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Combat in Discovery/Exploration Age: The British Musketeers from Exploration/Commerce Age would have a Tudor skin.
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Italians, Russians, and Ottomans would receive the Swordsman unit (the Maltese Hospitaller) as their regional unit. The Portuguese would receive the Missionary unit (from the Spanish) as their regional unit.
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A card that converts heavy melee cavalry into light cavalry (hussar, Cossack, Uhlan, Stradiot, etc.) (either by changing them to ranged cavalry units or by changing their unit type from heavy cavalry to light cavalry, as in AoE 2)
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A mercenary version of the Keshik.
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The Privateer produces coins with each ship destroyed.
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The Church becomes a cathedral (like the one in AoE 2?) in Imperial.
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The Asian market produces Export by exchanging resources (just as the African market produces Influence).
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The Light Cannon would also be used by the Lakota, and the Urumi is created from the Indian Barracks. The Yojimbo originally countered skirmishers, foot archers, and artillery. The Sepoy originally had a small bonus against cavalry on its ranged attack. This was cut, though the unit’s rollover continued to include one until The African Royals expansion for the Definitive Edition. The Indians originally had the Grab and the Gallivat for their unique ships.
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The Hot Air Balloon is created from the Town Center (perhaps from the Industrial Age).
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The War Academy at one point was like a Blockhouse or War Hut as it had an anti-ship attack and a ranged attack which could be upgraded with Frontier War Academy and Fortified War Academy technologies, the latter additionally unlocked a cannon attack.
The Chinese originally had a unique villager unit called the Nomad, which had a bonus to gathering food from huntables but gathering all other resources slower. The Chinese originally had the Siege Workshop to produce their artillery units.
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Wokou units originally included direct replacements for the original Outlaws, and would have been treasure guardians and trainable units. The Exiled Rifleman would have been the Wokou version of the Renegade, the Wayward Ronin would have replaced the Pistolero, and the Wandering Horseman would have replaced the Comanchero.
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A hero unit called the Red Robe General was cut, it was part of an early Wonder design. Historically this was the name given to Korean general Gwak Jae-u. (this could serve as a card for a Korean CIV in the future to receive a reskinned General)
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Two Banner Armies were cut for the Chinese, each required a card to be sent and the cards enabled them to be trained from the Village. The Wokou Army would have trained 3 Wokou Pirates and 3 Wokou Monks. The Mandarin Army would have trained 2 Iron Troops and 1 Manchu.
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The Shinobi was originally a ranged cavalry unit that was good against buildings.
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A Mercenary Hut building was cut for The WarChiefs civilizations, which would have let them train mercenaries. It was potentially going to cost 500 wood (compared to the 200 wood for a Saloon), making it much more expensive for them to get access to mercenaries.
Mercenary versions of the Comanchero, Pistolero, and Renegado were created during development of The WarChiefs and ultimately cut. The mercenary version of the Pistolero was named the Gunslinger, and many years later the developers of the Definitive Edition used the same name string when creating the unique unit.
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The early design for Asian civilizations seemed to have each one receiving an extra unit or resource with their shipments. The Chinese bonus is likely to have been livestock, as they had unique versions of “Stockyards” and “Fulling Mills” which additionally sent a Cow and Water Buffalo, and their original Villager shipment cards sent Villagers or Nomads plus Pigs, Sheeps, or Cows. The Japanese bonus may have been similar to Germany’s as some of the surviving cards additionally shipped Wokou, Kensei (a cut unit), Samurai, or Shinobi. An unknown civilization would have received extra coin with their “Silversmith”, “Establish Ironmonger”, and “Royal Mint” shipments. There were cut cards that shipped crates that contained experience plus food, wood, or coin, and one of the Asians, presumably India, had cards which shipped crates with resources replaced with villagers, i.e. “Crates of 800 Wood + 8 Villagers.”
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The Chinese had cards that shipped their Banner Armies instead of individual unit types. China originally had cards that shipped both Rattan Shields and Iron Troop mercenaries, these were changed to larger quantities of Rattan Shields for release. The Chinese had more Mongolian-themed cards which were cut; a “Mongolian Livestock” card shipped 4 Sheep, a “Mongolian Saiga Herd” card shipped Saiga, and one called “Mongolian Embassy” may have been related to the Mongolian Army. The Chinese had a “Nomads” card which would have let them train villagers from Villages.
