Cut content (Age of Empires III)

This article is about the cut content in Age of Empires III. For the same in other games of the series, see Cut content.

All cut content for Age of Empires III goes here.

Units and buildings[]

Ensemble Studios originally planned for combat to be available in the Discovery Age, and the available units would include Knights, Swordsmen, Crossbowmen, and Pikemen. For this reason, there is a Barracks appearance for the Discovery Age, shared by all European civilizations.
Because combat was planned to occur in the Discovery Age, most of the infantry and cavalry units from the civilizations in the base game had four visual updates created for them. The majority of the Discovery Age models were cut, though a few units like the Skirmisher and Halberdier utilize their 1age models instead of using ones meant for later Ages. Some units, like the Cuirassier and Lancer, only use two of their four visual updates, as they first become available to players starting with the Fortress Age. While the intended usage for the models was scrapped, the assets remain in the files and can be modded back into the game, as almost all of them appear to have been finished by the time they were cut.
- The Musketeer's unused first upgrade was based off of Tudor-era Musketeers.
The Musketeer was originally meant to be available to all civilizations, before they began making the rosters more unique. The Germans and Dutch could train Musketeers normally in the Barracks in the beta; German Musketeers' unused voice files still exist in the Scenario Editor and game files. The German Falconet reuses the German Musketeer's voicelines. The Dutch can still send Musketeers through the Blue Guards technology at the Church after sending the Religious Freedom Home City Card.
The Musketeer was not available to the Russians, since the Strelet was planned to take its role.
- This is the reason for the standing and marching animation of Strelets closely resembling that of the Musketeer-type units. Strelets also had a food and coin cost like all other Musketeer-type units, since the civilization bonus of 25% discount on all Blockhouse units is applied to their currently unused coin cost. This would have been more historically accurate, as Strelets fulfilled the same role historically.
The Dutch originally had the Crossbowman. There are unused voice files for Dutch Crossbowmen in the game files and in the Scenario Editor.
The Russians originally had the Pikeman, as there are voice files for the Russian Pikeman in the game files and in the Scenario Editor which are used by the Russian Petard. Similarly, the Russians also had the Skirmisher. The Russian Skirmisher's voice files are reused for the Russian Grenadier.
An infantry unit named the Swordsman was planned. It would have been a shared unit available to the Italians, Russians, and Ottomans, while the Spanish Rodelero and German Zweihander would have been unique variants. Unfinished models and unit portraits can be found in the files; the Italian and Ottoman Swordsmen might have shared a Mediterranean skin while the Russians had a unique (East_Swordsman) skin. The Swordsman may have replaced the Halberdier for the Russians.
- The Zweihander concept was ultimately implemented in the form of the Doppelsoldner, and the Zweihander assets were reused for the Doppelsoldner, Boneguard Swordsman, and Landsknecht. The Zweihänder itself became a technology used to improve the Doppelsoldner.
The Portuguese originally had access to the Missionary as well.
Originally, the Priest carried a staff, like the Priest of Age of Empires and the Monk of Age of Empires II. It is possible to see a Priest carrying a staff in the model and art shown in the history portrait. The Priest once again carries a staff in the Definitive Edition.
Sipahis were originally planned for the Ottomans as a replacement for the Hussar. Ultimately, both units became available to the Ottomans, with the Sipahi becoming exclusive to Home City shipments and politician bonuses.
Gatling Guns were originally planned to be trainable at the Factory, but were removed. They would later be added in The WarChiefs as a unit available at the Artillery Foundry for revolting European nations. This unit would also replace the Falconet for the United States civilization in the Definitive Edition.
The Heavy Cannon was originally trained at the Artillery Foundry.
The concept of light ranged cavalry was different from that shown in the final game: it was a melee cavalry unit that was good against Skirmisher-type, foot archer-type, and artillery units. The Hussar was the generic unit of this light cavalry, while the Cossack and Uhlan were intended to be unique versions of this unit, and the Stradiot would be the mercenary version. However, in the final game, the nomenclature of light cavalry was given to ranged cavalry units good against cavalry, such as the Dragoon-type and Cavalry Archer-type units, remaining only in in-game descriptions incorrectly describing the Hussar, Cossack, Uhlan and Stradiot (and also the Kanya Horseman in The WarChiefs) as light cavalry. This has been fixed in the Definitive Edition of the game.
- The sound files also refer to the Hussar as light cavalry, for example, britishlightcavalrymove1.wav.
The Heavy Cavalry was a generic cavalry unit, most likely trained in the Fortress Age. They were hand cavalry functionally similar to the Hussar and likely an earlier shared version of Cuirassiers, and likely had a bonus versus Infantry. The Italian Elmeti and Spanish Lancer were intended to be unique versions of this unit. There are voice files for British Heavy Cavalry and French Heavy Cavalry in the game files. It is likely that for balance and simplicity they were merged with Hussars, with Light and Heavy Cavalry being separated for ranged and hand cavalry respectively.
- The United States Dragoon in Act III: Steel uses the British Heavy Cavalry voice files.
- The French Spy and the Napoleon Gun use the French Heavy Cavalry voice files.
The Germans, and Dutch originally had a unique shared Dragoon called the Reiter. The Dutch ultimately received the Ruyter as a Dragoon replacement, while the Schwarze Reiter became a mercenary.
Mercenary units were originally only going to be available once per match; as soon as a player shipped a type of mercenary in, i.e. Highlanders, that mercenary was going to be disabled for all players.
A second unit was planned for the Comanche, the Comanche Lancer. A placeholder unit portrait exists in the game files.
A Steam Ship (possibly an early Ironclad) was planned, most likely as a Transport Ship.
A Colony Ship was planned, but its intended function is unknown.
Originally, European ships did not have a cross on their sails, as can be seen in some pre-release screenshots. The Fire Ship still uses the Caravel model of these early stages of development.
Crossbowmen originally were supposed to have low range that "increases dramatically" with their first upgrade.
Two cut cards or technologies refer to unlocking units at the Cannon Works and the Riding School. It is unclear whether those were early names for the Artillery Foundry and Stable, or perhaps referred to Home City buildings, as each building does have unused code for Units and ValidUnits that could be assigned to it.
A third unit was planned for the Nootka, the Nootka Knife Fighter. A placeholder unit icon exists in the game files.
A ranged infantry Mongolian mercenary was planned.
The Privateer unit originally produced coin as it attacked enemies. Unique sound files were made for a Privateer from each civilization, though they were not used.
There is an unused unit icon and in-game textures for the Gatling Camel in the game files.
The Church originally had a third Imperial Age variant, resembling a Cathedral. Only Western, Spanish, Russian, Swedish variants exist in full, with only the roof remaining for the Italian variant.
Watch Towers were set to appear as an equivalent to the Outpost from Age of Empires II. Strings from an early build show there was an Outpost as well as an Artillery Tower. The latter may have been upgraded with a Cannon Bastions technology.
There are unused files for the Market portrait in The WarChiefs (probably would be used by Native American civilizations), and in The Asian Dynasties for the Chinese and Indian Markets. The Market portrait used by Asian civilizations in The Asian Dynasties would be unique to the Japanese, as it is called japanese_market_icon_portrait.ddt in the game files. At some point, each Asian civilization had a unique Market: the Indians had the Tea Market, the Chinese the Silk Market, and the Japanese the Silver Market. Despite the image being updated for the Definitive Edition, the portrait for the Chinese remains unused.
