Line #15 GameBreaker/AgeOfEmpires


1	In [[VideoGame/AgeOfEmpires a game series]] which mixes EdutainmentGame with RealTimeStrategy, sometimes the gameplay balance take a seat behind historical accuracy. Naturally, [[GameBreaker this has its issues]].
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5	[[folder:''Age of Empires'']]
6	* The Horse Archers. They can move fast, do a ton of damage, don't clog lots of space or cause pathfinding issues like the Chariot Archers, and have a range longer than anything except upgraded Priests (which they can easily kill) and certain siege weapons (which fire sluggish, easily dodged projectiles). The only downside is that they're expensive to make and can't take much damage... at least, not until you upgrade them to Heavy Horse Archers.
7	* Priests are ''tremendously'' powerful in this entry. Since population limits are much lower, being able to convert two or three units out of a hostile force can easily turn the tide of a battle (and converting units lets you exceed the population limit). Furthermore, there's no equivalent to ''II''[='=]s Heresy or Faith techs, and the only units that resist conversion are Chariots and Chariot Archers, which not all civilizations have access to (and generally, chariot units just kind of suck). Adding to this, Priests have a range ''starting'' at 10 (longer than anything other than siege weapons) and some civs can upgrade this to 10+3, outranging ''anything'' other than Engineering-boosted Catapults. Finally, thanks to GoodBadBugs, the AI has no idea how to handle a unit being converted by multiple Priests, and will freeze in place and twitch until the conversion works or the Priest is killed.
8	* On the naval side, Triremes dominate the sea, being far stronger and faster than other naval units. They're a massive step up from War Galleys in statistical terms. Virtually nothing counters them; Fire Galleys are too frail and Catapult Triremes are too slow. Unlike the Galleons of ''Age of Empires II'', they can actually rip buildings to shreds when massed due to the lower hitpoints for buildings among other factors. Ballista Towers could actually put up a fight against them, but reaching that stage is costly and not everyone has access to full tower upgrades. Adding to their cheapness is that they only cost Wood, which you'll have more than enough of lategame.
9	* The Elephant Archer and War Elephant have as many hitpoints as ''buildings''[[note]] (though in the first game buildings take a fifth of the damage that units do)[[/note]]. Elephant Archers do decent damage and have great range, while War Elephants can do huge damage in melee range (think ''II''[='=]s Battering Ram, but it works on units ''and'' does area of effect damage). The biggest downside is that they're slow and expensive, but if you can mass a few, they're nearly unstoppable.
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12	[[folder:''Age of Empires II'']]
13	* The Huns in ''The Conquerors'' don't require houses like everyone else. This means that in Deathmatch (when you start with a huge stockpile of resources), the tactic of "Build a few Barracks, spam-click build Militia button, [[ZergRush and swarm everyone]]" ends up being this. Even in normal games this bonus ended up very powerful due to this game's wood-reliant economy. Unlike the Aztecs and Vikings, whose equally great bonuses are hindered by their [[KryptoniteIsEverywhere infantry]] focus ([[{{Irony}} yet they don't even get Halberdiers]], a powerful AntiCavalry unit) the Huns have faster-producing Stables, fully-upgraded [[LightningBruiser Paladins]] and the cheapest Cavalry Archers in the game to dispose most unit compositions. They are lacking in late-game sieging and their unique unit is a rather unimpressive cavalry unit but for the most of the game they are lethally viable.
14	* The Mayans enjoy being in the top tiers despite their limited options due to their broken economic bonus (resources last 20% longer) and the ability to swarm the enemy with their El Dorado-boosted Eagle Warriors as well as cheap and durable Plumed Archers with those resources. The latter even has similar stats to Cavalry Archers, making them perfect for raiding enemy villagers.
15	* [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman The Vikings on water maps.]] Cheaper Docks and warships along with a strong economy makes them able to mass warships before everybody else can. Having free access to Wheelbarrow and Hand Cart means that their Villagers get a headstart in gathering resources before the other civs can, and they don't need to halt Villager production to research those techs on the Town Center. This has also the unintended effect of allowing them to rush the enemy base with units that they're not good at such as Knights.
