Generates resources or artillery automatically. Configure it to produce different things. Can only be sent from the Home City.
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—In-game description
The Factory is an economic/military building in Age of Empires III that can only be built by Factory Wagons which can only be shipped from the Home City in the Industrial Age (Fortress Age for the United States). It generates 5.5 food, 5.5 wood, or 5.5 coin (7.15 with their respective improvements) per second depending on the configuration, or automatically trains a Heavy Cannon (Rocket for the British, Papal Bombard for the Italians, Great Bombard for the Ottomans) at no cost. The Factory also provides technologies to improve their resource gather rates and artillery train time, as well as the Imperial upgrade for Heavy Cannons/Rockets/Papal Bombards/Great Bombards.
Factories are best placed in a well-guarded position, because they cannot be rebuilt when destroyed.
Consider the opportunity cost of shipping a Factory as opposed to shipping crates directly. If the civilization has 1,600 crates available for the resource being produced, the Factory will be profitable after about 5 minutes. If the factory is used for less time, crates would be more effective. Likewise, as a rough guide, the upgrades would be worth it if that resource is planned to be made for 3 minutes or more. Consider reallocating Settlers to avoid this if necessary.
"Robber Barons" is available to Baja California, Europeans (except the Maltese, Russians, Spanish, and Swedes), Revolutionary France, South Africa, and Uited States (upon reaching the Industrial Age).
"Industrial Revolution" is available to the Russians, South Africa, Spanish, Swedes, and United States (upon reaching the Industrial Age).
"Chipotle Tactics" is available to the Mexicans and Spanish (upon revolting to Mexico).
Ship 16 Minutemen; when destroyed by enemies, your buildings spawn a number of Minutemen equal to 1.5% of their cost rounded up
"The Alamo" is available to the United States upon selecting the TexasFederal State, and Mexicans upon revolting to Texas, and spawns 17 Minutemen when a Factory is destroyed.
The Factory built by the Chinese by allying with the Russians at the Consulate use the Southern European architecture set and cannot research the Imperial Cannon upgrade.
The Factory built by the Chinese by allying with the Russians at the Consulate now use the Northern European architecture set and can research the Imperial Cannon upgrade.
History[]
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A factory is a large building that produces goods on a large scale and is usually associated with machinery, division of labor, and workers who are paid a wage. The first known factory was the Venice Arsenal, which began mass-producing ships in 1104. Factories came into common use in the eighteenth century and as the Industrial Revolution gathered steam, so to speak, factories cropped up in urban areas all over the western world.