“Heavy artillery that fires a rocket and is good against infantry or buildings.”—In-game description
The Flying Crow is an artillery in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties that is unique to the Chinese and are trained automatically by the Confucian Academy wonder or can be shipped from the Home City. Similar to the Rocket, it sends a gunpowder-powered missile effective against units and buildings.
Overview 
Edit
Flying Crows can be fielded very early in the game if the Confucian Academy is built to advance into the Colonial Age, though it takes four minutes for the wonder to produce one, which is about twice the training time of a Heavy Cannon.
The Flying Crow works similarly to the British Rocket; therefore, the usage of both is in many ways the same. It is best used against buildings and large masses of infantry as it deals damage in an area of 3, increased by 1 in the Fortress Age and another 1 in the Industrial Age for a total of 5, equal to a Great Bombard. It starts out with a poor range of only 18 which is the same as an Abus Gun, but increases by 5 in the Fortress Age and another 5 in the Industrial Age, for a total of 28. It is best used to soften an enemy advance at this range, especially against Skirmishers, because of their low hitpoints, and heavy infantry, as the Chinese Arquebusier is not as effective as the European Skirmisher.
The Flying Crow, like any other artillery unit, is susceptible to cavalry assaults and other artillery, such as the Culverin. They themselves though are quite effective against weaker artillery units such as Horse Artillery or Morutaru and combined with Keshiks or Steppe Riders, they can be quite effective.
Upgrades Edit
The Flying Crow is automatically upgrded in every Age up starting at the Fortress Age.
- +25% hit points and attack, +5 range, +1 AOE
- +25% hit points and attack, +5 range, +1 AOE
- +50% hit points and attack
+25% 
+25% hit points and attack, +5 range, +1 AOE
+50% hit points and attack
Further statistics Edit
As the Flying Crow can only be trained by the Chinese, only improvements available to them (including native improvements) are listed here.
| Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Infantry, ships, buildings |
| Weak vs. | Artillery especially Culverins, Arrow Knights, cavalry |
| Improvements | |
| Speed |  Apache Endurance (+5%)
|
| Creation speed |  Incan Chasquis Messengers (-10%)
|
Home City Cards Edit
As the Flying Crow is exclusive to the Chinese, only other civilizations' TEAM cards that affects them are listed here.
| Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Flying Crow | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Chinese
|
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 Western Reforms
| All units get +8% hit points and attack |  | 40 |
 Ever Victorious Army
| Ships 8 Iron Flails and 3 Flying Crows; costs 2,000 food | | 40 |
 2 Flying Crows
| Ships 2 Flying Crows | | 1 |
 Siege Hitpoints
| Artillery gets +15% hit points; Flamethrowers get +20% hit points |  | 10 |
 Siege Attack
| Artillery gets +15% attack; Flamethrowers get +20% attack | | 10 |
 Siege Combat
| Artillery gets +15% hit points and attack; Flamethrowers get +20% hit points and attack | | 25 |
 2 Flying Crows
| Ships 2 Flying Crows | | 40 |
 Acupuncture
| Unit train time -20% |  | 10 |
 TEAM Engineering School
| Abus Gun, Grenadier, Falconet/Organ Gun, Culverin, Mortar, Horse Artillery, Petard, Ram, Mantlet, Light Cannon, Flamethrower, Hand Mortar, Siege Elephant, Flaming Arrow, and Morutaru train time -30%; Heavy Cannon, Rocket, Great Bombard, and Flying Crow train time -5%; Black Flag Army and Mongolian Army train time -15% | | 25 |
Europeans Edit
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 TEAM Artillery Hitpoints
| Artillery, Abus Guns, and Grenadiers get +15% hit points | | 10 |
- The TEAM Artillery Hitpoints card is available to Ottomans and Portuguese (at the Fortress Age).
Indians Edit
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 TEAM Shivaji's Tactics
| All units get +5% hit points and attack | | 25 |
Spanish Edit
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 TEAM Inquisition
| All units get +10 LOS |  | 10 |
Trivia Edit
- The Flying Crow is the only artillery that is available in the Colonial Age.
- When destroyed, the Flying Crow explodes in a fireworks display, although the explosion causes no damage and is purely aesthetic.
History Edit
“The first recorded uses of such a rocket-propelled weapon occurred in 969 CE. The flying crow was an evolution of this early rocket technology, and was utilized as both a physical and psychological weapon. Its two wings allowed for natural lift and stabilization and also acted as carriage for the four rockets (two under each wing) that propelled the weapon through the air. At a certain stage of flight, the rockets would flare up and ignite the gunpowder within. The flying crow was said to fly to heights above 1,000 feet and eventually crash into the ground. Detonating near an enemy encampment, it sent a rain of fire down upon its targets.
The flying crow was constructed of bamboo laths, much like a basket, and then covered with paper to strengthen its shape. Two variations on this avian theme have been recorded in the history of Chinese siege warfare, the “flying crow with magic fire,” a larger model with four-rocket propulsion, and the “spiritual flying duck,” a smaller model using only two rockets.”
Gallery Edit