16	* The Goths' ability to ZergRush. They get two unique techs, one that lets them build their unique unit, the Huskarl, at a Barracks [[note]]Instead of Castles (like most Unique Units) and the heavy investments in stone, villagers, and build-time that Castles require. Barracks can be produced quickly with cheap materials and only 1 or 2 villagers[[/note]], and another that massively boosts the speed at which Barracks produce units. Combine those with the rather hefty Conscription boost (further reduction of build-time for units) and several Barracks, and you've got hordes of Huskarls, which are designed to tank arrows, and get an attack bonus vs. buildings. This results in an army that can shrug off towers, town centers, and even castles -- and is [[WeHaveReserves replenished at lightning speed]].
17	** This might have been the reason for the removal of Treadmill Crane (buildings are built faster) in ''The Forgotten'' and Arrowslits (Towers fire more arrows) in ''The African Kingdoms'' from their tech tree.
18	* The eventually patched-out Teuton Town Center range boost, which allowed the Teutons in the vanilla version to completely lock down an enemy civilization by deleting their own Town Center and rebuilding it just out of range of the opposition's Town Center.
19	** This potentially cheap strategy didn't have a name until the [=HD=] rerelease in which it is called "Persian Douche" (which should technically be called Teutonic Douche since the Teutons pioneered it). The reason for the name is because the Persian [=TC=] has higher HP which allows them to survive the exchange of arrows with the enemy's [=TC=] and any hastily made attempts at a counter-attack. The strategy also works with the Britons (British Douche) because the Britons can build their [=TCs=] at a cheaper cost. Even though the Teuton [=TCs=] no longer have the range boost bonus, it can still work since they have +2 Attack.
20	* The Persians' WarElephants; they're slow, but so powerful that outside of units they're specifically weak against (monks, pikemen and siege weapons, which the Persians are perfectly capable of countering with their great scout, knight and cavalry archer lines), they're virtually unstoppable. They are probably the strongest unique unit, which is good for the Persians, since they're otherwise kind of a limited civilization in-game.
21	** Then in the ''Definitive Edition'' release, the Persians got a new, fancy Castle Age Tech toy in the form of Kamandaran - replacing the kinda bad Boiling Oil tech. This makes their Bracer-less crossbowmen not cost any gold, a healthy buff to complement Persians' already strong unit compositions that is otherwise easily countered by Monks (Elephants and Paladins), or by trash wars (generic spears, scouts and skirmishers).
22	* The various Korean onager bonuses allow them to outrange near enough anything and the onager's obscene firepower and area of effect damage means they will cause insane damage before anything can retaliate. This is the reason that the increased range bonus for onagers was changed to having no minimum range instead in ''The Forgotten'' expansion.
23	** The Korean war wagons also count, though seeming unlikely at first. Building ''one'' war wagon is a waste: expensive, slower and less range than a cavalry archer, doesn't make as clear damage as one or a scorpion and is easily overrun by a cavalry charge and destroyed. But ''mass'' enough war wagons, fully upgraded, when combined with onagers, means that no enemy units will be able to make a dent on them.
24	** One balance patch during HD turned Korean towers into this as well. Koreans received a bonus allowing them to build walls, castles and towers faster, as part of their identity as a defensive civilization. In practice, the bonus to build speed turned the Koreans into an early game offensive powerhouse, riddling the opponent's base with watch towers and ensuring the other player would never be able to collect key resources safely. This one bonus had a dangerous synergy with other Korean bonuses (villagers have increased LOS, stone is mined faster, and guard tower and keep are automatically researched upon aging up), turning a civilization designed to thrive on closed maps into the strongest faction in the game, with staggeringly high win rates even on Arabia. This led to the next balance patch keeping the wall and castle build bonus, but nerfing the bonus for towers into effective non-existence.
