Age of Empires III Walkthrough

2.1.8  The Fountain of Youth?

Primary Objectives:
-Destroy the Fountain of Youth.
-Kill the guards near the Fixed Gun.

Secondary Objectives:
-Destroy the Circle's base to the east of the Fixed Gun.  (600 XP)
-Build a Trading Post at the Native village.  (300 XP)

Ram the Fountain of Youth with the three Fire Ships.  Then rush your units to 
the Fixed Gun and kill the enemies around it; the cannon will fall under your 
control.

Lizzie's flagship, Paris Burning, will arrive and unload a Covered Wagon and 
some units.  Build a base.

Keep your units by the Fixed Cannon.  It will be the target of all the enemy's 
attacks.

Your short-term objective is to destroy the enemy base to the east of the Fixed
Gun.  To that end, use the Fixed Gun to destroy the base's defenses and 
military buildings.  Ship in some artillery units and use them to destroy the 
base with the help of some military units.  Remember to always keep a 
significant force by the Fixed Gun, however.  When you are destroying the base 
with your artillery, guard them with many soldiers.

When you have the resources to do so, build two Outposts at the shore directly 
south of the Fixed Gun, where the spur of land the Fixed Gun is on and the 
shoreline meet.  The computer tends to send ships there to bombard the Fixed 
Gun as the cannon cannot shoot at enemies that close.  Build two Outposts at 
the spur of land guarding the bay your harbor to ward off any naval units.

Focus on your navy.  Get Galleons, Caravels, and their upgrades.  Kill any 
ships and continually bombard the Fountain of Youth.  The Fixed Gun can kill 
Caravels in one hit, so do not pass up any opportunities to kill them.

By now you should have a sustainable pattern: enough troops to defend the Fixed
Gun from the frequent land incursions from the north, ships to defend the Fixed 
Gun from any enemy ships, and enough resources flowing in to produce 
replacements for any ships and units you lose.

Continually bombard the Fountain.  During lulls, send your Caravels to the 
Fountain and use their Broadside Attack on it before retreating.

If you get bored, load up an expedition of one hero and maybe 30 soldiers and 
some calvary and transport them to the western edge of the map.  Build a 
Trading Post.  Beware of the inevitable attack.

After some time, the Fountain should fall.

For skilled players: If you want a challenge, instead of letting the gun do all
the work for you, take it upon yourself to directly challenge the fort.  A 
small strip of land connects your base to their main base on the other side of 
the map; simply travel counterclockwise along the edge of the map to get there.
Once you destroy their Town Center, Culverin, Falconets, advanced calvary and 
Doppelsoldners will spawn, so be prepared.
 

Campaign