"They had taken no more than a dozen steps away from the cottages when a musket barrel came smashing through an unbroken window in one of the cottages ahead. The door flew open, three more muskets poked out. The muskets boomed, killing two of th surprised soldiers a yard to Orry's left."
—John Jakes, North and South (Cap 12)
In game[]
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Upgrade of Arquebus Infantry, has better range and added attack bonus.
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| Prereq: | Build time | HP | LOS | Attack | Attack speed | Movement speed | ||
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11.2s (169t) |
123 | 11 | 22 | 2.9s (44t) |
26 | ||
| Cost | Created from | Armour | Weapon range | Specialty | ||||
| Base | Ramp | Pop | ||||||
 : 70; : 60
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: 1;: 1
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1 | 
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0 | 1–11 |
Upgrades to Skirmishers
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Overall strategy[]
Come the Mercantile Era, the European factions are capable of raising picked bands of Marksmen. Although the only thing that distinguishes them from other units are their seemingly austere appearance, clad in green coats, these soldiers are a genus of light infantry who like their Archer counterparts are specialised in picking off infantry units from a distance, using their crude yet effective muskets. Marksmen are by far the fastest moving [Prereq: Lvl 2 Mil]
Use these men to pick off enemy units at long range, but beware of artillery as well as melee cavalry - while Marksmen are capable of picikng off units piecemeal, their slow movement speed and their cost mean that they are not just very vulnerable if attacked close up, but can be difficult to replace.
Unit summary[]
- Bandeirantes - archaic form of light infantry which comes into play one age earlier for Portugal.
- Chasseurs - weaker, less far hitting but cheap and faster to train. Chasseurs are usually available to both France and Savoy-Italy
- Rangers - has more HP, lower range but can defend itself at point-blank range.Like all British units, is effective but costly - trained by USA, Britain. British Rangers can be upgraded to Green Jackets.
- Jäger - The most famous and probably the most effective of them all, Jäger units can be found in the armies of Austria, Germany and Russia.
History[]
In 1700, many European nations did not recruit light infantry regiments. Each line infantry regiment had a light company, but the mass volley was the proper way to employ firepower. As irregular light troops proved their worth and tribal natives refused to co-operate by fighting formal, set piece battles, it was realised that collecting together light companies in ad hoc regiments was no longer enough. Direct recruitment of light infantry regiments began in earnest, and by the end of the 18th Century every army fielded fast, light regiments.