Settler
The Settler is the standard European and Federal American worker in Age of Empires III. It gathers Food, Wood and Coin, constructs most buildings, unpacks resource shipments and can claim Treasures. The unit is economically central from the Exploration Age through Imperial play, but it is intentionally weak in combat. In standard random-map games, most European and Federal American civilizations begin with six Settlers; civilization bonuses, age-up rewards, Home City cards and revolution choices can change the starting count, train limit or replacement unit. Several other civilizations use a Villager, Merchant or Yörük instead, so pages and strategies should be read with the correct civilization and release in mind.
Recorded values
- Available
- Exploration Age · Town Center; Manor House (British, with the "Terraced Houses" card)
- Training
- 25 seconds; 52 (Russians) sec · 1 population · 10 XP per train
- Durability & mobility
- 150 hit points · 20% hand resistance · 4.0 speed · 14 line of sight
- Hand attack
- 10 damage · 1.5 attack interval · bonuses: 5.0x vs. Llama, 16
- Ranged attack
- 3 damage · 2-12 range · 3.0 attack interval · bonuses: 4.0x vs. Huntable; 2.0x vs. Pet; 2.0x vs. Artillery; 0.5x vs. Villager
- Siege attack
- 5 damage · 3.0 attack interval · bonuses: 3.0x vs. Resource enclosure
- Ability
- Gathers resources; Builds buildings; Claims treasures
Economic role & work
A standard Settler costs 100 Food, takes 25 seconds to train and occupies one population. The ordinary limit is 99, while several civilizations have a different cap. Settlers gather from map resources, use buildings for renewable income, and can be reassigned whenever the source is exhausted or unsafe. Their baseline rates depend on the source. A crate is unpacked at 8 resources per second, or 480 per minute, making crate collection far faster than ordinary work. Herded animals yield 2 Food per second (120 per minute); hunted animals yield 0.84 (50.4 per minute). Berry Bushes, Cherry Orchards and Mills each yield 0.67 Food per second (40.2 per minute). Farms, Rice Paddies, Fields and Haciendas normally yield 0.5 Food per second (30 per minute). For Wood, Trees, Mango Groves and Haciendas yield 0.5 per second (30 per minute), while a Field yields 0.34 (20.4 per minute). For Coin, Mines, Tribal Marketplaces and Mountain Monasteries yield 0.6 per second (36 per minute); Estates yield 0.5 (30 per minute); Rice Paddies, Haciendas and Fields yield about 0.34 (20.4 per minute). These are listed base rates before gathering technologies, civilization bonuses, shipment effects, walking time and source-specific rules. The difference between hunted Food and farmed Food is substantial: a safe nearby herd can support rapid growth, while a distant hunt may lose much of that advantage to travel and raids. Mills, Farms, Rice Paddies, Fields, Estates, Haciendas and Tribal Marketplaces offer repeatable alternatives when map resources run low, but their rates and available upgrades differ.
Practical economy and protection
The Town Center is the normal production building. Age and civilization determine access to specialized production: British Manors normally add a free Settler when built, and the Terraced Houses card permits training there while doubling Settler training time at both Manors and Town Centers. Settlers can unpack crates at the designated shipment point, collect Treasures like a hero, and build most structures for which the player has the required Age, resources and valid placement. European and Federal American starts are usually six, but several exceptions matter: the Portuguese start with seven; the Russians start with five and train three at a time; the Italians start with three and receive a free Settler for each technology researched; Germans start with three Settler Wagons but can still train ordinary Settlers; and British Manor construction adds workers as its own bonus. Mexican Settlers have a limit of 85 in the current listed rules and can be generated by Fortress Age Haciendas. Swedish and United States limits are 90. Russian groups cost 260 Food in total and take 52 seconds under the listed current values, reflecting their lower per-worker cost and faster batch production. Dutch and Ottoman worker identities were revised in Definitive Edition update 13.27885: the Dutch use Merchants and the Ottomans use Yörük as their Settler-type economy units. French Coureurs des Bois are a separate, more expensive worker with stronger combat and gathering characteristics, rather than ordinary Settlers. Many Asian, African and Native civilizations use Villagers with a similar general economic purpose, but their civilization-specific rules still apply. Politician rewards can add workers when aging: The Naturalist normally grants two Settlers at the Commerce Age, but Germans receive a Settler Wagon instead; The Medici grants an Italian Settler and can grant a second after Advanced Politicians; The Viceroy grants five British Settlers when chosen for the Industrial Age.