25	* British Longbowmen, once fully upgraded, can outrange ''any'' Castle except for a Teutonic Castle (a Castle's maximum range is 10-11 depending on the civilization, the fully upgraded British Longbowman has 12 range, Teuton castles have 13). They can outrange ''any'' siege unit except for Bombard Cannons and Trebuchets (Trebuchets are damn slow and can't hit moving targets very well, Bombard Cannons barely manage to outrange British Longbowmen, are slower and not everyone can make them); they can even match, if not outrange, the aforementioned Korean Siege Onager. Suppose they are near the sea, and the enemy decides to use their navy to destroy the Longbowmen? Well, the Longbowmen can outrange ''any'' ship (except for the Cannon Galleon, which is also pretty dang inaccurate unless you're Spanish). They don't even need to worry about cavalry, because large numbers of them can shoot down entire hordes before they can do any serious damage.
26	** They are still poor at grabbing land or buildings though, so the enemy [[BoringButPractical can just riddle his or her base with a lot of Towers]], in a criss-cross pattern to make for the lousy non-upgraded range of the buildings. In addition, Huskarls make a good counter due to being virtually immune to archer fire and having a fairly high movement speed.
27	* The Spanish in late game seem to excel at practically everything, with no flaws in infantry, ships, cavalry, monks and fortifications, and bonuses on gunpowder, trade, blacksmith technologies and ''villager attack''. They even get ''two'' unique units: the ''only'' gunpowder cavalry unit and the ''only'' monk cavalry unit in the game. They have bad archers that make them weak in the early game, but if you let them get to the Castle Age and beyond, you'll get screwed. Guaranteed.
28	** Also, once they hit Imperial Age, you can kiss sending raiding parties at their villagers goodbye. With their unique tech Supremacy, ten villagers can kill a paladin and lose only one of their own. And they can rush a whole group of villagers at your front line and they can have a castle built long before you can kill them all.
29	* The Slavic unique unit, the Boyar, is basically a super-heavy cavalry unit, having the attack of a Paladin and humongous melee armor, along with respectable pierce armor. A swarm of maxed-out Elite Boyars is virtually unstoppable; they can even go toe-to-toe with explicitly anti-cavalry units and come out on top.
30	* The Portuguese Feitoria is their unique building that takes up 20 population space and grants a trickle of every resource for every second. The game-breaking part came in that it cost 250 wood and gold and it generated 0.45 stone every second, meaning that several Feitorias together could generate enough stone for many Bombard Towers faster than other civilizations could by mining it and/or exchanging other resources for stone at the Market, thus allowing the player to build enough Bombard Towers to make their base virtually impenetrable. This was changed in Patch 4.8, where Feitorias were changed to cost 250 stone instead of wood, and their stone generation rate was reduced to 0.25 per second.
31	* In Nomad maps [[note]]A random map where players start without a Town Center and no scout unit and only three villagers that are spread out throughout the map[[/note]], the Chinese are considered to be one of the strongest civilizations because they start out with six villagers instead of three, meaning it's much easier to scout out the map to find resources and establish a base. They still start out without any food, but the extra villagers makes it significantly easier to find food sources. This is probably one of the main reasons why a January 2020 update in the ''Definitive Edition'' nerfed the extra three villagers bonus where it is tied to the initial Town Center built, meaning the Chinese will start with three villagers in Nomad and will only get the extra villagers after building a Town Center.
32	** Their unique unit, the [[AutomaticCrossbows Chu Ko Nu]] is arguably one of the strongest unique units in the game for various reasons. The Chu Ko Nu fires a volley of arrows that can shred some of the highest pierce armor units like skirmishers, Paladins (a LightningBruiser unit with very high pierce armor), and even ''siege rams''[[note]]This is because the extra arrows deal 0 melee damage, but the rams have ''negative'' melee armor, meaning a volley of Chu Ko Nu arrows will shred rams into pieces[[/note]]. Not only that, this is a unique unit that Chinese can easily mass up in their Castle, with a training time of a total of 13 seconds when its Elite upgrade is researched. What prevents the Chinese from being completely game-breaking with their unique unit is that their tech tree is [[JackOfAllTrades reasonably balanced around their unit]]; which is why the Chinese [[GameplayAndStorySegregation do not get Hand Cannoneers or Bombard Cannons]], allowing more cost efficient answers to the Chu Ko Nu such as Huskarls and Siege Onagers.
