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
Information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Artillery
Civilization(s)	Europeans Federal Americans Africans
Age	Fortress Age
Internal name	Culverin
Training
Trained at	Artillery Foundry (Europeans and Federal Americans) Palace (Africans)
Cost	100 Wood 400 Coin 4 Population
Train time	45 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	280
Resistance	75% Ranged
Speed	3.5
Line of Sight	36
XP train bounty	50
XP kill bounty	50
Bombard attack
Damage	40 Siege
Area of Effect	1
Range	34
Rate of Fire	6.0
Bonus damage	10.0x Ship 4.0x Artillery 2.0x Gatling Camel 1.9x Building 1.75x Siege unit 0.57x Recruiting ship 0.5x Cavalry 0.5x Shock infantry
Caseshot attack
Damage	4 (7) Siege
Area of Effect	3
Range	17
Rate of Fire	6.0
Bonus damage	2.0x Infantry 2.0x Gatling Camel 1.9x Building 1.75x Siege unit 0.57x Recruiting ship 0.5x Cavalry 0.5x Shock infantry
Requires	"Case Shot" card

“	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 sizable 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	Upgrades Culverins to Culverins Royale (+25% hit points and attack)
	Spingardes	400 food 400 wood	Upgrades Culverins to Spingardes (+35% hit points and +25% attack, +5% ranged resistance)
	Basilisks		Upgrades Culverins to Basilisks (+25% hit points and +35% attack, attack poisons the target dealing 1.1 siege damage every second for 6 seconds)
	Imperial Culverins	1,500 wood 1,500 coin	Upgrades Culverins Royale to Imperial Culverins (+50% hit points and attack); requires Culverins Royale
	Imperial Spingardes		Upgrades Spingardes to Imperial Spingardes (+50% hit points and attack); requires Spingardes
	Imperial Basilisks		Upgrades Basilisks to Imperial Basilisks (+50% hit points and attack); requires Basilisks

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.
• African civilizations can train Culverins at the Palace when the Imported Cannons technology is researched. These Culverins cost 500 influence instead of wood and coin cost, and automatically upgrade to Culverins Royale and Imperial Culverins in the Industrial Age and Imperial Age respectively.

Consulate Culverin

Consulate Culverin
Information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties
Type	Artillery Consulate unit
Civilization(s)	Asians Romania United States
Age	Fortress Age
Internal name	ypConsulateCulverin
Training
Banner army	Portuguese Expeditionary Force Portuguese Expeditionary Army Russian Expeditionary Force Russian Expeditionary Army
Trained at	Consulate (Asians)
Cost	100 Wood 400 Coin 4 Population
Train time	45 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	280
Resistance	75% Ranged
Speed	3.5
Line of Sight	36
XP train bounty	50
XP kill bounty	50
Bombard attack
Damage	40 Siege
Area of Effect	1
Range	34
Rate of Fire	6.0
Bonus damage	10.0x Ship 4.0x Artillery 2.0x Gatling Camel 1.9x Building 1.75x Siege unit 0.57x Recruiting ship 0.5x Cavalry 0.5x Shock infantry

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

The Consulate Culverin is a counterpart of the Culverin, which starts with +10% hit points and attack.

Upgrades

The Consulate Culverin is automatically upgraded in the Industrial Age and Imperial Age:

• +25% hit points and attack
• +50% hit points and attack

Civilization differences

• Asian civilizations can get Consulate Culverins by allying with Portuguese and Russians at the Consulate which provides armies and technologies that includes Consulate Culverins listed below.
  • Portuguese (Indians and Japanese): Portuguese Expeditionary Force (1 Consulate Culverin) and Portuguese Expeditionary Army 1 and (3 Consulate Culverins)
  • Russians (Chinese): Russian Expeditionary Force (1 Consulate Culverin), Russian Expeditionary Army (3 Consulate Culverins), and Russian Brigade (3 Consulate Culverins)

Revolutionary

• (Definitive Edition) Romania can get Consulate Culverins through the "Russian Expeditionary Army" Home City Card which ships 3 Consulate Culverins.
• The United States can get Consulate Culverins through the "Knox's Continental Artillery" Home City Card which ships 5 Consulate Culverins.

