Church

This article is about the building in Age of Empires III. For similar buildings, see Monastery or Temple.

Church
Building information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Economic
Civilization	Europeans except Ottomans
Age	Commerce Age
Use	Trains healers and Spies Research colony and unique technologies
Construction
Wood	150
Max. builders	8
Build time	25 seconds
Build limit	1
Statistics
Hit points	1,500
Line of Sight	12
XP build bounty	20
XP bounty	40

“	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.

The Ottomans have the Mosque instead of the Church, although both are identical in function. Native American and Asian civilizations lack an equivalent building to the Church.

Units

Age	Unit	Cost	Pop.	Limit
	Priest	150 coin	1	∞
	Missionary	50 wood, 50 coin		10
	Surgeon	300 coin		∞
	Spy*	125 coin	2

Units with an asterisk (*) are added in The WarChiefs.

The Missionary replaces the Priest for the Spanish.

The Surgeon requires the Master Surgeon Home City Card to be trained at the Church.

Technologies

Age	Technology	Cost	Effect	Civ.
	Bastion	400 wood, 600 coin	Upgrades Walls into Bastions with +150% hit points	All
	Mission Fervor	200 food, 200 wood	Imams, Priests, Medicine Men, Missionaries, Surgeons, and Warrior Priests get +35% hit points and +15% speed
	Town Watch	200 food	All units get +2 LOS
	Gas Lighting	100 food	All buildings get +4 LOS
	Mercantilism	1,500 coin	Gives 2,000 XP
	Thin Red Line	Free	Infantry get +20% hit points and -25% speed; requires The Glorious Revolution Home City Card	British
	Coffee Trade		Bank build limit +2 but all military units get -10% speed; requires Religious Freedom Home City Card	Dutch
	Code Napoleon		Coureurs des Bois gather 10% faster but buildings cost +50%; requires Edict of Nantes Home City Card	French
	Garde Imperial 1	500 food	Ships 4 Young Guards (Grenadiers); requires Edict of Nantes Home City Card
	Tilly's Discipline	Free	Infantry get +20% speed but costs +10%; requires Treaty of Westphalia Home City Card	Germans
	Encomienda Manor		Settlers gather 20% faster from Mills but 5% slower from anything else; requires Treaty of Tordesillas Home City Card	Portuguese
	Corselet		Heavy infantry get +25% hit points and -15% speed; requires Royal Decree to Claim the New World Home City Card	Spanish Knights of St. John
	Tax Burden		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	Knights of St. John
	Grand Encampment		Infantry get +25% hit points and -25% speed; requires Royal Decree to Claim the New World Home City Card	United States
	The Black Watch	1,000 food	Ships 8 Black Watches (Highlanders); requires The Glorious Revolution Home City Card	British
	Waardgelders	1,000 coin	Ships 5 Waardgelders (Stradiots); requires Religious Freedom Home City Card	Dutch
	Garde Imperial 2	1,000 food	Ships 8 Middle Guards (Veteran Grenadiers with Incendiary Grenades) and upgrades Young Guards to Middle Guards; requires Garde Imperial 1 and Edict of Nantes Home City Card	French
	Wallenstein's Contracts	3,000 coin	Home City mercenary shipments (except TEAM Hire Hessians and TEAM 10 Cree Allies) are free; requires Treaty of Westphalia Home City Card	Germans
	Besteiros	2,000 wood	Ships 22 Besteiros (Veteran Crossbowmen with +30% hit points and attack) and upgrades Crossbowmen to Besteiros; requires Treaty of Tordesillas Home City Card	Portuguese
	Westernization	900 wood	Upgrades Strelets, Musketeers, Cossacks, and Grenadiers to Veteran (if not already); requires Reformist Tsar Home City Card	Russians
	Kalmucks	1,000 wood	Ships 9 Kalmucks (Guard Dragoons); requires Reformist Tsar Home City Card
	Quatrefage		Ships 13 Guard Halberdiers; requires Royal Decree to Claim the New World Home City Card	Spanish
	High Crusade	Free	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	Knights of St. John
	Indian Friendship	1,000 wood	Native warriors get +25% hit points; requires Royal Decree to Claim the New World Home City Card	John Black's Mercenaries
	Customized Merc Weapons	Free	Mercenaries get +30% attack but buildings cost +30%; requires Royal Decree to Claim the New World Home City Card
	American Patriots		Ships 16 Minutemen; requires Royal Decree to Claim the New World Home City Card	United States
	Standing Army	350 coin	Infantry train time -25%	All
	Mass Cavalry	750 coin	Cavalry train time -35%
	Roger's Rangers	2,000 coin	Ships 26 Roger's Rangers (Guard Skirmishers); requires The Glorious Revolution Home City Card	British
	Stadhouders		Ships 30 Stadhouders (Guard Musketeers); requires Religious Freedom Home City Card	Dutch
	Garde Imperial 3	2,000 food	Ships 15 Old Guards (Guard Grenadiers with +10% hit points and attack) and upgrades Middle Guards to Old Guards; requires Garde Imperial 2 and Edict of Nantes Home City Card	French
	Zweihander	2,000 coin	Ships 12 Doppelsoldner and Doppelsoldner gets +10% hit points; requires Treaty of Westphalia Home City Card	Germans
	Order of the Tower and the Sword	2,000 wood	Ships 11 Tower and Sword Riders (Black Riders); requires Treaty of Tordesillas Home City Card	Portuguese
	Petrine Reforms	2,500 coin	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	Russians
	Bashkir Ponies	2,000 coin	Ships 17 Bashkirs (Guard Hussars); requires Reformist Tsar Home City Card
	Wild Geese	2,000 food	Ships 10 Wild Geese (Hackapells); requires Royal Decree to Claim the New World Home City Card	Spanish

