Age of Empire 3 - The Asian Empire

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Game Background

Three new civilizations are added in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties. Each Asian civilization has monks, instead of explorers as in previous games.

There are six new minor civilizations added in The Asian Dynasties. They are the Sufis, the Shaolin, the Zen, the Udasi, the Bhakti, and the Jesuits.

India — This civilization has no villager cards at the Home City, but they receive one villager with almost every shipment.[6] All villagers that are not shipped from the Home City cost wood instead of food. Villagers are also not allowed to harvest livestock for food, but instead can build a structure called a Sacred Field which will generate experience points whenever livestock are tasked to it. Sepoys (Musketeers), Gurkha (Skirmishers) and Rajputs (Swordsmen) are the primary infantry units, and India has several types of camel and elephant cavalry. Both of India's monks ride atop elephants and can heal other units from the start of the game, which is to compensate for the fact that they are not good fighters. Their Home City is Delhi and leader Akbar the Great.

China — The Chinese get only one monk along with a disciple at the start of the game, the monk is the only 'explorer unit' who can train military units (trains disciples) during the "discovery age" and has the largest attack points compared to any other monk or explorer. The Chinese have a higher population limit than all the other civilizations; up to 220 population points, rather than the usual 200. Additionally, their military units are trained in blocks, much like the Russians, except that each block trains two different unit types. Their Home City is Beijing and their leader is The Kangxi Emperor.

Japan — This civilization has the Daimyo and Shogun units. Japanese villagers cannot gather food via herding or hunting, but can build shrines near huntable and herdable animals to gain a slow trickle of food, wood, or coin (or experience once a certain shipment is sent from the Home City). The shrines also act as houses, supporting 10 population units. They have the unique ability to ship most cards twice. Their starting explorers are 2 monks that can be improved with extra attributes (via shipment cards or upgrades at the Monastery). The monks start off with an ability called "Divine Strike" which can be used to finish off guardians or enemy units. Their Home City is Edo with as leader Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Campaigns

There are three new campaigns, one for each new civilization. Furthermore, these campaigns return to the historical, civilization-based single-player campaigns, which are different from the past campaigns in the Age of Empires III series. Each campaign consists of five new scenarios.

Japanese campaign — The Japanese campaign focuses on the unification of Japan, which was also a scenario in Age of Empires II: The Conquerors. It mainly concentrates on the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which players will control, and a young general, named Sakuma Kichiro, the "adopted son" of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who leads numerous scenarios before the Battle of Sekigahara. First, Kichiro meets up with Daimyo Torii Mototada. Then they help the villagers outside Osaka castle, who ally with them to attack the castle. After that they have to move east to destroy villages before the villagers ally with the enemy. After the victory, in which they suffer heavy losses, Mototada has to return to his castle. Kichiro goes on to take control of the Tokaido Road (a trade route), then joins Mototada at his estate. There, Kichiro learns that it was Tokugawa who destroyed his home when he was a baby and murdered his parents. Kichiro remains loyal, and escorts the villagers to safety, but has to leave Mototada to fight alone. Mototada commits seppuku, though his death was not witnessed by Kichiro. Kichiro joins Tokugawa at Sekigahara. After the Battle of Sekigahara ends in victory for Tokugawa, Kichiro abandons his loyalty to his master and rides away through the war-torn battlefield, forsaking his honor and cursing his family name for generations.

Chinese campaign — The Chinese campaign focuses loosely on the 1421 hypothesis and is about a Chinese treasure ship discovering the New World before Christopher Columbus. The story mainly focuses on Jian Huang, a Ming captain who dreamed of seeing the outside world, and his partner, Lao Chen, a large and powerful sailor and friend of Jian Huang, who are given orders to help expand the Ming Empire. But before exploring the New World, Admiral Jinhai, a cold and power hungry admiral, hopes to become emperor of the new lands. [9][8] In the beginning, the fleet is under attack from Wokou pirates. Huang and Chen save the fleet and they land in a port on the coast of India. Suddenly, they are attacked by Indian soldiers of the Zamorin. They set up a new base and build ships to mount a rescue mission and save Jinhai, who has been captured by the Zamorin's troops. Then, they head west, and land in Yucatan. Chen and Huang go to rescue the rest of the crew and fleet from hostile Aztecs. Jinhai mysteriously disappears, and Jian suspects he was captured, along with much of the crew and they mount a rescue mission. They rescue many soldiers and Jian learns of the Admiral's treason. Jian and Lao Chen rescue the crew who fled from the mutineers in the caves, then set up a base and defeat Jinhai. Jian, Chen, and the surviving crew members scour the beaches for evidence of their presence and then sail home to China, hoping that no one will ever find out the Chinese were once there and the disturbed natives will forget and go back to their daily lives. This campaign has many similarities to the film Apocalypse Now.

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Indian campaign — The Indian campaign is about the Sepoy Rebellion of the 19th Century. The protagonist of the Indian campaign is Lieutenant Nanib Sahir (a portmanteau name of Nana Sahib), a member of the Sepoy regiments, who first allied with the British East India Company, but slowly becomes disillusioned from its cruel ways and abuse of the Indian citizens. He helps the British regain control of the saltpetre trade. Nanib and his superior, Colonel Edwardson, then defeat arsonists in Calcutta. However, Nanib eventually joins the rebels in the Sepoy rebellion after he and his men are forced by the company to use new Enfield Rifles, despite the cartridges' coverings of beef and pork fat, which was a taboo to Nanib's and the sepoys' Hindu and Muslim beliefs. Nanib then fights and destroys a company fort by assaulting weapon caches to cause fires and explosions. Nanib and another sepoy hero, Pravar Patel, rally enormous forces and decide to rescue Bahadur Shah II. They sneak into Delhi in the dead of night and destroy weapon caches to cause elephant stampedes which destroy gates. After rescuing sepoys, they free the Shah from the Agra Fort wonder. Then they rally soldiers and battle through the Delhi, freeing the Shah. Nanib then leads his forces in an assault on Colonel Edwardson's stronghold. Nanib destroys Edwardson's saltpeter sites and defeats three waves of attackers. Then, he captures the fixed guns and assaults the fort, killing Edwardson in the process. Nanib's situation is very similar to Chayton Black's situation in "The Warchiefs" campaign: "Shadow". Nanib's character is very much based on Mangal Pandey who served as a soldier for the Company but got fed up from its abuse of Indian Citizens; and led the first rebellion against the British East India Company