Trains healers and provides colony improvements and unique improvements.
”
—In-game description
The Church is an economic building in Age of Empires III that is available once the Commerce Age is reached. It trains healers such as Priests or Missionaries, as well as Spies in The WarChiefs expansion, and provides technologies for the player's colony as well as unique improvements for each civilization that requires a certain Home City Card (see below) to be sent. It also generates 0.7 XP per second.
Instead of the Church, the Ottomans, United States, the Mexicans, and the Italians have the Mosque, Meeting House, the Cathedral, and the Basilica, respectively, which are identical in function with the Church (with the latter two buildings having unique abilities to their respective civilizations). The African civilizations have the Mountain Monastery and the University serving as its equivalent, respectively, with different technologies and improvements that are unique to their respective civilizations. However, they can both gain access to Churches and Mosques by allying with either the Jesuits for the Ethiopians or the Moroccans for the Hausa.
As for the Native American and Asian civilizations, they lack an equivalent building to the Church; although the Monastery is the Asian spiritual equivalent of the Church, it merely functions as a Tavern instead (however, it also provides an XP trickle, and can provide upgrades to improve Monks). The Japanese can build one Church through the Church Wagon shipment from the Consulate with Dutch relations.
Ships 5 Rangers, turns Longbowmen into Rangers and Home City Cards that ship Longbowmen now ship Rangers instead; costs ; requires The Glorious Revolution Home City Card
Ships 100 coin for every minute the game has lasted, up to 30 minutes, but Settlers get -40% hit points; requires Royal Decree to Claim the New World Home City Card
Ships 22 Besteiros (Veteran Crossbowmen with +30% hit points and attack) and upgrades Crossbowmen to Besteiros; requires Treaty of Tordesillas Home City Card
Ships 8 Hoop Throwers and Hoop Throwers get +25% hit points and +20% attack, but all other military units get -5% hit points; requires Royal Decree to Claim the New World Home City Card
Ships 6 Savolax Jaegers (Jaegers with +5% hit points and Stealth mode); Upgrades Jaegers to Savolax Jaegers; requires Treaty of Roskilde Home City Card
Ships 8 Middle Guards (Guard Grenadiers with Incendiary Grenades) and upgrades Young Guards to Middle Guards; requires Imperial Young Guard and Edict of Nantes Home City Card
Ships 15 Old Guards (Royal Guard Grenadiers) and upgrades Middle Guards to Old Guards; requires Imperial Middle Guard and Edict of Nantes Home City Card
Upgrades Strelets, Musketeers, Halberdiers, Cossacks, Cavalry Archers, Oprichniks, and Grenadiers to Guard/Royal Guard (if not already); requires Westernization and Reformist Tsar Home City Card
Churches cost 100 wood and take 10 seconds to build.
The Asian Dynasties[]
The Church built by the Japanese by allying with the Dutch at the Consulate has the British Church appearance in the Colonial/Fortress Age and cannot train Spies.
Definitive Edition[]
Churches cost 150 wood and take 25 seconds to build. They now provide a 0.6 XP/second trickle.
The Church built by the Japanese by allying with the Dutch at the Consulate now has the Dutch appearances through the Ages and can train Spies.
With update 20322, Churches take 20 seconds to build.
The African Royals[]
With update 38254, Churches provide a 0.7 XP/second trickle.
History[]
“
Churches are places of worship for Christian colonists. Settlers in the New World built churches to provide a place for worship as well as for community events. Religion drove exploration and colonization as people like the Pilgrims left their homes, fleeing persecution, to find religious freedoms in the New World.
”
Gallery[]
Churches
German Church concept art from the Age of Empires III User's Manual