Gathering rates and production
Resource choice is a map and timing decision. Early in a match, nearby hunts and mines usually let a growing economy work faster than a distant renewable building, but they expose workers to scouting and raids. Use safe gathering locations first, then shift to Mills or civilization-specific resource buildings when a hunt or mine is depleted or too dangerous. Wood is often needed in bursts for housing, production and upgrades; move workers back to Food or Coin when the immediate construction budget is ready instead of leaving an oversized Wood group idle. Reassigning Settlers is also part of shipment timing: crates arrive quickly but must be unpacked, and the gatherers then need to return to their assigned source. Use a Town Center, Outpost or Fort garrison to protect exposed workers. A Town Center needs at least one Settler garrisoned to activate its ranged attack. Settlers are poor troops: their ranged attack is weak, their reload is slow, and fighting directly interrupts valuable gathering. If they must fight at close range, their melee attack reloads faster than the ranged attack, but this is an emergency choice rather than an army plan. The Wiki comparison estimates that an unupgraded Settler dealing damage to a Musketeer generates about 0.67 resources per second, comparable to some gathering tasks; the Town Center attack at 9 damage is substantially stronger. Blunderbuss doubles the worker ranged attack, but this does not turn workers into a cost-effective frontline. Keep them near an army only when they can build a needed military structure or safely return to work once danger passes.
Civilization & revolution differences
A reliable economy uses separate worker groups for immediate resources, construction and shipment crates. Start with the resource mix required for Town Center production and the first military or economic building, then scout before committing many workers to a forward source. When building a structure, use only the number of workers needed for its timing and return the others to gathering; too many builders can briefly stop the resource flow that is needed to train the next Settlers. As the match develops, compare gathering source quality with protection and travel distance rather than assuming that the highest listed rate always wins. Hunted animals yield more Food than Mills and Farms, but a raid can kill the gatherers and force a long walk to the next source. A defensible mine can be worth more than an exposed mine with the same nominal Coin rate. Home City cards such as 4 Settlers and 5 Settlers provide direct worker reinforcements where the chosen civilization has them. Other cards in the source list improve a gathering type, support a specific building economy, or change access to workers; examples include Pioneers, Russian-American Company, Sawmills, Exotic Hardwoods, Silversmith, Food Silos, Royal Mint, Sustainable Agriculture, Refrigeration, Furrier, Spice Trade, Rum Distillery, Cigar Roller, Textile Mill and Medicine. Card availability is civilization-specific, and a team card is not necessarily available to the player who is relying on it. The cards should be checked in the current Home City deck rather than treated as universal Settler bonuses. Gathering research also differs by source. Hunting Dogs and Steel Traps improve Food gathered from hunts; Seed Drill and Artificial Fertilizer improve Food from Mills, Farms and related sites; European Large Scale Agriculture and the United States Iowa Farmlands are later farming improvements. Gang Saw, Log Flume and Circular Saw improve Wood work, while Deforestation is a European bonus and Pine Tree State is a United States option. Mining technologies improve Coin at mines, whereas Bookkeeping, Homesteading and Refineries target estate-style production. Research the upgrades that apply to the resources the workers will actually gather long enough to repay the cost. Politicians and revolutions can change the unit line entirely. In The WarChiefs and The Asian Dynasties, a European revolution usually turns Settlers into Revolutionaries, which replace them at Town Centers; British Manors can also train Revolutionaries if the Estates card was sent before the revolt. Definitive Edition adds more outcomes. European or Mexican workers become special units in some revolutions: Baja California uses Filibusters, the Barbary States Barbary Warriors, California Californios, Finland Karelian Jaegers, Indonesia Javanese Spearmen, Mexico Cuerudos and Texas Volunteers. British settlers retain their worker role in Canada; workers also remain after a South African revolt, with a 10% gathering increase. Many revolutionary countries can use Citizenship to train Settlers as Citizens for 70 Coin, while Chile has Salitrera for the same role. Barbary States, Brazil and Indonesia use their own cards to retain worker training after revolt. Check the chosen revolutionary path before spending cards or resources on a normal Settler production plan. These distinctions explain why Settler is both a unit entry and a gateway to civilization economy pages: the core job is shared, but opening numbers, gathering buildings, caps and post-revolution identities are not. Gather-rate upgrades should be chosen by source rather than by a vague goal of making all workers faster. For hunted Food, Hunting Dogs adds 10% and Steel Traps adds 20%. Seed Drill adds 15% and Artificial Fertilizer 30% to the listed farm-style sources; Large Scale Agriculture adds 50% to those sources for Europeans, while Iowa Farmlands gives the United States a 40% improvement. General bonuses such as Klamath Work Ethos and Fasting affect broader gathering, while Punjabi New Year improves the named building-based Food sources. For Wood, Gang Saw adds 10%, Log Flume 20% and Circular Saw 30%; Deforestation is a 50% European option, and Pine Tree State is a 40% United States option. Wood Clearing and Yoruba Herbalism are additional source-specific improvements. For Coin, Placer Mines adds 10% and Amalgamation 20% at mines; Bookkeeping, Homesteading and Refineries improve Estate-style gathering by 10%, 20% and 30% respectively. Other civilization or map upgrades, including Quechuan Metalworking, Navajo Craftsmanship and Mountain State Gold Rush, target particular sources or economies. These improvements do not all affect every worker or every building. Check the