History VideoGame / AgeOfEmpiresIII

The game has a [[Characters/AgeOfEmpiresIII character sheet]].

* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: Only in the vanilla game[[note]]as the ''Definitive Edition'' removed the need to grind for cards[[/note]], the Campaign has a cap of 44 cards from the Home City. Without cheating, it is extremely difficult to unlock all the cards.

* AIBreaker: The AI has no problems with basic tasks, such as gathering resources or training humongous numbers of troops, especially on higher difficulties, but struggles a lot when they require either some creativity or... well, basic thinking. Utilising livestock, protecting villagers, building walls and effectively breaking through enemy walls, as well as successful naval assaults — are all far beyond usual computer personalities' capabilities. Not to mention that they are extremely vulnerable to certain tricks, which even beginners don't hesitate to abuse: whenever an AI settler placing down a building is harassed, its constructions are immediately „cancelled”, as in self-destroyed, by the non-human player, who also seem to pay plenty of attention to demolishing every [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0wfyzuGndY single wall pillar]] of their opponent, regardless of its (non-) importance. Remember the creativity part from above? Don't expect the AI to innovate any new attacking strategies, patterns or usually even paths on the spot, which in turn makes for extremely-straightforward fighting off land.

* AnachronismStew:
** Given how [[TechnologyLevels Ages]] work, this is inevitable.

** The first campaign, ''Blood'', begins with "the Ottoman attack on Malta", presumably the great Ottoman siege of 1565 (although the game never gives a year or references any people or locations involved in the 1565 siege, besides Malta as a whole). Right after, Morgan travels to the New World where he helps an Aztec village fend off a Spanish assault. And it isn't a HiddenElfVillage situation, because the local chief tells the player to hold until a relief army arrives from Tenochtitlan — which fell to the Spanish in 1521. Furthermore, the Knights of St. John received Malta as a fief from Charles I of Spain in 1530, nine years after the conquest of the Aztecs. Then after a brief stop in Havana, Morgan and Lizzie land in Florida, which is heavily fortified by the Spanish (first Spanish settlement was in 1565 and first fort in 1566), and capture the Spanish Treasure Fleet (also established in 1566).
** The next campaign, ''Ice'', disregards all plausibility by having [[WritersCannotDoMath Morgan's fourth son Stuart and grandson John]] living in North America during the Seven Years War (1756-1763). They don't even look old. [[spoiler:The only possible explanation is that Morgan drank from the FountainOfYouth, but then, why would its effects be a mystery to his great-great-granddaughter, Amelia?]] While still in the Seven Years War, John enlists the help of miners handling dynamite sticks (patented 1867), and uses barrels very clearly labeled "TNT" (1863) and a PlungerDetonator (1878) to cause an avalanche.
** The beginning of ''Steel'', set five years after Nathaniel's death, is firmly backdated to 1817 by ''Fire'' stating that he died in 1812. However, Amelia is in charge of a railroad company that is building railways for the US government in what appears to be Texas, with plans to expand all over the West Coast, and at one point they have to defend a fort from the Mexican Army (which is played by Spanish fielding swordsmen and armored lancers and still waving the colonial Cross of Burgundy flag, unlike how Amelia's company flies the American flag despite being based on the British faction). Mexico became independent in 1821, the first locomotive in the US arrived in 1830, Texas joined the Union in 1846, the US took the West Coast in 1849, and no railroads were built west of the Mississippi before 1850. Amelia's railroad builders also throw dynamite.
** It gets even worse in ''The [=WarChiefs=]'', where in addition to the Aztecs being incomprehensibly [[AscendedExtra elevated to playable faction]], the second act campaign (''Shadow'') goes about twenty years after the vanilla's game timeframe, to the Sioux/Lakota-American wars, yet still throws in pikemen, musketeers and hussars at the Battle of Little Bighorn. In another scenario, the main characters must defend the Black Hills from a Spanish mining company made of horse lancers and swordsmen in 16th century armor, and still waving the Cross of Burgundy flag.

** Some campaign maps have a cap on [[LevelGrinding the amount of experience you can gather]], such as "Respect" (the sixth mission in ''Ice'', where Kanyenke and John try to gain the favor of the Lakota Tribe Chiefs). Other campaign missions, by way of being {{timed mission}}s, don't let the player level up a lot, such as the first and sixth mission of ''Blood'' ("Breakout" and "A Pirate's Help") and the first and seventh mission of ''Ice'' ("Defend the Colony" and "Warwick's Stronghold").
** ''Definitive Edition'' removed the need to grind for cards, making the entire deck accessible to the player, but with only 25 cards active at a time, a decision that had a ''huge'' impact in the core gameplay itself. In addition, several civs got new cards that give them new techs and armies.
* AnyoneCanDie: Armies aside, a fair amount of main and supporting characters bite the dust across the campaigns. The countdown includes [[spoiler:Francisco Delgado and Alain Magnan]] in ''Blood''; [[spoiler:Stuart Black, John Black, and Warwick]] in ''Ice''; [[spoiler:Major Cooper and Pierre Beaumont]] in ''Steel''; [[spoiler:Sven Kuechler]] in ''Fire''; [[spoiler:William Holme and George Armstrong Custer]] in ''Shadow''; [[spoiler:Daimyoes Mototada and Ishida (among many others)]] in ''Japan''; [[spoiler:Admiral Jinhai]] in ''China''; and [[spoiler:Colonel Edwardson]] in ''India'', [[spoiler:and one can assume that the Leaders of the Resistance also die, because historically, that war of independence failed]]. That's not counting the characters who died of old age in the decades that pass between acts. [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in the game itself, where the vast majority of the heroes don't die upon losing all of their hit-points, but are critically wounded, temporarily disabled, and can be recovered after some time.

** Mercenaries only relevant to the Old World like Swiss Pikemen, Black Riders, Landsknetchs, and arguably the entire Ottoman civilization, are harbingers from early development when the game was also supposed to feature European maps rather than only American.

* AscendedExtra: The Aztecs, the Sioux and the Iroquois were just native tribes in the original game. They were made playable in ''The [=WarChiefs=]'' and both acts of its campaign focus on the Iroquois (''Fire'') and Sioux (''Shadow'').

* AuthorAppeal[=/=]CreatorThumbprint: One of the chief developers is an Aztec fanboy. This is basically why the Aztecs were upgraded to playable faction in the first expansion rather than the Inca, as most fans had expected.
** In the first campaign, the Aztecs are the only ones who know the location of the Fountain of Youth, despite it being in Florida [[TwiceToldTale as per the myth]] and not Mexico, and you join them against the Spanish. Both Morgan and Alain show their dislike for the Spanish conquistadors and their actions, in spite of the fact that the two are members of a crusading order (that at the time of the game, was ''a vassal of the Spanish King'').

* BadassLongcoat: The shotgun-carrying Renegados, and in the campaign, Nathaniel, Chayton and Holme. The technology "Great Coat" increases your Settlers's hit points, regardless of climate and the fact that their clothing doesn't change.

* BearsAreBadNews: Black, Grizzly and Polar bears are the strongest wild animals in the original game, and will kick the ass of your explorer, once he has used his OneHitKill on one of them, if they are in groups. In ''Asian Dynasties'', even the pandas cannot be trusted.

** All factions can train cougars (the four-legged kind) if they research "Jungle Animal Lore" at a Tupi trading post.

** The Indians have a war elephant type for almost every task.
** In the Ice campaign, there is a Homecity upgrade that allows (young) Kanyenke to create pet wolves.
** In the Campaign, the Circle has a thing for guardian white wolves and jaguars [[spoiler:and Beaumont kills Cooper by siccing a pair of wolves on him.]]
* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy:
** Anything dealing with the very existence of the Circle of Ossus:
*** The main reason for the Great Siege of Malta, as seen in ''Blood'', was so the Ottoman Turks could get info on the Circle of Ossus, the Fountain of Youth, and the New World.
*** The UsefulNotes/SevenYearsWar in ''Ice'' was [[spoiler: an attempt by the Circle of Ossus to obtain the Fountain of Youth by using the Russian Czar to conquer the Americas for them while the Western colonial powers were distracted and weakened from killing each other]].
** The Ming Chinese in the ''China'' campaign [[spoiler: landed in the Americas and fought a secret war amongst themselves before erasing almost all traces of their presence]].
** And then, there are more "mundane" things like Turkish outposts in South America, the knocking off of an entire Spanish Treasure Fleet, the course of the UsefulNotes/SevenYearsWar and Custer's Last Stand, and how many historical characters or organizations get involved in the plot.
* {{BFG}}: The Monitor, the Ottoman Great Bombard, the mercenary Lil' Bombard and the Royal Cannon. Guaranteed to ruin ''someone's'' day when they start firing. Ottoman [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abus_gun Abus guns]] are portable cannons and the only infantry to deal siege-type damage.

* BigDamnHeroes:
** In "Breakout", from ''Blood'', Alain Magnan comes with his cavalry to drive the Ottoman forces from Malta.
** In "Temple of the Aztecs", also from ''Blood'', the Aztec forces come to kick the Spanish out from their lands.
** In "Defend the Colony", from ''Ice'', John's Mercenaries come to defend the colony after the time is out.

