Rocket

Rocket
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Artillery
Civilization	British United States (Act III: Steel)
Age	Industrial Age
Training
Trained at	Factory (British) Artillery Foundry (United States)
Wood	100
Coin	500
Training time	90 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	350
Resists	75% vs. Ranged
Speed	4.0 (Limber) 1.6 (Bombard)
Line of Sight	32
Population	6
XP train bounty	60
XP bounty	60
Siege attack
Damage	300
Multipliers	×3.0 vs. Ship ×0.75 vs. Artillery ×0.5 vs. Arrow Knight
Range	28
Area of Effect	4
Rate of Fire	5.0

“	Heavy artillery that fires a rocket and is good against infantry or buildings.	”
—In-game description

The Rocket is an artillery unit in Age of Empires III that is unique to the British, which replaces the Heavy Cannon, and can only be trained at the Factory or shipped from the Home City.

Overview

Rockets are an artillery unit available to the British and United States. They replace Heavy Cannon for the former, while the latter can train them from the Artillery Foundry as with any regular artillery piece. In the case of the British, they are one of the two unique units produced from the Factory, the other being the Great Bombard. They have a faster rate of fire than both the Heavy Cannon and the Great Bombard. They are as effective against infantry units as they are against buildings due to their high rate of fire and high attack. They are also more effective against cavalry due to a lack of damage penalty against them.

Hidden cost (British)

Producing Rockets at a Factory requires 98 seconds (93 with Chinese TEAM Engineering School card). The average resource gather rate of a Factory is 5.5 every second (before the building upgrade (+20%)). This means that the Rocket, while appearing to be free, will have a cost dependent upon how effective the Factory gathers a needed resource. In many cases, this cost can exceed the base value of the unit.

Upgrades

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect
	Imperial Rockets	1,500 wood, 1,500 coin	Upgrade Rockets to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack)

Further statistics

As Rockets are unique to the British, only technologies that they have access to are shown in the following table:

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Most units, buildings
Weak vs.	Artillery especially Culverins, Arrow Knights
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	Mass Production (-25%) Incan Chasquis Messengers (-10%)
Other	Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)

Home City Cards

As Rockets are unique to the British, only their cards and other civilizations' TEAM cards are shown in the following tables:

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

Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team Purple: Shipment that can be sent an INFINITE number of times British Card Description Age HC level 2 Congreve Rockets Ships 2 Rockets 10 3 Congreve Rockets Ships 3 Rockets 25 2 Rockets Ships 2 Rockets 40 Chinese Card Description Age HC level TEAM Engineering School Artillery, Grenade Trooper, Abus Gun, Petard, Ram, Mantlet, Flamethrower, Siege Elephant, Black Flag Army, and Mongolian Army train time -15%; Heavy Cannon, Rocket, Great Bombard, and Flying Crow train 10% faster 25 Europeans Card Description Age HC level TEAM Artillery Hitpoints Artillery and Grenade Trooper gets +15% hit points 10 "TEAM Artillery Hitpoints" is available to Ottomans and Portuguese (in the Fortress Age). 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 Spanish Card Description Age HC level TEAM Inquisition All units get +10 LOS 10 United States Card Description Age 5 Captured Rockets Ships 5 Rockets; costs 1,000 food, 1,000 wood

Changelog

Age of Empires III

• Rockets are trained in 98 seconds.
• Rockets' projectiles have a velocity of 30.

Definitive Edition

• Rockets are now trained in 90 seconds.
• Rockets' projectiles now have a velocity of 45.

History

“

The first rockets used in warfare were developed by the Chinese and Indians. The principle is not dissimilar to a bottle rocket, where explosive propellant (gunpowder) propels a missile (the rocket) and is stabilized by a stick that extends well beyond the body of the rocket. It was William Congreve, a British officer, who developed their use for warfare in the Napoleonic era. His rockets were tubes capped by cones and filled with gunpowder and either shrapnel or shot. They were fired from structures that consisted of a ladder with supports for the body of the rocket and a frame to prop up both ladder and rocket. These were tall affairs, and needed to be, when the stick of a large rocket could be as long as 15 feet! The "rockets' red glare" in the Star-Spangled Banner, the national anthem of the US, refers to the rockets used by the British navy in their assault on Fort McHenry in 1814.

”

Gallery

A Rocket in Bombard mode

A Rocket in Limber mode