Battleship. A mighty Ship of the Line that rules the waves and everything on it.
”
—In-game description
The Battleship is a warship in Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition that is available to any civilization in the Dock (for Asians, Europeans, Federal Americans, and Native Americans) or Port (for Africans) after building a Trading Post on a European Royal House. It is the strongest warship in the game, but has no unique abilities by default, unlike other European warships. Additionally, all European civilizations have access to the Battleship through their Home City.
The Battleship is by far the most resistant warship in the game, with a hefty 4,500 hit points and 75% ranged resistance. It pays for this with one of the lowest speeds; only 4.75 (compared to the 6.5 of an already slow Monitor). A player can only have one Battleship at a time, and acquiring a new Battleship after destruction will cost the player 1,000 wood, 1,000 coin, which makes it an expensive unit. Though the build limit of the Battleship is 1, Spanish players are able to have 2 Battleships on the field with the "Nuestras Señoras" card, which ships 2 Battleships. This also increases the build limit by one. British players are able to have several Battleships through the card "Rule, Britannia".
Though slow, the Battleship can garrison up to 100 units, double that of any other European warship. This, along with its hit points and resistance, makes it an excellent ship for transporting large armies to the enemy base. However, its exceedingly fast Rate of Fire of 0.5 and range of 35 (outranging most warships) mean it also possesses great battling capabilities. The Spanish also have access to the "Armada" card, which allows the Battleship to train infantry, cavalry, and artillery units. This makes it a mobile Barracks, Stable, and Artillery Foundry.
If the Germans ship the "Adler von Lübeck" card, their Battleship can train mercenary units, making it a mobile Tavern/Mercenary Camp.
Promotion[]
Battleships benefit from the Defence Promotion (with the "Valmy" Home City Card). This ability increases their hit points for each enemy military unit they defeat, up to a maximum of three units. They also benefit from Home City Cards or upgrades that improves warship units' hit points, such as Armor Plating or Byzantine Legacy.
Promotion
Bronze Rank
Silver Rank
Gold Rank
Defence Promotion
+5% hit points
+10% hit points
+15% hit points
Special abilities[]
Health Regeneration: Regenerates hitpoints when idle (0.25% per second after 3.5 seconds idle).
Deflection (requires the "Holy League" Home City Card): Absorb 25% of the damage inflicted to nearby allies within 12 range.
Detonate (requires the "Willem" Home City Card): Self-destructs to inflict 300 siege damage (with a ×5.0 multiplier against ships and buildings, ×0.2 against villagers, and no damage against hunted resource) to all units and buildings (including ally) in a range of 20. Automatically triggered when destroyed. Can be manually activated instead.
Upgrades[]
The Battleship is automatically upgraded in the Imperial Age.
Mercenary train time -15%, speed (except Napoleon Gun and Li'l Bombard) +7%; mercenary shipment arrive time -20%; enables Highlander to be trained at Barracks and Taverns, Royal Horseman at Stables and Taverns; Pikeman, Halberdier, Skirmisher, Hussar, and Ruyter cost +10%
Delivers 1 Battleship with 10 Pirates in it; enables Battleships to train American, African and European outlaws (if available), Pirates, Duber the Pet Monkeys, and some pets; costs 1,000 coin
Royal Dahomets
Dahomey Amazon hit points and damage +15%, and enables to be trained at Taverns, Native Embassies, and Battleships
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
National Servant
Unit (except herded animals) hit points +10%; Padre heal work rate +200%
Enables Caravels to train Crossbowmen, Ordinance Riflemen (if available), Pikemen, and Halberdiers; Monitors and Ironclads to train Musketeers, Cassadores, and Grenadiers (if available); Frigates to train all Barracks units; Battleships to train all Barracks units and Grenadiers; Caravels, Frigates, Monitors, Ironclads, and Battleships now tagged as recruiting ships
Nossa Senhora da Conceição
Delivers 1 Battleship; enables Battleships to heal other ships; costs 1,500 coin
War ship hit points +20%, Line of Sight +2; enables Caravels to train Barracks units; Frigates to train Stable and Artillery Foundry units; Monitors to train Mortars; Battleships to train Barracks, Stable, and Artillery Foundry units
Delivers 1 Carbine Cavalry for each shipment sent so far this game, including this one; unit train time, technology research time, Age up time -10%; costs 250 food, 250 wood
Connecticut Shipwrights
War ship train time -50%; building build time -35%; artillery train time -15%, Heavy Cannon train time -10% instead
Imperial Age
"Indiana Mobilization" is available upon selecting the Indiana Federal State.
"Connecticut Shipwrights" is available upon selecting the Connecticut Federal State.
The Battleship uses the French Monitor's dialogue files when acquired by Africans, Asians, the Maltese, and Native Americans, while for the British it has its own dialogue files, and for other European civilizations it uses the civilization Monitor's dialogue files. The Battleship acquired by Federal American civilizations does not have dialogue lines and is mute in the game.
Trivia[]
The Battleship represents Man-of-War ships, and its model is inspired by the SwedishVasa warship.
Most European civilizations (except the Swedes) have a unique skin after sending their unique Home City Card that ships a Battleship. Hull color changes to black and white and the golden statue at the front of the Battleship changes (originally, all civilizations have a statue of an angel with only one wing).
British, Dutch, and Spanish Battleships have a lion.
French and German Battleships have an eagle.
Italian, Maltese, and Portuguese Battleships keep the angel.
Ottoman Battleships have a wolf.
Russian Battleships have a bear.
History[]
“
During the 17th-19th centuries, naval tactics evolved towards a heavy reliance on broadside bombardments. This led warship construction to favor larger vessels with more cannons and greater integrity. The pinnacle of this development was the ship of the line, so named for the "line", a broadside tactic. These early battleships ruled the seas in their heyday, but were gradually superseded by ironclad frigates during the later part of the 19th century.