Greetings, I’m Empiresfreak and welcome to my first guide. I have played AoE3 for as long as I can remember so hopefully I can share some of that knowledge with you. If it is any reference to you, my multiplayer rank on ‘The Asian Dynasties’-expansion of the original game was 1st Lieutenant (25), therefore I assume I know just enough to write this guide, haha.
Let’s jump right into it!

The homecity and the ability to send shipments has always started discussions among AoE-players who didn’t start their RTS journey with AoE3. Some like it and some don’t, but nonetheless it’s a very important part of the game. Not completely getting this mechanic or using it the wrong way can quickly lose you the game. This guide will provide some insight and will help you to understand the importance of which key cards to use and when to use them, so you don’t fall behind on your opponent. As my guide will focus on land decks in 1vs1 matchups, you will have to look for team game information or water decks elsewhere.

If you want to win against your opponent, you will need to make sure you have the advantage over them. This can be done in many ways such as a better economy, a bigger army, how we use that army, … and so on. Ultimately it comes down to using your time better. Gathering more resources than your opponent usually wins you the game. This is why it is very important to understand the concept of ‘villager seconds’ (VS). These numbers will show us how long it will take for a villager to gather a certain amount of resources. For example, the most important base rates of a villager are 0.84 food/sec on hunts, 0.5 wood/sec on trees and 0.6 coin/sec on mines. And thanks to some changes in the DE-version, we are now able to see all rates in the UI when selecting a gathering villager. These gather rates form the base of your economy that you want to ramp up as fast as possible. Sending shipments that are worth more villager seconds are better since they will speed up this process. Certain civilizations have different rates and mechanics but I won’t go too in depth about that here. Just remember to use hunts and mines as long as possible, mills and berries only gather at a base rate of 0.67 food/sec and estates at 0.5 coin/sec.

With this in mind we can start looking at shipments and how impactful they actually are. Shipments that have a so-called impact in early- or mid-game in 1v1 are usually villager shipments, crates or military shipments. Upgrade shipments tend to look better on paper but when used might have a mediocre result. This could be because you can’t take advantage of that upgrade well enough for it to be impactful right now. But since every game will put you in a different situation, there is no brainless path to be followed.

Shipments are earned after a certain amount of experience is gained at a base rate of 2 exp/sec. There are several ways to get that exp flowing in faster. This can be done by constructing buildings, training units or defeating enemy ones. Every time you receive one, the next is going to take slightly longer. This is the pattern for the first eight shipments, aside from Spanish and German I believe: 300, 345, 397, 456, 525, 604, 693, 792. The faster we get these, the more impact they are going to have. Villagers who arrive faster gather longer until the end of the game, thus generating more resources. It also speeds up the arrival of the next shipment in line.

Treasures

A lesser used mechanic by newer players are the treasures spawning on the map. Not only do they give you bonus resources when collected, you also get the exp from killing the guardians. 8 exp from a guardian might not seem like a lot, but that’s actually worth 4 seconds at the base rate. So by killing 3 of these for example, it makes your first shipment come in 12 seconds sooner, thus making that 3 villager shipment gather a total of 36 villager seconds more, which again translates to 30 food. By aging a little bit sooner, you can send that 700 wood faster,… and so on.

Trading posts

Some civilizations like the Ottoman have enough wood to start out with a trading post. You want to use your starting resources as efficient as possible. You could build 4 houses to get the exp fast but you won’t be using those 30 extra population in a long time. So a trading post generates way more value early game. But building it in the right spot can also make a big difference. From the start of the game a travois starts travelling the route. These start from a fixed side, so the cart passes all trading posts in a specific order. On the Great Plains map for example, when both players have the opportunity of an early trading post, there is usually a battle for the middle socket. The time it takes for the travois to reach that socket is just long enough for an explorer to walk there and complete the post before the cart arrives, thus yielding a large amount of exp right away. This can be extremely beneficial to your economy by speeding up your first shipment. Building your trading post on the wrong side of the route could make you lose a whole cycle of the route. Try checking the direction of routes on commonly seen maps, it could give you a nice early game boost you would otherwise have missed.