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Artillery, ships
Weak vs.	Infantry especially Arrow Knights, cavalry, shock infantry
Improvements
Hit points	Professional Gunners (+10%) Gadaa System (+5%; Ethiopians only) Tar Kilns (+5%)
Attack	Gadaa System (+5%; Ethiopians only) Smokeless Powder (+5%) Heated Shot (+50% multiplier vs. ships) Somali Ajuran Engineers (+20% multiplier vs. Frontier fortification)
Line of Sight	Town Watch (+3) Gunner's Quadrant (+6)
Speed	Trunion (+15%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
Train time	Immigrants (-10%) New Mexico Immigration (-10%; United States only) Strangers' Quarters (-10%; Africans only)
Cost	Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost) Golden Liberty (-5% coin cost) Improved Cannon Trade (changes cost to 300 coin, 250 influence; Africans only)
Other	Russian Brigade (ships 3 Consulate Culverins; Chinese only) Imported Cannons (can be trained at Palaces; Africans only) Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)

Home City Cards

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

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
Red	Shipment that can be sent twice
Blue	Shipment that arrives fast (5 seconds)

• Definitive Edition
• The Asian Dynasties

All

Card	Description	Age
2 Culverins	Ships 2 Culverins (also +4 Uhlans for the Germans)
4 Culverins	Ships 4 Culverins

• "2 Culverins" is available to the Dutch, Germans, Mexicans (upon revolting to Central America), and Portuguese.
• "4 Culverins" is available to the French, Mexicans (upon revolting to Rio Grande and Texas), Spanish, and United States.

Africans

Card	Description	Age
Feudal Armies	All units' train time -15%; hero respawn time -15%

Asian

Card	Description	Age
Good Faith Agreements	Consulate units' train time -50%; Consulate technologies' cost -40% (-300 export for Brigades) and research time -50% (except Brigades) (also +1 Villager for the Indians)

Chinese

Card	Description	Age
Siege Hitpoints	Artillery and Flamethrowers get +15% hit points; grenade troopers get +20% hit points
Siege Attack	Artillery and Flamethrowers get +15% attack; grenade troopers get +20% attack
Siege Combat	Artillery get +15% hit points and attack; Flamethrowers and grenade troopers get +20% hit points and attack
Western Reforms	All units get +8% hit points and attack
TEAM Engineering School	Artillery, Fixed Gun, Siege Elephant, Flamethrower, Ram, Mantlet, and Haudenosaunee Mantlet train time -15%; Heavy Cannon, Great Bombard, Rocket, Flying Crow, and Gatling Camel train time -5%
Acupuncture	All units' train time -20%, spawn time -5%
Banner School	Banner army train time -30%; Summer Palace banner army spawn time -7%

Ethiopians

Card	Description	Age
Ignatian Spirituality	All units get +5% hit points and regeneration capability even while in combat

Europeans

Card	Description	Age
2 Falconets + 2 Culverins	Ships 2 Falconets and 2 Culverins
1 Falconet + 1 Culverin	Ships 1 Falconet and 1 Culverin
Engineering School	Artillery, Fixed Gun, Siege Elephant, Flamethrower, Ram, Mantlet, and Haudenosaunee Mantlet train time -30%; Heavy Cannon, Great Bombard, Rocket, Flying Crow, and Gatling Camel train time -10%
Flying Battery	Falconets, Culverins, Mortars, Horse Artillery, Heavy Cannons, Napoleon Guns, and Li'l Bombards get +1.1 speed and -10% Rate of Fire
Lantakas	Artillery, buildings, and ships get +15% attack
Wanderlust	Land units get +5% hit points; land villagers and wagons get +5% speed
Knox's Continental Artillery	Ships 5 Consulate Culverins; artillery get +10% hit points and -10% train time; Culverins get +20% hit points and -25% train time instead; costs 500 wood

