“ | Heavy ranged infantry. Armed with a bayonet to beat cavalry. | ” |
—In-game description |
The Musketeer is a ranged heavy gunpowder infantry in Age of Empires III that can be trained at Barracks, Fort, and Galleon. It is armed with a smoothbore musket to fight other infantry at range and a bayonet to fight cavalry in melee combat.
Musketeers are available to European civilizations except Dutch, Germans, Ottomans (who have Janissaries instead), Swedes (who have Caroleans instead), and Knights of St. John (Act I: Blood campaign).
Overview
Musketeers are vulnerable against artillery and massed light infantry. They are especially effective against cavalry due to a damage multiplier.
Musketeers are actually stronger in melee combat due to the attack speed of melee attacks, also with thanks to their high hit points and good melee resistance. This is particularly improved with Socket Bayonet. However, this is not always practical as Musketeers are slow, and the opponent may simply decide to make their units run away.
Musketeers' range attack is relatively strong, and due to the firearm animation it is possible to hit and run. However, it is short ranged compared to other ranged infantry and fires at the default rate of 3.0s, which is slower compared to certain archer units such as the Longbowman. While they are more expensive than archaic units, Musketeers are simple to mass produce due to their low coin cost and cheaper than more specialised units such as Skirmishers or the Halberdier. Therefore, they can be powerful generally, especially in vast quantities.
In The WarChiefs, Spanish Musketeers become the most damaging, thanks to the Unction effect.
Upgrades
Age | Upgrade | Cost | Effect | Civ. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Veteran Musketeers | 200 wood 200 coin |
Upgrades Musketeers to Veteran (+20% hit points and attack) | British French Portuguese Russians Spanish | |
Guard Musketeers | 600 wood 600 coin |
Upgrades Musketeers to Guard (+30% hit points and attack); requires Veteran Musketeers | French Russians Spanish | |
Redcoats | 1,000 wood 1,000 coin |
Upgrades Musketeers to Redcoats (Guard Musketeers with +10% hit points and attack); requires Veteran Musketeers | British | |
Legionarios | Upgrades Musketeers to Legionarios (Guard Musketeers with +10% hit points and attack); requires Veteran Musketeers | Portuguese | ||
Imperial Musketeers | 1,500 wood 1,500 coin |
Upgrades Musketeers to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack); requires Guard Musketeers | French Russians Spanish | |
Imperial Redcoats | Upgrades Redcoats to Imperial Redcoats (+50% hit points and attack); requires Redcoats | British | ||
Imperial Legionarios | Upgrades Legionarios to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack); requires Legionarios | Portuguese |
Civilization differences
- As seen above, British and Portuguese can upgrade Musketeers to Royal Guard and Imperial Guard levels.
- While the Dutch cannot train Musketeers, they can ship 30 Guard Musketeers through Stadhouders.
- The Russians train Musketeers in groups of five at the Blockhouse for 75% of the price but with 20% less hit points and attack.
- John Black's Mercenaries can only upgrade Musketeers up to the Guard level.
- United States can upgrade their Musketeers to the Royal Guard and Imperial Guard levels (Redcoats)
- Asian civilizations can get Musketeers by allying with British, Dutch, and Portuguese at the Consulate, which provides armies and technologies that includes Musketeers (named Redcoat for the British, Stadhouder for the Dutch, Legionario for the Portuguese) listed below. These Musketeers 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 Company (6 Musketeers) and British Expeditionary Force (8 Musketeers)
- Dutch (Japanese, requires a level 40 Home City): Dutch Expeditionary Company (6 Musketeers), Dutch Expeditionary Force (6 Musketeers), and Dutch Brigade (28 Musketeers)
- Portuguese (Indians and Japanese): Portuguese Expeditionary Army (13 Musketeers)
Revolutionary
- Gran Colombia have Independence Guards in place of Revolutionaries, which are Musketeers with 15% more hit points but 15% less speed. Revolting to Gran Colombia as the Germans also allows the player to train and upgrade Musketeers (as Independence Guards).
Further statistics
Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
---|---|
Strong vs. | Cavalry, infantry |
Weak vs. | Skirmishers, archers, artillery |
Improvements | |
Hit points | Flint Lock (+10%) Thin Red Line (+20%, British only) Corselet (+25%, Spanish only) Grand Encampment (+25%, United States only) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%) |
Attack | Socket Bayonet (+20% melee attack) Paper Cartridge (+15%) Iroquois Lacrosse (+10%, vanilla Age of Empires III only) Yoga (+5%) Smokeless Powder (+30% siege attack) Clenched Fist (+30% melee attack) |
Speed | Military Drummers (+10%) File:Inca Road-building.png Incan Road-building (+20%) Apache Endurance (+5%) |
Sight | Town Watch (+2) |
Creation speed | Standing Army (-25%) File:Inca Chaquis Messengers.png Incan Chasquis Messengers (-25%) |
Train cost | Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost) |
Other | Stadhouders (ships 30 Guard Musketeers, Dutch only) Westernization (grants Veteran upgrade, Russians only) Petrine Reforms (grants Guard upgrade, Russians only) Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost) |
Penalties | Thin Red Line (-25% speed, British only) Coffee Trade (-10% speed, Dutch only) Corselet (-15% speed, Spanish only) Grand Encampment (-25% speed, United States only) |
Home City Cards
Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Musketeer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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British
Dutch
Europeans
French
Indians
Iroquois
Japanese
Portuguese
Russians
Spanish
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Outlaw Musketeer
The Outlaw Musketeer is a treasure guardian variant of the Musketeer which only appears in the campaign. It is one of the few Treasure Guardians with a damage multiplier against specific unit types. Overall, the Outlaw Musketeer is better than the normal Musketeers.
Trivia
- The Musketeer has 4 visual upgrades in total, although the first one is unused in-game.
- Despite their textures and models going unused in the original game, they were updated for the Definitive Edition.
- The Musketeer's unit portrait resembles the Veteran Musketeer model.
- In the beta, the Germans and Dutch could train Musketeers normally in the Barracks; German Musketeers' unused voice files still exist in the Scenario Editor and game files. In contrast, the Russians could not train Musketeers in the beta.
- The Dutch can still send Musketeers through the Stadhouders upgrade at the Church.
- John Black's Mercenaries, Spanish, and United States are the only civilizations with Musketeers that lack Home City Cards improving them (except Advanced Arsenal).
- British Royal Guard and Consulate Musketeers are named after the Redcoat soldiers.
- Portuguese Royal Guard and Consulate Musketeers' name refers to the Portuguese Legion; before the Definitive Edition, they are named Guerreiro, which translates to "Warrior" in Portuguese.
History
“ | Musketeers were infantry soldiers who stood in ranks two and three men deep, taking turns firing while other ranks reloaded. Musketeers were drilled and disciplined to stand as close as 80 yards away from an enemy firing at them. Musket balls ranged from about a half inch in diameter to three-quarters of an inch in diameter. Until long guns with rifled barrels that could be fired more than once every two minutes were developed, muskets were the ranged weapon of choice for infantry. Muskets had a relatively short range and were wildly inaccurate. Musketeers fought a lot like longbowmen, firing volley after volley in the direction of the enemy with no specific target. The barrage of lead was bound to hit something. A competent musketeer could fire three shots in a minute - four times slower than a longbow and twice as fast as an early rifle. | ” |
Gallery
See also
- Janissary – Ottoman equivalent
- Ashigaru Musketeer – Japanese equivalent
- Sepoy – Indian equivalent
- Boneguard Musketeer – Circle of Ossus equivalent
- Carolean – Swedish equivalent