Town Center (Age of Empires III)

This article is about the building in Age of Empires III. For the building in other games of the series, see Town Center.

Town Center
Building information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Economic
Civilization	All
Age	Discovery Age
Use	Trains Settlers/Villagers Allows Age advance (European and Native American civilizations) Provides ultimate improvements (Asian and Native American civilizations) Supports 10 population Ransom Explorer/Explorer Dog/Monk (European and Asian civilizations) Receive Home City shipments Reveal stealth enemies
Construction
Wood	600
Max. builders	8
Build limit	1 2 (Portuguese, in Colonial Age) 3 (Fortress Age onwards) 4 (Portuguese, in Industrial Age) 10 (Revolution)
Statistics
Hit points	6,500
Garrison	50 Settlers/Villagers
Line of Sight	38
XP build bounty	120
XP bounty	240
Ranged attack
Damage	9 * no. of Settlers/Villagers garrisoned (see below)
Multipliers	x2.0 vs. Villager x0.5 vs. Artillery
Range	32
Rate of Fire	3.0
Anti-ship attack
Damage	75
Multipliers	x0.5 vs. Siege infantry
Range	40
Rate of Fire	3.0
Notes
Ranged attack only available when garrisoned by Settlers/Villagers

“	Most important building in a colony. Home City arrival point. Supports 10 population.	”
—In-game description

The Town Center is an economic building in in Age of Empires III that becomes available once the Fortress Age is reached. As it trains Settlers/Villagers and acts as the default drop-off point for Home City shipments, it is the most important of all buildings. Town Centers also support 10 population.

In regular random map games every player starts the game with a Town Center. Until the Fortress Age is reached, no more than one Town Center can be built at a time. From the Fortress Age onward, two additional Town Centers may be built.

Up to 50 villager-type units can garrison in Town Centers for shelter from attacks. By doing so, they give the Town Center an attack, allowing players to survive and fend off attacks. Town Centers also automatically attack passing enemy ships at all times.

Overview

The Town Center is the most important building in the game, as it is the nucleus of every players' settlements, produces Settlers/Villagers that are the backbone of every player's empire, and serve as the only means of advancing to the next Age for European and Native American civilizations.

Unlike other buildings, the Town Center can only be built by the Explorer/War Chief/Monk and a Covered Wagon.

The Town Center is a strong building. It can defend itself from land units with its top tower with a musket, from boats with a cannon and can garrison Settlers/Villagers to protect it and increase its firepower. Town Centers also can call in one (two with specific Home City Cards) levy of Minutemen or Irregulars and Sentries. The Iroquois can make their Town Centers much stronger with Town Dance and the Great House Home City Card.

If the player's Explorer has fallen in battle too close to enemy territory, instead of manually retrieving the unit, they may choose to pay Ransom money from the Town Center and return the Explorer back safely. Asian civilizations retrain fallen Monks from the Town Center instead of ransoming them.

From The WarChiefs expansion, European civilizations can select to "revolt" from the Industrial Age. Revolting will also increase the Town Center's build limit to 10 and makes them no longer necessary to support population.

Attack

The total attack of a Town Center are calculated on the following formula:

$A = B * min(G, 10)$

Where A is the total attack, B is the Town Center's base attack, and G is the number of Settlers/Villagers garrisoned in the Town Center.

Players can garrison up to 50 Settlers/Villagers, but the attack will only increase with the first 10. For example, having 8 Settlers/Villagers garrisoned (at a base attack of 9) grants a total attack of 72.

Civilization differences

• The Portuguese receive a free Covered Wagon every time they Age up until the Industrial Age, allowing them to have up to four Town Centers. With the Donatarios Home City Card, they can build two more, totaling of six Town Centers.
• The Iroquois are the only civilization with access to both Town Dance and a card boosting their Town Center attack (Great House).

Units

Age	Unit	Cost	Pop.	Limit	Civ.
	Settler	100 food 100 coin (Dutch) 270 food (Russians)	1 3 (Russians)	99 50 (Dutch)	Europeans
	Villager	100 food 100 wood (Indians)	1	99 75 (Japanese)	Native Americans Asians
	Coureur des Bois	120 food		80
	Envoy	50 food	-	5
	Native Scout	90 wood	1	∞	Native Americans
	Shaolin Master	300 coin	-	1
	Brahmin	175 coin
	Ikko-Ikki
	Colonial Militia*	100 food	1	∞	Revolutionary

Units with an asterisk (*) are added in The WarChiefs.

