
A Native American minor civilization's settlement as it appears in the game (Cheyenne).

An Asian minor civilization's settlement (Sufi Mosque).

An African minor civilization's settlement (Akan).
Minor civilizations (also referred to as minor tribes, Natives, or Native allies) feature throughout the campaign scenarios and random maps of Age of Empires III. All playable civilizations can ally with a minor civilization by constructing Trading Posts at settlement sites. Each minor civilization typically offers three technologies to research and access to at least one unique military unit; trained in limited amounts with two unit upgrades.
Players retain access to the minor civilization's technologies and units for as long as the Trading Post is not destroyed. After the release of Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition - The African Royals, there are a total of 28 minor civilizations in normal game and three more exclusive to the campaigns.
Units[]
Native units always cost a certain amount of wood, food, and/or coin, but never population. Instead, native units have a build limit which players can increase by allying with further settlements of the same minor civilization.
From The WarChiefs, players can build Native Embassies to train allied minor civilization units at locations beyond the Trading Post site.
Upgrades[]
All native units' hit points and damage can be upgraded first in Fortress Age by +25% for 200 wood and 150 coin and a second time by +40% in Industrial Age for 400 wood and 300 coin. The native unit upgrades from Age of Empires III and The WarChiefs are called Elite and Champion while in The Asian Dynasties they are called Disciplined and Honored. In the Imperial Age, players can improve hit points and damage again by researching Legendary Native Warriors in the Capitol for 1,500 food and 1,500 wood.
A wide array of Home City cards can boost native units.
Native mercenaries[]
Most civilizations can send native allies from their Home City, which are technically mercenary shipments as they cost Coin. Furthermore, native units sent from Home City have their own build limit, an additional mercenary tag and they are treated by the game as different units. Because of that the visually identical native mercenaries and native units will not simultaneously select when double-clicking one of them. Military unit upgrades in the native settlement still affect both, native mercenaries and native units.
Ships[]
Certain ships can be trained from the Dock if the player builds a Trading Post on a minor civilization settlement, which vary depending on the minor civilization allied with:
- Building a Trading Post on a Native American settlement grants the ability to train Canoes;
- Building a Trading Post on a Holy Site settlement on Borneo, Ceylon, Deccan, Fertile Crescent, Indochina, Indonesia and Malaysia maps grants the ability to train Marathan Catamarans;
- Building a Trading Post on a Holy Site settlement on Hokkaido, Honshu, Korea, Manchuria, Parallel Rivers, Regicide and Yellow River maps grants the ability to train Wokou Junks;
- Building a Trading Post on a native African settlement grants the ability to train Privateers;
On Horn and Swahili Coast maps, Bandit Catamarans can be trained from the Dock by default.
List[]
While Age of Empires III and The WarChiefs feature Native American settlements, the paradigma changes in The Asian Dynasties to religious communities or Holy Sites (as developer Big Huge Games labels them in the game manual), and later, in Knights of the Mediterranean to European royal houses.
Age of Empires III[]
Age of Empires III included the following twelve Native American settlements:
The WarChiefs[]
With the introduction of the Aztecs, Haudenosaunee, and Lakota as major civilizations, The WarChiefs removes the Aztecs, Haudenosaunee, and Lakota minor civilizations which are now only present in the campaign:
The Asian Dynasties[]
The minor civilizations in The Asian Dynasties differ from those in Age of Empires III and The WarChiefs in that they represent religious movements instead of ethnic groups.
The minor civilizations are:
Definitive Edition[]
Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition introduces a single new American minor civilization, the Lenape, which is only available in the Battle of Queenston Heights scenario and the Unknown map.
Tribe | Units | Technologies | Maps |
---|---|---|---|
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Lenape Warrior | Lenape Ceremony
Lenape Clans Lenape Three Sisters |
Unknown |
The African Royals[]
The minor civilizations introduced in The African Royals offer the largest number of native units and technologies.
Knights of the Mediterranean[]
Instead of ethnic groups or religious movements, the minor civilizations introduced in Knights of the Mediterranean represents various royal dynasties in Europe.
