"Slow, infinite source of Coin. Limited to 10 gatherers."
In-game description

The Plantation is an economic building in Age of Empires III that is available once the Fortress Age is reached unless if the Advanced Plantation Home City Card has been sent, in which case it can be built in the Discovery Age. It is an infinite source of coin that can be gathered by villager-type units and acts as a replacement to the trading system in previous games.

Each villager tasked to the Plantation gathers 0.5 coin per second, which is lower than mines (0.6 coin) until improved by Plantation technologies, Home City Cards, and/or native technologies. Up to 10 villagers can work on a Plantation at a time, though due to collisions between units it is best to only use 7 per Plantation.

Asian civilizations have Rice Paddy instead of Plantation which combines the functions of a Mill and a Plantation.

Tactics Edit

Most civilizations who can build Plantations have access to the Advanced Plantation Home City Card, which reduces their cost by 31% and allows them to be built in the Discovery Age. The cost can be lowered by another 40% with the Land Grab card for a total of 71% cost reduction, but only if Land Grab is sent before Advanced Plantation – when sending the cards in the other order the cost reduction is only 58.6%. This is due to the hidden, different discount types the two cards use.

3v3 Edit

The following requires the Deccan or Silk Road maps. It also requires a Japanese ally (TEAM Chonindo), and an ally with TEAM Rum Distillery; see Home City Card for a navigation box to individual civilization cards.

The gather rate cap for a Settler at a Plantation is 88.25 coin per minute per gatherer, or 1.471 coin per second, which can be attained with the Economic Theory, TEAM Chonindo, Rum Distillery, TEAM Rum Distillery, Cigar Roller, Royal Mint, and Textile Mill cards, Excessive Taxation, Fasting, and Punjabi New Year upgrades.

The gather rate cap for the Coureur des Bois and Cree Coureur des Bois is 94.5 coin per minute per gatherer, or 1.575 coin per second, while the Settler Wagon is 194 coin per minute per wagon, or 3.233 coin per second with the Guild Artisan card.

Technologies Edit

Age Technology Cost Effect Civ.
Ages fortress
Bookkeeping Bookkeeping 300 food,
300 wood
Settlers, Coureurs des Bois, and Settler Wagons gather coin from Plantations and Rice Paddies 10% faster EU
Earth Ceremony Earth Ceremony 185 food,
150 wood
Villagers gather coin 10% faster NA
Earth Gift Ceremony Earth Gift Ceremony 380 food,
320 wood
Villagers gather coin 20% faster; requires Earth Ceremony
Tezcatlipoca Worship Tezcatlipoca Worship 900 coin Ships 1 Skull Knight for every 4 minutes the game has passed, up to 30 minutes Aztecs
Maple Festival Maple Festival 250 food,
250 wood
Ships 500 coin for every 10 minutes the game has passed, up to 30 minutes Iroquois
Gun Trade Gun Trade 400 wood Wakina Rifles and Rifle Riders get +25% attack Sioux
Ages industrial
Homesteading Homesteading 400 food,
400 wood
Settlers, Coureurs des Bois, and Settler Wagons gather coin from Plantations and Rice Paddies 20% faster; requires Bookkeeping EU
Refineries Refineries 600 food,
600 wood
Settlers, Coureurs des Bois, and Settler Wagons gather coin from Plantations and Rice Paddies 30% faster; requires Homesteading
Ages imperial
Excessive Tribute Excessive Tribute 1,000 food,
1,000 wood
All coin gathering (but not shipments and Trade Routes) is 50% faster; requires Earth Gift Ceremony NA

Further statistics Edit

Building strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs. Nothing
Weak vs. Everything
Hit points Flying Buttress Flying Buttress (+20%)
Sight Gas Lighting Gas Lighting (+4)
Construction cost Cree Textile Craftsmanship Cree Textile Craftsmanship (-25% wood)
Tupi Forest Burning Tupi Forest Burning (-20% wood)
Other Cherokee Basket Weaving Cherokee Basket Weaving (improvements except Excessive Tribute and Big Buttons cost no wood)
Penalties Code Napoleon Code Napoleon (+50% cost, French only)
Counter Infantry Rifling Customized Merc Weapons (+30% cost, John Black's Mercenaries only)

Home City Cards Edit

Bugs and glitches Edit

  • Plantations placed too closely together (side by side with no space between them) may cause some villagers to "migrate" to the adjacent Plantation. This bug also occurs with Mills and, to a lesser degree, Farms and Rice Paddies.

History Edit

"A plantation is a large farm where crops are cultivated. They were common in the southern United States as well as in parts of the Caribbean. Many historical plantations used slave labor. In the United States, plantations are associated with a distinct type of architecture known as the Plantation House."

Gallery Edit
