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This article is about the technology in Age of Empires II. For the technology in Age of Empires IV, see Thunderclap Bombs (Age of Empires IV). |
| “ | Rocket Carts, Grenadiers and Lou Chuans detonate when defeated; projectiles produce additional explosions. | ” |
| —In-game description | ||
Thunderclap Bombs is a technology in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - The Three Kingdoms that is unique to the Jurchens and can be researched at the Castle in the Imperial Age.
Once researched, the Rocket Cart line, Lou Chuan, and Grenadier explode upon death and also gain a delayed explosive attack after their projectiles land which deals Area of Effect damage. The Lou Chuan also gains the ability to fire the trebuchet against units. Neither the death explosion nor secondary explosions harm allied units.
The effect on individual unit is very different amongst each other, and is also different between the death and projectile impact. As such, the details are formulated in the table below. The death impact happens immediately, whereas the projectile impact happens after some time.
Effects[]
| Unit line | Death impact | Projectile impact | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Attack
|
 AoE
|
Attack
|
AoE
|
Time | |
 Rocket Cart
|
15 | 1 | 4 | 1.25 | 2 |
 Lou Chuan
|
45 | 2 | 20 | 2 | 2 |
 Grenadier
|
15 | 0.75 | 4 | 0.65 | 1.5 (×3) |
Team bonuses[]
Portuguese: Researching Thunderclap Bombs is 25% faster.
Strategy[]
Due to their minimum range and low melee armor, the Grenadier and Rocket Cart are extremely vulnerable to melee units that manage to get close. With Thunderclap Bombs researched, an enemy unit in the back line could be weakened or killed by explosion damage if it defeats one of these units.
Only the Lou Chuan's trebuchet attack gains a secondary explosion from Thunderclap Bombs. However, the upgrade also allows the Lou Chuan's trebuchet to fire on all units, enhancing the warship's anti-unit capabilities.
While the Grenadier's primary attack deals pierce damage, the secondary explosions from Thunderclap Bombs count as melee attacks. Therefore, Thunderclap Bombs makes Grenadiers a much greater threat to rams, whose high pierce armor would otherwise let them shrug off the Grenadier's attack.
Trivia[]
- This technology changes the projectile of Lou Chuans' anti-building attack from a stone (same as Traction Trebuchets) to a fused bomb (same as Grenadiers, except the bomb is visibly larger)
Gallery[]
