Arsenal (Age of Empires III)

This article is about the building in Age of Empires III. For the building in Age of Empires IV, see Arsenal (Age of Empires IV).

Arsenal
Information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Building Military
Civilization(s)	Africans Europeans Federal Americans Japanese
Use	Provides military technologies
Building
Built by	Settler and its counterparts Arsenal Wagon
Cost	250 Wood
Max. builders	8
Build time	20 seconds
Statistics
Size	4x4
Hit points	3,000
Line of Sight	12
XP build bounty	50
XP kill bounty	100

“	Provides military improvements.	”
—In-game description

The Arsenal is a military building in Age of Empires III that is available upon reaching the Fortress Age, or the Commerce Age when the "Advanced Arsenal" Home City Card is sent. It provides technologies to improve the effectiveness of military units from the three major lines – infantry, cavalry, and artillery.

Tactics

Whether players build one or a mix of unit lines, the bonuses provided in the Arsenal can give their armies an edge.

The "Advanced Arsenal" Home City Card provides the Arsenal with additional, advanced technologies.

Technologies

Age	Technology	Cost	Effect
	Infantry Breastplate	100 wood 100 coin	Hand infantry and foot archer hit points +10%
	Counter Infantry Rifling	200 wood 200 coin	Rifle infantry ranged and hand attack bonus damage against heavy infantry +1.0; counter-skirmisher ranged and hand attack bonus damage against light infantry +1.0; Fire Thrower grenade and flame attack bonus damage against heavy infantry +0.75, rocket attack bonus damage against infantry +0.75
	Socket Bayonet	100 wood 100 coin	Musket infantry all melee attack damage +20%
	Flint Lock	200 wood 250 coin	Gunpowder trooper hit points +10%; Pirate hit points +10% (with the "Letter of Marque" Home City Card); requires "Advanced Arsenal" Home City Card (except for the Swedes)
	Paper Cartridge	300 wood 300 coin	Gunpowder trooper damage +15%; Pirate ranged attack damage +15% (with the "Letter of Marque" Home City Card); requires "Advanced Arsenal" Home City Card (except for the Swedes)
	Military Drummers	150 wood 150 coin	Infantry speed +10%; Spy speed +2% instead, if the "Knowlton's Continental Rangers" card is sent; requires "Advanced Arsenal" Home City Card (except for the Swedes)
	Cavalry Cuirass	300 coin	Heavy cavalry hit points +10%
	Ranged Cavalry Caracole	200 food 300 wood	Ranged cavalry damage +10%, Line of Sight and ranged attack range +2
	Pillage	250 wood 250 coin	Hand cavalry and hand shock infantry siege attack bonus damage against buildings +25%; requires "Advanced Arsenal" Home City Card (except for the Swedes)
	Incendiary Grenades	400 wood 300 coin	Grenade trooper siege attack bonus damage against buildings +15%, ranged attack Area of Effect +1; Grenadier and Humbaraci mortar attack Area of Effect +0.5; Soldado and Giant Grenadier ranged attack Area of Effect +0.5 instead; Revolutionary siege attack bonus damage against buildings +15%, grenade attack Area of Effect +1 (with the "Peruvian Guard" Home City Card)
	Gunner's Quadrant	100 food 100 coin	Artillery Line of Sight +6
	Heated Shot	150 food 150 wood	Artillery bombard attack bonus damage against ships +50%; building anti-ship attack bonus damage against ships +50%
	Professional Gunners	400 food 100 coin	Artillery hit points +10%; requires "Advanced Arsenal" Home City Card (except for the Swedes)
	Trunion	400 wood 200 coin	Artillery speed +15%; requires "Advanced Arsenal" Home City Card (except for the Swedes)

Note: Incendiary Grenades is only available to civilizations that can train grenade troopers (British, Dutch, French*, Maltese, Mexicans, Ottomans, Russians, Swedes, and United States*). Other European civilizations can get access to this technology after sending the Grenade Launchers Home City Card.

Civilization differences

• Both the Haudenosaunee and Lakota have the "New Ways" Home City Card which gives them access to certain Arsenal technologies at the Longhouse and Teepee, respectively.
• The Japanese can build one (and only one) Arsenal by allying with the Dutch at the Consulate, which provides the Arsenal Wagon shipment that ships the namesake unit capable of building an Arsenal. The Japanese Arsenal have all basic Arsenal technologies, while their Golden Pavilion wonder have Flint Lock, Paper Cartridge, Pillage, and Professional Gunners.
• The Swedes have access to advanced Arsenal technologies (Flint Lock, Paper Cartridge, Military Drummers, Pillage, Professional Gunners, and Trunion) at all times, but do not have the "Advanced Arsenal" card.
• The Ethiopians can build one Arsenal by allying with the Portuguese to advance into the Commerce Age or higher and the Hausa can build one Arsenal by allying with the British to advance into the Imperial Age, which ships an Arsenal Wagon. However, the two civilizations have no way of accessing the advanced Arsenal technologies.

