Granary (Age of Empires)

This article is about the building in Age of Empires. For similar buildings in other games of the series, see Granary.

Granary
Building information
Introduced in	Age of Empires
Type	Economic
Civilization	All civilizations
Age	Stone Age
Required for	Market
Construction
Wood	120
Build time	30 seconds
Statistics
Size	3×3 tiles
Hit points	350
Melee armor	0
Pierce armor	0
Line of Sight	4

“	Used by villagers to deposit food from berry bushes and Farms. Can research upgrades for walls and towers. Required to build Markets.	”
—In-game description in the Definitive Edition

The Granary is an economic building in Age of Empires. It becomes available to the player in the Stone Age and functions as a drop-off point for Villagers gathering food, but only for Foragers and Farmers. The Granary is also the research building used for technologies enabling the player to build walls and towers, such as the Small Wall and Watch Tower. Many later buildings require the player to have built a Granary.

Gameplay

The Granary's initial purpose is for Villagers to deposit food, but only the non-animal types: foraging from Berry Bushes, and later on, crops from Farms. The Storage Pit is the deposit point for the other types of Villager-gathered food (hunting and fishing), in addition to all wood and mining. The Town Center can take all Villager-gathered resources.

Update 8 introduced the option for Villagers to automatically reseed Farms after their food supply is spent, a key quality-of-life feature. This is toggled on or off with a button at the Granary, and in the Definitive Edition it is set to off by default. In Return of Rome, the options menu can be used to set whether or not auto-reseeding is enabled by default. Return of Rome also adds another button to the Granary, in which a set number of Farms can be queued for reseeding. Queueing allows the player to control how much wood they'll be spending on farming, but auto-reseeding means the player doesn't have to pay the wood in advance.

The Granary is an important building in the tech tree. The player must have built one to unlock the Market upon reaching the Tool Age, which in turn unlocks Farms, the Temple, and the Government Center, which itself unlocks the creation of additional Town Centers. Granaries are also a prerequisite for unlocking and upgrading walls and towers, but these are researched at the Granary rather than being automatically unlocked. Walling off is an essential tactic in Age of Empires, and the Small Wall technology only costs 50 food, so in most matches it should be done as quickly as possible upon reaching the Tool Age.

However, these unlock requirements can be waived if the match starts in a later age. When starting from the Bronze Age, Markets, Farms, Government Centers, Temples, Watch Towers, Small Walls and all military buildings are unlocked from the start. Starting from the Iron Age also unlocks additional Town Centers, and upgrades the towers/walls. In Return of Rome, starting from the Tool Age unlocks the Market, along with the Archery Range and Stable.

In some versions of the game, AI factions may not build Granaries if they have no access to Berry Bushes, which results in them missing a large swathe of the tech tree. This shouldn't happen in regular gameplay, but can be forced through the Scenario Editor.

Technologies

All Granaries in the Iron Age: Egyptian, Greek, Roman (middle), Mesopotamian, East Asian

Tool Age

• Small Wall
• Watch Tower

Bronze Age

• Medium Wall
• Sentry Tower

Iron Age

• Fortified Wall
• Guard Tower
• Ballista Tower (requires Ballistics)

Availability

Civilization				All
Assyrians				X
Babylonians				X
Carthaginians
Choson				X
Egyptians				X
Greeks				X
Hittites				X
Lac Viet
Macedonians
Minoans
Palmyrans				X
Persians
Phoenicians				X
Romans
Shang
Sumerians				X
Yamato
Civilization				All

Upgrades

• Architecture increases hit points by 20% and reduces build time by 33%.
• City Watch increases Line of Sight by 3.*

Civilization bonuses

• Macedonians: Granaries are four times more resistant to conversion.
• Romans: Granaries cost -10%.

Team bonuses

• Babylonians: Granaries are built 10% faster.
• Choson: Granaries have +2 Line of Sight.
• Palmyrans: Upgrades at the granary and technologies benefiting the Granary are researched 30% faster.

Changelog

Age of Empires

• Granaries have 5 Line of Sight.

Definitive Edition

• Granaries have 4 Line of Sight.

Return of Rome

• Team bonuses added:
  • Babylonians: Granaries are built 10% faster.
  • Choson: with update 93001, Granaries have +2 Line of Sight.
  • Palmyrans: Technologies at and benefiting the Granary are researched 30% faster.

History

“	Following the advance of farming, humans faced the first time the happy problem of how to safely store large quantities of food grains.  The Granary made it possible to preserve growing season surpluses for consumption during winter months.  The Granary was a central location where grain could be warehoused, guarded, and distributed fairly as needed.  The need to protect food supplies was an early reason for building walls and fortifications.  Without protection, the surpluses in the Granary were easily taken by raiders from nearby hunting and gathering groups.	”
—Age of Empires manual

Tech tree

	➞		➞		➞
			➞		➞
			➞		➞
			➞		➞		➞	Requires Ballistics

Gallery

Pre-Definitive Edition Granary (Egyptian, Stone/Tool/Bronze Age)

Granaries in the Stone to Bronze Ages (Definitive Edition): Greek, Mesopotamian, Egyptian (middle), East Asian, Roman

Granaries in the Iron Age (Definitive Edition)

Buildings in Age of Empires
Stone Age Starting Tool Age Bronze Age Additional Iron Age