I’ll tell you some about my personal experience. I was origially drawn to AoE III because I was interested in the time frame, including elements like the muskets and cannons. However I soon bacame enamoured by the non-linear experience and how dynamic could the game become, at least in my subjetive comparson with AoK. For me is much more interesting to send a card in the right moment than compete on how fast can you research thumb ring, to put an example.
I would be very graful if you tell me something about your experience.
18 Likes
Kid version of me afraid of AoEII Bombard Tower, especially when they still do melee damage. In AoEIII Fort and Fortified outpost does not 1 shot kill your musketeer despite shooting cannon ball, so I no longer afraid of cannon ball.
Other reason is because I broke the old AoK and AoC CD, and only got AoEIII installed on PC up until 2010.
- The customizability of how you want to play via the card system gives unlimited variety and replayability.
- The maps while being beautiful are also full of life and immersive. Highly detailed.
- AoE3 oozes personality with the AI leaders. I love the banter.
- The array of different types of units- From Swordsmen to Lowgbows to Rifles. AoE3 has it all.
- The artillery is fun to use. You have to love those physics and animations. Bang! Engine supremacy.
- Native settlements and trading posts add flavor and depth to the overall experience.
There is more but that’s all I can think of right now. AoE3 was everything I ever wanted out of an AoE in 2005 and that still holds true today. ES wasn’t afraid to evolve and try new things.
33 Likes
When I was a kid it was the graphics. Really impressive when I saw the first trailer. The animations and ragdoll physics as well it was perfection. And it was the natural next step after the medieval period so it just felt right. Now, I play mainly for strategic variety. I love coming up with new strategies and this game has thousands of options. Other age games just have rushes, booms, fast age 3, and just regular old making troops and attacking when ready. AOM had more options than the others but AOE3DE has seemingly infinite strategic potential.
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The setting and the game engine for sure. I don’t think any other RTS game will ever have the card system for one.
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Cards, Natives, Mercs, Outlaws and ofc all the diffent civ units - all the things that make each game unique and the same boring meta units
ofc some exception exist(Otto) but even when facing those you can use so many different things to try and beat them which makes for way more replayability than games where you just got the same unit and upgrade roster each match
5 Likes
I agree with what everyone here has already been saying, the time period, the beautiful presentation, the incredible variety in strategies and tactics.
My most personal reason though is that at the time I first played AoE3 I was learning about the colonial history of my country (Australia) and playing a game that had some of those elements in it fascinated me and made my imagination take off! It really amazed me to see redcoat soldiers and gold miners and sailing ships “come to life” in that way, and sparked a lifelong interest in the era 
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Nice to have your opinion!
Very reach content. Faction, Minor factions, has the largest number of units and unit variants
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For me, what really makes it stand out is the timeframe, home city system and the graphics in general.
The whole 16th century to 19th century Early Modern Era is one of my favourite periods in history, along with Napoleonics/ Victorian Era/Age of Revolutions that followed after. The Age of Sail conveniently also covers most of these eras. To summarise - I love the muskets, cannon, ships, the science and that weird transitionary part where armoured knights used pistols and carbines.
Growing up, I’d always played medieval RTS games (AoK OBS), however it’s actually when I played Cossacks European Wars did the timeframe truly captured my attention, followed by American Conquest and Rise of Nations (Gunpowder Age!). When Age of Empires III originally came out, I jumped on it immediately (after religiously following any snippet of news and images).
The graphics were amazing at the time (and still a number of years after!) and the ragdoll effects were great with cannon fire. Unit proportions compared to ships and buildings was and is still pretty great (especially compared to aoe4!) and the water graphics were and still are some of the best.
The Home city card system was a really unique and deep element and sets it out from the competition, with the only real shame being that you had to slowly level up and unlock things in the original release, which instantly turned of a number of the player base. However Definitive Edition had dealt away with this for the better.
10 Likes
It was everything I loved when I was a kid. I’ve spent hours just looking the maps, the details of the units and metropolis. It was all so beatifull at the moment (and continues today with DE). Also the physics, the ships, and the fact that the IA players “talk” to you when playing drawn me even more.
Gameplaywhise, I don’t think any other RTS allow you to be so creative with the way you want to play any civ, and it has all to do with the card system.
And finally, when I felt it has nothing left in the game for me, I’ve discovered mods that really brings flavour to the game (first it was WOTTA/WOL, and now AOTW/AOP)
8 Likes
To this day, I haven’t found another RTS game where you can use Knights vs. Gatling Camels Or using Da Vinci tanks to bombard the US wooden dummy cannon…
On the other hand, with the exception of Germany, the game largely satisfies my enjoyment of war games in the Napoleonic era and early mordern age.
6 Likes
The time setting. It is a period with combined arm and fierce conflicts between drastically different ideas and civilizations.
The only thing I find lacking is the scale. Not only talking about unit numbers, but also map sizes and scopes of campaigns. This is the perfect period to show massive actions and huge battles. There were major events that shape the world we live in today. Shame that the original game ONLY focuses on small colonial skirmishes (not only the campaigns but all skirmish maps in legacy feel that way; need to emphasize that my complaint is not that they exist, but that they were the one and ONLY theme). If future updates slowly complete this part then it will become the most representative historical game of the early modern period.
Edit: also, I love hats.
6 Likes
Along with all the other reasons stated by others, I also like how fast the game feels. Units counter bonus is multiplicative, so every fight is consequential. Unlike other ones, where units just feel like blobs mashing together, and you can run away to the corner of the map from any engagement.
I like the compendium in the game and reading about the civilizations and units. Aoe3 concept art were made by some of the best artists, which includes one of my favourite ones, like Craig Mullin. I really enjoyed looking at those.
I like batch training, feel more natural. And a big preference for me is the vill distribution on resources. I somehow find it more clean in aoe3, maybe it is just because I am used to it, but it never feels as clean in aoe2 or aoe4. Somehow each villager in aoe3 feels like it has weight and purpose. Losing even one villager is a setback. In other games, villagers seem more expendable. But maybe I am wrong on this one.
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This.
Why did I forgot this underated element? I love reading about all the units l!
3 Likes
It’s a shame that we could have pretty much a similar experience as today but dev team got cought in the early 00s “America!!!” craze. “Why work on Italy or Poland, they never had colonies in the modern USA”, heck, the OG imperial age politicians that we could use were designed to be either George Washington as the General or Abe Lincoln as the president.
Fortunatelly each expansion have somewhat fixed that.
It’s a fast game. Things happen quick. That’s one of the good things about cards… just when things are slowing down you level up in experience and get to pick a card. You’re always making decisions and it’s not just ‘spam guys’.
4 Likes
I love batch training too. If I wanted to play a city builder I wouldn’t choose AoE. I hate having to build 20 production buildings just to keep up.
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It was the setting for me, I grew up in the New England/Massachusetts area, which still has very prominent Patriot/Colonial American culture, it’s very common to visit an old Massachusetts town(or Boston) and see numerous historical references to the American Revolution, so playing a game that finally took place where I grew up felt awesome to me. Growing up in a small Massachusetts town, the game has always sort of resonated with me and it was cool because there were references in the game to history that was local to me. It’s just such an interesting time period and genre. I’m not upset at all about the change of scope from small colonies facing off against each other in the Americas to now waging war across the world though, the more content the better!
4 Likes
Small world. I’m from the Boston area. 
I live near a meetinghouse that was being built during the Battle of Bunker Hill- the builders carved in the rafters the date they heard the cannon fire.
1 Like