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The Volunteer is a Light Pistol cavalry unit of the Polish Commonwealth. This type of unit can be recruited from commanders in towns and fortresses, or as prisoners from enemy armies. Hence their name, Volunteers are typically Polish middle- to upper-class citizens who enthusiastically "volunteered" to join the Polish army to protect their country and honor from Poland's invading autocrat neighbors. Their rich kuntush (Polish: kontusz) and feathered hat indicates their wealth and social position. As light cavalry, they carry very light armor, a simple saber, and a pistol. They also ride Saddle Horses.


Tactics[]

The Volunteer has really limited effectiveness on the battlefield. The little head and body armor that they carry makes the Volunteers highly vulnerable, causing them to die very quickly. Their saber and pistol are reliable weapons at killing lightly armored enemies, like Militia units, but they don't stand a chance against heavily armored infantry, pikemen, and cavalry. In a sense, volunteers are the weakest type of cavalry that the Polish Commonwealth can muster.

There are exceptions however; the Volunteer's stats are better than those of the Mercenary Horsemen and a few Crimean units, especially since they have a pistol. The Volunteer also carries a fast saber and can easily defeat Militia Pikemen and Musketeers with ease. Tactically, to use the volunteer effectively, volunteers must be deployed behind the more efficient, Polish Reiters, Dragoons, Armored Cossacks, and Winged Hussars as back-up cavalry.

They can also be used to overwhelm enemies with rapid pistol fire when encircling enemy Wagon Forts. If you have a good number of around 20-30 volunteers, you can order them to charge at the wagon fort and overwhelm the defenders, but expect to lose a good number of them if you don't support them with medium cavalry or musketeers. In a siege, during either defense or offense, Volunteers are potential meat shields to protect your infantry and medium/heavy cavalry. They can also provide supportive fire for your musketeers at point blank range as well as in melee.

Stats and equipment[]

Note: Troops have a set of default stats; at the beginning of a new game, these stats are randomly adjusted for each type of troop. The following is the default set for this troop as seen within the game code and may not reflect the specific stats you will see during actual gameplay. For more information, see Troop stats.
Volunteer - Default Stats and Equipment
Attributes
Stat Points
Level 10
Strength 9
Agility 9
Intelligence 0
Charisma 0
Health 46
Armor
Helmets
Fur Cap
Body Armor
Rich Kuntush, Good Kuntush
Boots
Old Cavalry Boots, Cavalry Boots
Gloves
None

Skills
Skill Points
Ironflesh 1
Power Strike 1
Grenade Throwing 0
Power Draw 0
Weapon Master 3
Shield 0
Athletics 0
Riding 5
Shooting from Horseback 4
Looting 0
Trainer 0
Tracking 0
Tactics 0
Path-finding 0
Spotting 0
Inventory Management 2
Wound Treatment 0
Surgery 0
First Aid 0
Engineer 0
Persuasion 0
Prisoner Management 1
Leadership 1
Trade 1
Proficiencies
Weapon Type Points
One Handed Weapons 140
Two Handed Weapons 120
Polearms 130
Archery 0
Firearms 95
Throwing 0
Weapons
Melee Weapons
Saber
Ranged Weapons
Old Pistol, Pistol, Light Bullets, Bullets
Shields
None
Mount
Saddle Horse

Polish Commonwealth Troops
Scythe WielderMilitia Pikeman (v) • Musket Militiaman (v)
Town Cossack (v) • Rank Cossack (v) • Lithuanian Musketeer (v) • Lithuanian Tatar (v)
Zolnier (v) • Pikeman (v) • Volunteer (v) • Dragoon (v)
German Infantry Pikeman (v) • German Infantry Musketeer (v) • Scottish Musketeer (v) • Scottish Pikeman (v) • Scottish Swordsman (v) • Lisowczyk (v)
Polish Reiter (v) • Armored Cossack (v) • Winged Hussar (v)
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