Age of Empires III (2007 Complete Collection): Complete Guide

A strategy guide for the 2007 Age of Empires III Complete Collection (base game, The WarChiefs, and The Asian Dynasties) — with notes on moving to Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, which is where online play lives now.

Researched September 2026 — current as of the retired 2007 build (delisted October 10, 2024; online services shut down October 30, 2024). Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition is still supported and received The Baltic Powers expansion in September 2026. Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Status: What Still Works

Date	Event
1 Sep 2021	Old ESO multiplayer domain lost; Microsoft released a manual "AgeIIIESOPatch_Full" patch to reroute multiplayer
10 Oct 2024	The 2007 version was removed from sale on Steam
30 Oct 2024	Online multiplayer for the 2007 version ended permanently
Now	If you own it, the campaign and skirmish still work offline

Microsoft's official recommendation for online play is Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition (released October 15, 2020), which has a free trial on Steam with rotating civilizations. Everything in the mechanics sections below applies to both versions unless noted.

Quick Start

Never stop making villagers. Your Town Center should be producing constantly for the first 15-20 minutes.
Collect your starting crates first. Food, wood, and coin crates sit next to your Town Center; villagers gather them almost instantly.
Send your Explorer treasure hunting immediately. Treasures give resources, XP, and sometimes free units. Avoid guarded ones you can't beat.
Use your Home City shipments every time one is ready. Experience earns shipments; a delayed shipment is lost tempo.
Build a deck before playing. Your deck (the cards you can ship in a match) is chosen before the game. Include economy cards for the early ages.
Age up when you can afford it — typically into the Colonial Age for your first army, or Fortress Age for stronger units.
Learn the counter system. Infantry, cavalry, and artillery each counter something and lose to something else.
Build Trading Posts on trade routes and at native settlements — XP, resources, and native allies.

Core Mechanics

Resources

Food: hunting (fastest early), berry bushes, livestock, then Mills (Europeans) and farms.
Wood: trees; later you may need to expand to new forests.
Coin: mines early, then Plantations or Estates late game; some civs get coin from trade.
Experience: from gathering, building, killing, and treasures. Fills the bar that earns Home City shipments.

Mills and plantations are infinite but slower; transition to them once hunts and mines run dry.

The Five Ages

Age	What it unlocks
Discovery	Economy setup, scouting, treasures
Colonial	Core military (musketeers, skirmishers, hussars and equivalents)
Fortress	Artillery, forts, stronger units
Industrial	Factories (European), stronger economy upgrades, heavy artillery
Imperial	Final upgrades, strongest cards

Europeans age up by choosing a Politician each age (for example, one who ships resources, one who ships units, or one who ships livestock). WarChiefs native civs use a Council system, and Asian Dynasties civs build a Wonder to advance, each Wonder giving a lasting bonus. The Colonial Age costs Europeans 800 food.

Home City and Decks

Your Home City levels up across matches (in the 2007 version, you unlock more cards as your Home City levels). Each match you choose a deck; shipments come from your deck every time your XP bar fills.

Deck-building rules of thumb:

2-4 economy cards for the Discovery/Colonial ages (villagers, resource crates, gathering upgrades).
2-4 early military cards (unit batches, a fort or outpost wagon if your civ uses one).
A few Fortress/Industrial power cards (big unit shipments, key upgrades).
In the 2007 version decks are 20 cards; Definitive Edition expanded decks to 25.

Military and Counters

Unit type	Examples	Beats	Loses to
Heavy infantry	Musketeers, Pikemen	Cavalry	Skirmishers, artillery
Light infantry	Skirmishers, Crossbowmen	Heavy infantry	Hussars, heavy cavalry
Heavy cavalry	Hussars, Cuirassiers	Light infantry, artillery	Musketeers, pikemen
Light cavalry	Dragoons	Heavy cavalry	Heavy infantry
Artillery	Falconets, Culverins, Mortars	Infantry (Falconet), artillery (Culverin), buildings (Mortar)	Cavalry

Watch the unit tooltip for its multipliers — AoE III's counter system is about multipliers against unit classes.

Explorers and Treasures

Your Explorer can't die permanently; if knocked out, he revives when a friendly unit comes near or you pay a ransom at the Town Center. He can also build Trading Posts and has a special attack. Guarded treasures are free value if you can beat the guardians.

Trade Routes and Natives

Trading Posts on trade routes generate XP (or resources after upgrades) whenever a caravan passes.
Trading Posts at native villages unlock native units and native technologies — some of the strongest upgrades in the game.

