Man of War

The Frigate is the strongest and most durable combat warship in Age of Empires III. Frigates can be upgraded by Armor Plating which increases 1000 hit points and Carronade increases the broadside attack by 25 points.

Gameplay
The Frigate, with a base hitpoints of 2000, has 800 more hitpoints than the next warship, the shore-hitting Monitor. As the Monitor can't really fight anything tougher than a Caravel, this was the high end fighting ship of choice past the Colonial Age. Frigates are very useful in ship to ship combat, overpowering most other ships. They are also capable of transportation. However since the release of Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs and Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties they are no longer the best warship. Even Spanish Galleons now outperform it with a significant card investment. Like all warships, the Frigate can transport 50 men, and blast close-to-shore Buildings and units. The Frigate can also be upgraded to an Imperial Age Man-of-War (Ship of the Line).