Lowlander
Lowlander is Heavy infantry in Age of Empires III, available from the Commerce Age; obtained through Trading Post or Tambo on a House of Stuart palace, Native Embassy. Its listed ability is Mount.
Recorded values
- Available
- Commerce Age · Trading Post or Tambo on a House of Stuart palace; Native Embassy
- Training
- 26 sec · 9 XP per train
- Durability & mobility
- 135 hit points · 30% hand resistance · 4.25 speed · 12 line of sight
- Hand attack
- 15 damage · 1.5 attack interval · bonuses: 3.0x vs. Cavalry; 2.25x vs. Shock troops
- Ranged attack
- 19 damage · 12 range · 3.0 attack interval
- Siege attack
- 19 damage · 6 range · 3.0 attack interval
Role, availability & values
Production is available through Trading Post or Tambo on a House of Stuart palace or Native Embassy. It has 135 hit points. It moves at 4.25 speed. Training costs 50 Food and 40 Coin; it takes 26 seconds to train. Attack profile: Hand attack deals 15 damage. Ranged attack deals 19 damage. Siege attack deals 19 damage. Hand attack bonuses: 3.0× against Cavalry and 2.25× against Shock troops. Special ability or role: Mount.
Matchup & timing
Choose the Lowlander for a force that benefits from its Mount option: it can take the mounted Lowland Dragoon form when ranged cavalry is more useful than the infantry role. Its 19-damage, range-12 shot is shorter than many dedicated Skirmishers, so use the form and movement that answer the current threat instead of leaving it in one role by default.
A native musketeer with two battlefield forms
The Lowlander is a Commerce Age native gunpowder Infantry unit introduced with The Baltic Powers. It is recruited through a Trading Post or Tambo on a House of Stuart palace, or through the Native Embassy where that access is available. The unit costs 50 Food and 40 Coin, trains in 26 seconds and has a limit of 15 per House of Stuart palace. Its foot form has 135 hit points, 30 percent hand resistance, speed 4.25 and sight 12. The 19-damage musket attack reaches 12 and fires every three seconds. In melee it uses a long pike: the 15-damage attack reaches one, fires every 1.5 seconds and deals three times damage against Cavalry and 2.25 times against Shock troops. It has 19 siege damage at range six. The Lowlander therefore resembles a Musketeer in ranged use but has an unusually useful pike reach and a direct cavalry counter profile. Its low population-free Native warrior status can help a full army, but the palace limit and resource costs still constrain production.
Mounting as a Lowland Dragoon
A trained Lowlander can mount a horse in four seconds and become a Lowland Dragoon, a light ranged Cavalry form. The Dragoon has 140 hit points, 10 percent ranged resistance, speed 7, sight 14 and a 12-damage ranged attack at a range of three to twelve every three seconds. Its ranged attack deals three times damage against Heavy Cavalry, 2.25 times against Hand Shock troops and twice against Artillery, while dealing half damage to Villagers. It has a 12-damage melee attack with 2.5 times damage against Cavalry and twice against Shock troops and Artillery, plus 14 siege damage. The mounted form gains mobility and ranged resistance, while the foot Lowlander has 30 percent hand resistance and the long-reach pike attack. Mount when chasing, repositioning or focusing enemy Cavalry at range; dismount when the fight requires a durable Infantry line. The switch takes four seconds, and the unit is always trained as Infantry, so the player must activate Mount manually.
Counter matchups and positioning
Both forms are designed to answer Cavalry, but neither should be mistaken for a universal counter unit. The foot Lowlander deals triple melee damage to Cavalry and 2.25 times to Shock troops, while the mounted Dragoon’s ranged attack has matching anti-heavy-cavalry and anti-shock multipliers. The Dragoon also attacks Artillery well at range and in melee. Both forms are vulnerable to Light Infantry and counter-skirmishers; Artillery is also listed as a weakness for the foot form. Skirmishers can therefore punish a Lowlander force that relies only on muskets. Support it with units that can remove Light Infantry or protect the approach. Use the foot pike to deter a direct Cavalry charge, and mount a portion of the force to threaten enemy Cavalry or guns that stay at range. This mixed posture makes it harder for an opponent to choose a single answer, but only if the player has time to change forms before the engagement.
House of Stuart and native rank upgrades
The House of Stuart alliance is the source of Lowlander access: a Trading Post on one of its palaces unlocks training and sets the per-palace limit. Veteran Stuarts costs 125 Wood and 125 Coin and upgrades Lowlanders and Lowland Dragoons by 20 percent hit points and damage. Royal Guard Stuarts requires the Veteran upgrade and costs 350 Wood and 350 Coin, adding 40 percent hit points and damage. Legendary Native Warriors, Exalted Natives or the Polish Czartoryski Patronage route can provide the Imperial native upgrade for 50 percent hit points and damage, depending on civilization. Europeans and Mexico generally use a Capitol, the United States a State Capitol, and Asian or Native American civilizations their Town Center route; Poles use the Sejm for Czartoryski Patronage, while African native warriors upgrade automatically. These rank upgrades affect the paired unit forms, so the investment supports both the Infantry and Dragoon roles. Secure the palace site and plan upgrade prerequisites before relying on a large Lowlander army.
