Skirmisher (Age of Empires III)

This article is about the unit in Age of Empires III. For the similar unit in Age of Empires II, see Skirmisher (Age of Empires II).

Skirmisher
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Infantry Ranged infantry Gunpowder infantry
Civilization	See description
Age	Fortress Age Commerce Age (Dutch)
Training
Trained at	Barracks Fort Galleon Fluyt (Dutch)
Food	50
Coin	65
Training time	33 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	120
Resists	30% vs. Ranged
Speed	4.0
Line of Sight	24
Population	1
XP train bounty	12
XP bounty	12
Melee attack
Damage	6
Multipliers	x2.0 vs. Heavy infantry, Light cavalry and Eagle Runner Knights x0.75 vs. Cavalry and Coyote Runners
Rate of Fire	1.5
Ranged attack
Damage	15
Multipliers	Same as melee
Range	20
Rate of Fire	3.0
Siege attack
Damage	12
Range	6
Rate of Fire	3.0

“	Skirmisher with low hitpoints, but a long-ranged attack. Good against infantry.	”
—In-game description

The Skirmisher is a ranged gunpowder infantry in Age of Empires III that can be trained at Barracks, Fort, and Galleon/Fluyt once the Fortress Age is reached.

Skirmishers are available to European civilizations except British, Knights of St. John (Act I: Blood campaign), Ottomans, Portuguese (who have Cassadores instead), Russians (who have Strelets instead), and Swedes.

Overview

Skirmishers have a long-ranged attack that is suited to kiting the enemy from afar. They are strong at countering and defeating heavy infantry and ranged cavalry, but highly vulnerable to melee cavalry and artillery due to their relatively low hit points and a weak melee attack. They cost a relatively high amount of gold and it is not cost effective to use them against melee cavalry.

Typically they are used to create a strong mass ranged platform to support the rest of the army. Their long range ensures they can put all their damage to bear as fast as possible and makes them easy to control while kiting. They are effective against enemy Skirmishers and other ranged infantry, but their counter damage wards off cheaper heavy infantry attacks in melee, as well as harassment from fast ranged cavalry. When in position near enemy Settlers their range also makes them effective at harassing them while not committing too much to a bad position should a fight occur. When fighting heavy infantry it is advisable to take an Armory towards the time of the Industrial Age, in order to unlock Counter Infantry Rifling for an effective extra 33% attack against those units. Skirmishers are capable of sieging buildings, but this is a risky strategy due to the poor positioning required to do so, along with slow speed and low siege damage. It may be better to use them defensively in support of Falconets or Halberdiers instead.

Comparisons

Spanish Unction-boosted Skirmishers will inflict 54.675 damage before multipliers with all attack upgrades that do not require an ally or minor native upgrade. French Skirmishers have the highest stand-alone HP in the endgame (as Imperial Voltigeurs), as they have a Royal Guard Upgrade (10%) and 15% and 20% hit point Home City Cards available to them.

The Cherokee Rifleman and Klamath Rifleman are comparable to Fortress Age Skirmishers but with much higher hit points and may be useful for civilizations that lack access to regular Skirmishers. They are available on maps featuring the Cherokee or Klamath, and available earlier in the Commerce Age. Note that these units cost wood instead of coin.

Upgrades

The Skirmisher starts at the Veteran level, giving them +20% hit points and attack.

If they are made available in the Commerce Age with the "TEAM Early Skirmishers" Home City Card, Skirmishers will be automatically upgraded to Veteran once the player reaches the Fortress Age.

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect	Civ.
	Guard Skirmishers	600 wood, 600 coin	Upgrades Skirmishers to Guard (+30% hit points and attack)	Dutch Spanish
	Voltigeurs	1,000 wood, 1,000 coin	Upgrades Skirmishers to Voltigeurs (Guard Skirmishers with +10% hit points and attack)	French
	Prussian Needle Gun		Upgrades Skirmishers to Needle Gunners (Guard Skirmishers with +10% hit points and attack)	Germans
	Imperial Skirmishers	1,500 wood, 1,500 coin	Upgrades Skirmishers to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack); requires Guard Skirmisher	Dutch Spanish
	Imperial Voltigeurs		Upgrades Voltigeurs to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack); requires Voltigeurs	French
	Imperial Needle Guns		Upgrades Needle Gunners to Imperial Needlers (+50% hit points and attack); requires Prussian Needle Gun	Germans

Civilization differences

• As seen above, the French and Germans can upgrade Skirmishers to Royal Guard and Imperial Guard levels.
• While the British cannot train Skirmishers, they can ship 26 Guard Skirmishers through Roger's Rangers.
• Dutch Skirmishers can be trained from the Commerce Age; they will be automatically upgraded to the Veteran level once the player reaches the Fortress Age.
• John Black's Mercenaries can only upgrade Skirmishers to the Guard level.
• United States can upgrade Skirmishers to the Imperial level.
• Chinese and Indians can get Skirmishers by allying with British and Germans at the Consulate, which provides armies and shipments that includes Skirmishers (named Roger's Ranger for the British, Prussian Needle Gun for the Germans) listed below. These Skirmishers 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 Brigade (16 Skirmishers)
  • Germans (Chinese, requires a level 40 Home City): German Expeditionary Force (6 Skirmishers), German Expeditionary Army (11 Skirmishers), and German Brigade (15 Skirmishers)

