, Onondaga Support, Seneca Support, Tuscarora Support, Oneida Support, and Mohawk Support shipments cost -25% |
Inca[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Inca Bridges | Ships 1 Chasqui; infantry, land villagers, healing units, and Envoys get +5% speed |
- "TEAM Inca Bridges" does not stack with the Chinese "TEAM Yongle Infrastructure" card.
Indians[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics | All units get +5% hit points and attack |
Japanese[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Sengoku | Unit upgrades cost -20% |
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 |
Mexicans[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Mariachi | For the next 30 seconds, military buildings work 400% faster and units get +10% speed |
Portuguese[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Gunpowder Infantry Hitpoints | Gunpowder infantry get +15% hit points |
Spanish[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Spanish Inquisition | Ships 1 Inquisitor; all units get +10 Line of Sight |
Dutch[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Infantry Hitpoints | Infantry get +15% hit points | 10 |
French[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Ranged Infantry Attack | Gunpowder infantry and archers get +15% attack | 10 | |
TEAM Early Skirmishers | Skirmishers, Cassadores, Forest Prowlers, Wakina Rifles, Imperial Army, and Territorial Army can be trained in the Commerce Age; Longbowman, Strelet, Otontin Slinger, Gurkha, and Yumi Archer train time -20% | 25 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|
6 Forest Prowlers | Ships 6 Forest Prowlers | 1 | |
8 Forest Prowlers | Ships 8 Forest Prowlers | 10 | |
9 Forest Prowlers | Ships 9 Forest Prowlers | 10 | |
Infantry Attack | Infantry get +15% attack | 10 | |
Infantry Hitpoints | Infantry get +15% hit points | 10 | |
Infantry Combat | Infantry get +15% hit points and attack | 25 | |
TEAM Scout Infantry | Infantry get +8 Line of Sight | 10 | |
Battlefield Construction | Aennas, Tomahawks, and Forest Prowlers can build War Huts, Corrals, and Siege Workshops | 25 | |
Seneca Support | Ships 10 Forest Prowlers and 2 Travois; costs 1,000 coin | 1 | |
National Unity | Cayuga Support, Onondaga Support, Seneca Support, Tuscarora Support, Oneida Support, and Mohawk Support shipments cost -25% | 40 |
Japanese[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Cheaper Unit Upgrades | Unit upgrades cost -20% | 1 |
Portuguese[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Gunpowder Infantry Hitpoints | Gunpowder infantry get +15% hit points | 10 |
Russians[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
Dueling School | Infantry (except Skull Knights), Old Han Army, and Territorial Army train time -25%; Black Flag Army, Standard Army, Ming Army, and Imperial Army train time -12% | 25 |
Spanish[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Inquisition | All units get +10 Line of Sight | 10 |
Changelog[]
The WarChiefs[]
- Forest Prowlers train in 33 seconds, have 110 hit points and and 16 ranged damage.
The Asian Dynasties[]
- With patch 1.01, Forest Prowlers have a ×2.0 ranged multiplier against light ranged cavalry and Eagle Runner Knights, and ×0.75 against cavalry and Coyote Runners.
Definitive Edition[]
- Forest Prowlers have a ×2.0 ranged multiplier against light cavalry and ranged shock infantry, and ×0.75 against cavalry and hand shock infantry.
- With update 23511, the Forest Prowler is tagged as rifle infantry.
Knights of the Mediterranean[]
- With update 13.9057, the Forest Prowler is tagged as light infantry.
- With update 13.58326, Forest Prowlers have a ×2.5 ranged multiplier against light cavalry and ranged shock infantry, ×0.6 vs. cavalry and ×0.5 vs. shock infantry.
- With update 15.30007, Forest Prowlers have 108 hit points and 15.2 ranged damage.
- With update 15.59076, Forest Prowlers train in 36 seconds.
History[]
“ | The classic stereotype of the Iroquois, even today, is the stealthy warrior slinking cat-like through the woods, senses keen, and armed with a loaded musket. Iroquois ambushes could be devastating, as unseen enemies opened fire on European troop columns from bushes and trees. The usual response for a defeated enemy was to retreat to a town or fort, which is when of course the Iroquois would unleash their feared siege techniques. The Iroquois preferred this kind of shadowy warfare. Its effectiveness was proven by the fact that the Americans adopted these techniques in their revolution against the British in 1776. The Americans had been taught how to use the forests by the Iroquois themselves, in their periodic conflicts. |
” |
Trivia[]
- Despite being introduced in The WarChiefs, the unit's concept art appears on the original Age of Empires III cover art.
- The Forest Prowler had many alternate names during development. It was called the Musket Warrior, Musket Runner, Forest Runner, and finally Forest Prowler. It is unknown if any of those names coincided with different unit stats or roles. The Forest Prowler's internal file name is still
xpMusketWarrior
and its icon and portrait isiro_forrest_runner
.