Watch Tower (Age of Empires II)

"Basic stone tower. Automatically attacks enemy units and buildings within range."

- Age of Empires II description

The Watch Tower is a Tower in Age of Empires II that becomes available once the Feudal Age is reached. Watch Towers provide a good defense in the early game.

In the Fortress map setting, every player receives several Watch Towers at the beginning of the game, all randomly placed along the Walls surrounding the settlement. The Towers serve as a useful early defense system while the players develop.

Tactics and Placement
Towers are an essential part of any kind of fortification. The Watch Tower is the first to become available and provides early protection to the player's village against raiding parties and rushes. Watch Towers should be placed in choke points to make them more effective. Also, they should be protected with Walls since in the Feudal Age player's cannot research Murder Holes, making Watch Towers highly vulnerable to melee attacks.

Watch Towers can also be used offensively. Most civilizations can perform a tactic commonly known as the "trush" (Tower rush), which is based on creating several Watch Towers around an enemy settlement, preferably close to valuable resources (usually gold). To employ this tactic, the player must first accumulate some stone for the Towers along Dark and Feudal Ages, build a Blacksmith to improve the Watch Tower attack and range, and then send at least five Villagers to the enemy settlement with some supporting troops (preferably Archers). Once the Villagers approach to the enemy settlement, they should then build a supporting Watch Tower that must be at a certain distance in order to not be noticed by the enemy, then the first disrupting Tower must be placed within the range of the supporting Tower, and then the third one and all the next ones must be placed within the range of each other and surround the Town Center of the enemy. If the enemy attacks the Villagers, they are just garrisoned in the closest Tower to protect them. Garrisoned foot archers and Villagers increase the number of arrows Watch Towers fire, thus increasing the damage. Up to five (10 for the Teutons) foot-soldiers (infantry and archers, although infantry do not increase the firepower) may be garrisoned in a Watch Tower. Garrisoned units slowly regenerate lost hit points.

Civilization bonuses

 * Burmese: Researching Faith and Herbal Medicine is 50% cheaper.
 * Byzantines: Watch Towers have +10%/+20%/+30%/+40% HP in the Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age. Town Watch is free.
 * Chinese: Technologies that benefit Watch Towers are 10%/15%/20% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
 * Incas: Watch Towers cost 15% less stone.
 * Koreans: Watch Towers are built . The upgrade to the Guard Tower is free.
 * Malians: Watch Towers cost 15% less wood.
 * Persians: Researching Town Watch and Town Patrol is 10%/15%/20% faster in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
 * Spanish: Watch Towers are built 30% faster.
 * Teutons: Watch Towers can garrison up to 10 units. Murder Holes are free.

Team bonuses

 * A team containing Ethiopians: Watch Towers have +3 Line of Sight.
 * A team containing Malians: University technologies that benefit Watch Towers are researched 80% faster.

The Age of Kings

 * The upgrade to the Guard Tower costs 100F/250S.
 * Watch Towers have an attack bonus of +7 against camels because they share an armor class with ships.
 * The secondary arrows of Watch Towers deal 1 damage.

The Conquerors

 * The upgrade to the Guard Tower now costs 100F/250W.
 * Watch Towers gain an attack bonus of +2 against Spearmen.
 * Herbal Medicine introduced.
 * Heresy introduced.
 * Britons: Yeomen introduced. It is only available in the Imperial Age.
 * Teutons: Crenellations introduced.

The Forgotten

 * Britons: Yeomen moved to the Castle Age.
 * Celts: Stronghold introduced.
 * Japanese: Yasama introduced. It gives Watch Towers three additional arrows.
 * Koreans: Watch Towers are now built 33% faster.

The African Kingdoms

 * Camels are moved out of the ship armor class, and the Watch Towers lose their attack bonus against them. They now have +1 attack against them.
 * With patch 4.8, the secondary arrows of Watch Towers now deal 2 damage.
 * Arrowslits introduced. Initially, it becomes available in the Castle Age and gives Watch Towers +2 attack. With patch 4.8, Arrowslits moved to the Imperial Age and now gives +1 attack.
 * Japanese: With patch 4.8, Yasama now gives Watch Towers two additional arrows.

History
''Some of the earliest fortified stone structures were simple watch towers. From the watch tower a local lord could keep a large area in view. The stone structure made it impregnable to assault except by a major force. The lord could withdraw into the tower, putting his animals on the bottom, stores and treasure on a second floor, living on upper floors, and fighting from the top. The Normans were famous for building stone watch towers across their lands in Normandy and England to provide military and political control.''

Trivia

 * If the player starts with a Watch Tower in the Dark Age (e.g. Fortress maps), then the player may build additional ones earlier than the Feudal Age.