This article is about the building in Age of Empires III. For the building in other games of the series, see Town Center. |
ā | Most important building in a colony. Home City arrival point. Supports 10 population. | ā |
—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*
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 | ā | ||
Filibuster** | 90 coin | 3 | |||
Barbary Warrior** | 100 food | 1 | |||
Californio** | 120 food | ||||
Karelian Jaeger** | 100 wood | 99 | |||
Cruzob Infantry** | 80 food 30 coin |
ā | |||
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 | |
AĆÆr 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 MĆ©xico 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 NicolƔs | 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 NicolƔs" is available upon selecting the MichoacƔn 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[]
ā | 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. | ā |