The Castle Age is the third Age in Age of Empires II. Upon reaching this Age, more buildings become available, including the Castle. Some of these buildings are related to the choice of new and powerful units, including three new unit types: siege units, unique units, and Monks. In addition, Age-related civilization bonuses also increase in effect, reinforcing the civilizations' unique tactics. A variety of both economic and military strategies are possible during this Age. The Castle Age is preceded by the Feudal Age and followed by the Imperial Age.
Note: The list below is not cumulative, and only shows new units, buildings, and technologies that are activated when a player advances to the Castle Age.
Strategy
Moving to Castle Age.
The Castle Age is rather influential on the game. Compared to advancing to the Feudal Age, this Age also requires a small amount of gold. As mentioned, strategic options begin to open up and deepen with increased numbers of buildings, technologies (notably for resources), and unit types. Other options become available, such as multiple Town Centers. Therefore, reaching the Castle Age can prove to be an important point in a match either economically or militarily.
Most notable among the new military units is the Knight, a powerful cavalry unit that can be immediately trained from Stables. There are whole new classes of units which have their own buildings: for example siege units, which can be chosen to adapt to the composition of the enemy army come from a Siege Workshop; Monks, which can convert enemy units, draining the enemy's army while also forcing them to fight their former comrades, come from a Monastery; and unique units, which come from the Castle. These four units can have significant influence on Castle Age strategy.
As a result of the new choices available, the battle on the map intensifies and sieges become possible. Stone starts to become more important in constructing defensive walls and Castles, as does gold used for an increasing number of technologies, including 800 gold to age up to the Imperial Age.
Available buildings
The Castle Age symbol
Civilian buildings
Monastery - trains and upgrades Monks- University - building to research and upgrade structures and missiles
- Town Center1 - trains and upgrades Villagers
- The Town Center is also a defensive structure.
Military buildings
- Castle1 - trains and upgrades unique units and siege units
- Krepost1 - trains Konniks (Bulgarians only)
- Siege Workshop - trains and upgrades siege units
- The Castle and the Krepost are also defensive structures.
Defensive structures
- Guard Tower1 - Tower that attacks enemies on sight
- Fortified Wall1 - protects an area from enemy attacks
- Harbor2 - creates and upgrades ships and also attacks enemy on sight (Malay only)
- The Guard Tower and the Fortified Wall have to be researched at the University.
- The Harbor is also a military and a civilian building. Requires Thalassocracy.
Available units
Civilian units
A civilization in the Castle Age
At the Monastery
- File:MonkIcon.jpg Monk - special unit used for healing, converting enemies, and gathering Relics
- Missionary - mounted special unit used for healing and converting enemies (Spanish only)
Military units
At the Barracks
- File:LongswordsManIcon.jpg Long Swordsman - swordsman unit
- File:PikemanIcon.jpg Pikeman - anti-cavalry unit
- File:EagleWarriorIcon.jpg Eagle Warrior - scouting unit, also good against archers
At the Archery Range
- File:CrossbowmanIcon.jpg Crossbowman - archer unit
- Elite Skirmisher - anti-archer javelineer
- File:CavalryArcherIcon.jpg Cavalry Archer - mounted archer
- Slinger - anti-infantry unit (Incas only)
- Genitour - mounted anti-archer javelineer (Berbers and allies only)
At the Stable
- File:CamelIcon.jpg Camel Rider - anti-cavalry unit
- Knight - heavy cavalry unit
- Light Cavalry - light and quick scouting unit
- Battle Elephant - heavy cavalry unit
At the Castle
- Unique unit - a special unit only one civilization can train
- Petard - self-destructive anti-building unit
At the Siege Workshop
- Mangonel - ranged siege unit with splash attack
- File:BatteringRamIcon.jpg Battering Ram - anti-building siege unit that is almost immune to missiles
- Scorpion - ranged siege unit
- Siege Tower - siege unit that can drop off units behind Walls
At the Dock
- War Galley - basic war ship
- Fire Ship - war ship with a flamethrower
- Demolition Ship - self-destructive vessel
- Longboat - war ship that shoots multiple arrows (Vikings only)
- Turtle Ship - heavy armored ship that fires a cannon (Koreans only)
- Caravel - war ship that shoots arrows with splash attack (Portuguese only)
Available technologies
Economic technologies
At the Town Center
- Town Patrol - increases building LOS
- Hand Cart - makes Villagers more effective
At the Mill
- Heavy Plow - gives Farms extra food
At the Lumber Camp
At the Mining Camp
- Stone Shaft Mining - increases stone-mining speed
- Gold Shaft Mining - increases gold-mining speed
At the Market
- Coinage - decreases tribute fee (since patch 5.8; moved from Feudal Age)
- Banking - removes tribute fee (before patch 5.8 where it moved to the Imperial Age)
- Caravan - doubles the speed of trade units
At the Dock
- Gillnets - increases the working rate of Fishing Ships
At the University
- Masonry - strengthens buildings
- Treadmill Crane - increases construction speed
Military technologies
At the Barracks
At the Archery Range
- Thumb Ring - increases archer accuracy to 100% and rate of fire
At the Stable
- Husbandry - increases cavalry speed by +10%
At the Dock
- Careening - increases ship armor and Transport Ship capacity by +5
At the Blacksmith
- Iron Casting - increases infantry and cavalry attack by +1
- Chain Mail Armor - increases infantry armor by +1/+1
- Bodkin Arrow - projectiles' range and attack increased by +1
- Leather Archer Armor - increases archer armor by +1/+1
- Chain Barding Armor - increases cavalry armor by +1/+1
At the University
- Ballistics - increases accuracy when projectiles are fired at moving targets
- Murder Holes - removes minimum range of Castles and Towers
- Heated Shot - increases Castle and Tower attack against ships
At the Castle
- File:CastleAgeUnique.png Unique technology1 - special technology that only one civilization can research
- Not all unique technologies are military technologies.
Religious technologies
At the Monastery
- Redemption - Monks can convert siege units and most buildings
- Fervor - increases Monk speed
- Sanctity - increases Monk HP
- Atonement - Monks can convert other Monks
- Heresy - converted units die instead of taking the enemy's color
- Herbal Medicine - garrisoned units heal faster
Civilization bonuses
- Ethiopians: Receive 100 food and 100 gold when they reach the Castle Age.
- Italians: Advancing to the Castle Age is 15% cheaper.
- Khmer: No buildings are required to advance to the Castle Age.
- Malay: Advancing to the Castle Age is 80% faster.
- Persians: Researching the Castle Age is 10% faster.
History
| ā | Castles began appearing across the landscape of Europe in the ninth century as local lords sought to solidify their power. Castles protected them from neighbors and provided a safe haven from which mounted warriors could ride out and control the nearby country. Typical of the Castle Age was the conquest of Wales by Edward I of England. By placing a series of massive castles at strategic points throughout Wales, Edward accomplished his conquest with a minimum of fighting. The castles were impregnable to the scattered warriors of Wales. English soldiers inside could ride out at their leisure and control the conduct of trade, gathering of crops, and collection of taxes. The Castle Age witnessed a rise in population, economic growth, increased trade, the Crusades to the Holy Land, a new interest in the arts, the rise of knights, and the formation of great kingdoms. | ā |
| —Age of Empires II manual | ||
Template:Ages (Age of Empires II)