- While unavailable to the Indians themselves, the Indian Market portrait is used for the Market that the Ethiopians can build by allying with them.
- Asian civilizations originally had a building where villagers could be tasked to gather the Export resource. Cards and techs referred to it as the Trade Market, Exchange Market, and finally Export Market before it was cut. It is possible the Tea Market, Silk Market, and Silver Market were the unique names for this building.
A portrait file named sx_light_cannon_portrait.ddt in the game files suggests that the Sioux would also have access to the Light Cannon.
There is an unused portrait and textures for the Sioux Holy Dance button for the Sioux Medicine Man in The WarChiefs. This was corrected in the Definitive Edition, where the Lakota Healer uses its own portrait and specific textures for the Healers Ceremony button.
An alternative portrait for the Aztec Villager exists in the The WarChiefs files. In the Definitive Edition, the Aztec Villager uses its own portrait.
The WarChiefs and The Asian Dynasties have unused portraits for the Native American and Japanese Docks, respectively. The WarChiefs also has a portrait of Native American Fishing Boats.
The Samurai has unused attack voice lines in the game files.
The Settler Wagon has unused voice lines in the game files with a unique voice, but only move and select lines were recorded.
The Indian Rice Paddy was to have its own portrait, which still exists in the game files. Curiously, the Definitive Edition updated it, but still did not use it either.
There are unused voice files for the Chinese Disciple for Claim, Disabled and Revived. Probably the Disciple would be a Hero-type unit, as are the second Monks of other Asian civilizations.
The Tiger Claw was originally topless, as shown in his unit portrait, and his art and model in his history portrait.
Urumis were originally planned for the Indians as trainable units in the Barracks and Gurkhas as units that are exclusive to Home City shipments. Their roles were switched.
- This is the reason for the regeneration ability of Gurkhas when they are idle. This is also the reason why there is a hotkey to train Urumis from Barracks in the game settings, which would train Gurkhas instead when used. These errors were fixed in the Definitive Edition.
- Strings for Disciplined, Honored, and Exalted upgrades for a unit called Gurkha Jemadar can be found in the files.
Remains of one of the earliest cut designs for the Consulate can be found in the files. It used a tiered system of Relations up to level four, with each tier providing a unique shipment, some of which were infinite. The Gurkhas, Sepoys, and Sowars were originally native units that could be shipped from the Home City, delivered at Trade Routes instead of XP or crates, or unlocked at the Consulate, possibly through the British Relations. The flag for a cut United States Consulate option can be found in the image files alongside other Big Buttons. Not much remains for it other than that its level four Relations shipment would have been two Gatling Guns.
A unit called the Kensei was cut for the Japanese. It is unclear what the difference was between it and the Samurai - which ended up using the Kensei's proto name entry. Perhaps it was a similar situation to Pikeman vs. Halberdier.
The Dojo may have originally been a major unit production building for the Japanese, as many cut cards and technologies increased the build limit and train speed for the Dojo. It was originally able to train Kensei, Samurai, Shinobi spies, or could be toggled to generate experience.
A building called the Shrine or Medicine Shrine was originally a unique Church for The WarChiefs civilizations. It would have had "ritual dances and ceremonies to benefit the tribe."
During development, the Town Center for The WarChiefs civilizations was called the Camp Circle. This can be seen when reading the unit help string for the Farm.
In screenshots from a prerelease build, a Star Fort can be seen with troops standing on the walls. The early builds also had different models for the Outpost.
Hot Air Balloons were originally something players could deploy from Town Centers, and were unable to move.
There is an unfinished model for a west_grenadier in the files.
The War Academy at one point was like a Blockhouse or War Hut as it had an anti-ship attack and a ranged attack which could be upgraded with Frontier War Academy and Fortified War Academy technologies, the latter additionally unlocked a cannon attack.
The Chinese originally had a unique villager unit called the Nomad, which had a bonus to gathering food from huntables but gathered all other resources slower.
Pigs were going to be introduced to the game with The Asian Dynasties as a herdable for the Chinese. They originally had villager cards that shipped x Villager(s) + y Pigs or Cows, and Team cards that could ship their unique Nomad villager plus Pigs or Cows. The pigs were ultimately cut and replaced with Goats, and their cows were replaced with Water Buffalo.
The Chinese originally had the Siege Workshop to produce their artillery units.
The Yojimbo originally countered skirmishers, foot archers, and artillery.
The Sepoy originally had a small bonus against cavalry on its ranged attack. This was cut, though the unit's rollover continued to say it had one until The African Royals expansion for the Definitive Edition.
The Indians originally had the Grab and the Gallivat for their unique ships.
The Indians may have had a unit generically called Camel, as strings remain for upgrading and shipping the Camel. This may be a relic of when the Sowar was a native unit that could only be shipped from the Home City, requested at Trade Routes, or unlocked at the Consulate.
Wokou units originally included direct replacements for the original Outlaws, and would have been treasure guardians and trainable units. The Exiled Rifleman would have been the Wokou version of the Renegado, the Wayward Ronin would have replaced the Pistolero, and the Wandering Horseman would have replaced the Comanchero.
A hero unit called the Red Robe General was cut, it was part of an early Wonder design. Historically this was the name given to Korean general Gwak Jae-u.
Two Banner Armies were cut for the Chinese, each required a card to be sent and the cards enabled them to be trained from the Village. The Wokou Army would have trained 3 Wokou Pirates and 3 Wokou Monks. The Mandarin Army would have trained 2 Iron Troops and 1 Manchu.
The Shinobi was originally a ranged cavalry unit that was good against buildings.
The Coureur des Bois was originally an upgradeable unit that could reach Imperial status. It has unfinished age02 models as well as special "milice" or militia versions of its model, hat, and gun that would be activated by a cut tech effect (uniquecoureurmilice), after which the name would change to Coureur Milice. The Milice concept, or a similar one, was used in the Definitive Edition for the Canada revolt where Coureurs get a large attack bonus, and the revolt does change the Coureur to use remastered versions of the Milice models (though the skin is just a copy of the normal Coureur's instead of having unique details like the base game's had).
A Light Mantlet unit for the Haudenosaunee may have been cut, as strings for upgrading the unit remain in the files. Many The WarChiefs units used alternative or placeholder names during development, such as the Forest Prowler being dubbed the Musket Warrior, Musket Runner, and Forest Runner, so it is unclear if the Light Mantlet was a name for the Mantlet or if it was a separate unit.
A Mercenary Hut building was cut for The WarChiefs civilizations, which would have let them train mercenaries. It potentially was going to cost 500 wood (compared to the 200 wood for a Saloon), making it much more expensive for them to get access to mercenaries.
Mercenary versions of the Comanchero, Pistolero, and Renegado were created during development of The WarChiefs and ultimately cut. The mercenary version of the Pistolero was named the Gunslinger, and many years later the developers of the Definitive Edition used the same name string when creating the unique unit.