Further statistics

Building strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Nothing
Weak vs.	Everything, especially siege units, artillery, and Monitors
Improvements
Hit points	State Constitutions (+25%; United States only) Flying Buttress (+20%) Byzantine Legacy (+15%)
Line of Sight	Gas Lighting (+4)
Cost	Tupi Forest Burning (-20% wood) Cree Textile Craftsmanship (-10%)
Build time	Cree Textile Craftsmanship (-25%)
Other	Arsenal Wagon (delivers 1 Arsenal Wagon; Japanese only)
Penalties	Customized Merc Weapons (+30% cost; John Black's Mercenaries only) Code Napoleon (+25% cost; French only)

Home City Cards

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Arsenal

Some cards are highlighted with:
Green	TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team
Blue	Shipment that arrives fast (5 seconds)

Shared

Card	Description	Age
Improved Buildings	Building hit points +40%
TEAM Improved Buildings	Building hit points +25%
Advanced Arsenal	Enables Arsenal to be built in the Commerce Age; enables Flint Lock, Paper Cartridge, Military Drummers, Pillage, Professional Gunners, and Trunion in the Arsenal
Chipotle Tactics	Delivers 1 Huge Crates of Food (500 food); grants food when an enemy or own building is destroyed equal to 20% ~ 40% of its total cost

• "Improved Buildings" is available to Europeans, Mexicans, and Japanese.
• "TEAM Improved Buildings" is available to the Inca, Indians, and Maltese.
• "Advanced Arsenal" is available to Europeans (except the Swedes) and Mexicans.
• "Chipotle Tactics" is available to the Mexicans, and also Spanish upon revolting to Mexico.

Ethiopians

Card	Description	Age
Gondarine Architecture	Building hit points +25%; Town Center, Command Post, and Palace hit points +50% instead; Mountain Monastery hit points +100% instead; Wall hit points +225% instead

Europeans

Card	Description	Age
Monumental Architecture	Building hit points +30%; Town Center and Command Post damage +35%

• "Monumental Architecture" is available to the Portuguese and Spanish upon revolting to Peru.

Federal Americans

Card	Description	Age
The Alamo	Delivers 16 Minutemen; when destroyed by enemies, your buildings spawn a number of Minutemen equal to 1.5% of their cost rounded up	Imperial Age

• "The Alamo" is available to the United States upon selecting the Texas Federal State and Mexicans upon revolting to Texas, and spawns 4 Minutemen when an Arsenal is destroyed.

Italians

Card	Description	Age
Milanese Arsenal	Delivers 1 Arsenal Wagon; Arsenal technology cost -50%; enables Flint Lock, Paper Cartridge, Military Drummers, Pillage, Professional Gunners, and Trunion in the Arsenal
Venetian Arsenal	Delivers 1 Arsenal Wagon; enables Arsenals to be built in the Commerce Age; Arsenals increase the work rate of military buildings and Docks by 60% in an Area of Effect of 24

Japanese

Card	Description	Age
Land Reforms	Villager and rickshaw build work rate for buildings +50%; building build bounty +100%

Maltese

Card	Description	Age
Squires	Military building training and research work rate +80%; Fort training and research work rate +260% instead

Mexicans

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Mariachi	For the next 30 seconds, military building training and research work rate +400%, unit speed +10%
Colegio de San Nicolas	Delivers 1 Large Collection of Books (500 XP); unit Line of Sight +4; building (except Wall) Line of Sight +8; reveals enemy units' positions for 20 seconds
Talavera Architecture	Building build time -30%, hit points +30%, grant coin build bounty instead of XP	Imperial Age
Maya Architecture	Building (except Fort) hit points +30%, and now grant food as well as experience when built; grants Redoubts

• "Colegio de San Nicolas" is available upon selecting the Michoacán Federal State.
• "Talavera Architecture" is available upon selecting the Puebla Federal State.
• "Maya Architecture" is available upon revolting to the Maya.

United States

Card	Description	Age
Springfield Armory	Delivers 1 Arsenal Wagon; enables Flint Lock, Paper Cartridge, Military Drummers, Pillage, Professional Gunners, and Trunion in the Arsenal; Arsenal technology cost -100%, but research time +250%
Connecticut Shipwrights	War ship train time -50%; building build time -35%; artillery train time -15%, Heavy Cannon train time -10% instead	Imperial Age

• "Connecticut Shipwrights" is available upon selecting the Connecticut Federal State.

Changelog

The Asian Dynasties

• The Arsenal built by the Japanese by allying with the Dutch at the Consulate has the German/Russian appearance in the Industrial/Imperial Age.

Definitive Edition

• The Arsenal built by the Japanese by allying with the Dutch at the Consulate now has the Dutch appearances through the Ages.

History

“

An arsenal is a storehouse for all manner of weapons and ordinance of war. Some arsenals were brick-and-mortar storehouses, guarded and protected. During the lead up to the American Revolutionary War, arsenals could be any stockpile of weapons, often hidden in attics and walls so that British soldiers could not find them. Artillery pieces were even taken apart and buried in fields to hide them, making "arsenals" out of entire towns. On April 19, 1775, the British marched into Lexington hoping to chase down rebellion leaders and capture an insurgent arsenal. The British regulars outnumbered the revolutionaries 10 to 1 and ordered the gathered militia to stand down so that they could go about disbanding the militia and seizing or destroying any weapons cached in an arsenal.

”

Gallery

An in-game Eastern European Arsenal in the Industrial/Imperial Age

An in-game Mediterranean/Southern European Arsenal in the Colonial/Fortress Age

An in-game Mediterranean/Southern European Arsenal in the Industrial/Imperial Age

Above: Mediterranean/Southern European Arsenal in Colonial/Fortress Age Bottom: Mediterranean/Southern European Arsenal in Industrial/Imperial Age

An in-game Western European Arsenal in the Colonial/Fortress Age

An in-game Western European Arsenal in the Commerce/Fortress Age in the Definitive Edition

An in-game Western European Arsenal in the Industrial/Imperial Age in the Definitive Edition

An in-game Eastern European Arsenal in the Commerce/Fortress Age in the Definitive Edition

An in-game Eastern European Arsenal in the Industrial/Imperial Age in the Definitive Edition

An in-game Mediterranean/Southern European Arsenal in the Commerce/Fortress Age in the Definitive Edition

An in-game Mediterranean/Southern European Arsenal in the Industrial/Imperial Age in the Definitive Edition

Arsenal image from the Compendium section