33	** Unsurprisingly, due to how versatile the civilization is in high level competitive play, they were given several nerfs in the ''Definitive Edition''. For the aforementioned nerf in Nomad, the Chinese were given Block Printing as a compensation buff, which is meant to be small and mostly for historical accuracy, but allowed the Chinese to have a cost efficient counter to the Siege Onager (one of the more cost efficient counters to the Chu Ko Nu). This in turn led to another nerf in a later patch where the Redemption technology (a technology that allows monks to convert buildings and siege weapons) was removed from their tech tree. Finally, the Chinese ended up losing Supplies in their tech tree (a technology that makes the Militia line unit cheaper), which allows more counterplay to the Chu Ko Nu in the late game (i.e. Goths spamming Huskarls and their own Champions). The Chu Ko Nu is still powerful, but with counters.
34	* In team games, the strategy of "slinging," where one or more players produce minimal amounts of military themselves and tribute their resources to a teammate, to help them advance faster and unlock stronger military options before the other team can do the same. This is such a strong approach in high-level play that some tournaments take steps to nerf or even ban tributing in this way, and the Definitive Edition also nerfed slinging by moving the Coinage and Banking technologies, which reduce the cost of tributing resources from Feudal and Castle Age to Castle and Imperial Age, respectively.
35	* The Malay originally had the Champion unit. This, alongside their unique tech Forced Levy that removed the gold cost for their swordsman units, made the Malay trash war unbeatable in early betas. As a result the Malay only have access to two-handed swordsman.
36	* The Steppe Lancers, unique to the Tatars and Cumans, were a ''notorious'' example of this for the first month after the release of ''Definitive Edition''. Not only was their attack as high as Knights (Elite Steppe Lancers had as many attack points as Cavaliers), but their low gold cost allowed them to be easily massed, when they became exponentially deadlier. Like the Incan Kamayuk, their attack has a small range, allowing them to strike other units from multiple rows, but they're both stronger and faster, making their hit-and-run potential much better. Because of this, they were even able to deal with the Spearman line without too much trouble if used in great enough numbers, as their ranged attack allowed them to strike the same enemy from multiple rows. [=ZeroEmpires=] went into full detail [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDPCk4L7kr4 here]] on just how OP these beasts were.\
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38	Consequently, in Update 34055, their attack was nerfed to 8 (10 for Elites), their gold cost was increased from 30 to 45, their attack and movement speeds were slowed, and their collision box was enlarged to prevent large swarms of them from being unstoppably powerful (making it actually possible for anti-cavalry units such as Halberdiers and Camel Riders to land a hit before getting taken down). Ever since this nerf, they've ironically become one of the lesser used units in the game, being seen as an inefficient compromise between the Scout and Knight lines rather than a powerful unit in its own right.
39	* Cuman Kipchaks can be extremely deadly if micromanaged properly. Not only do they lack any frame delay, but they also benefit from the Cumans' cavalry speed bonus. Even though the Cumans lack Bracer, their multiple arrow attack means a decently-sized army of Kipchaks can make mincemeat out of most enemies, regardless of pierce armor. On top of that, they cost only 30 gold (''half'' the cost of regular Cavalry Archers), making them very easy to mass up.
40	* The Konnik, the Bulgarian unique unit, was highly controversial at release due to their high hitpoints (110 hitpoints for standard and 130 hitpoints to the elite version, with bloodlines technology they reached 150 hitpoints) and, particularly, their Reload time, which was 1.9 seconds (the same as the Paladin), with the Stirrups upgrade reducing it further by 33% up to 1.42, making them one of the most powerful units in the game, being able to defeat effectively most units, including the usually NighInvulnerable Teutonic Knights and Boyars. They can also be created at the civ's unique building (the Krepost, a lesser version of a castle which can only train Konniks), but are also considerably cheaper than knights. Even the dismounted version had much better reload time for their attacks, surpassing even the Japanese Samurai. This led to update 34055 nerfing them considerably by reducing their Hitpoints and increasing their Reload time, but even then, the Konnik remains an unique unit difficult to counter without a combination of pikemen and archers.
