Age of Empires III: Eras & Strategies
Players begin with a town center, a small group of colonists, and an explorer. The Explorer unit is unique: aside from having a good line of sight and a special ability letting him snipe environmental hazards in a single shot, he can't be killed by the enemy. If another player defeats your Explorer, he'll crumple to the ground but he'll still be alive. He'll remain 'captured' like that so long as enemies are near him. You can either ransom him back to your town center (literally paying the other player some gold), or you can rescue him by killing all the nearby enemies and allowing him to heal back up.
Although players in the Discovery Age don't have very many units, it's a pretty frantic age because there's a lot you'll want to do. First, you want to grow your economy fast, which at this stage means finding food (Age III has tons of animals to hunt) and building more settlers. There's usually a good supply of resources around the town center.
More importantly, the Discovery Age is where you use your Explorer to find key points on the map. He'll discover little treasures scattered about (giving you bonus food or gold etc.). He can also find the major roads and locate the trading post sites and native villages. Only the Explorer can build trading posts. You'll want to do this! You want to claim as many of these sites for your nation. The cumulative rewards for doing so build up in a big way over time. If you manage to build a couple trading posts and your opponents each build only one, the effects will mount up: you'll get more shipments and your Home City will advance faster. (Read more at GameSpy)
