Comanche Horse Archer
Comanche Horse Archer is ranged cavalry in Age of Empires III, available from the Commerce Age; obtained through Trading Post or Tambo on a Comanche settlement, Native Embassy.
Recorded values
- Available
- Commerce Age · Trading Post or Tambo on a Comanche settlement; Native Embassy
- Training
- 35 sec · 13 XP per train
- Durability & mobility
- 200 hit points · 10% hand resistance · 7.25 speed · 16 line of sight
- Ranged attack
- 15 base damage · range 12 · attack interval 1.5 · bonus damage: 2.25x vs. Heavy cavalry; 2.0x vs. Artillery; 1.75x vs. Hand shock trooper; 0.5x vs. Villager
- Siege attack
- 15 base damage · range 6 · attack interval 3.0
- Hand attack
- 7 base damage · attack interval 1.5 · bonus damage: 4.5x vs. Heavy cavalry; 3.5x vs. Hand shock trooper; 2.0x vs. Artillery
Role, availability & values
Production is available through Trading Post or Tambo on a Comanche settlement or Native Embassy. It has 200 hit points. It moves at 7.25 speed. Training costs 70 Food and 60 Wood; it takes 35 seconds to train. Attack profile: Ranged attack: 15 damage at range 12; every 1.5 seconds. Siege attack: 15 damage at range 6; every 3.0 seconds. Hand attack: 7 damage; every 1.5 seconds.
Matchup & timing
Keep the Comanche Horse Archer moving between volleys: its 15-damage attack fires every 1.5 seconds and targets Heavy cavalry, Artillery and Hand shock troops. The melee attack has larger bonuses but requires contact; use it only when the target cannot punish the approach. The unit’s Native production limits make losses harder to replace than an ordinary cavalry queue.
Native unit profile and production limits
The Comanche Horse Archer is a Commerce Age ranged Cavalry Native warrior trained at a Trading Post or Tambo on a Comanche settlement, or at a Native Embassy where available. It costs 70 Food and 60 Wood, trains in 35 seconds and is limited to ten per Comanche settlement. Its 200 hit points, 10 percent hand resistance, speed 7.25 and sight 16 combine durability with high mobility. The ranged attack deals 15 damage at range 12 every 1.5 seconds. It deals 2.25 times damage against Heavy Cavalry, twice against Artillery and 1.75 times against Hand Shock troops, but only half damage to Villagers. Native warriors do not take population space, allowing Comanche Horse Archers to supplement a capped army. The local settlement limit remains important, however, and a single site cannot support unlimited production. Before Definitive Edition, the unit cost 80 Wood and took 30 seconds to train; its experience rewards also changed. Use the current values when planning a modern build and treat earlier statistics as version history.
Kiting and anti-cavalry combat
The Horse Archer is designed to maintain distance while using ranged damage, and its speed 7.25 makes it effective at repositioning around a slower army. Its most useful targets are Heavy Cavalry, Artillery and Hand Shock troops, which receive its damage multipliers. Its low ranged resistance is a defining weakness: Light Infantry can inflict heavy damage, so avoid letting Skirmishers or other counter units establish a firing line. The unit has only 10 percent hand resistance, but its hand attack is also specialized. It deals seven damage every 1.5 seconds, with 4.5 times damage against Heavy Cavalry, 3.5 times against Hand Shock troops and twice against Artillery. That makes it dangerous if an enemy cavalry unit reaches it, but the base attack is too low to use as ordinary melee Cavalry. Its 15-damage siege attack at range six gives it a limited role against structures after an engagement is won. Keep it moving, focus fire on units it counters and retreat before Light Infantry closes.
Native and mercenary access
The settlement-trained native form is map-dependent and obeys the ten-per-settlement cap. A separate mercenary form can be shipped to the Lakota or Mexicans regardless of map and does not share the native training limit or selection group. Lakota Home City Cards named 8 Comanche Allies, 18 Comanche Allies and 13 Comanche Allies send those numbers of Horse Archers; the first two cards can be repeated once in the Imperial Age, while the third improves them to Elite and Champion and can be sent repeatedly. The Mexican Renegade Comanche shipment sends 11, upgrades them to Elite and adds 0.75 bonus damage against Villagers. These shipments make the unit available without a Comanche settlement, but they are a timed Home City investment rather than a source of continuous local production. Distinguish the shipment unit from the native version when planning numbers, upgrades and replenishment.
Upgrades and late-game use
Comanche Warrior Societies costs 100 Wood and 75 Coin in Definitive Edition and raises Comanche Horse Archers to Elite with 25 percent more hit points and damage; before Definitive Edition it cost 200 Wood and 150 Coin. Champion Comanche requires that technology, costs 400 Wood and 300 Coin, and adds 35 percent hit points and damage in the current version, compared with 40 percent earlier. Legendary Native Warriors or Exalted Natives provides a further 50 percent native hit point and damage improvement where available. These technologies help a local Comanche force scale beyond the early Commerce Age, and the unit can also benefit from Comanche-specific technologies and civilization bonuses. Its ten-unit settlement limit caps the size of a pure native group, making shipments or another unit type important when a larger force is needed. Upgrades improve its durability and damage but do not remove its Light Infantry vulnerability. Continue using speed and range to control engagements rather than treating upgraded Horse Archers as a stand-up Cavalry unit.
