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This article is about the unit type in Age of Empires III. For other uses, see Artillery.
Aoe3 unit type artillery
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A battery of Heavy Cannons, firing behind a column of heavy infantry

Artillery are heavy weapon units in Age of Empires III, superseding the role of siege units in Age of Empires II. Basically, they are gunpowder siege units.

Overview[]

First available in the Commerce Age, they are produced from the Artillery Foundry for European civilizations, from the Castle for Asian civilizations, and from the Siege Workshop for the Haudenosaunee. They can also be shipped from the Home City.

Typically effective against infantry and buildings, artillery are best countered with both heavy and light cavalry, or Culverins. Some civilizations have their own unique artillery pieces such as the Rocket for the British and the Great Bombard for the Ottomans.

They are different from the so-called siege units (such as Grenadiers) in that artillery units have hard counters with their own anti-artillery multiplier, whereas hard counters for siege units use different multipliers, as siege units have their own class and on top of that, usually have some more common class in their traits, such as heavy infantry.

Note: SiegeTrooper units will also have their training time reduced by cards such as Fencing School or Riding School due to their classification as infantry or cavalry. This same classification as infantry allows them to be easily slaughtered by Lancers, Jat Lancers and true artillery (except Culverins), or, for the ones classified as cavalry, heavy infantry.

Most cannons have modes for moving (Limber mode) and firing (Bombard mode). Switching modes takes a few seconds, and they will automatically switch to the appropriate mode when commanded to attack or move for more than a short distance.

Some artillery units are used effectively against buildings and ships at long range, some are effective against infantry, while others are designed to counter other artillery units. Some civilizations are capable of increasing the hit points or attack of their artillery units through the use of aura effects, these civilizations are the Spanish (Unction card, level 40 Home City required) and the Japanese (Shogun/Daimyo auras).

List of artillery units[]

Heavy artillery[]

Cheat units[]

Trivia[]

  • For the most part of the Modern age, artillery wasn't standardized, and the guns names were exchanged until the Gribeauval system. Ensemble Studios used the now-outdated "Harper's Encyclopedia of Military History" theoretical framework for the units' appearances, while they based their roles on the works of Luis Collado (?-1602):
    • Culverins are the modern strict sense of "cannons" or "guns": artillery used for straight fire, relatively long and slender, used in long distance fire.
    • Cannons are the equivalent of modern howitzers: curved trajectories, from relatively thick barrels.
Tags in Age of Empires III
Aoe3 unit type infantry Infantry
Aoe3 unit type heavy infantry Heavy infantryHand infantry ยท Aoe3 unit type hand infantry Pikeman ยท Musket infantry
Aoe 3 unit type skirmisher Light infantryFoot archer ยท Rifle infantry ยท Hand skirmisher
OtherCounter skirmisher ยท Grenade trooper
Aoe3 unit type cavalry Cavalry / Aoe3 unit type light infantry Shock infantry
Aoe3 unit type heavy cavalry Heavy cavalryAoe3 unit type melee cavalry Hand cavalry ยท Ranged heavy cavalry ยท Lancer
Aoe3 unit type light cavalry Light cavalryGunpowder cavalry ยท Mounted archer
Aoe3 unit type light infantry Shock infantryAoe3 unit type hand shock infantry Hand shock infantry ยท Aoe3 unit type ranged shock infantry Ranged shock infantry
Siege units
Aoe3 unit type siege infantry Siege unit ยท Aoe3 unit type artillery Artillery ยท Stat icon siege elephant Siege Elephant ยท Gatling Camelยท Fixed Gunยท Arrow Knight*
Aoe3 unit type ship Ship
Fishing boat ยท Warship ยท Stat icon training ship Recruiting ship
Aoe3 unit type building Building
Stat icon resource enclosure Resource enclosure ยท Stat icon wall Wall ยท Frontier fortification ยท Barracks
Other
Aoe3 unit type hero Hero ยท Aoe3 unit type mercenary Mercenary ยท Stat icon outlaw Outlaw ยท Aoe3 unit type pet Pet ยท Aoe3 unit type villager Villager
Mother nature
Aoe3 unit type huntable Huntable ยท Aoe3 unit type treasure guardian Treasure guardian
Support tags
Gunpowder unit ยท Archer ยท Healing unit ยท Native warrior ยท Elephant ยท Camel ยท Archaic infantry ยท Ranged infantry ยท Ranged cavalry ยท Consulate unit
All tags with icons are related to the bonus and penalties counter system, except *hidden tags that aren't in the UI
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