Revolution is a feature in Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs that allows European civilizations to revolt from their Home City and form a new political entity with additional unit types and specific bonuses. This can greatly boost the player's military strength at the cost of being unable to advance into the Imperial Age while stalling all resource gathering by units.
Revolting is expanded in the Definitive Edition with new mechanics. For most revolutionary nations, new shipments allow for the training of Settlers, enabling players to restart their economies. Selecting Canada and South Africa retains Settlers immediately, improving their ranged attack and gathering rates respectively.
Overview
The message that appears when Revolting from the player's civilization
The revolutionary politicians menu in the original Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs; Peru (Simon Bolivar) and Argentina (Jose de San Martin) are shown here
Im The Warchiefs and The Asian Dynasties, Revolting allows a choice of one of two revolutionary leaders, or one of two to five revolutionary nations in the Definitive Edition, per European civilization with different bonuses (see below), and is a much cheaper and faster option than advancing into the Imperial Age (which costs 4,000 food and 4,000 coin, and takes 90 seconds).
Once Revolution is researched:
- The player's flag and Home City changes to the relevant revolutionary nation's, and their deck will also be set to a Revolution Deck which contain various cards depending on the nation. In The WarChiefs, the Revolutionary Deck always contain identical cards no matter which revolutionary leader they choose (see below).
- All Home City shipments on their way are canceled and the shipment(s) used are refunded.
- All Settlers and their equivalents (Coureurs des Bois and Settler Wagons) turn into Revolutionaries or their equivalents for certain revolutionary nations; Settler(s) being trained are canceled with their food costs refunded, and any Settler(s) or their equivalents rescued from treasures turn into Revolutionaries or their equivalents; any buildings being constructed (except by wagons) will thus be left incomplete. This does not occur when the player revolts to Canada or South Africa in the Definitive Edition; the player will retain their Settlers and can continue playing as they were before revolting.
- Each Settler Wagon turns into two Revolutionaries or their equivalents instead of one, with the additional Revolutionaries appearing as a Home City shipment.
- Town Center build limit is automatically increased to 10 and, along with Houses/Manors, are no longer needed to support population; the latter does not apply if the player revolts to Canada, Finland, or South Africa in the Definitive Edition.
As Revolution is not counted as an Age, all units that are automatically upgraded in every Age (Explorer, War Dog, Explorer Dog, Spahi, Spy, Petard, etc.) will not be upgraded when the player revolts.
Even though a revolting player no longer has Settlers to gather resources, most revolutionary nations can restart their economy through certain units or Home City Cards. In The WarChiefsand The Asian Dynasties, a revolting player still can keep a small economy going through the following:
- Trading Posts built by Explorers on trade routes
- Fishing Boats
- Banks
- Factories
- SettlersSettler Wagons/Villagers sent by allied TEAM shipments or from Sequoyah's Cherokee Syllabary
- Resource trickle Home City Cards (only if they are sent before revolting)
- Cree Coureur des Bois
- Settlers/Villagers/Coureur des Bois rescued from treasures after revolting
Only one player in each team may revolt in a game; after someone revolts, their teammates won't be able to revolt themselves. In The WarChiefs, only a single player may revolt in a game; after someone revolts, all other players may not revolt themselves. Regardless, the other players can still advance to the Imperial Age.