* BlingOfWar: Your units will wear increasingly colorful armor/uniforms as you upgrade them. Also a case where InformedEquipment is averted.
** Indian have unique unit called mansabdar which increase the damage of nearby respective unit (mansabdar urumi for urumi swordsman for example). Since they need to be close while still separable, they usually have more shiny (''gold'' shiny) uniform.

* {{Bowdlerize}}: In ''Definitive Edition'' the Colonial Age is now known as the Commerce Age and many instances of the word "Colony" are replaced. This was done in the wake of the George Floyd riots and the destruction of statues honoring colonial figures, as the era has come to be associated with both slavery and Native American exploitation and genocide.
* BravingTheBlizzard:
** ''Steel'' has the mission "Journey Through The Andes". After Amelia and Kanyenke helped UsefulNotes/SimonBolivar defeat the Spanish army, Bolivar helps Amelia by lending some soldiers to her. In the next level, they have to cross the Andes mountains until they reach Pacamayo. Problem is, there's a hailstorm on the area, and if they stay too much time on the cold, they start losing hitpoints and eventually die.
** ''Fire'' has the "Valley Forge" mission, where the Revolutionary army settles on Valley Forge during the winter after suffering defeats on Brandywine and Germantown. Problem is, the area is under a hailstorm, and the initial Colonial Militia units (as well as Nathaniel and General Washington themselves) cannot stray far from the camp for too long or they die. That is, until they gather enough food and build enough huts to survive the winter. The worst of the winter subsides after that.

** One specific example from the campaigns: in the Saratoga mission of ''Fire'', Nathaniel Black mentions advancing to the Fortress Age.

* CaptainObvious: At the very beginning of the first campaign, "Blood", a crossbowman tells the protagonist, Morgan Black that the Ottomans have landed... as Morgan was looking over a cliff watching hundreds of them, including Sahin, laying siege to the fort!
* {{Chickification}}: In "Ice", Nonahkee is [[GuysSmashGirlsShoot an archer]] with [[WhiteMagicianGirl healing abilities]] who accompanies John to the Great Lakes despite his opposition because "she does what she wants to". She also appears to be the leader of her tribe, at least while Kanyenke is away. In "Fire", she's a NeutralFemale that Nathaniel and Kanyenke must rescue from the Hessians holding her prisoner.

* CompositeCharacter: Sven Kuechler takes the place of several Hessian commanders in the American Revolutionary War, appearing in a commanding position in Trenton, Saratoga and Morristown.

* TheConstant: The Moon shape of the lake remains when Amelia visits it 250 years later, but now it's been drained and become a muddy swamp. [[spoiler:The giant fixed gun is still in the same spot and can be made operative again.]]

* CripplingOverspecialization: Present due to rock-paper-scissors nature of unit balance, but mostly [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]].
** However, there are some unit types with low base attack damage but high multipliers against certain troops, meaning that the former are pretty rubbish against anything but the latter. Most notable examples include:
*** Spies: well, they kill single explorers, war chiefs and heroes, and they are strong against mercenaries. And that's pretty much it... They do get a small bonus against natives, though!
*** Culverins: nearly useless against anything other than ships or other artillery.
*** Ranged ("light") infantry — skirmishers, crossbowmen, archers and alike: with excellent ranged damage against infantry and light cavalry, but weak to anything else and with terrible melee combat.
** [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] with certain units that are deemed overpowered by the players. Those are supposed to counter or be countered by others, but are not due to their sheer strength or other deciding factors. They serve as the counter system breakers — ''game changers''.
*** Cuirassiers: loved by many, hated by just as much. Judgement depends on whether you play as France or not. With all their upgrades stacked, they simply crush anything they touch, even heavy infantry or light cavalry.
*** Ashigaru: right, they still die to skirmishers and cannons, as long as they're "outranged"... The thing is, after some improvements are done, they don't take too ''long'', to say the least, to catch up due to their movement speed, which is enormous for an infantry unit. Has it already been mentioned they can deal with walls with ease, too?
*** Genitours — the Portuguese royal guard dragoons: having sent the eponymous home-city shipment, the player gets a light cavalry unit with 20 range — which is as much as most skirmishers have. It gives them a crucial edge in combat with the only unit type that stands a chance of effectively winning against them. Oh, and the former are almost twice as fast as the latter, which means they can swiftly retreat from any engagement they might have otherwise lost or catch their opponents off guard with flexible positioning, flanking, trapping and raiding. Plus, they're one of the best tools to use against Cuirassiers and Ashigaru. Talk about an all-round horseman!

* DecompositeCharacter: In II the Pikeman upgrades into the Halberdier. In III the Pikeman and Halberdier are two separate units.
* DefeatMeansFriendship:
** After Morgan and the other Knights of St. John defeat Lizzie's pirate group in ''Blood'', Lizzie becomes an ally of them after meeting again.Morgan and Lizzie supposedly end up having children.
** The British army John and Kanyenke defeat in the fourth level of ''Ice''. But there's also another British army which subverts this: the one led by [[spoiler:Warwick, a member of the Circle, who is also a renegade from the British army]].
** The Chinese explorer is a Shaolin master who can convert defeated enemy units into disciples.
* DesperationAttack: If you've unlocked it in the XP ladder, you can unleash either one or (after you unlocked another) two waves of "minutemen", which have middling HP and decent ranged attack, their main advantage being the [[ZergRush massive and sudden]] (you can train dozens in seconds) onrush of soldiers. The two waves can each only be used once, and their current health uniquely starts lowering immediately after they are trained, meaning that these units are only supposed to be used as an emergency last line of defense.
** You can, however, train both waves close together [[ConfusionFu and with no warning]], and since their main strength is [[ZergRush massive numbers,]] you can defeat a decent sized enemy force even with low HP.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: At the end of the ''Steel'' campaign, Amelia finally defeats the Circle of Ossus for good and gets the money to empower her company. As revealed in ''Shadow'', she later lived in a loving marriage with a Sioux man.

* EdutainmentGame: The first purpose of the game is entertainment, but there's plenty of historical information available, with the multiplayer interface having a sidebar displaying various historical facts. Other examples include:
** The first few missions of ''Blood'' happen during the Siege of Malta.
** The fourth mission of ''Ice'' has the player fighting, at one point, in the UsefulNotes/SevenYearsWar for the French.
** ''Fire'' takes place during UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution.

** ''Shadow'' takes place amidst the backdrop of Custer's Last Stand.

** In ''Ice'', there's the mission "Respect", where you need to rack up 10.000 XP before the lakota warchiefs fall. One of the sub-missions is to escort a lost indian girl to safety on her village. Another sub-mission requires you to escort a [[MightyGlacier beefy and slow-as-a-snail]] Buffalo to a tribe.
** In ''Shadow'', in "The Bozeman Trail", after building the Trading Post, you need to escort two town center carts to safety in order to kickstart your civ and be able to fend off the Sioux.
** In ''India'', in the mission "Raid in Delhi", your objective is to free Bahadur Shah and gide him to safety. Technically Bahadur is immortal as an unit, but he losing his HP means that the campaign part is failed.

* FadeToWhite: In the final cutscene of "Ice" after the explosives are detonated and the mountain falls on the Russians, there's a brief moment of such, symbolizing death in snow.

* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** After being attacked by Warwick in "Ice", Nonahkee's Iroquois ally with the French, who are fighting the British in the UsefulNotes/SevenYearsWar. John tells her that she "should not trust the French". The French are never a problem in "Ice"... but one of the missions in "Steel" is named "Never trust a French prospector", [[spoiler:and the BigBad of the campaign is of French extraction]].
** "Ice" ends with the birth of John's son and Amelia's father, Nathaniel Black, a PosthumousCharacter who was "a patriot, not a businessman", and who wasted the fortune given to the Blacks by the British government for John's actions. In the expansion's campaign "Fire", you discover that Nathaniel wasted that family fortune helping build the Continental Army and fighting against the British in the UsefulNotes/AmericanRevolution.
** Holme keeps making crude remarks about the Sioux and his love for gold since the beginning of "Shadows" [[spoiler:which telegraphs the betrayal of the truce and his upgrade to BigBad.]]
* FrenchJerk: Magnan, Beaumont, Napoleon.

* FromCamouflageToCriminal: [[spoiler:Billy Holme]] is an UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar veteran who fought at Antietam and Gettysburg.

* GameplayAllyImmortality: Campaign heroes, explorers, Warchiefs, and monks getting [=KOed=] do not end in a GameOver.

* GenreShift: To a degree; the introduction of storylines revolving around the FountainOfYouth and the AncientConspiracy pursuing it is a pretty noteworthy one for a series whose campaigns had previously been focused upon the relatively accurate retelling of actual historical events, though those show up as well.

* GeoEffects: Some missions in the campaigns (such as a mission in Los Andes in ''Steel'' after helping Bolivar, or Valley Forge in ''Fire'' after Saratoga) have the cold depleting your units' health.
%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* GondorCallsForAid: In the first mission of ''Blood'', the Knights of St. John are near defeat when the bombards show, so they send some settlers to light a signal fire to call for reinforcements from Alain.