• "2 Falconets + 2 Culverins" and "1 Falconet + 1 Culverin" are available to the Italians and Swedes.
• "Engineering School" is available to the French, Ottomans, Portuguese, Russians, and Swedes.
• "Flying Battery" is available to the Germans, Italians, and Spanish upon revolting to Argentina, and French upon revolting to Revolutionary France.
• "Lantakas" is available to the Dutch and Portuguese upon revolting to Indonesia.
• "Wanderlust" is available to the Dutch upon revolting to South Africa, and can be sent 3 times.
• "Knox's Continental Artillery" is available to the British, Dutch, French, Italians, and Swedes upon revolting to United States.

French

Card	Description	Age
Gribeauval System	Falconets, Culverins, and Horse Artillery get +25% attack; Heavy Cannons get +20% attack
Grande Armée	Imperial upgrades for units are available and cost -50%

• "Grande Armée" is available upon revolting to Revolutionary France.

Indians

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics	All units get +5% hit points and attack
Foreign Trading Companies	Gives a trickle of 0.75 export/sec.; banner army cost -15% export; Indian units costs +2.5% (Villagers, Fishing Boats, and Sacred Cows cost +5% instead); +1 Hindu Villager

Japanese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Odzutsu Mortars	Artillery get +10% attack
TEAM Sengoku	Unit upgrades cost -20%
Bakufu	Daimyo and Shogun Tokugawa get +5% speed, +10 Line of Sight and train units 15% faster; land military unit train time -20%, artillery and banner army train time -10% instead

Maltese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Knights of the Round Table	Ships 1 Hospitaller for each Town Center owned by the player; all units get +2% hit points
Squires	Military buildings train and research work 80% faster, except Forts which train and research work 260% faster

Mexicans

Card	Description	Age
Liberty Dragoon Regiment	Ships 8 Dragoons and 1 Culverin
Plan of Veracruz	[Plan] Turns all Outposts into Falconets; upgrades Falconets to Field Guns (if not already); artillery get +4 Line of Sight; costs 250 food, 250 wood
2 Culverins + 2 Mortars	Ships 2 Culverins and 2 Mortars
TEAM Mariachi	For the next 30 seconds, military buildings work 400% faster and units get +10% speed
National Servant	All units get +10% hit points; Padre healing 200% faster
Walker's Illusions	Ships 1 Culverin and 2 Quaker Guns

• "National Servant" is available upon selecting the Estado de México Federal State.
• "Walker's Illusions" is available upon revolting to Baja California.

Ottomans

Card	Description	Age
Topçular	Artillery, Abus Gunners, and grenade troopers get +15% hit points and attack

Portuguese

Card	Description	Age
Artillery Hitpoints	Grenade troopers get +30% hit points; artillery get +15% hit points

Russians

Card	Description	Age
Tsar Cannon	Ships 1 Tsar Cannon and upgrades it to Imperial; Imperial upgrades for Falconets, Culverins, Mortars, and Horse Artillery cost -10%

Spanish

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Spanish Inquisition	Ships 1 Inquisitor; all units get +10 Line of Sight

Swedes

Card	Description	Age
Case Shot	Leather Cannons, Falconets, Culverins, Horse Artillery, and Heavy Cannons get the Caseshot attack

United States

Card	Description	Age
Indiana Mobilization	Ships 1 Carbine Cavalry for each shipment sent so far this game including this one; unit train time (except Heavy Cannons), technology research time, and age-up time -10%; costs 250 food, 250 wood
Marions Diversions	Artillery get +5% speed; Quaker Guns available at the Artillery Foundry
Putnam Engineering	Ships 1 Fort Wagon and 3 Culverins; Fort build limit +1
Connecticut Shipwrights	Ship train time -50%; building build time -35%; artillery train time -15%, Heavy Cannon train time -10% instead

• "Indiana Mobilization" is available upon selecting Indiana as the Fortress Age Federal State.
• "Marions Diversions" is available upon selecting South Carolina as the Industrial Age Federal State.
• "Putnam Engineering" is available upon selecting Ohio as Industrial Age Federal State.
• "Connecticut Shipwrights" is available upon selecting Connecticut as the Imperial Age Federal State.

