| “ | Generates resources or artillery automatically. Configure it to produce different things. Can only be sent from the Home City. | ” |
| —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 European civilizations' Home City in the Industrial Age. 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, 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/Great Bombards.
Contents
Tactics[]
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.
Technologies[]
| Age | Technology | Cost | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 Cannery
|
250 wood, 250 coin |
Factories generate +30% food |
 Water Power
|
250 food, 250 coin |
Factories generate +30% wood | |
 Steam Power
|
250 food, 250 wood |
Factories generate +30% coin | |
 Mass Production
|
300 food, 300 coin |
Heavy Cannon/Rocket/Great Bombard train time -25% |
Civilization differences[]
- In The Asian Dynasties, the Chinese can build one (and only one) Factory by allying with the Russians at the Consulate, which provides the Factory Wagon shipment that ships the namesake unit capable of building a Factory.
- The Indians in the Act III: India campaign can also build a single Factory in the same way as the Chinese in random map games.
- In the Definitive Edition, the United States can ship one Factory in the Fortress Age by aging up with New Hampshire, but can not research the technologies nor train Heavy Cannons until they reach the Industrial Age.
- In addition, they are limited to having two Factories, despite having three Home City Cards that can ship a Factory Wagon.
- Rebelling to South Africa as the British or the Dutch allows them to ship and build up to three Factories, being the only civilization(s) to do so.
Further statistics[]
| Building strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Nothing |
| Weak vs. | Everything |
| Improvements | |
| Hit points |  Flying Buttress (+20%)
|
| Sight |  Gas Lighting (+4, European civilizations only)
|
| Resource generation | Cannery (+30% food) Water Power (+30% wood) Steam Power (+30% coin)
|
Home City Cards[]
| Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Factory | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team Europeans[]
Indians[]
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Changelog[]
The Asian Dynasties[]
- The Factory built by the Chinese by allying with the Russians at the Consulate has the Ottoman/Portuguese/Spanish appearance and cannot research the Imperial Cannon upgrade.
Definitive Edition[]
- The Factory built by the Chinese by allying with the Russians at the Consulate now has the Russian appearance and can research the Imperial Cannon upgrade.
History[]
| “ | 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. | ” |
Gallery[]
