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This article is about the scenario in Age of Empires. For the food generating structures, see Farm.

Farming is the sixth scenario of the Ascent of Egypt campaign in Age of Empires. It is designed to teach the player to use Farms to gather food.

Scenario instructions[]

Description[]

NuRoR villager farmer gather
Nile Valley, around 3100 BCE

The future of Egypt is about to change. The great Pharaoh Narmer seeks to unite the Upper and Lower Kingdoms into a unified Egypt. Using the wealth brought from farming along the Nile's banks, he will finally be able to defeat his rivals.

Take control of the villages along the river and build a surplus of 800 food to feed your people and Narmer's warriors. In addition, take control of the ancient stone circle of Nabta Playa, found in the desert to the west.

Controlling this ancient Ruin will demonstrate Narmer's power to his opponents. Be wary of nearby peoples, however. You need not destroy them but know that they will attempt to undermine Narmer's goal of uniting Egypt.
—In-game section

5000 BCE

Invaders of Egypt have been stopped, at least temporarily, but migrants and traders continue to enter the region. Those from Mesopotamia have brought the techniques of farming and herding to the Nile region. The future of Egypt depends on making use of the great natural advantages of the Nile Valley, primarily through agriculture. Food surpluses are the basis for increasing population, economic power, and the achievement of civilization. Expand your village through farming and build a surplus of 800 food. Find and control a Ruin rumored to exist on the other side of the Nile. Beware of encroaching Nubians from the north.
—In-game section

Tutorial[]

FARMING
Before you can build Farms, you must build a Market. To farm, select a Villager, and then right-click a Farm. The Villager will gather food and deposit it at the Town Center or Granary. Only one Villager can work a Farm. Researching Domestication, Plow, and Irrigation at the Market increases Farm productivity. Farms eventually go fallow and must be resown.
UPGRADING UNITS
To upgrade your military units (Clubmen), click the Barracks, and then click the Upgrade to Battle Axe button. This will upgrade your existing Clubmen to stronger Axemen, which you will train instead from then on.
REPAIRING BUILDINGS AND BOATS
Damaged buildings and boats catch fire. For a cost, Villagers can repair them to full strength. To repair a building or boat, select a Villager, and then right-click the building or boat to repair. More Villagers will repair a building or boat faster.

FARMING
Before you can build Farms, you must construct a Market. To farm, click a villager, and then right-click a Farm. The villager gathers food and deposits it at the Town Center or Granary (whichever is closer), where it is added to your stockpile (as shown in the upper-left corner of the game screen). Farms produce food at a fixed rate, so assigning more than one villager to work a Farm does not increase its productivity. Researching Domestication, the Plow, and Irrigation (at the Market) does increase Farm productivity. Farms eventually go fallow (exhaust their capacity to grow food) and need to be rebuilt.
UPGRADING UNITS
To upgrade your military units (Clubmen), click the Barracks, and then click the Upgrade to Battle Axe button. Your existing Clubmen are upgraded to Axemen (which are more powerful) and you can no longer build Clubmen, just Axemen.
RESEARCHING TECHNOLOGY
You can research new technologies as your civilization enters each new age. Refer to the Technology Tree for information about the technologies you can research in each age. To be successful, you must advance to keep up with, or surpass, your rivals economically and militarily. Researching technology takes time and costs resources, but after you have researched a technology, your civilization immediately begins reaping its benefit(s).
To research technology, click a technology building on the game map (the technologies you can research appear on the buttons at the bottom of the game screen), then click the button that corresponds to the technology you want to research. For example, to research Toolworking from the Storage Pit, click the Research Toolworking button.
CONTROLLING RUINS
Ruins are ancient structures resembling Stonehenge that were built by now-lost cultures and bring prestige to the civilization that controls them. Ruins are controlled by the last civilization to move a villager, military unit, or boat nearby. Ownership can be taken away by another civilization. The color of a Ruin indicates which civilization controls it. Ruins cannot be destroyed.
To display these instructions while you are playing the game, click the Menu button on the menu bar, and then click Scenario Instructions. For more help achieving the objective, click Hints.

Starting conditions[]

Objective[]

  • Control the Ruin and stockpile 800 food.

  • Control the Ruin.
  • Stockpile 800 food.

