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	Building Economic
Civilization	All
Age	Exploration Age
Population	10 70 (Spanish and Mexicans, with the "Colonial Estancias" Home City Card)
Use	Trains Settlers/Villagers Allows Age advance (except for Asian civilizations) Provides ultimate technologies (except for European and American civilizations) Ransom Explorer/Explorer Dog/Monk (European and Asian civilizations) Receive Home City shipments Reveal stealth enemies
Construction
Wood	500
Max. builders	1 Explorer 8 Villagers
Build time	60 seconds
Build limit	1 2 (Portuguese, in Commerce Age) 3 (Fortress Age onwards) 4 (Portuguese, in Industrial Age) 10 (Revolution)
Statistics
Hit points	6,500
Garrison	50 villagers
Line of Sight	38
XP build bounty	50
XP bounty	100
Ranged attack
Damage	9 * no. of villagers garrisoned (see below) 30 (Cannon attack)
Multipliers	×2.0 vs. Villager ×0.5 vs. Artillery
Range	32
Area of Effect	1 (Cannon attack)
Rate of Fire	3.0
Anti-ship attack
Damage	75
Multipliers	×0.5 vs. Siege unit
Range	40
Rate of Fire	3.0
Notes
Ranged attack only available when garrisoned by villagers Cannon attack requires "Palace of Iturbide" Mexican Home City Card

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

The Town Center is an economic building 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 standard 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 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 non-Asian civilizations.

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. Except for African civilizations, Town Centers also can call in one (two with specific Home City Cards) levy of Militiamen/Minutemen/Irregulars and Sentries. The Haudenosaunee can make their Town Centers much stronger with Town Ceremony 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 and the Mexicans in the Definitive Edition 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 (unless when revolting to Canada, Finland, or South Africa in the Definitive Edition).

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 villagers garrisoned in the Town Center.

Players can garrison up to 50 villagers, but the attack will only increase with the first 10. For example, having 8 Settlers 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. (Definitive Edition) Choosing The Logistician to advance into the Commerce Age with the Portuguese enables Town Centers to train the Crossbowman, Pikeman, and Musketeer.
• The Haudenosaunee are the only civilization with access to both Town Ceremony and a card boosting their Town Center attack ("Great House").

Units

Age	Unit	Cost	Pop.	Limit	Civ.
	Settler	100 food 100 coin 260 food	1 3	99 50	EU AM
	Villager	100 food 100 wood	1	99 75	NA AS AF
	Coureur des Bois	120 food		80
	Envoy	50 food	–	5
	Buttercup the Pet Cougar	100 food		12	All
	Native Scout	90 wood	1	25
	Chasqui**	40 wood 40 coin	–	1
	Shaolin Master	300 coin
	Brahmin	175 coin
	Sohei Archer
	Revolutionary*	100 food	1	∞
	Filibuster**	90 coin	3
	Barbary Warrior**	100 food	1
	Californio**	120 food
	Karelian Jaeger**	100 wood		99
	Cruzob Infantry**	80 food 30 coin		∞
	Cuerudo**	100 food
	Trek Wagon**	250 wood	–	10

• Units with an asterisk (*) are added in The WarChiefs; units with two asterisks (**) are added in the Definitive Edition.
• Ottoman Town Centers automatically spawn Settlers with a limit of 25 (45 with Galata Tower District, 70 with Topkapi, 99 with Tanzimat), and can research Ages at the same time.
• Coureur des Bois replaces Settler for the French.
• Buttercup the Pet Cougar requires the Tupi Animal Lore technology to be trained at Town Centers.
• Native Scout requires the Advanced Scout Home City Card to be trained at Town Centers.
• Revolutionary replaces Settler for revolutionary nations except Canada and South Africa.
  • Brazilian Revolutionaries (Voluntarios da Patria) are automatically spawned by Town Centers (9 every 146 seconds).
• Barbary Warrior, Californio, Cruzob Infantry, Filibuster, Karelian Jaeger, and Cuerudo replaces Revolutionary for Barbary States, California, Maya, Baja California, Finland, and Mexico, respectively.
• Haitian Town Centers automatically spawn Pirates every 48 seconds.

