Dragoon, 18th century (mercenary)

Dragoon, 18th century (mercenary) is a ranged cavalry unit in Cossacks 3, available at the Diplomatic Center.

Background
Their history begins with infantrymen mounted on horses. However, as this force was developed, more and more attention was paid to riding drills. This resulted in a force that could fight both in mounted and foot formation. They yielded to heavy cavalry in hand-to-hand fighting, but with sufficient training they could accomplish the same missions. Dragoons were armed with a musket (later a musket with a bayonet), a sabre or a broadsword and a pair of pistols. Dragoons had no armour. Their equipment was very much alike to that carried by musketeers, except for the fact that dragoons wore jackboots. In a foot array, they fell in 3 ranks like linear infantry. When mounted, they charged in a tight array like heavy cavalry. As the cavalry developed, dragoons were used less and less as infantry.