Experience Guide

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Cyclohexane
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Experience Guide

Post by Cyclohexane »

I may update this for TAD later (already updated in my Quick Reference Guide) but here it is copy and paste from the old clan website:

GENERAL INFORMATION

I am writing this article because I just added a new calculator to my AOE3 TWC Quick Reference Guide. Yes, I updated it again. Originally, the “Experience Guide” worksheet in my guide was inspired by the thread "XP and Trading Posts", originally written by "Flammifer" from Age of Empires III Heaven Games. However, much has changed and I added in some interesting calculators for villager equivalents and made it current for Patch 1.4. I will try to cover all aspects of XP here.

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The maximum XP per game is 30,000 plus an additional 50% of the in-game XP (max 15,000) in addition to the end game award bonus. Experience (XP) is passively generated at a rate of 2 XP per second and can be generated directly by:

1. Constructing buildings provides: 20% XP if economic, 10% XP if military, and 14% XP if outposts (from total cost)

2. Creating units: All units, including villagers, give 10% XP of their total cost

3. Dancing at the fire pit: Gift Dance generates ~0.5 XP per second per villager (up to 25 villagers, 35 with Aztec). A calculator is included in the AOE3 TWC Guide “Experience Guide” worksheet.

4. Destroying buildings: Worth double the build XP

5. Killing enemy units: Grants the same amount of XP as building them -- Aztec WC aura can double or triple this value.

6. Trading Posts: Gather XP (or resources) at approximately 1.18, 2.00, and 2.44 per second for the trade travois, stagecoach, and iron horse respectively. Trading posts appear to give different amounts of XP or resources on different maps (and even on the same map it may spawn differently). However, this effect is due to the length and curves in the trade route (i.e. the longer the trade route, the more XP or resources obtained each time the travois passes, yet it takes longer to pass).

7. End-game award bonus: 500 XP is awarded for the Most Resources, Least Resources, Most Improvements (shipped in technologies such as Heavy Fortifications does not count to total), Most Military Units, Most Units Killed (treasure guardians count), Most Units Lost, Highest Score, Most Treasures. In addition, 2,000 XP is awarded to the winner (victory experience).

Basically, XP is awarded for spending resources or destroying others property. The XP generated for creation / kill can be observed by hovering over the small unit icon in game. Contrary to popular belief, XP is not generated for:

1. Exploring the map

2. Gathering resources: The exception is the end-game award XP for the player with the most resources gathered.

3. Units from HC shipments: The exception is that units shipped count towards the total unit count and the player with the most units gains 500 end-game award XP.

4. Technologies: The exception is the end-game award XP for the player with the most technologies researched.

In the table below, XP required for the next shipment is approximately 15% more than the previous. Spain receives shipments approximately 27% faster on average than all other regular civilizations. Germany receives shipments approximately 10% slower. The table below represents approximate XP required for shipments 1 to 5. My AOE3 TWC Quick Reference Guide goes to 20 shipments. It would take to long to type these tables in, read the Guide for further information.

Shipment.....XP Required...Cumulative...Spain XP required...Spain Cumulative...German XP required...German Cumulative
Shipment 1....300...............300...............219........................219........................330..........................330
Shipment 2....345...............645...............252........................471........................380..........................710
Shipment 3....397...............1,042............290........................760........................436...........................1,146
Shipment 4....456...............1,498............333........................1,094......................502..........................1,648
Shipment 5....525...............2,023............383........................1,477......................577..........................2,225


TRADING POST CALCULATOR

First of all, I had to determine the XP (or resource) collection rates for the trading posts. These values were obtained by watching as a trade travois (or stagecoach or iron horse) passed a TP and recorded the time. Then waiting until the trade travois passed the same TP and recording the total time to bring in resources. The resources were then divided by the total time the trade travois took to complete the trade route. This was repeated numerous times to nail down the total trade route time (time to reach beginning to end). There are slight differences on the same map (different curves and lengths) and differences between different maps (different trade route). For this reason, an average value of all maps was used.

The average values I obtained (rounded to 1 decimal) were:

Trade Post.......XP or Resources per Sec
Trade Travois.....1.2
Stagecoach.......2.0
Iron Horse.........2.4

Now with this information you can select the desired resource to be compared (coin, food, wood, or Dancing at the fire pit) with the trade post. In addition, not only is it possible to alter the resource collection method (hunting, farming, berries, etc.), it is also possible to change the base resource gathering rates via upgrades (can easily add in a 10% market upgrade for example). The more upgrades you have researched, the less equivalent villagers your TP’s will be worth.

Chopping wood with no upgrades
Trade Post........Equivalent Villagers
Trade Travois.....N/A
Stagecoach.......4.0
Iron Horse.........4.9

Mining gold with no upgrades
Trade Post........Equivalent Villagers
Trade Travois.....N/A
Stagecoach.......3.3
Iron Horse.........4.1

Gathering Berries with no upgrades
Trade Post........Equivalent Villagers
Trade Travois.....N/A
Stagecoach.......3.0
Iron Horse.........3.6

Dancing at fire pit with a rate of 0.5 XP/(Sec*Villager) – 0 to 10 vills
Trade Post........Equivalent Villagers
Trade Travois.....2.4
Stagecoach.......4.0
Iron Horse.........4.9

NOTE: An Aztec Warrior Priest on the fire pit is almost equal to an early trading post (2.0 compared to 2.4).

