Mortar

Mortar
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Artillery
Civilization	Europeans United States
Age	Industrial Age Fortress Age (Knights of St. John)
Training
Trained at	Artillery Foundry
Wood	100
Coin	350
Training time	45 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	300
Resists	75% vs. Ranged
Speed	3.0 (Limber) 1.2 (Bombard)
Line of Sight	44
Population	4
XP train bounty	45
XP bounty	45
Siege attack
Damage	500
Multipliers	×0.5 vs. Ship
Range	4-40
Area of Effect	1
Rate of Fire	6.0

“	Artillery that fires an exploding shell at buildings or ships.	”
—In-game description

The Mortar is an artillery unit in Age of Empires III that can be trained by European civilizations and the United States at the Artillery Foundry once the Industrial Age is reached.

Overview

The Mortar can be used effectively against buildings and ships, but it is unable to attack land units. They deal greatly inferior damage to Petard, though they can attack from great range and aren't suicide units, giving them more strategic value in a greater number of situations.

They play similarly to the Trebuchet from Age of Empires II in that they have very long range and must be packed up to move and fire. With 12 Missionaries (Japanese ally), Unction and all attack improvement cards, the Spanish Mortar is the artillery with the highest siege attack, 1390.

Upgrades

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

Civilization differences

• Knights of St. John can train Mortars in the Fortress Age.
• John Black's Mercenaries can only upgrade Mortars to Howitzers.
• The United States can upgrade Mortars up to Imperial Howitzers.
• The Japanese can get Mortars by allying with the Dutch at the Consulate (requires a level 25 Home City) which provides Dutch Expeditionary Army and Dutch Brigade that includes 2 and 4 Mortars respectively. Unlike their regular counterpart, these Mortars are automatically upgraded in the Industrial Age and the Imperial Age (see here for the exact values).
• (Definitive Edition) Since update 23511, Native American civilizations have access to Captured Mortars, which can be trained at the Native Embassy in the Imperial Age. The Captured Mortar have similar stats to the Howitzer and are considered as a native warrior, thus they benefit from Legendary Native Warriors and improvements to native warriors.

Revolution

• Argentina have the "Argentine Mortars" Home City Card, which ships a Mortar and upgrade Mortars to Imperial Howitzers.

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Buildings, ships
Weak vs.	Infantry especially Arrow Knights, cavalry, artillery especially Culverins
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	Quechuan Diet (-10%)
Train cost	Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost)
Other	Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)
Penalties	Coffee Trade (-10% speed, Dutch only) High Crusade (-5% hit points, Knights of St. John only)

Home City Cards

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Mortar

Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team Purple: Shipment that can be sent an INFINITE number of times All Card Description Age HC level Engineering School Artillery, Grenade Trooper and Petard train time -30%; Heavy Cannons/Great Bombards train 20% faster 25 Since the Mortar can only be trained by European civilizations, "Engineering School" is only relevant to French, Ottomans, Portuguese, and Swedes. Chinese Card Description Age HC level Western Reforms All units get +8% hit points and attack 40 Siege Hitpoints Artillery gets +15% hit points; Flamethrowers get +20% hit points 10 Siege Attack Artillery gets +15% attack; Flamethrowers get +20% attack 10 Siege Combat Artillery gets +15% hit points and attack; Flamethrowers get +20% hit points and attack 25 TEAM Engineering School Artillery, Grenade Trooper, Petard, Ram, Mantlet, Flamethrower, Siege Elephant, Black Flag Army, and Mongolian Army train time -15%; Heavy Cannons, Rockets, Great Bombards, and Flying Crows train 10% faster 25 "TEAM Engineering School" is also available to the Swedes (in the Industrial Age). Dutch Card Description Age HC level TEAM Coehorn Mortars Mortars, Hand Mortars, Morutaru, Grenadiers with "Grenade Launchers", and Sebastopol Mortars get +20% attack 1 Europeans Card Description Age HC level TEAM Artillery Hitpoints Artillery and Grenade Trooper gets +15% hit points 10 Advanced Artillery Mortars and Horse Artillery can be trained at the Fortress Age 1 2 Mortars Ships 2 Mortars 1 3 Mortars Ships 3 Mortars (also +4 Uhlans for the Germans) 10 TEAM 2 Mortars Ships 2 Mortars 40 "TEAM Artillery Hitpoints" is available to Ottomans and Portuguese (in the Fortress Age). "3 Mortars" is not available to the Dutch. "TEAM 2 Mortars" is not available to British, French, Portuguese, and Swedes. Indians Card Description Age HC level TEAM Shivaji's Tactics All units get +5% hit points and attack 25 Japanese Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cheaper Unit Upgrades Unit upgrades cost -20% 1 Ottomans Card Description Age HC level Artillery Attack Artillery and Grenade Trooper gets +15% attack 25 Portuguese Card Description Age HC level Rangefinding Mortars get +10 LOS and range 25 Russians Card Description Age HC level Unicorne Mortars Mortars get +30% attack, cost -50%, and train time -15% 10 Spanish Card Description Age HC level TEAM Inquisition All units get +10 LOS 10 Swedes Card Description Age Barrage Mortars get the Barrage attack (used against enemy units at 4-30 range, dealing 40 damage with 7 AOE, a ×0.5 multiplier against cavalry and shock infantry, and a ×0.1 multiplier against artillery and Arrow Knight)

History

“

A mortar is an artillery piece with a short barrel and a large bore that fires massive projectiles in a high arc. The name "mortar" probably refers to its resemblance to the mortar of a mortar and pestle. The high arc of a mortar's fire reaches emplacements and buildings that are screened by terrain or walls or other permanent defenses. The projectile a mortar fired was filled with gunpowder and fitted with a fuse that was lit right before firing the mortar. The artillery crew had to carefully measure how long to make the fuse for the mortar to explode at the right moment (usually on impact). This made mortars much better at firing on buildings and fortifications than on fluid groups of moving troops.

”

Gallery

A Mortar in Bombard mode

A Mortar in Limber mode

A(n) (Imperial) Howitzer in Limber mode

A Howitzer in Bombard mode

Mortar firing a huge shell following a reload

A Mortar fixed on top of the Monitor

Mortar from 1864 on a railroad, during the US Civil War

Mortar of 18th century

Mortar in the original game and in the Definitive Edition

See also

• Hand Mortar – Chinese equivalent
• Morutaru – Japanese equivalent
• Captured Mortar – Native American equivalent
• Sebastopol Mortar – Ethiopian equivalent