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Part 4
Age of Empires III

Part 4

Learn how to counter CPU units and effectively defend your base in Age of Empires III. Strategies for attacking enemy bases and using walls.

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Learn how to counter CPU units and effectively defend your base in Age of Empires III. Strategies for attacking enemy bases and using walls.

Walkthrough
  1. 1
    Build towers and falconets quickly, along with a fort or two, to establish defense.
  2. 2
    Counter-attack the enemy base when they have no military units, which is typically right after your own defenses have eliminated their latest attack wave.
  3. 3
    Enemy bases are generally weak, often with only three or four towers and a fort. Once the towers and town center are destroyed, the base cannot withstand a decent-sized army.
  4. 4
    Use walls to channel enemies into kill zones where you can focus concentrated attacks. Instead of spreading towers thinly, group four towers in one location and wall off other areas.
  5. 5
    Position a couple of falconets behind your towers for total safety.
Tips
  • Do not be intimidated by the appearance of many red dots on the (minimap (the small circular map in the bottom-left corner of your screen)) (a small map showing the game world); these often represent buildings rather than troops.
  • The computer only targets your walls if there is no other path.
Walkthrough
  1. 1
    Drag your men inside the walls and close the gate.
  2. 2
    Split your units into two groups: crossbowmen (ensure the barracks upgrade is purchased) and all other units.
  3. 3
    With abundant resources, set a rally point for all barracks and continuously build mostly crossbowmen and a few pikemen.
  4. 4
    Your walls, gate, and two fort towers provide strong defense against enemy attacks.
  5. 5
    Consider upgrading the lone tower to the south, though it will eventually fall.
  6. 6
    Bring a peasant from the north to build four more outpost towers inside the gates for easier defense.
  7. 7
    Assign peasants to gather resources, prioritizing gold.
  8. 8
    To complete the secondary objective of collecting all treasures (worth 300 XP), select a peasant and target them on one of the marked treasures, repeating for each treasure.
  9. 9
    Maintain at least twenty crossbowmen and twenty pikemen until the first bombard appears.
  10. 10
    Replace any lost units, but do not bother with rodeleros.
  11. 11
    When cavalry attacks, send your pikemen out to engage them, then pull them back inside and use crossbowmen until more cavalry arrive.
  12. 12
    When the bombard appears, a new objective will be given: use settlers to gather wood on the hill to light the signal fire.
  13. 13
    Hold out until you receive the objective message to light the signal fire; it is timed from the start of the level and independent of the cannon's appearance.
  14. 14
    Concentrate on repairing fortifications and building more crossbowmen. Pikemen are primarily for dealing with infrequent bombard attacks.
  15. 15
    Ensure peasants are gathering resources that support crossbowmen production. If you have an excess of an unused resource, reassign those peasants.
Tips
  • Do not be discouraged by the number of enemy units; your walls and gate are very durable.
  • The objective to light the signal fire does not necessarily appear immediately after the cannon is destroyed.
  • If you have too much of a specific resource, reassign peasants to gather a different one.

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