Frederick the Great

Frederick the Great
Character information
Date of birth	January 24, 1712
Date of death	August 17, 1786
Gender	Male
Occupation(s)	King
Affiliation	Germans
Game information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Role	AI personality
Voice actor	Gregg Berger

“	In Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, Frederick the Great is as confident and charismatic as he was in life. He prefers small forces to large armies and likes to catch his enemies off guard.	”
—Official description in the Definitive Edition

Frederick the Great (1712 - 1786) is the AI personality of the Germans in Age of Empires III. He was the King of Prussia from 1740 to 1786 and is voiced in-game by Gregg Berger.

Personality

Frederick is confident, grandiose, and forthright. He will let the player know if he thinks they are weak. He often boasts about how the New World will be his empire and is prideful of his armies.

Strategy

Frederick mainly relies on cavalry-intense armies in most of his matches, as he will almost always field Uhlans and War Wagons as the backbone of his army. These are typically complemented by Falconets and Horse Artillery (if The WarChiefs is installed) to give him some extra firepower. Frederick will also use Doppelsoldners and Skirmishers on occasion, and will generally upgrade them if he can. He originally trains Landsknechts when he is at a low level, but will quickly swap them out for other nation cards as he levels up.

Frederick's deck also shows support in his cavalry, as he unlike the other AIs which usually have a small military and high economic focus, Frederick does run a few cavalry improvement cards in his deck.

In terms of defense, Frederick is quite easy to overwhelm as he does not willingly build outposts. When attacking, it is best to have siege units aim his stables and artillery foundries, to prevent him from training defenders.

One more thing to note is that Frederick is also one of the more aggressive AIs. He usually ages up to the Commerce Age pretty fast and likes to go Fast Fortress. In the Commerce Age, he will attack almost always as soon as he has military units. If he does decide to go treasure hunting, the player might get attacked later but he still might send some Uhlans to raid Settlers/Villagers. But if he doesn't go treasure hunting, he will usually attack with 2-5 Uhlans, 1-3 Doppelsoldners, and 5-9 Crossbowmen. Most of those units he attacks with come from his military shipments.

In the Fortress Age he likes to ship his Fort Wagon right away and build the Fort as close as possible to the player.

Quotes

As an ally

• Player has high score - "Your great army and my superior intellect shall together vanquish our foes."
• Starting a game after fighting Frederick previously - "As a foe you earned my respect. I trust you will display similar talent as my ally."
• Starting a game where he and the player won previously - "As in our previous victory, no matter the outcome, I will continue to think, live, and die as a king."
• Beginning a new game - "Perhaps this time we should make this agreement: you are to request what you please, and I am to do what I please." or "Together we will present a storm of destruction for our enemies." or "Our alliance in this conflict will clearly result in the destruction of our foes." or "Your presence lends a dignity to our alliance." or "Although the odds are stacked in my favor do not expect mercy from Frederick the Great."
• Increased difficulty - "Ah, the challenge is increasing. It approaches a level worthy of my genius."
• Offers player food - "Take this food and make sure each soldier gets some."
• Requests food - "Request that you tribute me food."
• Receives food - "I thank you for your tribute of food."
• Offers player coin - "I expect this coin to be used prudently."
• Requesting coin - "Please tribute me coin for an immediate need I have."
• Receiving coin - "Thank you for the coin."
• Offers player wood - "Some of this wood comes from the Black Forest, but all of it is useful to our cause."
• Requesting wood - "I have a request that you tribute me wood".
• Receiving wood - "The wood you sent me will be well used, thank you."
• Declined Player resource request - "I cannot comply at the moment." or "Without supplies, no army is brave. I will not leave my troops cowering so I must deny your request for resources." or "I can spare advice, but not resources."
• Collecting gold from Treasure - "The New World has yielded coin for my coffers."
• Player collects gold from Treasure - "Another small boost to your coffers."
• Player collects food from Treasure - "Soldiers cannot eat their boots. At least not usually."
• Player rescues a Native American warrior from Treasure - "The native warriors you have befriended will give us an edge."
• Player collects multiple Treasures - "You have proven yourself a collector. Hopefully next, a warrior." or "Although you have collected more treasures than I have, my base has expanded boldly."
• Player does not collect enough Treasures - "You are not exploiting the advantages of the New World effectively; gather more treasures."
• Initiating attack - "I have issued the command to attack the main town immediately."
• Enemy Trading Post destroyed by him - "The alliance to these natives is a boost to the enemy's forces I can no longer allow him to have."
• Building a Fort - "This is a strategic place for a military base. I shall build one."
• Player builds a Trade Post (natives) - "Your alliance with the natives in this New World was bold. I like that."
• Agreeing to attack - "Yes, your request is exactly what I would have suggested." or "Of course."
• Declining to attack - "There will be no push of bayonets from me -- I have no army." or "My army is of insufficient size to comply." or "My empire has no army at the moment." or "My soldiers are not ready to enter battle." or "Write to me again after I have assembled an army." or "As soon as I have trained sufficient forces I can assist you. At present I have none."
• Agreeing to a strategy - "Of course." or "Not an issue, I'll comply." or "Yes."
• Fighting the British - "I don't know how the British can be fighting so well. Didn't anyone tell them they were not allowed off their little island?"
• Small enemy force enters allied territory - "My reputation alone would be enough to rout their army in this fight."
• Under attack - "Bayonets are at our throats! I need assistance in my town now!" or "Request to bring your army to the aid of my town at once!" or "Alert, my ally! Enemy forces are at my gates."
• Major battle between several players - "The clash of several armies shatters the lands. Guard against a decisive blow!" or "Troops from several armies fight here. We must coordinate our efforts to wrench victory from this chaos."
• Near defeat - "In the face of this storm, I believe we have met our match."

