Rifle infantry

Rifle infantry is a tag in Age of Empires III introduced in update 23511. As foot archers, rifle infantry (except counter-skirmishers) are light infantry.

Basically, rifle infantry are Skirmisher-type units. Most of them deal very good damage at long range against heavy infantry, light ranged cavalry, and ranged shock infantry.

In the game files, rifle infantry are referred to as AbstractRifleman. They are vulnerable to counter-skirmishers, artillery at range, and against heavy cavalry, hand shock infantry, and hand infantry if they are forced to fight in close combat.

List of units

The following units are labeled as rifle infantry:

• Abus Gunner
• Arquebusier
• Bandido
• Bersagliere
• Berber Arquebusier
• Cannoneer
• Cassador
• Cherokee Rifleman
• Corsair Marksman
• Cree Tracker
• Dahomey Amazon
• Dismounted Infantry
• Evzone
• Forest Prowler
• Gurkha
• Jaeger
• Klamath Rifleman
• Landwehr
• Lenape Warrior
• Mansabdar Gurkha
• Mountain Trooper
• Navajo Rifleman
• Neftenya
• Owlhoot
• Ranger
• Renegado
• Revolutionary Sharpshooter
• Royal Arquebusier
• Salteador
• Sharpshooter
• Skirmisher
• Somali Darood Militia
• State Militia
• Strelet
• Thuggee
• Wakina Rifle

Counter skirmisher

Generally speaking, rifle infantry are a subclass of light infantry, with the exception of counter-skirmishers. Most counter-skirmishers (like Schiavoni) specialize in countering light infantry and also counter-skirmishers. The following rifle infantry units are counter-skirmishers (AbstractCounterSkirmisher in the game files):

• Hajduk
• Pandour
• Royal Huntsman and Royal Hunter
• Schiavone

The following unit is a counter-skirmisher, but does not have the rifle infantry tag:

• Mounted Rifleman

Technologies

The technologies that affect units with the rifle infantry tag are shown below:

• Counter Infantry Rifling (Rifle infantry get +1.0 multiplier against heavy infantry; Counter-skirmishers get +1.0 multiplier against light infantry)
• Somali Jile Daggers (Foot archers and rifle infantry get -35% hand attack Rate of Fire; Hand skirmishers (except Urumi Swordsman) get -15% hand attack Rate of Fire instead)
• Kalthoff Repeaters (light infantry and counter-skirmishers get +0.1 multiplier against light infantry, Royal Huntsmen and Royal Hunters get +0.5 instead)

Home City Cards

The cards that affect units with the rifle infantry tag are shown in the following table:

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the rifle infantry tag

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
Red	Shipment that can be sent twice
Blue	Shipment that arrives fast (5 seconds)

Mexicans

Card	Description	Age
Guerrilla Tactics	Rifle infantry get +15% hit points and attack; Salteadores get the Guerrilla Tactics ability
Plan of Miramare	[Plan] Turns all Salteadores into Voltigeur Skirmishers; Rifle Infantry get +2 LOS and range; costs 1,000 food, 1,000 wood

United States

Card	Description	Age
Continental Rangers	Rifle Infantry get +15% hit points and attack

Trivia

• Although the Gurkha was cited in the UI changes of the update 23511 that it is now tagged as rifle infantry, in reality it was only tagged as rifle infantry in the game files (along with its Mansabdar version) with update 43871.
• Counter-skirmishers, along with the reintroduction of the light infantry tag, were added with the release of Knights of the Mediterranean.