Hussar (Age of Empires III)

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

Hussar
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Cavalry Heavy cavalry Melee cavalry
Civilization	See description
Age	Commerce Age
Training
Trained at	Stable Fort Galleon Fluyt (Dutch)
Food	120
Coin	80
Training time	40 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	320
Resists	20% vs. Ranged
Speed	6.75
Line of Sight	15
Population	2
XP train bounty	20
XP bounty	20
Melee attack
Damage	30 20 (Trample mode)
Area of Effect	3 (Trample mode)
Rate of Fire	1.5 2.0 (Trample mode)
Siege attack
Damage	20
Range	6
Rate of Fire	3.0

“	Light cavalry[sic] armed with cold steel.	”
—In-game description

The Hussar is a melee heavy cavalry in Age of Empires III that can be trained at Stable, Fort, and Galleon/Fluyt/Steamer.

Hussars are available to the United States civilization and European civilizations except Germans, John Black's Mercenaries (both of which have Uhlans instead), and Russians (who have Cossacks instead).

Overview

Hussars are the basic cavalry for most of the European civilizations. They have the most hit points of all basic cavalry, but otherwise lack distinguishing characteristics.

They are effective at raiding Settlers due to their speed and high damage, able to kill one in 5 hits. A raiding party of 10 is usually sufficient. Attack upgrades are not as useful as they do not reduce the integer number of hits required to secure a kill, but HP upgrades (such as for the British and French) are very useful. As with all units, be sure to queue one up as soon as the Stable finishes to start the training, adding more units as resources become available towards the completion of the group's training.

Hussars, like all melee cavalry, are also effective against ranged infantry, which are too fragile to stand up to melee combat. Their speed helps in getting in close with early artillery. However, Hussars are weak against heavy infantry and light cavalry. Because Hussars are quite fast, it is often better to run away from groups of those units and work with nearby infantry so that each can cover for the other's weakness.

However, while Hussars may be useful to fend off Skirmishers in the mid-game, Hussars tend not to be used in the late game as melee units are vastly easier to kill using superior numbers of ranged units, such as Dragoons or even massed Musketeers. They lack the HP of the Cuirassier without costing much less, nor gaining sufficient speed to make the Hussar comparatively useful. It is simply too easy to focus down Hussars with ranged units with a bonused-attack.

The Spanish can use unction to boost their Hussars in combat, providing a sizable damage increase.

Upgrades

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect	Civ.
	Veteran Hussars	200 wood, 200 coin	Upgrades Hussars to Veteran (+20% hit points and attack)	British Dutch French Ottomans Portuguese Spanish Swedes
	Guard Hussars	600 wood, 600 coin	Upgrades Hussars to Guard (+30% hit points and attack); requires Veteran Hussars	Dutch French Portuguese Spanish Swedes
	Life Guard Hussars	1,000 wood, 1,000 coin	Upgrades Hussars to King's Life Guards (+10% hit points and attack, as well as the Guard upgrade, granting another +30% hit points and attack); requires Veteran Hussar	British
	Bostanci		Upgrades Hussars to Bostanci (+10% hit points and attack, as well as the Guard upgrade, granting another +30% hit points and attack); requires Veteran Hussar	Ottomans
	Imperial Hussars	1,500 wood, 1,500 coin	Upgrades Hussars to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack); requires Guard Hussars	Dutch French Portuguese Spanish Swedes
	Imperial Life Guards		Upgrades King's Life Guards to Imperial Life Guards (+50% hit points and attack); requires Life Guard Hussars	British
	Imperial Bostanci		Upgrades Bostanci to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack); requires Bostanci	Ottomans

Civilization differences

• As seen above, British and Ottomans can upgrade Hussars to Royal Guard and Imperial Guard levels.
• The Germans can ship 10 Guard Hussars named Winged Hussar through the "Polish Winged Hussars" Home City Card.
• While the Russians cannot train Hussars, they can ship 17 Guard Hussars through Bashkir Ponies.
• Knights of St. John can only upgrade Hussars to the Veteran level.
• United States can upgrade Hussars to the Imperial level.
• Chinese and Indians can get Hussars by allying with British, Ottomans, and Russians at the Consulate, which provides armies and technologies that includes Hussars (named Life Guard for the British, Bostanci for the Ottomans, Bashkir for the Russians) listed below. These Hussars start with +10% hit points and attack than their regular counterpart, and are automatically upgraded in every Age starting from the Fortress Age (see here for the exact values).
  • British (Chinese and Indians): British Expeditionary Army (6 Hussars)
  • Ottomans (Indians, requires a level 40 Home City): Ottoman Expeditionary Company and Ottoman Expeditionary Force (3 Hussars)
  • Russians (Chinese): Russian Brigade (15 Hussars)

Revolution

• Revolting to Chile turns Hussars into Hussars of Death, which are Guard Hussars with twice the attack of regular Hussars.
• Revolting to Hungary as the Ottomans turn Hussars into Hungarian Hussars, which are Royal Guard Hussars with twice the hit points of regular Hussars.
  • The Germans and Russians can acquire Hungarian Hussars when revolting to Hungary with the "Hungarian Hussars" card.

