Feudal Age (Age of Empires II)

This article is about the Age in Age of Empires II. For other uses, see Feudal Age.

Feudal Age
Age
Availability
Introduced in	Age of Empires II
Age number	2
Preceded by	Dark Age
Followed by	Castle Age
Required buildings	Two of the following: Barracks Mill / Folwark Lumber Camp Mining Camp Dock Mule Cart
Research
Researched at	Town Center
Food	500
Time	130 seconds

The Feudal Age is the second Age in Age of Empires II. It can be reached by building any two Dark Age buildings (except Farms and walls) and researching the Feudal Age technology in the Town Center. It allows the training and building of more units and buildings as well as more technologies to research. Players have access to a spectrum of infantry, cavalry, archer, and naval units and effective defensive structures.

The Feudal Age is followed by the Castle Age.

Strategy

Advancing to the Feudal Age

The Feudal Age is a period of economic development, where military clashes usually begin to occur, such as raiding enemy Villagers. It is at this stage of the game that most players decide which strategies they will use throughout the game.

This is usually the stage of the game where aggression starts on open maps. Early on, the Man-at-Arms and Scout Cavalry are the main choices for early aggression, while Archers are a strong option that require more investment. If an opponent is going for a low military strategy, towers can be used to deny access to important resources. On water, the primary naval unit is the Fire Galley, with the Demolition Raft being effective at countering enemy Fire Galleys.

For players going for infantry, archer, or cavalry rushes, at least two of the appropriate buildings, depending on the civilization's specialty, should be built. The Blacksmith is also important to improve the units. Furthermore, focusing on the required resources for creating and improving the units of choice is important. For example, four Gold Miners will keep an Archery Range in full Archer production.

A civilization in the Feudal Age

Alternatively, players intending on booming or going for a Fast Castle should build a Blacksmith followed by either Stables for a Knight rush, or a Market for other Castle Age strategies. They should also make sure to wall off their base to protect themselves from aggression.

Typically, by this stage Berry Bushes, herdable animals, and huntable animals are exhausted, and the food economy moves towards Farms, supported by lumber. Gold mining also begins for technological and military advancements, including the advancement to the Castle Age. Considering early stone mining for tower rushing or future Castles or Town Centers should also be considered.

When advancing to the Castle Age, two buildings from the Feudal Age are required, which typically include a Blacksmith and either a Market or one of the new military buildings. The Castle Age is very important and should be prioritized unless the player is engaged in combat and unable to take advantage of its benefits.

In team games, reaching the Feudal Age for the Market becomes even more important, as it gives the ability to exchange resources, enabling Sling tactics.

Note: The list below only shows the units, buildings, and technologies that are activated when a player advances to the Feudal Age.

Available buildings

Civilian buildings

• Blacksmith - building to research military upgrades
• Fish Trap - water food source
• Market - building for trade
• Town Center - trains and upgrades Villagers (Cumans only¹)

1. It takes 270 seconds (120 more than the standard Castle Age Town Center) for Cumans to create a Town Center in the Feudal Age and they can only build a maximum of one.

Military buildings

• Archery Range - trains and upgrades archers
• Stable - trains and upgrades cavalry
• Siege Workshop - trains and upgrades siege units (Cumans only)

Defensive structures

• Watch Tower - defensive Tower that attacks enemies on sight
• Donjon¹ - defensive Tower that attacks enemies on sight (Sicilians only)
• Stone Wall - protects an area from enemy attacks
• Gate - integrated into Walls, allows allies to pass

1. The Donjon is also a military building that trains Serjeants and Spearmen, but is not counted for the requirement for ageing up.

Available units

Civilian units

At the Dock:

• Trade Cog - naval trade unit

At the Market:

• Trade Cart - land trade unit

Military units

At the Barracks:

• Man-at-Arms (upgrade of Militia) - Long Swordsman (Armenians only) - swordsman unit
• Spearman → Pikeman (Armenians only) - anti-cavalry unit
• Eagle Scout - scout unit (Aztecs, Inca, and Maya only)

At the Archery Range:

• Archer - basic foot archer unit
• Skirmisher - anti-archer foot archer unit

At the Stable:

• Scout Cavalry - basic cavalry unit, which is also a scout unit
• Camel Scout - anti-cavalry cavalry unit (Gurjaras only)

At the Siege Workshop:

• Battering Ram - anti-building siege unit that is almost immune to missiles (Cumans only)

At the Dock:

• Galley - basic war ship
• Demolition Raft - self-destructive vessel
• Fire Galley - war ship with a flamethrower

At the Donjon (Sicilians only):

• Serjeant - Heavy infantry that can build Donjons
• Spearman - anti-cavalry unit

At the Castle* (Sicilians only):

• Serjeant - Heavy infantry

Available technologies

Economic technologies

At the Town Center:

• Town Watch - increases building Line of Sight by 4
• Wheelbarrow - makes Villagers more effective
• Hand Cart - makes Villagers more effective (Burgundians only)

At the Mill (Folwark for the Poles):

