Empress Dragoons are a mounted infantry unit in Napoleon: Total War.
Description[]
The Empress Dragoons are an elite unit within the elite Imperial Guard, an exceptionally effective heavy cavalry force.
Their charge is almost irresistible, and they can fight effectively in melee with their heavy cavalry swords, but they should not be thrown away against infantry squares. Even against other cavalry, they can give a very good account of themselves. They are, however, relatively slow moving and should not be used to pursue fleeing foes. The Empress Dragoons can fight on foot, if needed, using their carbines, but they are not particularly effective as an infantry unit.
Under Napoleon the Imperial Guard gradually became an almost separate army; it had infantry, artillery, and cavalry components, and even its own elite units within the already-elite Guard. By any standards, the Empress Dragoons, named to honour Josàphine de Beauharnais, were an elite force. All the officers were appointed personally by Napoleon, and the rankers had to have served at least 10 years in the saddle before they were allowed to join. Every chasseur and dragoon regiment of the line in the French army had its best non-commissioned officers taken. While this undoubtedly made sure the Empress Dragoons was composed of the best of the best, it almost certainly damaged the rest of the army by removing those same veterans from their original units.
General Information[]
Superior versions of Dragoons, Empress Dragoons are better in almost every category. They are superior to even elite mounted infantry, such as the Royal Scots Greys. They are correspondingly significantly more expensive to train and maintain. Empress Dragoons can handle themselves well against almost any cavalry or infantry should they manage to close the gap without taking too many casualties. Their lack of stamina makes them a poor choice for harrying fleeing enemies or fighting multiple engagements in quick succession, however.
Empress Dragoons may dismount, allowing them the use of their guns and granting them better resistance to artillery and musket fire at the cost of mobility. While Empress Dragoons are excellent cavalry units, they aren't especially useful on foot. Their accuracy and reloading, while impressive when compared to those of other mounted infantry, are about par with most other factions' line infantry, and they are severely hampered by their much smaller regiment size. Nevertheless, if their horses are tired or exhausted, Empress Dragoons may fight better in a melee on foot: like all other mounted infantry, their mounted and dismounted stamina are counted separately.
Despite their ostentatious title and description, Empress Dragoons are not considered elite units by the game, and suffer from Attrition in extreme heat or cold.