Culverin (Age of Empires III)

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 and Gatling Camel* ×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 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.

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

Overview

The Culverin is not very effective against anything other than artillery and ships, but makes up for this fact by being extraordinarily good at its two primary functions and can protect a large area. In comparison to other units, it deals more damage versus ships than the Iroquois 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 cannon 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.

However, with limited capability for aggression, its defensive powers does not tend to see much competitive use in 1v1. Due to its high 400 coin cost, in a short game a player able to produce culverins would generally rather spend it on more versatile methods for dealing with enemy Falconets anyway, such as cavalry. Units such as the Hussar can be repurposed on the offensive, while the Dragoon is more mobile. However, the culverin remains a useful defensive option in other game modes such as the campaigns and teamgames.

Fully upgraded Culverins being influenced by the Spanish Unction aura will very rapidly (1-2 shots, 456 damage versus artillery) destroy any artillery that lacks comparable or superior technological advantages. These same Culverins are also capable of inflicting 1710 damage to ships in a single shot, making it very difficult to successfully land an invasion force directly on Spanish territory, even when transporting troops in a high hit point vessel.

Upgrades

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect
	Culverins Royale	250 food, 250 wood	Upgrade Culverins to Culverins Royale (+25% 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

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 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 10 2 Culverins Ships 2 Culverins 10 4 Culverins Ships 4 Culverins 40 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). "2 Culverins" is available to Dutch, Germans, and Portuguese (at a level 25 Home City), while the Swedes have "2 Falconets + 2 Culverins" instead. "4 Culverins" is available to French and Spanish. "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 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 Artillery except Mortars 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

The African Royals

• Although it is not listed in the patch notes, since update 38254, Culverins now have a x4.0 multiplier against Gatling Camels.

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