Resource

Resources are where you get power from. They are the central hinge around which Age of Empires runs.

Food
This is the basic resource in all Age of Empires Games. It represents stored food stocks, and can be gathered through a bunch of methods-


 * Fishing (I,II,M,III - note: in I and II, there were shorefish that villagers could fish for. This is not possible from AoM onwards)
 * Hunting (I,II,M,III - in II, villagers get a much bigger meat haul compared to normal)
 * Livestock (II,M,III - this includes standard herdables, as well as the livestock producable in III)
 * Berry Bushes (I,II,M,III - this DEFINES food in Age of Empires. oldest food gathering method, been in the tutorials even before hunting was.
 * Farming (I,II,M,III - the food gathering after the normal stocks were empty. Also useful because you could throw the farms up near drop-off points and not have to worry about resource trips taking up time).
 * Trickle (M, III - certain buildings would provide a slow trickle of resources to your stockpiles, such as the Vault in AoM or the Factory in III)

Wood
This is the other abundant resource in Age of Empires. Found on every map, needed for every building, chopped from every tree. Age I trees had standard 40 wood, Age II trees had 100 wood, age III tress have 600 wood.

Gold
This is usually the limiting resource. Found on maps just like Food and Wood, gold comes in several forms:
 * Mines (I,II,M,III - standard mining-out-of-the-earth strategy. I had mines with 250, II had mines with 400, III has mines with 5000, and smaller silver mines at 2000).
 * Trade (I,II,M - involved a trade cart running between points. Age I relied on a trading boat that physically traded eg 20 wood for x(based on distance) gold.  Age II relied on either Trade Cart moving between Markets or Trade Cogs moving between docks, in a similar fashion to I but with no resource offload.  AoM had donkeys running around between any Town Center and the market.  This was removed from Age III, due to the increase in infinite food sources.
 * Mill (III - a coin source like the Mill's food source, relies on villagers working it.
 * Whaling (III - in previous games whales were the Elephant of fishing sources. In Age III these are 4-boats-only infinite coin sources, as whale bits (eg oils) are refined and sold on the invisible market).

Stone
Age of Empires I and II only. Was dropped in Age of Mythology mainly because it was the most un-used of the resources, with its main use being for Towers, Walls, Castles and Real Men's Houses.

Population
The obvious, how many people your town can support. Houses can boost this number, certain races get population bonuses (eg Huns don't need to make houses and come with full pop), and the spanish in Age III get a card that has the same effect.

Favour (Age of Mythology)
This is what you used to help call in the Myth Units. Greeks worshipped at temples for it, Egyptians threw up monuments for it, and the norse got theirs on the battlefield. BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!

Several resource-gathering methods overlap with each other. For instance, the Factory can produce any of the resources, there are Staple Crops as well as Cash Crops, and so on.