Great Bombard (Age of Empires III)

This article is about the unit in Age of Empires III. For the unit in Age of Empires IV, see Great Bombard (Age of Empires IV).

Great Bombard
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Artillery
Civilization(s)	Ottomans Russians
Age	Industrial Age
Training
Trained at	Factory (Ottomans)
Population	7
Wood	100
Coin	600
Train time	100 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	475
Resistance	75% Ranged
Speed	3.5 (Limber) 1.4 (Bombard)
Line of Sight	32
XP train bounty	70
XP kill bounty	70
Bombard attack
Damage	500 Siege
Bonus damage	×2.5 vs. Fixed Gun ×1.5 vs. Ship ×0.5 vs. Cavalry, shock infantry and Arrow Knight ×0.4 vs. Artillery
Area	5
Range	28
Rate of Fire	8.0

“	Ottoman super-heavy artillery. Moves and fires slowly, but does tremendous damage against infantry or buildings.	”
—In-game description

The Great Bombard is an artillery unit in Age of Empires III that is unique to the Ottomans, which replaces the Heavy Cannon, and can only be trained at the Factory or shipped from the Home City.

Overview

The Great Bombard is a slow and heavy unique artillery piece used by the Ottoman Empire, which can only be created by Ottoman factories or sent from the Home City. The Great Bombard has a giant damage output, shredding any infantry it encounters on the way with just two of them. The Great Bombard is also excellent at taking out enemy buildings with this extremely high damage. They also have a relatively high amount of hit points.

However, the Great Bombard does have its own disadvantages. Being the largest (and heaviest) artillery in-game, they are extremely slow when moving and will need protection against surprise rushes against the Bombard. They also have a relatively slow firing rate compared to the Heavy Cannon and Rocket from other civilizations.

Hidden cost

Training the Great Bombard at a Factory takes 115 seconds (109.25 with Chinese TEAM Engineering School card, 103.5 with Engineering School card and 97.75 with both). The average resource gather rate of a Factory is 5.5 every second (before the Factory improvements (+20%)). This means that the Great Bombard, while appearing to be free, will have a cost dependent upon how effective the Factory gathers a needed resource. In many cases, this cost can exceed the base value of the unit.

Upgrades

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect
	Imperial Bombard	1,500 wood 1,500 coin	Upgrades Great Bombards to Imperial Bombards (+50% hit points and attack)

Civilization differences

• The Russians can ship an Imperial Bombard named the Tsar Cannon with the "Tsar Cannon" Home City Card which also reduces the cost of Imperial upgrades for artillery by 10%, and can be sent twice. This ships a total of 2 Tsar Cannons and reduces the cost of Imperial artillery upgrades by 19%.

Consulate Great Bombard

Consulate Great Bombard
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties
Type	Artillery Consulate unit
Civilization(s)	Barbary States Indians Indonesia
Age	Industrial Age
Training
Banner army	Ottoman Expeditionary Army
Trained at	Consulate
Population	7
Wood	100
Coin	600
Train time	100 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	475
Resistance	75% Ranged
Speed	3.5 (Limber) 1.4 (Bombard)
Line of Sight	32
XP train bounty	70
XP kill bounty	70
Bombard attack
Damage	500 Siege
Bonus damage	×2.5 vs. Fixed Gun ×1.5 vs. Ship ×0.5 vs. Cavalry, shock infantry and Arrow Knight ×0.4 vs. Artillery
Area	5
Range	28
Rate of Fire	8.0

“	Ottoman super-heavy artillery. Moves and fires slowly, but does tremendous damage against infantry or buildings.	”
—In-game description

The Consulate Great Bombard is a counterpart of the Great Bombard, which starts with +10% hit points and attack.

Upgrades

The Consulate Great Bombard is automatically upgraded in the Imperial Age:

• +50% hit points and attack

Civilization differences

• The Indians can get Consulate Great Bombards by allying with the Ottomans at the Consulate which provides 2 Great Bombards, Ottoman Expeditionary Army, and Ottoman Brigade that includes 2 and 4 Consulate Great Bombards respectively.

Revolutionary

• The Barbary States and Indonesia can get Consulate Great Bombards through the "Ottoman Expeditionary Army" Home City Card, which ships 2 Consulate Great Bombards.

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Infantry, ships, buildings
Weak vs.	Cavalry, artillery especially Culverins, Arrow Knights
Improvements
Hit points	Professional Gunners (+10%) Tar Kilns (+5%)
Attack	Smokeless Powder (+5%) Heated Shot (+50% multiplier vs. ships) Somali Ajuran Engineers (+20% multiplier vs. Frontier fortification)
Line of Sight	Gunner's Quadrant (+6) Town Watch (+3)
Speed	Trunion (+15%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
Train time	Mass Production (-25%) Immigrants (-5%)
Other	Topçu Corps (ships 3 Great Bombards, -1 population takes; Ottomans only) 2 Great Bombards (ships 2 Consulate Great Bombards; Indians only) Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)

Home City Cards

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Great Bombard

Some cards are highlighted with:
Green	TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team
Purple	Shipment that can be sent an INFINITE number of times
Red	Shipment that can be sent twice
Blue	Shipment that arrives fast (5 seconds)

