Castle Age (Age of Empires II)

Castle Age
Availability
Introduced in	The Age of Kings
Civilization	All civilizations
Age number	3
Preceded by	Feudal Age
Followed by	Imperial Age
Required buildings	Two of the following:  Archery Range  Stable  Market  Blacksmith  Siege Workshop (Cumans only)
Research
Researched at	Town Center
Food	800
Gold	200
Research time	160 seconds

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

1. 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

1. 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)

1. The Guard Tower and the Fortified Wall have to be researched at the University (Age of Empires II)|.
2. 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

• 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

• Long Swordsman - swordsman unit
• Pikeman - anti-cavalry unit
• Eagle Warrior - scouting unit, also good against foot archers, siege weapons and monks (since The Forgotten)
•  Huskarl - Anti-archer infantry (Goths only, after researching Anarchy)

At the Archery Range

• Crossbowman - archer unit
• Elite Skirmisher - anti-archer javelineer
• Cavalry Archer - mounted archer
•  Elephant Archer - Slow and heavy mounted archer (Bengalis, Dravidians, and Gurjaras only)
• Slinger - anti-infantry unit (Incas only)
• Genitour - mounted anti-archer javelineer (Berbers and allies only)

At the Stable

• Camel Rider - anti-cavalry unit
• Knight - heavy cavalry unit
• Light Cavalry - light and quick scouting unit, also good against siege weapons and monks
• Battle Elephant - heavy cavalry unit
• Steppe Lancer - light cavalry unit with a long weapon (Cumans, Mongols, and Tatars only)
• Shrivamsha Rider - light cavalry unit which can dodge projectiles (Gurjaras only)
•  Tarkan - anti-building cavalry (Huns only, after researching Marauders)

At the Castle

• Unique unit - a special unit only one civilization can train
• Petard - self-destructive anti-building and anti-siege unit

At the Siege Workshop

• Battering Ram - anti-building siege unit that is almost immune to missiles
•  Armored Elephant - anti-building cavalry & siege unit with high pierce armor (Bengalis, Dravidians, Gurjaras, and Hindustanis only)
• Mangonel - ranged siege unit with splash attack
• Scorpion - ranged siege unit with pass-through attack along a line
• 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 and farmers +1 carry capacity

At the Lumber Camp

• Bow Saw - increases wood-chopping speed

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 - increases the speed of trade units by 50%

At the Dock

• Gillnets - increases the working rate of Fishing Ships (since The Forgotten)

At the University

• Masonry - strengthens buildings
• Treadmill Crane - increases construction speed of villagers

Military technologies

At the Barracks

• Squires - increases infantry speed by 10%
• Arson - gives infantry +2 attack against buildings (since The African Kingdoms)

At the Archery Range

• Thumb Ring - increases archer accuracy to 100% and rate of fire (since The Conquerors)

At the Stable

• Husbandry - increases cavalry speed by 10%

At the Dock

• Careening - increases ship pierce armor by 1 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

• Unique technology¹ - special technology that only one civilization can research

1. 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

• Bengalis: Spawn 2 villagers from every Town Center when they reach the Castle Age.
• Burgundians: Imperial Age economic technologies are available in the Castle Age. Castle Age economic technologies are available in the Feudal Age.
• Dravidians: Receive 200 wood when they reach the Castle Age.
• Ethiopians: Receive 100 food and 100 gold when they reach the Castle Age.
• Italians: Advancing to the Castle Age is 15% cheaper, 680 food, 170 gold insteaad of 800 food, 200 gold.
• Khmer: No buildings are required to advance to the Castle Age.
• Malay: Advancing to the Castle Age is 66% faster, 96 seconds instead of 160 seconds.
• Persians: Advancing to the Castle Age is 10% faster.

History

“	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.	”
—Age of Empires II manual