Culverin (Age of Empires III)

This article is about the unit in Age of Empires III. For the unit in Age of Empires IV, see Culverin (Age of Empires IV).

Culverin
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Artillery
Civilization	See description
Age	Fortress Age
Training
Trained at	Artillery Foundry
Wood	100
Coin	400
Training time	45 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	280
Resists	75% vs. Ranged
Speed	3.5 (Limber) 1.4 (Bombard)
Line of Sight	36
Population	4
XP train bounty	50
XP bounty	50
Siege attack
Damage	40
Multipliers	×10.0 vs. Ship ×4.0 vs. Artillery ×2.0 vs. Gatling Camels ×1.9 vs. Building ×0.5 vs. Cavalry and Shock Infantry
Range	34
Area of Effect	1
Rate of Fire	6.0

“	Light artillery. Good against other artillery.	”
—In-game description

The Culverin is an artillery unit in Age of Empires III that can be trained at the Artillery Foundry once the Fortress Age is reached. It is an artillery piece with exceptional range that is especially effective against other artillery and ships, but does well against buildings as well.

Culverins are available to European and American civilizations except the Knights of St. John (Act I: Blood campaign).

Overview

The Culverin is not very effective against anything other than buildings, artillery and ships, but makes up for this fact by being extraordinarily good at its two primary functions, namely taking down artillery and ships, and can protect a large area. In comparison to other units, it deals more damage versus ships than the Haudenosaunee Light Cannon (400 vs 210 unupgraded). While it doesn't match the extended range of the Mortar or Morutaru, it is far more accurate against a moving ship.

Unless an opponent is building cannons or a strong navy, Culverins have little use in most games. Some may want to keep a few around just in case of a ship or artillery attack, while others would consider it a waste of resources to build a unit which doesn't counter anything currently in play.

Due to their sizeable range, Culverins can adequately defend a shoreline from most ships as they have more range than all ships except Monitors and Ironclad. Not even the ships using "Offshore Support" or "European Cannons" will have a greater range than a Culverin, they come up one point short of matching its range. When combined with the even higher anti-ship range of Outposts and Town Centers built near the water and walls along the shore (preventing troops from being unloaded), the player will be safe inside their turtle shell until Monitors are able to be produced by the enemy.

Upgrades

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect	Civ.
	Culverins Royale	250 food, 250 wood	Upgrade Culverins to Culverins Royale (+25% hit points and attack)
	Spingarde	250 food, 250 wood	Upgrade Culverins to Spingarde (+?% hit points and attack)
	Basilisk	250 food, 250 wood	Upgrade Culverins to Basilisk (+?% hit points and attack)
	Imperial Culverins Royale	1,500 wood, 1,500 coin	Upgrade Culverins Royale to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack); requires Culverins Royale
	Imperial Spingarde	1500 food, 1500 wood	Upgrade Spingarde to Imperial (+50?% hit points and attack); requires Spingarde
	Imperial Basilisk	1500 food, 1500 wood	Upgrade Basilisk to Imperial (+50?% hit points and attack); requires Basilisk

Civilization differences

• John Black's Mercenaries can only upgrade Culverins to Culverins Royale.
• The United States in Act III campaign can upgrade Culverins up to Imperial Culverins Royale.
• Asian civilizations can get Culverins by allying with Portuguese and Russians at the Consulate which provides armies and technologies that includes Culverins listed below. Unlike their regular counterpart, these Culverins are automatically upgraded in the Industrial Age and the Imperial Age (see here for the exact values).
  • Portuguese (Indians and Japanese): Portuguese Expeditionary Force (1 Culverin) and Portuguese Expeditionary Army (3 Culverins)
  • Russians (Chinese): Russian Expeditionary Force (1 Culverin), Russian Expeditionary Army (3 Culverins), and Russian Brigade (3 Culverins)

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Artillery, ships
Weak vs.	Infantry especially Arrow Knights, cavalry
Improvements
Hit points	Professional Gunners (+10%)
Attack	Heated Shot (+1.5x multiplier vs. ships)
Sight	Town Watch (+2) Gunner's Quadrant (+6)
Speed	Trunion (+15%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
Creation speed	Quechuan Diet (-10%)
Train cost	Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost)
Other	Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)
Penalties	Coffee Trade (-10% speed, Dutch only)

Home City Cards

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

• Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team
• Purple: Shipment that can be sent an INFINITE number of times

All

Card	Description	Age	HC level
2 Culverins	Ships 2 Culverins		10
4 Culverins	Ships 4 Culverins		40

• "2 Culverins" is available to Dutch, Germans, Portuguese (at a level 25 Home City), and United States.
• "4 Culverins" is available to French, Spanish, and United States.

Americans

Card	Description	Age
2 Culverins + 2 Mortars	Ships 2 Culverins and 2 Mortars

Chinese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Engineering School	Artillery, Grenade Trooper, Petard, Ram, Mantlet, Flamethrower, Siege Elephant, Black Flag Army, and Mongolian Army train time -15%; Heavy Cannons, Rockets, Great Bombards, and Flying Crows train 10% faster		25

"TEAM Engineering School" is also available to the Swedes (in the Industrial Age).

Europeans

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Artillery Hitpoints	Artillery and Grenade Trooper gets +15% hit points
Engineering School	Artillery, Grenade Trooper and Petard train time -30%; Heavy Cannons/Great Bombards train 20% faster		25

• "TEAM Artillery Hitpoints" card is available to Ottomans and Portuguese (in the Fortress Age).
• "Engineering School" is available to French, Ottomans, and Swedes.

French

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Gribeauval System	Falconets, Culverins, and Horse Artillery get +25% attack; Heavy Cannons get +20% attack		40

Indians

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics	All units get +5% hit points and attack		25

Japanese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Cheaper Unit Upgrades	Unit upgrades cost -20%		1

Mexicans

Card	Description	Age
Liberty Dragoon Regiment	Ships 8 Dragoons and 1 Culverin

Ottomans

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Artillery Attack	Artillery, Abus Guns, and Grenadiers get +15% attack		25

Spanish

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Inquisition	All units get +10 LOS		10

Swedes

Card	Description	Age
2 Falconets + 2 Culverins	Ships 2 Falconets and 2 Culverins
1 Falconet + 1 Culverin	Ships 1 Falconet and 1 Culverin
Case Shot	Leather Cannons, Falconets, Culverins, Horse Artillery, and Heavy Cannons get the Case Shot attack (used against enemies within half of the normal range or closer, which deals 10% of the normal damage with 7 projectiles and +2 AOE, but with a multiplier of ×0.5 against Cavalry and Shock Infantry, and also a ×2.0 multiplier against Infantry for Culverins)

Changelog

Age of Empires III

• Culverins have no multiplier against buildings.

The African Royals

• Although it is not listed in the patch notes, since update 38254, Culverins now have an additional ×4.0 multiplier against Gatling Camels.
• With update 13.4412, Culverins have a ×2.0 multiplier against buildings and Gatling Camels. This makes their total damage multiplier against Gatling Camels ×4.0.

Knights of the Mediterranean

• With update 13.9057, Culverins have a ×1.9 multiplier against buildings.

History

“

The Culverin gets its name from the Latin word for serpent – colubra – used to describe the cannon's distinctive curving handles. It was a long, heavy cannon and could fire at great range. A skilled team of gunners could use the Culverin's extreme range and precision to target specific enemy buildings or defenses.

”

Gallery

A Culverin in Bombard mode

A Culverin in Limber mode

An Imperial Culverin Royale in Limber mode

A Culverin Royale in Bombard mode

A real-life culverin

A Culverin side view

Culverin in the original version and Definitive Edition