Template:Infobox UnitThe Cuirassier is a unique French heavy cavalry unit featured in Age of Empires III. They can be upgraded to Royal Guard status.
Overview
The Cuirassier is one of the strongest cavalry units. They can only attack in melee combat, but deal splash damage, which makes them extremely effective against large armies but are still vulnerable to heavy infantry and ranged cavalry in certain situations. If combined with Voltigeurs, they form a deadly combo which is often used by French players and very hard to counter if properly managed. They are also very efficient at defeating enemy artillery.
Compared to the Hussar, the mainline cavalry of most other civilizations, the Cuirassier has more hit points but less attack. Cuirassiers deal area of effect damage, however, making them more effective than Hussars in almost every situation.
Having enough Coureur des Bois in Mills and Plantations compensates for their high cost in Food and Coin. They are also often used in game modes with a high amount of resources. Also, two cards and one technology can enable the player to train them instantly: Thoroughbreds (which also lowers cost to 127 food and 127 coin), Riding school, and Mass Cavalry.
Upgrades
Arsenal
- Cavalry Cuirass increases hit points by 10%
- Pillage adds a 25% bonus to siege damage against buildings
Gendarme Cuirassier
Gendarme Cuirassier is an upgrade of the Cuirassier in the Industrial Age. It increases attack and hit points.
Imperial Gendarme
Imperial Gendarmes is an upgrade of the Gendarme Cuirassier in the Imperial Age. It further increases attack and hit points.
- Hit Points: 1000
- Melee Attack: 57
- Siege Attack: 57
- Guardian Attack: 57
- Cost: 1500 wood
and 1500 coin
Strategy
The best way to counter them would be to use massed heavy infantry with high damage multipliers against cavalry, Pikeman are not advisable as they will generally be overwhelmed unless they outnumber the Cuirassiers significantly. The Doppelsoldner is also an effective choice. Musketeers can be somewhat effective if placed in large groups but cuirassiers can defeat them easily if they are not in a large mass. Halberdiers only have a 2X damage multiplier against cavalry but their high damage counteracts this, allowing them to defeat Cuirassiers if massed and used properly. Ranged cavalry units are by far the most effective counter against Cuirassiers, their speed and high attack against hand cavalry allows them to easily eliminate Cuirassiers in open spaces by kiting.
Spanish Heavy Cannons being bolstered by unction are also an effective counter, as three cannons acquired by means of The General and two Heavy Cannon card focus firing (or overlapping the edges of their AoE to better spread it over a large area) can drop clusters of Cuirassiers every six seconds (the time it takes for the cannons to fire again) when protected by blocks of Spanish Pikemen or Musketeers (similarly being augmented by the unction aura). Highlanders are a more costly option, but due to their 40% melee resistance, they ignore almost half of a cuirassiers damage making them an expensive but effective meat shield. A pair of Spanish Monitors augmented by unction can drop their long-range shots on an army of Cuirassiers and kill them outright every time the ability cools down (1488 damage). With the Admiralty card from the Home City a third ship can be made to wipe out large Skirmisher armies in a single long-range barrage.
Shipments
This is a list of shipments that benefit Cuirassiers in any way.
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History
The Cuirassiers were mounted cavalry soldiers equipped with armor and firearms, first appearing in late 15th-century Europe. They were the successors of the medieval armored Knights. The term is derived from cuirasse, the breastplate armor which they wore.
Cuirassiers played a prominent role in the armies of Austria, Frederick the Great of Prussia and of Napoleon I of France. The latter increased the number of French Cuirassier regiments to fourteen by the end of his reign. The actual utility of this armor is questionable. Prussian cuirassiers abandoned the cuirass before the Napoleonic Wars as did the British.
A few present-day mounted cavalry units continue to use cuirasses as part of their parade equipment on formal occasions. Most however have not retained the actual title of "cuirassiers", if indeed they bore it in the first place. These are the Life Guards and Blues and Royals of the British Household Cavalry; the Coraceros de la Guardia Real of the Spanish Royal Guard (created in 1875); and the Italian Corazzieri.
Gallery
Template:Units AoE3