Barracks (Age of Empires)

This article is about the building in Age of Empires. For the similar building in other games in the series, see Barracks.

Barracks
Building information
Introduced in	Age of Empires
Type	Military
Civilization	All civilizations
Age	Stone Age
Use	Trains and upgrades infantry
Required for	Archery Range Stable
Construction
Wood	125
Build time	30 seconds
Statistics
Size	3×3 tiles
Hit points	350
Garrison	10
Melee armor	0
Pierce armor	0
Armor classes	Buildings and Fire Galley
Line of Sight	5

“	Used to train infantry and Slingers. Required to build Archery Range and Stables.	”
—In-game description in the Definitive Edition

The Barracks is the earliest military building available in Age of Empires. It becomes available in the Stone Age and allows players to train infantry for combat.

Trained units can be garrisoned inside by setting the building's rally point to itself. Once a unit is ejected, it cannot be regarrisoned.

The infobox uses "O" as the shorthand of "original" for the original icon for the Bronze/Iron Ages. Moreover, it uses the following shorthands for different architecture sets:

• G - Greek
• A - East Asian
• E - Egyptian
• M - Mesopotamian
• R - Roman

Gameplay

The Barracks is the training building for light on-foot military units, mostly melee, which are relatively cheap and can be fielded in double numbers with the Logistics technology. Constructing a Barracks is also necessary to unlock all of the other land military buildings: the Archery Range and the Stable, which in turn unlock the Siege Workshop and Academy. These units are available here, depending on the faction and researched technologies:

• The Clubman line: the Clubman is the only military unit available in the Stone Age, so is used for early raids. The Axeman upgrade adds a bonus against mounted units, making it particularly effective for defending against Scouts. From the Bronze Age onwards this line is of little use unless gold is extremely scarce.
• The Swordsman line: these are the core, generalist melee troops. Medium speed, medium power, medium durability, and very cheap to train.
• Slinger: the only ranged unit available at the Barracks, Slingers are a counter to early foot archers, and can be a support unit against fortifications. They're also the only military unit that requires stone to train.

Units

	➞		➞			➞
	➞
					➞		➞		➞

Unit availability

	Available
	Unavailable

Civilization					All
Assyrians
Babylonians					X
Carthaginians
Choson					X
Egyptians
Greeks
Hittites
Lac Viet
Macedonians
Minoans
Palmyrans
Persians					X
Phoenicians					X
Romans					X
Shang
Sumerians
Yamato
Civilization					All

Further statistics

Technologies
Hit points	Architecture: +20%
Line of Sight	City Watch: +3
Build speed	Architecture: -33%

Civilization bonuses

• Macedonians: Barracks are four times more resistant to conversion.
• Romans: Barracks cost -10%.

Team bonuses

• Babylonians: Barracks are built 10% faster.
• Choson: Barracks have +2 Line of Sight.
• Palmyrans: Unit upgrades at the Barracks and technologies benefiting the Barracks are researched 30% faster.

Changelog

The Rise of Rome

• Barracks can train the Slinger.

Return of Rome

• Team bonuses added:
  • Babylonians: Barracks are built 10% faster.
  • Choson: With update 93001, Barracks have +2 Line of Sight.
  • Palmyrans: Technologies at and benefiting the Barracks are researched 30% faster.

History

“	When the first armies came into being, places were needed eventually to make weapons, store weapons, drill troops, and house troops. The Barracks in Age of Empires represents these places.	”
—Age of Empires manual

Trivia

• Since the Definitive Edition, the icons are different for different architecture sets, displaying common or characteristic swords from each region:
  • The Greek set icon has the kopis.
  • The East Asian icon displays the jian.
  • The Egyptian icon contains the khopesh.
  • The Mesopotamian icon contains Mesopotamian sickle swords similar to the khopesh.
  • The Roman icon contains the gladius.

Gallery

Barracks in the Stone Age and Tool Age

All Barracks in the Bronze Age. Top row: Egyptian, Mesopotamian. Middle: Roman. Bottom row: Greek, East Asian.

All Barracks in the Iron Age. Top row: Egyptian, Greek. Middle: Roman. Bottom row: Mesopotamian, East Asian.

Barracks in the Stone Age (Definitive Edition)

Barracks in the Bronze Age (Definitive Edition). Top row: Greek, Mesopotamian. Middle: Egyptian. Bottom row: East Asian, Roman.

Barracks in the Iron Age (Definitive Edition)

A Roman Iron Age Barracks in the original game

A Greek Iron Age Barracks (left) and a Ruins object available in the Scenario Editor of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition