Cannons

[grizzgolf]

Which Cannons are useful vs Muskets and cavalry?

[Sargsyan]

Mortars

[Googol]

Kurwalins

[EAGLEMUT]

Cannons are typically not useful vs cavalry.

[frankmerc77]

I’ve seen this ottoman revolt strategy which edwardteatx used a lot back in the day. He revolts and then makes 4/5 forts and 25 janisaries with a mediocre bombard in there. It’s really good against cav and muskets.

[fei123456]

british rockets actually do good against cav.
FI with age 4 goons, send 3 rockets, 2 factories for rockets, is awesome. it takes only 75 seconds to train a rocket from factory.

[Hazza54321]

Arent mediocre bombards a cheat unit lol

[Hazza54321]

Rockets are good anti cav and anti musk tbh

[QueenOfdestiny]

Arent mediocre bombards a cheat unit lol

No bc they like you

[Amsel_]

Typically you don't want to use cannons against cavalry. Have some supporting units to protect your cannons from cavalry. Musketeers and Dragoons are the most common anti-cav; though, you can also use cav of your own to body block. Pikemen, Doppelslonders, and Halberdiers are technically anti-cav, but it's usually inconvenient to make them.

On the topic of cannons themselves: Falconets defeat infantry. Culverins are used to kill enemy artillery. Mortars are used against buildings. Heavy cannons are like a mix of all three, but they're hard to get. Horse artillery is basically a falconet that does less damage, but moves faster. Rockets and Great Bombards are pretty much just heavy cannons with tweaked stats. Organ guns are anti-infantry. Light Cannons and Flaming Arrows might be described as a mix of falconets and culverins. Hand Mortars are good against buildings and artillery. Boats are great against all land units, but avoid artillery and enemy buildings. Monitors are good against buildings, though.

A good composition would be something like mixing skirmishers (anti-heavy infantry), dragoons (anti-cavalry), and falconets (anti-infantry). But you can come across plenty of different situations in age of empires 3, so you might end up using a large mass of musketeers to protect your cannons instead. Remember that it's important to keep your cannons safe. They have the power to destroy entire armies, but they can't do it alone. Hand cavalry, ranged cavalry, and other artillery are the biggest threats to your cannons.