“ | Ranged cavalry. Good against cavalry. | ” |
—In-game description |
The Musket Rider is a gunpowder light ranged cavalry in Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs that is unique to the Haudenosaunee and can be trained at the Corral once the Fortress Age is reached.
Overview[]
The Musket Rider is used best against Villagers and cavalry. They have a very high speed and can even employ hit-and-run tactics against Hussars. They have a large attack that does x3 vs. cavalry and x2.5 vs. artillery. Concerning ranged cavalry, they are well-rounded in most respects, but they have two slight advantages. The first is their low food cost, allowing a Haudenosaunee player to invest more in food-hungry units, such as Aennas and Villagers. The second is their x2.5 anti-artillery bonus, allowing mixed groups of Kanya Horsemen and Musket Riders to crush massed artillery.
However, as the Haudenosaunee have limited Home City Cards and technologies for their cavalry, they may seem mediocre in later game, and can fall behind other similar, more upgradable units. They have only two cards that benefit them: "Cavalry Damage" and "Cavalry Hitpoints", both essential for cavalry-oriented civilizations, and they also come an Age later. On top of that, they only have two upgrades, Ranged Cavalry Caracole, and Horse Secrets.
This apparent weakness can be more than compensated for by using a few unique Haudenosaunee advantages – namely the War Chief Aura and War Ceremony. By combining these two advantages, Musket Riders max out in the Imperial Age (without TEAM cards or native technologies) at 506 hit points and 57 attack, both of which exceed Imperial Jinetes. They are also faster than most other ranged cavalry due to Horse Secrets. They are also quite a bit cheaper than most other ranged cavalry, but due to the weak late-game economy of the Haudenosaunee, it can often feel like an expensive, premium unit. In this regard, Tomahawks are often favoured over Musket Riders late-game, due to their cheap cost.
Upgrades[]
The Musket Rider starts at the Elite level, giving them +25% hit points and attack.
Age | Upgrade | Cost | Effect |
---|---|---|---|
Champion Musket Riders | 400 wood 200 coin |
Upgrades Musket Riders to Champion (+25% hit points and attack) | |
Legendary Musket Riders | 1,500 wood 1,500 coin |
Upgrades Musket Riders to Legendary (+50% hit points and attack); requires Champion Musket Riders |
Further statistics[]
As Musket Riders are unique to the Haudenosaunee, only technologies that they have access to are shown in the following tables:
Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
---|---|
Strong vs. | Heavy cavalry, hand shock infantry, artillery |
Weak vs. | Heavy infantry, light infantry, defensive buildings |
Improvements | |
Hit points | Comanche Horse Breeding (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%) Tar Kilns (+5%) |
Attack | Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+10%) Smokeless Powder (+10%) Yoga (+5%) Wind Horses (-10% Rate of Fire) |
Resistance | Sudanese Quilted Armor (+10% hand resistance) |
Range | Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2) |
Line of Sight | Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2) |
Speed | Horse Secrets (+10%) Apache Endurance (+5%) Comanche Mustangs (+5%) Wind Horses (+0.5) |
Train time | Cheyenne Horse Trading (-40%) Quechuan Diet (-15%) Immigrants (-10%) Shaman Drums (-10%) |
Cost | Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost) Golden Liberty (-5% coin cost) |
Other | Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost) |
Home City Cards[]
As Musket Riders 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 Musket Rider
Some cards are highlighted with: | |
Green | TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team |
Blue | Shipment that arrives fast (5 seconds) |
Germans[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Cavalry Attack | Heavy cavalry, light ranged 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 |
---|---|---|
5 Musket Riders | Ships 5 Musket Riders | |
8 Musket Riders | Ships 8 Musket Riders | |
Cavalry Hitpoints | Cavalry get +15% hit points | |
Cavalry Damage | Cavalry get +15% attack | |
Wampum | Training units and constructing buildings grants +35% XP; unit train time -20%, siege unit and artillery train time -5% instead |
Indians[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics | All units get +5% hit points and attack |
Italians[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Cavalry Attack | Heavy cavalry, light ranged 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 |
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 House of Aviz | Dragoons, Ruyters, Cavalry Archers, Rifle Riders, Musket Riders, Yabusame, and Carbine Cavalry can be trained in the Commerce Age; Zamburak, Eagle Runner Knight, Bolas Warrior, Black Rider, and Ming Army train time -15%; Mongolian Army train time -7% |
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 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics | All units get +5% hit points and attack | 25 |
Iroquois[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
5 Musket Riders | Ships 5 Musket Riders | 1 | |
6 Musket Riders | Ships 6 Musket Riders | 1 | |
Cavalry Hitpoints | Cavalry get +15% hit points | 10 | |
Cavalry Damage | Cavalry get +15% attack | 25 |
Japanese[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Cheaper Unit Upgrades | Unit upgrades cost -20% | 1 |
Portuguese[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Early Dragoons | Dragoons, Ruyters, Cavalry Archers, Rifle Riders, Musket Riders, and Yabusame can be trained in the Colonial Age; Zamburak train time -15%; Ming Army and Mongolian Army train time -7% | 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[]
The WarChiefs[]
- The Musket Rider has 30% ranged resistance.
The African Royals[]
- With update 38254, the Musket Rider has 25% ranged resistance.
Trivia[]
- Due to firing muskets rather than rifles, pistols, or blunderbuss (like the Dragoon), Musket Riders are the only Light Cavalry who have the same firing sound as a Musketeer.
History[]
“ | The Iroquois fondness for guns and willingness to adopt new modes of warfare meant that they quickly applied the use of firearms to mounted warriors. Unlike the old European tradition, among the Iroquois the mounted warriors were not necessarily considered the highest-ranking or noblest. | ” |