……

The Ottoman specific Age 2 HC team shipment "Silk Road" can be compared as well. This grants a 30% bonus to all trading post resource rates (excluding XP).

Chopping wood with no upgrades and Silk Road
Trade Post........Equivalent Villagers
Trade Travois.....N/A
Stagecoach.......5.2
Iron Horse.........6.3

Mining gold with no upgrades and Silk Road
Trade Post........Equivalent Villagers
Trade Travois.....N/A
Stagecoach.......4.3
Iron Horse.........5.3

Gathering Berries with no upgrades and Silk Road
Trade Post........Equivalent Villagers
Trade Travois.....N/A
Stagecoach.......3.9
Iron Horse.........4.7

Dancing at fire pit with a rate of 0.5 XP/(Sec*Villager) and Silk Road – 0 to 10 vills
Trade Post........Equivalent Villagers
Trade Travois.....2.4
Stagecoach.......4.0
Iron Horse.........4.9


You can also easily calculate how long it will take for a certain amount of resources (or XP) to be gathered by the trading posts. For example, 100 coin, food, wood, or XP will be equal to 50 seconds on a stagecoach trade route. This is useful for determining the time it will take for the trade post to pay itself off after an upgrade (stagecoach or iron horse).

….

The time for the Stagecoach upgrade without Silk Road to pay for itself on 1 TP (200 wood + 200 Food) is 200 seconds (3:20). If you obtain control of two TPs, the time is halved at 100 seconds (1:40). 3 Tp’s will be 1/3rd, etc.

The time for the Iron Horse upgrade without Silk Road to pay for itself on 1 TP (400 Coin + 300 Wood) is 287 seconds (4:47). If you obtain control of two TPs, the time is halved at 144 seconds (2:24). 3 Tp’s will be 1/3rd, etc.

Add another 125 seconds (2:05) or 103 seconds (1:43) per TP when the build cost is added in (250 wood) when comparing to the Stagecoach or Iron Horse gathering rates respectively without Silk Road.

…..

The time for the Stagecoach upgrade with Silk Road to pay for itself on 1 TP (200 wood + 200 Food) is 154 seconds (2:34). If you obtain control of two TPs, the time is halved at 77 seconds (1:17). 3 Tp’s will be 1/3rd, etc.

The time for the Iron Horse upgrade with Silk Road to pay for itself on 1 TP (400 Coin + 300 Wood) is 221 seconds (3:41). If you obtain control of two TPs, the time is halved at 111 seconds (1:51). 3 Tp’s will be 1/3rd, etc.

Add another 96 seconds (1:36) or 79 seconds (1:19) per TP when the build cost is added in (250 wood) when comparing to the Stagecoach or Iron Horse gathering rates respectively with Silk Road.


….

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:

1. Early in the game, the XP trickle is the main XP source. In order to get shipments faster, construct buildings immediately. For example, a house at 20XP will send a shipment 10 seconds faster (2XP awarded per second passively).

2. To level the Home City faster, research Mercantilism in each game for a quick 2,000XP towards the 30K XP maximum.

3. Since the passive XP rate is 120 per minute, economic buildings give 20%, military buildings give 10%, outposts give 14%, and all units, including villagers, give 10% of their cost, a FF strategy can be developed.

3a. Build 2 houses or 1 house + 1 market (40 XP) and 2 villagers (20 XP), 60XP is awarded. The Spanish require 471XP for two shipments, so (471 - 60) / 120 = 3.43 minutes = 3:26 for second shipment. All other civilizations (except Germany) require 645XP for 2nd shipment, so (645 - 60) / 120 = 4.88 = 4:53 for 2nd shipment.

3b. 60XP is awarded passively during the 30 second time (0:30) spent on a fast age-up to all ages except Fortress.
80XP is awarded passively during the 40 second time (0:40) spent on a fast age-up to Fortress.
180XP is awarded passively during the 90 second time (1:30) spent aging up to all ages except Fortress.
220XP is awarded passively during the 110 second time (1:50) spent aging up to Fortress.

4. The 4 wagon outpost Home City shipment will give 140XP (4 x 35XP each) after setting up the buildings. Considering the 40 seconds (80XP) for them to be shipped to the New World and 25 seconds to be constructed (50XP), that is a large portion of the next Fortress Age shipment (270XP). Not to mention it is worth 1,000 in wood resources (the slowest gathering resource).

7. Experience was tested by allowing the villagers to sit in the TC in a sandbox game without collecting any treasure. The experience trickle of 2XP per second was measured and compared in the table above.

8. The time to upgrade to "Stagecoach" or "Iron Horse" is 1 minute.


These are a few of the things possible in my Guide. This is only scratching the surface and a recent update. Feel free to download the entire guide from my signature…
Lead, Follow, or Get the Hell out of the way!

QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE & AOE3 TWC TAD UNIT COMPARISON:
AOE3 TWC TAD Quick Reference & AOE3 TWC TAD UNIT COMPARISON
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