“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 Iroquois and can be trained at the Corral once the Fortress Age is reached.
Overview 
Edit
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. They can be trained in the Fortress Age at the Corral.
Concerning Ranged Cavalry, they are well-rounded in most respects, but they have two slight advantages. The first is their low Food cost, allowing an Iroquois 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 Iroquois 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 a speed upgrade at the Corral.
This apparent weakness can be more than compensated for by using a few unique Iroquois advantages- namely the War Chief Aura and War Dance. By combining these two advantages, Musket Riders max out in the Imperial Age (without team cards or native upgrades) at 506 hit points and 57 attack, both of which exceed Imperial Jinettes. They are also faster than most other ranged cavalry due to the Big Button tech. They are also quite a bit cheaper than most other ranged cavalry, but due to the weak late-game economy of the Iroquois, 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 Edit
The Musket Rider is automatically upgraded to Elite (+25% hit points and attack) at the Fortress Age.
| 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 Edit
As the Musket Rider can only be trained by the Iroquois, only improvements available to them (including native improvements) are listed here.
| 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 Edit
As the Musket Rider is exclusive to the Iroquois, only other civilizations' TEAM cards that affects them are listed here.
| Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Musket Rider | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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 gets +15% attack |  | 10 |
Indians Edit
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 TEAM Shivaji's Tactics
| All units get +5% hit points and attack | | 25 |
Iroquois Edit
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 5 Musket Riders
| Ships 5 Musket Riders |  | 1 |
 6 Musket Riders
| Ships 6 Musket Riders | | 1 |
 Cavalry Hitpoints
| Cavalry gets +15% hit points | | 10 |
 Cavalry Damage
| Cavalry gets +15% attack | | 25 |
Japanese Edit
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 TEAM Cheaper Unit Upgrades
| Unit upgrades cost -20% | | 1 |
Portuguese Edit
| 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 Edit
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 TEAM Cavalry Scouts
| Cavalry and light infantry gets +10% hit points and +4 LOS | | 1 |
Spanish Edit
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 TEAM Inquisition
| All units get +10 LOS | | 10 |
Trivia Edit
- Due to firing muskets rather than rifles, pistols or a blunderbuss (like the Dragoon), Musket Riders are the only Light Cavalry who have the same firing sound as a Musketeer.
History Edit
“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 Edit
