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

“	Hand cavalry armed with cold steel. Good against light infantry.	”
—In-game description

The Hussar is a melee heavy cavalry unit in Age of Empires III that can be trained at Stables, Forts, and Galleons/Fluyts/Steamers.

Hussars are available to the United States 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. Due to Settlers' 20% melee resistance, 7 hits are required to kill a Settler; a raiding party of 10 is usually sufficient. 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 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 melee 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

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect	Civ.
	Veteran Hussars	200 wood, 200 coin	Upgrade Hussars to Veteran (+20% hit points and attack)
	Guard Hussars	600 wood, 600 coin	Upgrade Hussars to Guard (+30% hit points and attack); requires Veteran Hussars
	Life Guard Hussars	1,000 wood, 1,000 coin	Upgrade Hussars to King's Life Guards (Guard Hussars with +10% hit points and attack); requires Veteran Hussars
	Bostanci		Upgrade Hussars to Bostanci (Guard Hussars with +10% hit points and attack); requires Veteran Hussars
	Imperial Hussars	1,500 wood, 1,500 coin	Upgrade Hussars to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack); requires Guard Hussars
	Imperial Life Guards		Upgrade King's Life Guards to Imperial Life Guards (+50% hit points and attack); requires Life Guard Hussars
	Imperial Bostanci		Upgrade Bostanci to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack); requires Bostanci

Civilization differences

• As seen above, British and Ottomans can upgrade Hussars to Royal Guard and Imperial Guard.
• The Germans can ship 10 Guard Hussars named Winged Hussar through the "Polish Winged Hussars" Home City Card.
• The Russians cannot train Hussars but can ship 17 Guard Hussars through Bashkir Ponies.
• Knights of St. John can only upgrade Hussars to Veteran.
• United States in the Act III: Steel campaign can upgrade Hussars to the Imperial.
• 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)
• The Incas can get Hussars through the "Tupac Rebellion" Home City Card, which turns Chimu Runners into Guard Hussars.

Revolution variants

Hussar of Death

Hussar of Death
Unit information
Introduced in	Definitive Edition
Type	Cavalry Heavy cavalry Melee cavalry
Civilization	Chile
Age	Revolution
Training
Trained at	Stable Fort Galleon
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	60 40 (Trample mode)
Area of Effect	3 (Trample mode)
Rate of Fire	1.5 2.0 (Trample mode)
Siege attack
Damage	40
Range	6
Rate of Fire	3.0

The Hussar of Death is a variant of the Hussar unique to Chile, which have twice the attack of regular Hussars.

As soon as the player revolts to Chile, 10 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).

Magyar Hussar

Magyar Hussar
Unit information
Introduced in	Definitive Edition
Type	Cavalry Heavy cavalry Melee cavalry
Civilization	Hungary United States
Age	Revolution
Training
Trained at	Stable Fort Galleon
Food	120 (Hungary) 180 (United States)
Coin	80 (Hungary) 120 (United States)
Training time	40 seconds (Hungary) 99 seconds (United States)
Statistics
Hit points	640
Resists	20% vs. Ranged
Speed	6.75
Line of Sight	15
Population	2
XP train bounty	20 (Hungary) 30 (United States)
XP bounty	20 (Hungary) 30 (United States)
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

The Magyar Hussar is a variant of the Hussar unique to Hungary, which have twice the hit points of regular Hussars.

Magyar Hussars' availability is determined by the base European civilization:

• For the Ottomans, as soon as the player revolts to Hungary, all existing Hussars are upgraded to Magyar Hussars (as well as granting both the Veteran and Royal Guard upgrades, if the player haven't yet).
• For the Germans and Russians (who cannot train Hussars normally), they must send the "Magyar Hussars" Home City Card after revolting to Hungary to spawn a Magyar Hussar on every Outpost or Blockhouse that had been built by the player and upgrades all existing Hussars into Magyar Hussars.

