Fort

"Powerful, defensive building that can also train units. Can only be sent from the Home City."

- In-game description

The Fort is one of the strongest defensive buildings in Age of Empires III, only available from the Fortress Age onwards.

Overview
The Fort has high defense and attacks units that come within range with a cannon attack. On top of this, the Fort can train Barracks and Stable units available to that civilization and Grenadiers/Abus Guns if available. It cannot upgrade units and is available only to some civilizations.

The Fort can be acquired in several ways. The most common way is to ship a Fort Wagon from the Home City, which turns into a Fort. This can only be done once, though some civilizations have access to more than one card that builds Forts. Choosing to undergo a Revolution will also allow the creation of forts. Doing so this way will remove the build limit, though each wagon costs 1000 of each resource to create. The Chinese can use the Consulate with Export to send a Fort Wagon.

Forts, whilst having impressive hit points and a great range, are expensive to repair and can only take on one target at a time (although there is Area of Effect damage when they fire). They are most often used to gain map control, or to defend a coastline or colony. Since it is a special Home City shipment, another Fort Wagon cannot be built if the Fort is destroyed unless multiple shipments of wagons are available. Forts are formidable defenses but are not invincible. They can be destroyed with artillery or long range ships such as Monitors or Ironclads. A large amount of units can bring it down as the Fort can only fire on one enemy at a time, though it does splash damage.

However, as with artillery pieces, if a unit is placed correctly, the fort will fire on that unit but will be unable to deal any damage. Forts are usually placed in strategic areas or near the first Town Center. When in use by the AI, easy ones will usually place the Fort near their starting location. Higher AIs tend to place the Fort near the enemy's settlement(s) and if allied, the AI will notify the player of where they are building it.

In the expansion pack, The Asian Dynasties the Fort has been tinkered with slightly. First, now all European civilizations are able to build at least one Fort and most are able to build two. The main addition lies in Russian shipment cards. The Russians are able to create two Forts, have the ability to make new Forts (2 on map at once), and are able to have Musketeers build forts (in the Industrial Age by sending National Redoubt). This makes the Russians very powerful coupled with the ability to instantly create infantry.

Like with the Factory, the Fort can be built by the Chinese or Indians (Campaign only) through the Consulate. This makes the Chinese the only civilization in either The WarChiefs expansion or the Asian Dynasties expansion that can construct a Fort outside of the campaign.

The Agra Fort is a wonder that can be built by the Indian nation when advancing. This is the only "Fort" that can be available during the Colonial Age if the player should decide to use this wonder to age. Once it is built, the Agra Fort acts like a regular Fort in producing Barracks, and from the Fortress Age forwards also cavalry units. There is no age penalty for building the Agra Fort in this age, it is the same strength regardless of when it is built and is much weaker than a real Fort.

Home City Cards
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" style="width:100%;" ! sab="1148" | Click for a list of related Home City cards
 * - sab="1147"
 * - sab="1149"
 * sab="1150" |

French

 * }

Trivia

 * The French having the most number of Forts may be a callback to the Franks being to build more Castles (the Age of Empires II version of the Fort) than others thanks to its cheaper cost.

History
"Forts in the New World ranged from wooden palisades assembled hastily as outposts or for the protection of watersheds to sprawling star forts whose distinctively angled earthen and stone walls protected key ports, mines, cities, and overland trade routes. Fort McHenry, once called Fort Whetstone, was a star fort surrounded on three sides by water. In 1814 it survived a 25-hour bombardment by the British. Francis Scott Key wrote a poem about his experiences during and after the battle, and the story of Fort McHenry and its star-spangled banner became the national anthem of the United States in 1931."