Musket Riders are a fast, ranged unit. They are effective at raiding and chasing down enemy cavalry. Their range is short, and they can be vulnerable to longer-ranged warriors. They can be upgraded to Champion.
Musket Riders have a good measure of everything that makes a unit effective: speed, some range, and hitpoints. They do cost more population space than infantry, but infantry can't catch them.
”
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 has 3.0x bonus damage against heavy cavalry and 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 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 Hitpoints" and "Cavalry Damage", 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 485 hit points and 56 ranged attack damage, both of which exceed Imperial Dragoons. 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.
With update 38254, the Musket Rider has 25% ranged resistance.
Trivia[]
Due to firing muskets rather than rifles, pistols, or dragons (like the Dragoon), Musket Riders are the only light ranged 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.
”
Gallery[]
In-game (Elite) Musket Rider
In-game Champion/Legendary Musket Rider
In-game (Elite) Musket Rider in the Definitive Edition
In-game Champion/Legendary Musket Rider in the Definitive Edition
Champion Musket Riders
Legendary Musket Riders
Comanche Horse Breeding (+10%)
Cree Tanning (+5%)
Navajo Weaving (+5%)
Tar Kilns (+5%)
Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+10%)
Smokeless Powder (+10%)
Yoga (+5%)
Wind Horses (-10% Rate of Fire)
Sudanese Quilted Armor (+10% hand resistance)
Horse Secrets (+10%)
Apache Endurance (+5%)
Comanche Mustangs (+5%)
Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost)
Golden Liberty (-5% coin cost)
Cheyenne Horse Trading (-40%)
Quechuan Diet (-15%)
Immigrants (-10%)
Shaman Drums (-10%)
Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)
TEAM Cavalry Attack
5 Musket Riders
8 Musket Riders
Cavalry Hitpoints
Cavalry Damage
Wampum
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics
TEAM Sengoku
TEAM Mustangs
TEAM Knights of the Round Table
TEAM Mariachi
TEAM House of Aviz
TEAM Kamchatka Expeditions
TEAM Spanish Inquisition
The WarChiefs[]
