“ | Indian hand cavalry that rides a camel. Good against archers, skirmishers, and artillery. | ” |
—In-game description |
The Sowar is a melee heavy cavalry unit in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties that is unique to the Indians and can be trained at Caravanserai and Galleon, as well as the Agra Fort wonder once it is upgraded to Delhi Gate. It brandishes a thin spear from atop a camel.
Overview[]
Sowar is especially good against Light Infantry (like archers and Skirmishers). Its speed is the Sowar's greatest asset, it has a very high speed even when compared to other cavalry units, which enables it to both reinforce a battle and retreat from unfavorable engagements swiftly.
The Sowar does not perform well against heavy infantry and other cavalry due to the fact that it has a lower base damage than most cavalry units.
Although the Sowar starts out as a mediocre cavalry unit, it excels at killing Light Infantry once Home City cards are sent to upgrade them. One of the cards increases their attack bonus versus Light Infantry, and the others increase its base attack by a massive 45%. It does about 72.5 damage to Shock Infantry with all of these upgrades, making the Sowar potentially among the most cost-effective cavalry unit for countering Light Infantry in the Commerce Age. It is also very fast, making it easier to retreat or to catch other units.
Mansabdar Sowar[]
“ | Inspires all nearby Sowars. Indian hand cavalry that rides a camel. Good against archers, skirmishers, and artillery. | ” |
—In-game description |
The Mansabdar Sowar is a stronger version of the Sowar that can be trained from the Charminar Gate wonder or shipped from the Home City as part of Sowar Regiment. As a Mansabdar unit, the Mansabdar Sowar has twice the hit points of a Sowar and Imperial Service that increases the hit points and attack of nearby Sowars, but are two times more expensive.
Special ability[]
- Imperial Service (passive): The Mansabdar Sowar increases the hit points and attack of Sowars in a radius of 24 around him by 10%.
Upgrades[]
Age | Upgrade | Cost | Effect |
---|---|---|---|
Disciplined Sowar | 200 wood 100 coin |
Upgrades Sowars and Mansabdar Sowar to Disciplined (+20% hit points and attack) | |
Honored Sowar | 600 wood 600 coin |
Upgrades Sowars and Mansabdar Sowar to Honored (+30% hit points and attack); requires Disciplined Sowar | |
Exalted Sowar | 1,500 wood 1,500 coin |
Upgrades Sowars and Mansabdar Sowar to Exalted (+50% hit points and attack); requires Honored Sowar |
Further statistics[]
As (Mansabdar) Sowars are unique to the Indians, only technologies that they have access to are shown in the following table:
Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
---|---|
Strong vs. | Infantry, artillery |
Weak vs. | Heavy infantry, light cavalry, ranged shock infantry |
Improvements | |
Hit points | Comanche Horse Breeding (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%) Tar Kilns (+5%) |
Attack | Yoga (+5%) Wind Horses (-10% Rate of Fire) |
Resistance | Sudanese Quilted Armor (+10% hand resistance) Pancerni (+10% ranged resistance) |
Speed | Apache Endurance (+5%) Comanche Mustangs (+5%) Wind Horses (+0.5) |
Train time | Cheyenne Horse Trading (-40%) Quechuan Diet (-15%) Immigrants (-10%) Shaman Drums (-10%) |
Cost | Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost) Golden Liberty (-5% coin cost) |
Other | Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost) |
Home City Cards[]
As (Mansabdar) Sowars are unique to the Indians, only their cards and other civilizations' TEAM cards are shown in the following tables:
- Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the (Mansabdar) Sowar
Some cards are highlighted with: | |
Green | TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team |
Blue | Shipment that arrives fast (5 seconds) |
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 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.