41	* The Lithuanians had their relic-boosted cavalry, whose attack was increased up to +5. Furthermore, their Hussars had a potential attack of 16 which, combined with their prominent spearmen and skirmishers (both of which have increased speed and pierce armor), made them extremely powerful once gold became more scarce. In addition, their Paladins only were surpassed by the Persians' Elite War Elephants in terms of attack with all 5 relics collected, making the Lithuanians too powerful, especially in team games and big maps. Like the other new civilizations introduced in the ''Definitive Edition'', they were nerfed in the update 34055, with their relic bonus being reduced to +4 and no longer including light cavalry. The change was intended emphasize their heavy cavalry units such as knights and Leitis, and to prevent the abuse of a unit which doesn't cost gold in the late game. This didn't stop their paladins and Leitis to reach an attack of 22 with relics, which could be very effective in team games.
42	* Introduced in ''Dynasties of India'', the Dravidian's Urumi Swordsmen have already gained some infamy due to a combinations of skills they possess: on paper, they don't sound too though, being essentially infantry with a powerful charge attack good against infantry but otherwise easily thwarted by archers and cavalry... however, there's more: their charge attack (similar to the Coustiller's) can actually deal splash damage and recharges faster than the Coustiller's. Urumi Swordsmen are also reasonably cheap and their creation time is somewhat fast, allowing a player to mass a large number of them in no time. Finally, the Dravidians' unique tech, Wootz Steel, allows their attacks to ignore melee armor, allowing them to tear apart pretty much all but the toughest units.
43	* Thanks to a strategy that a player named [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbOcKrFBoDU [=YouPudding=]]] came up with, Fall 2023 saw the rise of the Castle Age Serjeant rush for Sicilians. It's a certain build order that revolves around gathering food and mining a lot of gold as early as possible in order to abuse the market and advance up to Castle Age way before the opponent. As a result, a Sicilian player would build a Donjon, and start spamming out Castle Age Serjeants towards the opponent when the latter is still building up in Feudal Age. The Castle Age Serjeants that rush the enemy are so tanky compared to their stats in Feudal Age, and have such high pierce armor when upgraded, that they overpower almost any unit at this stage. They can easily roam and attack around the opponent's base, along with being able to build their special Donjon towers to harass the opponent's economy. Hiding within the Town Center also doesn't do much help as the Castle Age Serjeants have more than enough pierce armor to just stand underneath the Town Center and keep attacking despite being under arrow fire.
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46	[[folder:''Age of Mythology'']]
47	* Unlocking the Titan gate in the expansion before everyone else turns the rest of the match into a CurbStompBattle. The intention was to have the Titan be the backbone of an invasion force (and Titan-against-Titan battles can go either way), but in a game with only two or three players the first Titan unleashed usually wins. What's annoying is that you can't disable this feature in the options menu. An option to disable titans during game setup was added to the ''HD'' Re-release, and there was much rejoicing.
48	* Atlanteans on a whole. Any one of their units can become a Hero (for a price, although there is a God Power to give you free Heroes that can be used three times). Their WorkerUnit gathers and builds at three times the normal rate, without needing a drop-off point (allowing you to get more and more resources at a faster rate, and advance in tech quicker). Also, it's possible to get both regenerating heroes and regenerating Myth Units (follow the path of Oranus to do that). And finally, because they gather and build at three times the normal rate, this ends up with them unleashing the Titan first (it is possible for this to not happen, but there's a very good chance they'll get it first) and thus getting a CurbStompBattle as their regenerating Titan almost single-handedly stomps everybody (though it is possible to beat them, if only by [[DeathInAllDirections throwing absolutely everything you have at it]]. Greeks get it the worst because they only get four {{Hero Unit}}s - although their Fortress units got the Beast Slayer upgrade to deal extra damages against Myth units) and breaks the other Titan Gates before anybody else gets their Titan. And they get Favor just from existing, where as the others need to do something else first (Worship for Greeks, statues for Egyptians, and smacking dudes for Norse). And many if not most of their god powers can be used multiple times, unlike any of the other god powers in the game, although they are generally weaker than normal god powers or are designed for multiple uses, and the most powerful ones can only be used once.
49	** Surprisingly, all these seemingly overpowered advantages even out at the highly competitive level, as Atlanteans are at a fairly even tier with the other civilizations in the meta-game and weak to certain strategies (particularly at dealing with early Loki Hersir aggression, as discussed below). Atlantean economy is easy enough to manage that they could be considered a {{Skill Gate Character\|s}}, however.