Cards and Technologies[]

Unit upgrades were originally titled Veteran, Elite, and Guard during development.
The Veteran unit upgrade was planned for artillery units. The icon for this upgrade exists in the game files and is used for the Veteran upgrade of the Abus Gunner, although that unit is not classified as an artillery unit.
Numerous technologies were removed or replaced by Home City Cards.
The Veteran and Guard unit upgrades were planned for ships. Icons exist in the game files for these upgrades.
Many Home City technologies were planned to be available in the retail version of the game, such as choosing the politician for the Home City, but were cut.
A Nootka technology called "Nootka Harpoon" was planned. A placeholder icon still exists in the game files.
There is an unused Exalted upgrade for the Yojimbo.
The Japanese Shrine originally required a cut technology called Matsuri Shrines to be researched before it could produce resources.
Trading Posts originally had Treaty and Alliance upgrades to research, which let players get free Native Warriors from native allies.
The early design for Asian civilizations seemingly had each one receiving an extra unit or resource with their shipments. The Chinese bonus is likely to have been livestock, as they had unique versions of "Stockyards" and "Fulling Mills" which additionally sent a Cow and Water Buffalo, and their original villager shipment cards sent villagers or Nomads plus pigs, sheep, or cows. The Japanese bonus may have been similar to Germany's as some of the surviving cards additionally shipped Wokou, Kensei (a cut unit), Samurai, or Shinobi. An unknown civilization would have received extra coin with their "Silversmith," "Establish Ironmonger," and "Royal Mint" shipments. There were cut cards that shipped crates that contained experience plus food, wood, or coin, and one of the Asians, presumably India, had cards which shipped crates with resources replaced with villagers, i.e. "Crates of 800 Wood + 8 Villagers."
Many cards were created and subsequently cut or merged into other cards or techs during the development of The Asian Dynasties:
- Several cards or technologies were cut that would have enhanced Asian Monks. "Bandit Defense" would have enabled their Stun attack. "Animal Lore" would have enabled them to train pets. "Healing Ritual" would have allowed them to area heal nearby units. "Agony Chant" would have given them an aura that damaged nearby units. "Deconstruction" would have doubled their damage against artillery and buildings. "Martial Training" would have increased their damage against infantry and cavalry and enabled the ability to land critical strikes. "Renewal" would have healed the Monk for damage dealt. "Pain Mantra" would have increased the Monk's damage when attacking the same target. "Purity of Body" doubled the Monk's hitpoints, and "Technique" would have doubled their damage.
- The Chinese had a card called "Kung Fu" that enabled their Shaolin Master's Roundhouse Kick. This effect was merged into the "Snatch the Pebble" card. The icon for "Snatch the Pebble" is called tech_train_disciple_icon_64, so it likely originally unlocked the ability to create Disciples while a cut card using the placeholder "Chinese Monk Combat" provided the attack and hitpoints boost along with an aura to increase the attack of nearby Disciples.
- The Chinese had cards that shipped their Banner Armies instead of individual unit types.
- China originally had cards that shipped both Rattan Shields and Iron Troop mercenaries, these were changed to larger quantities of Rattan Shields for release.
- The Chinese had more Mongolian-themed cards which were cut; a "Mongolian Livestock" card shipped 4 Sheep, a "Mongolian Saiga Herd" card shipped Saiga, and one called "Mongolian Embassy" may have been related to the Mongolian Army.
- The Chinese had a "Nomads" card which would have let them train villagers from Villages.
- The Indians had cards that sent Berry Bush Wagons, and another that increased the gather rate for Berry Bushes by 30%.
- Pets were originally a focus for India. A card called "Master Healing" would have increased the healing efficiency of India's Brahmin and enabled them to train lions, while a card using the placeholder name "Pet Aura" gave Brahmin an aura that increased the damage of nearby pets and enabled them to train white tigers. Some of these effects were reused for India's Monastery technologies.
- Indians had a card called "Rampage" which would have increased the siege damage of their Brahmin.
- India once had a theme for Team cards. In addition to their current cards, they originally had team shipments for a Trading Post Wagon, Rajputs, Sepoys, Sowars, Zamburaks, Mahout Lancers, and Howdahs. Interestingly, the cut cards do have +1 Villager in their name, though it is unknown if that sent them for the team or just the Indian player.
- India had an "Early Elephants" card that let them train Mahout Lancers, Howdahs, and Siege Elephants an Age earlier.
- A card called "Shinobi-iri" would have improved the siege attack of Shinobi and gave them the Smoke Bomb ability to teleport back to your Town Center.
- Wokou units, which at one point in development were direct replacements for the original Outlaw units, were originally a focus for the Japanese and they had more cards that shipped or interacted with them. A card called "Underworld Alliance" would have upgraded Wokou to become "very strong" and allowed them to be trained at the Monastery, a card called "Underworld Wokou" gave Wokou Pirates additional attack and hipoints and enabled them at the Dock, while a card called "Wokou Den" unlocked Wokou Junks at the Dock and gave them 25% more attack and hitpoints.
- The Japanese had a series of cards which shipped a mixed batch of units plus a Daimyo.
- A card or technology named "House Healing" would have enabled Houses and Villages to heal nearby units.
The Consulate and its technologies went through many iterations. Internal file names for the current Consulate shipment techs reveal some of their earlier cut designs. The Dutch would have sent a Saloon Wagon instead of a Bank Wagon. The Ottomans would have focused on upgrades, providing more hitpoints for villagers, increased movement speed for military units, and increased siege damage for gunpowder units. The British appear to have allowed smaller shipments of their military units - Roger's Rangers, Redcoat Musketeers, and Lifeguard Hussars. The French would have unlocked a Hot Air Balloon ability for your Monk(s).
- Asian civilizations could originally activate a "Permanent Sequestor" which disabled their Consulate but increased all gather rates by 50%. They also had cards - "Tribute System" and "Trading House" - which could increase the amount of Export gained in all tax settings and unlock an additional tax rate for 120% increased Export rate at the cost of 20% slower gather rates.
- In an early design for the Consulate, the units did not shadow tech and instead used mass upgrade techs called Veteran Europeans, Guard Europeans, and Imperial Europeans. Another cut design unlocked the ability to train and upgrade European artillery out of the Consulate after sending certain Consulate shipments.
Castles originally had the Stone Fortifications upgrade for additional hitpoints, and the Castle Keep upgrade for additional range and attack.
Water Trade Routes were originally going to be upgraded to Baltimore Clippers and Steam Ships in The Asian Dynasties. Blackwall Frigate would have been an upgrade name.
The Dutch originally had Royal Guard Skirmishers instead of Halberdiers, which also would have been called Nassau/Nassauer. This may have been a reference to the Nassau Jager corps which fought during the Napoleonic Era.
A cut technology called "French-Indian Friendship" would have increased the build limit of the Coureur des Bois.
Town Centers once had a "Fixed Guns" technology to improve their attack.
Some Big Buttons were cut or changed for The WarChiefs civilizations during development. The "Tradesteel Weapons" button would have increased the damage infantry units dealt in melee mode. The Flaming Arrows button originally gave archers an enhanced siege attack. The "Reckless Charge" button would have increased the damage cavalry units dealt to artillery. This effect was moved to the Bonepipe Armor button before being cut. The "Rawhide Cover" button would have increased the range armor for siege units. The "Eagle's Eye" button would have unlocked the special attack ability for the Haudenosaunee War Chief. Buttons called "Wealth Lore," "Hunt Lore," and "Wood Lore" were possibly early names for the Haudenosaunee's buttons, as each of them gave "slightly more" than 100 of their respective resource for every minute the game had lasted. The Lakota originally had Scouting Party, Raiding Party, and War Party buttons which would have sent Tokala Soldiers.
- The "Old Ways" card originally activated all Big Buttons except the Scouting Party, Raiding Party, and War Party.
A card or upgrade called "Saloon Chain" would have increased the build limit of the Saloon to 3.
An upgrade called "State Religion" was cut. It would have required Mission Fervor to be researched first, and it would have provided healer units with 65% more hit points and 15% more movement speed. The name and icon were salvaged in the Definitive Edition, which used them for an unrelated technology at the Mexicans' unique Church.

