Starts a new colony by transforming into a Town Center. Most civilizations can only have 1 Town Center until the Fortress Age.
”
—In-game description
The Covered Wagon (Town Travois for Native American civilizations, Town Rickshaw for Asian civilizations, Town Center Builder for African civilizations) is a special civilian unit in Age of Empires III that builds a Town Center at no cost.
For most civilizations, the Covered Wagon can only be shipped from the Home City once the player selects a Home City Card, and can be useful for the player to expand their territory.
In the Nomad game mode, every player starts with one Covered Wagon.
The Portuguese receive one Covered Wagon at the beginning of each Age as a civilization bonus.
Most European civilizations can pick The Bishop for aging up into the Fortress Age which is a politician that gives the player one Covered Wagon.
The United States can train Covered Wagons at the State Capitol. Similarly the Texas and California revolutions available to the Mexicans may get the State Capitol with a Home City Card, which will allow them to train Covered Wagons. The California federal state of the United States also ships one Covered Wagon and increases its creation limit by +1.
Home City Cards[]
Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Covered Wagon
Some cards are highlighted with:
Green
TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team
Purple
Shipment that can be sent an INFINITE number of times
Ships various Builders depending on the Age when this card is sent, including the previous one(s): 1 University Builder (Exploration Age), 1 Trade Builder (Commerce Age), 1 Palace Builder (Fortress Age), 1 Town Center Builder (Industrial Age), 5 Camp Builders (Imperial Age)
Ships 1 Covered Wagon; Existing and new Town Centers spawn 6 Bisons; Costs 750 coin
Trivia[]
If the player uses their Explorer to start construction of a Town Center and replaces him with a Covered Wagon, the Wagon will resume construction of the Town Center without being consumed in the process.
History[]
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Covered wagons were so full of food and other supplies that settlers who traveled west could rarely expect to travel inside them. These wagons were so uncomfortable and bumpy that more than a few settlers were happy to walk. The ride could be so bumpy that a butter churn filled with milk at the beginning of the day would have produced butter by the end of the day. Covered wagons traveled about two miles per hour. Until steam-powered trains could reach the frontier, the West was won very slowly.