Community plaza’s and churches

In the regular edition of the game, a trading post yielded about 1.2 exp/sec. Depending on how long the route is, the amount of resources is adjusted accordingly. In the DE-version, this got nerfed by -15% so it now only yields somewhere around 0.95 exp/sec. Now that we know this number, we can compare it to the amount a community plaza or church generates. Your first dancer on the plaza will always give 1 exp/sec, so even a llama that works at ¼ of a villager, yields as much as a warrior priest that works at the rate of 2 villagers. And the plaza costs only 100 wood so this is a great way to generate exp. A church yields 0.6 exp/sec without needing a worker but they can only be built in commerce age and tend to be not worth it. Except for the Ottoman mosque, which can be built in the Exploration age and generates 0.75 exp. So remember to build that mosque on maps that lack trading posts.

Crates

Not only do crates provide a quick increase of resources, they can also generate exp a bit faster by using them immediately, especially the wood crates. If you send 700 wood and construct some buildings with it, it will speed up your next shipment. So in most cases it’s better to send the 700 wood crates first to get those buildings and that experience and then your villager shipment for example.

3 villagers

Almost every other guide you will read about build orders and strategies will mention the number one shipment everyone uses (if available to that civ) in the Exploration age, the 3 villager card. As mentioned above, the reason for this is because it gives you such a big economic advantage early game that it’s a hard one to skip. Usually you will have about 12 villagers ( if you didn’t stop villager production) by the time it arrives, that’s a whopping 25% of your current economy you get for free! To really get how important this shipment is, let us compare it to the furrier card (+15% hunting,…). Furrier increases your gather rate for hunts by 0.126 per villager, so if you have 12 villagers that’s a 1.512 increase. 3 extra villagers give a base increase of 2.52. It is true that over time furrier will increase your gather rate for hunts by more than 3 villagers would, but when we start redistributing villagers to other resources during age up, that upgrade goes partially to waste. And we haven’t even taken into account that we can upgrade our newly-received villagers as well.

Most civilizations have a villager shipment at their disposal but the Portuguese, the Russians, the Chinese, the Indians and the Incas can’t send them directly. These have alternatives but more on that later.

Advanced trading post

Another great shipment that is often seen in the Exploration age is the ATP card. Reducing the cost of trading posts by -40% makes them cost 120 wood instead of 200. In addition to that you get a +20% hp increase and a ranged attack so that a handful of units can’t easily take it down on their own. Obviously the more trading posts you build, the more value this upgrade is going to provide. Unless your build order is trading post-heavy, you might want to use your shipment on something more useful. Do keep in mind that if you are fighting over a trade route and there is a possibility you will have to rebuild some of them, this upgrade will continue to pay off.

Town militia

Most decks have very few Exploration age cards because you plan to use that second shipment in the Commerce age. But some shipments like town militia are included because they have a specific purpose, this one is for defending against some early aggression by increasing the town center’s ranged attack. Just because you have this shipment available before or during the Commerce age up, doesn’t mean you have to send it right away. After aging up, there usually is some spare time to send a more powerful card before we start panicking and send this one. Including this card in your deck depends on how aggressive your opponent’s civilization is and it might only show up in a specific deck to hold off early aggression.

Alternatively to town militia, a lot of people see value in the ‘improved buildings’ card. While this looks like a strong card against rushes, the reason why town militia is better is because the extra ranged attack is going to kill incoming enemy units faster so that it limits their siege potential. With the town militia card active, your town center kills pikemen/puma spearmen in one shot and two or three-shots most other heavy infantry while also enabling more militia to be called if necessary.

4 villagers, 5 villagers

Not much else to say here, it’s a better version of the Exploration age card and a solid shipment if you have nothing better to send.

700 wood, 700 coin, 700 food

Crates play a very important role in 1vs1 games. At first they look like a low value cards but these have a bigger impact than you might be aware of. Most crates have a total of 700 resources, the best one is obviously the wood, since that resource gathers the slowest. It allows you to get buildings up quickly, research useful upgrades or provides you with enough wood to keep that crossbow-pikeman spam going. Calculated with the base gather rate 700 wood is equivalent to 1400 villager seconds, that’s worth 10 villagers on wood for 2:20 min! As most games only last about 15 minutes, this is an extremely powerful shipment to send in the Commerce age. Next up are the 700 coin crates. Mostly used to quickly age to the Fortress age, it can also be used to keep training full batches of cavalry or coin-heavy infantry. Being worth 1167 villager seconds at the base rate of mines, it’s the second best crate type to send. Although the 700 food crates are only worth 834 villager seconds, it can be a useful addition to your deck to keep up military production, especially for the Russians.

