This article is about the unit. For the technology, see Flaming Arrows. |
“ | Japanese cannon that shoots an exploding arrow. Better against infantry and artillery than buildings. | ” |
—In-game information |
The Flaming Arrow is an artillery unit in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties that is unique to the Japanese and can be trained at the Castle once the Fortress Age is reached, and by Shogun Tokugawa. As the name implies, it shoots flaming arrows effective against infantry, artillery, buildings, and ships.
Overview[]
Flaming Arrows play similarly to Falconets of most European civilizations. They are much weaker than Falconets, but have 2 more range and move as quick in Limber as in Bombard mode, making them more mobile in battle, but less mobile when repositioning armies. They can weaken formations of enemy infantry from a range and can sink ships very effectively as well. They are less effective against buildings and infantry than Falconets, but in groups can easily take them down. They have a far slower Rate of Fire, a slower attack animation and slightly smaller Area of Effect than Falconets and Horse Artillery, which makes their damage per second far lower. As with other artillery, they are weak against cavalry, shock infantry, and Culverins.
When Compared to the Light Cannons of the Haudenosaunee, they have more hit points, but shorter attack range. Flaming Arrows can gain more attack range and damage multiplier against artillery through upgrades, which can make them play similarly to Light Cannons.
Upgrades[]
Age | Upgrade | Cost | Effect |
---|---|---|---|
Honored Flaming Arrow | 250 food 250 wood |
Upgrades Flaming Arrows to Honored (+25% hit points and attack, +0.5× multiplier vs. artillery) | |
Exalted Flaming Arrow | 1,000 wood 1,000 coin |
Upgrades Flaming Arrows to Exalted (+50% hit points and attack, and +2 Line of Sight and range); requires Honored Flaming Arrow |
Further statistics[]
As Flaming Arrows are unique to the Japanese, only technologies that they have access to are shown in the following table:
Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
---|---|
Strong vs. | Infantry, artillery, ships, buildings |
Weak vs. | Cavalry, 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 | Immigrants (-10%) |
Cost | Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost) Golden Liberty (-5% coin cost) |
Other | Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost) |
Home City Cards[]
As Flaming Arrows are unique to the Japanese, only their cards and other civilizations' TEAM cards are shown in the following tables:
- Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Flaming Arrow
Some cards are highlighted with: | |
Green | TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team |
Red | Shipment that can be sent twice |
Blue | Shipment that arrives fast (5 seconds) |
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 |
Japanese[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
2 Flaming Arrows | Ships 2 Flaming Arrows | |
3 Flaming Arrows | Ships 3 Flaming Arrows | |
4 Flaming Arrows | Ships 4 Flaming Arrows | |
Flaming Arrow Hitpoints | Flaming Arrows get +20% hit points | |
TEAM Odzutsu Mortars | Artillery get +10% attack; Samurai replace a building attack with a hand mortar attack with a range of 12 and get +2 Line of Sight; Incendiary Grenades can be researched at the Golden Pavilion | |
Veteran Battery | Flaming Arrow cost -15% and train time -30% | |
TEAM Sengoku | Unit upgrades cost -20% | |
Bakufu | Daimyo and Shogun Tokugawa get +5% speed, +10 Line of Sight and train units 15% faster; land military unit train time -20%, artillery and banner army train time -10% instead |
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 |
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 |
Japanese[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
2 Flaming Arrows | Ships 2 Flaming Arrows | 1 | |
3 Flaming Arrows | Ships 3 Flaming Arrows | 1 | |
4 Flaming Arrows | Ships 4 Flaming Arrows | 10 | |
Flaming Arrow Hitpoints | Flaming Arrows get +20% hit points | 10 | |
Veteran Battery | Flaming Arrow cost -15% and train time -30% | 25 | |
TEAM Cheaper Unit Upgrades | Unit upgrades cost -20% | 1 | |
Bakufu | Daimyo and Shogun Tokugawa get +10% speed, +20 Line of Sight and train units 100% faster | 25 |
Spanish[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Inquisition | All units get +10 Line of Sight | 10 |
Changelog[]
The Asian Dynasties[]
- Exalted Flaming Arrow increases Flaming Arrow attack and hit points by 50%.
Definitive Edition[]
- Exalted Flaming Arrow increases Flaming Arrow attack and hit points by 50%, and grants +2 range and Line of Sight.
- Flaming Arrows have a ×0.5 multiplier against Arrow Knights.
History[]
“ | The flaming arrow was exactly what its name suggests, a barbed projectile fired, in most cases, from a European cannon, as the Japanese had not developed effective artillery of their own. Each arrow was wrapped with a flammable covering and ignited. There was also a more explosive version, on which gunpowder was encased in a ball located just below the barbed tip. When fired, a flaming arrow would bury itself in the wood of a gate or wall and burn, hopefully setting the whole structure ablaze. Japanese daimyo, Tokugawa Ieyasu, had a keen interest in building more advanced artillery for his armies. He leveraged his connections with English and Dutch traders to import a variety of European model cannons. It is believed that he utilized these weapons, as well as the flaming arrow, in sieges during the famous Sekigahara campaign of 1600 that eventually led to the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate. | ” |