Fire Junk

Fire Junk
Information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties
Type	Ship War ship
Civilization(s)	Chinese
Age	Commerce Age
Training
Trained at	Dock
Cost	100 Wood 100 Coin
Train time	15 seconds
Train limit	10
Statistics
Hit points	400
Resistance	50% Ranged
Speed	9.0
Line of Sight	40
Train XP	20
Kill XP	20
Hand attack
Damage	500 Siege
Area of Effect	2
Bonus damage	2.5× vs. Building

“	Fire Junk. Rams anything on the water and explodes.	”
—In-game description

The Fire Junk is a military ship in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties that is exclusive to the Chinese and can be trained at the Dock once the Commerce Age is reached. It makes a beeline towards enemy ships or buildings close to shore and explodes to deal splash damage, similar to the Demolition Ship in Age of Empires II.

Overview

The Fire Junk is a cheap ship with a high attack, high speed and a great line of sight, the highest in the game for a ship, even higher than a Monitor's. But it has low hit points, no range and it can be used only once. It's mainly used to quickly destroy ships, especially fragile ones and ones that transport units. It's also useful against land units and buildings directly adjacent to the water, especially when the enemy has them in tight bunches, allowing multiple kills at once. They can also prove useful in shore battles, destroying Docks quickly and preventing the enemy from training a fleet.

One of the Fire Junk's weaknesses is that against human players, if the enemy ship flees, the Fire Junk will detonate too early.

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Ships, buildings and units close to shore/in shallows
Weak vs.	Artillery especially Culverins, defensive structures
Improvements
Hit points	Rawhide Covers (+30%; Haudenosaunee only) Armor Plating (+50%) Heavy Riverboats (+25%; Africans only) Byzantine Legacy (+15%) Cipactli Worship (+10%; Aztecs only) Tar Kilns (+10%) Gadaa System (+5%; Ethiopians only)
Attack	Flaming Arrows (+30%; Lakota only) Carronade (+25%) River Skirmishes (+25%; Africans only) Cipactli Worship (+10%; Aztecs only) Gadaa System (+5%; Ethiopians only) Somali Ajuran Engineers (+20% multiplier vs. Frontier fortification)
Line of Sight	Town Watch (+3)
Cost	Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost) Golden Liberty (-5% coin cost)
Train time	Immigrants (-10%)
Other	Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost) Öresund Customs (auto gather 0.1 coin/s)

Home City Cards

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Fire Junk

Some cards are highlighted with:
Green	TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team
Blue	Shipment that arrives fast (5 seconds)

Shared

Card	Description	Age
Improved Warships	War ship hit points and damage +25%
TEAM Improved Warships	War ship hit points and damage +10%
Naval Gunners	War ship damage +20%
Offshore Support	War ship damage +15%, Line of Sight and ranged attack range +2
European Cannons	War ship damage +15%, Line of Sight and ranged attack range +2
Admiralty	Dock war ship technology cost and research time -60%

• "Improved Warships" is not available to the Chinese, Lakota, and United States.
• "TEAM Improved Warships" is available to the Chinese and Maltese.
• "Naval Gunners" is available to the British, French, Italians, Maltese, Russians, Swedes, and United States.
• "Offshore Support" is available to the Aztecs, Germans, Inca, Maltese, and Ottomans.
• "European Cannons" is not available to Europeans and Native Americans.
• "Admiralty" is not available to Africans and Native Americans.

Chinese

Card	Description	Age
Western Reforms	Unit hit points and damage +8%
Acupuncture	Unit (except monk) train time -20%; Summer Palace banner army, Flying Crow, and Heavy Cannon spawn time -5%
Advanced Dock	Dock damage +100%, heal work rate for ships +85%; war ship train time -33%
2 Fire Junks	Delivers 2 Fire Junks
TEAM Burning Sea	Delivers 3 Fire Junks
Chinese Imperial Navy	Delivers 1 Fire Junk and 1 Fuchuan
Fire Junk Attack	Fire Junk damage +50%

Ethiopians

Card	Description	Age
Ignatian Spirituality	Unit (except herded animals) hit points +5%, regeneration rate +1.0 (even in combat)

Europeans

Card	Description	Age
Lantakas	Artillery, building, and ship damage +15%

• "Lantakas" is available to the Dutch and Portuguese upon revolting to Indonesia.

Indians

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics	Unit hit points and damage +5%

Japanese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Sengoku	Unit upgrades cost -20%

Maltese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Knights of the Round Table	Delivers 1 Hospitaller for each Town Center and Command Post present on the map; unit hit points +2%
Speronaras	Ship speed +10%; Fishing Boat and Order Galley speed +30% instead

Mexicans

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Mariachi	For the next 30 seconds, military building training and research work rate +400%, unit speed +10%
Colegio de San Nicolas	Delivers 1 Large Collection of Books (500 XP); unit Line of Sight +4; building (except Wall) Line of Sight +8; reveals enemy units' positions for 20 seconds
National Servant	Unit (except herded animals) hit points +10%; Padre heal work rate +200%	Imperial Age

• "Colegio de San Nicolas" is available upon selecting the Michoacán Federal State.
• "National Servant" is available upon selecting the Estado de México Federal State.

Native Americans

Card	Description	Age
Water Ceremony	Enables Water Ceremony at the Community Plaza

• "Water Ceremony" is not available to the Lakota.

Russians

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Cold Water Port	War ship cost -15%

Spanish

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Spanish Inquisition	Delivers 1 Inquisitor; military and economic unit Line of Sight +10

Changelog

The Asian Dynasties

• Fire Junks train in 10 seconds.

Knights of the Mediterranean

• Fire Junks train in 15 seconds.

Trivia

• The Fire Junk uses the same model as the War Junk.
• When it is trained, the Fire Junk quickly begins to burn, and it can burn indefinitely.
• Ironically, althought being a Chinese unique unit, the Fire Junk's history section does not mention any usage of fire junk by the Chinese navy, but instead mentioning the usage of a similar demolition ship by the British against the Spanish, which is unavailable in-game.

History

“

Virtually everything on a tall ship is flammable, from wooden planks and tar that seals seams to greased ropes and canvas sails, to gunpowder - especially gunpowder! Black powder ships, also called fireships, were ships set afire and allowed to drift (or were sometimes piloted by a minimal crew, who escaped before impact) into enemy fleets with the purpose of setting them afire and blowing them up. Fireships were particularly nasty when sailed into harbors to destroy immobile ships at anchor. Fireships were used by the English Royal Navy against the larger and more powerful Spanish Armada. Unable to find a proper port or deep mooring, the Spanish fleet congregated in a defensive arc, into which the British sailed a half-dozen fireships, scattering and confusing the Spanish fleet. This allowed the smaller English fleet to engage the Spanish Armada on a more even footing.

”

Gallery

An in-game Fire Junk

The Fire Junk's history portrait

In-game Fire Junk in the Definitive Edition

Fire Junk image from the Compendium section