Indians[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
Dravidian Martial Arts | All units get +15% hand attack; Rajputs get +20% hand attack instead; +1 Hindu Villager | |
4 Sowars | Ships 4 Sowars; +1 Hindu Villager | |
6 Sowars | Ships 6 Sowars; +1 Hindu Villager | |
Sowar Regiment | Ships 8 Sowars and 1 Mansabdar Sowar; +1 Hindu Villager | |
Camel Attack | Camels get +30% attack; +1 Hindu Villager | |
Desert Terror | Sowars get +0.5 attack multiplier against infantry and -0.1 against heavy infantry; Zamburaks get +0.5 attack multiplier against heavy cavalry and hand shock infantry; +1 Hindu Villager | |
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics | All units get +5% hit points and attack | |
Riding School | Cavalry train time -40%; +1 Hindu Villager | |
Foreign Trading Companies | Gives a trickle of 0.75 export/sec.; banner army cost -15% export; Indian units cost +2.5% (Hindu Villagers, Fishing Boats, and Sacred Cows cost +5% instead); +1 Hindu Villager | |
Grazing | Camels generate 0.05 food/sec.; Brahmins and elephants generate 0.1 wood/sec.; Sacred Cows generate 0.075 coin/sec.; +1 Hindu Villager | |
British East India Company | Sepoys, Gurkhas, and Sowars get +10% hit points and attack; +1 Hindu Villager |
Italians[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Cavalry Attack | Heavy cavalry, light 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 |
French[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Hand Cavalry Attack | Heavy cavalry and Coyote Runners get +15% attack | 10 |
Germans[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Cavalry Attack | Heavy cavalry, light cavalry, and shock infantry get +15% attack | 10 |
Indians[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
Dravidian Martial Arts | All units get +15% hand attack; +1 Villager | 40 | |
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics | All units get +5% hit points and attack | 25 | |
4 Sowars | Ships 4 Sowars; +1 Villager | 1 | |
6 Sowars | Ships 6 Sowars; +1 Villager | 10 | |
Sowar Regiment | Ships 8 Sowars and 1 Mansabdar Sowar; +1 Villager | 25 | |
Camel Attack | Camels get +30% attack; +1 Villager | 10 | |
Desert Terror | Sowars get +0.5 attack multiplier against infantry and -0.1 against heavy infantry; Zamburaks get +0.5 attack multiplier against heavy cavalry and hand shock infantry; +1 Villager | 10 | |
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics | All units get +5% hit points and attack | 25 | |
Riding School | Cavalry train time -40%; +1 Villager | 10 | |
Grazing | Camels generate 0.05 food/sec.; Brahmins and elephants generate 0.1 wood/sec.; +1 Villager | 40 | |
British East India Company | Sepoys, Gurkhas, and Sowars get +10% hit points and attack; +1 Villager | 25 |
Japanese[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Cheaper Unit Upgrades | Unit upgrades cost -20% | 1 |
Russians[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Cavalry Scouts | Cavalry and shock infantry get +10% hit points and +4 Line of Sight | 1 |
Spanish[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Inquisition | All units get +10 Line of Sight | 10 |
Changelog[]
The Asian Dynasties[]
- Sowars and Mansabdar Sowars have a ×1.5 multiplier against infantry and a ×0.67 multiplier against Heavy infantry.
- The Desert Terror Home City Card gives -0.17× multiplier against heavy infantry.
- Mansabdar Sowars cost 4 population.
Definitive Edition[]
- Sowars and Mansabdar Sowars have a ×2.0 multiplier against infantry and a ×0.5 multiplier against heavy infantry.
- The Desert Terror Home City Card gives -0.1× multiplier against heavy infantry and +0.5× against all infantry, making the Sowar's damage ×2.5 versus all infantry and ×2.5 (×0.4) = ×1.0 against heavy infantry.
- With update 20322, Mansabdar Sowars cost 2 population.
Trivia[]
- The Sowar is the only camel unit in the entire Age of Empires series that doesn´t deal bonus damage to any mounted units.
- The Sowar's unit portrait resembles the Honored/Exalted Sowar model.
History[]
“ | In Persian, the word "sowar" literally means "the one who rides." During the British East India Company's occupation of the Indian subcontinent, "sowar" was used in reference to native cavalry units in the Company's employ. These mounted soldiers were considered the equivalent of sepoy infantry soldiers, and they were often utilized as escorts and guards. | ” |