50	* Hades worshipers will become beastly if not dealt with as early as possible. Put simply, Hades himself gives bonus damage to archer units. While that itself doesn't seem overpowered, now consider that Hades worshipers have access to Ares, Apollo, and Artemis: three minor gods which ''also'' give bonus damage to archers. Add to that the Gastraphetes, a Hades-unique crossbowman that's already ''a direct upgrade to the base archers Greeks have access to''. By the mythic age, nothing can stop a Hades player from stomping around the map with massive armies of 2-pop units that deal 16 ranged damage ''plus'' bonus damage to buildings.
51	* Loki-worshiping Norse can become this if given enough time. First off, Loki's focus is on Myth Units, which are also the Norse specialty. Not only do their Myth Units cost less Favor, but Hersirs will actually summon random Myth Units while in combat. Plus, Loki has exclusive access to the Minor God Hel for Mythic Age, who not only has access to the Nidhogg super-unit, but she can also train ''[[MightyGlacier all]] [[AnIcePerson three]] [[PlayingWithFire types]] [[OurGiantsAreBigger of Giants]]'' as well as 'Rampage' tech which lets all of your Myth units train in ''[[ZergRush less than a second]]''.
52	* Isis' God Power-blocking monuments can screw over any player that rely on combat-based God Powers targeted on a specific area (which are the majority). Not only they have many hitpoints but even the most basic monument has a relatively large invisible radius. They also have access to the Ancestors+Eclipse combo through Nepthys and Bast; the former summons [[ZergRush mummy minions]] while the later strengthens Myth Units, which also encompasses said minions. Worshiping Bast in the Classical Age also nets them the Sphinx, a Myth Unit that can easily tear down through fortifications at that point in the game. If you do not wall your base before Isis players reach the Heroic Age, your town is pretty much screwed.
53	* ''Tale of the Dragon'' brings us the Chinese Vermilion Bird myth units, Chongli's unique unit for Fu Xi and Nu Wa worshipers. Their fire tornado attack has a fast firing rate and deals heavy splash damage upon the target's death. The attack is so strong they can even level down cities in minutes, something other flying units dream to accomplish.
54	* Monks (especially those under Shennong, which allows them to also convert non-Titan myth units) become extremely powerful if you're playing on ''Lightning'' mode, as they become able to convert enemies to their side in the span of less than two ''seconds''.
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57	[[folder:''Age of Empires III'']]
58	* The Sioux/Lakota have two powerful units:
59	** The Rifle Rider. They have the same bonuses as a ranged cavalry but also receive bonus damage against Heavy Infantries which is very useful given their focus on cavalry units.
60	** Their War Chief is a cut above all other the other Explorers when it comes to viability in all phases of the game. At early stages, his fast speed means that he can scout much more quickly than other civilizations where he could potentially claim the treasures before other players even get their hands on it or discover the location of the enemy's colony to set them up for a future raiding party. Even later on in the game when you have already explored everything on the map, his aura of giving cavalry speed allow them to hit and run more effectively and when combined with his attack boosting aura from the home city, it makes them particularly excellent in dealing damage and destroying the opposing buildings.
61	** While most other Ranged Cavalries have a negative multiplier against Villagers (besides Cavalry Archers with the Ottoman's Akincis Home City upgrade), the Bow Rider lacks said penalty. This means that a Lakota player can easily mass up Bow Riders in order to raid their bases and rapidly slow down their economy and due to being a cavalry unit, can easily retreat from any potential retaliation by any of the enemies' units or buildings. This tactic was so effective that the Bow Rider was eventually nerfed so that they share the same Villager damage penalty like all other Ranged Cavalries.
62	* In the original ''III'' base game, the French Cuirassier. Boasting an insane 1000 HP at Imperial rank before any blacksmith and native upgrades, it deals splash damage to all enemies around them that even many dedicated anti-cavalry units will still lose out to them, and [[LightningBruiser like most cavalry they are fast]]. In large number they are almost unstoppable unless the opponent has been massing anti cavalry units.
