Lou Chuan

This article is about the ship in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - The Three Kingdoms. For the ship in Age of Mythology: Retold - Immortal Pillars, see Louchuan.

Lou Chuan
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - update 141935
Type	Siege ship
Civilization	Chinese Jurchens Shu Wei Wu
Age	Imperial Age
Pronunciation	low choo-wan
Training
Trained at	Dock
Wood	250
Gold	225
Training time	60 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	175
Melee attack	25 (Anti-building)
Pierce attack	5 (Anti-unit)
Projectiles	1 (Anti-building) 10 (Anti-unit)
Attack bonus	Anti-building: +230 vs buildings +10 vs siege weapons Anti-unit: +5 vs ships
Reload time	5
Attack delay	0.36 (Anti-building)
Range	13 (Anti-building) 10 (Anti-unit)
Minimum range	3
Accuracy	100%
Projectile speed	3.5 (Anti-building) 5.5 (Anti-unit)
Melee armor	0
Pierce armor	9
Armor class	Ship
Speed	1.15
Line of Sight	15
Ability	Has two automatic attack modes Can attack ground Missed projectiles deal 100% damage
Collision size	0.5
Notes
See also	Cannon Galleon Dromon

“	Powerful Siege Warship that fires arrows at units and uses a long range trebuchet weapon against buildings and Siege Weapons but cannot attack at close range. Strong vs. buildings. Weak vs. Fire Ships.	”
—In-game description

The Lou Chuan is a regional siege ship introduced in update 141935 of the Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition that can be trained at the Dock in the Imperial Age. It is available to the Chinese, Jurchens, and the Three Kingdoms (Shu, Wei, and Wu). As such, it is a regional replacement for the Cannon Galleon.

It flings rocks with the Traction Trebuchet mounted on its prow when attacking siege weapons and buildings, and fires arrows from its tower when fighting other enemy units and ships. Moreover, its projectiles deal 100% damage even if they miss their target.

Attack modes

The Lou Chuan can automatically switch between two attack types based on the target:

• Against siege weapons and buildings, it uses the trebuchet dealing melee attack. This attack does not benefit from Ballistics or Fletching, but from Siege Engineers, similar to the Mangonel.
• It fires arrows at enemy units except mechanical siege weapons. This attack benefits from Ballistics and Fletching, but not from Siege Engineers.
  • Mounted Trebuchets, Armored Elephant-line, War Chariots, and Ballista Elephants count as organic siege units, so it fires arrows against them.

Moreover, while the Lou Chuan's anti-building projectile is not triggered for non-siege weapons, it can still hit it if a siege weapon was targeted and something else took its spot, and vice versa.

The Jurchens can research Thunderclap Bombs, which makes Lou Chuans fire both arrows and their trebuchet attack against units rather than just arrows. The Chinese can research Rocketry, which replaces the arrows with rockets which deal Area of Effect damage.

Tactics

Due to its attack modes, it is a far more versatile unit than the Cannon Galleon. Its high attack speed makes it better against buildings than even Elite Cannon Galleons. Its main drawback is its higher cost, especially the much higher gold cost. Compared to Dromons, it is far stronger vs buildings but far weaker against units.

Comparison with similar units

Anti-building

	Cannon Galleon	Lou Chuan	Dromon
Research cost and time	300 food, 200 gold 100 s ( Chemistry)	None	None
Cost	200 wood, 150 gold	250 wood, 225 gold	175 wood, 150 gold
Time	46 s	60 s	65 s
Hit points	120	175	125
Melee attack	50 melee +200 vs building +25 vs siege	25+1 melee +230 vs building +10 vs siege	8+1 melee +34 vs building +15 vs wall +9 vs Castle +2 vs siege
Blast radius	0.25 [tapering effect]	0	0.8 [tapering effect]
Reload time	10	5	8 (x5)
Attack delay	0	0.36 s	0
Range	13	13	12
Armor	0/6	0/9	1/6
Speed	1.1	1.15	1.2
Line of Sight	15	15	14

Anti-unit

	Lou Chuan	Galleon
Research cost and time	None	400 food, 315 wood 65 s
Cost	250 wood, 225 gold	90 wood, 30 gold
Time	60 s	36 s
Hit points	175	165
Attack	5 pierce +5 vs ship	8 pierce +11 vs ships +8 vs building +4 vs rams
Reload time	5 (x10)	3
Range	10	7
Minimum range	3	0
Armor	0/9	0/8
Speed	1.15	1.43
Line of Sight	15 : 16	9 : 12

Further statistics

Strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Buidlings
Weak vs.	Fire Galley line

Technologies
Attack	Fletching (+1, anti-unit mode) Bodkin Arrow (+1, anti-unit mode) Bracer (+1, anti-unit mode) Chemistry (+1, both modes) Siege Engineers (+20% bonus against buildings) Rocketry (+25%, except for the anti-unit pierce attack, Chinese only)
Range	Fletching (+1, anti-unit mode) Bodkin Arrow (+1, anti-unit mode) Bracer (+1, anti-unit mode) Siege Engineers (+1, anti-building mode)
Accuracy	Ballistics (track moving targets, anti-unit mode)
Additional projectiles	Bolt Magazine (+3, anti-unit mode, Shu only) Sitting Tiger (+2, each of which deal 10 melee attack and +40 vs buildings, anti-building mode; all projectiles in anti-unit mode are fired at once; Wu only)
Armor	Careening (0/+1)
Conversion resistance	Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max) Heresy (die upon getting converted)
Movement speed	Dry Dock (+15%)
Resource cost	Shipwright (-20% wood)
Creation speed	Shipwright (+54%)
Ability	Thunderclap Bombs (Also fires grenades against units; projectiles detonate some time after landing; Lou Chuans detonate when destroyed, Jurchens only) Rocketry (Area of Effect +0.3 tiles, 85% chance, tapering effect, anti-unit mode, Chinese only)

Civilization bonuses
Damage resistance	Jurchens (-50% friendly fire damage)
Movement speed	Shu (+15%)
Resource cost	Wei (-25%)

Trivia

• "Lou Chuan" in Chinese ("楼船") literally translates into "tower ship".
• The Lou Chuan is the only warship in the game (excluding Chronicles units) to have projectile firing animation (for its anti-building attack).
• The range of the unit is increased by different set of technologies, which affect the different modes. However, the Line of Sight is only increased by the set of technologies which increase the anti-building range.
• All five civilizations with access to Lou Chuans have civilization bonuses or unique technologies that improve them. Only Shu can fully upgrade them. The Jurchens lack only Shipwright, but this does not directly affect Lou Chuans' combat performance.
• In terms of gold and wood, the Lou Chuan is the most expensive unit in the game excluding hero units.

Bugs

• The anti-unit mode does not have an attack bonus against Fishing Ships, despite having attack bonus against ships.

Gallery

Many views of the Lou Chuan

Two attack modes of the Lou Chuan, trebuchet flinging rocks (top) and tower shooting arrows (bottom)

Lou Chuan with Thunderclap Bombs releasing both grenades and arrows vs. units (both lacking Chemistry)

Lou Chuan with Rocketry (left) firing rockets vs generic Lou Chuan (right) shooting arrows (both with Chemistry)

Lou Chuan with Sitting Tiger firing extra smaller rocks

The grenade projectile of a Lou Chuan after researching Thunderclap Bombs

Promotional image

Model of a Louchuan at the Zhenhaikou Coastal Defense History Memorial Hall

Introducing- Lou Chuans! Three Kingdoms Testing - AoE2- DE