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The Indians had cards that sent Berry Bush Wagons, and another that increased the gather rate for Berry Bushes by 30%. Pets were originally a focus for India. A card called “Master Healing” would have increased the healing efficiency of India’s Brahmin and enabled them to train lions, while a card using the placeholder name “Pet Aura” gave Brahmin an aura that increased the damage of nearby pets and enabled them to train white tigers. Some of these effects were reused for India’s Monastery technologies. Indians had a card called “Rampage” which would have increased the siege damage of their Brahmin. India once had a theme for Team cards. In addition to their current cards, they originally had team shipments for a Trading Post Wagon, Rajputs, Sepoys, Sowars, Zamburaks, Mahout Lancers, and Howdahs. Interestingly, the cut cards do have +1 Villager in their name, although it is unknown if they sent them for the team or just the Indian player. India had an “Early Elephants” card that let them train Mahout Lancers, Howdahs, and Siege Elephants an Age earlier.
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A card called “Shinobi-iri” would have improved Shinobi’s siege attack and gave them the Smoke Bomb ability to teleport back to your Town Center. Wokou units, which at one point in development were direct replacements for the original Outlaw units, were originally a focus for the Japanese and they had more cards that shipped or interacted with them. A card called “Underworld Alliance” would have upgraded Wokou to become “very strong” and allowed them to be trained at the Monastery, a card called “Underworld Wokou” gave Wokou Pirates additional attack and hitpoints and enabled them at the Dock, while a card called “Wokou Den” unlocked Wokou Junks at the Dock and gave them 25% more attack and hitpoints. The Japanese had a series of cards which shipped a mixed batch of units plus to Daimyo. A card or technology named “House Healing” would have enabled Houses and Villages to heal nearby units.
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The Consulate and its technologies went through many iterations. Internal file names for the current Consulate shipment techniques reveal some of their earlier cut designs. The Dutch would have sent a Saloon Wagon instead of a Bank Wagon. The Ottomans would have focused on upgrades, providing more hitpoints for villagers, increased movement speed for military units, and increased siege damage for gunpowder units. The British appear to have allowed smaller shipments of their military units - Roger’s Rangers, Redcoat Musketeers, and Lifeguard Hussars. The French would have unlocked a Hot Air Balloon ability for your Monk(s). Asian civilizations could originally activate a “Permanent Sequestor” which disabled their Consulate but increased all gather rates by 50%. They also had cards - “Tribute System” and “Trading House” - which could increase the amount of Export gained in all tax settings and unlock an additional tax rate for 120% increased Export rate at the cost of 20% slower gather rates. In an early design for the Consulate, the units did not shadow tech and instead used mass upgrade techs called Veteran Europeans, Guard Europeans, and Imperial Europeans. Another cut design unlocked the ability to train and upgrade European artillery out of the Consulate after sending certain Consulate shipments.
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Castles originally had the Stone Fortifications upgrade for additional hitpoints, and the Castle Keep upgrade for additional range and attack. Water Trade Routes were originally going to be upgraded to Baltimore Clippers and Steam Ships in The Asian Dynasties. Blackwall Frigate would have been an upgrade name.
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The Dutch originally had Royal Guard Skirmishers instead of Halberdiers, which would also have been called Nassau/Nassauer. This may have been a reference to the Nassau Jager corps which fought during the Napoleonic Era. A cut technology called “French-Indian Friendship” would have increased the build limit of the Coureur des Bois. Town Centers once had a “Fixed Guns” technology to improve their attack.
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Some Big Buttons were cut or changed for The WarChiefs civilizations during development. The “Tradesteel Weapons” button would have increased the damage infantry units dealt in melee mode. The Flaming Arrows button originally gave archers an enhanced siege attack. The “Reckless Charge” button would have increased the damage cavalry units dealt to artillery. This effect was moved to the Bonepipe Armor button before being cut. The “Rawhide Cover” button would have increased the range armor for siege units. The “Eagle’s Eye” button would have unlocked the special attack ability for the Haudenosaunee War Chief. Buttons called “Wealth Lore,” “Hunt Lore,” and “Wood Lore” were possibly early names for the Haudenosaunee’s buttons, as each of them gave “slightly more” than 100 of their respective resources for every minute the game had lasted. The Lakota originally had Scouting Party, Raiding Party, and War Party buttons which would have sent Tokala Soldiers. The “Old Ways” card originally activated all Big Buttons except the Scouting Party, Raiding Party, and War Party. A card or upgrade called “Saloon Chain” would have increased the build limit of the Saloon to 3.
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An upgrade called “State Religion” was cut. It would have required Mission Fervor to be researched first, and it would have provided healer units with 65% more hit points and 15% more movement speed. The name and icon were salvaged in the Definitive Edition, which used them for an unrelated technology at the Mexicans’ unique Church.
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The Explorers originally had a much heavier focus, with many Home City shipments related to improving them and unlocking unique abilities, which may have functioned like AoM God Powers. For example, the Wildfire ability would light a fire that “burns across the prairie, damaging units and soldiers,” while the Field Promotion ability would have increased the hit points of allied soldiers in the area for 30 seconds. Many assets from this system still exist in the files.
