Banner army

Banner armies are a mechanic in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties that is unique to the Chinese. They are pre-determined combinations of around five troops, each designed to be manufactured en masse for a large army.

There are 13 banner armies; six can be trained at the War Academy and automatically spawned by the Summer Palace wonder, two can be trained at the Castle, and five can be shipped from the Home City.

Banner armies are an advantage for those without the time or skill to micromanage production, or those who plan to fight a certain type of engagement. However, the average cost of a banner army is high (except if trained at Summer Palace, which trains at no cost), since they often incorporate cavalry or artillery — this, and the fixed minimum of four soldiers at a time banner armies impose, can make it difficult to scramble troops quickly. The closest thing to a banner army possessed by any other civilization are the allied forces from the Consulate available to all three Asian civilizations.

Banner armies' training time can be decreased with the Shogunate, "Banner School", "Acupuncture", and "Bakufu" Home City Cards.

Native technologies that affect unit costs and training time also work similarly with banner armies, with a slight adjustment.

Effects of technologies listed below:

• Reducing both cavalry and infantry training time: Full efficiency with all banner armies (ex: Quechuan Diet)
• Reducing cavalry cost and training time: Full efficiency with cavalry-only banner armies (ex: Cheyenne Horse Trading)
• Reducing infantry cost and training time: Full efficiency with infantry-only banner armies (ex: Akan Fontomfrom)
• Reducing cavalry (or infantry) training time: Half efficiency with cavalry-infantry mixed banner armies
• Reducing unit cost: Only reducing resource cost based on specific units' base cost (ex: Somali Oryx Hide Shields)

War Academy/Blockhouse/Fort/Fuchuan

Age	Army	Cost	Time	Pop.	Consists of
	Old Han Army	255 food 180 wood	27 seconds	6	3 Chu Ko Nus 3 Qiang Pikemen
	Standard Army	255 food 170 coin		5	3 Chu Ko Nus 2 Steppe Riders
	Ming Army	345 food 120 wood			2 Qiang Pikemen 3 Keshiks
	Territorial Army	285 food 255 coin	29 seconds	6	3 Changdao Swordsmen 3 Arquebusiers
	Forbidden Army	480 food 360 coin		8	2 Iron Flails 2 Meteor Hammers
	Imperial Army	480 food 255 coin		7	3 Arquebusiers 2 Iron Flails

Castle

Age	Army	Cost	Time	Pop.	Consists of
	Mongolian Army	230 food 170 coin	29 seconds	4	2 Keshiks 2 Steppe Riders
	Black Flag Army	380 food 360 coin	73 seconds	8	4 Changdao Swordsmen 2 Meteor Hammers

Summer Palace

Age	Army	Time	Pop.	Consists of
	Old Han Army	153 seconds	6	3 Chu Ko Nus 3 Qiang Pikemen
	Standard Army	151 seconds	5	3 Chu Ko Nus 2 Steppe Riders
	Ming Army	158 seconds		2 Qiang Pikemen 3 Keshiks
	Mongolian Army	144 seconds	4	2 Keshiks 2 Steppe Riders
	Territorial Army	195 seconds	6	3 Changdao Swordsmen 3 Arquebusiers
	Forbidden Army	294 seconds	8	2 Iron Flails 2 Meteor Hammers
	Imperial Army	255 seconds	7	3 Arquebusiers 2 Iron Flails
	Black Flag Army		8	4 Changdao Swordsmen 2 Meteor Hammers

Dojo

Age	Army	Cost	Time	Pop.	Consists of
	Yumi Army	600 food 600 wood	134 seconds	5	5 Yumi Archers
	Ashigaru Army	800 food 400 coin	148 seconds		5 Ashigaru Musketeers
	Samurai Army	500 food 500 coin	154 seconds	6	3 Samurai
	Naginata Rider Army	625 food 625 coin			3 Naginata Riders
	Yabusame Archer Army	250 wood 750 coin	170 seconds		3 Yabusame

Consulate

All Consulate armies are also banner armies

Town Center

Available upon revolting to Brazil

Age	Army	Time	Pop.	Consists of
	Voluntario da Patria	146 seconds	9	9 Voluntarios da Patria

Fort

Available for the United States with the "Texan Forts" Home City Card

Age	Army	Time	Pop.	Consists of
	State Militia	84 seconds	5	5 State Militia
	Regulars	95 seconds		5 Regulars
	Sharpshooters	84 seconds	4	4 Sharpshooters
	Hussars	109 seconds	6	3 Hussars
	Carbine Cavalry	87 seconds		3 Carbine Cavalry
	Gatling Guns	127 seconds	8	2 Gatling Guns
	Legion Dragoons	98 seconds	6	3 Legion Dragoons
	Prussian Uhlans	82 seconds		3 Prussian Uhlans
	Magyar Hussars	109 seconds		2 Magyar Hussars
	Legion Grenadiers	98 seconds		3 Legion Grenadiers