* GratuitousEnglish: The British speak [[{{Simlish}} some sort of mangled Middle English]].
* GratuitousForeignLanguage: And everyone else? The Chinese speak modern Mandarin despite being modelled after the Qing dynasty. The Settlers and Villagers, when ordered to work, state their soon-to-be occupation. Ensemble play this trope like we play ''Age of Empires''.
* GratuitousNinja: Ninja are available as mercenaries in the first expansion. The Japanese can also train them normally by choosing "Japanese Isolationist" in the Consulate.
* GuideDangIt: Fun fact - most ranged attacks from infantry attack at half the speed of melee attacks. Notably, that means musketeers will generally do more damage if attacking in melee rather than ranged. Unfortunately, this isn't written anywhere in the game, even with the advanced stats option on, forcing players to rely on fan-made databases and wikis for such information.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: John and Kanyenke in "Ice". [[spoiler:It continues long after [[TragicBromance John's death]] with Kanyenke helping raise his son and granddaughter, although in fairness, those are also his nephew and grandniece.]]
* HiddenElfVillage: Pacasmayo, the last city of the Inca in "Steel".

* HoldTheLine: Several missions in the singleplayer campaigns: the ones which end after the line is held are "Breakout" in ''Blood'', "Defend The Colony" in ''Ice'' and "Breed's Hill" in ''Fire''; the ones where it doesn't, and you have to defeat the enemy to win, are "Temples of the Aztec" in ''Blood'' and "Hold the fort" in ''Steel''.
* HollywoodHistory: "Sahin understood that the Ottomans, like the Knights, were a relic of the past." At the time the campaign is set in, whether in the 16th or 17th century, the Ottomans were at the peak of their power.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Amelia accepts a job offer from Beaumont, who has been a complete creep since they met, and also to go alone in a dark mine in Colorado with him.

* HostileWeather:
** In "Journey Through the Andes" from ''Steel'', after Amelia and Kanyenke help Bolívar against the Spanish, Bolívar tells them to be careful in the mountains while sending them some guides to Pacamayo. The stage consists in arriving to Pacamayo before the Circle does, but there is too much cold, so Amelia, Kanyenke and company must take refuge in fireplaces.
** In "Valley Forge" from ''Fire'', the militians as well as Nathaniel and Washington need to revisit the fireplaces in order to recover HP. The militians also need to build houses to resist the winter. That is temporary, though, as once the houses are built the cold stops affecting the units.
* ImmortalitySeeker: The Circle of Ossus is devoted to finding the Fountain of Youth in ''Blood'', whose water is said to give eternal life to those who drink it. This plot was revisited in ''Steel''. [[spoiler:Morgan]] has found that the "Immortality" granted by the Fountain of Youth is [[spoiler:no myth]], as we find out in the closing cutscene of ''III''.

* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: After escaping death and punishment throughout the campaigns, almost every BigBad in the game eats the dust: [[spoiler:Alain Magnan, Kuechler, the renegade Daimyoes and Jinhai]] do so in-game, while [[spoiler:Warwick, Beaumont, Holme and Edwardson]] do so in those campaign's final cutscene.

* LightningBruiser: French Cuirassiers, Spanish Lancers, Sioux Dog Soldiers, and mercenary Elmeti and Hackapells are all fast cavalry capable of both absorbing and dishing out absurd amounts of damage.
** In the Infantry side we have Spanish rodeleros. Downplayed in Indians Urumi Swordsman (somewhat quick MightyGlacier).
* MagicalNativeAmerican: Native American factions have rituals as alternatives to technologies and can improve their units, buildings and economy greatly by just having a lot of villagers staging a particular dance. ''Definitive Edition'' heavily tones down this portrayal, replacing the Fire Pit with the Community Plaza and removing the War Chief's "Nature Friendship" ability in favor of the less mystical "Recruit Guardian".
* {{Mayincatec}}: Aztec, Maya, Inca (and in ''The [=WarChiefs=]'', Zapotec) villages all have the same type of buildings. As the Aztecs get upgraded to playable faction in the expansion, however, they get unique and more accurate architecture.

** In "Temples of the Aztec", the Aztec relief army contains Inca bolas warriors. Most likely standing in for Aztec slingers, which weren't introduced until ''The [=WarChiefs=]''.
** Conversely, Aztecs appear as an alliable tribe in Venezuela in "Bolívar's Revolt", and Aztec Jaguar and Eagle Warriors are part of the Inca army in "Last City of the Inca."
* MercenaryUnits: The game has this as a game mechanic. Every time players level up in a match, they can play a card, half of which send small armies to the Town Center[[note]]The other half are powerful tech upgrades[[/note]]. Some of these armies are composed of mercenary units which cannot be created in any other building in the civilization's tech tree.

* MightyGlacier:
** Indian Elephants. Slower and take more population than most horse cavalry. The strongest melee and ranged cavalry (mahout lancer and howdah respectively) are elephants.
** The Fort is one of the most powerful defensive buildings in the game, boasting high attack power from its cannons and high hitpoints. It also has the ability to train infantry and cavalry units. Its weaknesses are its slow rate of fire, making it vulnerable to large armies attacking it all at once, and units that outrange its cannons (e.g. Mortars, Monitors). It should also be noted that the Fort Wagon, contrary to the Fort it builds, is [[MadeOfPlasticine incredibly flimsy]] and can't defend itself. Even a small group of light infantry can take it down quickly.

*** And yet this is an exception, because the ''Asian Dynasties'' maps are extremely reluctant to use animals from the vanilla version, likely because they were made by other studio. Thus we have Siberian and Mongolian maps with misplaced saigas, lions and monkeys, even though elk, moose, bears and wolves would make more sense.

* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: Warwick [[spoiler:defects from the British army and]] attacks a colony guarded by the Black family company and kidnaps Stuart Black. When John investigates, he finds that [[spoiler: the Circle has enlisted the help of the Russian Empire to conquer North America for them.]]

* MythologyGag: Regarding ''VideoGame/AgeOfMythology'':
** The Armor of [[VideoGame/AgeOfMythology Arkantos]] increases hero and explorer hitpoints when claimed.
** The lost daughter of the Sioux/Lakota chief in "Ice" is implausibly named Greta, like the lost daughter of the Norse chief in ''Age of Mythology'', Greta Forkbeard. She has the same icon except with brown hair instead of blonde.

* NavalBlockade: This is one of the high-level abilities where you can block off a player's regular shipments from their home city. Of course by the time you have that ability it isn't really needed, but still.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: By going after the Black Family, Warwick ensures the failure of his [[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot master plan]] [[spoiler:and his own death.]]

** Nathaniel Black is one to historical American Revolutionary officer Nathanael Greene (wink), from Warwick, Rhode Island (wink, wink). He leaves his family and community due to their pro-neutrality stance, forms a militia, joins the revolutionaries in Boston, becomes Washington's right hand man, fights in the New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia campaigns, and becomes a celebrated revolutionary hero, but dies young not long after the war.

** Like George Custer, Ryan Cooper is a blonde, mustached American cavalry commander in the Old West [[spoiler:and the scene of his death is titled "Cooper's Stand."]]

** Kanyenke accompanies Amelia in her own adventure even though he must be over 85. His bow shooting and axe hitting remain unaffected.

* NotTheIntendedUse:
** Besides the examples in DesperationAttack, there is one in the campaign mission "Crossing the Delaware". The game expects you to play a hit and run game, dodging Hessian patrols and British towers while taking out the tents one by one. However, the patrols are made entirely of Grenadiers, who have a pitiful melee attack. If you have advanced formations activated, you can set your Colonial Militia to melee, bayonet the Grenadiers, and then take out all the tents at once while being (mostly) undisturbed.
** The War Chief's taming ability can be used to turn human guardians, not just animals. If you avoid killing any outlaws, you may end with a decent-sized force of scimitar-wielding pirates and gun-toting bandits. This can be a little game changer if you are playing Sioux (very poor infantry) or Aztecs (no gunpowder and cavalry units, at all).
* OldFriend: Holme pretended Amelia before she was paired with an unnamed Sioux.

* PantheraAwesome: Played straight. The whole package of big cats appears with ''The Asian Dynasties'', jaguars, cougars, lions, tigers, white tigers, snow leopards and leopards, in the form of black panthers. They are all quite nasty to face, especially the ones available as trainable units.

* {{Pirate}}: Elizabet Ramsey from ''Blood'' leads a band of pirates in the Caribbean, who end up joining the player's side. Wokou (Japanese pirates) also show up in ''The Asian Dynasties''. ''The [=WarChiefs=]'' introduces a specialised building that can train mercenaries, amongst which the player can find pirates and corsairs.

* PrivateMilitaryContractors: John Black leads a company of them. The player can recruit powerful mercenaries from the Home City at the cost of gold and a shipment card. ''The [=WarChiefs=]'' allows them to be trained at a saloon at a higher cost per unit, with their availability dependent on the current map.
* PresidentEvil: The campaign character's superiors and employers - [[spoiler:Magnan, Warwick, Beaumont, Holme]] - tend to be revealed as evil in disguise and willing to betray the main characters. The exceptions are [[spoiler: Stuart, Cooper and the only example to actually become President, UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington]].
* ProtectionMission:
** In "Temples of the Aztec", from ''Blood'', the player must not let the enemy destroy the Aztec temples.
** In "The Rescue", from ''Ice'', the player must not let the enemy destroy the outpost and trade post in the Iroquois village.
** In "Respect", from ''Ice'', the player must win the scenario before the Lakota chiefs are killed.
** In "The Battle of Morristown", from ''Fire'', the player must not let the Hessian mercenaries destroy the capitol.

