Settler

"Villager that constructs buildings and gathers resources."

- In-game description

The Settler is the main resource gatherer for all European civilizations except French in Age of Empires III.

Overview
Settlers are relatively inexpensive units, but fragile. They are not meant for combat, but will fire weak muskets to defend themselves and others. Settlers can be used to collect Treasures. Each Civilization has a limit to the number of Settlers they can have at once. Settlers pay for themselves rather quickly, and the longer an individual Settler is alive, the more he contributes to the overall wealth of a given colony. Some Civilizations may receive Shipments of extra Settlers from the Home City, while others have to rely solely on producing them from the Town Center in the New World.

They can also be found as Treasures around the map. With the Estates card, the British can train Settlers from Manors. They can also be garrisoned inside Town Centers, Outposts and Forts to protect themselves from the enemy. A Settler is required inside a Town Center in order to attack hostile ground units.

However, if settlers are put into combat, it is best to send them into melee range. Their ranged attack is relatively weak, and they can attack faster with melee compared to ranged.

The British get one Settler for every completed Manor House for free. With the Estates card, Settlers can be trained from them as well, but at a slower rate for every Manor House and Town Center. Dutch Settlers cost Coin instead of Food and gather 15% faster coin from mines. They also have a limit of 50 Settlers. The Ottomans spawn free settlers from the Town Center within a set timer and their limit ranges from 25, 45, 70 and 99 units depending on researched techs at the Mosque. The Sharia improvement from the Sufi Mosque increases Settler train limit by 10%.

Russian Settlers train in groups of three and are individually 10% cheaper.

The French train Coureur des Bois instead of Settlers, who gather faster and perform better in combat, but are more expensive and train slower. The Germans can obtain Settler Wagons through Home City cards in addition to training Settlers from the Town Center. The Settler Wagon have double the hit points and gathering rate of a regular Settler, but uses up two population slots.

Tasks
Settlers can be assigned with the following tasks:
 * Settlers can build most of the buildings given the colony has the right amount of resources, space and is at the right Age.
 * Settlers can gather food from Berry Bushes, Cherry Orchards, and huntable animals. Settlers may also be tasked to a Mill, Farm or Rice Paddy which will generate infinite Food, but at a slower rate. Alternatively, food can also be gathered from livestock.
 * Settlers can gather wood from trees which usually can be found plenty and rarely runs out. Alternatively, they can gather from Mango Groves.
 * Settlers can gather coin from Mines and tasking settlers to work on a Plantation or Rice Paddy will generate Coin, similarly to a Mill.
 * When resource shipments arrive from the Home City, they do so in the form of Crates (food), Cords (wood), and Chests (coin) at the assigned shipment arrival point, which usually is the first Town Center, but can be changed to certain other units and buildings. They must be unpacked by a gatherer (such as the Settler) in order to add them to your resources.
 * Similarly to heroes and Explorers, Settler may also collect Treasures.

Further statistics
As the Settler can only be trained by European civilizations except French, only improvements available to them (including native improvements) are listed here.

Home City Cards
As the Settler is exclusive to European civilizations except French, only their, along with other civilizations' TEAM cards that affects them are listed here.

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" style="width: 100%;" ! sab="1148" | Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Settler Green : TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team
 * - sab="1147"
 * - sab="1149"
 * sab="1150" |

Europeans

 * The 2 Settlers, 4 Settlers and 3 Settlers card is not available to Germans, Portuguese and Russians.
 * The Establish Ironmongers card is not available to the Russians.
 * Ottomans and Spanish have the TEAM Ironmongers card instead of Establish Ironmongers.
 * The Furriers card is not available to British and Dutch.
 * The Russians have the TEAM Furriers card instead of Furriers.
 * The Dutch have the TEAM Spice Trade card instead of Spice Trade.
 * The Economic Theory card is not available to British and Dutch.
 * The Rum Distillery and Textile Mill cards are not available to the Ottomans.
 * The British have the TEAM Rum Distillery card instead of Rum Distillery.
 * The Medicine card is not available to the Ottomans.

Spanish

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Trivia

 * Settlers come in the forms of men and women and the gender is randomly decided upon being trained from the Town Center. This feature is present since Age of Empires II.
 * German and Russian settlers wear thick winter clothing while Spanish, Portuguese, and Ottomans dress for sunny weather, men especially, who wear sombreros. British and Dutch men don't wear hats and are dressed lightly. They resemble the settler icon the most.
 * Settlers always speak in the same language as the playing civilization and sound modest and willing.
 * Settlers seen as Treasures (trapped by wild animals or tightened up by bandits) have the British and Dutch appearance, but upon being rescued, will immediately turn into the appearance of the Settlers/Villagers of their rescuers.
 * This is also the only way for the French, Native American and Asian civilizations to acquire normal Settlers and will sound as Coureur des Bois or Villagers, respectively. In the case of the French, it is also the only way to acquire females.

History
"Highly industrious and loyal to a fault, the Settler lives to work for you. Whether it's chopping down the seventeen thousandth tree, scurrying across the map to a distant pile of silver ore, or endlessly toiling away at a mill, the Settler is ready to happily tackle any tedious task. The Settler’s hobbies include running away from enemy soldiers, getting thrown into the river by enemy cannon fire, and crochet."