The Ordinance Rifleman shares most of its statistics with the Crossbowman, but has a reduced Line of Sight, food and wood cost, and trains slightly slower. In contrast, Ordinance Riflemen get +60% hit points and damage, and have a higher bonus damage against heavy infantry, making them more affordable than Cassadores due to their low cost, but they will not be available unless the player ages-up to the Industrial Age and researches Ordenança, which requires the "Treaty of Tordesillas" Home City Card.
Like other rifle infantry, Ordinance Riflemen will benefit from the Counter Infantry Rifling technology, allowing them to counter heavy infantry more easily than Crossbowmen; additionally, as gunpowder infantry, they benefit from technologies such as Flint Lock or Paper Cartridge. However, they have a low siege attack damage and are vulnerable against heavy cavalry and artillery.
Upgrades[]
After researching Ordenança, the Imperial Order Besteiros upgrade will be replaced with Imperial Ordinance Riflemen. Imperial Order Besteiros will also benefit Ordinance Riflemen.
Ordenança (turns all Crossbowmen into Ordinance Riflemen; Ordinance Riflemen can be trained at the Barracks, Fort, and Galleon instead of Crossbowmen) Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)
Home City Cards[]
As Ordinance Riflemen are unique to the Portuguese, only their cards and other civilizations' TEAM cards that are shown on the following tables:
Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Ordinance Rifleman
Some cards are highlighted with:
Green
TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team
Purple
Shipment that can be sent an INFINITE number of times
Enables Caravels to train Crossbowmen, Ordinance Riflemen (if available), Pikemen, and Halberdiers; Monitors and Ironclads to train Musketeers, Cassadores, and Grenadiers (if available); Frigates to train all Barracks units; Battleships to train all Barracks units and Grenadiers; Caravels, Frigates, Monitors, Ironclads, and Battleships now tagged as recruiting ships
Colombian Army
Enables Imperial upgrades for Independence Guards, Cassadores, Skirmishers, Landwehrs, and Ordinance Riflemen; Imperial upgrades for Independence Guards, Cassadores, Skirmishers, and Landwehrs cost -60%
"8 Ordinance Riflemen" and "10 Ordinance Riflemen" replace "8 Crossbowmen" and "10 Crossbowmen" respectively after researching Ordenança technology.
"Colombian Army" is available upon revolting to Gran Colombia.
Similar to the Landwehr, the Ordinance Rifleman portrait is a modified Crossbowman portrait.
The Ordinance Rifleman reuses the history of the Skirmisher.
History[]
“
Skirmishers were lightly armed and armored riflemen who used their speed to move quickly about the battlefield and perform a number of military roles. They defended flanks, helped artillerymen with cannon, dragged wounded soldiers off of the battlefield, and performed hit-and-run attacks on advancing enemy armies. Napoleonic-era skirmishers were effective against rigid ranks of musketeers because the fire of musketeers was less effective on the loose, informal skirmisher lines.
Many skirmishers in the nineteenth century were armed with rifles; the range and accuracy of these weapons made skirmishers dangerous enemies. Early rifles could only be fired once every minute or two, though later breechloading and repeating models could fire much more rapidly. One model fired so fast, a commander ordered his men to focus their fire on a single enemy skirmisher so that they could recover his rifle to examine it.