* [[SpeciesLoyalty Race Loyalty]]: [[spoiler:Chayton defects from the Americans and sides with the Sioux, the people of his father, despite his death when he was young and Chayton being raised by his American mother. In the process, he adopts Sioux war painting and clothing, retaining only his BadassLongcoat.]]

** ''The [=WarChiefs=]'' made a few Native American civilizations playable and therefore capable of going to war with European powers on their own, not just as allies of other Europeans (and by doing so introduced gameplays heavily based around Infantry - Aztecs - and Cavalry - Sioux - which had been a staple of previous games, but could not be featured on the more balanced European colonialists); brought the UsefulNotes/AmericanRevolution centerfold instead of hinting at but walking around it, and took out the fantasy element from the campaigns in favor of historical settings (the American Revolution, again, and the Sioux Wars).

* RPGElements: Earning experience points during a match allows the player to send shipments from the Home City. They also go towards leveling up the Home City, which unlocks a wider variety of shipment cards and various cosmetic upgrades for the city.

* SeriesMascot: The Musketeers are promoted everywhere, and they are the most common unit in the vanilla game. Justified as they're focused on the colonial times in North America.
* SettlingTheFrontier: Every skirmish/multiplayer game has your chosen civilizations establishing settlements in America/Asia (with some supplies shipped from their home cities). Of the campaigns, the first few missions of ''Steel'' and ''Shadow'' are the only ones that focus on this.
* ShaggyDogStory: "Ambushed!" in ''Shadow''. This is a long, rough, labyrinthine map crammed full of War Huts stationed around the cliffsides. The player needs to get powder wagons to clear paths through trees, which can halt your progress until you get them to the area. And after all of your work in getting up, the player is taken to a cutscene where [[spoiler:Sheriff Holme]] screws up the entire plan, thus making the whole trip pointless.
** A couple maps later, the US Army is on the move against the Lakota for the hostilities that have broken out between the Lakota and the American settlers, thanks largely in part to the above. Chayton convinces Colonel Custer to hold off for a day so he can go after the man responsible and bring him to justice. However, even after tracking him down, a standoff between the two men results in Chayton gunning him down in self-defense. Without [[spoiler:Sheriff Holme]] around to testify for his crimes, Custer resumes his march, leaving Chayton's efforts all for nothing.

** The cheat code "sooo good" causes a little WebAnimation/TeenGirlSquad-style message to appear whenever a unit is killed, such as "musketeer'd!" or "imperial howitzer'd!" All with a badass bugle sound included.

* ShownTheirWork: Similarly to ''VideoGame/AgeOfMythology'', the developers had done their research, but nonetheless discarded the results wherever necessary for gameplay.

* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Inverted. The first three Big Bads are technically equal in threat, since they all run the same organization, but there's still a big disconnect in their day jobs, which regress from [[spoiler:the Grandmaster of the Knights of St. John]] to [[spoiler: a lowly fur trapper]]. As for ''The [=WarChiefs=]'' expansion, the first Big Bad is some two-bit mercenary captain, and the second is [[spoiler: the Fort Laramie quartermaster]]. Makes you wonder where they get these huge armies to throw your way...

* TheStinger: It shows Amelia speaking with an old man about the Falcon Company getting their part of the share, even though they weren't the first. [[spoiler:Then the old man mentions that she broke the Circle, and in one lifetime. The old man is Morgan, who drunk from the water of the Fountain of Youth becoming a very old man]].

** The Native Villages are also placed on key points of the map and cannot be damaged. Allying with one of these Villages grants bonuses and new units to whichever faction allied with the Village.

** No matter what graphics level you have the game at, destroying weapons caches in the Campaign will cause them to blow up.

** In-universe, Simón Bolívar is the leader of a national army that teams opportunistically with the Falcon Company, and he is a powerful infantry unit with a pistol for ranged attacks and a sabre for hand to hand combat. He appears in the scenario following the last appearance of Cooper, who is basically the same in a different skin.

** Similarly to the German case, the Indians have a fictional flag (golden sun and lion over yellow field) that appears to be a combination of Mughal (sun and lion over green field, among others) and Maratha designs (plain pale orange field). ''Definitive Edition'' changed it to the green and gold Mughal war flag. Akbar's AI personality also names "the gods" several times, and the Indian civilization is [[MysticalIndia very clearly Hindu]], but the real Akbar was Muslim.
*** This campaign-only Hospitaller faction doesn't use the Hospitaller cross by the way, but a fictional one over an indigo background, and the units wear blue. This is presumably based on the black uniforms worn by the Hospitallers during the Crusades because the game doesn't have black as a faction color. However, the Hospitallers switched to red banners and uniforms in the late 13th century.

* TheBeastmaster: Explorers can get a canine companion to fight at their side. The Spanish Explorer can train more War Dogs. The Warchiefs can train animals and convert treasure guardians, so they often end up with a menagerie of wolves, jaguars and bears that follow them around and try to eat enemy soldiers.

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: [[spoiler:Holme]] attempts to shoot Chayton, [[FastestGunIntheWest who shoots him first]], then [[DisneyVillainDeath falls to his death]] along with [[MadeOfExplodium a few barrels of TNT]].

* TimedMission: The next-to-last mission of ''Ice'' requires you to destroy Warwick's Town Center in 15 minutes while stealing resource carts and having some settlers to collect these resources.

** The expansion's new mechanic ''Revolution'' turns your settlers into American Revolutionary-era "Colonial Militia" and allows you to ship Civil War-era Gatling Guns and ''CSS Virginia''-style ironclads, even if you don't choose Washington as a revolutionary leader. The result is the same even when choosing José Bonifácio, who fathered the much later and much less traumatic Brazilian independence.
* WhamLine: Right in TheStinger.
--> '''[[spoiler:Morgan]]:''' You broke [[AncientConspiracy the Circle]]... and in just one lifetime, too.

* YouAreTheTranslatedForeignWord:
** The Ottoman character "Sahin, the Falcon". Şahin is a Turkish name meaning falcon.
* YoungFutureFamousPeople: George Washington appears briefly as a British colonel in the Seven Years War. He returns in the expansion as the American general everyone knows.

** The civilizations introduced in ''The [=WarChiefs=]'' focus in this aspect (the Sioux, Iroquois, and Aztecs). However, the Aztecs pretty much thoroughly goes in rushing, as all their "big button" upgrades involve spawning a set amount of warriors, and their War Priests can dance in the Fire Pit with an improved dance unlike a typical Villager, so the production rate bonus is higher. Like the Spanish, they can also reduce the training time of their War hut units to zero using a combination of shipment cards.

** ''Definitive Edition'' removed the need to grind for cards, making the entire deck accessible to the player, but with only 25 cards active at a time, a decision that had a ''huge'' impact in the core gameplay itself. In addition, several civs got new cards that balance their .

* AnyoneCanDie: Armies aside, a fair amount of main and supporting characters bite the dust across the campaigns. The countdown includes [[spoiler:Francisco Delgado and Alain Magnan]] in ''Blood''; [[spoiler:Stuart Black, John Black, and Warwick]] in ''Ice''; [[spoiler:Major Cooper and Pierre Beaumont]] in ''Steel''; [[spoiler:Sven Kuechler]] in ''Fire''; [[spoiler:William Holme and George Armstrong Custer]] in ''Shadow''; [[spoiler:Daimyoes Mototada and Ishida (among many others)]] in ''Japan''; [[spoiler:Admiral Jinhai]] in ''China''; and [[spoiler:Colonel Edwardson]] in ''India'', [[spoiler:and one can assume that the Leaders of the Resistance also die, because historically, that war of independence failed]]. That's not counting the characters who died of old age in the decades that pass between acts. [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in the game itself, where the vast majority of the heroes don't die upon losing all of their hit-points, but are critically wounded, temporarily disabled, and can be recovered after some time.

** The requirement of grinding and the measures taken to prevent possible abuse of that are one of the most criticised features of ''Age of Empires III'', and the main target of complaints from the people not entirely familiarised with the product. Oftentimes it has been argued that in order to compete on an equal footing even with more-experienced players — something you'd expect from a classic RTS — beginners have to dedicate a lot of effort to get the essential cards unlocked, which in turn makes some serious grinding necessary. While the newly-implemented and highly-controversial Home City system has been praised by veteran players for adding the strategical depth that other franchises may lack, the general consensus is that it's indeed discouraging and unnecessary for newbies to struggle with getting all the XP needed, and should either not take place or be drastically shortened. As a result, many players simply altered the database so that they automatically unlock all the Home City shipments at the start of the game. By ''Definitive Edition'', all Home City shipments are unlocked with up to 25 allowed from start of the game, completely eliminating the need to grind anymore.

