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 (unless using Admiralty), 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 Iroquois acquired Fuchuans utilizing all available upgrades and cards (especially Water Dance) 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).
Abilities
Ability
Effect
Broadside Attack
Fires a volley of cannon shots at an enemy ship within attack range, with each shot causing 100 siege damage; 60 seconds cooldown
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.