Gameplay mechanics[]

The Explorers originally had a much heavier focus, with many Home City shipments related to improving them and unlocking unique abilities, which may have functioned like God Powers. For example, the Wildfire ability would light a fire that "burns across the prairie, damaging units and soldiers," while the Field Promotion ability would have increased the hit points of allied soldiers in the area for 30 seconds. Many assets from this system still exist in the files.
- According to the strings, the God Powers had been renamed to "Secret of the New World." This may have been the initial concept which later evolved into the various Explorer abilities.
All Explorers have a dialogue line for an action known as Claim. However, this is never used in the game. A theory is that this line may have been used by the Explorer before the victory screen is triggered when the player wins the game, in a similar fashion to the lines that Heroes and other characters use in the campaign scenarios when they are won. The Explorer's animation file also contains an attachment called Explorer Flag, which could be related to Claim.

Unused British Explorer's Claim line
Units originally had many more modes, including a Squad mode where players could lock up to twenty units in a group and have them move around together in formation. This was an attempt to change how combat worked compared to previous RTS games, where instead of just sending units to an area and moving on to something else, players could monitor the combat and adjust their mode to help win battles. Some of these cut modes include a Melee mode where they got a movement speed boost and charged into melee combat, a Strike mode which gave the unit increased movement speed and lowered damage except against Pikemen, a Sharpshooter mode which increased attack but prevented movement, and an Assault mode which decreased speed but added area damage. Ships could choose Rake mode for rapid, single shots, Broadside mode for slow, multiple shots, or Bombard mode for long-range shots at targets on land. Some of these can be seen in the presentation they did at E3 2005 and it was supposed to be one of the three features alongside the graphics and persistent Home City system that would differentiate the game from Age of Empires II.^[1]
In addition to accessing the deck of cards, the Home City screen originally allowed players to go to the individual buildings and access technology trees to unlock new cards and upgrades in real time during a match as they gained levels for the Home City. This was meant to be an RPG-esque feature, and having the Home City be a "persistent character" players could customize was one of the three features of Age of Empires III that the developers felt would differentiate it from Age of Empires II. Some of the upgrades were mutually exclusive and players would not be able to have a Home City with all of the upgrades unlocked, which would allow two players using the same civilization to end up with very different civilizations based off the technology tree choices they made.^[2]
After upgrading Trade Routes to Trains, it was originally intended that players would be able to garrison units into a Trading Post and unload them at another Trading Post.
A victory condition for Supremacy called "Four of a Kind" was scrapped before release. It was likely cut late in development as it is described as a feature in the game's instruction manual. It was an early version of Trade Monopoly and would have been triggered in the Industrial Age by building four Trading Posts on native sites or Trade Routes and activating a technology which cost 1,000 coin, after which a victory timer would begin and the opponents would need to destroy at least one Trading Post to stop it.
According to an unused texture in the game files (trade_buy_fame.ddt), it would be possible to exchange coin for experience in the Market (since the experience resource was originally called fame). It may have cost 1,000 coin for 500 experience according to one of the strings.
Originally, there were special resources that would appear on the map, including Cotton, Tobacco, Sugar Cane, and Spice. Some of these special resources appeared in the board game Glenn Drover's Empires: The Age of Discovery. The Plantations were originally meant to be built near these special resources, and Mines needed to be built near Ore.
- Explorers were able to build something called an Explorer's Camp, which could only be built near Secret Ruins.
A cut game mode or scoring system used Victory Points. Victory Points were earned by building and holding (or destroying) Trading Posts, Town Centers, and the Explorer Camps. "Annual Awards" of Victory Points was a toggleable option, and whoever destroyed the most Victory Point buildings won the Conquistador reward after the match.
Politicians were originally connected to the Home City and players would have to send them to advance in Age. Some strings remain for this design, and they mostly provided passive bonuses instead of resources or units. For example, the Naturalist advanced players to the Colonial Age and increased the gather rate for huntables and herdables, while the Ottomans could choose the Grand Vizier to advance to the Industrial Age and increase the hit points of their unique units. Many placeholder icons still exist in the files from this system.
- In the build at E3 2005, the age-up system was reported to let players focus on being a field general to gain bonuses to land operations, or a naval officer to gain bonuses to ship combat.^[3]
Shipments of villagers originally arrived at a flag players could place around the edge of the map, similar to the water flag for Home City shipments that deliver fishing boats or ships.