Hints[]

  1. Prepare for enemy attacks by upgrading your Clubmen to Axemen and training additional Axemen at the Barracks.
  2. Food sources are limited, so you must build Farms to provide more food.
  3. When you have enough wood, consider constructing an Archery Range or Stable and training archers or mounted units to strengthen your ranks of Axemen.
  4. To control the Ruin, you must cross the river and venture into the desert. Do not hesitate to battle other Egyptians standing in your way.
  5. After you have neutralized or destroyed your enemy and secured the Ruins, you can concentrate on building more Farms to accumulate the food needed to win

  1. You need to defend against probable attack by the hostile Egyptians by upgrading your Clubmen to Axemen and training additional Axemen at the Barracks.
  2. Food from foraging is limited, so you must build Farms to further increase your stockpile of food.
  3. When you have enough wood in your stockpile, you might consider constructing an Archery Range or Stable and training archers or cavalry units to strengthen your ranks of Axemen.
  4. To control the Ruin, you must cross the river and go into the desert. You may have to battle the other Egyptians if they stand in your way.
  5. After you have neutralized or destroyed Upper Egypt and secured control of the Ruin, you can concentrate on building more farms to accumulate the food needed to win.

  • To control the Ruin, you must cross the river and may have to battle the Nubians.
  • After you have neutralized or destroyed the Nubians and secured control of the Ruin, you can concentrate on building more farms to accumulate the food needed to win.

Players[]

Player[]

  • Player (Egyptian AOE DE ROR icon Egyptians): The player starts with a small base in the southern corner of the map, on the eastern bank of the river.

Enemy[]

  • Lower Egypt (Egyptian AOE DE ROR icon Egyptians): Lower Egypt starts with a small base in the northern corner of the map, on the western bank of the river. It attacks with infantry, archers, and scout ships.

  • Enemy (Egyptian AOE DE ROR icon Egyptians Egyptians): The enemy (whose name is picked randomly from the pool of Egyptian AI names) starts with a small base in the northern corner of the map, on the western bank of the river. It attacks with infantry, archers, and scout ships.

Strategy[]

The player starts off in the lower right corner of the map, with the enemy right across the river to the north. While it's a good idea to create some soldiers to protect the town from attacks, and it can be wise to attack their base to slow them down, the player doesn't need to defeat the enemy to win. They just need to gather the food and find the ruin, in whatever order. If the player finds the ruin first, they should keep a few soldiers near it, to stop the enemy from taking it back.

In the Definitive Edition, there is a bug which causes the player to lose unexpectedly if they take too long to get 800 food, which can make it challenging. Quickly build up Farms, stockpile 800 food, and claim the ruin to ensure a victory.

History[]

Historical notes[]

Every Year, heavy monsoon rains in the mountains of Ethiopia would cause the Nile to flood its banks downstream in Egypt. This period of flooding from June to September was called Akhet. While waiting for the waters to recede and reveal the fertile mud and fresh silt left behind, Egyptian farmers spent their time mending and making tools and looking after their animals. As Egypt became a kingdom, the farmers would use some of this time to work for the king, called the pharaoh, to build tombs and temples.

When the waters receded, the Egyptians would plow the soil during a season called Peret from October to February. Egyptians plowed by hand or used animal-pulled plows. Seeds were sown, and goats and other animals walked over the fields to push the seeds into the ground and provide additional fertilizer. The Egyptians grew a variety of crops, including wheat, barley, flax, onions, leeks, garlic, beans, lettuce, lentils, cabbages, radishes, turnips, grapes, figs, plums, and melons.

Harvest time was a period called Shemu, from March to May. Grain was cut with sickles, tied into bundles, and carried away to granaries. Skilled artisans in the town turned the wheat into bread, the barley into beer, and the flax into linen cloth. Papyrus reeds were gathered to make sandals, boats, baskets, mats, and paper. Agriculture allowed professions to develop and fostered new cultural tools and artifacts.

Although the first signs of agriculture date from 8000 BCE, the first farming communities did not appear in Egypt until the period from circa 6000 to 3150 BCE. These early settlements introduced new technologies such as irrigation in the form of canals and basins. This allowed the Egyptians to regulate the floods to maximize food production. The Egyptian agricultural system allowed the region to support between 2 to 12 million people. Even as late as the Roman era, Egypt was still considered the granary of the ancient world.