Technologies

Age	Technology	Cost	Effect	Civ.
	Levy	150 food 150 coin	Spawns 6 Militiamen/ Minutemen	EU
	Conscription	400 food 400 coin	Spawns 15 Militiamen/ 16 Minutemen; Requires the "Town Militia"/ "Minutemen Companies" Home City Card
	Sentry Uprising	80 food 80 coin	Spawns 4 Sentries	AS
	Town Defense		Spawns 4 Irregulars
	Sentry Revolt		Spawns 4 Sentries; Requires the "Enlist Irregulars" Home City Card
	City Defense		Spawns 4 Irregulars; Requires the "Enlist Irregulars" Home City Card
	Kebele Chitet		Spawns 4 Levied Spearmen; Requires the "Chitet" Home City Card
	Woreda Chitet		Spawns 4 Levied Bowmen; Requires the "Chitet" Home City Card
	Aztec Scouting Party	400 food	Ships 3 Jaguar Prowl Knights
	Haudenosaunee Scouting Party	500 food	Ships 5 Tomahawks
	Inca Scouting Party	600 food	Ships 5 Plumed Spearmen
	Lakota Tokala Soldiers	2,000 food	Ships 1 Tokala Soldier for every 3 minutes the game has passed, up to 30 minutes
	Aztec Raiding Party	400 food 400 wood	Ships 6 Jaguar Prowl Knights
	Haudenosaunee Raiding Party	500 food 500 wood	Ships 10 Tomahawks
	Inca Raiding Party	600 food 600 coin	Ships 12 Plumed Spearmen
	Aztec War Party	400 food 400 wood 400 coin	Ships 12 Jaguar Prowl Knights
	Haudenosaunee War Party	500 food 500 wood 500 coin	Ships 15 Tomahawks
	Inca War Party	600 food 600 wood 600 coin	Ships 20 Plumed Spearmen
	Fortified Cities	3,000 influence	Town Centers, Palaces, and Mountain Monasteries get +50% hit points
			Town Centers, Palaces, and Universities get +50% hit points
	Immigrants	2,000 coin	Supports 100 population without the need of Town Centers and Houses/Longhouses/Villages/Shrines/Torp/Kancha Houses; Unit train time -10%; Automatically trained units spawn 5% faster	NA AS
	Strangers' Quarters	2,000 influence	Supports 100 population without the need of Town Centers and Huts; Unit train time -10%; Automatically trained units spawn 5% faster	AF
	Blockade	Variable	Stops all enemies from receiving Home City shipments	NA AS AF
	Spies		See enemy LOS
	Legendary Native Warriors Exalted Natives	1,500 food 1,500 wood	Upgrades native warriors to Legendary/Exalted (+50% hit points and attack)

• Blockade and Spies cost 100 and 75 coin, respectively for every enemy unit in the map.
• Immigrants is not available to the Lakota.
• The United States can repeatedly research Levy/Conscription but with a global cooldown of 160 seconds.

Further statistics

Building strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Infantry, cavalry, villagers (only when garrisoned), ships
Weak vs.	Artillery, Monitors
Improvements
Hit points	Fortified Cities (+50%; Africans only) State Constitutions (+25%; United States only) Flying Buttress (+20%) Byzantine Legacy (+15%)
Attack	Heated Shot (+50% multiplier vs. ships)
Line of Sight	Gas Lighting (+4)
Build time	Cree Textile Craftsmanship (-25%)
Cost	Tupi Forest Burning (-20% wood) Cree Textile Craftsmanship (-10%)
Other	Hausa Bakwai (+3 build limit; Hausa only) Tupi Animal Lore (train Buttercup the Pet Cougars)
Penalties	Customized Merc Weapons (+30% cost; John Black's Mercenaries only) Code Napoleon (+25% cost; French only)

Home City Cards

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

Some cards are highlighted with:
Green	TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team
Purple	Shipment that can be sent an INFINITE number of times
Red	Shipment that can be sent twice
Blue	Shipment that arrives fast (5 seconds)

