Part 2

Unlock the secrets of Age of Empires III Part 2! Discover efficient building strategies, unit tactics, hero usage, and Home City advancements to dominate your enemies.

Part 2 of the Age of Empires III guide focuses on advanced strategies and mechanics that can significantly ease your gameplay and lead to victory.

Fantastic buildings, such as factories, are a great way to generate free resources quickly. If you have two factories, you can amass wealth rapidly, making the game much easier. They can also be set to continuously produce free artillery units, though you must monitor your population limit.

In Act III, you'll notice that building a house grants an extra peasant. While initially seeming like an annoyance, this is a more cost-effective way to produce peasants. Houses cost 150 wood (compared to the usual 100 for a peasant), but the included peasant means you spend only 50 wood per new peasant, rather than 100 food. This also saves you from wasting food on building settlers from the town center.

Building repairs have been streamlined. Instead of assigning peasants, you simply wait until a building is not under attack and no enemies are nearby, then click the Repair icon. The cost to complete the repair is displayed, which is an improvement over the old system of keeping idle peasants on standby.

Walls repair similarly. To build gates, click on a section of built wall and select the Gate icon. Enemy units cannot pass through your gates, even when open.

Trading posts are a valuable addition. Those built in Native American villages allow you to train Native units and acquire unique upgrades. Posts built on trading routes generate food, wood, gold, or experience when a vehicle reaches the station. Trading posts are permanent but can be captured by you or your enemy.

Set unit production building rally points near your town center or outpost towers. If a barracks is under attack, newly produced units can act as decoys, drawing enemies towards defensive structures.

Utilize your defense buildings effectively, especially when attacking. Instead of engaging in open fields, lure the enemy to your fortified base where you have a significant advantage, saving units and resources.

Units:

It's generally best to specialize in a few unit types rather than building a massive, diverse army. Musketeers, grenadiers, and dragoons, supported by falconets and mortars, are a strong combination. Upgrading every unit type is costly and often unnecessary. Two mortars and two falconets can often destroy a base on their own.

Falconets are considered the best units in the game, excelling at destroying both enemy units and buildings when fully upgraded. Grenadiers and falconets together can overwhelm opponents. Heavy cannons are also effective due to their range outside of defensive structures, but they are less common than falconets.

Units, including artillery, are repaired by priests. Ships are repaired by sending them to a dock and keeping them stationary until their health is restored.

Some ships can build and store units, eliminating the need for ferries and protecting new units from immediate danger.

Enable Advanced Formations and Enable Easy Drag Military in the Options menu. Advanced Formations allow units to adopt combat stances, while Easy Drag simplifies selecting combat units and Heroes when using a large group selection.

Heroes:

Heroes cannot die but can be disabled if their health is depleted. They remain incapacitated until a friendly unit approaches them. Heroes can act as decoys, drawing enemy fire while your main army attacks without casualties.

Heroes possess unique attacks and abilities that can turn the tide of battle, especially in escort missions.

Home City:

Cards can be chosen from five areas in your Home City via tabs in the upper left of the lower window. The more experience you gain, the faster your Home City advances and the more cards become available. Completing secondary objectives, exploring maps, and collecting treasure items increase experience. Destroying more enemy buildings and units than required also boosts your score.

While the game emphasizes choosing cards that suit your playstyle and civilization, many cards are self-explanatory and beneficial regardless of specific choices.