Merchant Cavalryman

“A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!”
:—William Shakespeare, Richard III (Act 5 scene iv)
==In game==
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Merchant Cavalryman/Rise of the Moderns|Rise of the Moderns
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===Overall strategy===
In many societies, the ability to own a horse or at least to equip one is a sign of wealth. Merchants after all require horses and pack animals to carry their loads, as well as to protect them from bandits and raiders.
Thus Merchant Cavalry, being either conscripted from the merchant castes of Europe, or hired from the chartered trading companies of Western kingdoms operating in Asia, can furnish a force of mobile troops when so needed. Make no mistake, however: Merchant Cavalry are essentially some of the worst units around. They are only armed with whatever weapons they can find — swords for Western nations, and lances outside Europe — and they are only slightly faster than Guard Cavalry, but substantially worse. They are, first and foremost, not meant to function as frontline assault units, but are intended for the skirmish and raiding role.
With this in mind, you should not hope to deploy them as the frontline of your assault. Rather, use these units as you would use light cavalry - attack only targets that are weak to their attacks, such as civilians, unpacked artillery, as well as Arquebusiers. If you can reach the Mercantile Era, however, you will get a very handy bonus - they can be upgraded to a more powerful unit, such as Hussars.
====Notes====
Design? is always a mix between arquebusier and musketeer.
*Western: any skin not used by vanilla game. So that means, Azangara's musketeer, and our own antique-0looking Swiss guy. Means that guard cavalry probably is based off Spanish style uniform. Probably.
**Dutch pirate guy is more likely to rteplace our Swiss arquebusier.
*Asian: like Indochinese fusilier with crossbelts but has a turban and black sleeves and trousers.
**North Asian secondary: probably coonskin caps and long robe, shared with Iran I suppose (Turkey, Arabs, Indians don't really need this)
**Indochina: can recycle any bits left over from Hong's Southeast Dragon, probably.
**Muslim/Indian secondary: Most likely to be Indian Hussar but that is just me.
*See also Guard Cavalry.
==History==
The West as we know it as the socioeconomic hegemon of our century did not truly exist until the mid-19th century. Although the Portuguese and the Spanish managed to carve out extensive empires stretching across the oceans and the Americas, the most advanced and prosperous nations of their time continued to be India and China by virtue of sheer size alone.
Category:Light cavalry
Category:Auxiliary troops