All

Card	Description	Age	HC level
1 Covered Wagon	Ships 1 Covered Wagon; Town Center build limit +1 (also +3 Uhlans for the Germans)		1
TEAM Conestoga Wagons	Ships 1 Covered Wagon; Town Center build limit +1		1
2 Covered Wagons	Ships 2 Covered Wagons; Town Center build limit +2		10
Improved Buildings	Buildings get +40% hit points (also +4 Uhlans for the Germans)		10
TEAM Improved Buildings	Buildings get +25% hit points		10
Colonial Estancias	Town Centers support +70 population		25
Chipotle Tactics	Ships 500 food; receive food when an enemy or own building is destroyed equal to 20% ~ 40% of its total cost		N/A
Palace of Iturbide	Town Centers gain a bombard attack that can be used even when not garrisoned by Villagers		N/A
TEAM Coastal Defenses	Buildings get +0.8 multiplier against ships		25

• "1 Covered Wagon" is not available to Asians, Inca, and Ottomans.
• "TEAM Conestoga Wagons" is available to the Germans and Lakota.
• "2 Covered Wagons" is available to the Mexicans (also revolting to California), Ottomans, and Portuguese, also Germans, Portugese, and Spanish upon revolting to Gran Colombia.
• "Improved Buildings" is available to Asians (except the Indians), Europeans (except the Maltese), Mexicans, and Native Americans (except the Inca).
• "TEAM Improved Buildings" is available to the Inca, Indians, and Maltese.
• "Colonial Estancias" is available to the Mexicans and Spanish.
• "Chipotle Tactics" and "Palace of Iturbide" are available to the Mexicans and Spanish (upon revolting to Mexico).
• "TEAM Coastal Defenses" is available to Europeans and Federal Americans.

Asians

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Enlist Irregulars	Town Centers get +50% attack and can use City Defense and Sentry Revolt		1
Land Reforms	Villagers and Rickshaws build buildings 50% faster; buildings grant +100% build bounty (also +1 Villager for the Indians)		10

• "Enlist Irregulars" is not available to the Chinese.

Chinese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Northern Refugees	Each Village and Town Center spawns 1 Villager		1
Western Refugees	Each Village and Town Center spawns 1 Villager		1
Great Migration	Each Village and Town Center spawns 1 Villager and 1 Fattened Goat		25
Year of the Goat	Each Village and Town Center spawns 2 Goats		1
Year of the Ox	Each Village and Town Center spawns 2 Water Buffaloes		1
Town Rickshaw	Ships 1 Town Rickshaw; Town Center build limit +1		1
Town Rickshaw + 5 Villagers	Ships 1 Town Rickshaw and 5 Villagers; Town Center build limit +1		10
Walk the Rice Paper	Ships a second Shaolin Master and allows him to be retrained at Town Centers		1
Year of the Dragon	Ships 1 Flamethrower for every Town Center built and 1 Monitor Lizard for every Village built		N/A
Boxer Rebellion	Town Centers get +50% attack; Irregulars and Sentries no longer lose hit points		1
Saiga Herd	Each Village and Town Center spawns 4 Saigas		10

Dutch

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Stadhouder	Hero get +50% hit points and attack; Town Centers cost -50% wood; +1 Explorer Dog		1

Ethiopians

Card	Description	Age
Chitet	Town Centers get +50% attack; Kebele Chitet and Woreda Chitet available at the Town Center
Gondarine Architecture	Buildings get +25% hit points; Town Centers and Palaces get +50% hit points instead; Walls and Mountain Monasteries get +100% hit points instead

Europeans

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Town Militia	Town Centers get +50% attack and can use Conscription		1
2 Covered Wagons	Ships 2 Covered Wagon		N/A
Citizenship	Ships 6 Citizens; Citizens can be trained at Town Centers for 70 coin; Fishing Boats can be trained at Docks		N/A
Lantakas	Artillery, buildings, and ships get +15% attack		N/A
Huguenots	Coureur des Bois can be trained at the Town Centers with a train limit of 30		N/A

• "2 Covered Wagons" is available upon revolting to Brazil and Haiti.
• "Citizenship" is available upon Revolutions.
• "Lantakas" is available to the Dutch and Portuguese upon revolting to Indonesia.
• "Huguenots" is available to the British and Dutch upon revolting to South Africa.

