Age of Empires Series Wiki
Advertisement
Age of Empires Series Wiki
Aoe2de gold

Gold is one of the four primary resources the player must collect in Age of Empires, Age of Empires II, Age of Mythology, and Age of Empires IV. In Age of Empires III, it is replaced by the coin resource. Gold is used for creating most units and upgrades and is a precious resource which becomes more important as the game progresses.

In the games in the series that have gold as a resource, a small number of Gold Mines (or Jade Mines in Tale of the Dragon) are usually found around the map. These can be mined by Villagers for gold.

There are also alternative ways to collect gold, depending on each game's gameplay elements.

ReturnRome-AoEIcon Age of Empires[]

Trade[]

Trade Boats can be created at the Dock to perform sea trade, and upgraded to Merchant Ships for more speed and durability. These are sent to other players' Docks, yielding gold when they return to their own Dock. In the original and Definitive Edition of Age of Empires, the amount of gold increases with the straight-line distance between the two closest Docks of both players. In these versions of the game, the player loses 20 food, wood, or stone to perform a trade mission, and all of the other player's Docks take 20 seconds to restock after receiving a trade mission. Note that in all versions of the game, the other player does not receive or lose any resources.

Trade Carts are added in Return of Rome to perform land trade between Markets, they can be recruited after researching Wheel. In Return of Rome, players no longer sacrifice resources to trade (by land or sea), nor do Docks or Markets have any resupply time. Additionally, the gold yield is now based on the distance between the Markets/Docks that are actually used for trading, rather than just the nearest; trade units automatically deposit gold at the furthest depot from the target for maximum gold yield.

Market[]

In Return of Rome, the Market allows the player to sell food, wood, or stone in exchange for gold, or spend gold to buy them, with the value decreasing each time a sale is made, and increasing each time a buy is made. This is a similar system to Age of Empires II's commodity trading, but there are no technologies or civilization bonuses which affect the exchange rate.

Technologies[]

The following technologies benefit gold mining:

  • Gold Mining Gold Mining (+30% gather rate and +3 carry capacity) → Coinage Coinage (+25% Gold Mine productivity)

Bonuses[]

The following civilizations have gold-related bonuses:

  • Egyptians AoE Egyptians: Gold Miners work +20% faster and have +2 carry capacity.
  • Palmyrans AoE Palmyrans: Trade units return +20% gold. Villagers work 25% faster (but cost 50% more food).

AoE2-DLCicon-0 Age of Empires II[]

Trade[]

Gold aoe2

Trade Carts travel between Markets to generate gold. The farther the distance between the two Markets, the more gold is generated.

Trade Cogs travel between Docks to generate gold. The farther the distance between the two Docks, the more gold is generated.

Unlike in Age of Empires pre-Return of Rome, trade does not require resources to be spent, aside from the initial cost of the Trade Cart or Trade Cog.

Market[]

The Market allows the player to sell food, wood, or stone for gold. However, this includes a 30% fee and each time a resource is sold, the price of that resource will be lowered for all players. For many civilizations, the 30% fee can be reduced to 15% by researching Guilds.

  • The Saracens have a reduction of the trading fee to 5% as one of their civilization bonuses.
  • The Hindustanis' unique technology, Grand Trunk Road, reduces the trading fee to 10%.

Relics[]

Relic aoe2DE Relics can be picked up by Monks (and Warrior Priests for the Armenians) and put into a player's Monastery (Fortified Church for the Armenians and Georgians), where they will generate 30 gold/min. The Aztec team bonus increases Relic gold generation by 33%. The Hindustanis' unique technology Grand Trunk Road increases Relic gold generation by 10%. The Armenians receive a free Relic upon building the first Fortified Church.