Asian

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Good Faith Agreements	Consulate units' train time -50%; Consulate technologies' cost -40% (-400 export for Brigades) and research time -50% (except Brigades) (also +1 Villager for the Indians)		1

Chinese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Siege Hitpoints	Artillery get +15% hit points; Flamethrowers get +20% hit points		10
Siege Attack	Artillery get +15% attack; Flamethrowers get +20% attack		10
Siege Combat	Artillery get +15% hit points and attack; Flamethrowers get +20% hit points and attack		25
Western Reforms	All units get +8% hit points and attack		40
TEAM Engineering School	Abus Gunner, Grenadier, Culverin, Falconet, Mortar, Organ Gun, Mantlet, Ram, Light Cannon, Petard, Horse Artillery, Siege Elephant, Morutaru, Flaming Arrow, Hand Mortar, and Flamethrower train time -30%; Heavy Cannon, Great Bombard, Rocket, and Flying Crow train time -5%		25
Acupuncture	All units' train time -20%		40
Banner School	Banner army train time -30%; Summer Palace banner army spawn time -7%		10

Europeans

Card	Description	Age	HC level
2 Culverins	Ships 2 Culverins (also +4 Uhlans for the Germans)		10
4 Culverins	Ships 4 Culverins		40
TEAM Artillery Hitpoints	Artillery, Abus Gunners, and Grenadiers get +15% hit points		10
Engineering School	Abus Gunner, Grenadier, Culverin, Falconet, Mortar, Organ Gun, Mantlet, Ram, Light Cannon, Petard, Horse Artillery, Siege Elephant, Morutaru, Flaming Arrow, Hand Mortar, and Flamethrower train time -40%; Heavy Cannon, Great Bombard, Rocket, and Flying Crow train time -10%		25

• "2 Culverins" is available to the Dutch, Germans, and Portuguese (at a level 25 Home City).
• "4 Culverins" is available to the French and Spanish.
• "TEAM Artillery Hitpoints" is available to the Ottomans and Portuguese.
• "Engineering School" is available to the French, Ottomans, Portuguese, and Russians.

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

Ottomans

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

Spanish

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Inquisition	All units get +10 Line of Sight		10

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. This makes their total damage multiplier against Gatling Camels ×8.0.
• 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.
• With update 13.58326, Culverins have a ×1.5 multiplier against Siege Elephants (Omitted from the update log).
• Originally, Spingardes and Basilisks cost 350 food, 350 wood. With update 14.43676, they cost 400 food, 400 wood, Spingardes improves Culverin ranged resistance by 5%, Basilisks grants a poison attack, and they received new models.
• With patch 15.30007, Culverins have a ×1.75 multiplier against siege unit and the ×1.5 ranged multiplier against Siege Elephants was removed.
• With update 15.59076, Culverins have a ×0.57 multiplier against recruiting ship.

Trivia

• Italian Royal Guard Culverins are named after a cannon designed by Leonardo da Vinci.
• Maltese Royal Guard Culverins are named after the Basilisk cannon.

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

A Culverin Royale/Imperial Culverin in Limber mode

A Culverin Royale/Imperial Culverin in Bombard mode

A real-life culverin

A Culverin side view

Culverin in the original version and Definitive Edition

A Culverin in Limber mode in the Definitive Edition

A Culverin in Bombard mode in the Definitive Edition

A Culverin Royale/Imperial Culverin in Limber mode in the Definitive Edition

In-game Ottoman Culverin (the in-game model required the "Topçular" Home City Card before update 14.43676)

In-game Spingarde in Limber mode since update 14.43676

In-game Spingarde in Bombard mode since update 14.43676

In-game Basilisk in Limber mode since update 14.43676

In-game Basilisk in Bombard mode since update 14.43676