Factory

Factory
Building information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Building Economic Military
Civilization	Europeans Federal Americans Chinese
Age	Fortress Age (United States) Industrial Age
Use	Generates 5.5 food, 5.5 wood, or 5.5 coin every second, or automatically trains Heavy Cannon (Rocket for the British, Papal Bombard for the Italians, Great Bombard for the Ottomans)
Construction
Wood	200
Coin	400
Build time	30 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	5,000
Line of Sight	12
XP build bounty	0
XP bounty	240
Notes
Built by Factory Wagon

“	Generates resources or artillery automatically. Configure it to produce different things. Can only be sent from the Home City.	”
—In-game description

The Factory is an economic/military building in Age of Empires III that can only be built by Factory Wagons which can only be shipped from the Home City in the Industrial Age (Fortress Age for the United States). It generates 5.5 food, 5.5 wood, or 5.5 coin (7.15 with their respective improvements) per second depending on the configuration, or automatically trains a Heavy Cannon (Rocket for the British, Papal Bombard for the Italians, Great Bombard for the Ottomans) at no cost. The Factory also provides technologies to improve their resource gather rates and artillery train time, as well as the Imperial upgrade for Heavy Cannons/Rockets/Papal Bombards/Great Bombards.

Tactics

Factories are best placed in a well-guarded position, because they cannot be rebuilt when destroyed.

Consider the opportunity cost of shipping a Factory as opposed to shipping crates directly. If the civilization has 1,600 crates available for the resource being produced, the Factory will be profitable after about 5 minutes. If the factory is used for less time, crates would be more effective. Likewise, as a rough guide, the upgrades would be worth it if that resource is planned to be made for 3 minutes or more. Consider reallocating Settlers to avoid this if necessary.

Technologies

Age	Technology	Cost	Effect
	Cannery	250 wood 250 coin	Factories generate +30% food
	Water Power	250 food 250 coin	Factories generate +30% wood
	Steam Power	250 food 250 wood	Factories generate +30% coin
	Mass Production	300 food 300 coin	Heavy Cannon/Rocket/Great Bombard/Papal Bombard train time -25%
	Imperial Cannon/Imperial Rocket/Imperial Great Bombard/Imperial Papal Bombard	1,500 wood 1,500 coin	Heavy Cannon/Rocket/Great Bombard/Papal Bombard get +50% hit points and attack

Civilization differences

• In The Asian Dynasties, the Chinese can build one (and only one) Factory by allying with the Russians at the Consulate, which provides the Factory Wagon that ships the namesake unit capable of building a Factory.
  • The Indians in the Act III: India campaign can also build a single Factory in the same way as the Chinese in random map games.
• In the Definitive Edition, the United States can ship one Factory in the Fortress Age by aging up with New Hampshire, but can not research the technologies nor train Heavy Cannons until they reach the Industrial Age.
  • In addition, they are limited to having two Factories, despite having three Home City Cards that can ship a Factory Wagon.
• Revolting to South Africa as the British or the Dutch, and revolting to California as the Mexicans, allows them to ship and build up to three Factories, being the only civilization(s) to do so.

Further statistics

Building strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Nothing
Weak vs.	Everything
Improvements
Hit points	State Constitutions (+25%; United States only) Flying Buttress (+20%) Byzantine Legacy (+15%)
Line of Sight	Gas Lighting (+4)
Build time	Cree Textile Craftsmanship (-25%)
Resource generation	Cannery (+30% food) Water Power (+30% wood) Steam Power (+30% coin)
Other	Factory Wagon (ships 1 Factory Wagon; Chinese only) Victorian Era (ships 1 Factory Wagon)

Home City Cards

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Factory

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

• Definitive Edition
• The Asian Dynasties

All

Card	Description	Age
Monumental Architecture	Buildings get +30% hit points; Town Centers get +35% attack
Improved Buildings	Buildings get +40% hit points (also +4 Uhlans for the Germans)
TEAM Improved Buildings	Buildings get +25% hit points
Factory	Ships 1 Factory Wagon (also +4 Uhlans for the Germans)
Robber Barons	Ships 1 Factory Wagon (also +4 Uhlans for the Germans)
Industrial Revolution	Ships 1 Factory Wagon
Chipotle Tactics	Ships 500 food; receive food when an enemy or own building is destroyed equal to 20% ~ 40% of its total cost

• "Monumental Architecture" is available to the Inca, and also Portuguese and Spanish upon revolting to Peru.
• "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.
• "Factory" is available to Europeans (except Italians), Mexicans, Revolutionary France, and Rio Grande.
• "Robber Barons" is available to Baja California, Europeans (except the Maltese, Russians, Spanish, and Swedes), Revolutionary France, South Africa, and Uited States (upon reaching the Industrial Age).
• "Industrial Revolution" is available to the Russians, South Africa, Spanish, Swedes, and United States (upon reaching the Industrial Age).
• "Chipotle Tactics" is available to the Mexicans and Spanish (upon revolting to Mexico).