• Horse Collar - gives Farms +75 food
• Heavy Plow - gives Farms +125 food and farmers +1 carry capacity (Burgundians only)

At the Lumber Camp:

• Double-Bit Axe - increases wood-chopping speed by 20%
• Bow Saw - increases wood-chopping speed (Burgundians only)

At the Mining Camp:

• Stone Mining - increases stone-mining speed by 15%
• Gold Mining - increases gold-mining speed by 15%
• Stone Shaft Mining - increases stone-mining speed (Burgundians only)
• Gold Shaft Mining - increases gold-mining speed (Burgundians only)

At the Mule Cart (Armenians and Georgians only):

• Double-Bit Axe - increases wood-chopping speed by 20%
• Gold Mining - increases gold-mining speed by 15%
• Stone Mining - increases stone-mining speed by 15%

At the Market:

• Caravan - increases the speed of trade units by 50% (Burgundians only)

At the Dock:

• Gillnets - increases the working rate of Fishing Ships (Burgundians only)

Military technologies

At the Barracks:

• Supplies - Reduces the food cost of Militia-line units by 15

At the Stable:

• Bloodlines - increases mounted units' hit points by 20

At the Blacksmith:

• Scale Mail Armor - increases infantry armor by +1/+1
• Fletching - projectiles' range and attack increased by +1
• Padded Archer Armor - increases archer armor by +1/+1
• Forging - increases infantry and cavalry attack by +1
• Scale Barding Armor - increases cavalry armor by +1/+1

Free upgrades

• Infantry units gain +2 Line of Sight
• Eagle Scouts gain +1 Line of Sight (stacks with infantry bonus)
• Scout Cavalry gain +2 Line of Sight, +2 attack, +29.2% movement speed
• Camel Scouts gain +1 Line of Sight, +2 attack, +20.8% movement speed, +5 vs cavalry, +2 vs camels and ships
• Palisade Walls and Gates gain +66.6% hit points
• Outposts gain +2 Line of Sight
• Buildings (except walls, outposts and farms) gain +1/+1 armor
• Barracks gain +300 hit points
• Mills, Lumber Camps, Mining Camps, Folwarks, and Houses gain +200 hit points

Civilization bonuses

• Bengalis: Spawn 2 villagers from every Town Center when they reach the Feudal Age.
• Burgundians: Feudal Age economic technologies are available in the Dark Age. Castle Age economic technologies are available in the Feudal Age.
• Dravidians: Receive 200 wood when they reach the Feudal Age.
• Ethiopians: Receive 100 food, 100 gold when they reach the Feudal Age.
• Italians: Advancing to the Feudal Age is 15% cheaper, 425 food instead of 500 food.
• Khmer: No buildings are required to advance to the Feudal Age.
• Malay: Advancing to the Feudal Age is 66% faster (78 seconds instead of 130).
• Persians: Town Centers and Docks work 10% faster in the Feudal Age. Advancing to the Feudal Age is 5% faster (124 seconds instead of 130).

Changelog

The Age of Kings

• Persians: Could not yet advance to the Feudal Age 5% faster.

Definitive Edition

• Persians: In the release version, advancing to the Feudal Age is 5% faster. With update 36906, advancing to the Feudal Age speed is restored to normal. With Update 95810, advancing to the Feudal Age is 5% faster again.

History

“	The Frankish Empire assembled by Charlemagne in the ninth century can be considered the end of the Dark Age in Europe and the beginning of the Feudal Age. Barbarian tribal groups that overran much of Western Europe were giving way to better-organized regional powers. The church in Rome was providing a unifying social fabric. Charlemagne attempted to revive learning and encouraged a new interest in the arts. His empire fractured after his death, however, and new waves of barbarians undid much of his work. Political and economic power shifted away from kings to local lords who ruled within a shifting hierarchy of vassalage. The common people worked the land to support the hierarchy of nobles and churchmen above them.	”
—Age of Empires II manual

Trivia

• Historically, the entirety of the typical Middle Ages, i.e. the 5th to the 15th centuries, is considered the "Feudal Age" of Europe due to widespread feudalism throughout the period. The Feudal Age does not apply to certain regions of the world in the time period, such as Mesoamerica, the Eurasian steppes, or the Middle East. The Middle East had a separate system called Iqta', which had some commonalities and differences with the Western European manorialism type of feudalism. Certain periods of Chinese (Fengjian system) and Japanese (Han system) history also had systems which resemble feudalism. The Japanese social structure of peasants/samurai/daimyo/shogun closely resembled the European structure of serfs/knights/lords/king.
• The shield in the icon is based on a typical Norman kite shield.

Gallery

The Feudal Age African architecture set

The Feudal Age Central Asian architecture set

The Feudal Age Central European architecture set

The Feudal Age East Asian architecture set

The Feudal Age Eastern European architecture set

The Feudal Age Mediterranean architecture set

The Feudal Age Middle Eastern architecture set

The Feudal Age Native American architecture set

The Feudal Age South Asian architecture set

The Feudal Age Southeast Asian architecture set

The Feudal Age Western European architecture set