Imperial Age (Age of Empires III)

This article is about the Age in Age of Empires III. For other uses, see Imperial Age.

Imperial Age
Age
Availability
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Civilization	All civilizations
Age number	5
Preceded by	Industrial Age
Research
Researched at	Town Center
Food	4,000
Coin	4,000
Time	90 seconds

The Imperial Age is the fifth and final Age in Age of Empires III. It is an important era, because researching the technologies available in this Age will usually determine the difference between victory and defeat, thus breaking a long game.

All Home City Cards that deliver one-time troops and resource crates, can be sent again after reaching Imperial Age. This means if the player had sent for 8 Cavalry Archers prior to advancing to the Imperial Age, the player can send for them again. Therefore, the player should make sure they send any special units (e.g. Sipahis for Ottoman players) before advancing so they can double the amount of Sipahis they can obtain per match.

Advancing to the Imperial Age will have following effects:

• Building Line of Sight +4
• Explorer, Grand Master, Spy, Muhbir, Petard, and Native Scout hit points +50%
• Pet hit points and damage +60% (Explorer's Dog hit points +110% instead; War Dog hit points +160% instead)
• Battleship, basilica unit, and consulate unit hit points and damage +50%
• American Citadel hit points and damage +20%
• Depot damage +50%
• Unit train time -10%, spawn time -5%
• Home City shipment arrive time -33.33%
• Basilica shipment arrive time -20%

Methods

Advancement to the next Age requires the selection of a method to advance with. Different civilizations will have different methods available:

• Politicans
• Tribal Council
• Wonder
• Federal State
• Alliance

Politician	Bonuses	Civilization(s)
The Black Duke	Ships 6 Drummers	British
	Ships 16 Black Brunswickers	Germans
El Presidente	Ships 2,000 coin; +1,000 coin*	All
The General	Ships 2 Heavy Cannons	Dutch French Germans Maltese Portuguese Russians Spanish Swedes
	Ships 3 Rockets	British
	Ships 2 Great Bombards	Ottomans
	Ships 2 Papal Bombards; +1 Papal Bombard*	Italians
The Inventor	Ships an Advanced Hot Air Balloon; Ships 1 Leonardo's Tank instead*	Maltese Ottomans Spanish Russians Italians
The Knight	Grants Knighthood and Peerage	All except Italians
The Mercenary Contractor	Outlaws and Fortress Age mercenaries get +50% hit points and attack; Industrial Age mercenaries get +35% hit points and attack; +2 Royal Horsemen*	All
The Royalist	Ships 17 Line Infantry	Dutch
	Ships 18 Royal Musketeers	French
	Ships 18 Royal Musketeers; Ships 15 Royal Dragoons instead*	Italians
	Ships 18 Northern Musketeers	Russians
	Ships 17 Mountain Troopers	Swedes
The Scottish Marshal	Enables Grand Master with a devastating Swashbuckler Ability	Maltese

* With the "Advanced Politicians" Home City Card; Italians only

Main article: Tribal Council

Main article: Wonder (Age of Empires III)

Main article: Federal State

Main article: Alliance

Available units, buildings and technologies

• Capitol
  • Blockade
  • Deforestation
  • Excessive Taxation
  • Knighthood
  • Immigrants
  • Large Scale Agriculture
  • Legendary Native Warriors
  • Peerage
  • Spies
• Imperial unit upgrades