Revolution

• Revolting to Finland turns the player's Settlers into Karelian Jaegers instead of Revolutionaries, which are Skirmishers that costs 100 wood and has a train limit of 99, can gather resources from crates and trees, and build Houses/Torps, Trading Posts, Blockhouses, Stables, and Artillery Foundries. They can be upgraded to the Guard level at the Blockhouse.
  • The "Northern Wilderness" Home City card allows Karelian Jaegers to gather all resources as a Settler does with the same rate.

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Heavy infantry, light cavalry, Eagle Runner Knights
Weak vs.	Heavy cavalry, Coyote Runners, artillery
Improvements
Hit points	Flint Lock (+10%) Thin Red Line (+20%, British only) Grand Encampment (+25%, United States only) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%)
Attack	Counter Infantry Rifling (+1.0x multiplier vs. heavy infantry) 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%) Tilly's Discipline (+20%, Germans only) Incan Road-building (+20%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
Sight	Town Watch (+2)
Creation speed	Standing Army (-25%) Incan Chasquis Messengers (-25%)
Train cost	Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost)
Other	Roger's Rangers (ships 26 Guard Skirmishers, British only) Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)
Penalties	Coffee Trade (-10% speed, Dutch only) Tilly's Discipline (+10% cost, Germans only) Grand Encampment (-25% speed, United States only)

Home City Cards

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

Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team Dutch Card Description Age HC level Infantry Attack Pikemen, Skirmishers, and Halberdiers get +15% attack 10 TEAM Infantry Hitpoints Infantry get +15% hit points 10 Infantry Combat Pikemen, Skirmishers, and Halberdiers get +15% hit points and attack 25 Europeans Card Description Age HC level 7 Skirmishers Ships 7 Skirmishers (also +3 Uhlans for the Germans) 1 9 Skirmishers Ships 9 Skirmishers (also +4 Uhlans for the Germans) 1 8 Skirmishers Ships 8 Skirmishers (also +3 Uhlans for the Germans) 10 12 Skirmishers Ships 12 Skirmishers (also +4 Uhlans for the Germans) 10 14 Skirmishers Ships 14 Skirmishers (also +4 Uhlans for the Germans) 25 Fencing School Infantry train time -40% 10 The 7 Skirmishers, 9 Skirmishers, and 8 Skirmishers cards are not available to the Spanish. The 12 Skirmishers card is not available to Dutch and Spanish. The 14 Skirmishers card is not available to Germans and Spanish. French Card Description Age HC level Long-range Infantry Hitpoints Crossbowmen and Skirmishers get +15% hit points 10 TEAM Ranged Infantry Attack Ranged infantry get +15% attack 10 TEAM Early Skirmishers Skirmishers, Cassadores, Forest Prowlers, Wakina Rifles, and Black Flag Army can be trained in the Colonial Age; Longbowman, Strelet, Macehualtin, Gurkha, and Yumi Archer train time -20% 25 Wilderness Warfare Coureurs des Bois, Skirmishers, and native warriors get +20% hit points 25 Germans Card Description Age HC level Long-range Infantry Hitpoints Crossbowmen and Skirmishers get +15% hit points +4 Uhlans 1 Indians Card Description Age HC level TEAM Shivaji's Tactics All units get +5% hit points and attack 25 Iroquois Card Description Age HC level TEAM Scout Infantry Infantry get +8 LOS 10 Japanese Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cheaper Unit Upgrades Unit upgrades cost -20% 1 Portuguese Card Description Age HC level TEAM Gunpowder Infantry Hitpoints Gunpowder infantry get +15% hit points 10 Russians Card Description Age HC level TEAM Dueling School Infantry train time -25%; banner army train time -12% 25 Spanish Card Description Age HC level TEAM Inquisition All units get +10 LOS 10

Changelog

Definitive Edition

• Fixed a bug where the Skirmisher starts at the Veteran level instead of Guard when the player starts a Post-Industrial Age match as the Dutch.

Trivia

• Finnish Skirmishers are named after the Karelians, who inhabited the namesake region once contested between Finland and Russia.
• French Royal Guard Skirmishers are named after the Voltigeurs.
• German Royal Guard and Consulate Skirmishers are named after the Dreyse needle gun they use.

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.

”

Gallery

An in-game (Veteran) Skirmisher

A Guard/Imperial Skirmisher

In-game stats of a Veteran Skirmisher

In-game stats of a French Voltigeur

Skirmisher concept art

Veteran Skirmisher model

Guard/ Imperial Skirmisher model

Add a photo to this gallery

See also

• Cassador – Portuguese counterpart
• Forest Prowler – Haudenosaunee counterpart
• Wakina Rifle – Lakota counterpart
• Arquebusier – Chinese counterpart
• Gurkha – Indian counterpart
• Volunteer - United States counterpart.