Population, limits and an efficient unit mix
Lowlanders do not use population in the same way as ordinary musketeers, but their limited number per House of Stuart palace means they cannot replace a standard Infantry production line indefinitely. The 15-unit local limit makes each palace a production bottleneck, and its 26-second training time means a reserve can be assembled before the enemy attacks. Their ability to mount lets a player use the same roster as either a pike-bearing Infantry screen or a ranged Cavalry flank. Avoid changing the whole army to one form without considering the opponent’s composition: dismounted Lowlanders can hold a line against melee Cavalry, while mounted Dragoons can kite and focus Heavy Cavalry or Artillery. The opposing Light Infantry remains dangerous in either case, so the Lowlander benefits from support rather than standing alone. If the enemy force is mostly Skirmishers, prioritize another unit type and use Lowlanders to protect it from Cavalry.
Upgrade routes across civilizations
The core House of Stuart ranks are Veteran Stuarts and Royal Guard Stuarts, which improve both Lowlander and Lowland Dragoon forms. Veteran Stuarts is available from the Commerce Age onward for 125 Wood and 125 Coin, adding 20 percent hit points and damage. Royal Guard Stuarts requires Veteran and costs 350 Wood and 350 Coin, adding 40 percent. The Imperial native upgrade adds another 50 percent through Legendary Native Warriors or Exalted Natives, or Czartoryski Patronage for Poles. Civilization determines the building and technology route, and some civilizations may also have class-specific cards that improve gunpowder Infantry, Cavalry or native warriors. These bonuses can stack with the form’s base role, but the source’s unit tags affect which class upgrades apply. A mounted Lowland Dragoon is Cavalry; the foot Lowlander is Infantry and gunpowder. Check the actual technology description and faction access before planning a bonus stack. Since the paired forms share the same unit, rank upgrades make both stances stronger without requiring separate production.
Tactical switching and settlement defense
Mounting or dismounting is most useful before contact. A foot Lowlander can stand behind a defensive structure with pikes ready to punish a Cavalry dive, while mounted Dragoons can move to intercept enemy guns or threaten a Cavalry flank. If the opponent sends Skirmishers, avoid leaving the foot line exposed; mount to reposition or use other units to challenge the Light Infantry. The four-second transition is long enough for the opponent to exploit a poorly timed switch, and the player loses attack output while changing. A House of Stuart palace is also the source of the local training limit, so a forward settlement needs protection if it is expected to replenish the army. The 15-per-palace cap means losing the site has strategic consequences beyond its resource value. Keep a reserve of trained Lowlanders when the map has a valuable Stuart location, and use their flexible form to respond to raids without abandoning the main force.
Version context and careful comparisons
The Lowlander and Lowland Dragoon are paired forms of a native unit introduced in The Baltic Powers, and should be compared as one recruitable roster rather than two separate production options. Its current foot and mounted profiles use different resistances and attack bonuses: 30 percent hand resistance on the foot Lowlander and 10 percent ranged resistance on the Dragoon. The Dragoon’s anti-Heavy Cavalry ranged multiplier is three, while the foot unit relies on a pike with three times melee damage against Cavalry. Both forms are vulnerable to Light Infantry. When using the stats in an army planner, distinguish their attack types: the mounted unit’s ranged attack deals 12 at distance and the foot unit’s musket deals 19, while the foot pike has 15 melee damage and the mounted form’s melee attack is 12. Those are different situations and should not be collapsed into a single damage number. Because the source article flags several overview sections as incomplete, this entry focuses on the documented unit profile, upgrade ladder and transformation.
Buying time for the transformation
The four-second form change is best treated as a preparation window. If the player sees a cavalry group moving toward the Lowlanders, switch to the pike stance before the charge reaches the line. If the enemy withdraws its Cavalry and brings Skirmishers, mount to move away or escort another group rather than letting the Infantry be kited. The Dragoon’s ranged attack has a three-second interval and the Lowlander’s musket uses the same cadence, so their key distinction is target multiplier, resistance and movement rather than firing frequency. Use mounted speed to close onto a gun only when the path is safe; its 12-range attack already allows it to fire while approaching. The foot unit’s 19 ranged damage is useful against ordinary targets, but its bonuses are concentrated in the pike. Keep each stance in a formation suited to its current role.
Mounted firearm with a dismount option
The Lowlander is a mounted ranged unit, represented in the House of Stuart content as a Lowland Dragoon, with a special ability to dismount. Its mobility lets it reposition or screen an army, while the dismount option changes how it occupies space and engages. Avoid leaving it unsupported in either posture: cavalry counters can punish the mounted form, and infantry or artillery can threaten a stationary group. Use the ability when the tactical benefit outweighs the lost mobility, then remount or withdraw before the opponent commits a counter.
House of Stuart access and limits
The documented Lowland Dragoon profile is limited to 15 per House of Stuart palace and has 140 hit points, 10% ranged resistance and speed 7.0. Access is tied to the relevant British palace and cards or scenario rules, not an ordinary universal Stable queue. Check the current House of Stuart options before planning repeated production. Because the unit’s special access and dismount mechanic make it unlike a standard Dragoon, compare its exact attacks and multipliers in the applicable entry rather than assuming the regular Dragoon profile.