Musket Rider

Musket Rider
Unit information
Introduced in	The WarChiefs
Type	Cavalry Light cavalry Ranged cavalry Gunpowder cavalry
Civilization	Haudenosaunee
Age	Fortress Age
Training
Trained at	Corral
Food	55
Coin	100
Training time	35 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	205
Resists	25% vs Ranged
Speed	7.25
Line of Sight	15
Population	2
XP train bounty	16
XP bounty	16
Melee attack
Damage	9
Multipliers	x3.0 vs. Heavy cavalry x2.5 vs. Artillery x2.0 vs. Coyote Runners
Rate of Fire	1.5
Ranged attack
Damage	20
Multipliers	x3.0 vs. Heavy cavalry x2.5 vs. Artillery x2.0 vs. Coyote Runners x0.5 vs. Villager
Range	12
Rate of Fire	3.0
Siege attack
Damage	10
Range	6
Rate of Fire	3.0

“	Ranged cavalry. Good against cavalry.	”
—In-game description

The Musket Rider is a gunpowder light 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 Combat" 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, light infantry, artillery
Weak vs.	Heavy infantry, ranged infantry, light cavalry
Improvements
Hit points	Comanche Horse Breeding (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%)
Attack	Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+10%) Yoga (+5%) Smokeless Powder (+30% siege attack)
Range	Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2)
Sight	Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2)
Speed	Horse Secrets (+10%) Comanche Mustangs (+10%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
Creation speed	Cheyenne Horse Trading (-25%) Incan Chasquis Messengers (-25%)
Train cost	Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% 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

Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team Germans Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cavalry Attack Heavy cavalry, light cavalry, and light 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, Cavalry Archers, Ruyters, Musket Riders, Rifle 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 light infantry get +10% hit points and +4 LOS 1 Spanish Card Description Age HC level TEAM Inquisition All units get +10 LOS 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.

”

Gallery

An in-game (Elite) Musket Rider

An in-game Champion/Legendary Musket Rider