A cut design for the native sites would have restricted them to one minor civilization per player, as there are strings that say forming a new alliance will end the current one and that players could "exclusively ally" with a native village and other players would then be prevented from allying with the same natives. This design may not have used Trading Posts, as there are strings saying players would need to make contact before allying, and allying just had a cost displayed. A similar system was added to the Definitive Edition as it now lets players ally with native sites by paying resources instead of having to build a Trading Post first, as long as they have moved units near the unclaimed site.
The civilizations in The WarChiefs originally had a design heavily focused on the Fire Pit, remnants of which can still be found in the files. Every technology used in this design says it required the Fire Pit, and, similar to the African civilizations in the Definitive Edition, each production building's units were able to be upgraded all at once.
The civilizations in The Asian Dynasties originally had a different Wonder system where they were classified as National, Religious, or Military, and seemingly included some shared Wonders. These used some of the same and similar powers and bonuses of the current Wonders, along with some very unique ones. For example, the Imperial Palace was built slowly, but let players skip the Fortress Age and go directly to the Industrial Age; the Hwaseong Fortress produced Korean Dragon Gun artillery; and The Potala started a Wonder Victory Timer, and the player would lose if it was destroyed. Some of the scrapped data of these early Wonders and units still remain in the files, such as lists of their age-up rewards and references to their proto unit entries (ypHwaseongFortress, ypIncomparableMonastery, ypPotala, Dragon Gun).

Campaign[]

Chilche would have a greater participation in Act I: Blood, since he is seen together with Morgan Black in a screenshot of the campaign scenario screen of Act I: Blood in the early stages of game development, as opposed to the final version of the game that shows Morgan Black along with Elisabet Ramsey.
- Another fact that confirms that Chilche would have a greater participation in Act I: Blood is that there are unused voice files for his in-game unit in the game files.
A campaign hero called "Neamathla" was cut. Historically, Neamathla was the leader of the Hitchiti tribe, and was most likely involved in the Steel campaign in the The Lost Spanish Gold scenario.
Many dialogue lines were cut, such as taunts from the villains or characters giving players hints on how to proceed and warnings about events taking place. Some of these cut lines suggest that certain scenarios were more complex and had content cut from them, such as a cave-in taking place during The Boneguard's Lair. These can still be listened to in the BAR for the sound files.^[4]^[5]^[6]

Civilizations[]

The Chinese and the Japanese were designed to be playable civilizations in the vanilla game, since there are references to the flags of these civilizations in the texture files of the vanilla game (flag_china.ddt and flag_japan.ddt). However, they were cut off at a very early stage of development and reappeared later in The Asian Dynasties.

Italians[]

An Italian civilization was planned, with Florence as its Home City.
It featured subclasses based on city-states such as Genoa, Venezia, Naples, Siena, Florence, and Milano with their own unique bonuses and units.^[7]
- The string for the Genoa subclass remains in the files: "You have chosen Genoa as your patron city. In return, you have access to all Ranged Infantry and their techs."
Italian units were mostly "medieval" compared to other civilizations, much like the Ottomans and Spanish.
The Italians would have been the skirmish equivalent (along with the Spanish) of the Knights of St. John, much like how the John Black Mercenaries are based on the Germans, and the United States is based on the British.
The Italian civilization was later added in the Knights of the Mediterranean expansion for Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, with Venice as its Home City.
Planned units:
- Architect unit, a type of a unique Settler. This unit was implemented for the Italians in the Knights of the Mediterranean. While the scrapped version's function is unknown, the Knight of Mediterranean version has the ability to build all buildings for free, in exchange for building more slowly.
- Merchant unit, a second type of a unique Settler.
- Elmeti as their Heavy Cavalry unit, replacing the generic unnamed Heavy Cavalry. In the Definitive Edition's expansion Knights of the Mediterranean, the Elmetto was originally going to be a Fortress Age cavalry unit for the Italians, though that design was also cut and a similar unit named Papal Lancer would take this role, which can be only trained from the Basilica.
- General "Bombard Cannon" artillery units would have appeared, likely instead of Falconets and Mortars. These would later become the Li'l Bombard in The WarChiefs. A slightly altered and reskinned version of the Li'l Bombard would appear as the Papal Bombard for the Italians as their replacement to Heavy Cannon in Knights of the Mediterranean.
- Likely have used Hoop Throwers instead of Grenadiers.
- Considering that Genoa was intended to appear as a subclass, it is likely a unique Crossbowman called the Genoese Crossbowman would have been featured. A similar unit would later appear as an Italian unit in Age of Empires II HD: The Forgotten and the same kind of unit would later be brought back as the Pavisier for the Italians in Knights of the Mediterranean.