Royal House | Units | Technologies | Ability | Maps |
---|---|---|---|---|
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Royal Musketeer Royal Dragoon Royal Horseman* |
Bourbon Reforms Royal Tax Chouannerie Maison du Roi |
Royal March | Alps Black Forest Corsica and Sardinia France Italy Low Countries Pyrenees Spain |
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Mountain Troopers Chevaleuger |
Oktoberfest Ducal Berg Lancers Philhellenism Schützenfest |
Alpine Horns | Alps Archipelago Baltic Sea Black Forest Bohemia Italy Saxony Scandinavia |
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Royal Hunstman Royal Hunter* Northern Muskeeters |
League of Armed Neutrality Hunting Expeditions Kalthoff Repeaters Öresund Customs |
Scientific Expeditions | Archipelago Baltic Sea Courland Danish Straits Dnieper Basin Eurasian Steppe Finland Lithuania Pripet Marshes Saxony Scandinavia |
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Black Brunswicker Totenkorpf Hussar Drummer |
Royal Scots Grey Royal Card Games Acts of Union Victorian Era |
Royal Fireworks | Danish Straits England Ireland Low Countries Saxony Scotland |
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Evzone Boyar Sacred Band Infantry** |
Armatoloi Athos Monasteries Byzantine Legacy Greek Shipyards |
Greek Revolution | Anatolia Archipelago Balkan Mountains Carpathians Corsica and Sardinia Dnieper Basin Italy Wallachia |
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Lipka Tatar Shock Rider |
Pancerni Jagiellonian Legacy Sarmatism Folwarks |
Balance of Powers | Baltic Sea Bohemia Budapest Carpathians Courland Dnieper Basin Eurasian Steppe Hungarian Plains Lithuania Pripet Marshes Vistula Basin |
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Royal Arquebusier Winged Hussar |
Golden Liberty Tar Kilns Koncerz Hanseatic League |
Order of Vasa | Archipelago Baltic Sea Courland Danish Straits Dnieper Basin Finland Lithuania Pripet Marshes Scandinavia Vistula Basin |
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Line Infantry Mounted Infantry Magyar Hussar** Hungarian Grenadier** |
Congress of Vienna Crown Lands Multinationalism Austro-Hungarian Empire |
Radetzky March | Alps Balkan Mountains Black Forest Bohemia Budapest Corsica and Sardinia Hungarian Plains Italy Low Countries Pyrenees Spain |
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Trabant Saxon Cuirassier |
Leipzig Trade Fair Königstein Marriage Politics Royal Saxon Grenadier |
Golden Reiter | Baltic Sea Bohemia Carpathians Low Countries Saxony Vistula Basin Wallachia |
- * These units are only available after researching technologies that ship or allow them to be trained by Trading Posts or Heroes
- ** Spawned via a Royal House ability
Trivia[]
- Near native villages, chattering can be heard. Small dialogues are hidden in the chatter, such as: Man: "The bounty is plentiful" and Little Girl: "Can I go?" Woman: "Let's go darling" Little Girl: "I don't think I can make it mommy" can be heard.
- Some random maps lack minor civilizations completely, like Patagonia and Siberia.
- The most diverse random map is Silk Road with five possible minor civilizations. If excluded as a variant of three other maps (Himalayas, Mongolia, and Yellow River) due to its changing environment, the title is shared by Amazonia, Orinoco, and Mexico, with four minor civilizations each.
- Deccan is the only Asian map besides Silk Road with more than two minor civilizations.
- Excluding the Lenape and the minor civilizations replaced in The WarChiefs, the most exclusive minor civilizations are the Seminole and the Klamath, which are found in three maps each.
- The most exclusive Asian minor civilization is the Udasi Temple, found in five maps (two of which, Silk Road and Himalayas - Upper, are variants of other maps).
- The most exclusive African minor civilizations are the Yoruba and Somalis, also present in five maps.
- The most common minor civilizations are the Sufi Mosque and the Jesuit Mission, each appearing in thirteen maps. They are also the only minor civilizations found in more than one continent (the Jesuits being present in all three), and the only introduced in The Asian Dynasties that are not identified as "temples".
- The most common minor civilization that is exclusive to Africa is the Berbers, appearing in nine maps.
- The most common that is exclusive to Asia is the Zen Temple, appearing in seven maps.
- The most common that is exclusive to America is the Quechua, also appearing in seven maps.