As an enemy

• Beginning of a game - "Note to my opponent: This land belongs to me." or "Welcome to the New World. My New World." or "Greetings. Prepare to be destroyed." or "This New World looks like it will make a good New Germany, don't you think?" or "I am not interested in fighting. Only in winning." or "I am Frederick the Great. I cannot imagine why you dare to challenge me."
• Beginning a game on the same map - "We do battle in the same region of the New World as our prior conflict."
• Player lost against Frederick last game - "I tire of inept opposition. Bring your best or just have your resignation delivered now." or "I can only hope you will not collapse before my assault as easily as my last foe."
• Increased difficulty - "These odds are more like it. I'm going to enjoy paving over your town with my empire." or "I toyed with war in the prior conflict. Now I will bring my full powers to bear." or "I grasp that you want more of a challenge. Too bad you will not also be grasping victory."
• Decreased difficulty -
• Discovers player's Explorer - "Your explorer has been spotted by my forces. Why don't you just hide him behind your town center."
• Finds a scout unit of the player far from the bases - "It doesn't surprise me that your soldiers appear to be lost."
• His Explorer collapsed then recovered - "You were careless. I rescued my explorer out from beneath your nose."
• (?) - "Why do you have a cluster of soldiers wandering around in the middle of nowhere?"
• His base is scouted by one or very few units - "Take it from a true military genius: you should have brought a real army."
• Small force enters his territory - "You may want to recover the small group of deserters fleeing through my empire. Oh, I'm sorry, was that your army?" or "What do you plan to do with that band of ruffians you call soldiers? Gather truffles?" or "You appear to have some soldiers lost in my empire. Remove them before I am forced to."
• Spots player's army in the wilderness - "I can only imagine those soldiers you have sent into the wilderness are trying to find their way home."
• Player builds Trading Post (Trade Route) - "You may have found a foothold on the trading route, but will that really help you when my armies storm your empire?"
• Player builds Trading Post (native) - "While you gather alliances with natives, my empire prepares to build cannon."
• Player collects multiple Treasures - "Your focus is on collecting treasures. Mine is on building an unstoppable military empire." or "Does finding goodies please you? Crushing empires pleases me."
• Player is the first to reach the Colonial Age - "Your quick advancement to the Colonial Age fills me with weltschmerz."
• Player is the first to reach the Colonial Age in Free for All - "Among all combatants, you have reached the Colonial Age first. Surely you do not expect that move alone to save you."
• Player quickly advances - "It is not that you have beat me in reaching a higher Age, it is that I have displayed superior patience." or "I see you have advanced to the next Age. It's a pity you can't advance your military talents as easily." or "You have squandered your resources advancing to the next Age so quickly, nothing more." or "Your skill in advancing is plain. How you will use that to your advantage is not, likely not even to you."
• Player advances slower than Frederick - "Is your empire hitched to a slug?" or "You are taking so long to advance, perhaps you should just pack your whole town up in a wagon and send it back to the old world."
• Destroys a player's Trading Post (Trade Route) - "Why did you build a trading post in the middle of my empire anyway?" or "That trading post was obstructing my plans to conquer the New World."
• Destroys a player's Trading Post (natives) - "Believe me, the natives will be much happier allying with my empire than yours." or "Losing that trading post was a setback, but no more."
• Player destroys his Trading Post (natives) - "You have saved yourself the wrath of many native warriors by destroying that trade post."
• He starts Trade Monopoly victory - "Take the peaceful way defeat and just allow this timer to run out."
