Artillery (Age of Empires III)

This article is about the unit type in Age of Empires III. For the technology in Age of Empires II, see Artillery (Age of Empires II).

Artillery is first introduced in Age of Empires III, replacing units built from the Siege Workshop used in Age of Empires and Age of Empires II. Artillery is built from the Artillery Foundry, and is first available in the Colonial Age. They can also be shipped from a player's Home City or via the Consulate.

Artillery is an effective heavy weapon against enemy infantry because of its power and splash damage. The use of artillery can change the flow of battle, letting a player win an otherwise lost battle. It is also very useful at destroying buildings. Artillery is best countered with hand cavalry or other artillery. Some civilizations have their own unique artillery pieces such as the Rocket for the British and the Great Bombard for the Ottomans.

Cannons have modes for moving and firing (Bombard mode). Switching modes takes a few seconds. They will automatically switch to the appropriate mode if commanded to attack or to move more than a short distance.

Note: SiegeTrooper units will also have their training time reduced by cards such as Fencing School or Riding school due to their classification as Infantry or Cavalry. This same classification as infantry allows them to be easily slaughtered by Lancers, Jat Lancers and true artillery (with exception to Culverins), or, for the ones classified as cavalry, heavy infantry.

Types of Artillery

There are several types of artillery, each with different purposes and characteristics. Some are used to bombard buildings at long range, some are used to counter Infantry while others are designed to counter other Artillery Units. Some civilizations are capable of augmenting the durability or attack power of their artillery through the use of aura effects, these civilizations are the Spanish (Unction card, lvl 40 home city required) and the Japanese (Shogun/daimyo auras).

Basic

Grenadiers: Footmen who throw grenades, causing moderate damage to infantry and buildings. Good for making early attacks on enemy bases. Grenadiers are not Artillery, they are Heavy Infantry/Infantry. As such, they are not affected by damage multipliers against actual Artillery but are vulnerable to units with bonuses against Infantry or Heavy Infantry (like Artillery, such as the Falconet, with exception to the Culverin).
Falconets: Light cannons good against infantry but weaker against buildings. Cannot be made by Portuguese (go to unique).
Culverins: Long range cannons with light munitions. Good against other artillery and ships but weak against everything else.
Mortars: Long range cannons with a high arc. Devastating against buildings and ships but incapable of attacking anything else.
Heavy Cannon: Powerful cannons available through shipments and factories. Demolishes buildings and infantry. Cannot be trained by Ottomans or British (go to unique).
Horse Artillery: Expensive but fast cannon.

Unique

Rocket: British unique unit. Fires a large rocket which is effective against buildings and infantry. Replaces Heavy Cannon.
Great Bombard: Ottoman unique unit. Massive cannon with a strong attack. Replaces heavy cannon.
Abus Gun: Ottoman unique unit. A heavy personal firearm mounted on a stand. Fills the same role as Skirmishers, it is not considered Artillery. It is considered Infantry/RangedInfantry/GunpowderTrooper for purposes of multipliers against it in combat or its own upgrades from Ottoman buildings and cards. It is listed here only because it is trained from an Artillery Foundry, etc.
Organ Gun: Portuguese unique unit. A row of small cannons which fire all at once. Replaces the Falconet.

Native American (The WarChiefs)

Mantlet: Iroquois unit. A portable shield resistant to building attacks, however it is not considered Artillery but rather RangedInfantry/SiegeTrooper/Infantry it will not be affected by damage multipliers versus true artillery (such as Culverins).
Ram: Iroquois unit. A very simple short range siege weapon, however it is not considered Artillery. It is SiegeTrooper/Infantry/HandSiege and will not be affected by multipliers versus true Artillery (such as Culverins).
Light Cannon: Iroquois cannon. Mixture of Falconet and Culverin

Asian (The Asian Dynasties)

Flamethrower: Chinese unit. Blasts forth a jet of flame, dealing gradual but rapid damage over a short range. Best against infantry. It is not Artillery, it is Infantry/SiegeTrooper/RangedInfantry and will thus ignore any multipliers versus true artillery yet be slaughtered wholeheartedly by Lancers and other units with high multipliers versus infantry.
Hand Mortar: Chinese unit. Small cheap cannon with a long range. Good against other artillery.
Flying Crow: Chinese unit. Heavy artillery created for free at the Confucian Academy wonder.
Siege Elephant: Indian unit. Expensive but powerful elephant-mounted cannon.
Flail Elephant: Indian unit. It is an Elephant with high hit points and a high siege damage but is ineffective against units.Flail Elephant is not Artillery, it is SiegeUnit/HandCavalry/HeavyCavalry/Cavalry/SiegeTrooper and will thus ignore any multipliers versus true artillery.
Flaming Arrow: Japanese unit. Same role as the falconet but cheaper and weaker.
Morutaru: Japanese unit. Same role as the mortar but cheaper, weaker and faster.

Minor Natives

Huron Mantlet: Just that. A Mantlet from your Huron allies. Same as the other Mantlet listed above except it also has NativeWarrior making it vulnerable to Spies and Ninja, it is not true artillery nor will bonus multipliers versus artillery affect it.

Mercenaries

Li'l Bombard: Mercenary cannon sometimes available at the Saloon or Monastery. Costs 1200 coin and 8 population, but has enough bombard power to sometimes make it worth the expense. Is the replacement of the Great Cannon seen in Age of Empires III.
Arsonist: Indian mercenary grenadier. Like all other grenadier type units it is not considered true Artillery, it is instead SiegeTrooper/Infantry/HeavyInfantry and not subject to damage multipliers versus Artillery.

Other

Hoop Thrower: Knights of St. John unit. Like the Grenadier above these units are not artillery, they are considered Heavy Infantry/SiegeTrooper/Infantry/RangedInfantry. They are listed here because they are trained at the Artillery Foundry and only possess a single specific upgrade. This upgrade called High Crusade can only be acquired by the Knights of St. John through use of the Royal Decree to Claim the New World card and subsequent Church upgrade. Hoop Throwers can only be found in the game's campaign "Blood".
Fixed Gun: An immobile cannon with a powerful attack and great range found twice only in the storyline campaign. It eliminates large groups of nearby enemies as long as a player moves their troops in to capture it. If your troops are not in the immediate area, and the enemy is, the Fixed Gun will be captured. Fires extremely slow. Most effective against grouped units.
Mediocre Bombard: A Cheat unit with unusual munitions.
Gatling Gun: Machine gun, similar to the organ gun.
Great Cannon: Powerful cannon. It is found in the campaign Act II: Ice, used by the Russians. The replacement for the Great Cannon in the The WarChiefs expansion is the Li'l Bombard.