Zacatecas is an Industrial Age Federal State in Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, available to the Mexicans. As soon as the player advances to the Industrial Age by choosing Zacatecas, four Chinacos appear at the Home City shipment point and the following Home City Cards will be added into the Mexican player's deck:
- Purple: Shipment that can be sent an INFINITE number of times
| Card | Description | Age |
|---|---|---|
 Zacatecas Rebellion
| Delivers 3 Insurgentes for each shipment sent so far this game, including this one |  |
 Zacatecas Silver
| Delivers 3 Silver Prospector Wagons, villager gather work rate for mine +40% the first time sent; delivers 1 Silver Prospector Wagon thereafter | |
Strategy[]
If the player prefers melee units, Zacatecas may be the option for the Mexicans. Zacatecas allows for an army composition of Chinacos and Insurgentes. Zacatecas ships 4 Chinacos, which makes this federal state a good option if the player has a cavalry based-deck. If the player chose Querétaro in the Commerce Age and used Arteaga Reforms before aging up to Zacatecas, they will get 8 Chinacos instead.
Zacatecas offers the player the Zacatecas Rebellion, which may enable for a massive Insurgentes army. It is recommended that the player already shipped 7 Home City Cards in order to have a substantial amount of Insurgentes. This unit is excellent as cannon fodder, so it is also recommended to use it in order to increase the death unit count for the player for later researching Día de Muertos at the Cathedral.
Queretaro, Michoacán, and Durango are the most synergic with Zacatecas. For Durango, this is because Zacatecas and Durango may allow an Outlaw- and Mercenary-strategy, as Durango provides Cerro de Mercado that turns wood into coin, while Zacatecas provides Zacatecas silver, which is an infinite prospector Wagon shipment, so the player may accumulate coin to invest it in Mercenaries or Outlaws.
The best Fortress Age federal state options if the player picks Zacatecas are Sonora, San Luis Potosí, and Coahuila. Coahuila enables the Land of Zaragoza Federal card, in which Inspiring Flags further increase the work rate of military buildings by 25%. This may help for a spam of Insurgentes, Chinacos, or (if the player picked Durango in the Commerce Age) Outlaws and mercenaries. San Luis Potosí ships 500 coin (Useful for an outlaw or mercenary strategy) and offers San Luis Patriots, which enables a massive army of Chinacos if enough shipments have been sent. The Sonora federal cards allow the player to accumulate food fast, which can be invested in Insurgentes, enabling for an Insurgetes mass attack.
The best follow-up federal states for Zacatecas are Oaxaca, Estado de México, and Puebla. These three federal states have a shipment that helps all cavalry and infantry units in some form. For revolutions, Texas and Californa are about equally good picks. For Texas, the Insurgentes from Zacatecas Rebellion will become Volunteers. For California, Californios pairs well with Chinacos, as both units are cavalry.
Zacatecas may also be a good pick if playing on a team, as the silver mines allowed by Zacatecas Silver can be shared with team mates.
Recommended shipments[]
- Machetes: Insurgentes get +15% attack and +5% speed.
- Reservistas: Insurgentes get a ranged attack with a musket; Insurgentes train time -20%.
- Presidial Lancers: Chinacos get +15% attack and the Lance Charge ability.
- Cavalry Combat: Cavalry get +15% hit points and attack.
- Caballeros: Lancers get +1 melee range and +1.0× multiplier against Infantry.
- Plan of Casa Mata: Turns all Dragoons into Chinacos; Melee cavalry get +5% speed.
- Plan of Ayutla: Turns all Insurgentes into Revolutionaries.
- Advanced Arsenal: The technologies there are useful for Chinacos, Insurgentes, outlaw and mercenary units.
- Advanced Saloon: Saloon build limit +2, supports 20 population, Military Wagons can build Saloons. Useful for a mercenary or outlaw strategy.
- Liberation March: Infantry and cavalry get +5% speed and -35% train time. Can be sent via the base deck or through the Texas or California revolutions.
- Seven Laws: All Mexican unique units and buildings' train/build bounty +50% as long as at least one of each had been trained at any point in the game.
- Charreada: Haciendas can automatically spawn Chinacos.
- TEAM Copper Canyon: Villagers gather from trees and mines 10% faster; Ships 1 Prospector Wagon.
- Ironmonger, Silversmith, Mexican Mint. The player may want to gather from mines faster with Zacatecas.
- Cantinas and Mexican Standoff: If the player wants to invest the coin from Zacatecas Silver on outlaws, these two shipments are very helpful.
- California Gold Rush (California): Ships 1 Gold Prospector Wagon; Town Centers automatically spawn a Settler every 40 seconds.
- Infinite 1 Gold Prospector Wagon (California): Ships 1 Gold Prospector Wagon. Gold Mines yields more coin than 2 Silver Mines, but 3 Silver Mines are better than one Gold Mine, so if the player picks Zacatecas and then revolts with California, they may pick Zacatecas Silvers just one time (3 silver prospector wagons) and then they should prefer the Gold prospector wagons from California.
- Lancers of California (California): Imperial Charros enabled and free.
- Texas Army (Texas): The Imperial Volunteers upgrades is free, but takes 4 times as long to be researched.
- Cerro de Mercado (Durango): Exchanges all wood for 1.5× the coin; Gives 350 coin. Useful for an outlaw or mercenary strategy.
- Arteaga Reforms (Querétaro): The next Federal State ships twice as many units/resources; The next unit upgrade at the Barracks is free.
- Colegio de San Nicolás (Michoacán): Ships 500 XP; Units and buildings get +8 Line of Sight; Sees what enemies can see for 20 seconds.
- Land of Juarez (Oaxaca): Inspiring Flags' AOE and Line of Sight increased to 70, and increases the attack of units and buildings by 15%
- Zapotec Valley (Oaxaca): Zapotec Cult of the Dead available at Native Embassy. That benefits the Insurgentes.
- National Servant (Estado de México): All units gain +10% hit points.
- Cinco de Mayo (Puebla): Forts increase the hit points and attack of friendly infantry and cavalry in an AOE of 26 around them by 25%
- San Luis Patriots (San Luis Potosí): Ships 1 Chinaco for every Home City shipment before this one; Chinaco train time -10%
- Land of Zaragoza (Coahuila): The General's Inspiring Flag ability cooldown reduced to 4 seconds; Inspiring Flags further increase the work rate of military buildings by 25%.
Changelog[]
Knights of the Mediterranean[]
- Originally, Zacatecas Silver ships 2 Silver Wagons after the first time it is sent. With update 13.58326, it ships 1.
