Community Plaza

Community Plaza
Information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition
Type	Building Economic Resource
Civilization(s)	Native Americans
Age	Exploration Age
Use	Performs ceremonies which provide special bonuses when villagers (and Healers/Warrior Priests/Priestesses) are tasked to the Community Plaza Provides Big Button technologies
Internal name	CommunityPlaza
Building
Built by	Villager and its counterparts Travois
Cost	100 Wood
Max. builders	25
Build time	20 seconds
Build limit	1
Statistics
Size	3x3 7.5x7.5 (placement obstruction)
Hit points	1,200
Line of Sight	12
Max. gatherers	25
Build XP	20
Kill XP	40

“	Task Villagers on the Community Plaza to perform powerful ceremonies.	”
—In-game description

The Community Plaza is a special building in Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition that is unique to the Native American civilizations (Aztecs, Haudenosaunee, Inca, and Lakota) and replaces the Fire Pit from The WarChiefs.

Overview

It grants a choice of "ceremonies" which provide special bonuses when villagers are tasked to the Community Plaza, which can hold up to 25 units; the more units tasked to the Community Plaza, the more powerful the ceremony becomes. The percentage-based ceremonies use the final amount as base, instead of the unimproved amount, which means that the ceremonies are much more powerful than they would otherwise be in later Ages.

The Haudenosaunee and Lakota Healers, Aztec Warrior Priests, and Inca Priestesses and Llamas can be tasked to the Community Plaza, where they count as 1.2, 2, 1.5, and 0.2 units respectively. This makes the Aztec and Inca ceremonies have superior bonuses to others.

Ceremonies

“	A way for Native American civilizations to get a variety of bonuses. You can select any of the Ceremonies in the Community Plaza to achieve a specific bonus. As you gain wisdom from the Tribal Elders and move through the Ages, new Ceremonies will become available for you to choose from. There are two Ceremonies that are made available only via Tribal Council shipments. Only one Ceremony can be performed at a time.	”
—In-game information

Age	Ceremony	Effect	Civ.
	Harvest Ceremony	Increases unit train rate	All
	Gift Ceremony	Trickles XP
	War Chief Ceremony	Increases War Chief hit points and returns him to the Community Plaza when collapsed
	Call the People Ceremony	Spawns Warriors
	Water Ceremony	Increases all ships' hit points and attack; requires Water Ceremony Home City Card	Aztecs Inca
	Founder Ceremony	Spawns Travois
	Calendar Ceremony	Reduces Age-up cost; requires Calendar Ceremony Home City Card	Aztecs
	Healers Ceremony	Spawns Healers (Warrior Priests for the Aztecs; Priestesses for the Inca)	All
	War Ceremony	Increases all units' melee and ranged attack
	Town Ceremony	Increases all buildings' hit points and attack; requires Town Ceremony Home City Card	Aztecs
	Moon Ceremony	Trickles wood	Inca
	Healing Ceremony	Units regenerate hit points while idle	Aztecs
	Earth Mother Ceremony	Increases population
	Charging Ceremony	Increases all units' siege attack
	Garland War Ceremony	Spawns Skull Knights	Aztecs
	Supay Ceremony	Spawns Macemen	Inca
	Tokala Ceremony	Spawns Tokala Soldiers

Technologies

Age	Technology	Cost	Effect	Civ.
	Founder	100 food 100 wood 100 coin	Aztec War Chief aura triples XP kill bounty	Aztecs
	Secret Society	200 wood 100 coin	Haudenosaunee War Chief can use the Heal ability
	Battle Anger	350 wood 1,000 coin	Lakota War Chief bonus damage against artillery +500%; Axe Rider, Bow Rider, Rifle Rider, Tashunke Prowler, and Tokala Soldier bonus damage against artillery +100%
	Royal Festival	250 food 250 wood 250 coin	Delivers 1 Maceman for every 4 minutes of game time, up to 30 minutes	Inca

Further statistics

Building strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Nothing
Weak vs.	Everything
Improvements
Hit points	Flying Buttress (+20%) Byzantine Legacy (+15%)
Cost	Cree Textile Craftsmanship (-10%) Tupi Forest Burning (-20% wood)
Build time	Cree Textile Craftsmanship (-25%)

Home City Cards

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Community Plaza

Some cards are highlighted with:
Green	TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team

Shared

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Improved Buildings	Building hit points +25%

• "TEAM Improved Buildings" is available to the Inca, Indians, and Maltese.

Aztecs

Card	Description	Age
Calendar Ceremony	Delivers 1 Warrior Priest; enables Calendar Ceremony at the Community Plaza

Haudenosaunee

Card	Description	Age
Wampum	Unit train bounty +35%, train time -20%, siege unit and artillery train time -5% instead; building build bounty +35%

Inca

Card	Description	Age
Monumental Architecture	Building hit points +30%; Town Center and Command Post damage +35%

Lakota

Card	Description	Age
Camp Movements	Delivers 2 War Hut Travois; building build time -25%; Town Centers, Community Plaza, Market, Corral, War Hut, Farm, Native Embassy, Estate, and Dock can be transformed into a Travois to be built elsewhere
Winter Counts	Unit train bounty +40%; building build bounty +20%

Native Americans

Card	Description	Age
Town Ceremony	Enables Town Ceremony at the Community Plaza
Improved Buildings	Building hit points +40%
Water Ceremony	Enables Water Ceremony at the Community Plaza

• "Improved Buildings" is not available to the Inca.
• "Water Ceremony" is not available to the Lakota.

Changelog

Definitive Edition

• Community Plazas have 1,500 hit points.
• The Community Plaza's in-game description is "Task Villagers on the Community Plaza to perform powerful ceremony." With update 9476, the Community Plaza's in-game description is "Task Villagers on the Community Plaza to perform powerful ceremonies."

Knights of the Mediterranean

• With update 13.58326, Community Plazas have 1,200 hit points and must be placed 80 tiles away from enemy Town Centers.

History

“

Since time immemorial, Indigenous Peoples have inhabited North America, Mesoamerica, and South America. When European settlers first arrived in the Americas, there were an estimated ten million Native inhabitants in North America alone, speaking more than 300 different languages. Some were nomadic like the Lakota who followed the bison across the Great Plains. Others were sedentary like the Haudenosaunee of the Northeast Woodlands who, along with the Aztec (Mexico) and Inca (Peru), built permanent settlements and grew staple crops. One thing that the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas shared was a strong sense of community—working together and sharing natural resources. The Community Plaza is a symbolic representation of these interdependent communities of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas.

”

Trivia

• The reason why the Fire Pit was replaced by the Community Plaza was because the Fire Pit was considered stereotypical and offensive to Native American audiences.
• Instead of dancing and playing drums at the Fire Pit, Villagers who are sent to the Community Plaza appear to be discussing plans and ideas.

Gallery

Community Plaza image from the Compendium section

In-game Aztec Community Plaza

In-game Haudenosaunee Community Plaza

In-game Haudenosaunee Community Plaza

In-game Haudenosaunee Community Plaza, with Villagers tasked

In-game Lakota Community Plaza being built

In-game Lakota Community Plaza

In-game Inca Community Plaza

In-game Inca Community Plaza with Villagers tasked