Blockhouse

Blockhouse
Building information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Military Defensive structure
Civilization	Russians
Age	Exploration Age
Population	5
Use	Trains and upgrades Russian infantry Attacks nearby enemies Receive Home City shipments
Construction
Wood	250
Max. builders	4
Build time	40 seconds
Build limit	7
Statistics
Hit points	2,000
Garrison	20 villagers
Line of Sight	24
XP build bounty	35
XP bounty	70
Ranged attack
Damage	30 60 (deals Siege damage, Fortified Blockhouse)
Multipliers	x1.5 vs. Cavalry x1.5 vs. Shock infantry x0.5 vs. Siege unit x0.25 vs. Villager
Range	24
Area of Effect	3 (Fortified Blockhouse)
Rate of Fire	3.0
Anti-ship attack
Damage	100
Multipliers	x0.5 vs. Siege unit
Range	40
Rate of Fire	3.0

“	Russian combination of Barracks and Outpost. Can defend the frontier or train infantry in groups. Also provides 5 population.	”
—In-game description

The Blockhouse is a military/defensive building in Age of Empires III that is unique to the Russians. It combines the functions of a Barracks and an Outpost by training and upgrading Russian infantry, attacking nearby enemies, and receiving Home City shipments, as well as supporting 5 population.

Tactics

Blockhouses are resource-friendly, with Russian players only having to pay wood for a fraction of the cost required for a Barracks and Outpost. "TEAM Cheap Barracks" will reduce the cost by 15%, while "TEAM Art of War" reduces it by 10%. If both cards are stacked, Blockhouses only cost 187 wood. However, using this method, Barracks and War Academies will be much cheaper than Blockhouses, at 40 wood and 90 wood respectively, drastically reducing their economic advantage.

Due to Blockhouses' dual-role, losing them will hinder the Russian player's defense and ability to train infantry simultaneously, which can sometimes lead to them being overwhelmed easily during an attack involving siege units.

In the Definitive Edition, choosing The Logistician to advance into the Commerce Age make Blockhouses support 15 population instead of 5.

Units

Age	Unit	Cost	Pop.
	10 Strelets	375 food, 100 wood	10
	5 Musketeers	280 food, 95 coin	5
	4 Halberdiers	200 food, 280 coin	4
	Falconet	100 wood, 400 coin	5
	Mortar	100 wood, 350 coin	4

Falconets and Mortars require the "Blockhouse Cannon" Home City Card to be trained at Blockhouses.

Upgrades

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect
	Frontier Blockhouse	400 wood, 200 coin	Upgrades Blockhouses into Frontier Blockhouses (+50% attack)
	Fortified Blockhouse	800 wood, 400 coin	Upgrades Blockhouses into Fortified Blockhouses (+50% hit points, +50% attack, +100% anti-ship attack and a bombard attack with an AOE of 3); requires Frontier Blockhouse

Civilization differences

• In The Asian Dynasties, the Chinese in random map games can build Blockhouses by allying with the Russians at the Consulate, which provides the Blockhouse Wagon shipment that ships a namesake unit capable of building a Blockhouse for free, and allows Villagers to build Blockhouses. Unlike its standard counterpart however, the Chinese Blockhouse trains War Academy banner armies and have a build limit of one.
  • The Indians in the Act III: India campaign can build Blockhouses in the same way as the Chinese in random map games, however, only (rescued) European Settlers can build extra Blockhouses after the shipment.

In the Definitive Edition, the "Castrametation" Home City Card allows the Explorer to build Blockhouses.

Revolution

• Revolting to Finland automatically upgrades Blockhouses to Frontier if they are not already for the Russians, and removes their build limit.
• Revolting to Hungary and Romania increases Blockhouses' build limit by one with each Home City shipment.

Further statistics

As Blockhouses are unique to the Russians, only technologies that they have access to are shown in the following table:

Building strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Ships, infantry, weak cavalry
Weak vs.	Artillery, Siege units
Improvements
Hit points	Flying Buttress (+20%)
Attack	Heated Shot (+1.5x multiplier vs. ships)
Sight	Gas Lighting (+4)
Other	Iroquois League (train Iroquois Tomahawks and Iroquois Mantlets, vanilla Age of Empires III only)
Construction cost	Cree Textile Craftsmanship (-25% wood) Tupi Forest Burning (-20% wood)

Home City Cards

As Blockhouses are unique to the Russians, only their cards and other civilizations' TEAM cards are shown in the following tables:

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

Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team Europeans Card Description Age HC level TEAM Coastal Defenses Defensive buildings get +1.0x multiplier against ships 25 The TEAM Coastal Defenses card is available to French, Portuguese, Russians, and Spanish. Indians Card Description Age HC level TEAM Improved Buildings Buildings get +25% hit points 10 Portuguese Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cheap Outposts Outposts, Blockhouses, War Huts, and Castles cost -30% 1 Russians Card Description Age HC level Frontier Defenses Ships 2 Outpost Wagons and Blockhouses get +25% hit points 1 Improved Buildings Buildings get +40% hit points 10 Heavy Fortifications Grants all defensive building upgrades (if not already) 25 Sevastopol Town Center, Wall, Blockhouse, and Fort build time -50% 40 TEAM Barracks Hitpoints Barracks and War Academies get +100% hit points; Blockhouses, War Huts, and Nobles' Huts get +50% hit points 1 Blockhouse Cannon Blockhouses can train Falconets and Mortars 10 Spanish Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cheap Barracks Barracks cost -50%; Blockhouses and War Huts cost -15%; War Academies cost -25% 1

Changelog

Age of Empires III

• Blockhouses provide 5 population.

The Asian Dynasties

• Blockhouses built by the Chinese by allying with the Russians at the Consulate, due to a bug, cannot train banner armies and cannot be upgraded into Frontier Blockhouses and into Fortified Blockhouses.

Definitive Edition

• Blockhouses built by the Chinese by allying with the Russians at the Consulate now can train banner armies and can be upgraded into Frontier Blockhouses and into Fortified Blockhouses through the Hill Castle and Mountain Castle technologies, respectively.
• With update 20322, Blockhouses provide 10 population.

The African Royals

• With update 38254, Blockhouses have been reverted to providing 5 population.

History

“

A blockhouse is a military building that is often fortified for protection. A blockhouse is similar to a fort, but while a fort has multiple buildings, a blockhouse has only one structure. In the New World, blockhouses were used for defense on the frontier. Russian blockhouses built along the west coast were hexagonal in shape and usually had multiple stories.

”

Gallery

All different Blockhouse models (from left to right): Unupgraded Blockhouse, Frontier Blockhouse and Fortified Blockhouse