* AluminumChristmasTrees:
** The Knights of St. John actually did [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospitaller_colonization_of_the_Americas set up shop]] in the Caribbean!
** Egyptian Mamluk mercenaries in America? [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamelukes_of_the_Imperial_Guard Not as far-fetched]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_French_intervention_in_Mexico#Egyptian_Auxiliary_Corps_January_1863 as it sounds]].
** [[https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/118ims/in_1493_charles_mann_makes_a_brief_mention_of/?st=jc1bpi3e&sh=359529ea How about mercenary ronin/samurai?]] (still doesn't explain the ninja, besides [[InstantAwesomeJustAddNinja the obvious]]).
** At different points, different German states had colonies or attempted to settle colonies in South America and the Caribbean. And there is also the fact that the kings of Great Britain during the 18th century were also princes of Hannover, which explains the Hessian mercenaries in the American Revolution and the earliest wave of German immigrants to North America.
** Pacasmayo is a real city in Peru, although unlike the one in the game, it is a coastal one and was founded by the Spanish in 1775. The game's Pacasmayo is probably inspired by Vilcabamba, Machu Picchu and Paititi.
** Alright, the Ottomans only made one Great Bombard right after the end of the Middle Ages, and bombards fell out of fashion in Europe by 1600... but the Ottomans [[BreakOutTheMuseumPiece still used them]] as a desperate measure when the British attacked Constantinople in 1807. [[RockBeatsLaser And they won.]]
** Capybara in Caribbean maps. The only island with them in real life is Trinidad, which used to be connected to South America. However, nearly all islands in the Caribbean had some other kind of giant rodent when Europeans arrived, some of which were as large as dogs. And these were indeed hunted and eaten, [[EndangeredSpecies sometimes to extinction]].

** In addition, War Chiefs can turn any treasure guardian to their side, be it human or animal.

** The Warchiefs campaigns start and end with a member of the Black family fighting alongside a native tribe.

** Act III of the main game has the mission "Journey Through The Andes". After Amelia and Kanyenke helped UsefulNotes/SimonBolivar defeat the Spanish army, Bolivar helps Amelia by lending some soldiers to her. In the next level, they have to cross the Andes mountains until they reach Pacamayo. Problem is, there's a hailstorm on the area, and if they stay too much time on the cold, they start losing hitpoints and eventually die.
** Act I of ''[[ExpansionPack The Warchiefs]]'' has the "Valley Forge" mission, where the Revolutionary army settles on Valley Forge during the winter after suffering defeats on Brandywine and Germantown. Problem is, the area is under a hailstorm, and the initial Colonial Militia units (as well as Nathaniel and General Washington themselves) cannot stray far from the camp for too long or they die. That is, until they gather enough food and build enough huts to survive the winter. The worst of the winter subsides after that.

* CallThatAFormation: Generally averted, as the different formations available all have their uses in certain situations.

* CosmeticallyDifferentSides: Averted.
** The European civs, despite sharing some of the same architecture, troops, and overall aesthetic, each have their own distinct perks, unique units, and home city bonuses. These become even more pronounced in ''Definitive Edition''.
** By comparison, neither the Native American nor Asian civs in the original expansions have much in common with each other, other than very general motifs.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: At the end of the ''Steel'' campaign, Amelia finally defeats the Circle of Ossus for good and gets the money to empower her company. As revealed in ''Shadows'' in the ''The [=WarChiefs=]'' expansion, she later lives in a loving marriage with a Sioux man.

* FirewoodResources: Averted. Unlike the previous ''Age of Empires'' installments villagers don't need to carry the wood/food/gold to the nearest Town Center or specialized building. All resources go straight to the player's stockpile.

* GenerationalSaga: The campaigns of ''III'' and ''The Warchiefs'' tell the tale of the Black family.
* GenerationXerox: Nathaniel and his grandson Chayton, each protagonist of an act in the ''The War Chiefs'' campaign. Both are half Native, half Anglo-American (though with the halves reversed, and Chayton also has partial Iroquois ancestry in his mother's side), who desert their mother's side to join [[spoiler:their father's side in]] a war they consider just, altering their appearance until they get a hybrid look [[spoiler: and ruining the Black family's Falcon Company's finances in the process.]] Both also seem to be the CelibateHero type, with no children until after they finish their wars in their 40s, but this is the case of all Blacks except John.

* GratuitousEnglish: The British speak [[{{Simlish}} some sort of mangled Middle English]]. Averted, however, with American and some British hero units, which speak in Modern English.

* HitAndRunTactics: All ranged cavalry can fire on the move. Averted by the other ranged units, who must [[DoNotRunWithAGun stop to fire]].

** In one stage of the vanilla campaign, after Amelia and Kanyenke help Bolívar against the Spanish, Bolívar tells them to be careful in the mountains while sending them some guides to Pacamayo. The stage consists in arriving to Pacamayo before the Circle does, but there is too much cold, so Amelia, Kanyenke and company must take refuge in fireplaces.
** In the first act of ''The Warchiefs'' campaign, there is Valley Forge, where it is needed to revisit the fireplaces when needed and building houses to resist the winter. That is temporary, though,

* {{Mayincatec}}: Aztec, Maya, Inca (and in ''The Warchiefs'', Zapotec) villages all have the same type of buildings. As the Aztecs get upgraded to playable faction in the expansion, however, they get unique and more accurate architecture.

** In "Temples of the Aztec", the Aztec relief army contains Inca bolas warriors. Most likely standing in for Aztec slingers, which weren't introduced until ''The War Chiefs.''

** ''The Warchiefs'' introduced the Saloon building for the European civilizations, which allow them to hire mercenaries in exchange for gold.

* MythologyGag:
** The "Eye of Ornlu", a treasure that gives 200 EXP, is named after [[SavageWolves a certain wolf]] in ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII''.

** The Germans have a shipment card, "Teutonic Town Center", which improves the defensive capability of town centers. ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII'' players may recall a certain GameBreaker when they see the name.
** The Jesuit mission in ''The Asian Dynasties'' allows you to recruit Conquistadors identical to the ones in the previous game (mounted arquebusiers with ''Morrión'' and breastplate).
** The lost daughter of the Sioux chief in "Ice" is implausibly named Greta, like the lost daughter of the Norse chief in ''Age of Mythology'', Greta Forkbeard. She has the same icon except with brown hair instead of blonde.
** The Inca War Chief greatly resembles the Aztec ruler on the box art of ''Age of Empires II: The Conquerors.''

* {{Ninja}}: Available as mercenaries in ''The Warchiefs''. They serve mostly as assassins, dealing massive damage to {{Hero Unit}}s and other mercenaries.

* PandaingToTheAudience: Averted. Pandas serve as treasure guardians here and they're some of the toughest ones around.

* {{Pirate}}: Elizabet Ramsey from ''Blood'' leads a band of pirates in the Caribbean, who end up joining the player's side. Wokou (Japanese pirates) also show up in ''The Asian Dynasties''. ''The Warchiefs'' introduces a specialised building that can train mercenaries, amongst which the player can find pirates and corsairs.
* PrivateMilitaryContractors: John Black leads a company of them. The player can recruit powerful mercenaries from the Home City at the cost of gold and a shipment card. ''The Warchiefs'' allows them to be trained at a saloon at a higher cost per unit, with their availability dependent on the current map.

** ''The War Chiefs'' made a few Native American civilizations playable and therefore capable of going to war with European powers on their own, not just as allies of other Europeans (and by doing so introduced gameplays heavily based around Infantry - Aztecs - and Cavalry - Sioux - which had been a staple of previous games, but could not be featured on the more balanced European colonialists); brought the UsefulNotes/AmericanRevolution centerfold instead of hinting at but walking around it, and took out the fantasy element from the campaigns in favor of historical settings (the American Revolution, again, and the Sioux Wars).

* {{Ronin}}: Introduced in ''The War Chiefs'' as a powerful mercenary.

* SeparateButIdentical: [[RunningGag Once again]], averted: every civilization has its unique quirks, especially the ones introduced in the expansions. For example, the Indians use wood instead of food to train villagers, British houses spawn a bonus villager when built and cost more, and the Dutch use gold instead of food.
** This also applies to the Home Cities shipment cards. While some are identical across civilizations, (extra villagers, resources...) others are unique to that civilization.
** All European civilizations have more powerful but also more expensive unique upgrades for their "Guard" units that replace the generic third-tier upgrade. For example, the British have Redcoat Musketeers instead of Guard Musketeers and Lifeguard Hussars instead of Guard Hussars. Aesthetically they still look exactly the same however.

* ShootTheMedicFirst: Averted. Priests, missionaries and surgeons heal units automatically (at least if you're using the expansions), but the healing is done slowly and cannot be done while combat is going on. Heroes with the ability to heal can do so to anyone regardless of their movements, but the healing hero must wait two minutes to be able to heal again when he uses the skill.

* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Inverted. The first three Big Bads are technically equal in threat, since they all run the same organization, but there's still a big disconnect in their day jobs, which regress from [[spoiler:the Grandmaster of the Knights of St. John]] to [[spoiler: a lowly fur trapper]]. As for ''The Warchiefs'' expansion, the first Big Bad is some two-bit mercenary captain, and the second is [[spoiler: the Fort Laramie quartermaster]]. Makes you wonder where they get these huge armies to throw your way...
* SpeakingSimlish: Averted. Units speak in the language of their nation. An exception is made for certain Native units, such as scouts, generic warriors, and those belonging to tribes whose language is now forgotten. Played straight by the British units, who speak in a nonsensical pseudo-Elizabethan patois.
* SpiritualSuccessor: The game owes quite a good deal to ''VideoGame/AgeOfMythology.''