Military shipments

Commerce age military shipments might seem like the lowest in value of all possible cards to send in the second age. Why not send an upgrade or crates and train more units with those resources? It’s because we want those military units out fast for a specific reason. Either to defend our base from a rush or create a bigger mass. Shipments take 40 seconds to arrive, aside from ‘support’ shipments which take 60 seconds. If you would send an upgrade or crates instead of sending 8 pikeman for example, we would first need a barracks and the available population, then we would need to gather the crates and then queue our pikemen 5 at the time. This takes way to much time if we suspect an incoming attack. But for these shipments to generate value, we want them to be used quickly in battle. If they are going to stand around for a couple minutes, we could have send a more meaningful shipment first. Most military cards are used together with trained units. This way we can quickly create an impactful group of units. The most useful military cards are the ones you are not training or ones that cover a weakness in your current army. The most commonly used are anti-cavalry (pikemen,…), light infantry (crossbowmen,…) or cavalry (hussar,…) cards.

Military upgrades

If you plan on being aggressive in the Commerce age you want to include some military upgrades to improve their effectiveness in combat. These upgrades tend to be even more useful in mirror matchups such as British vs British where musketeers often dominate the battlefield. Having the same amount but upgraded will most likely win you the fight. Depending on how much their base attack or hitpoints are, you want to decide on taking +ATT or +HP or both.

Advanced arsenal

With some of the advanced upgrades adjusted and lowered in cost in the DE-version, this card is better than before. You don’t want to include it in every deck, but it can provide a neat addition if the game drags on. Moving the arsenal to the commerce age can be useful but it is more likely that you will have already aged by then. It does gives access to upgrades that are otherwise not available in the regular arsenal.

8 villagers

Not a lot of civilizations have a villager shipment in the third age. Again, a very good shipment to send if you don’t have more important things to send first, but the chances are small that this is one of the first cards you’ll send after reaching Fortress.

1000 wood, 1000 coin

These crates will probably be more important than the villager card mentioned above. 1000 wood enables you to build an extra town center so that you can train villagers from 2, sometimes 3, town centers. This will ramp up your economy faster than some villagers or upgrades. It also provides the wood for training artillery. You can get up a foundry and build some houses while switching some of your economy to coin. The 1000 coin can be used for a similar purpose, training expensive units fast or using the funds to send mercenaries as a follow up shipment. Civilizations that have good revolt options might use this to get to the Industrial age faster, together with the 1000 wood allowing them to almost instantly revolt when reaching Industrial.

Military shipments

These are by far the most important cards in the third age in my opinion. The 2 falconets shipment gets a special mention and is an auto-include with civilizations that have this. The gap between sending this card or training them is even bigger than in the Commerce age. They can quickly turn the tide of battle when the opponent hasn’t advanced to Fortress and send his own. Also very impactful are unit shipments that are only available in Fortress like skirmishers, dragoons, unique heavy cavalry,... The example I gave earlier about training some units and adding a unit shipment are again more important here than they are in the Commerce age. Also try selecting cards of units you’re not training, together with a quick batch of the units you’re shipping, it can provide a decent group to thin out a counter to your current composition.

Military upgrades

The Fortress age usually provides combined versions of the upgrade cards you can send in the Commerce age. For obvious reasons it’s good to have them in your deck if you are going to train a lot of those units. Otherwise a military shipment might have more effect while performing a fast Fortress.

Mercenary shipments

Costing 1000 coin in most cases, these unit cards are extremely powerful and have the ability to turn the tide of battle. Again, try focusing on the units your composition is lacking. Good ones are Jaegers, Mamelukes, Swiss Pikemen and Black Riders.

Refrigeration, Royal mint

These 2 upgrades are exceptions compared to other economic upgrade cards. Commerce age economic cards did get a buff by adding a yield improvement so that they run out slower. Since we are looking to gather from natural resources as long as possible this is a good change. But most upgrades only improve a certain type of gathering and are therefore less useful. These 2 cards upgrade all possible ways of villagers to gather food and coin faster. So once a hunt or mine runs out and we are forced to switch to mills and plantations, these will still have an effect.