tooltip and building type, then assign enough workers to the affected source for the upgrade to repay its cost. A technology that helps a mine cannot compensate for having no safe mine, and a farm improvement is wasted when the Settlers are still hunting. Crates are another special task because the gathering rate is high but the worker must be available at the arrival point. Resource crates and shipments arrive at the selected delivery location, usually the first Town Center unless the mode permits a different target. A Settler must unpack them before their contents enter the economy. It can be useful to leave a nearby worker uncommitted during a shipment arrival, but do not leave too many idle: once the crate is empty, return that worker to a productive source. Experience and Influence crates follow the same arrival logic but affect progression systems rather than the three basic resource pools. Workers can also claim Treasure rewards after the guarding force is removed, so a safe Treasure route can contribute more than its immediate resource value if the reward supplies experience or units. Age-ups create useful but situational worker bonuses. The Naturalist normally adds two Settlers on reaching Commerce Age; the German reward is instead a Settler Wagon. The Italian Medici reward adds one Settler, or two after Advanced Politicians. The British Viceroy provides five Settlers when selected for Industrial Age. These units arrive alongside the politician package and should be included in the age-up budget rather than treated as a guaranteed opening bonus. A worker shipment can temporarily accelerate Town Center production by adding gatherers without using its queue, while the same resources spent on a military shipment could prevent early pressure. Compare the map, current worker count, and expected arrival time before making the choice. Revolutions change the worker economy, not just the army. In the earlier The WarChiefs and The Asian Dynasties rule set, European Settlers generally become Revolutionaries, which replace ordinary Settler production. British Estates permits the Manor House to train them after the card is played. Definitive Edition has more varied outcomes: Baja California turns them into Filibusters; Barbary States into Barbary Warriors; California into Californios; Finland into Karelian Jaegers; Indonesia into Javanese Spearmen; Mexico into Cuerudos; and Texas into Volunteers. Canada for the British and South Africa are exceptions where Settlers remain workers; South African Settlers gather 10% faster. Citizenship lets many revolutionary nations train replacement Citizens for 70 Coin, and Chile uses Salitrera for the same purpose. Barbary States, Brazil and Indonesia each have a specific card that preserves worker training after the revolt. After choosing a revolution, confirm whether the original worker survives, changes into a fighter, or can be retrained; otherwise the economy may stop permanently while resources accumulate unused. The unit cap also affects long matches. The usual maximum of 99 Settlers supports a mature economy, but the Mexican, Swedish and United States limits show that the cap is not universal; a civilization that generates workers from buildings or technologies can reach its practical limit differently from one that relies only on Town Center queues. Track population alongside the worker count, because adding workers consumes housing that could otherwise be used for the army. In a standard match, the right number is not automatically the maximum: stop producing when the resource flow meets planned unit production, upgrades and construction, then spend the remaining population on the force that will secure the map.
Worker role, task choice and safety
Settlers convert time into the resources that sustain the entire match. Their practical income depends on the task, upgrades, walking distance, drop-off location and whether the resource remains safe. Hunts often provide strong early Food, forests support housing and production, and mines supply Coin for advanced units and technologies. Assign workers close to their resource, avoid long walks, and move them when the opponent threatens a hunt or mine. Garrisoning workers in a Town Center, Outpost or Fort can protect them; a Settler is also required in a Town Center for its defensive ranged attack in the relevant rules.
Civ-specific worker names and age-up rewards
Not every civilization uses a unit literally named Settler. French Coureurs des Bois gather and fight differently; Dutch Merchants and Ottoman Yörüks reflect their own worker rules, while Asian and Native American civilizations often use Villagers. Politicians, Home City Cards and civilization bonuses can add workers during age advancement. German Settler Wagons are a distinct high-value worker type, not ordinary Settlers. Use the civilization-specific entry for cost, train time, gather rate and limit: a worker profile from one faction should not be applied to another merely because both gather resources.
Do not expose workers as a substitute army
Settlers can attack when forced, but their combat output usually loses value compared with gathering and they are especially vulnerable to raids. If workers must defend, use the Town Center or nearby buildings, bring trained military units and return the Settlers to safety as soon as the threat passes. Temporary combat bonuses or villager upgrades may help in emergencies, but they do not turn an economy into a reliable army. Keep producing workers during pressure when the Town Center can do so safely; stopping the economy for too long makes recovery harder even after the enemy retreats.
Civilization-specific costs and population limits
Settler values are not identical across civilizations. Russian Settlers currently cost 86.67 Food and take 52 seconds to train; the cost was 90 Food before update 38254, while training time was 53 seconds before that update and 51 seconds before update 13.27885. Settler limits have also changed by civilization: the Mexican limit is now 85, up from 80 before update 61213; the Swedish limit is 90, compared with 99 before update 13.690, 90 before update 13.27885 and 85 before update 14.43676; the United States limit is 90, compared with 99 before update 13.27885 and 85 before update 13.58326. Check the civilization-specific limit rather than treating the generic 99 cap as universal.