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All Explorers have a dialogue line for an action known as Claim. However, this is never used in the game. A theory is that this line may have been used by the Explorer before the victory screen is triggered when the player wins the game, in a similar fashion to the lines that Heroes and other characters use in the campaign scenarios when they are won. The Explorer’s animation file also contains an attachment called Explorer Flag, which could be related to Claim.
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Units originally had many more modes, including a Squad mode where players could lock up to twenty units in a group and have them move around together in formation. This was an attempt to change how combat worked compared to previous RTS games, where instead of just sending units to an area and moving on to something else, players could monitor the combat and adjust their mode to help win battles. Some of these cut modes include a Melee mode where they got a movement speed boost and charged into melee combat, a Strike mode which gave the unit increased movement speed and lowered damage except against Pikemen, a Sharpshooter mode which increased attack but prevented movement, and an Assault mode which decreased speed but added area damage. Ships could choose Rake mode for rapid, single shots, Broadside mode for slow, multiple shots, or Bombard mode for long-range shots at targets on land. Some of these can be seen in the presentation they gave at E3 2005 and it was supposed to be one of the three features alongside the graphics and persistent Home City system that would differentiate the game from Age of Empires II.
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In addition to accessing the deck of cards, the Home City screen originally allowed players to go to the individual buildings and access technology trees to unlock new cards and upgrades in real time during a match as they gained levels for the Home City. This was meant to be an RPG-esque feature, and having the Home City be a “persistent character” players could customize was one of the three features of Age of Empires III that the developers felt would differentiate it from Age of Empires II. Some of the upgrades were mutually exclusive and players would not be able to have a Home City with all of the upgrades unlocked, which would allow two players using the same civilization to end up with very different civilizations based off the technology tree choices they made.
After upgrading Trade Routes to Trains, it was originally intended that players would be able to garrison units into a Trading Post and unload them at another Trading Post (like the Maltese Commandery).
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A victory condition for Supremacy called “Four of a Kind” was scrapped before release. It was likely cut late in development as it is described as a feature in the game’s instruction manual. It was an early version of Trade Monopoly and would have been triggered in the Industrial Age by building four Trading Posts on native sites or Trade Routes and activating a technology which cost 1,000 coin, after which a victory timer would begin and the opponents would need to destroy at least one Trading Post to stop it.
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According to an unused texture in the game files (trade_buy_fame.ddt), it would be possible to exchange coin for experience in the Market (since the experience resource was originally called fame). It may have cost 1,000 coin for 500 experience according to one of the strings.
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Originally, there were special resources that would appear on the map, including Cotton, Tobacco, Sugar Cane, and Spice. Some of these special resources appeared in the board game Glenn Drover’s Empires: The Age of Discovery. The Plantations were originally meant to be built near these special resources, and Mines needed to be built near Ore.
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Explorers were able to build something called an Explorer’s Camp, which could only be built near Secret Ruins (aka Treasures buldings).
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A cut game mode or scoring system used Victory Points. Victory Points were earned by building and holding (or destroying) Trading Posts, Town Centers, and the Explorer Camps. “Annual Awards” of Victory Points was a toggleable option, and whoever destroyed the most Victory Point buildings won the Conquistador reward after the match.
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Politicians were originally connected to the Home City and players would have to send them to advance in Age. Some strings remain for this design, and they mostly provided passive bonuses instead of resources or units. For example, the Naturalist advanced players to the Colonial Age and increased the gather rate for huntables and herdables, while the Ottomans could choose the Grand Vizier to advance to the Industrial Age and increase the hit points of their unique units. Many placeholder icons still exist in the files from this system.
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In the build at E3 2005, the age-up system was reported to let players focus on being a field general to gain bonuses to land operations, or a naval officer to gain bonuses to ship combat.
Shipments of villagers originally arrived at a flag players could place around the edge of the map, similar to the water flag for Home City shipments that deliver fishing boats or ships.
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A cut design for the native sites would have restricted them to one minor civilization per player, as there are strings that say forming a new alliance will end the current one and that players could “exclusively ally” with a native village and other players would then be prevented from allying with the same natives. This design may not have used Trading Posts, as there are strings saying players would need to make contact before allying, and allying just had a cost displayed. A similar system was added to the Definitive Edition as it now lets players only have native sites by paying resources instead of having to build a Trading Post first, as long as they have moved units near the unclaimed site.
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The civilizations in The WarChiefs originally had a design heavily focused on the Fire Pit, remnants of which can still be found in the files. Every technology used in this design says it required the Fire Pit, and, similar to the African civilizations in the Definitive Edition, each production building’s units were able to be upgraded all at once.