Factories

The factory is one of the best shipments to send after reaching Industrial. Gathering at a rate of 5.5 res/sec and 7.15 after their specific upgrade. It is best tasked to wood being worth about 14,3 villagers with the base rate of wood gathering when upgraded. It can also be tasked to produce heavy cannons which are excellent artillery units.

Military shipments

Since we have reached Industrial the fight has been going on for some time and we want an advantage, and fast. Some shipments are infinite and therefore great for continuous warfare, never giving your opponent time to breathe. Just like in the Fortress age, artillery shipments or units that were unavailable prior to Industrial are the best ones, as well as units you have been training all game and are probably already upgraded to veteran.

Military upgrades

The explanation of the Fortress age also applies here. Useful for upgrading already existing units, otherwise a military shipment can seal the game faster or turn the game around in your favor.

Crates

Resource crates tend to be less useful in Industrial since you will probably already have a well-established economy that you don’t need them. This far into the game, economic upgrades would be a better choice.

Not only are the cards we choose important, the order in which we send them plays an equally big part. Sending a defensive card too soon might slow the rest of your build down too much. Receiving those 5 villagers just when your opponent attacks can also be game losing. In most cases the second shipment is meant for Commerce age. Using that second shipment on an Exploration card just because it took you slightly longer to age will put you behind on your opponent. Unless you are going for a lot of trading posts in transition by sending that ATP card, the 700 wood is a much better way to spend that shipment on. A standard build order will usually start with 3 villagers, followed up by 700 wood, more villagers or crates and so on. When needed, a unit shipment might interrupt this pattern to ensure you don’t suffer too many losses.

Now let’s take a look at what orders are commonly used as each civilization.

3 villagers / 700 wood / 5 villagers / 600 wood / …

3 villagers / Virginia company / 700 wood / 5 villagers / 600 wood / …

The British are excellent at creating an economy. Starting out with 3 villagers followed up by 700 wood, you are able to construct extra manor houses to increase your villager population. Usually after that the 5 villagers are sent followed up by 600 wood to build some more manors and an extra barracks or stable. Some strategies involve sending Virginia company first before they ship the 700 wood to start a manor boom during transition. The British are good at fighting in the Commerce age so having those unit upgrades is very good.

3 villagers / bank wagon / 700 wood / 600 wood / 4 villagers / …

3 villagers / bank wagon / 700 wood / 600 wood / 9 ruyters / …

In a lot of games a Dutch player will aim for a semi-fast Fortress by building a bank during age up and the rest of them in Commerce age. Sending the bank wagon before the wood is better since you most likely won’t have the required food to build banks with it immediately. After that, your wood arrives and you continue to build extra banks. With the 600 wood you can get up that stable or take some upgrades at the market. The 8 pikeman can be sent in-between to defend a cavalry raid.

3 coureur / 4 coureur / 700 coin / 700 wood / 2 falconet, 5 dragoon, 8 skirmishers / …

3 coureur / 4 coureur / 700 wood / 8 crossbowman / 600 wood / …

Usually performing a semi-fast Fortress by training some musketeers or hussars, the French send their villager shipment faster than most civilizations. Because most players get market upgrades during transition, your already upgraded villagers are going to gather even better. The 400 wood age provides enough resources to build a barracks or stable with some houses so you don’t need wood until the 700 wood arrives. While performing a crossbow-pike rush the wood and crossbow shipments are used to keep the military spam going. After that, the 700 coin gives the opportunity to go up to Fortress if you won’t be able to close the deal in the Commerce age.

2 settler wagon / 3 settler wagon / 700 coin / 700 wood / 8 skirmishers / …

2 settler wagon / 3 settler wagon / 2 settler wagon / 700 wood / …

Just as the French, the Germans have the option of staying in Commerce longer or performing a Fortress age build. Because the settler wagons are worth 2 regular villagers and most German players build a market in transition, these cards are extremely valuable. Since all shipments starting from Commerce age gives you additional Uhlans, they are able to raid with them while doing a fast Fortress or stay Commerce and be aggressive with their unit shipments. The 8 crossbowman card might be sent somewhere after the 3 settler wagon to defend or push.

