Raider (Age of Empires III)

Raider
Information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition - The African Royals
Type	Cavalry Heavy cavalry Hand cavalry Siege unit
Civilization(s)	Hausa
Age	Commerce Age
Training
Trained at	War Camp Fort Battle Canoe
Cost	100 Food 45 Coin 1 Population
Train time	30 seconds seconds
Statistics
Hit points	180
Resistance	30% Ranged
Speed	7.0
Line of Sight	16
XP train bounty	14
XP kill bounty	14
Siege attack
Damage	26 Siege
Range	6
Rate of Fire	3.0
Hand attack
Damage	22 Hand
Rate of Fire	1.5
Bonus damage	×2.0 vs. Treasure guardian ×1.5 vs. Infantry ×0.67 vs. Heavy infantry
Trample attack
Damage	14.67 Hand
Area of Effect	3
Rate of Fire	2.0
Bonus damage	×2.0 vs. Treasure guardian ×1.5 vs. Infantry ×0.67 vs. Heavy infantry

“	Mobile Hand Cavalry with decent siege damage. Good against light infantry and villagers.	”
—In-game description

The Raider is a heavy cavalry in Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition - The African Royals that is unique to the Hausa and can be trained at the War Camp.

Overview

The Raider is an formidable Commerce Age cavalry unit. In the early game, it is wise to pair Raiders with Fulani Archers, as Fulani Archers counter heavy infantry and light cavalry units, protecting the Hausa player's 100 food, 45 coin worth Raiders from Musketeers and Dragoon-type units.

Alternatively, a player can pair the Raider with the mobile anti-cavalry Javelin Rider and carry out raids in the Commerce Age, when most civilizations rely on slow-moving Musketeer or archaic units to defend against cavalry.

Upgrades

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect
	Elite Hand Cavalry	250 wood 250 coin	Upgrade Raiders and Lifidi Knights to Elite (+25% hit points and attack for Raiders; +10% hit points and attack for Lifidi Knights; -15% train time for both)
	Champion Hand Cavalry	600 wood 600 coin	Upgrade Raiders and Lifidi Knights to Champion (+25% hit points and attack, and -15% train time); requires Elite Hand Cavalry
	Legendary Hand Cavalry	1,500 wood 1,500 coin	Upgrade Raiders and Lifidi Knights to Legendary (+50% hit points and attack); requires Champion Hand Cavalry

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Treasure guardian, ranged infantry, artillery
Weak vs.	Heavy infantry, light ranged cavalry
Improvements
Hit points	Cavalry Cuirass (+10%) Comanche Horse Breeding (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%) Tar Kilns (+5%)
Attack	Yoga (+5%) Pillage (+25% siege attack multiplier vs. buildings) Wind Horses (-10% Rate of Fire) Somali Ajuran Engineers (+20% multiplier vs. Frontier fortification)
Resistance	Sudanese Quilted Armor (+10% hand resistance) Pancerni (+10% ranged resistance)
Line of Sight	Town Watch (+3)
Speed	Apache Endurance (+5%) Comanche Mustangs (+5%) Wind Horses (+0.5)
Train time	Cheyenne Horse Trading (-40%) Mass Cavalry (-35%) Quechuan Diet (-15%) Shaman Drums (-10%) Strangers' Quarters (-10%)
Cost	Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost) Golden Liberty (-5% coin cost)
Other	Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)

Home City Cards

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Raider

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
Blue	Shipment that arrives fast (5 seconds)

Europeans

Card	Description	Age
African Roots	Ships a random selection of 6 West Africa units and allows to ally with the Akan or Yoruba in the Native Embassy; Akan infantry, Yoruba infantry and Maroons can now use Stealth mode; costs 1,000 food

• "African Roots" is available to the British and French upon revolting to Haiti.

French

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Hand Cavalry Attack	Hand cavalry and hand shock infantry get +15% attack

Germans

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Cavalry Attack	Heavy cavalry, light ranged cavalry, and shock infantry get +10% attack; Germans-only heavy cavalry, light cavalry, and shock infantry get +15% attack instead

• "TEAM Cavalry Attack" does not stack with the Italian "TEAM Cavalry Attack" card.

Hausa

Card	Description	Age
Futa Toro	Ships 9 Fulani Archers and 9 Raiders
5 Raiders	Ships 5 Raiders
7 Raiders	Ships 7 Raiders
Durbar Parade	Raiders get +5% speed; Lifidi Knights get +10% speed; Raiders and Lifidi Knights move 50% faster while in Trample Mode and get +1/+2 Area of Effect for their normal/Trample Mode hand attack
Zazzau Cavalry	Ships 1 Raider for every War Camp and Watch Tower built; ships 1 Lifidi Knight for every Palace built
Hand Cavalry Damage	Raiders and Lifidi Knights get +15% attack
Hand Cavalry Hitpoints	Raiders and Lifidi Knights get +15% hit points
Hadeija Emirate	Ships 4 Raiders and 3 Lifidi Knights; Elite Hand Cavalry upgrade is free and researched instantly; Champion Hand Cavalry upgrade cost and research time -50%; Legendary Hand Cavalry upgrade cost and research time -20%; costs 1,000 influence
Amina Epic	Gives 4.2 and 6 influence for every Raider and Lifidi Knight, respectively trained
Feudal Armies	All units' train time -15%; hero respawn time -15%
Hegemony	Fulani Archers, Maigadis, Javelin Riders, Raiders, and Akan Ankobias generate 0.03 influence/sec. Lifidi Knights generate 0.06 influence/sec.

Indians

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics	All units get +5% hit points and attack

Italians

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Cavalry Attack	Heavy cavalry, light ranged cavalry, and shock infantry get +10% attack; Italians-only heavy cavalry, light cavalry, and shock infantry get +15% attack instead

• "TEAM Cavalry Attack" does not stack with the German "TEAM Cavalry Attack" card.

Japanese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Sengoku	Unit upgrades cost -20%

Lakota

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Mustangs	Cavalry and shock infantry cost -10%

Maltese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Knights of the Round Table	Ships 1 Hospitaller for each Town Center owned by the player; all units get +2% hit points

Mexicans

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Mariachi	For the next 30 seconds, military buildings work 400% faster and units get +10% speed

Russians

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Kamchatka Expeditions	Cavalry and shock infantry get +10% hit points and +4 Line of Sight

Spanish

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Spanish Inquisition	Ships 1 Inquisitor; all units get +10 Line of Sight

Changelog

The African Royals

• Originally, Champion Hand Cavalry cost 800 wood and 800 coin, and Imperial Hand Cavalry cost 2,000 wood and 2,000 coin. With update 43871, Champion Hand Cavalry costs 600 wood and 600 coin, and Imperial Hand Cavalry costs 1,500 wood and 1,500 coin.
• With update 15.30007, Raider cost was changed from 100 food, 40 coin, to 100 food, 45 coin.

History

“

Songhai and Hausa military forces used their cavalry to deadly effect not only on the battlefield but also outside of it. Raiding bands harried the enemy countryside, looting resources for their own armies and cutting off enemy supplies.

”

Gallery

Raider image from the Compendium section

An in-game Raider

An in-game Elite Raider

An in-game Champion / Legendary Raider