The population boom brought about by agriculture caused villages to coalesce into small kingdoms along the Nile. These kingdoms invaded and annexed others until only two kingdoms remained, those of Upper and Lower Egypt in the south and north, respectively. This terminology derives from the flow of the Nile River from the highlands of Eastern Africa in the south to the Nile Delta in the north. The king of Upper Egypt wore a tall white crown, called the Hedjet, while the king of Lower Egypt wore a red crown called the Deshret. Around 3100 BCE, a king named Narmer—also identified as Menes—unified the two kingdoms. A siltstone tablet called the Palette of Narmer depicts the king wearing the crown of Upper Egypt on one side and the crown of Lower Egypt on the other. A later pharaoh named Djet would be depicted wearing both crowns together at once, the double crown known as the Pschent, which symbolized the unity of Egypt.
—In-game section

Victory[]

The gods have blessed our great Pharaoh Narmer and united our people. Egypt is destined to become the greatest civilization ever seen. The pharaoh has promised you a spot on the carved stone tablet commissioned to honor his victory. For obvious reasons, your image will not be as big as his.
—In-game section

Loss[]

Your failure is a disgrace and because of you the kingdom has fallen. Suffering from a famine, your people have deposed Pharaoh Narmer. The new ruler offers you a chance to participate in the next hippopotamus hunt. You will be the bait.
—In-game section

Historical notes[]

The critical advancement of agriculture reached Egypt sometime around 5000 BC, probably brought by immigrants from Mesopotamia via the east coast of the Mediterranean. Gatherers had long ago learned to save some of their seeds and fruits and plant them to assure some food supplies for the following year. But real farming was made possible by the discovery in Mesopotamia of ancient strains of wheat that could be planted in large plots. Over several thousand years, the techniques of farming became more sophisticated to the point that large dependable food supplies could be grown and stored. This and the domestication of goats, sheep, and cattle, were the most critical steps in the take-off to civilization.

The new technologies of food production made the valley only more attractive as a target for poorer neighbors, but the Egyptians were usually able to field substantial armies and defeat any invaders.
—In-game section in the Original Release

Historical outcome[]

The Nile River valley was ideally suited to farming because of the dependable water supply and the excellent soils that were re-enriched each year by floods. Once the Egyptians learned to irrigate land not directly adjacent to the river, food production and population boomed. Egypt remained one of the most productive grain-growing areas of the world throughout ancient times.
The burgeoning riches of Egypt made it possible to build armies that proved capable of defending the valley and even expanding the rule of Egyptian kings. The Nubians were pushed back but never completely conquered. Lower Egypt (around the delta) fell sometime around 3100 BC to Upper Egypt, uniting the two. The ancient Egyptians never forgot that there had once been two Egypts. Thereafter the ruler was known as the King of Upper and Lower Egypt.
—In-game section in the Original Release

Campaigns in Age of Empires
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Yamato, Empire of
the Rising Sun
The Assassins · Island Hopping · Capture (Definitive Edition) · Mountain Temple (The Mountain Temple) · The Canyon of Death · Oppression (Coup) · A Friend in Need (Jinshin War) · Kyushu Revolts (Fujiwara Revolts)
RomeIcon Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome
The Rise of RomeThe Birth of Rome · Pyrrhus of Epirus · Syracuse (The Siege of Syracuse) · Metaurus (The Battle of the Metaurus) · Zama (The Battle of Zama) · Mithridates
Ave CaesarCaesar vs Pirates (Caesar's Revenge) · Britain (The Invasion of Britain) · Alesia (The Siege of Alesia) · Caesar vs Pompey (The Battle of Pharsalus)
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Actium (The Battle of Actium) · Year of the Four Emperors (The Year of the Four Emperors) · Ctesiphon (Ransom at Ctesiphon) · Queen Zenobia (Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra) · Coming of the Huns (The Coming of the Huns)
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Age of Empires Definitive Edition icon Age of Empires: Definitive Edition
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DE: Opening Moves  · Raid on Babylon  · The Battle of Kadesh
AoE The First Punic War icon The First Punic WarStruggle for Sicily (The Battle of Agrigentum) · Battle of Mylae · Battle of Tunis
AoE2Icon-ReturnRome Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Return of Rome
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RoR Sargon of Akkad Sargon of AkkadThe Chosen One · Divine Will · The Prophecy · The Land of Kings · Subartu
Demo versions
Dawn of CivilizationDawn of a New Age  · Skirmish · Crusade · The Wreck of the Hyskos  · Last Stand
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Names in brackets represent campaigns and scenarios renamed and/or reworked in the Definitive Edition.
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