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: In the original game, you can build trade posts in Lakota, Iroquois and Aztec villages and get from them, respectively, native cavalry (Axe Rider, Dog Soldier), ranged infantry (Tomahawk) and siege (Mantlet), and infantry (Jaguar Warrior) and ranged infantry (Eagle Warrior) units. In the ''Warchiefs'' sequel, the Lakota (now renamed Sioux), Iroquois and Aztecs become playable factions, and their former place in the map is filled with the Cheyenne, Huron and Zapotec, who provide you with cavalry (Cheyenne Rider), siege (''Huron'' Mantlet) and infantry (Lightning Warrior) units.

*** Shock Infantry is a subtype that has existed since ''Warchiefs,'' but was formally codified in ''Definitive Edition,'' and includes "pseudo-cavalry" such as Coyote Runners meant to serve the same role as Hand Cavalry for civs without access to horses.

** It gets worse when you realize that the original game only had three South American maps (Amazonia, Pampas and Patagonia) and two native tribes, the Inca and the Tupi, with the Carib as a questionable third. Patagonia didn't have natives at all (and for that matter, still doesn't). After much criticism, ''The War Chiefs'' added three more South American maps (Orinoco, Andes and Araucania) and the glaringly absent [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arauco_War Mapuche]] as natives. Criticism was still garnered from the fact that the Inca remained a minor tribe in spite of building a far more powerful polity than the three additions and also being [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Inca_State longer-lived]] and arguably [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebellion_of_Tupac_Amaru_II more relevant]] to the game's time period than two of them (Sioux and Aztecs).

** The civilizations introduced in ''The Warchiefs'' focus in this aspect (the Sioux, Iroquois, and Aztecs). However, the Aztecs pretty much thoroughly goes in rushing, as all their "big button" upgrades involve spawning a set amount of warriors, and their War Priests can dance in the Fire Pit with an improved dance unlike a typical Villager, so the production rate bonus is higher. Like the Spanish, they can also reduce the training time of their War hut units to zero using a combination of shipment cards.

After the demise of Ensemble Studios, Robot Entertainment (a development house made of former Ensemble employees) is developing the updates and maintaining the ESO service.

An UpdatedRerelease called ''Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition'' was released on October 15, 2020. It comprises the base game and its two expansion packs, and features two new playable civilizations (the Swedes and Incas), Historical Battles that cover the time period of the game, and an "Art of War" gamemode with a series of challenges designed to help newer players get into competitive gaming. In addition, some civilizations (particularly Native American civilizations) were reworked in order to be more historically accurate with their real life counterparts, and the European civilizations have new age-up options.

* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: In the vanilla game, the Campaign has a cap of 44 cards from the Home City. Without cheating, it is extremely difficult to unlock 44 (the Definitive Edition eliminates the grinding portion and has all shipments unlocked from the start).
* ACommanderIsYou:
** Europeans: The vanilla factions of the game.
*** Spanish: They have the easiest skills to learn (''Generalist'') since they have the highest amount of military units available in the game. They get ''Home City'' shipments earlier (''Economist'') and their units [[JackOfAllTrades can be used anytime, anywhere]] (''Balanced''). One of their best units is their Lancer, which specializes in taking down infantry. Various cards that enhance their Galleons also ensure Spain performs decently on water maps too.
*** British: They get an extra settler whenever a Manor[[note]]A slightly expensive version of a regular house with 135 wood instead of a normal 100[[/note]] is built (''Industrial'') for a quick economic bonus early in the game. Their military units are ''Balanced'': [[JackOfAllStats they're not good at everything, but not bad at anything either]], with the exception of their musketeers, one of the best in the whole game. They also have the ''Ranger'' element in long-ranged attacks with their Longbowmen and Congreve Rockets. Thanks to cards including Offshore Support and Naval Gunners (all of which are unique to them), they have the best naval game of any of the civs.
*** French: Their [[LightningBruiser Cuirassier cavalry]] have high hitpoints, high damage, and gives SplashDamage (''Brute Force''). Their Coureur des Bois can gather 25% more resources than their Settler counterparts (''Economist''). Finally, their native alliance bonuses gives them a ''Spammer'' advantage, with a horde of native units.
*** Portuguese: They begin as a [[MagikarpPower slow from a beginning but powerful late in the game]] (''Technical''). They lack settler card bonuses, thus leading to a slow economic build up, however, players can memorize the map using the Portuguese explorer's ability to use the spyglass, and they get a Covered Wagon with every advanced age. This gives players with experience in micromanaging the advantage in the late game, because they can spread their base around for resources while having great naval bonuses, excellent dragoons (Ranged anti-cavalry) and light infantry, and their musketeers rival the British. They also have ''Ranger'' elements with the Organ Gun, [[MoreDakka an early ancestor of the machine gun]], and good ranged units like their musketeers, dragoons, and cassadors (who sacrifices what little hitpoints they have for increased damage).
*** Dutch: They also start slow (''Technical''), since their settlers costs Coins instead of Food, however, they're able to build Banks, which generate Coins in order to compensate for this. Later on, they get the best halberdiers in the whole game, and one of the best naval city card bonuses with the powerful Fluyt[[note]]Cheaper and higher damaging counterparts of the generic Galleons, at the cost of lower hitpoints[[/note]] ship. Their Coin generation gives them an ''Economic'' edge later in the game, when they can afford the [[AwesomeButImpractical powerful mercenaries]], and their Ruyter ranged cavalry (which costs 1 population instead of the standard 2) makes them ''Spammer'' as well.
*** Russians: '''[[ZergRush The]]''' ''[[ZergRush Spammer]]'' faction in the game, since most of their units are weak but are created in batches. The downsides, besides their weaker stats[[note]]the Cossack is a cheaper and weaker version of Hussar, and their Strelets are '''the''' cheapest and weakest unit of the whole game, for example[[/note]], are their requirements for more resources at once. They also have elements of ''Guerrilla'' with their Oprichnik cavalry having bonus against villagers and buildings, and ''Brute Force'', since they are capable of overwhelming their enemies in numbers.
*** Germans: Another ''Spammer'' faction, since they get a free Uhlan cavalry with every Home City shipment. The Uhlan [[GlassCannon has the highest damage but also the lowest hitpoints]] of non-mercenary melee cavalry. Another factor is their heavily discounted mercenary shipments, which means they can get mercenaries earlier in the game. The Germans have ''Brute Force'' capabilities with their Doppelsoldners carrying {{BFS}}es that can take out other hand infantry and cavalry, and their War Wagons, which are ranged cavalry with extra hitpoints, able to survive longer in battle. They also have ''Ranger'' elements as well, since they get Royal Guard upgrades to their Skirmisher line, which gives them more hitpoints and damage.
*** Ottomans: They are the ''Unit Specialist'' towards artillery, as Ottoman players can create artillery units (Bomb throwing Grenadiers) earlier than the rest of the other factions. However, their other infantry units, the Janissaries and the Abus Gunners (the civilization's answer to the Skirmisher), can only be created in the Artillery Foundry. They do get decent cavalry as well, since their Hussar line gets Royal Guard upgrades, and they can ship the powerful [[CarryABigStick Spahi]] heavy cavalry, which are capable of dealing AreaOfEffect damage[[note]]The only downside is that they can only be shipped from the Home City[[/note]]. The Ottomans are also ''Unconventional'' since they get free settlers at the catch of them being automatically generated.
*** Swedes: Introduced in ''Definitive Edition,'' they are an ''Economist'' faction whose unique House gives them a fantastic early game economy by automatically gathering from nearby natural resources without the use of villagers. Their unit selection is powerful, [[CripplingOverspecialization but specialized]], and difficult to access in breadth, often forcing them to rely on hiring Mercenaries to fill gaps. However, they can hire cheaper Mercenaries than other civilizations, and get unique combat bonuses when they use them in the late game.
*** United States of America: Introduced in ''Definitive Edition'', the USA is ''Ranger'' mixed with [[MechanicallyUnusualClass Mechanically Unusual Civilisation]]. The Americans focus on gunpowder units like the Regular, the Sharpshooter and the Carbine Cavalry [[GlassCannon that greatly outrange and outdamage their European counterparts but have lower HP]], so watch out for fast-moving troops and artillery. They have no Explorer but they have a General, who builds Forts instead of Town Centers and can lay down Inspiring Flags which speed up building construction and cause friendly troops near it to fight harder. The Home City deck is smaller than Europeans' but you pick a Federal State that grants resources and technologies (like the Politician system the Europeans have) and in addition two unique Federal Cards that cannot be accessed by building a deck regularly, giving the US a crucial advantage every time they age up; they also get Immigrant Cards that function similarly to the Consulate system used by the Asian civs.
** Native Americans: All three civilizations have aspects of ''Guerrilla'', considering some of their units have the ability to use stealth and are capable of performing ambush strategies. They are the Aztec Jaguar Prowl Knights[[note]]Heavy infantry with high hitpoints and damage with bonuses against other heavy infantry and cavalry.[[/note]], the Iroquois/Haudenosaunee Forest Prowlers[[note]]Skirmishers with longer range[[/note]], and the Sioux/Lakota Tashunke Prowlers[[note]]The only cavalry capable of stealth. They are a GlassCannon Cavalry that gets more hitpoints and damage when other Prowlers are nearby with an AreaOfEffect damage[[/note]].
*** Aztecs: They have elements of ''Brute Force'' since their Skull Knights are heavy infantry that specializes in AreaOfEffect damage, and the Noble Hut units are slower, expensive, but deal tons of damage. Plus, they easily get a large amount of units (''Spammer'') as War Hut units are cheap, fleet of their feet, and can be massed in a short period of time and their technologies instantly grant the player a large army of units with a push of the button. The Noble Hut units cost more but they include the javelin throwing Eagle Runner Knights that counters cavalry, the hard hitting Jaguar Prowler Knights that are capable of stealth, and the Arrow Knights with their long range bonuses towards buildings and artillery and their answer to siege units. But they are definitely ''Unit Specialists'' in that their entire ground troops consists of infantry (cavalry was unknown in ancient Mexico) and only three of their units are ranged. They do make it up for having the best navy of the three Native civilizations but the canoes are still weaker to the European and Asian counterparts.
*** Iroquois: They are the only Native civilization with artillery and siege units turning The Iroquois's gameplay to be very similar to the vanilla European factions, qualifying them as ''Balanced''. Their infantry are balanced and above average including Forest Prowlers, Skirmishers that can use stealth, but they have poor cavalry and a mediocre navy. Their siege units are unique (a battering ram, a portable wall for shielding, and one of the fastest cannon unit). They're also qualified for ''Ranger'' since the Kanya horseman and the ram are their only melee unit. They can also spawn travois (think man-pulled carts, only without wheels, and dragged on the ground) infinitely from fire pit and receive them as the age up, so they are ''Industrialist'' without question.
*** Sioux: They are ''Unit Specialists'' in cavalry , with some mediocre infantry units as support. Their strongest unit, the Dog Soldier is the [[LightningBruiser third strongest]] (second with all the upgrades) melee cavalry. They also have a rich history of rifle usage so half of their available units are long ranged (''Ranger''). Finally, the Sioux don't need houses and start the game with a full population of 200, and they can send Admiralty (which raises naval unit limit) twice, more than enough to qualify them as ''Spammer'' in land and water. Their greatest weakness though is their lack of artillery and their [[ZergRush weak but numerous]] navy, though their "Fire Dance" specialty gives them bonus points towards buildings and ships to make it up.
*** Inca: Introduced in ''Definitive Edition.'' The Inca are a ''Turtle'' civ with excellent walls and unique building variants to make it easier to stake out territory, including an armed trading post that can garrison villagers, a fortress that can be built by the War Chief, and a barracks that can hold a garrison of military units without taking up population space. Many of their units have unique ''Gimmicks,'' including a shock infantry unit immune to snares that can duck in and out of battle at will, an archer with a stacking poison damage-over-time effect, and a ranged unit whose thrown bolas deal area-damage and slow down whoever it hits.
** Asians: Added in the ''Asian Dynasties'' expansion:
*** Chinese: ''(Spammer[=/=]Brute)'' The Chinese have a higher population cap than any other faction, 220 instead of 200. Much like the Russians, the Chinese train their units in groups, called Banner Armies, but the unique thing about Banner Armies is they are made up of preset combinations of more than one unit and this means the Chinese can quickly train a combat-ready formation of men when the need for them arises. One Chinese wonder spawns free Banner Armies while another spawns free artillery ''(Spammer)''. They have the smallest and cheapest artillery (hand mortar) which are [[CripplingOverspecialization only effective against building or ship]] but can be easily massed for ZergRush. The Chinese also field a fairly powerful navy. The downside is that many Chinese land units will lose out to their European counterparts, and the few that achieve parity are generally quite expensive.
*** Indians: ''(Technical[=/=]Unit Specialist (heavy cavalry)''. The Indians have a well-balanced military force but exceptional cavalry units, fielding [[FragileSpeedster camel troops]] and [[MightyGlacier war elephants]], with the strongest melee and ranged heavy cavalry (mahout lancer and howdah). But they truly are ''Technical'', since they have two wonders with unique abilities while other Asian nations have one, workers cost wood rather than food and are received for free with each shipment, cows and other herdables (especially llama) generate XP instead of being slaughtered for food, and their home city shipment are more unique and game changing (make cavalry produce food/wood and transform villagers into an army of musketmen for examples).
*** Japanese: ''(Elitist/Brute Force)''. The polar opposite of the Chinese, the Japanese field small armies of exceptionally strong but expensive units, such as Samurai being superior swordsmen with good stats and a splash-damage attack. A central unit of the Japanese army is the Daimyo, who grants bonuses to surrounding troops and can even train certain units in the middle of the field. The weakness of the Japanese is that their economy relies on Shrines which attract nearby animals and give a trickle of resources based on how many animals are nearby. Japanese players in the early game need to be careful about casualties and placing of Shrines for maximum effect. The Japanese can also send many of their Home City cards twice.
* AdaptationalNameChange: In the definitive edition, Kanyenke is renamed Ká:nien, as the former is not a real Iroquois/Haudenosaunee name.
* AIBreaker: The AI has no problems with basic tasks, such as gathering resources or training humongous numbers of troops, especially on higher difficulties, but struggles a lot when they require either some creativity or... well, basic thinking. Utilising livestock, protecting villagers, building walls and effectively breaking through enemy walls, as well as successful naval assaults — are all far beyond usual computer personalities' capabilities. Not to mention that they are extremely vulnerable to certain tricks, which even beginners don't hesitate to abuse: whenever an AI settler placing down a building is harassed, its constructions are immediately „cancelled”, as in self-destroyed, by the non-human player, who also seem to pay plenty of attention to demolishing every [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0wfyzuGndY single wall pillar]] of their opponent, regardless of its (non-) importance. Remember the creativity part from above? Don't expect the AI to innovate any new attacking strategies, patterns or usually even paths on the spot, which in turn makes for extremely-straightforward fighting off land. [[AvertedTrope Averted]] by numerous fan modifications — only to a certain extent, however, due to original game limitations.

