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. Due to Settlers' 20% hand resistance, 7 hits are required to kill a Settler; a raiding party of 10 is usually sufficient.[1] 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 effective against frail ranged infantry, which cannot withstand melee combat. Hussars' speed helps in getting in close with small numbers of early artillery. However, Hussars are weak against heavy infantry and light ranged 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 unit can cover for the other's weakness.
Hussars tend to be used less as the primary unit of an army in the late game because Dragoons and massed Musketeers can reach a critical mass with enough firepower to significantly weaken their force without even giving them a chance to cause damage. They are also not as well suited as the Cuirassier for dealing raw hand damage against large groups of vulnerable infantry or for simply overpowering heavy infantry because they lack the latter's Area of Effect attack. They can, however, still be useful to soak up initial artillery/Skirmisher fire in large battles to protect infantry or used for flanking to destroy expensive enemy artillery.
The Spanish can use unction to boost their Hussars in combat, providing a sizable damage increase.
Upgrades Hussars to Imperial (+50% hit points and damage); requires Guard Hussars
Italians
Portuguese
Spanish
Imperial Life Guards
Upgrades King's Life Guards to Imperial Life Guards (+50% hit points and damage); requires Life Guard Hussars
Civilization differences[]
As seen above, British can upgrade Hussars to Royal Guard and Imperial Guard.
The Germans can turn Settler Wagons into Guard Hussars through the "March Revolution" Home City Card.
The Russians can get Hussars through the "Georgian Hussars" Home City Card, which ships 17 Guard Hussars and can be sent a second time in the Imperial Age (total 34 Hussars).
Hungary can get Hussars through the "Magyar Hussars" Home City Card, which spawns 1 Hussar from every Outpost or Blockhouse built by the player, or through the "Kovat's Legion" Home City Card, which ships 15 Hussars and allows them to be trained at Forts; both of these cards upgrade Hussars to Magyar Hussars (regular Hussars without Guard upgrades; it should not be confused with the United States' Consulate Magyar Hussars, which can only be trained in Forts with a much slower train time).
Magyar Hussars gives them +200% hit points and +50% damage, and changes their visual. It is better to combine it with the German "March Revolution" or Russian "Georgian Hussars" Home City Cards, which will upgrade Hussars to Guard level (+250% hit point and +100% attack in total. Due to a bug, Magyar Hussars will still keep the Russian "Georgian Hussars" Skins).
The Hussar of Death is an upgrade of the Hussar unique to Chile, which gives +100% attack and changes his visual.
As soon as the player revolts to Chile, 6 Hussars of Death appears in the Home City shipment point and all existing Hussars are upgraded to Hussars of Death (as well as granting both the Veteran and Guard upgrades, if the player haven't yet).
The Maltese can train Life Guards named Order Hussars at Commanderies and Forts. These Order Hussars have 22 XP train and kill bounty, 130 food, 90 coin cost and 44 seconds train time.
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Hand cavalry armed with cold steel. Good against light infantry and artillery.
The United States can acquire Magyar Hussars through the "Kovat's Legion" Home City Card, which ships 9 Magyar Hussars and allows them to be trained at Forts. Additionally, United States Forts can spawn Magyar Hussars in batches of 2 for free if the "Texas Forts" Home City Card is sent, but this takes 109 seconds.
On some European maps, they can also be spawned using the Radetzky March ability, available after building a Trading Post on a House of Habsburg palace.