Civilization differences

• The Japanese can build one (and only one) Church by allying with the Dutch at the Consulate (requires a level 25 Home City), which provides the Church Wagon shipment that ships a namesake unit capable of building a Church for free.

Further statistics

Building strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Nothing
Weak vs.	Everything
Improvements
Hit points	Flying Buttress (+20%)
Sight	Gas Lighting (+4)
Construction cost	Cree Textile Craftsmanship (-25% wood) Tupi Forest Burning (-20% wood)
Penalties	Code Napoleon (+50% cost, French only) Customized Merc Weapons (+30% cost, John Black's Mercenaries only)

Home City Cards

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

Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team British Card Description Age HC level The Glorious Revolution Provides the Church with the Thin Red Line, The Black Watch, and Roger's Rangers improvements 10 Dutch Card Description Age HC level Religious Freedom Provides the Church with the Coffee Trade, Waardgelders, and Stadhouders improvements 10 Europeans Card Description Age HC level Improved Buildings Buildings get +40% hit points 10 Master Surgeons Surgeons can be trained at the Church and heals +50% hit points 10 The Master Surgeons card is not available to British and Spanish. French Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cheap Church Church and Mosque costs -80% and their improvements (except unique ones) cost less; Field Hospitals cost -50%; Monastery costs -30%; Fire Pit are free 10 Edict of Nantes Provides the Church with the Code Napoleon and Garde Imperial 1/2/3 improvements 10 Germans Card Description Age HC level Treaty of Westphalia Provides the Church with the Tilly's Discipline, Wallenstein's Contracts, and Zweihander improvements 10 Indians Card Description Age HC level TEAM Improved Buildings Buildings get +25% hit points 10 Portuguese Card Description Age HC level Treaty of Tordesillas Provides the Church with the Encomienda Manor, Besteiros, and Order of the Tower and the Sword improvements 10 Russians Card Description Age HC level Reformist Tsar Provides the Church with the Westernization, Kalmucks, Petrine Reforms, and Bashkir Ponies improvements 10 Spanish Card Description Age HC level Royal Decree to Claim the New World Provides the Church with the Corselet, Quatrefage, and Wild Geese improvements 10 Campaign Card Description Age HC level Royal Decree to Claim the New World Ships 2 Surgeons and provides the Church with Corselet, Tax Burden, High Crusade (Knights of St. John), Indian Friendship, Customized Merc Weapons (John Black's Mercenaries), American Patriots and Grand Encampment improvements (United States). 1

Changelog

Age of Empires III

• Churches cost 100 wood and take 10 seconds to build.

Definitive Edition

• Churches cost 150 wood and take 25 seconds to build. They now provide a 0.6 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

Spanish Church in the Industrial/Imperial Age

German Church in the Colonial/Fortress Age

Russian Church in the Colonial/Fortress Age

Add a photo to this gallery

See also

• Mosque – Ottoman equivalent