Comparison with Cavalry Archers and Dragoons
The Comanche Horse Archer resembles the Cavalry Archer but moves faster and has stronger durability than its low ranged resistance might suggest. Compared with a Dragoon, it costs fewer total resources but uses Wood instead of Coin and is available in the Commerce Age. Its melee damage per second is lower, and it is more vulnerable to Light Infantry because it lacks ranged resistance. These differences make it a specialist rather than a direct replacement for a Dragoon. It can counter hand Cavalry using its attack multipliers, preserve population space and scale with native upgrades, but the settlement limit and Light Infantry weakness shape how it should be deployed. A Dragoon-style ranged Cavalry role usually requires more attention to screening than the Comanche’s hand resistance alone implies. Pair Horse Archers with units that can pressure Skirmishers, and use their speed to attack exposed Heavy Cavalry or guns rather than forcing a prolonged duel against the wrong target.
Cards and faction-specific mercenary improvements
The Comanche mercenary shipments provide different outcomes for Lakota and Mexico. Lakota can call 8, 18 or 13 Comanche Allies; the two smaller named shipments can be repeated once in the Imperial Age, while the 13-unit card upgrades the force to Elite and Champion and can be sent repeatedly. Mexico’s Renegade Comanche sends 11 Horse Archers, upgrades them to Elite and adds a Villager damage bonus. These shipped forces are separate from the settlement-trained native warriors: they do not share the ten-unit limit and are not selected together with the native group. Comanche Warrior Societies and Champion Comanche apply to the settlement warrior upgrade path, while Home City mercenary cards can supply their own rank changes. Keep those paths distinct when calculating total army strength. A shipment can create a sudden force on a map without a Comanche village, but a native settlement provides the ability to train replacements over time.
How its counters shape an army
The Horse Archer’s strong hand resistance and large Cavalry multipliers can tempt a player to use it as a front-line unit, but its main attack is ranged and its ranged resistance is only 10 percent against hand attacks. Light Infantry is a serious threat because the unit lacks the protection a Dragoon normally has against ranged fire. Use speed to keep distance from melee units and avoid crossing open ground under Skirmisher fire. When Artillery is exposed, the unit’s ranged and hand multipliers both help remove it, but it should approach with vision and a retreat path. Its 16 sight is four points beyond its ranged attack reach, allowing it to spot targets before entering firing range. The unit also carries a 15-damage siege attack, so it can help pressure a structure after the defenders have withdrawn. Native population-free status is useful near the cap, but does not make the Horse Archer disposable: its Wood cost, training time and settlement limit make losses difficult to replace quickly.
Changes from the original release
The Comanche Horse Archer’s current profile has changed over several releases. Its Wood cost was 80 before Definitive Edition and is now 60, while its training time changed from 30 to 35 seconds. The native settlement limit is ten, and training and kill experience changed from 15 to 13 before later balance updates. Update 19.18309 increased the ranged attack from 13 to 15. Older mercenary descriptions may still show 13 damage, while the current native profile shows 15; check the exact card or version when evaluating a shipped mercenary group. This distinction matters because the Home City shipment form and settlement-trained native form are separate unit records with separate access and limit rules. In a current local strategy, use the 15-damage native attack and current Wood price; do not combine those values with an older training time or a mercenary card’s profile.
Settlement access and late-game replacements
The native group depends on controlling the Comanche settlement and keeping its Trading Post or Tambo active. A ten-unit cap at each settlement gives a clear upper bound for continuous native production, and its 35-second training time makes replacement slower than adding a shipment instantly. If a forward Trading Post is likely to be contested, avoid committing the whole army plan to Horse Archers unless a second production route or shipment is available. Native upgrades improve the unit over time, but do not increase the local limit or remove its vulnerability to Light Infantry. A practical composition keeps Horse Archers behind a screen and uses their speed to choose the range of engagement. Once enemy Skirmishers dominate the field, preserve the mounted group for scouting and countering exposed Heavy Cavalry rather than repeatedly trading it away. The map, settlement access and Home City cards together determine whether Comanche Horse Archers can remain a core force or should be used as a limited specialist.
Mobile ranged cavalry against melee Cavalry
The Comanche Horse Archer is a fast ranged Cavalry unit that can use its mobility and resistance to contest enemy hand Cavalry. It is suited to skirmishing around the edge of a fight, protecting a retreat and punishing mounted units that try to reach vulnerable ranged troops. Its ranged attack and hand-combat profile differ from a Dragoon, so use it according to its own counters rather than treating it as an interchangeable cavalry gun.
Avoid light infantry and poor close engagements
Light infantry can threaten Comanche Horse Archers, and their close-combat damage is not the same as a dedicated melee Cavalry charge. Keep them moving, focus fire on mounted threats and avoid being pinned by infantry or artillery. A Native alliance that supplies the unit should be judged against the map and the value of its other options; reserve population and resources for a front line that can hold ground while the horse archers reposition.
Keep the horse archers mobile
The Comanche Horse Archer’s value is its ability to threaten hand Cavalry while staying faster and more flexible than a foot archer. Use short engagements: fire on mounted units, move away from light infantry and avoid being trapped against buildings. They can guard a flank or cover a retreat, but need a separate front line to hold a position. If the opponent switches to Skirmishers or artillery, stop investing in horse archers and add units that answer those threats.