Features
Choices
| Nation | Leader | Bonus | Civ. |
|---|---|---|---|
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Ships 6 Mortars and upgrades Mortars to Imperial Howitzers | Germans |
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Ships 20 Tupi Blackwood Archers and grants Legendary Native Warriors | Dutch Portuguese |
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Ships 10 Hussars and upgrades Hussars to Imperial/Imperial Guard | Ottomans Spanish |
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Ships 3 Ironclads | French Ottomans Russians |
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Colonial Militia gets +10% hit points | British French |
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Ships 10 Outlaw Pistoleros and 10 Outlaw Riders | Portuguese Spanish |
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All units get +5% hit points | Germans Russians |
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Gatling Guns get +25% hit points | British Dutch |
| Nation | Home City | Bonus | Civ. |
|---|---|---|---|
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Ships 10 Gauchos and 10 cows. Enables you to recruit Gauchos which can gather from livestock and slow enemies with bolas. | Germans Spanish | |
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Ships 10 Corsair Marksmen and Privateers can be hired from the Dock. Settlers become Barbary Warriors instead of Revolutionaries. | Ottomans Portuguese | |
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Voluntarios da Patria rally to your cause! | Dutch Portuguese | |
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Your Settlers gain a powerful ranged attack instead of becoming Revolutionaries. | British French | |
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Grants 10 Hussars of Death which clear all in their path. | Spanish | |
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Every shipment delivers an extra Mameluke. | British Ottomans | |
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Delivers 4 Frontier Blockhouse Wagons. Your Settlers become Karelian Jaegers, which can gather from crates, trees, and construct Blockhouses. | Russians Swedes | |
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Ships 2 Ironclads. Settlers become Independence Guards, which are powerful but slow-marching Musketeers. | Germans Portuguese Spanish | |
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Revolutionaries have 25% more hitpoints, but are more expensive. Town Centers and Saloons spawn Pirates for free. Privateers can be hired at docks. | French | |
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All Outposts/Blockhouses spawn a Pandour/Hungarian Hussar/Hungarian Grenadier and every shipment delivers an extra Outpost/Blockhouse Wagon. Settlers become Grenzers - Revolutionaries with more range but less hitpoints. | Germans Ottomans Russians | |
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Ships 4 Cetbang Cannons and allows you to construct them. Wokou Junks can be hired from the Docks. Settlers become Javanese Spearmen. | Dutch Portuguese | |
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Your Settlers become Vaqueros which can gather from livestock and are armed with a revolver. | Spanish | |
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SimĆ³n BolĆvar leads the cause! He grants +5% hitpoints to nearby units. | Portuguese Spanish | |
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All Outposts/Blockhouses spawn a RoČior Dragoon and every shipment delivers an extra Outpost Wagon. Settlers become Dorobants, which have less range but more hitpoints than Revolutionaries. | Ottomans Russians | |
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Settlers gather more quickly instead of becoming Revolutionaries and can garrison in Trek Wagons for transport and protection. Ships 3 Trek Wagons. | British Dutch | |
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Ships 1 Fort Wagon. Gatling Guns have 25% more hitpoints and all Forts spawn one for free. | British Dutch French Swedes |
Units
Revolutionary: Solid general-purpose infantry. Good against cavalry.- Gatling Gun: Early automatic-fire weapon. Better against infantry than buildings.
- Ironclad: Advanced armored warship.
- Vaquero
- Barbary Warrior
- Corsair Marksman
- Javanese Spearman
- Cetbang Cannon
- Trek Wagon
Revolution Deck
All of the listed Home City Cards can be sent an INFINITE number of times.
| Card | Description |
|---|---|
| Ships 16 Colonial Militia | |
| Ships 4 Gatling Guns | |
| Ships 1 Fort Wagon and Fort build limit +1 | |
| Ships 2 Ironclads |
In the Definitive Edition, each revolutionary nation have their own, specific decks.
Strategy
- It is still possible for a revolting player to win by a trade monopoly.
- The "move all military units to one location" button on the right hand corner of the mini map is very useful at the start of a Revolution and allows players to move all of their Colonial Militia to one point on the map.
- Have Factories in game before initiating a revolution (if the Home City Cards are available). This will help produce resources as all Settlers will become Colonial Militia. Trading Posts, especially upgraded to Stagecoach or Iron Horse, are also very useful.
- Ensure that a few shipments are available when revolting. This will help to get a couple of Fort Wagons and a few Gatling Guns just in case. Or if one feels so and are in a hurry, send important shipments from the Home City before revolting, such as Factories and unit upgrades.
- Ensure that a large stockpile of resources are available to build more units as Skirmishers and artillery can easily kill Colonial Militia.
- Ironclads are good with their special long distance shell, but also have some support ships to protect them in close quarter fights as they can only be sent by Revolutionary Deck cards.
- After revolting, search for Cherokee and Cree native settlements, which gives the Sequoyah's Cherokee Syllabary improvement (which ships 4 Settlers) and Cree Coureurs des Bois respectively, allowing the player to have some workers.
- Ensure that all the important buildings (such as Artillery Foundry, Arsenal and Church) are built, since they can't be built anymore after revolting.
Trivia
- The revolution choices for certain civilizations (e.g. Germans can become Argentina or Peru and Ottomans can become Chile or Colombia) in The WarChiefs are not historically accurate as the revolution mechanic is confined to the colonies in the Americas.
- The new revolution choices in the Definitive Edition now reflects the base civilization more accurately. See each revolutionary nation's Trivia section for details.