Technologies[]

Several civilizations have unique technologies that improve the player's gold gathering:

The following technologies benefit gold mining:

Civilization bonuses[]

The following civilizations have gold-related bonuses:

  • Armenians AoE2 Armenians: First Fortified Church receives a free Relic. Gold Mining and Gold Shaft Mining is 40% more effective.
  • Aztecs AoE2 Aztecs: Villagers carry +3 gold.
  • Berbers AoE2 Berbers: Trade Cogs move 10% faster.
  • Bohemians AoE2 Bohemians: Gold Mining and Gold Shaft Mining are free.
  • Burgundians AoE2 Burgundians: Technologies that benefit gold gathering speed and carry capacity are available one Age earlier, and cost -33% food.
  • Chinese AoE2 Chinese: Technologies that benefit gold gathering speed and carry capacity are 5%/10%/15% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
  • Georgians AoE2 Georgians: Fortified Churches provide Villagers in a 10 tile radius with +10% gold gathering speed.
  • Malians AoE2 Malians: Villagers drop off +10% gold.
  • Mayans AoE2 Mayans: Natural resources (including Gold Mines) last 15% longer.
  • Persians AoE2 Persians: Researching Wheelbarrow and Hand Cart is 5%/10%/15%/20% faster in the Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age. Trade Cogs are created 10%/15%/20% faster in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
  • Poles AoE2 Poles: Stone Miners generate 1 gold per 3 stone mined.
  • Portuguese AoE2 Portuguese: Trade Carts and Trade Cogs cost -20% gold. Trade Cogs have +10% hit points.
  • Romans AoE2 Romans: Villagers gather gold 5% faster.
  • Spanish AoE2 Spanish: The player receives 20 gold for each researched technology.
  • Turks AoE2 Turks: Gold Miners work 20% faster.
  • Vietnamese AoE2 Vietnamese: Technologies that benefit Villager gold gathering speed and carry capacity cost no wood.
  • Vikings AoE2 Vikings: Wheelbarrow and Hand Cart are free.

Team bonuses[]

  • Aztecs AoE2 Aztecs: Relics produce +33% gold.
  • Bengalis AoE2 Bengalis: Trade Carts and Trade Cogs yield 10% food in addition to gold.
  • Bohemians AoE2 Bohemians: Trade Carts are created 80% faster.
  • Burgundians AoE2 Burgundians: Relics trickle 0.5 food/s too.
  • Burmese AoE2 Burmese: Relics are visible on the map from the beginning of the game.
  • Portuguese AoE2 Portuguese: Technologies that benefit gold gathering are researched 25% faster.
  • Spanish AoE2 Spanish: Trade Carts and Trade Cogs generate +25% gold.

Units[]

Buildings[]

Feitoria aoe2DE Feitoria: Unique building for the Portuguese, available once the Imperial Age is reached, which generates resources slowly (1 gold per second).

Aom original icon Age of Mythology[]

As the game doesn't have stone, gold is usually used to construct buildings instead (such as walls and Fortresses). Egyptian buildings either cost gold or are free.

Unlike other games in the series, gold is much more necessary, as all human soldiers require gold in order to train, with even weak counter units like the Axeman requiring gold. This makes the game more competitive and faster, and makes gold starving a useful strategy.

Caravans[]

Caravans can be built at the market and sent to any allied Town Center. When they return they supply gold; the further away the town center, the more gold they obtain. Trading can be done with Town Centers owned by the same player, though trading with another player is more effective.

Relics[]

The Ring of Nibelung Relic provides a trickle of gold if brought to one of the player's temples by a hero unit (Similar to Relics in Age of Empires II, while all other Relics provide different effects in this game).

Market[]

The same resource-trading system from Age of Empires II exists here as well.

God powers[]

Myth units[]

GameIcon-AoE4 Age of Empires IV[]

Trade[]

Trading is done similarly to the other games. Units come from the Market or Dock and can be tasked to another player's Market or a neutral Trade Post that spawns in most maps. The gold collected from neutral posts is 30% higher than player-controlled Markets, to offset the limitations in which they spawn.

The following units are used for trading:

Several civilizations have civilization bonuses, landmarks, or technologies that benefit trading. These are: the Abbasid Dynasty, French, Mongols, Malians, and Ottomans.

Market[]

The Market allows the player to sell food, wood, or stone for gold. However, this includes a 30% fee and each time a resource is sold, the price of that resource will be lowered for all players. The Rus landmark The Golden Gate allows one favourable Market trade per minute (150 gold received per 100 of other resources sold).