** Capybara in Caribbean maps. The only island with them in real life is Trinidad, which used to be connected to South America. However, nearly all islands in the Caribbean had some other kind of giant rodent when Europeans arrived, some of which were as large as dogs. And these were indeed hunted and eaten, sometimes to extinction.
* AnyoneCanDie: Armies aside, a fair amount of main and supporting characters bite the dust across the campaigns. The countdown includes [[spoiler:Francisco Delgado and Alain Magnan]] in ''Blood''; [[spoiler:Stuart Black, John Black, and Warwick]] in ''Ice''; [[spoiler:Major Cooper and Pierre Beaumont]] in ''Steel''; [[spoiler:Sven Kuechler]] in ''Fire''; [[spoiler:William Holme and George Armstrong Custer]] in ''Shadow''; [[spoiler:Daimyoes Mototada and Ishida (among many others)]] in ''Japan''; [[spoiler:Admiral Jinhai]] in ''China''; and [[spoiler:Colonel Edwardson]] in ''India'', [[spoiler:and one can assume that the Leaders of the Resistance also die, because historically, that war of independence failed]]. That's not counting the characters who died of old age in the decades that pass between acts. [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in the game itself, where the vast majority of the heroes doesn't die upon losing all of their hit-points, but is critically wounded, temporarily disabled, and can be recovered after some time.

** Some of the factions give off this vibe. The Chinese, for instance, are a mix of both the Ming and Manchu/Qing Dynasties. While the British can have longbowmen fighting alongside musketeers as late as the Imperial Age.
*** The Spanish most powerful units are based on 16th century models, despite being unlockable in the Fortress age (roughly equivalent to the 17th) or later.

** The beginning of "Steel", set five years after Nathaniel's death, is firmly backdated to 1817 by "Fire" stating that he died in 1812. However, Amelia is in charge of a railroad company that is building railways for the US government in what appears to be Texas, with plans to expand all over the West Coast, and at one point they have to defend a fort from the Mexican Army (which is played by Spanish fielding swordsmen and armored lancers and still waving the colonial Cross of Burgundy flag, unlike how Amelia's company flies the American flag despite being based on the British faction). Mexico became independent in 1821, the first locomotive in the US arrived in 1830, Texas joined the Union in 1846, the US took the West Coast in 1849, and no railroads were built west of the Mississippi before 1850. Amelia's railroad builders also throw dynamite.
** It gets even worse in ''The War Chiefs'', where in addition to the Aztecs being incomprehensibly [[AscendedExtra elevated to playable faction]], the second act campaign ("Shadow") goes about twenty years after the vanilla's game timeframe, to the Sioux-American wars, yet still throws in pikemen, musketeers and hussars at the Battle of Little Bighorn. In another scenario, the main characters must defend the Black Hills from a Spanish mining company made of horse lancers and swordsmen in 16th century armor, and still waving the Cross of Burgundy flag.
** The AI leaders rarely coincided in time with each other or their units and flags. See ArtisticLicenseHistory and SymbologyResearchFailure.