Federal Americans

Card	Description	Age
The Alamo	Ship 16 Minutemen; when destroyed by enemies, your buildings spawn a number of Minutemen equal to 1.5% of their cost rounded up

• "The Alamo" is available to the United States upon selecting the Texas Federal State and Mexicans upon revolting to Texas, and spawns 8 Minutemen when a Town Center is destroyed.

Germans

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM House of Hohenzollern	Town Centers get +30% hit points and +50% attack		25
Witch Hammer	Ships 3 Inquisitors; Inquisitors can be trained at Tavern/Mercenary Camps, Town Centers, Church, and Outposts; outlaws use -2 population; +2 Uhlans		N/A

Haudenosaunee

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Great House	Town Centers upgrade into Great Houses, get +50% attack and cost -25% wood		10
Wampum	Training units and constructing buildings grants +35% XP		N/A

Hausa

Card	Description	Age
Sokoto Chronicle	Ships 1 Kingdom Builder for every Town Center built
Aïr Berbers	Ships 1 Berber Nomad for every Town Center and Trading Post built

Inca

Card	Description	Age
Resettlements	Ships 4 Villagers and 1 Town Travois
2 Town Center Travois	Ships 2 Town Travois
High Ground	War Huts, Town Centers, Tambos, and Strongholds get +15 Line of Sight and +5 range
Monumental Architecture	Buildings get +30% hit points; Town Centers get +35% attack
Huanka Support	Ships 1 Town Travois and 1 War Hut Travois; buildings' build time -15%; Town Center build limit +1; costs 500 coin

Indians

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Town Rickshaw	Ships 1 Town Rickshaw; Town Center build limit +1; 1 Villager		1
2 Town Rickshaws	Ships 2 Town Rickshaws; Town Center build limit +2; +1 Hindu Villager		25
Mughal Architecture	Buildings cost -20% wood and build time -30%; Wonders' build time -16% instead; +1 Hindu Villager		40

Japanese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Town Rickshaw	Ships 1 Town Rickshaw; Town Center build limit +1		1
Forty Seven Ronin	Turns all Villagers and Shrines into Masterless Samurai, Castles into Wokou Ronins, Wonders and Town Centers into Ronin; costs 1,000 food, 1,000 wood, 1,000 coin		N/A

Lakota

Card	Description	Age
Camp Movements	Ships 2 War Hut Travois; all buildings' build time -25%; Town Centers, Community Plaza, Markets, Corrals, War Huts, Farms, Native Embassies, Estates, and Docks can now be transformed into a Travois to be built elsewhere
Winter Counts	Training units grants +40% XP and constructing buildings grants +20% XP

Maltese

Card	Description	Age
Wignacourt Constructions	Villagers gather natural resources 10% faster, and an additional 15% faster when nearby a Town Center, Outpost, or Commandery
Vittoriosa	Town Centers cost -30%; Settlers cost -50%

Mexicans

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Nuevo México Territory	Ships 1 Covered Wagon; Town Center build limit +1; existing and new Town Centers spawn 1 Frontier Post Wagon; costs 500 food, 500 wood
Colegio de San Nicolás	Ships 500 XP; units get +4 and buildings (except Walls) get +8 Line of Sight; sees what enemies can see for 20 seconds
Tlaxcala Alliance	Ships 1 Native Embassy Travois; Conquistador, Smokeless Powder, Flying Buttress, Tlaxcala Initiation, and Tlaxcaltec Chocolate Recipes available at Native Embassy; Tlaxcaltec Scouting/Raiding/War Party available at Town Center; the player is considered to be allied with the Jesuit Mission for "Native Treaties"
Talavera Architecture	Buildings get +30% hit points, -30% build time, and grant coin upon being built instead of XP
Huipils	Existing and new Town Centers and Haciendas muster 3 Villagers which will wait in queue if the player is at Villager build limit
Maya Architecture	All buildings except Forts get +30% hit points; buildings now give food as well as experience when built; grants Redoubts

• "Colegio de San Nicolás" is available upon selecting the Michoacán Federal State.
• "Tlaxcala Alliance" is available upon selecting the Tlaxcala Federal State.
• "Talavera Architecture" is available upon selecting the Puebla Federal State.
• "Huipils" and "Maya Architecture" are available upon revolting to the Maya.