Further statistics

Improvements
Train time	Cheyenne Horse Trading (-40% Forbidden Army and Mongolian Army; -20% Standard Army, Black Flag Army, Ming Army, and Imperial Army) (Dojo armies' spawn time -20%) Akan Fontomfrom (-20% Old Han Army and Territorial Army; -10% Standard Army, Black Flag Army, Ming Army, and Imperial Army) Quechuan Diet (-15% War Academy and Castle banner armies) Immigrants (-10%; -5% spawn time) New Mexico Immigration (-5% spawn time; United States only)
Cost	Somali Oryx Hide Shields (-10% food cost Black Flag Army and Territorial Army; -10% wood cost Old Han Army and Ming Army) Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost Territorial Army and Imperial Army) Golden Liberty (-5% coin cost Territorial Army and Imperial Army)

Home City Cards

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to banner armies

Some cards are highlighted with:
Green	TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team
Blue	Shipment that arrives fast (5 seconds)

Chinese

Card	Description	Age
Old Han Reforms	Chu Ko Nus, Qiang Pikemen, Keshiks, and Steppe Riders get +50% hit points and attack; Old Han Army, Standard Army, Ming Army, and Mongolian Army cost +25%
Acupuncture	All units' (except monks) train time -20%; Summer Palace banner army, Heavy Cannon, and Flying Crow train time -5% instead
Banner School	Banner army train time -30%; Summer Palace banner army train time -7% instead

French

Card	Description	Age
TEAM House of Bonaparte	Skirmishers, Cassadores, Forest Prowlers, Wakina Rifles, Sharpshooters, Neftenyas, Imperial Army, and Territorial Army can be trained in the Commerce Age; Bersaglieri can be trained in the Fortress Age; Longbowman, Strelet, Otontin Slinger, Gurkha, Yumi Archer, Jungle Bowman, Leather Cannon, Desert Archer, and Jaeger train time -20%

Indians

Card	Description	Age
Foreign Trading Companies	Gives a trickle of 0.75 export/sec.; banner army cost -15% export; Indian units cost +2.5% (Hindu Villagers, Fishing Boats, and Sacred Cows cost +5% instead); +1 Hindu Villager

Japanese

Card	Description	Age
Bakufu	Daimyo and Shogun Tokugawa get +5% speed, +10 Line of Sight and train units 15% faster; land military unit train time -20%, artillery and banner army train time -10% instead

Mexicans

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Mariachi	For the next 30 seconds, military buildings work 400% faster and units get +10% speed

Portuguese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM House of Aviz	Dragoons, Ruyters, Cavalry Archers, Rifle Riders, Musket Riders, Yabusame, and Carbine Cavalry can be trained in the Commerce Age; Zamburak, Eagle Runner Knight, Bolas Warrior, Black Rider, and Ming Army train time -15%; Mongolian Army train time -7%

Spanish

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Hidalgos	Pikeman, Crossbowmen, Aenna, Cetan Bow, Longbowman, Otontin Slinger, Yumi Archer, and Pavisier train time -40%; Old Han Army train time -30%; Jungle Bowman, Plumed Spearman, Fulani Archer, Desert Archer, Puma Spearman, Insurgente, Standard Army, and Ming Army train time -15%

United States

Card	Description	Age
Washington's Legion	[Legion] Ships 16 Legion Grenadiers with +2 Line of Sight, Grenade Launchers and Incendiary Grenades; Legion Grenadiers can be trained at Forts; costs 1,000 food, 1,000 wood
Armand's Legion	[Legion] Ships 10 Legion Dagoons; Legion Dragoons can be trained at Forts; costs 500 food, 500 wood
Kovat's Legion	[Legion] Ships 9 Magyar Hussars; Magyar Hussars can be trained at Forts; costs 1,000 food, 1,000 wood
Pulaski's Legion	[Legion] Ships 12 Prussian Uhlans; Prussian Uhlans can be trained at Forts; costs 500 food, 500 wood
Indiana Mobilization	Ships 1 Carbine Cavalry for each shipment sent so far this game including this one; unit train time (except Heavy Cannons), technology research time, and age-up time -10%; costs 250 food, 250 wood

• "Indiana Mobilization" is available upon selecting the Indiana Federal State.