Civilizations (2007 Complete Collection)

Group	Civilizations	Key identity
European (base game)	British, Dutch, French, Germans, Ottomans, Portuguese, Russians, Spanish	Politicians, Mills/Plantations, balanced armies
Native (The WarChiefs)	Aztecs, Iroquois, Sioux	Fire Pit dances for bonuses, Council age-ups, fast infantry and cavalry
Asian (The Asian Dynasties)	Chinese, Indians, Japanese	Wonders to age up, Export resource, unique economies

Beginner-friendly picks: British (Manor houses spawn villagers — straightforward boom), Ottomans (free villager production, strong artillery), Germans (Uhlan cavalry bonuses on shipments), and French (strong Coureurs des Bois villagers).

Definitive Edition notes: DE renamed the Sioux to Lakota and the Iroquois to Haudenosaunee, added the Inca and Swedes at launch, then United States (April 2021), Ethiopians and Hausa (The African Royals, August 2021), Mexicans (December 2021), Italians and Maltese (Knights of the Mediterranean, May 2022), and Danes and Poles (The Baltic Powers, 10 September 2026, which also added Regicide and Independence modes), per Wikipedia.

Openings (Build Order Principles)

Exact build orders vary by civ and map, but a standard European opening looks like this:

0:00 — Town Center queues villagers. Starting villagers gather crates. Explorer scouts for treasures and hunts.
After crates — most villagers on food (hunt near your base), a few on wood for a house (Europeans need houses for population).
First shipment — usually villagers or a resource crate.
Colonial Age — when you have enough food, click age up and pick a politician that fits your plan (resources for boom, units for rush).
During age-up — shift villagers to wood and coin for your first barracks/stable.
Colonial — ship a unit batch, build your first army, and decide: pressure, defend, or fast Fortress.

Three common strategies:

Colonial rush: early army to damage enemy economy; strong for aggressive civs.
Fast Fortress: skip early fighting and age up quickly for stronger units and cards.
Boom: invest in economy (villagers, market upgrades, extra Town Center) and defend with minimal military.

Campaigns

The base campaign follows the Black family across three acts: Act I: Blood, Act II: Ice, Act III: Steel. The WarChiefs campaign continues the family story with Nathaniel and Chayton Black, and The Asian Dynasties adds separate Japanese, Chinese, and Indian campaigns.

Campaign tips:

Read objectives — many missions are about escorting, holding, or destroying specific targets.
Heroes can't be permanently killed but going down can fail objectives.
Always build economy first unless a mission's timer says otherwise.

Getting the 2007 Version Running

Launch through Steam; the ESO patch from 2021 no longer matters for online since online ended in October 2024.
Use the in-game resolution options for widescreen. If UI elements look odd, try a lower resolution with desktop scaling.
For multiplayer with friends, the realistic option is Definitive Edition.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Idle Town Center. The single biggest beginner mistake.
Forgetting shipments. Check the shipment icon whenever the XP bar fills.
Housed. Europeans hit population cap if they don't build houses.
Mass one unit type. A single-type army gets countered hard.
Artillery with no escort. Cavalry eats unescorted artillery.
Ignoring treasures. Early treasures can snowball your economy.
Sitting on resources. Floating hundreds of resources means you're not spending on villagers or units.
Not transitioning to mills/plantations before hunts and mines run out.

Advanced Tips

Micro your Explorer — use his special attack and snipe weak enemy villagers early.
Hunt herding: push animals closer to your Town Center to shorten villager walking.
Use outposts and walls sparingly; a tower near your mine can stop cavalry raids.
Market upgrades pay off early — faster gathering compounds all game.
Trade route XP accelerates shipments; take routes near your base.
Native techs can be game-changing — scout native villages early.
Build your deck around your civ's strongest ages; don't put Imperial cards in a rush deck.
Keep production buildings queued during fights; reinforce continuously.

FAQ

Can I still play the 2007 version online? No. Multiplayer ended October 30, 2024. Campaign and skirmish still work for owners.

Can I still buy the 2007 version? No. It was removed from sale on October 10, 2024. Definitive Edition is the supported version.

Is Definitive Edition worth switching to? If you want online play, updated balance, more civilizations, or Art of War challenges — yes. It has a free trial with rotating civs.

What's the best civ for beginners? British, Ottomans, or Germans are straightforward and strong.

How many civs are in the 2007 Complete Collection? 14: eight European, three native, three Asian.

What happened to the Sioux and Iroquois in DE? They were renamed Lakota and Haudenosaunee.