Swedes[]

The Swedes were cut, with not much remaining in the game files. However, developer Sandy Petersen shed light on them. They are one of two new civilizations that were added initially in the Definitive Edition.
They would have been a "celebration of Gustavus Adolphus and all of his military innovations, with beautiful houses."^[8] The reason they were cut was related to development time and "mostly art bandwidth" as they had "wanted a beautiful home city and unique architecture and units" for the Swedes.^[9]
Fusiliers were planned as a unique Swedish Musketeer.
It is likely Horse Artillery would have been their unique Falconet as historically, Horse Artillery was the invention of Lennart Torstenson during the Thirty Years War.
Hackapells may have been their unique Dragoon, due to Finland's involvement as mercenaries to the Swedish during the Thirty Years War, and their icon showing them with a flintlock instead of a saber. A similar unit, the Hakkapelit, is the Swedish unique Dragoon.

Poland and Denmark[]

On January 31, 2024, it was announced that a new expansion for the Definitive Edition with new civilizations is in the works.^[10] On February 23, 2024, the flags of two new civilizations were revealed.^[11] The flags are the royal banner of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth during 1605-1668 and the flag of Denmark in use since 1748. While the official names of the civilizations was not conveyed, Adam Isgreen, the Creative Director at World's Edge, referred to them as Poland and Denmark.^[12] The expansion was scheduled to be released in late 2024. However, the release was postponed to a later date.^[13] On January 28, 2025, it was announced that the expansion was canceled, and no further expansions will be added to the game.^[14]
Hints that the Polish and Danes were coming to the game in some form began in July 2023, when the Public Update Preview build (which later became update 14.43676) contained remnants of cut Danish and Polish Revolutions. The Polish would have featured Grand Hetman (possibly a hero), Scythemen, and Polish Lancers. Variations of the Polish Lancer model are used for Revolutionary France's Eclaireur and the Dutch's Red Lancer unit available through the namesake unique Church technology. The Danes would have featured Royal Grenadiers (Heavy Ranged Infantry with Promotions and "armed with a powerful musket to defeat infantry"), Espingol (Artillery, possibly a unique Danish version of the Gatling Gun, as historically Espingols were a precursor to the modern machine guns), and a Royal Oldenburgs card (that would have allowed them to train Royal Grenadiers and allied the player with the House of Oldenburg).
- In the same update, the Royal Guard upgrade for the Uhlan was renamed from Czapka Uhlans to Prussian Uhlans, another hint that something Polish could be in the works, as Czapka is known in English as a word for the 19th-century Polish cavalry headgear.
- Although the unit was cut, the Polish Lancer's animation file was reused for the Eclaireur, and it was later updated so that the original, Polish version of the unit required an unavailable technology, strongly suggesting a Polish Revolution, or Poland as a civilization, would be coming to the game in the future.
In a Twitch stream from the ESOC channel interview, the developer Tilanus emphasized on the diversity of cavalry troops in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which could have been an in-game strength for this civilization. Tilanus also emphasized the historical power of the Danish navy, which could have been an in-game strength for Denmark in the economic and naval areas.

Team colors[]

There are five unused team colors in the game files that are not accessible nor ever seen in normal gameplay: black, pale green, dark grey, magenta and white for the original game; and black, grey, light grey, gold and white in the Definitive Edition.

Note that the white color appears many times as the last few choices in the Scenario Editor, as if that color is a placeholder. It is unknown if these team colors were meant to be part of normal gameplay at some point in development, if they are simply used for testing. The black team color is used by the Cornwallis units in the The Battle of Yorktown scenario.

Other[]

Many terrains seen in pre-release screenshots were changed or removed.
At one point, random maps based in Europe were planned, but scrapped due to the development refocus on the Americas. However, 30 random maps based in Europe were added as part of the Knights of the Mediterranean expansion for Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition.
The Trireme and Fortress from Age of Mythology were to appear as easter eggs.
Like the previous games, the corpses of dead units would appear.
A game mode called Grand Conquest was planned for the original game, described as "a game in which you and your allies will struggle for control over the New World against the other European powers." It would have featured a strategic map perhaps similar to other RTS games, and players would fight to control all the territories while trying to complete in-game objectives. Players would have been able to customize the Explorer's name and Home City name, selected a civilization, and chose the civilizations of the allies and enemies. Players would be able to Invade, Defend, and Claim territories, and the game mode may have featured cards that provided permanent buffs, as one string remains that specifies the player would receive the effects "every game."
- Some strings for cut content refer to "years," which may be related to Grand Conquest. There was a card or technology that shipped "resources back to your Home City. In return, your team’s Imperial Army is available 1 Year sooner."
A game mode was planned for The Asian Dynasties, the Relic Victory, which worked in the same way as in Age of Empires II (if one team manages to capture all Relics, a Victory timer begins, similar to Trade Monopoly). These Relics were found on Treasure sites and provided a trickle of coin once captured.^[15] A description remains in the files, "Relic Capture - Ancient Asian Relics are scattered throughout the map at Treasure sites. These Relics are substantial Coin sources. Capture them all to start a victory timer."
The Home City included an additional building called the Estate, which may have housed the cut shipments to enhance the Explorers.
During development, the Home City for The Asian Dynasties civilizations was called Holy Sites instead.
Several Dances for the Fire Pit were cut. A Green Corn Dance would have increased unit speed, a Morning Wars Dance spawned a special unit for the Haudenosaunee, a Victory Dance increased unit hitpoints, a Fishing Dance or Greatfish Dance improved gather rates for fish and whales, a Herd Mother Dance made livestock fatten faster on Farms, and an unnamed dance boosted all gather rates.
The Chinese's Transcendence power originally gave a short duration increase to military production speed, similar to the Mexicans' "TEAM Mariachi" card in the Definitive Edition.
Many easter egg units were made for The Asian Dynasties but were cut: "Afro Ninja," "Golden Maya Man," "Bear Cop," "Zeke," and "Catan Robber."
A Grand Canyon map was planned for The WarChiefs but was cut. It would have featured a "deep chasm flanked by starting areas."