63	* Also, Grenadiers, an unit exclusive to the European-style civilizations[[note]]British, Dutch, Italians, Russians, Swedes and John Black's Mercenaries from ''Ice'' can train them without prerequisites, while the United States ("Washington's Legion" card), the French ("Edict of Nantes" card + "Young Guard" tech) and the rest ("Grenade Launcher" card) need to do something before being able to train them[[/note]]. They are effective against both infantry and buildings, and do splash damage. They're produced at the Siege Workshop, but they're infantry, which means they're cheaper, faster, and don't have to deploy in order to attack. They're vulnerable to cavalry, but Grenadiers can stand up to massed infantry, where an equivalent unit of artillery will not. This is particularly nasty when fighting the Aztecs, who have no cavalry aside from any native units they've acquired.
64	* Massing Factory units[[note]]Rockets for the British, Great Bombards for the Ottoman, Papal Bombards for the Italian, Heavy Cannons for the rest[[/note]] for the European civilizations.
65	** Reaching the Industrial Age[[note]]The United States in ''Definitive Edition'' via aging up with New Hampshire can have factories in the Fortress Age, but they still have to wait until Industrial Age in order to start massing Cannons, plus at all times they're restricted to two Factories, despite having three Factory cards[[/note]] allows the player to play either the "Factory", "Industrial Revolution" or "Robber Barron" cards, each of which sends a Factory Wagon to the city. The Factory wagon turns into a Factory, which can be configured to generate either food, wood, coin, or a cannon in assembly line at a fixed rate... which only requires population space[[note]]7 for the Heavy Cannon and Great Bombard, 6 for the Rocket[[/note]].
66	** Furthermore, their production time is reduced with the Factory's own "Mass Production" tech[[note]]and in the original ES games, if the map features an Incan village, the creation time can be further reduced with the "Incan Chasquis Messengers" tech[[/note]] as well as "Immigrants"[[note]]Imperial Age, Capitol, training reduction speed +10%[[/note]], and (for the United States) "New Mexico Immigration"[[note]]Industrial Age, State Capitol, training reduction speed +5%[[/note]], ans they can be further upgraded into the Imperial Age, and unlike most artillery units, these units have no penalties against Cavalry.
67	** All of this makes Factories THE weakest point of that civ, especially since the card cannot be sent again upon entering the Imperial Age, and the long production time[[note]]115 seconds for Heavy Cannons, Papal Bombards and Great Bombards, 98 for Rockets[[/note]] means that players must turtle their way until their artillery army is ready, but multiple, well-protected factories allowed to mass a lot of Factory units, and those units being protected by additional armies covering for their weaknesses, allow the player to burn entire cities and armies to the ground.
68	** Furthermore, some civilizations can ship up to 3 factories: South Africa (revolting from the British or Dutch) and California (revolting from the Mexicans). And if the map has the House of Hanover as a royal house, claiming it and researching "Victorian Era" ships ''another'' wagon.
69	* If anything related to the Chinese invokes Creator/{{Confucius}}, you can bet it's one:
70	** The Confucian Academy wonder automatically trains Flying Crows, the civilization's equivalent to the Eurociv's Heavy Cannons, making it the Chinese's equivalent to their ''Factories''. To make matters worse, it can be built at ''any age'', unlike Factories which are only available at Industrial Age. And to make matters ''even worse'', the Chinese have the Russians as a consulate option, and they can ship a ''Factory'' in Industrial Age, which can produce Heavy Cannons. Oh, and while European players must bring factories only from the Home City, Chinese players ''don't need'' a Home City to have a Factory and/or a Confucian Academy.
71	** The Confucius' Gift card, which can be sent from Fortress Age onwards, removes waiting time for technology research and dramatically shortens shipment arrival. With a proper economy allowed to sustain it, the effects of this card are ''devastating'', especially when paired with techs and shipments that reduce or remove tech costs, or worse, ''outright grants researched tech upon arrival''. It's available at level 40 for non-Campaign matches in the original game, but in the Chinese portion of the Campaign it's available [[DiscOneNuke as soon as the first mission is over]], and it truly makes the campaign easier even in the hardest levels. And in the ''Definitive Edition'' it's unlocked right at the start.
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Context GameBreaker / AgeOfEmpires