| “ | Slow, infinite source of Coin. Limited to 10 gatherers. | ” |
| —In-game description | ||
The Estate (Plantation before the Definitive Edition) is an economic building in Age of Empires III that is available once the Fortress Age is reached (if the "Advanced Estate" Home City Card has been sent, it can be built in the Exploration Age). It is an infinite source of coin that can be gathered by villager-type units and acts as a replacement to the trading system in previous games.
Each villager tasked to the Estate gathers 0.5 coin per second, which is lower than mines (0.6 coin) until improved by Estate technologies, Home City Cards, and/or native technologies. Up to 10 villagers can work on an Estate at a time, though due to collisions between units it is best to only use 7 per Estate.
Asian civilizations have the Rice Paddy instead, which combines the functions of a Mill and the Estate. The African civilizations have the Field, which has the same function as the Rice Paddy, but operates on a slower gathering rate. The Mexican civilization has the Hacienda, which combines the functions of a Mill, Estate, and Livestock Pen.
Tactics[]
Most civilizations who can build Estates have access to the "Advanced Estate" Home City Card, which reduces their cost by 31% and allows them to be built in the Exploration Age. The cost can be lowered by another 40% with the Land Grab card for a total of 71% cost reduction, but only if Land Grab is sent before "Advanced Estate" – when sending the cards in the other order the cost reduction is only 58.6%. This is due to the hidden, different discount types the two cards use.
3v3[]
The following requires the Deccan or Silk Road maps. It also requires a Japanese ally (TEAM Chonindo), and an ally with TEAM Rum Distillery; see Home City Card for a navigation box to individual civilization cards.
The gather rate cap for a Settler at an Estate is 88.25 coin per minute per gatherer, or 1.471 coin per second, which can be attained with the Economic Theory, TEAM Chonindo, Rum Distillery, TEAM Rum Distillery, Cigar Roller, Royal Mint, and Textile Mill cards, Excessive Taxation, Fasting, and Punjabi New Year upgrades.
The gather rate cap for the Coureur des Bois and Cree Coureur des Bois is 94.5 coin per minute per gatherer, or 1.575 coin per second, while the Settler Wagon is 194 coin per minute per wagon, or 3.233 coin per second with the Guild Artisan card.
Technologies[]
| Age | Technology | Cost | Effect | Civ. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
 Bookkeeping
|
300 food, 300 wood |
Settlers, Coureurs des Bois, and Settler Wagons gather coin from Estates and Rice Paddies 10% faster | EU |
 Earth Ceremony
|
185 food, 150 wood |
Villagers gather coin 10% faster | NA | |
 Earth Gift Ceremony
|
380 food, 320 wood |
Villagers gather coin 20% faster; requires Earth Ceremony | ||
 Tezcatlipoca Worship
|
900 coin | Ships 1 Skull Knight for every 4 minutes the game has passed, up to 30 minutes | Aztecs | |
 Maple Festival
|
250 food, 250 wood |
Ships 500 coin for every 10 minutes the game has passed, up to 30 minutes | Haudenosaunee | |
 Gun Trade
|
400 wood | Wakina Rifles and Rifle Riders get +25% attack | Lakota | |
 |
 Homesteading
|
400 food, 400 wood |
Settlers, Coureurs des Bois, and Settler Wagons gather coin from Estates and Rice Paddies 20% faster; requires Bookkeeping | EU |
 Refineries
|
600 food, 600 wood |
Settlers, Coureurs des Bois, and Settler Wagons gather coin from Estates and Rice Paddies 30% faster; requires Homesteading | ||
 Coca Cultivation
|
500 food, 500 wood, 500 coin | Estates generate 0.8 coin/sec. | Incas | |
 |
 Excessive Tribute
|
1,000 food, 1,000 wood |
All coin gathering (but not shipments and Trade Routes) is 50% faster; requires Earth Gift Ceremony | NA |
Further statistics[]
| Building strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Nothing |
| Weak vs. | Everything |
| Improvements | |
| Hit points |  Flying Buttress (+20%)
|
| Sight |  Gas Lighting (+4)
|
| Construction cost |  Cree Textile Craftsmanship (-25% wood) Tupi Forest Burning (-20% wood)
|
| Other |  Cherokee Basket Weaving (improvements except Excessive Tribute and Big Buttons cost no wood)
|
| Penalties |  Code Napoleon (+50% cost, French only) Customized Merc Weapons (+30% cost, John Black's Mercenaries only)
|
Home City Cards[]
| Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Estate | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team All[]
Indians[]
Native Americans[]
|
Changelog[]
Age of Empires III[]
- The building is called "Plantation".
- Plantations cost 800 wood and give 160 XP when built and 320 XP when destroyed.
Definitive Edition[]
- The building is called "Estate".
- Estates cost 600 wood and give 120 XP when built and 240 XP when destroyed.
- Originally, the Incas had no Estate build limit, like other civilizations. With update 3552, the Incas had an Estate build limit of 20. With update 20322, the Incas have an Estate build limit of 10.
Bugs and glitches[]
- In the original Age of Empires III, Estates placed too closely together (side by side with no space between them) may cause some villagers to "migrate" to the adjacent Estate. This bug also occurs with Mills and, to a lesser degree, Farms and Rice Paddies.
History[]
Age of Empires III[]
| “ | A plantation is a large farm where crops are cultivated. They were common in the southern United States as well as in parts of the Caribbean. Many historical plantations used slave labor. In the United States, plantations are associated with a distinct type of architecture known as the Plantation House. | ” |
Definitive Edition[]
| “ | An Estate is a large land holding where crops are cultivated. They were common across the United States as well as parts of the Caribbean. | ” |
Trivia[]
- Even though the crops of the Plantation/Estate are meant to be cotton, as seen in the pre-Definitive Edition icon, the actual model is of grapevine. Coincidentally, this makes it more appropriate for the European maps.
Gallery[]