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The civilizations in The Asian Dynasties originally had a different Wonder system where they were classified as National, Religious, or Military, and apparently included some shared Wonders. These use some of the same and similar powers and bonuses of the current Wonders, along with some very unique ones. For example, the Imperial Palace was built slowly, but let players skip the Fortress Age and go directly to the Industrial Age; the Hwaseong Fortress produced Korean Dragon Gun artillery; and The Potala started a Wonder Victory Timer, and the player would lose if it was destroyed. Some of the scrapped data of these early Wonders and units still remain in the files, such as lists of their age-up rewards and references to their proto unit entries (ypHwaseongFortress, ypIncomparableMonastery, ypPotala, Dragon Gun) (this could work for a Korean civilization).
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A game mode was planned for The Asian Dynasties, the Relic Victory, which worked in the same way as in Age of Empires II (if one team manages to capture all Relics, a Victory timer begins, similar to Trade Monopoly). These Relics were found on Treasure sites and provided a trickle of coin once captured. A description remains in the files, “Relic Capture - Ancient Asian Relics are scattered throughout the map at Treasure sites. These Relics are substantial Coin sources. Capture them all to start a victory timer.”
The Home City included an additional building called the Estate, which may have housed the cut shipments to enhance the Explorers.
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During development, the Home City for The Asian Dynasties civilizations was called Holy Sites instead.
Several Dances for the Fire Pit were cut. A Green Corn Dance would have increased unit speed, a Morning Wars Dance spawned a special unit for the Haudenosaunee, a Victory Dance increased unit hitpoints, a Fishing Dance or Greatfish Dance improved gather rates for fish and whales, a Herd Mother Dance made livestock fatten faster on Farms, and an unnamed dance boosted all gather rates.
The Chinese’s Transcendence power originally gave a short duration increase to military production speed, similar to the Mexicans’ “TEAM Mariachi” card in the Definitive Edition.
Many easter egg units were made for The Asian Dynasties but were cut: “Afro Ninja,” “Golden Maya Man,” “Bear Cop,” “Zeke,” and “Catan Robber.”
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A Grand Canyon map was planned for The WarChiefs but was cut. It would have featured a “deep chasm flanked by starting areas.”
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A Fortress Age version of The Black Duke was created for the Knights of the Mediterranean expansion and ultimately scrapped.
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A Commerce Age version of The Knight was created for the Knights of the Mediterranean expansion. It would have sent an additional Explorer and enabled an alternate version of the Imperial Age politician.
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In the The Baltics Powers beta, additional remnants of the cut Danish and Polish revolutions can be found. The Polish revolution was available to the Germans, Russians, and at least one other civilization, and would have provided 6 Winged Hussars and enabled them at Stables, while all Settlers became Polish Lancers (a heavy cavalry unit with a charge attack). The Danish revolution was available to the British, Germans, and Swedes, and would have provided 1 Shipment and Settlers would become Northern Musketeers, which were enabled at Barracks. Some of the cards designed for these revolutions were repurposed for the full civilizations.
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In the The Baltics Powers beta, there are remains of what seems to be an Irish revolution, with Dublin as the Home City. It ships 7 Gallowglasses and Settlers become Bonaght Militia, who counter mercenaries and native auxiliaries. It would have featured these cards: Fenian Musketeers (Upgrades Musketeers to Fenian Musketeers that have a long-ranged attack, +5 Stealth Petards); Irish Immigrants (Ships 2 Pilgrims for each shipment sent so far this game as well as every new shipment); Irish Pilgrim (Ships 8 semi-fattened Cows and 2 Irish Pilgrims); Dublin Beer Factory (Ships 1 Factory Wagon and researches its resource upgrades, +1 Heavy Cannon); Pub Culture (Ships 3 Tavern Wagons and enables them at your Town Center. Taverns generate resources faster, including food); Woodkerne (Ships 3 Pikemen for each House. Pikemen are faster, have Guard status, and now cost less food); Gaelic Chieftain (Delivers 1 Gaelic Chieftain, a cavalry hero that can receive shipments, train troops, and increase the hitpoints of nearby infantry units); 18 Bonaght Militia; Creach (Gallowglasses and Bonaght Militias can gather from crates, Berry Bushes, livestock and trees. You gain resources for destroying buildings); 12 Gallowglasses; 18 Irish Brigadiers; 24 Stuart Allies; Na Séamasaigh (Ships 1 Royal Embassy Wagon in which the House of Stuart grants access to its Royal units, upgrades, and technologies. Stuart units now cost population when acquired from the Royal Embassy or the Home City, +10 Bonaght Militia).