Mercenary train time -15%, speed (except Napoleon Gun and Li'l Bombard) +7%; mercenary shipment arrive time -20%; enables Highlander to be trained at Barracks and Taverns, Royal Horseman at Stables and Taverns; Pikeman, Halberdier, Skirmisher, Hussar, and Ruyter cost +10%
Hussar, Hakkapelit, Cossack, Oprichnik, Cavalry Archer, and Counter Dragoon hit points +20%
Magyar Hussars
Each Outpost/Blockhouse spawns 1 Magyar Hussar (Hussar with +200% hit points and +50% damage), +1 Outpost Wagon; Outpost/Blockhouse build limit +1; costs 500 coin
Kovat's Legion
Delivers 9 Magyar Hussars; enables Magyar Hussars to be trained at Forts; +1 Outpost Wagon; Outpost/Blockhouse build limit +1; costs 1,500 food
Junín Hussars
Hand cavalry and hand shock infantry train time -30%, speed +5% (train time -20% and no speed bonus if stacked with Liberation March)
Transforms all villagers and Pikemen into Revolutionaries, and Settler Wagons into Hussars; grants Veteran and Guard Hussars; costs 1,000 food, 1,000 wood, 1,000 coin
Spanish Riding School
Cavalry speed +10%, +4 Uhlans
"TEAM Cavalry Attack" does not stack with the Italian "TEAM Cavalry Attack" card.
Transforms all villagers into Revolutionaries, Plumed Spearmen into Guard Musketeer, Chimu Runners into Guard Hussars, Jungle Bowmen into Guard Skirmishers, Bolas Warriors into Veteran Dragoons, Huaracas into Guard Grenadiers, and Macemen into Guard Soldados; costs 1,500 food, 1,500 wood, 1,500 coin
State Militia train time -45%; Regular and Sharpshooter train time -35%; Hussar and Carbine Cavalry train time -25%
Kovat's Legion
Delivers 9 Magyar Hussars; enables Magyar Hussars to be trained at Forts; costs 1,000 food, 1,000 wood
Indiana Mobilization
Delivers 1 Carbine Cavalry for each shipment sent so far this game, including this one; unit train time, technology research time, Age up time -10%; costs 250 food, 250 wood
Seminole Ponies
Delivers 9 Hussars; cavalry train time -10%; hand cavalry hit points and damage +15%, speed +5%
Although it is not listed in the patch notes, with update 47581, the in-game description is "Hand cavalry armed with cold steel. Good against light infantry."
Originally, Deserted Hussars had 320 hit points and 30 hand damage, and gave 25 XP when killed. With update 14.43676, Deserted Hussars have 290 hit points and 21 hand damage, and give 24 XP when killed.
With update 13.9057, United States Steamers no longer train Hussars.
With update 14.43676, the Life Guard upgrade received a new model.
With update 15.30007, Hussars shipped with the "Georgian Hussars" Home City Cards received new models.
History[]
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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.
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Trivia[]
Although the unit description before the Definitive Edition said that the Hussar is a light cavalry unit, it is classified as a heavy cavalry.
That is because during the development of the game, the concept of light ranged cavalry was different from that shown in the final game: it was a melee cavalry unit that was good against Skirmisher-type, foot archer-type and artillery units, and the Hussar was the generic unit of this light cavalry (while the Cossack and Uhlan were intended to be unique versions of this unit, and the Stradiot would be the mercenary version). However, in the final game, the nomenclature of light cavalry was given to ranged cavalry units good against cavalry, such as the Dragoon-type and Cavalry Archer-type units, remaining only in-game descriptions incorrectly describing the Hussar (and the Cossack, Uhlan, Stradiot, and Kanya Horseman in The WarChiefs) as light cavalry.
British Royal Guard/Consulate Hussars are named after the Life Guards.
German Hussars before update 13.9057 were named after the Polish Hussars, who are notable for their huge wing ornament (though their in-game model were not changed to reflect this).
Chilean Hussars of Death are inspired by the "Húsares de la Muerte", a cavalry militia who vowed to fight to the death to protect Santiago after a great defeat during the Chilean independence war.
The United States' ability to access Magyar Hussars through the "Kovat's Legion" Home City Card is a reference to Michael Kovats de Fabriczy, a Hungarian nobleman who fought for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and are known as the one of the founding fathers of U.S. cavalry units.