Asians

Card	Description	Age
Land Reforms	Villagers and rickshaws build buildings 50% faster; buildings grant +100% build bounty (also +1 Hindu Villager for the Indians)

Ethiopians

Card	Description	Age
Gondarine Architecture	Buildings get +25% hit points; Town Centers and Palaces get +50% hit points; Walls and Mountain Monasteries get +100% hit points

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 17 Minutemen when a Factory is destroyed.

Haudenosaunee

Card	Description	Age
Wampum	Training units and constructing buildings grants +35% XP; unit train time -20%, siege unit and artillery train time -5% instead

Indians

Card	Description	Age
Mughal Architecture	Buildings' cost -20% wood and build time -30%; Wonders' build time -16% instead; +1 Hindu Villager

Lakota

Card	Description	Age
Camp Movements	Ships 2 War Hut Travois; building 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
Squires	Military buildings train and research work 80% faster, except Forts which train and research work 260% faster

Mexicans

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Mariachi	For the next 30 seconds, military buildings work 400% faster and units get +10% speed
Porfiriato	Ships 1 Factory Wagon; Factories get +100% hit points and are repaired for free; Cannery, Water Power, Steam Power, Mass Production and Imperial Cannon upgrades are free; costs 500 food, 500 wood
Colegio de San Nicolás	Ships 500 XP; units get +4 and buildings (except Walls) get +8 Line of Sight; sees what enemies can see for 20 seconds
Talavera Architecture	Buildings get +30% hit points, -30% build time, and grant coin upon being built instead of XP
California Robber Barons	Ships 1 Factory Wagon; Factory build limit +1
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 Nicolás" is available upon selecting the Michoacán Federal State.
• "Talavera Architecture" is available upon selecting the Puebla Federal State.
• "California Robber Barons" is available upon revolting to California.
• "Maya Architecture" is available upon revolting to the Maya.

United States

Card	Description	Age
New Hampshire Manufacturing	Ships 1 Factory Wagon; Factory can not train Heavy Cannons until the Industrial Age; costs 250 food, 250 wood
Vermont Coppers	Estate upgrades are free and research instantly; all coin gather 5% faster
Connecticut Shipwrights	Ship train time -50%; building build time -35%; artillery train time -15%, Heavy Cannon train time -10% instead

• "New Hampshire Manufacturing" is available upon selecting the New Hampshire Federal State.
• "Vermont Coppers" is available upon selecting the Vermont Federal State.
• "Connecticut Shipwrights" is available upon selecting the Connecticut Federal State.

All

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Improved Buildings	Buildings get +40% hit points		10

Chinese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Land Reforms	Villagers and rickshaws build buildings 50% faster; buildings grant +100% build bounty		10

Europeans

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Factory	Ships 1 Factory Wagon (also +4 Uhlans for the Germans)		1
Robber Barons	Ships 1 Factory Wagon (also +4 Uhlans for the Germans)		10
Industrial Revolution	Ships 1 Factory Wagon		10

• "Robber Barons" is not available to the Russians and Spanish.
• "Industrial Revolution" is available to the Russians (at Home City level 25) and Spanish.

Indians

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Improved Buildings	Buildings get +25% hit points		10

Changelog

The Asian Dynasties

• The Factory built by the Chinese by allying with the Russians at the Consulate use the Southern European architecture set and cannot research the Imperial Cannon upgrade.

Definitive Edition

• The Factory built by the Chinese by allying with the Russians at the Consulate now use the Northern European architecture set and can research the Imperial Cannon upgrade.

History

“

A factory is a large building that produces goods on a large scale and is usually associated with machinery, division of labor, and workers who are paid a wage. The first known factory was the Venice Arsenal, which began mass-producing ships in 1104. Factories came into common use in the eighteenth century and as the Industrial Revolution gathered steam, so to speak, factories cropped up in urban areas all over the western world.

”

Gallery

An in-game Western European Factory