Factory

Factory
Building information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Economic Military
Civilization	Europeans United States Mexicans
Age	Fortress Age (United States) Industrial Age
Use	Generates 5.5 food, 5.5 wood, or 5.5 coin every second, or automatically trains Heavy Cannon (Rocket for the British, Papal Bombard for the Italians, Great Bombard for the Ottomans)
Construction
Wood	200
Coin	400
Build time	30 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	5,000
Line of Sight	12
XP build bounty	0
XP bounty	240
Notes
Built by Factory Wagon

“	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 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.

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, and rebelling to California as the Mexicans, 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

Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team Europeans Card Description Age HC level Improved Buildings Buildings get +40% hit points 10 Stonemasons Settlers, Coureurs des Bois, Settler Wagons, and wagons build buildings 65% faster 10 Factory Ships 1 Factory Wagon 1 Robber Barons Ships 1 Factory Wagon 10 Industrial Revolution Ships 1 Factory Wagon 10 Note : The Robber Barons card is not available to Russians and Spanish, who have Industrial Revolution instead. The Russians' Industrial Revolution card is available at Home City level 25. Indians Card Description Age HC level TEAM Improved Buildings Buildings get +25% hit points 10 Mexicans Card Description Age Porfiriato Factories get +100% hit points and are repaired for free; Cannery, Water Power, Steam Power, Mass Production and Imperial Cannon upgrades are free; Ships 1 Factory Wagon; Costs 500 food, 500 wood 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 An in-game British/Dutch/French Factory