โ | Implementing a system of meritocracy decreases unit upgrade costs. | โ |
—In-game description |
Meritocracy is a technology in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties that can be researched at a Trading Post built on a Zen Temple settlement. Once researched, it reduces the cost of unit upgrades by 20%.
Strategy[]
Meritocracy can be used by all civilizations, but civilizations with many Royal Guard units or just many units, such as the Spanish and the French benefit the most due to the large cost of upgrading for Royal Guard units.
Meritocracy is less useful for a Maltese player who has shipped Hospitality, as the effect will be applied before rather than after the Meritocracy reduction. Thus, a Veteran upgrade for Crossbowmen will have a price of 40 wood, 40 coin rather than 10 wood, 10 coin.