Game Description
Players begin with a constructed town center or a wagon, an explorer
and a modest number of settlers. Players explore the map and begin
gathering resources used to build additional units and buildings and to
research upgrades or technologies. Actions such as training units,
constructing buildings, killing enemy units etc., earn the player
experience points. At certain experience point thresholds, players earn
shipment cards that may be turned in for shipments from the players Home
City, which can include units, an upgrade, or resources. The game
progresses similar to most real-time strategy
games until one side resigns or is eliminated. Elimination occurs when
all of a player's villagers and explorer have been destroyed, regardless
of remaining buildings and/or military units.
A player-designed Imperial Age town, sitting safely behind several defensive walls (see miniature map, lower left corner). Includes a smog-producing factory (center).
In Age of Empires III, the player advances through
technological "Ages", representing historical time periods; these
provide access to greater improvements, units, and buildings. They
include the Discovery Age,
which represents the discovery and exploration of the Americas by
Europeans and allows the player to explore and develop their economy;
the Colonial Age, which represents the European Expansion into the "New World" and unlocks early military units; the Fortress Age,
which represents the fortification of the European colonies, unlocks
forts, and allows the player to have a more complete military; the Industrial Age,
which triggers a strong economy, due in part to factories—advanced
buildings that automatically produce resources or artillery—and unlocks
all units and shipments; and the Imperial Age,
which unlocks all buildings and upgrades, and allows you to send unit
and resource shipments a second time. All Ages cost food and coin to
advance to, except the Colonial Age, which only costs food(800). The
price of age advancement is incremental, but does not vary between
civilizations.
Game Screen-Shots
