Recap pages are Spoilers Off by default, so in all these pages all spoilers are unmarked. Proceed with caution. You Have Been Warned
The first campaign of the base game of Age of Empires III follows the story of Morgan Black, a scottish commander of the Knights of St. John, who's defending the fortress of Malta from the Ottoman Empire, under the leadership of Sahin the Falcon. After successfully driving away the Ottoman invaders, Black and his superior, Grand Master Alain Magnan, begin pursuing and expelling the Ottomans from the island, only for them to discover an ancient library hidden beneath the caves. This prompts the Maltese to sail across the Atlantic Ocean all the way into the Americas.The campaign has seven chapters: "Breakout", "Into the Caves", "PIRATES!", "The Ottoman Fort", "Temples of the Aztec", "A Pirate's Help", "Spanish Treasure Fleet" and "The Fountain of Youth?". The player's Home City is called "Knights of St. John", and it's available from "The Ottoman Fort" onwards, with the exception of "A Pirate's Help", and becoming customizable prior to "Temples of the Aztec".
Followed by Act II: Ice.
This chapter shows examples of:
- Anachronism Stew:
- The campaign 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 Hidden Elf Village 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).
- Anti-Grinding: "Breakout" and "A Pirate's Help", the first and sixth mission, don't allow the player to rack up as much experience as they want:
- "Breakout" forces the player to keep spitting units in order to defend the Fortress.
- "A Pirate's Help" has a 20-minute limit for both XP acquisition and reuniting Morgan with Lizzie. Failing to achieve both objectives before the timer runs out outputs a Non-Standard Game Over.
- Anyone Can Die: Francisco Delgado de León and Alain Magnan don't survive to the end of the campaign.
- Author Appeal: In the first campaign, the Aztecs are the only ones who know the location of the Fountain of Youth, despite it being in Florida 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). This is a result of Sandy Petersen being a huge fanboy of the Aztecs.
- Baseless Mission:
- "Breakout" doesn't feature a Town Center or any means to build one, which means you must protect your Settlers from the enemy as much as the Commandery.
- "A Pirate's Help" gives you no way of establishing a base other than using what you already have in order to fend off the Carib onslaught.
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy:
- The main reason for the Great Siege of Malta was so the Ottoman Turks could get info on the Circle of Ossus, the Fountain of Youth, and the New World.
- Turkish outposts in South America.
- The knocking off of an entire Spanish Treasure Fleet.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- Alain Magnan comes with his cavalry to drive the Ottoman forces from Malta at the tail end of "Breakout".
- In "Temple of the Aztecs", the Aztec forces come to kick the Spanish out from their lands.
- Captain Obvious: At the very beginning of the first campaign, a crossbowman tells 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!
- Defeat Means Friendship: After Morgan and the Knights defeat Lizzie's Pirates in "PIRATES!", Lizzie puts Morgan and his group through a Secret Test of Character in "A Pirate's Help". It's even implied at the end of the campaign that Morgan and Lizzie end up having children.
- Edutainment Game: The first few missions happen during the Great Siege of Malta.
- Gameplay Ally Immortality: Morgen, Alain (only when he's playable), Lizzie and Sahin cannot be killed. If their HP is reduced to zero, they lay in the battlefiend until friendly units come to their aid.
- Gondor Calls for Aid: In "Breakout", 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.
- Hold the Line:
- "Breakout" requires the player to prevent the Maltese Commandery to go down from the constant onslaught of Ottoman forces. The mission ends when Alain is fielded and the Great Bombards are destroyed, the whole mission being a stealth tutorial on Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors.
- "Temples of the Aztec" requires the player to defend three Aztec pyramids for 15 minutes prior to mounting and deploying a counterattack.
- Hollywood History: "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.
- Immortality Seeker: The Circle of Ossus is devoted to finding the Fountain of Youth, whose water is said to give eternal life to those who drink it.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: After escaping death and punishment throughout the campaigns, Alain Magnan bites the dust.
- Mayincatec: 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.
- Misplaced Wildlife:
- The original game's effort to feature many (but only) American animals, down to the use of American bird songs only, results in this trope for "Breakout" and "Into the Caves", both set in Malta. The designers using wolves and elk seem an attempt to reduce this by using animals passable for Old World ones (American elk are close relatives of European red deer despite their name), but wolves and deer never lived in Malta either.
- La Habana in "A Pirate's Help" has capybara, deer, tapirs, turkeys and cougars.
- Mythology Gag: One of the random names the Privateer ships can have is "Flying Purple Hippo", a cheat unit from Age of Mythology.
- Pirate: Elizabet Ramsey leads a band of pirates in the Caribbean, who end up joining the player's side.
- President Evil: Alain Magnan, the leader of the Knights of St. John, is eventually revealed as evil in disguise and willing to betray Morgan.
- Private Military Contractors: Upon reaching Level 10, from Colonial/Commerce Age onwards, one of the unlockable Home City cards ships two Privateersnote at the cost of 500 coin.
- Protection Mission:
- In "Breakout", the player must prevent the Commandery to be destroyed by the invading Ottoman army.
- In "Temples of the Aztec", the player must not let the enemy destroy the Aztec temples.
- Resource-Gathering Mission: Overlapping with Timed Mission, "A Pirate's Help" requires Morgan to collect 8000 XP and reunite with Lizzie before she departs the Havana island.
- Strategic Asset Capture Mechanic: The Fixed Gun in "Fountain of Youth?" is controlled by the faction with the highest amount of units around it. It reaches the eponymous Fountain of Youth and is the quickest way to destroy it, but it can also be used by the Circle of Ossus against you, and when the map begins, they control it.
- Stuff Blowing Up: The weapon caches in "Into the Caves" can be blown up. One of them even reveals the hidden cave where the ancient library is hidden.
- Symbology Research Failure: The Hospitaller faction that's used across the campaign doesn't use the Hospitaller cross, 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.
- Timed Mission: "A Pirate's Help" requires you to reach 8000 XP and reunite Morgan with Lizzie before 20 minutes have passed.
- Too Awesome to Use: The high-end cards "Recruit Privateers"note , "2 Fireships"note , "Hand Infantry Hitpoints"note , "Hand Cavalry Hitpoints"note , "Hand Cavalry Attack"note , "5 Lancers"note , "3 Mortars"note , "Native Warriors"note , "Improved Buildings"note , "Fort"note and "Heavy Fortifications"note are locked behind Level 10, meaning that you need to grind A LOT just to get the ones you want. For the record, you may be at best at Level 9 by the time "Spanish Treasure Fleet" begins.
- You Are the Translated Foreign Word: The Ottoman character "Sahin, the Falcon". Şahin is a Turkish name meaning falcon.