3 villagers / 700 coin / 700 wood / 2 falconets, 5 Spahi / …

3 villagers / 700 wood / 700 coin / 600 coin / …

The Ottoman get their villagers for free at a slower rate, this means their economy grows at a slower pace than most civilizations. Because they don’t have to pay for their villagers, they also don’t get exp from them so a trading post is needed to keep the exp flowing. Because of all these reasons, the Ottoman are experts at fast Fortress strategies. They are able to age sooner to Commerce and have the necessary food for Fortress faster than other civilizations. That’s why they can send 700 coin right after aging up followed up by 700 wood to start constructing military buildings. An alternative strategy is staying in Commerce and building Janissaries mixed with Abus gun, which the coin crates make sure there is a constant flow of.

700 coin / 700 wood / 5 dragoons, 8 cassadors / …

Advanced trading post / 700 coin / 700 wood / 5 dragoons, 8 cassadors / …

The Portuguese are the odd ones among the European civilizations. They don’t have a villager shipment as they start the game with 7 already. In most cases the first shipment is saved for the Commerce age since not a lot of Exploration age cards are impactful enough unless it’s advanced trading post. There are other options like economic theory or even the new 8 sheep and a homestead wagon, but those might not have a big enough impact early game so it comes down to preference.

Distributivism / 5 cossacks / 4 cossacks / 13 strelets / 700 food / …

Distributivism / 5 cossacks / 700 food / 13 strelets / 4 cossacks / …

Just like the Portuguese, the Russians are unable to send villagers directly. But the difference here is that they have a very good alternative called Distributivism. Providing a trickle of 1.25 wood/sec, this shipment is worth 2.5 villagers on wood at the base rate. A lot of military requires a lot of population space so wood is always needed. Usually Russians are aggressive in Commerce age by building a blockhouse in transition and sending cavalry to support their musketeers or strelets.

3 villagers / advanced trading post / 700 coin / 700 wood / 2 falconets / …

3 villagers / 700 wood / 5 villagers / 600 wood / …

Usually the Spanish perform a fast Fortress because they aren’t as strong in Commerce age as other civilizations can be. Having their shipment rate increased, they are able to send advanced trading post in between shipments to build trading post in transition. An alternative strategy might be staying in Commerce age and training crossbowmen and pikemen or musketeer.

Blueberries / 700 wood / Engelsberg ironworks / dominions / …

The Swedes are a new civilization and will most likely undergo changes during this guide being written. Build orders can change over time when other cards prove to be more impactful but the basic rule applies. Instead of 3 villagers blueberries is more beneficial in Commerce since your economy is going to depend on torps rather than villagers. The 700 wood is used to get those torps up and right after Engelsberg Ironworks is sent to improve their gather rate on mines. Remember to always build your torps next to mines, preferably 3 per mine. Because the Swedes build up rather slow, the unit shipment are frequently sent in between these cards to hold off early aggression. For a good card order you might want to look at different build orders made by other people.

3 villagers / 700 wood / 10 otontin slingers, 6 puma spearman, 5 coyote runner / …

3 villagers / 6 puma spearman / 10 otontin slingers, 5 coyote runner / …

3 villagers / 3 warrior priests / 700 wood / 10 otontin slingers, 6 puma spearman, 5 coyote runner / …

The Aztec have a lot of different possible card orders. Sending the 700 wood as a second shipment is usually done when you aged with the fast option, the 6 puma can be used for early siege aggression while the 3 warrior priests are excellent at filling your community plaza as fast as possible. Thanks to the improved exp rate via the plaza and the aggressive nature of the Aztec, unit shipments are sent faster than other civilizations would.

3 villagers / 7 aenna / 6 tomahawk / 4 kanya horseman / 6 aenna / …

3 villagers / 4 kanya horseman / 5 villagers / 600 wood / …

Because the Haudenosaunee get a travois with every age up, being aggressive by fast aging and building a forward war hut is a common strategy. After the mandatory 3 villagers military is usually sent to support their army. There are different builds and orders possible but the first one seems to be the most common one in my opinion.