Relics[]

Relics can be picked by religious units once in the Castle Age and garrisoned in religious buildings to generate 80 gold/min. The Holy Roman Empire can also garrison Relics in defensive buildings and docks. Building the Regnitz Cathedral landmark makes all Relics from the Holy Roman Empire generate 160 gold/min.

Sacred Sites[]

Religious units can capture Sacred Sites once in the Castle Age to provide 100 gold/min. After Sanctity is researched, the Delhi Sultanate can capture Sacred Sites in the Feudal Age, and captured Sacred Sites generate 50% more gold, up to 150 gold/min.

Chinese[]

The Chinese economic buildings (except the Town Center) generate 1 gold as tax each time a resource is dropped off, military buildings generate 1 gold as tax each time a unit is produced, and 32 gold as tax for every research completed. This gold can only be collected by Imperial Officials and deposited in the Town Center. The Imperial Academy landmark can receive the tax gold. Also, buildings in its influence generate double the tax amount. Imperial Officials can also supervise a Mining Camp to generate an extra 20% gold from what's deposited.

English[]

The English can generate gold from farms after Enclosures is researched.

French[]

The French can collect gold from the Guild Hall landmark if they toggle it to that resource. The higher the gold accumulated there, the higher the generation rate is.

Abbasid Dynasty[]

Abbasid Dynasty Villagers will drop off an extra 8% more resources after Improved Processing is researched.

Mongols[]

The Mongols can generate 25 gold by setting buildings on fire or destroying buildings under construction. It can be improved up to 75 gold with the Raid Bounty technology. After Piracy is researched, destroying enemy ships provide 25 gold.

Rus[]

The Rus can generate gold by killing wild Gaia as Bounty (Deer +10, Wolf +25, Boar +75). Also, Hunting Cabins produce gold the more trees are in their influence radius. The Hunting Cabin gold gathering can be improved by reaching certain bounty goals:

  • 100 Bounty: Hunting Cabins generate Gold every 27 seconds.
  • 250 Bounty: Hunting Cabins generate Gold every 24 seconds.
  • 500 Bounty: Hunting Cabins generate Gold every 18 seconds.

The High Trade House acts as a improved Hunting Cabin with a 200% extra gold generated.

Ottomans[]

The Ottomans can generate 28 gold/min per Trader garrisoned (up to 6) in the Sultanhani Trade Network landmark.

Malians[]

The Malians can generate gold passively with the Pit Mine building. This building can only be constructed over a gold vein and has a limit of 1 per age (from 1 in the Dark Age up to 4 in the Imperial Age). The generation rate is 35 gold/min, but every House and Mining Camp in its influence improves it by 25%. The Mansa Quarry landmark can generate 75 gold/min.

Strategy[]

Age of Empires[]

Gold has no use at all during the Stone and Tool Ages, aside from (depending on whether or not the game version is Return of Rome) Market commodity training and recruiting Trade Boats. From the Bronze Age it becomes vital, as it is used to train or research almost every military unit, with the exceptions being Stone/Tool Age units, War Galleys, Triremes, Chariots, and Chariot Archers. Particularly large amounts are needed for Cavalry, Horse Archers, and siege weapons, and most of all Priests, which also depend entirely on gold for upgrades. However, its only economic applications are 60 gold to recruit a trade unit, 75 gold to research Writing, 800 gold to advance to the Iron Age, 100 gold to research Coinage, and 1,000 gold to build a Wonder.

The fastest way to obtain gold is by mining it with Villagers. Market technologies can further speed up the rate of mining, and even increase the amount of gold each mine yields. However, mines are a finite resource; long-term gold must be acquired through trading. In the original and Definitive Edition of Age of Empires, this is ultimately finite too, as it requires other resources to be lost in exchange for the gold. It's also extremely slow, as each target player can only supply a trade mission every 20 seconds, and it can't be done at all on landlocked maps or 1v1s. The player should ensure that their own Docks are as far away from the trading player's as possible, to maximize gold yield, but it will still be a slow trickle. In these versions of the game, once a match advances past the Tool Age, securing more gold mines than the enemy typically leads to victory; players short on it will depend on Chariots and Triremes.

