Fuchuan

Fuchuan
Information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties
Type	Ship War ship Recruiting ship*
Civilization(s)	Chinese
Age	Fortress Age
Training
Trained at	Dock
Cost	450 Wood 750 Coin
Train time	40 seconds
Train limit	2
Statistics
Hit points	2,500
Resistance	75% Ranged
Speed	7.5
Line of Sight	34
Garrison	75
Ability	Transports land units Trains War Academy banner armies (only if owned by a Chinese player and is close to shore)
Special ability	Broadside Attack
Train XP	120
Kill XP	120
Ranged attack
Damage	90 Siege
Area of Effect	1
Range	28
Rate of Fire	2.0
Bonus damage	0.5× vs. Artillery

“	Fuchuan. A heavy warship that can train units.	”
—In-game description

The Fuchuan is a military ship in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties that is unique to the Chinese and can be trained at the Dock once the Fortress Age is reached. It combines the functions of the European Galleon (but only for the Chinese themselves) and Frigate.

Overview

With 2,500 hit points, the Fuchuan is the strongest easily acquired naval unit in Age of Empires III. The Fuchuan has a build limit of two, instead of the usual three for a Frigate, and is incredibly expensive. The Fuchuan is useful against other naval units and bombarding land based armies. Due to its range limitations (even with European Cannons), the Fuchuan is weak against buildings such as Outposts and Forts, and will quickly fall to land cannon units with better range such as Mortars, Morutaru, and the more accurate Culverin. With European Cannons the Fuchuan can outrange most of the European heavy warships except for those with the Offshore Support card. The Fuchuan's full potential can be achieved with addition of the TEAM Improved Warship and Western Reform cards.

Strategy

Aztec and Haudenosaunee acquired Fuchuans utilizing all available upgrades and cards (especially Water Ceremony) become the most powerful warships in the game. When combined with all other relevant TEAM attack and HP cards they are ridiculously overpowered.

The Aztec Fuchuan is the strongest at 15,259 HP, 439 attack, 488.3 x 5 broadside attack, and 33 range (one less than a Culverin).

Special abilities

• Broadside Attack: Fires a volley of cannon shots at an enemy within attack range, with doing 50×5 siege damage in an Area of Effect of 1 with a ×2.0 multiplier against ships. 60 seconds cooldown.

Upgrades

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect
Imperial Age	Exalted Fuchuan	1,000 wood 1,000 coin	Upgrades Fuchuans to Exalted (+50% hit points and damage)

Banner armies

The Fuchuan must be close to the shore to train the banner armies, and will also be unable to move and attack while doing so.

Fuchuans sent to allies through the TEAM 1 Fuchuan Home City Card will not be able to train units, however.

Age	Army	Cost	Pop.	Consists of
	Old Han Army	255 food 180 wood	6	3 Chu Ko Nu 3 Qiang Pikemen
	Standard Army	255 food 170 coin	5	3 Chu Ko Nu 2 Steppe Riders
	Ming Army	345 food 120 wood		2 Qiang Pikemen 3 Keshiks
	Territorial Army	285 food 255 coin	6	3 Changdao Swordsmen 3 Arquebusiers
	Forbidden Army	480 food 360 coin	8	2 Iron Flails 2 Meteor Hammers
	Imperial Army	480 food 255 coin	7	3 Arquebusiers 2 Iron Flails

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Ships, infantry and buildings close to shore
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) Percussion Lock (+50% Broadside Attack damage) 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 0.6 coin/s)

Home City Cards

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Fuchuan

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%
1 Fuchuan	Delivers 1 Fuchuan; costs 200 coin
TEAM Expeditionary Fuchuan	Delivers 1 Fuchuan
Chinese Imperial Navy	Delivers 1 Fire Junk and 1 Fuchuan

Ethiopians

Card	Description	Age
Ignatian Spirituality	Unit (except herded animals) hit points +5%, regeneration rate +1.0 (even in combat)
Land of the Sea	The Ras increases the attack of war ships he is garrisoned in by +35% (stacks if multiple Rases are garrisoned in one ship)

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

History

“

The Fuchuan warships were a standard naval junk used by the Chinese during the treasure expeditions of the Ming Dynasty, starting at the beginning of the fifteenth century. These ships were about 165 feet long and had five masts flying the standard square-rigged sails of the junks.

”

Gallery

An in-game Fuchuan

The Fuchuan's history portrait

In-game Fuchuan in the Definitive Edition

Fuchuan image from the Compendium section