4 villagers / 4 axe rider / 700 coin / 5 rifle rider / …

4 villagers / 700 coin / 4 axe rider / 600 coin / …

4 villagers / 7 club warrior, 6 cetan bow / 4 axe rider / 7 club warrior, 6 cetan bow / …

The Lakota got buffed in the DE-version by giving them a 4 villager shipment so that they don’t fall behind in economy too soon. The strength of their cavalry and speed boost their Warchief provides makes them an excellent civilization for raiding and constantly annoying the opponent. A common raid team consist of the 4 axe rider card and 5 trained bow riders. After this the 700 coin is shipped to be able to advance to Fortress and train powerful rifle riders. Sending both 700 and 600 coin is mostly used to create a decent mass of bow rider and win the game in the Commerce age. It is possible for Lakota to perform an infantry rush so I also included a card order for that.

300 wood / 600 wood / 6 jungle bowmen, 6 chimu runners, 5 plumed spearmen / chicha brewing / …

300 wood / Huanka support / 6 jungle bowmen, 6 chimu runners, 5 plumed spearmen / …

Just like the Swedes the Inca are a new civilization and they might not have a commonly used strategy yet. Lacking villager shipments until Fortress, they have to search for different ways to get value. Before Distributivism existed, the Russians used 300 wood as a starting shipment which I also like to send as the Inca. Some like the 2 fattened llama’s more because they allow you to age faster but these are in my opinion less good than they appear compared to 300 wood. Follow ups can be 600 wood, Huanka support for a town center and build travois or unit shipments for aggression. For a good card order you might want to look at different build orders made by other people.

Northern refugees / 700 coin / 700 wood / intervention / …

Northern refugees / 700 wood / 7 steppe rider, 9 qiang pikemen, 8 chu ko nus / …

Also not being able to send villagers directly, the Chinese usually build 2 villages at the start of the game so their northern refugees card becomes the equivalent of 3 villagers. Normally they perform a Fortress build but can also stay in Commerce age and train different armies strengthened by unit shipments, while still having the option to go Fortress afterwards using their 700 coin card. Building a consulate and allying with the British, opens up the possibility of receiving 9 redcoats from the intervention card. Unit shipments can be sent in between the first card order to hold off early aggression.

Distributivism / 5 sepoys / 4 sowars / 600 wood / …

Distributivism / foreign logging, 600 wood / 5 sepoy, 4 sowars / 600 coin / …

Just like the Russians, India uses the Distributivism but gets a villager with most shipments. When performing a 10-10 sepoy rush they age as fast as possible by not building a house in the Exploration age, receive 2 sepoy from age up, train 5 in the Agra fort and ship the 5 sepoy card. Usually followed up by more military cards to win the game in Commerce age. A more economic approach uses the second trickle or 600 wood first. The 600 coin might be used to age up or train batches of sowars if the fight stays in the Commerce age. Remember some maps have herdable animals scattered across. These are good for every civilization but especially for Indians because they generate experience over time.

Heavenly kami / 600 wood / 600 wood, 4 villagers / 5 ashigaru, 5 yumi / 600 wood, 4 villagers / …

Heavenly kami / 600 wood / 600 coin / 5 ashigaru, 5 yumi / 600 wood, 4 villagers / …

Despite having villager shipments, the Japanese benefit more from the Heavenly kami card than 2 villagers in the Exploration age. Building a consulate and allying with the Portuguese makes all their buildings become cheaper, even their ages. In transition they usually perform a shrine boom similar to the British manor boom. When aged 600 wood is used to build more shrines, afterwards 600 wood again or 4 villagers. Military cards can be sent in between for early aggression or to hold off an opponent while the 600 coin is standby for an age up. A different strategy could be sending coin sooner to train Naginata riders more easily.

- Too many economic cards for mills and estates
- Too many upgrades you will likely not use
- Outpost wagon cards (the fort card is sometimes an exception)
- Herdable upgrade cards unless you know what you’re doing
- Building hitpoints cards
- Cards with a very specific effect you will likely not use

After a couple games try revising your deck and evaluate which cards you didn’t use. Think about what cards might have helped in various situations and adjust accordingly.


That should wrap up this guide about shipments and card order. I hope this was useful to you and if so, it would mean a lot if you could rate this guide so it gets seen more often by other players who could use this information as well. Thanks for reading, Empiresfreak out :)