“ | Ranged cavalry that are effective against cavalry, heavy infantry, and artillery. | ” |
—In-game description |
The Rifle Rider is a gunpowder cavalry in Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs that is unique to the Sioux and can be trained at the Corral once the Fortress Age is reached.
Overview
The Rifle Rider is one of the most significant units available to the Sioux civilization. These units are the Native American version of a Dragoon, but unlike Dragoons, they are good against heavy infantry. They have a good ranged attack and hit points, but another advantage is their rapid rate of fire, at 1 hit every 1.5 seconds. That means they can easily kill large numbers of heavy infantry units in a short period of time.
Though they are very well rounded, they fare poorly against light cavalry. This is because unlike most cavalry, they are classified as both heavy and light, against whom light cavalry has a multiplier.
It is a good idea to combine a group of Rifle Riders with several Axe Riders; Rifle Riders are one of the most powerful units in the game. However, Dragoons-like units will make short work of them due to multipliers.
Upgrades
The Rifle Rider is automatically upgraded to Elite (+25% hit points and attack) at the Fortress Age.
Age | Upgrade | Cost | Effect |
---|---|---|---|
Champion Rifle Riders | 400 wood 200 coin |
Upgrades Rifle Riders to Champion (+25% hit points and attack) | |
Legendary Rifle Riders | 1,500 wood 1,500 coin |
Upgrades Rifle Riders to Legendary (+50% hit points and attack); requires Champion Musket Riders |
Further statistics
As the Rifle Rider can only be trained by the Sioux, only improvements available to them (including native improvements) are listed here.
Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
---|---|
Strong vs. | Heavy cavalry, heavy infantry, artillery |
Weak vs. | Light cavalry,, Skirmishers |
Improvements | |
Hit points | Horsemanship (+10%) Cavalry Cuirass (+10%) Comanche Horse Breeding (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%) |
Attack | Bonepipe Armor (+1.0x multiplier vs. artillery) Gun Trade (+25%) Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+10%) Yoga (+5%) Smokeless Powder (+30% siege attack) |
Range | Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2) |
Sight | Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2) |
Speed | Comanche Mustangs (+10%) Apache Endurance (+5%) |
Creation speed | Cheyenne Horse Trading (-25%) File:Inca Chaquis Messengers.png Incan Chasquis Messengers (-25%) |
Train cost | Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost) |
Other | Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost) |
Home City Cards
As the Rifle Rider is exclusive to the Sioux, only other civilizations' TEAM cards that affects them are listed here.
Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Rifle Rider | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team French
Germans
Indians
Japanese
Portuguese
Russians
Sioux
Spanish
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History
“ | The ultimate development of the famous Sioux art of war were their amazingly skilled horsemen armed with repeating rifles. There is an old stereotype that the American Indians were reactionary culturally, unable to adapt to modern ways. The Sioux rifle riders demonstrate the falseness of this idea – during their heyday, they were the most advanced warriors on Earth. In Europe at this time, cavalry were still fighting with sabers and lances. Even in America, the U.S. cavalry used single-shot rifles, significantly inferior to the Sioux carbines. | ” |