Ottoman Town Centers automatically train Settlers for free with a limit of 25 (45 with Galata Tower District, 70 with Topkapi, 99 with Tanzimat).

The Native Scout requires the Advanced Scout Home City Card to be trained at Town Centers.

The Colonial Militia replaces the Settler for a revolting European player.

Improvements =

Age	Improvement	Cost	Effect	Civ.
	Levy	150 food 150 coin	Spawns 6 Minutemen	EU
	Colonial Militia	150 food 150 coin	Spawns 6 Minutemen; requires Colonial Militia Home City Card
	Sentry Uprising	80 food 80 coin	Spawns 4 Sentries	AN
	Town Defense		Spawns 4 Irregulars
	Sentry Revolt		Spawns 4 Sentries; requires Enlist Irregulars Home City Card
	City Defense		Spawns 4 Irregulars; requires Enlist Irregulars Home City Card
	Aztec Scouting Party	450 food	Ships 3 Jaguar Prowl Knights
	Iroquois Scouting Party	500 food	Ships 5 Tomahawks
	Sioux Dog Soldiers	1,500 food	Ships 1 Dog Soldier for every 3 minutes the game has passed, up to 30 minutes
	Aztec Raiding Party	450 food 450 wood	Ships 6 Jaguar Prowl Knights
	Iroquois Raiding Party	500 food 500 wood	Ships 10 Tomahawks
	Aztec War Party	450 food 450 wood 450 coin	Ships 12 Jaguar Prowl Knights
	Iroquois War Party	500 food 500 wood 500 coin	Ships 15 Tomahawks
	Blockade	100 coin per enemy unit	Stops all enemies from receiving Home City shipments	NA AN
	Spies	75 coin per enemy unit	Shows what all enemies can see
	Legendary Native Warriors/Exalted Natives	1,500 food 1,500 wood	Upgrades native warriors to Legendary/Exalted (+50% hit points and attack)
	Immigrants	2,000 coin	Can support 100 population without Town Centers and Houses/Longhouses

Immigrants is not available to the Sioux.

Further statistics

Building strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Infantry, cavalry, villagers (only when garrisoned), ships
Weak vs.	Siege infantry, artillery, Monitors
Improvements
Hit points	Flying Buttress (+20%)
Attack	Heated Shot (+1.5x multiplier vs. ships)
Sight	Gas Lighting (+4, European civilizations only)
Construction cost	Cree Textile Craftsmanship (-25% wood) Tupi Forest Burning (-20% wood)
Other	Tupi Animal Lore (train Buttercup the Pet Cougars)
Penalties	Code Napoleon (+50% cost, French only) Customized Merc Weapons (+30% cost, John Black's Mercenaries only)

Home City Cards

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Town Center

Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team All Card Description Age HC level Improved Buildings Buildings get +40% hit points 10 The Improved Buildings card is available at a level 1 Home City for the Sioux. The Indians have the TEAM Improved Buildings card instead of Improved Buildings. Asians Card Description Age HC level Land Reforms Villagers and rickshaws build buildings 50% faster and buildings' build bounty doubled (also +1 Villager for the Indians) 10 Europeans Card Description Age HC level File:Spanish Home City Cards 3 (Colonial Militia).png Colonial Militia Town Centers get +50% attack and can use Colonial Militia 1 Germans Card Description Age HC level TEAM Teutonic Town Center Town Centers get +30% hit points and +50% attack 25 Indians Card Description Age HC level TEAM Improved Buildings Buildings get +25% hit points 10 Mughal Architecture Buildings except wonders cost -20% wood and build time -50% +1 Villager 40 Iroquois Card Description Age HC level Great House Town Centers become Great Houses with +50% attack and cost -25% 10 Portuguese Card Description Age HC level Donatarios Town Center build limit +2 10 Russians Card Description Age HC level Sevastopol Town Center, Blockhouse, Wall, and Fort build time -50% 40 Spanish Card Description Age HC level Colonial Estancias Town Centers support 70 population 25

History

“

Churches, taverns, and town halls were all important colonial centers where leaders and citizens met to discuss the issues facing their towns and colonies. Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia was the site of several important events in the history of the American colonies. One, the First Continental Congress, was the meeting of the thirteen colonies in the fall of 1774 to discuss their grievances with British governance and just what they could do about it. This historic hall also housed Benjamin Franklin's Library Company and the First and Second Banks of the United States.

”

Gallery

An in-game Russian Town Center