Return of Rome makes trading more viable: it no longer costs resources, and any number of trading vessels can be sent to the same Dock; it is also possible to trade over land via Trade Carts. These changes mean that trade is truly an infinitely sustainable source of gold, so long as another player has an accessible Dock or Market. However, it requires an extremely lengthy, reasonably direct trade route to match the acquisition rate of even an unupgraded gold-mining Villager. Return of Rome also adds commodity trading at the Market, so gold can also be acquired indefinitely even in unallied games by setting up an enormous farming economy, selling off the food, and buying back just enough wood to build more Farms. This is an expensive acquisition method, however, so trade ships or carts are preferable - and an effective path to victory in very lengthy games can be to disrupt enemy allies' trade routes.

Age of Empires II[]

Gold is scarce and it is a common competitive tactic to raid the enemy Mining Camps to disrupt the opponent's gold mining and prevent them from making gold-heavy units. This makes scouting gold deposits early in the game important so they can be easily found later on.

Unless allied players have set up trade, gold will inevitably run out before food or wood. Gold is required to create the game's most powerful units, such as Knights, siege weapons, and unique units, so a player with gold available to them will have a huge advantage over a player without. Of the units that require gold, infantry units tend to cost the least per unit.

Here lies the importance of getting the Relics well before the opponent to have some gold generation when the games get so long that the gold has been depleted from the map in a 1v1 match. The difference of a Relic can be crucial for the creation of units that can finish the game, such as Trebuchets or Bombard Cannons.

The three unit lines which cost no gold are known as "trash units". When fully upgraded, these are the Halberdier, the Hussar, and the Elite Skirmisher. They form the bulk of players' armies when gold is scarce late game.

Whether gold is available in the late game can have a huge impact on the viability of certain civilizations: for example, the Turks have very weak trash units, and so are extremely dependent on gold in order to be strong in the late game. The Byzantines, however, excel at trash wars due to their cheaper trash.

Cheats to obtain gold[]

  • Age of Empires: Coinage + 1,000 gold (10,000 in Return of Rome; "Robin Hood" also works)
  • Age of Empires II:
    • Robin Hood - 1,000 gold (10,000 in the HD Edition)
    • ninjaconnor or ninjalui or rowshep - 100,000 gold (along with 100,000 food, 100,000 wood, and 100,000 stone)
  • Age of Mythology: ATM OF EREBUS + 1,000 gold
  • Age of Empires IV: i have an app idea 100,000 gold

Videos[]

Resources in Age of Empires series
CommonFood · Wood · Gold/Coin · Stone*
Age of MythologyFavorAOM Favor
Age of Empires IIIResource xp XP · Aoe3 export Export · Aoe3de influence Influence
Age of Empires IVAoE4 Bounty icon Bounty · AoE4 Vizier Point icon Vizier Point · Resource olive oil Olive Oil
Extractable resource sources in the Age of Empires series
CommonTree · Gold Mine · Stone Mine· Berry Bush · Farm (I · II · M · III · IV) · Animals (Fish · Herdable animal)
Age of Empires IIFish trap aoe2DE Fish Trap · Oysters Chronicles Oysters
Age of MythologyAoMR Dwarven Mine icon Dwarven Mine · AoM Gold Mine icon Jade Mine
Age of Empires IIICherry orchard portrait aoe3de Cherry Orchard · Coal mine portrait Coal Mine · Copper mine portrait Copper Mine · Food crate icon AoE3DE Crate · Gold mine portrait Diamond Mine · Plantation aoe3de Estate · Field portrait aoe3de Field · Hacienda portrait Hacienda · MangoGroveDE Mango Grove · Mill aoe3de Mill · China rice paddy icon aoe3de Rice Paddy · Rock supply icon AoE3DE Rock · Gold mine portrait Salt Mine · Silver Mine icon AoE3DE Silver Mine · Gold mine portrait Tin Mine
Age of Empires IVAoE4 OliveGrove Olive Grove
* not used in Age of Mythology and Age of Empires III
Advertisement