The United States can also acquire Magyar Hussars through the "Kovat's Legion" Home City Card, which ships 9 Magyar Hussars and allows them to be trained at Forts. These Magyar Hussars are different from those gained through the revolt to Hungary, as they cost 180 food, 120 coin, have a train time of 99 seconds, an XP bounty of 30, and can only be trained at Forts. Additionally, this variant is defined as a separate unit, unlike the Hungarian variant which is a regular Hussar with +100% hit points. Due to this, most upgrades that increase hit points are twice as effective on them as they have a higher base stat.

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Ranged infantry, Shock 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%)
Armor	Sudanese Quilted Armor (+10% melee resistance)
Sight	Town Watch (+2)
Speed	Comanche Mustangs (+10%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
Creation speed	Mass Cavalry (-35%) Cheyenne Horse Trading (-25%) Quechuan Diet (-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

• "3 Hussars" is available to Dutch, French, Ottomans, and Swedes.
• "4 Hussars" is not available to the Portuguese.
• "7 Hussars" is not available to the Portuguese and Swedes.
• "5 Hussars" is not available to Dutch, French and Portuguese.
• "8 Hussars" is available to British, Ottomans and Swedes.
• "Cavalry Combat" that affects all cavalry is available to Dutch, Ottomans and Russians; 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 Shock 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

Hungary

Card	Description
Magyar Hussars	Each Outpost/Blockhouse spawns a Magyar Hussar (Hussar with +100% hit points); +1 Outpost/Blockhouse Wagon; Outpost/Blockhouse build limit +1

Incas

Card	Description	Age
Tupac Rebellion	Turns Villagers into Revolutionaries, Plumed Spearmen into Guard Musketeers, Chimu Runners into Veteran Hussars, Jungle Bowmen into Guard Skirmishers, Bolas Warriors into Veteran Dragoons, Huaracas into Guard Grenadiers, and Macemen into Light Cannons; costs 2,000 food, 2,000 wood, 2,000 coin

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 Shock 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

Swedes

Card	Description	Age
Hand Infantry/Hand Cavalry Attack	Melee Infantry and Melee Cavalry get +15% attack
Hand Infantry/Hand Cavalry Hitpoints	Melee Infantry and Melee Cavalry get +15% hit points
Finnhorses	Hussars and Hakkapelits get +25% hit points
March of the Hakkapelits	Turns Hussars into Hakkapelits; Hakkapelits available from the Commerce Age
Trample Tactics	Hussars and Hakkapelits get +15% hit points and move and attack 50% faster in Trample Mode

United States

Card	Description	Age
Patriotism	State Militia train time -45%; Regular and Sharpshooter train time -35%; Hussar and Carbine Cavalry train time -25%
Kovat's Legion	[Legion] Ships 9 Magyar Hussars; Magyar Hussars available at the Fort; Costs 1,000 food, 1,000 wood

Changelog

Age of Empires III

• The in-game description is "Light cavalry^[sic] armed with cold steel."

Definitive Edition

• The in-game description is "Hand cavalry armed with cold steel."
• United States Steamers can train Hussars.

The African Royals

• 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."

Knights of the Mediterranean

• With update 13.9057, United States Steamers no longer train Hussars.

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 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, and Stradiot) as light cavalry.
• British Royal Guard/Consulate Hussars are named after the Life Guards.
• Ottoman Royal Guard/Consulate Hussars are named after the Bostancı.
  • Before the Definitive Edition, they are named after the literal translation of Bostancı, 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 Consulate Hussars are named after Bashkir battalions that served in the Russian army, most notably during the Napoleonic Wars.
• Chilean Hussars of Death are inspired by Death Head Hussars, which was a Prussian unique unit featured in the Napoleonic Era mod.
  • One of the developers of the mod worked on the Definitive Edition.
• 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.
  • The American Magyar Hussars use 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

An in-game Imperial Hussar model of the United States civilization.

In-game Magyar Hussar

See also

• Uhlan – German counterpart
• Cossack – Russian counterpart
• Kanya Horseman – Haudenosaunee counterpart
• Axe Rider – Lakota counterpart
• Steppe Rider – Chinese counterpart
• Raider – Hausa counterpart