• The Definitive Edition
• The Asian Dynasties

Chinese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Engineering School	Artillery, Fixed Gun, Siege Elephant, Flamethrower, Ram, Mantlet, and Haudenosaunee Mantlet train time -15%; Heavy Cannon, Great Bombard, Rocket, Flying Crow, and Gatling Camel train time -5%

Indians

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics	All units get +5% hit points and attack
Good Faith Agreements	Consulate units' train time -50%; Consulate technologies' cost -40% (-300 export for Brigades) and research time -50% (except Brigades); +1 Hindu Villager
Foreign Trading Companies	Gives a trickle of 0.75 export/sec.; banner army cost -15% export; Indian units cost +2.5% (Hindu Villagers, Fishing Boats, and Sacred Cows cost +5% instead); +1 Hindu Villager

Japanese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Odzutsu Mortars	Artillery get +10% attack
TEAM Sengoku	Unit upgrades cost -20%

Maltese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Knights of the Round Table	Ships 1 Hospitaller for each Town Center owned by the player; all units get +2% hit points

Mexicans

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Mariachi	For the next 30 seconds, military buildings work 400% faster and units get +10% speed

Ottomans

Card	Description	Age
1 Great Bombard	Ships 1 Great Bombard
2 Great Bombards	Ships 2 Great Bombards
Ottoman Artillery Division	Ships 6 Humbaracis and 1 Great Bombard
Topçular	Artillery, Abus Gunners, and Humbaracis get +15% hit points and attack
Engineering School	Artillery, Fixed Gun, Siege Elephant, Flamethrower, Ram, Mantlet, and Haudenosaunee Mantlet train time -30%; Heavy Cannon, Great Bombard, Rocket, Flying Crow, and Gatling Camel train time -10%

Portuguese

Card	Description	Age
Artillery Hitpoints	Grenade troopers get +30% hit points; artillery get +15% hit points

Russians

Card	Description	Age
Tsar Cannon	Ships 1 Great Bombard and upgrades it to Imperial; Imperial upgrades for Falconets, Culverins, Mortars, and Horse Artillery cost -10%

Spanish

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Spanish Inquisition	Ships 1 Inquisitor; all units get +10 Line of Sight

Chinese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Engineering School	Abus Gun, Grenadier, Culverin, Falconet, Mortar, Organ Gun, Mantlet, Ram, Light Cannon, Petard, Horse Artillery, Siege Elephant, Morutaru, Flaming Arrow, Hand Mortar, and Flamethrower train time -30%; Heavy Cannon, Great Bombard, Rocket, and Flying Crow train time -5%		25

Europeans

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Artillery Hitpoints	Artillery, Abus Guns, and Grenadiers get +15% hit points		10

• "TEAM Artillery Hitpoints" is available to the Ottomans and Portuguese.

Indians

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics	All units get +5% hit points and attack		25
Good Faith Agreements	Consulate units' train time -50%; Consulate technologies cost -40% (-400 export for Brigades) and research time -50% (except Brigades); +1 Villager		1

Japanese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Cheaper Unit Upgrades	Unit upgrades cost -20%		1

Ottomans

Card	Description	Age	HC level
1 Great Bombard	Ships 1 Great Bombard		1
2 Great Bombards	Ships 2 Great Bombards		10
Ottoman Artillery Division	Ships 6 Grenadiers and 1 Great Bombard		25
Artillery Attack	Artillery, Abus Guns, and Grenadiers get +15% attack		25
Engineering School	Abus Gun, Grenadier, Culverin, Falconet, Mortar, Organ Gun, Mantlet, Ram, Light Cannon, Petard, Horse Artillery, Siege Elephant, Morutaru, Flaming Arrow, Hand Mortar, and Flamethrower train time -40%; Heavy Cannon, Great Bombard, Rocket, and Flying Crow train time -10%		10

Spanish

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Inquisition	All units get +10 Line of Sight		10

Changelog

Age of Empires III

• Great Bombards are trained in 115 seconds.

Definitive Edition

• Great Bombards are now trained in 100 seconds.

History

“

Great bombards were a set of medieval cannons that were cast of bronze or iron and fired stone projectiles weighing hundreds of pounds. The greatest of these was a cannon called 'Basilica' that pounded the walls of Constantinople. It was over 25 feet long, used hundreds of pounds of powder that, with a projectile weighing in excess of 1,200 pounds, took hours to load. The bombard was so huge that it had to be constructed in two pieces that screwed together to make it, presumably, easier to move. This meant it only took 60 oxen and hundreds of men over 40 days to move the bombard the 120 miles between Adrianople and Constantinople at an achingly slow two miles a day!

”

Gallery

A Great Bombard in Bombard mode

A Great Bombard in Limber mode

The Dardanelles Gun, which the Great Bombard is based on

An army of Great Bombards is a force to be reckoned with.

In-game Great Bombard in Limber mode in the Definitive Edition (since update 13.27885)

In-game Great Bombard in Bombard mode in the Definitive Edition (since update 13.27885)

In-game Tsar Cannon in Limber mode in the Definitive Edition

In-game Tsar Cannon in Bombard mode in the Definitive Edition