Treasure Guardian

“Defeat this guardian to collect its Treasure.”

—In-game description

Treasure Guardians are special units in Age of Empires III that watch over Treasures on a map.

A guardian is anything that is guarding a Treasure. It is not hostile to anyone, until it is attacked, however once it is attacked, all the Guardians on its Treasure will attack whichever unit first attacked it. If the player damages a guardian and walks away, the guardian can instantly heal itself to full health, so the player cannot damage a Guardian and come back to finish it off later in an easier battle. The least the player can do is to reduce the number of Guardians (if there are several by killing one, preferably with the Sharpshooter ability), then retreat. Since the number of Guardians has been reduced, the Treasure will be easier to collect later on. However, the player must keep in mind that this tactic may also benefit other players who are collecting Treasures, including enemies, so unless the player is fully decided to collect a specific Treasure, this tactic should not be applied. All Treasure Guardians are incredibly fast with at least six speed. Guardians can range from polar bears (which can appear in the middle of the amazon), to Orca Whales on sea. The difficulty and number of Guardians per Treasure determines how great the reward of the Treasure is. Oftentimes there is more than one Guardian, making attacking with just the Explorer difficult.

General information Edit

Treasure Guardians are infantry, cavalry, or naval units that stand in a map guarding Treasures of wood, food, coin, experience, free units, unit improvements (hit points, attack, cost reduction, train time reduction), or special bonuses for the explorer, such as increased hit points - although these bonuses only affect the explorer in that game. In The Asian Dynasties maps, other types of Treasure have been added, like for example, a food discount on all costs. The Treasure Guardians have to be killed in order to claim Treasures. In the early stages of the game some Treasure Guardians can prove a challenge to defeat and should not be taken care of by civilian units, as high losses will result. Renegade units, rather than creatures, are much tougher to defeat and should be dispatched with military force, or by use of the Explorer's abilities. Most Treasure Guardians are usually wild animals or renegade men, both of which are from the Mother Nature faction. Some of the Treasure Guardians are superficially similar to mercenaries available to hire through the Saloon.

Treasure Guardians are their own class of unit and do not inflict or receive counter bonuses when fighting normal military units. Explorers, War Chiefs, Monks, and tame animals all have attack bonuses against Treasure Guardians. In addition, Explorers can use their Sharpshooter ability to kill a single Guardian; War Chiefs can convert a single Guardian to fight for them; and Monks can stun a single Guardian for a few seconds. With these abilities, explorer upgrade cards, and any tame animals the player finds, trains, or ships, even the best guarded Treasures can be gathered more quickly.

Tactics Edit

To defeat Treasure Guardians the Explorer alone can't take on in a direct fight, attack (preferably with the sharpshooter ability), then turn to run. The Treasure Guardians will pursue the attacker for some time, then return to the Treasure. As soon as they turn, attack them. They will react confused, allowing the Explorer to get several free shots in, increasing his odds in the following fight. This tactic will need a lot of the players undivided attention, but it will allow him to grab more valuable Treasures early in the game

If the has some more fighting units at hand, it is advised to attack with the Explorer and then run away in circles. The guardians will pursue the Explorer, allowing the support units to kill them without retaliation. Using the Explorer has the advantage that any damage inflicted by the guardians will auto-regenerate, but it is possible to use fast unit with weak attack as well, allowing the explorer to fight.

List of Guardians Edit

There are many types of Treasure Guardians:

Animals Edit

Land animals Edit

• Alligator
• Black Bear
• Black Panther
• Cougar
• Coyote
• Grizzly Bear
• Jaguar
• Lion
• Lion-Tailed Macaque
• Monitor Lizard
• Orangutan
• Panda
• Polar Bear
• Rhinoceros
• Snow Leopard
• Snow Monkey
• Tibetan Macaque
• Tiger
• White Tiger
• Wolf

Marine animals Edit

• Great White Shark
• Orca

Infantry Edit

• Blind Monk
• Buccaneer Captain
• Delinquent Thuggee
• Fugitive Dacoit
• Masterless Samurai
• Outlaw Blowgunner
• Outlaw Musketeer
• Outlaw Pistolero
• Outlaw Rifleman
• Pirate
• Smuggler

Cavalry Edit

• Mongol Rider
• Outlaw Rider

Naval Edit

• Bandit Catamaran
• Marauding Junk