** Any newly-created Home City has a starting level of 1 (10 in The Asian Dynasties). However, whenever a player reaches the 20, 40, 60, 80 or 100 threshold, they are able to make another one starting from that point. Say, you open the game for the first time and establish the Spanish city of Seville at level 10. You grind it up to 75, until you get bored and want to experience a different nation — you then make yourself a nice Home City for the French, starting at the level of 60. It's not that straightforward, though, as [[IncompetenceInc due to unspecified reasons]] the vanilla civilizations along with native ones form a separate set than the Asian nations, meaning that an advanced Home City of Japan doesn't provide any boost for the headquarters of the Sioux or, for that matter, the British.
** After the AI resigned from the game, killing any remaining units no longer gives any experience from them.
** Some campaign maps have a cap on the amount of experience you can [[LevelGrinding gather]], such as "Respect" (the sixth mission in ''Ice'', where Kanyenke and John try to gain the favor of the Lakota Tribe Chiefs). Other campaign missions, by way of being {{timed mission}}s, don't let the player level up a lot, such as the first and sixth mission of ''Blood'' ("Breakout" and "A Pirate's Help") and the first and seventh mission of ''Ice'' ("Defend the Colony" and "Warwick's Stronghold").
** The requirement of grinding and the measures taken to prevent possible abuse of that are one of the most criticised features of Age of Empires III and the main target of complaints from the people not entirely familiarised with the product. Oftentimes it has been argued that in order to compete on an equal footing even with more-experienced players — something you'd expect from a classic RTS — beginners have to dedicate a lot of effort to get the essential cards unlocked, which in turn makes some serious grinding necessary. While the newly-implemented and highly-controversial Home City system has been praised by veteran players for adding the strategical depth that other franchises may lack, the general consensus is that it's indeed discouraging and unnecessary for newbies to struggle with getting all the XP needed, and should either not take place or be drastically shortened. As a result, many players simply altered the database so that they automatically unlock all the Home City shipments at the start of the game. By ''Definitive Edition'', all Home City shipments are unlocked with up to 25 allowed from start of the game, completely eliminating the need to grind anymore.

** The Aztecs, Iroquois and Lakota (Sioux) still appear as minor tribes in the original game's campaign after being upgraded to playable factions. Their native units are also different to their counterparts in the playable civilizations: for example, the 'native' Eagle Knight has a different icon and a bonus attack against infantry instead of cavalry.

While the gameplay remains similar to previous entries in the series, several new features were introduced here. For instance, the Home City feature allows shipments of troops, technology or resources to be delivered during normal gameplay. In order to be able to send shipments, the player must gain [[RPGElements experience points]] which are obtained during normal gameplay. The ability to ally with native tribes was also added, with the opportunity to train units from said tribes to add to your military forces. Also, unlike in previous games, the civilizations are far more varied, with more unique units, technologies and bonuses, along with several completely unique Home City shipments. And, akin to ''Mythology's'' Age advancement system, the player must choose a Politician, who provides special bonuses, in order to advance to another Age.

The first expansion pack, ''Age of Empires III: The [=WarChiefs=]'', was released in 2006 and featured three of the native civilizations of the first game as playable: the Aztecs, the Sioux and the Iroquois. It also had several other additions, such as new buildings (the Saloon and the Native Embassy), units (gunpowder cavalry, petards and spies), and the chance to advance to an alternative fifth era for the European civilizations through a Revolution against the mother country. The three new civilizations also had unique twists, such as the firepit (where villagers can dance in order to obtain a bonus, like creating healing priests, gaining more experience and raising the population limit) and unique big buttons for many buildings.

The single-player campaign, this time composed of two acts, (''Fire'' and ''Shadow'') extended the Black family's lore by focusing on Amelia's father and son respectively, with Amelia starring again as the narrator and providing a cameo appearance in ''Shadow''.

The game has a [[Characters/AgeOfEmpiresIII character sheet]] in need of some wiki magic love.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: At the end of the ""Steel" campaign, Amelia finally defeats the Circle of Ossus for good and gets the money to empower her company. She later lives in a loving marriage with a Sioux man.
* EasyCommunication: The formation buttons.

** The fourth mission of ''Ice'' has the player fighting in the UsefulNotes/SevenYearsWar for the French.

** In ''The Warchiefs'', the namesake Native American Warchiefs have the ability to convert treasure guardians.

** Two Home City cards that benefit Chinese Monks are Snatch The Pebble, which allows Monks to power up nearby disciples, and Walk The Rice Paper, which allows the Chinese to have a second Monk. These are references to a show called ''Series/KungFu1972''.

On April 10, 2021, during [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OJ14RVFDGQ the AoE IV-centered Fan Preview event]], a new civilization (the United States) and an African-oriented expansion (eventually called ''The African Royals'') were announced, with the United States being available for free for a limited time by completing a set of challenges; afterwards the civilization must be purchased. ''TAR'', on the other hand, introduced two new civilizations (Ethiopians and Hausa), several new maps, and a bunch of Historical Battles scenarios. It was released on August 2, 2021. A new civilization (Mexico) was released in December 2021, and another new expansion, ''Knights of the Mediterranean'', was released on May 26 featuring the Italians and Maltese.

* SeldomSeenSpecies: With more animals than all previous games, including Guanaco, Giant Salamanders, Saiga, Ibex, Nilgai, Serow, Tapir, Capybara, Musk deer, and Rhea as huntable animals in some Maps.

** Originally, the Dog Soldier was a special unit available at a Lakota trading post, besides the Lakota Axe Rider. When the Lakota became the playable Sioux, the Dog Soldier became a special unit of the Sioux and their minor tribe place was taken by the Cheyenne. Yet historically, the Dog Soldiers were Cheyenne warriors who sometimes allied with the Sioux, but the game Cheyenne can't make them.

** The AI just loves building armies entirely composed of Mercenaries in the Asian Dynasties expansion, ignoring the fact that Mercenaries are [[AwesomeButImpractical incredibly expensive]] and easily outperformed one-on-one by plain, ordinary units in the later ages.

** The expansion's new mechanic ''Revolution'' turns your settlers into American Revolutionary-era "Colonial Militia" and allows you to ship Civil War-era Gatling Guns and ''USS Monitor''-style ironclads, even if you don't choose Washington as a revolutionary leader. The result is the same even when choosing José Bonifácio, who fathered the much later and much less traumatic Brazilian independence.

** Two Home City cards that benefit Chinese Monks are Snatch The Pebble, which allows Monks to power up nearby disciples, and Walk The Rice Paper, which allows the Chinese to have a second Monk. These are references to a show called Series/KungFu.

** The languages used, especially in the campaigns. It can be jarring, for instance, to hear the campaign Anglo-American heroes speak (more or less) Modern English while standard British/American units still talk as though stuck in the 16th Century.

** The United States' units in ''Definitive Edition'' eventually resemble American troops by the time of the Civil War, which can make them stand out compared to the more Napoleonic-looking endgame Europeans.

On April 10, 2021, during [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OJ14RVFDGQ the AoE IV-centered Fan Preview event]], a new civilization (the United States) and an African-oriented expansion (eventually called ''The African Royals'') were announced, with the United States being available for free for a limited time by completing a set of challenges; afterwards the civilization must be purchased. ''TAR'', on the other hand, introduced two new civilizations (Ethiopians and Hausa), several new maps, and a bunch of Historical Battles scenarios. It was released on August 2, 2021. A new civilization (Mexico) was released in December 2021.

* MagicalNativeAmerican: Native American factions have rituals as alternatives to technologies and can improve their units, buildings and economy greatly by just having a lot of villagers staging a particular dance.

* SimSimSalabim: Some aspects of the Indian civilization exaggerate its Indian-ness, such as their common cavalry riding camels instead of horses, its monks riding elephants and training white tigers, and they having an elephant version of basically every type of military unit.

** Similarly to the German case, the Indians have a fictional flag (golden sun and lion over yellow field) that appears to be a combination of Mughal (sun and lion over green field, among others) and Maratha designs (plain pale orange field). ''Definitive Edition'' changed it to the green and gold Mughal war flag. Akbar's AI personality also names "the gods" several times, and the Indian civilization is [[SimSimSalabim very clearly Hindu]], but the real Akbar was Muslim.

On April 10, 2021, during [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OJ14RVFDGQ the AoE IV-centered Fan Preview event]], a new civilization (the United States) and an African-oriented expansion (eventually called ''The African Royals'') were announced, with the United States being available for free for a limited time by completing a set of challenges; afterwards the civilization must be purchased. ''TAR'', on the other hand, introduced two new civilizations (Ethiopians and Hausa), several new maps, and a bunch of Historical Battles scenarios. It was released on August 2, 2021. A new civilization (Mexico) has been announced for december 2021.

On April 10, 2021, during [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OJ14RVFDGQ the AoE IV-centered Fan Preview event]], a new civilization (the United States) and an African-oriented expansion (eventually called ''The African Royals'') were announced, with the United States being available for free for a limited time by completing a set of challenges; afterwards the civilization must be purchased. ''TAR'', on the other hand, introduced two new civilizations (Ethiopians and Hausa), several new maps, and a bunch of Historical Battles scenarios. It was released on August 2, 2021.