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Ranged infantry, light infantry, artillery
Weak vs.	Heavy infantry, light cavalry
Improvements
Hit points	Cavalry Cuirass (+10%) Comanche Horse Breeding (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%)
Attack	Pillage (+25% siege attack) Yoga (+5%)
Sight	Town Watch (+2)
Speed	Comanche Mustangs (+10%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
Creation speed	Mass Cavalry (-35%) Cheyenne Horse Trading (-25%) Incan Chasquis Messengers (-25%)
Train cost	Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost)
Other	Bashkir Ponies (ships 13 Guard Hussars, Russians only) Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)
Penalties	Coffee Trade (-10% speed, Dutch only)

Home City Cards

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

Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team Europeans Card Description Age HC level 3 Hussars Ships 3 Hussars 1 4 Hussars Ships 4 Hussars 1 7 Hussars Ships 7 Hussars 10 5 Hussars Ships 5 Hussars 10 8 Hussars Ships 8 Hussars 25 Cavalry Combat Cavalry get +15% hit points and attack 10 Riding School Cavalry train time -40% 10 The 3 Hussars card is available to Dutch, French, and Ottomans. The 4 Hussars and 7 Hussars cards are not available to the Portuguese. The 5 Hussars card is not available to Dutch, French and Portuguese. The 8 Hussars card is available to British and Ottomans. The Cavalry Combat card that affects all cavalry is available to Dutch, Ottomans and Russians; the British Cavalry Combat that only affects Hussars and Dragoons are listed separately. British Card Description Age HC level Cavalry Damage Hussars and Dragoons get +15% attack 10 Cavalry Hitpoints Hussars and Dragoons get +15% hit points 10 Cavalry Combat Hussars and Dragoons get +15% hit points and attack 25 French Card Description Age HC level TEAM Hand Cavalry Attack Heavy cavalry and Coyote Runners get +15% attack 10 Germans Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cavalry Attack Heavy cavalry, light cavalry, and light infantry get +15% attack 10 Polish Winged Hussars Ships 10 Winged Hussars (Guard Hussars) 25 Spanish Riding School Cavalry get +10% speed +4 Uhlans 25 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 Portuguese Card Description Age HC level Dragoon Combat Dragoons get +20% hit points and attack; Hussars get +15% hit points and attack 10 Russians Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cavalry Scouts Cavalry and light infantry get +10% hit points and +4 LOS 1 Spanish Card Description Age HC level Hand Cavalry Hitpoints Hussars and Lancers get +15% hit points 10 Hand Cavalry Attack Hussars and Lancers get +15% attack 10 Hand Cavalry Combat Hussars and Lancers get +15% hit points and attack 25 TEAM Inquisition All units get +10 LOS 10

Trivia

• Although the unit description says that it's a light cavalry unit, it's classified as heavy cavalry.
• British Royal Guard and Consulate Hussars are named after the Life Guards.
• Ottoman Royal Guard and Consulate Hussars are named after the Bostancı; before the Definitive Edition, they are named after its literal translation, "Gardener".
• German Hussars are named after the Polish Hussars, who are notable for their huge wing ornament (though their in-game model are not changed to reflect this).
• Russian Guard and Consulate Hussars are named after Bashkir battalions that served in the Russian army, most notably during the Napoleonic Wars.
• Chilean Hussars are named after the Húsares de la Muerte.
• Hungarian Hussars' name refers to the Magyar Huszars.
• The Magyar Hussars sent by the United States Kovat's Legion card uses the in-game dialogue of military Magyar units from Age of Empires II HD: The Forgotten, but with the pitch raised slightly.

History

“

Lasalle, Napoleon's most dashing and competent light cavalry commander, boldly stated that any Hussar who lived to see the age of 30 was "a blackguard." Hussars were known for their daring and flamboyant displays in and out of combat. They could be an unruly and rowdy lot, though some, like the Prussian Death's Head Hussars, looked quite severe. Hussars were used to scout, gather intelligence, run down their enemy counterparts, and in flanking and screening maneuvers. They were excellent horsemen and daring to a fault. The Prussian hussars, who served under Wellington at Waterloo, wore uniforms of almost entirely unrelieved black, with a large white skull and crossbones on the front of their short-brimmed, tall cylindrical hats. Hussars were typically armed with curved cavalry sabers and sometimes muskets or pistols.

”

Gallery

An in-game Hussar

An in-game Veteran Hussar model

An in-game Guard Hussar model

The in-game stats of an Imperial Life Guard (British Hussar)

A painting of a group of Napoleonic Hussars

See also

• Uhlan – German counterpart
• Cossack – Russian counterpart