User manual GAMES PC AGE OF EMPIRES III-COLLECTOR S EDITION PLAYER S GUIDE

[. . . ] X11-36640 www. ageofempires3. com Credits Writers & Content Experts: Bruce C. Shelley Greg Street Art Producer: Lance Hoke Progr am Manager: Brian Lemon Writer: Jon Seal Historian: James Henretta Editor: Brent Metcalfe Assistant Editors: Jack Turk Laura Hamilton Heidi Wartelle--Volt Design & Art: Jeannie Voirin-Gerde Jeremy Parton --S&T Onsite Information in this document, including URL and other Internet Web site references, is subject to change without notice. Unless otherwise noted, the example companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places, and events depicted herein are fictitious, and no association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, e-mail address, logo, person, place, or event is intended or should be inferred. Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. [. . . ] Noted for its numerous infantry, guns, and cavalry, the army got its experience in border wars and was eventually pulled into the conflicts with Napoleonic France. It was especially successful in defending its homeland, as the Swedes and Napoleon learned to their cost. Russia had been expanding for some time, but the area south to the Black Sea and beyond was contested by the Ottoman Empire. The Russians engaged the Swedes to the northwest for a share of the Baltic and gathered in the Swedish provinces of Latvia and Estonia (giving up Finland in exchange). They made much more progress to the east toward Siberia. At the command of Peter the Great, a Danish seaman named Vitus Bering began a series of voyages into the northern Pacific Ocean from Siberia, beginning in 1725. These voyages eventually explored the Bering Sea, the Bering Strait, southern Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, and northwest North America. Russian trading voyages to Alaska and the Americas began in 1775 and a first Alaskan settlement was established in 1784. Russia also founded outposts down the coast of Alaska, in the Aleutian Islands, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California. The colonists were primarily interested in harvesting furs. In some areas they treated the indigenous people cruelly, forcing them to hunt for otter and surrender the pelts to the colonists. The costs of outpost support and transportation were so high, however, that the colonies were barely profitable, and few Russians wanted to travel so far from home. In 1867, Russia sold Alaska to the United States for $7. 2 million dollars. 14 15 Germany At the time of Columbus' first voyage, Germany consisted of four hundred separate entities, including cities, principalities, and feudal states. Though nominally part of the Holy Roman Empire, they were in fact beyond the control of the Holy Roman Emperor in Spain. There was no central government that dictated policy, collected taxes, or marshaled armies. In 1517 a German monk, Martin Luther, protested against a variety of practices of the Catholic Church by nailing his arguments to a church door in Wittenberg. This was a traditional way of opening a debate at the university there, but he started something larger than a scholarly debate. His act set off the Protestant Reformation, as copies of his theses, translated from Latin into German and other languages, spread throughout Germany and the rest of Europe. The Reformation in turn brought about the Counter-Reformation as the Catholic Church reordered itself. The struggle between the two religious views broke out into the Thirty Years' War, which was particularly brutal and devastating in Germany. German provinces ended up choosing to be either Catholic (primarily in the south) or Protestant (in the north). In the sixteenth century the small Baltic duchy of Prussia gradually began expanding thanks to good leadership and a growing military tradition. [. . . ] Building Outposts near the local Cree and Lakota villages may help control sections of the map. Patagonia The Patagonian map contains no Natives, but does include six Trading Posts. Control the three posts you own and one belonging to your enemy, and victory is almost assured you. To maintain a steady supply of Wood, stay near the coast. A central lake offers tactical opportunities but may restrict movement along the western side of the map. Sonora A twisting Trade Route winds through this barren, desolate region. [. . . ]