Totenkopf Hussar

Totenkopf Hussar
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition - Knights of the Mediterranean
Type	Cavalry Heavy cavalry Hand cavalry Native warrior
Age	Commerce Age
Abilities	Valor Promotion
Special ability	Death Strike
Training
Trained at	Trading Post or Tambo on a House of Hanover palace Native Embassy
Food	70
Coin	90
Training time	42 seconds
Training limit	12 per House of Hanover palace
Statistics
Hit points	180
Resists	30% vs. Ranged
Speed	7.25
Line of Sight	15
XP train bounty	16
XP bounty	16
Melee attack
Damage	27 18 (Trample Mode)
Area of Effect	3 (Trample Mode)
Rate of Fire	1.5 2.0 (Trample Mode)
Siege attack
Damage	20
Range	6
Rate of Fire	3.0

“	Fast German Hand Cavalry that charges its deadly sabre attack ability when attacking. Benefits from promotions.	”
—In-game description

The Totenkopf Hussar is a cavalry native warrior in Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition - Knights of the Mediterranean that can be trained at a Trading Post built on a House of Hanover palace.

Overview

Totenkopf Hussars are available starting in the Commerce Age, and like their European counterpart, have high speed and damage, but lack melee multipliers. They are effective against ranged infantry (like Skirmishers) and small groups of artillery, but they can be taken down by heavy infantry like Pikemen or Musketeers in melee combat.

Compared with Hussars, they have slightly less melee attack, cost less food and slightly more coin, but have reduced hit points. Therefore, Totenkopf Hussars could be considered as a lesser version of the Uhlan.

Totenkopf Hussars benefit from the Valor Promotion. This ability increases their hit points and Rate of Fire for each defeated enemy military unit. For the first defeated unit, they get +20% hit points and -10% Rate of Fire; +30% hit points and -20% Rate of Fire for the second defeated unit; +45% hit point and -30% Rate of Fire for the third defeated unit. These stats can be higher with Home City Cards or upgrades that benefit cavalry.

Special abilities

• Death Strike (requires 5 hits to charge up; automatically activated after researching Royal Scots Grey): The Totenkopf Hussar performs a powerful strike with his sword, which deals 54 damage.

Upgrades

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect
	Veteran Hanoverians	125 wood, 125 coin	Upgrades Totenkopf Hussars and Drummers to Veteran (+20% hit points and attack)
	Royal Guard Hanoverians	350 wood, 350 coin	Upgrades Totenkopf Hussars, Drummers and Black Brunswickers to Royal Guard (+40% hit points and attack); requires Veteran Hanoverians
	Legendary Native Warriors Exalted Natives	1,500 food, 1,500 wood	Upgrades native warriors to Legendary/Exalted/Imperial (+50% hit points and attack)

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Ranged infantry, Shock Infantry, artillery
Weak vs.	Heavy infantry, light cavalry
Improvements
Hit points	Cavalry Cuirass (+10%) Horsemanship (+10%; Lakota only) Gadaa System (+5%; Ethiopians only) Comanche Horse Breeding (+10%) Cree Tanning (+10%) Navajo Weaving (+5%) Tar Kilns (+5%)
Attack	Pillage (+25% siege attack) Gadaa System (+5%; Ethiopians only) Wind Horses (-10% ROF) Yoga (+5%)
Armor	Pancerni (+0.1) Sudanese Quilted Armor (+10% melee resistance)
Speed	Horse Secrets (+10%; Haudenosaunee only) Comanche Mustangs (+5%) Apache Endurance (+5%) Wind Horses (+0.5)
Sight	Town Watch (+2)
Creation speed	Mass Cavalry (-35%) Horse Secrets (-35%; Haudenosaunee only) Terror Charge (-20%; Indians only)
Train cost	Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost) Golden Liberty (-5% coin cost) Philhellenism (-10%)
Other	Royal Scots Grey (ships 5 Totenkopf Hussars; Death Strike ability ready from the start)
Penalties	Coffee Trade (-10% speed; Dutch only)

Home City Cards

• Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team
• Blue: Shipment that arrives fast (5 seconds)

All

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Cavalry Combat	Cavalry get +15% hit points and attack		10
Cavalry Damage	Cavalry get +15% attack		10
Native Treaties	Each different allied native tribe sends a shipment of their respective native warriors		1
Native Warriors	Native warriors cost -25%		10
Native Warrior Combat	Native warriors get +25% hit points and attack		25
TEAM Native Warrior Societies	Native warrior train limit +30%		25
Blood Brothers	Upgrades native warriors to Elite/Disciplined and Champion/Honored (if not already)		25
Liberation March	Infantry, cavalry, and Shock Infantry get +5% speed and train time -35%		N/A
Riding School	Cavalry train time -40%		10

The Cavalry Combat card is available to Dutch, French Italians, Mexicans, Ottomans, Russians, and Lakota (at a level 25 Home City).

The Cavalry Damage card is available to Haudenosaunee (in the Fortress Age) and Lakota.

The Native Treaties and Native Warriors cards are available to European and Native American civilizations.

The Native Treaties card ships 3 Totenkopf Hussars if the player had built a Trading Post on a House of Hanover palace.

The Native Warriors card is not available to Chinese, Ethiopians, Hausa, Indians, Italians and Japanese.

The Native Warrior Combat card is available to French and Haudenosaunee.