• Player team starts Trade Monopoly victory - "Do you think this trade monopoly you have begun can lead you to victory? My army has other ideas."
• He destroys player team Trading Post (player team Trade Monopoly victory disrupted) - "Did you think I would allow you to win in such a manner?"
• Player destroys his Trading Post disrupting Monopoly -"Your actions have only delayed the inevitable."
• Destroys a player's Town Center - "Your town center put up as mighty a fight as a she-dachshund." or "I'm sorry I destroyed your town center. Well, no, not really."
• Player destroys his Town Center - "Flattening my town center has filled me with angst." or "You fool; the finest biergarten and lager on this whole continent were inside that town center!" or "An effective commander utilizes all of the resources available to him. I assure you that that town center was only a small element of my arsenal." or "A town center may be the heart of a leader's base, but a wise commander ... well, I suppose losing it stinks however I cut it."
• His villagers are back to rebuilt the town, but the player's army is still camping around, and start to attack them - "Your army has lost its way. It should be back in your town, defending it."
• Major battle between multiple players - "There are soldiers from several armies fighting here. Another glorious fray." or "Several opponents engage at once here, but my soldiers are doubtlessly the best trained."
• His colony under attack - "A kindergartener could have seen that attack coming."
• Wins battle - "My forces are dominant and my strategy superior; how can you defeat me?" or "To defeat you I applied one of my most fundamental principles: I attacked briskly and with good order, always endeavoring to gain ground."
• Army defeated - "That battle was not one I care to have the history books learn about." or "Your army is worthy of ... well, me. Not good." or "The outcome of that battle has left me speechless. However, the outcome of the war will speak of my victory."
• Base is surrounded by a much superior army - "If I were facing true military skill I might actually be worried at this point."
• Trade monopoly victory imminent - "It has been a pleasure battling you. I am saddened that you will win in this ignoble manner."
• Defeat - "It does not take a genius to recognize I am defeated. I request to resign." or "My empire has been defeated. I offer my surrender."

History

“	Frederick the Great was born in 1712. He was known as lover of music, art, and French literature. Unfortunately for Frederick, his father did not share his love of the arts. The king tried to mold Frederick into an image of himself, a great military leader. When Frederick rebelled against this upbringing he was branded a traitor, imprisoned, threatened with execution, and forced to watch the beheading of his friend, Hans Hermann von Katte. Frederick's father was not entirely unsuccessful with his son. Although Frederick never relinquished his love of the arts, he did become a great military leader who led the Prussian forces successfully through three wars. He was a great tactician who had a knack for keeping opposition forces from uniting against him. While pursuing his interests in writing and warfare, Frederick also managed to make Prussia into an economic powerhouse. With such a wide range of successes both on and off the battlefield, it is no wonder that Frederick was nicknamed "the Great." In Age of Empires III: Frederick is as confident and charismatic as he was in life. He prefers small forces to large armies and likes to catch his enemies off guard.	”
—In-game compendium section

Trivia

• Frederick is the second youngest AI personality in the vanilla game. His rule knows no contemporaries.
• The reason Frederick the Great was chosen to be the AI personality of the Germans is that he is the most famous icon out of all the German leaders between the discovery of the New World (late 15th century) and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire (early 19th century).

Gallery

In-game avatar in the Definitive Edition

In-game avatar