Gatling Gun

Gatling Gun
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs
Type	Artillery
Civilization	Revolutionary United States
Age	Revolution Fortress Age (United States)
Training
Trained at	Artillery Foundry Fort
Wood	100
Coin	250
Training time	45 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	150
Resists	75% vs. Ranged
Speed	4 (Limber) 1.6 (Bombard)
Line of Sight	26
Population	4
XP train bounty	35
XP bounty	35
Siege attack
Damage	30 * 6 (180 total)
Multipliers	x0.75 vs. Building x0.5 vs. Artillery, Cavalry, Light infantry, Ship, and Arrow Knight
Range	24
Area of Effect	2
Rate of Fire	4.0

“	Early automatic-fire weapon. Better against infantry than buildings.	”
—In-game description

The Gatling Gun is an artillery unit introduced in Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs that is unique to some revolting European civilizations (as well as the United States in the Definitive Edition) and can be trained at the Artillery Foundry.

Overview

The Gatling Gun is unusual compared to the other artillery pieces in the game, with the exception of the Organ Gun; it is the precursor to modern-day machine guns and fires projectiles at a rapid rate, which is useful in killing enemy infantry units at a brisk pace. The Gatling Gun becomes available to players if they choose to revolt from their European civilization in the Industrial Age. While devastating against infantry they are less effective against cavalry and buildings, doing reduced damage against them. However, due to their high rate of fire they can still do good damage against them if in groups.

Upgrades

The Gatling Gun upgrades are only available to the United States.

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect
	Heavy Gatling Guns	250 food, 250 wood	Upgrades Gatling Guns to Heavy Gatling Guns (+25% hit points and attack)
	Imperial Gatling Guns	1,500 wood, 1,500 coin	Upgrades Gatling Guns to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack); requires Heavy Gatling Guns

Further statistics

As Gatling Guns are unique to revolutionary European civilizations and the United States, only technologies that their base civilizations have access to are shown in the following table:

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Infantry
Weak vs.	Cavalry, artillery especially Culverins, light infantry, Arrow Knights, ships
Improvements
Hit points	Professional Gunners (+10%)
Attack	Heated Shot (+1.5x multiplier vs. ships)
Sight	Town Watch (+2) Gunner's Quadrant (+6)
Speed	Trunion (+15%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
Creation speed	Incan Chasquis Messengers (-10%)
Train cost	Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost)
Penalties	Coffee Trade (-10% speed, Dutch only)

Home City Cards

As Gatling Guns are unique to revolutionary European civilizations and the United States, only their base civilizations' cards and other civilizations' TEAM cards are shown in the following tables (for the revolting player themselves, non-TEAM cards will only be applied if they are sent before revolting):

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Gatling Gun

Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team Purple: Shipment that can be sent an INFINITE number of times Europeans Card Description Age HC level TEAM Artillery Hitpoints Artillery, Abus Guns, and Grenadiers get +15% hit points 10 Engineering School Artillery train time -40%; Heavy Cannon/Great Bombard train time -10% 25 The TEAM Artillery Hitpoints card is available to Ottomans and Portuguese (in the Fortress Age). The Engineering School card is available to French, Ottomans (at a level 10 Home City), and Portuguese. Indians Card Description Age HC level TEAM Shivaji's Tactics All units get +5% hit points and attack 25 Ottomans Card Description Age HC level Artillery Attack Artillery, Abus Guns, and Grenadiers get +15% attack 25 Revolutionary Card Description 4 Gatling Guns Ships 4 Gatling Guns Spanish Card Description Age HC level TEAM Inquisition All units get +10 LOS 10 United States Card Description Age TEAM 2 Gatling Guns Ships 2 Gatling Guns for the entire team 3 Gatling Guns Ships 3 Gatling Guns 1 Gatling Gun Ships 1 Gatling Gun Coffee Mill Guns Gatling Guns no longer reload, so fire continuously

Changelog

The WarChiefs

• Gatling Guns are only trainable by revolting European civilizations.
• They cost 100 wood, 300 coin and give 40 XP when trained or killed.
• It is avaliable to all revolting civilizations.

Definitive Edition

• With the introduction of the United States, they are also trainable by them.
• With update 23511, they cost 100 wood, 250 coin and give 35 XP when trained or killed.
• It is avaliable to some revolting civilizations.

Trivia

• Originally, the Gatling Gun shared the same portrait as the Organ Gun in-game, even though it had its own portrait in the game files (as seen above) which was used by the 4 Gatling Guns Home City Card in the Revolution Deck. That was fixed in the Definitive Edition.
• The Gatling Gun has the second fastest rate-of-fire after the Flamethrower, together with the Organ Gun, if every shot from a volley is counted separately.
• The Gatling Gun were originally planned to be trained in the Industrial Age instead of by revolting first.
• The Gatling Gun unit model visually resembles a Colt 1874 Gatling gun. This is slightly anachronistic considering the time period the game and its expansions were set in (between the 1500s and the year 1850).
  • The in-game history section mentions the Gatling Gun's invention taking place in 1861. In reality, the Gatling gun's final designs were completed in 1862 and the weapon was first fielded for service in 1863 during the American Civil War.
• If the player is playing with the Portuguese and researches the Rabaulds upgrade at the Artillery Foundry and then revolts, they will get a Gatling Gun with a unique model. However, this will not affect the unit's statistics. This feature was removed in the Definitive Edition.
  • This model of the Gatling Gun uses a Broadwell Drum, developed in 1870 by Lewis W. Broadwell.
• With the release of the United States civilization, the Gatling Gun received visual upgrades, which change as U.S. Army uniforms evolve over the years:
  • The unupgraded Gatling Gun crew wear uniforms of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), but the Gatling Gun was first fielded for service in 1863 during the American Civil War. This may be a reference to soldiers wearing American Revolutionary Uniforms in the American Civil War. This visual is also used by the Gatling Guns of the revolutionary civilizations since update 23511.
  • The Heavy Gatling Gun crew wear uniforms similar to those used by the U.S. Army during the War of 1812.
  • The Imperial Gatling Gun crew wear uniforms similar to those worn during the American Civil War, and the Gatling Gun model uses the Accles Drum, developed in 1883 by James George Accles. This visual was used by the Gatling Guns of the revolutionary civilizations before update 23511, but the Gatling Gun model used the conventional vertical magazine.

History

“

The Gatling gun was invented by Richard Gatling in 1861. Although not precisely a machine gun, it nonetheless offered devastating firepower for its time. The operator of the gun would turn a hand crank, which rotated six gun barrels around a central shaft. Cartridges were continuously fed into the barrels as they made their rotation. The Gatling gun saw its first limited action on the battlefields of the U.S. Civil War, where its rapid fire of up to 600 rounds a minute proved extremely deadly. The gun was also used in multiple conflicts worldwide during the latter half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, until it eventually was replaced by the modern machine gun, with its automatic action.

”

Gallery

A Gatling Gun in Bombard mode

A Gatling Gun in Limber mode

A real-life 1874 Gatling Gun

The Gatling Gun in Limber mode

The Gatling Gun in Bombard Mode

Gatling Gun model after researching Rabaulds in Limber mode

Gatling Gun model after researching Rabaulds in Bombard mode

Gatling Gun image from the Compendium section in the Definitive Edition. Before update 23511, the Gatling Gun of the revolutionary civilizations used this visual.