Age 3: part 3

In Age of Empires 3 you gather resources in your virtual world. There are dozens of possible locations that a random game can be played on. The most popular is The Great Plains, due to the large open spaces for building, good natives to ally with and hoards of buffalo to hunt. The detailed geography of each map was well done. You can play anywhere in the New World and Orient from Indochina to New England to California to the Patagonia to the Yukon. Each map has certain characteristics that might help or hinder your preferred strategy. You really have to adapt to be successful.

At the beginning of each game you start with a Town Center, a New World Explorer and some colonists who collect resources. You also start with a small amount of supplies in crates. The amount of stuff you have and number of villagers varies for each civilization. Usually it is around 5-7 villagers and maybe 500-1000 in total resources.

Food: Gathered by hunting, foraging for berries, fishing and farming. Livestock such as cattle and sheep can also provide food. Food is needed to train most units and is essential to your colonies survial.

Wood: Gathered slower than other resources, is need to build structures and upgrade units. It is also important for training units like Crossbowmen and Pikemen. It is collected by chopping trees.

Coin: Gathered from mines and from plantations. The more wealth you have the more improved your army and colony grows. It is also integral for bribing foreign mercenaries to fight in your battles.

XP: Experience is gathered through building and fighting. The more XP you get the more influence your Home City- the base of which your settlement receives aid- can provide to your new colony. They might be able to send additional villagers, shipments of resources or military troops and improvements. Sometimes a well timed home city shipment could mean the survival of your colony.

All resources and XP can be gained at Trade Posts. Trade posts are sturctures that you must build at pre-determined locations on a map. Some maps have several posts, others have very few or none. Trade posts are also built at native villages to provide military aid or other helpful aids. All resources can be generated at Factories later in the game. Factories are available from a home city shipment once your colony advances to the Industrial Age.