Definitive Edition[]

Age-ups and Revolutions[]

There are four cut Federal States in the files for the United States: Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, and North Carolina. Each State had an age-up flag made for it, and from the remaining tech tree entries, Louisiana and Maine may have been Imperial Age choices, while North Carolina was an Industrial Age choice.
In the civilization overview trailer^[16] for the United States, a cut age-up design can be seen, as each Federal State had a unique age-up reward similar to other cultures. The same thing happened with the Mexicans' overview trailer^[17] and their cut age-up design had a single reward for each Federal State in an Age.
The July 2023 Public Update Preview build (which later became update 14.43676) contained remnants of Polish and Danish revolutions. The remaining assets included their revolution flags (which were quickly removed when the PUP was updated), some strings for a few unit names and technologies, and the model for one of the cut units:
- Denmark would have featured Royal Grenadiers (Heavy Ranged Infantry with Promotions and "armed with a powerful musket to defeat infantry"), Espingols (likely a unique Danish Artillery unit replacing the Gatling Gun, as Espingols were historically a precursor to the modern machine guns), and a Royal Oldenburgs card (that would have allowed them to train Royal Grenadiers and allied the player with the House of Oldenburg).
- Poland would have featured Grand Hetman (possibly a hero), Scythemen, and Polish Lancers. The Polish Lancer is the only surviving model, as variations of it are used for Revolutionary France's Eclaireur and the Dutch's Red Lancer unit available through the namesake unique Church technology.
A Fortress Age version of The Black Duke was created for the Knights of the Mediterranean expansion and ultimately scrapped.

Cards and technologies[]

A Swedish Immigrants card was planned for the United States. There is an unused Swedish Immigrants card icon added in update 23511, which can be found in the game files of the Definitive Edition. Judging by its icon, it would probably be related to the shipment of Torp Wagons.
Songhai Raid was planned to be divided into three parts, like the Raiding Party Big Buttons of the Aztec and Inca. Songhai Scouting Party, Songhai Raiding Party, and Songhai War Party would send 5, 10, and 15 Raiders, respectively. This would have been an Alliance unlock named 'Sonni Ali Epic.'
An unused Lancers of Texas card for the Texas revolution can be found in the files. It would have upgraded Chinacos to Texian Lancers, which are Guard level units with a Lance Charge attack, and 10% faster movement speed and train times.
An unused Lancers of Jalisco card for the Mexicans can be found in the files. It would probably be related to improving Chinacos or Dragoons in combat.
A cut card called Royal Mothers was created for the Knights of the Mediterranean expansion. It would have shipped a Trading Post Wagon and lowered the cooldown of European Royal House powers by 35%. The card can still be seen as a prerequisite in the Italians' Home City file.
Two Tongue cards for the Maltese were cut: the Italian Tongue would have shipped and unlocked Order Schiavoni at the Commandery. Nothing remains of the Swedish Tongue except for its icon.
The Hausa had a card called Fulani Marksmen which was cut. It would have equipped the Fulani Archer with a rifle, changed their name to Fula Marksman, and given them a new icon.
The Revolutionary France revolt had multiple cut and changed card effects during its development. The Foraging card enabled Skirmishers to gather Food, gather from crates, and pick up treasures; the Horse Grenadiers card gave Hussars a charged grenade attack and improved their siege damage; the Chasseurs Á Pied card gave Skirmishers a charged rifle attack and increased their movement speed; and the Marshal of the Empire card shipped a General "to turn the tide of battle with powerful abilities."
The Italians had a card called Venetian Mirror which was cut. The description seems to be missing a word or two and there is no other remaining data for the card, but it suggests the card either shipped a second Explorer unit, like Portugal's Bandeirantes card, or perhaps gave the Explorer an ability to summon a unit. "Grants your Explorer to look into a rich Venetian mirror and create a copy of himself."
The Maltese Depot had a few cards created for it that were cut. The Tersenal card would have made Depots improve the work rate of nearby Docks and enabled the Docks to do an area heal for nearby ships; the Fougasse card enabled Depots to train Fire Throwers, Petards, and Mortars; and the Booby Traps card improved the blast radius of Depots.
Two cards which shipped Commandery Wagons were cut for the Maltese; Bailiwicks would have shipped two wagons, and Grand Priories would have shipped three wagons.
A cut design for the Mexicans' Hacienda made it unable to produce Settlers by default and the feature would have required shipping specific cards to enable it, such as the Empresarios card from Coahuila or the Old Three-Hundred card from the Texas revolution.
The Mexicans have many cut or altered card designs that can still be found in the files. A cut card effect would have allowed Villagers to gather natural resources much faster when working near Haciendas and Town Centers. They experimented with a card that reduced the stats and lowered the population cost of Soldados before ultimately cutting it altogether. A card named Cry For Liberty would have enabled the Padre and the Inspiring Flag to quickly heal nearby units. A cut card would have increased the hit point regeneration of the Padre at the cost of lowering his maximum hit points.
The Mexicans' Cathedral originally could "research a series of special technologies, many of which are double-edged swords or can only be obtained under certain conditions." In the cut design, both it and the Padre were available in the Exploration Age, and the Padre had to be trained from the Cathedral.
An unknown card or technology in the Knights of the Mediterranean expansion would have shipped "1 Totenkopf Hussar for every 4 minutes of game length, up to 30 minutes."
Additional cards to deposit resources into Lombards were designed and cut. They would have deposited small (400), medium (800), or greater (1,200) amounts of a single resource.
A card named Krümper System was cut, it may have been related to Landwehrs.
A card named Hussite Wagon Tactics was experimented with before being cut. It would have enabled War Wagons to provide a bonus to nearby infantry units; one design provided damage deflection, another a movement speed aura, and finally a hitpoint aura before it was scrapped.
A Team version of Lynx Pelt Trade was cut. In addition to the coin gather rate increase the normal version provides, it would have shipped a pet Cougar and made animal treasure guardians provide a bounty of coin in addition to XP.
A card named Aenna Squads was cut. It would have increased the hitpoints of Aennas and gave them a scaling group hitpoint bonus like State Militia.
An unknown card would have given Houses a ranged attack that could be increased by "garrisoned Villagers and Archers."
A card named Destreza was cut, it would have allowed Rodeleros to counter infantry units instead of cavalry.
A few early designs for the revamped Royal Guard upgrades that debuted in Update 14.43676 can be seen in the files. Originally, Royal Guard Uhlans would have received a damage bonus against infantry, Royal Guard Rodeleros would have gained a damage bonus against heavy infantry, Royal Guard Portuguese Crossbowmen would have had a cost reduction, and Royal Guard Delis would have gained an attack speed increase.
A Diplomatic Immunity ability was experimented with for the Envoy before ultimately being cut. The Peace of Münster card would have additionally unlocked the Diplomatic Immunity ability once the player reached the Industrial Age, which would have had the effect of "Temporarily makes all Envoys invulnerable for some seconds, but neutralizes their attack."
An unknown card, likely for Hungary and/or Romania, would have fully replaced Crossbowmen with Hajduk Arquebusiers, the description for which may remain as an "Affordable Hungarian skirmisher" that can also chop wood.
A card named Tanegashimas would have equipped Samurai with "powerful short-ranged firearms" and increased their train time. This effect may have been repurposed in Update 15.59076 as the TEAM Odzutsu Mortars card now enables a mortar attack for Samurai.