The Blood Brothers card is available to Aztecs, French, Germans, Haudenosaunee, Portuguese, Russians, Lakota, and Spanish.

The TEAM Native Warrior Societies card is available to Aztecs, Dutch, Haudenosaunee and Lakota.

The Liberation March card is available to Mexicans and Spanish

The Riding School card is not available to Aztecs, Chinese, Haudenosaunee, and Japanese.

Asians

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Native Alliance	Native warrior train limit +20% and cost -10% (also +1 Villager for the Indians)		1
Native Warrior Hitpoints	Native warriors get +30% hit points and +10% speed (also +1 Villager for the Indians)		10
Native Warrior Attack	Native warriors get +30% attack and train time -25%		10

The Native Alliance card is not available to the Chinese.

The Native Warrior Hitpoints card is not available to the Japanese.

The Native Warrior Attack card is not available to the Indians.

Africans

Card	Description	Age
Feudal Armies	Unit train time -15%; Hero respawn time -15%

Chinese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Western Reforms	All units get +8% hit points and attack		40
Acupuncture	Unit train time -20%		10

Ethiopians

Card	Description	Age
Ignatian Spirituality	All units get +5% hit points and regeneration capability even while in combat
Loyal Warriors	Native warriors, mercenaries, and outlaws cost -15% (also affects shipments)

French

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Hand Cavalry Attack	Heavy cavalry and Coyote Runners get +15% attack		10
Hand Cavalry Hitpoints	Heavy cavalry get +15% hit points		10
Wilderness Warfare	Coureurs des Bois, Skirmishers, and native warriors get +20% hit points		25
TEAM French Auxiliaries Combat	Native warriors get +15% hit points and attack		1

Germans

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Cavalry Attack	The player's Heavy cavalry, light cavalry, and Shock Infantry get +15% attack; allied cavalry and Shock Infantry get +10%		10
Spanish Riding School	Cavalry get +10% speed +4 Uhlans		25

Haudenosaunee

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Cavalry Hitpoints	Cavalry get +15% hit points		10

Hausa

Card	Description	Age
Sahelian Kingdoms	Native warriors get +15% hit points and attack; Mercenaries and outlaws get +10% hit points and attack

Incas

Card	Description	Age
Road Building	All land military units get +10% speed
Couriers	Infantry, shock infantry and cavalry train time -45%
Native Alliance	Native warrior train limit +20% and cost -10%

Indians

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Dravidian Martial Arts	All units get +15% melee attack +1 Villager		40
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics	All units get +5% hit points and attack		25

Italians

Card	Description	Age
Schiavoni Swords	All cavalry and infantry get +15% hand attack

Japanese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Sengoku	Unit upgrades cost -20%		1
Bakufu	Daimyo and Shogun Tokugawa get +10% speed, +20 LOS and train units 15% faster; Banner army train time -10%; Land military unit train time -20%		25

Lakota

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Mustangs	Cavalry costs -10%		10
Black Arrow	Native warrior train time -85%		10

Maltese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Knights of the Round Table	Ships 1 Hospitaller for each Center owned by the player; increases all unit hit points by 2%
7 Hanover Allies	Ships 7 Totenkopf Hussars; costs 500 coin

Mexicans

Card	Description	Age
Plan of Casa Mata	[Plan] Turns all Dragoons into Chinacos; melee cavalry get +5% speed; costs 250 food, 250 wood
Chimayo Genizarios	Native warrior train time -10%; Native warrior shipments and "Native Treaties" arrive twice as fast; costs 500 food, 500 wood
TEAM Mariachi	For the next 30 seconds, military buildings have their work rate increased by 400% and units have their speed increased by 10%

Russians

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Kamchatka Expeditions	Cavalry and Shock Infantry get +10% hit points and +4 LOS		1

Spanish

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Inquisition	All units get +10 LOS		10

Swedes

Card	Description	Age
Hand Infantry/Hand Cavalry Attack	Melee infantry and cavalry get +15% attack, except mercenaries which get +8%
Hand Infantry/Hand Cavalry Hitpoints	Melee infantry and cavalry get +15% hit points, except mercenaries which get +8%

United States

Card	Description	Age
Indian Friendship	Each different allied native tribe sends a large shipment of their respective native warriors; Native warrior train time -10%; Native warrior shipments arrive twice as fast; costs 500 food, 500 wood

The Indian Friendship card ships 3 Totenkopf Hussars if the player had built a Trading Post on a House of Hanover palace.

In-game dialogue

The Totenkopf Hussar speaks German using the German Hussar's dialogue files.

Trivia

• The Chilean Hussars of Death were inspired by this unit.
• "Totenkopf" is translated from German as "dead man's head", or simply "skull".

History

“

The House of Hanover ruled much of northwestern Germany from the 17th century up through the 20th century. During the early modern period, northern German states such as Hanover and Prussia recruited elite heavy cavalry forces. The Hanoverians, who often fought in the service of the Prussians, led, among other troops, Brunswicker cavalry dubbed Totenkopf Hussars for the insignia of the skull and crossbones that they wore on their hats. These troops were of such repute in their heyday that they spawned several imitations in the armies of their contemporaries, such as France, Sweden, and even Chile.

”

Gallery

Totenkopf Hussar image from the Compendium section

An in-game Totenkopf Hussar