Native Americans

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Old Ways	Big Button technologies cost -50%		25

Ottomans

Card	Description	Age
City Defense	Town Centers get +50% attack and can use Conscription

Portuguese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Donatarios	Town Center build limit +2		10
Feitorias	Town Centers trickle 0.5 food, 0.24 wood, 0.24 coin per second (totally 0.98 per Town Center)		N/A

Russians

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Sevastopol	Town Center, Blockhouse, Wall, and Fort build time -50%		40

Spanish

Card	Description	Age
Salitrera	Trading Posts generate 0.5 coin/sec.; Citizens can be trained at the Town Centers for 70 coin; Fishing Boats can be trained at the Docks

• "Salitrera" is available upon revolting to Chile.

United States

Card	Description	Age
Missouri River Expeditions	Ships 1 Covered Wagon; Town Center build limit +1; the General can summon Hot Air Balloons
TEAM Louisiana Purchase	Ships 1 Covered Wagon; Town Center build limit +1; existing and new Town Centers spawn 6 Bisons; costs 750 coin
TEAM Alaska Purchase	Ships 6 Polar Bears; Town Centers spawn 1 Silver Prospector Wagon; costs 2,500 coin
Plymouth Settlers	Ships 1 Native Scout and 300 food; all existing Town Centers spawn 3 Pilgrims
Culpeper Minutemen	Levy/Conscription global cooldown -50%; Minutemen hit point degeneration rate -50%; all existing Town Centers spawn 6 Minutemen
California Gold Rush	Ships 1 Gold Prospector Wagon; Town Centers spawn Settlers automatically every 38 seconds instead of training them
Connecticut Shipwrights	Artillery train time -25%, buildings' build time -35%, and ships' train time -50%

• "Plymouth Settlers" is available upon selecting the Massachusetts Federal State.
• "Culpeper Minutemen" is available upon selecting the Virginia Federal State.
• "California Gold Rush" is available upon selecting the California Federal State.
• "Connecticut Shipwrights" is available upon selecting the Connecticut Federal State.

Changelog

Age of Empires III

• Town Centers cost 600 wood, give 120 XP when built and 240 XP when destroyed.
• Settlers cannot build Town Centers.

Definitive Edition

• Town Centers cost 500 wood and give 200 XP when destroyed.
• Settlers can now build Town Centers.
• With update 9476, Town Centers give 100 XP when built.

The African Royals

• With update 38254, Town Centers give 50 XP when built and 100 XP when destroyed.

Trivia

• Despite having no access to gunpowder, the Aztec Town Center defends itself with gunfire against land units and cannon fire against ships. This was not corrected in the Definitive Edition, where the same also occurs with the Inca Town Center.
• The Town Center is also able to garrison Fishing Boats, only if it is close to shore. This is due to the fact that the Fishing Boats have the villager tag (AbstractVillager in the game files), which allows them to be garrisoned by the Town Center as well as the Settlers/Villagers.

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 European Town Center in the Exploration Age

An in-game Southern Town Center in the Industrial/Imperial Age in the Definitive Edition

An in-game Northern European Town Center in the Industrial/Imperial Age

An in-game Chinese/Japanese Town Center in the Exploration Age in the Definitive Edition

An in-game Chinese Town Center in the Commerce/Fortress Age in the Definitive Edition

Unused Japanese Town Center portrait

An in-game Japanese Town Center in the Commerce/Fortress Age in the Definitive Edition

An in-game Japanese Town Center in the Industrial/Imperial Age in the Definitive Edition

An in-game Inca Town Center in the Exploration Age

An in-game Aztec Town Center in the Exploration Age in the Definitive Edition

An in-game Aztec Town Center in the Commerce/Fortress Age in the Definitive Edition

An in-game African Town Center in the Exploration Age

An in-game Ethiopian Town Center in the Commerce/Fortress Age

An in-game Ethiopian Town Center in the Industrial/Imperial Age