Units and buildings[]

There is an unused unit named Tribal Marketplace Travois. Since the Tribal Marketplace is free, this unit became obsolete and removed from the game.
There are unused names of units that exist only in the strings file (Kidnapper, Mossi Raider, Tibbu Highwayman, Hassanic Raider, Fante Rebel, Fulani Cattle Thief, Malicious Witch Doctor, Fanatic Fulani, Camel Raider, Bandit Janissary, Bandit Archer, Trailing Dogon Hunter, Elephant Hunter, Lion Hunter, Hippo Hunter, Cushitic Bandit, Bornu Brigand, Wandering Nilote, and Grave Robber). These units would have been introduced as Treasure guardians in The African Royals if uncut.
- Additional Treasure Guardians were also created for the Knights of the Mediterranean and were cut, these included the Agitator, Rapparee, and Scaramouche. Some other unit names made for this expansion also exist only in the strings file: Royal Guardsman, Royal Watchman, Royal Patrol, Royal Scout, Royal Custodian, Royal Keeper, Royal Gendarme, Royal Police, Royal Policeman, Royal Agent, and Royal Inspector.
New models for the cut Swedish Fusilier from the original Age of Empires III were made for the Definitive Edition and can be found in the files, though they were not used and are not fully rigged for animations.
New models for the cut Italian Elmetto from the original Age of Empires III were made for the Knights of the Mediterranean expansion and can be found in the files. It was going to be a heavy cavalry unit for Italy at some point in development and would have been available starting in the Fortress Age. It was ultimately cut and the assets were repurposed by the Papal Lancer, which uses new skins for the Guard horse and Imperial rider models. The Robber Knight treasure guardian uses what would have been the Veteran horse and Guard rider models.
Unused cinematic and in-game models exist for Francisco Pizarro, a Spanish conquistador who led expeditions to South America.
The Chevauleger has unused code for trample mode. It is likely that Chevaulegers were intended to perform a similar role to Royal Dragoons, light cavalry with a strong hand attack that allows them to fight more easily against light infantry and artillery in melee combat.
Some counter-skirmishers, like the Pandour or the Schiavone, are referred to in their descriptions as Skirmishers that counters other Skirmishers, despite not having the AbstractSkirmisher tag, suggesting they were considered light infantry with a unique bonus attack before the final release of Knights of the Mediterranean.
New animations for shotgun-wielding Outlaw units were created, possibly with the development of Owlhoots for the United States DLC, though many are unused. These included a new animation for firing twice with a double-barreled shotgun, an animation for hipfiring, new reloading animations including loading shells into a break-action, and a new idle pose.
The Italians had a unique Priest unit, the Cardinal, which was cut. The description remains as: "The Cardinal is a unique Italian healer unit that replaces the Priest. It can be trained in the Basilica starting in the Commerce Age and has several special abilities. It can convert buildings, reduce the strength of a single enemy unit, and increase the strength of a single allied unit."
The Counter Dragoon and Counter Jaeger were originally a unique, singular, Industrial Age Stable unit for the Russians which could switch between the two forms by mounting and dismounting. While the unit was cut and the concept reused without the mount/dismount function, the cut units can be found in the scenario editor and the original unit concept can be read: "It performs the role of an ordinary Dragoon to fight heavy cavalry, but actually specializes in countering other light cavalry units and artillery at range. Due to this specialized role he offers lower hitpoints and base damage in exchange for higher attack multipliers and ranged resistance. In his melee attack the counter roles are reversed and the unit performs better against heavy cavalry. Counter Dragoons can dismount from their horses to turn into Counter Jaegers. These units are light ranged infantry units that are better at countering other Skirmisher and Light ranged cavalry units than Heavy ranged infantry such as Musketeers."
Order Galleys originally had Promotions for increasing their attack range. It was cut before release, though it is still referenced in the game.
The Abun could once empower buildings like the Griot.
The Lombard had a design which was cut, which would have featured four tiers of one-time use Investment technologies which cost varying amounts of food, wood, or coin. The first tier cost 100 of a resource and provided a Settler after 15 seconds, the second tier cost 300 of a resource and provided 100 of each of the other two resources after 30 seconds, the third tier cost 500 of a resource and provided 200 of each of the other two resources after 45 seconds, and the two fourth tier Investments cost 2,400 coin and would have supplied 3,600 food or 3,600 wood after 180 seconds.
The Fire Ship was originally going to have a Royal House version, but it was cut.

Other[]

An Iceland map was in development, but was cut due to the map designer retiring. The description remains in the files: "On Iceland teams find themselves on opposite sides of an enormous, beautiful volcano located in the center of the island. Iceland is very mineral-rich, but for an adequate source of food, players must take to the surrounding ocean. Since this region does not have many trees, players will need to scavenge the wilderness for treasures and rely on sparse trees around the island. There are no trade routes in this remote region, but players may choose to ally with the Oldenburgs to gain an edge over the enemy."
In a forum post about the design process behind The African Royals, one of the developers revealed that the Songhai Empire was a "strong contender" for one of the civilizations they wanted to create. During the research process, they found its history was rather "short-lived," it was difficult to find source material, and since Age of Empires III civilizations are more about culture groups rather than a specific empire, it ended up scrapped and used as an Alliance option instead.^[18] In another post, the developer revealed that the Moroccans were also considered as a civilization for the expansion, but they were ruled out for being too close to the European culture's gameplay mechanics and history, as they wanted the The African Royals civilizations to be distinctively different from Europeans.^[19]
During the development of the Definitive Edition, the Discovery Age had been renamed to the Settlement Age, before finally being changed to the Exploration Age by release. This can be seen in the unit help string for the Torp, which still has the alternative name.
Additional African minor civilizations may have been cut from The African Royals. Strings tagged ReservedTranslation are preceded by the existing African minor civs' names, and these reserved strings included the Kongolese, Tuareg, Edo, Benin, Omanis, Bedouins, and Mandé.
Update 43871 added an icon for ranged cavalry, but since no unit have multipliers against ranged cavalry to be displayed in the UI, the icon remains unused in the game files.