Guard Tower (Age of Empires)

This article is about the building in Age of Empires. For the building in other games of the series, see Guard Tower.

Guard Tower
Unit information
Type	Fortification
Age	Iron Age
Training
Trained at	Granary
Stone	150
Statistics
Hit points	240
Attack	6
Range	7
Melee armor	0
Pierce armor	0
Unit evolution
Upgraded from	Sentry Tower
Upgrades to	Ballista Tower
Upgrade cost	1,800 food 900 stone

The Guard Tower is a tower in Age of Empires, the upgrade to the Sentry Tower available in the Iron Age. To research its upgrade technology at the Granary, 300 food and 100 stone is required. This defensive building has 200 hit points, 6 attack and 7 range and can be upgraded. It offers effective defense against other Bronze Age units, but needs to be upgraded to the Ballista Tower to have any kind of effectiveness against Iron Age units. Almost every civilization can build this type of tower. The only exceptions to this are the Romans, the Minoans, and the Yamato.

Like all towers, Guard Towers are more resistant against stone throwing siege weapons than other buildings, having 18 additional siege armor against them after accounting for building armor. Against Armored Elephants, Guard Towers have 16 extra armor.

Civilization bonuses

• Babylonian Watch Towers hit points +60%.
• Choson Watch Towers have +2 Range

Upgrades

All Guard Towers

Tool Age

• Woodworking increases range by one point

Bronze Age

• Artisanship increases range by one point
• Architecture decreases build time by 33% and increases hit points by 20%

Iron Age

• Alchemy increases attack by one point
• Ballistics increases its accuracy
• Craftsmanship increases range by one point
• Can be upgraded to the Ballista Tower

Changelog

Age of Empires

• Guard Towers have 200 hit points.

Definitive Edition

• With update 38862, Guard Towers have 240 hit points.

History

“	The tower discovered on the wall at the ancient site of Jericho served several purposes. It extended the visual range of lookouts that would be watching for the approach of raiders and other visitors. An early warning might have been the difference between a successful defense and the fall of the town. The tower was a superior firing position for archery. Bowmen shooting down had an advantage in range and penetration power of arrows versus enemies shooting up. Enemies hiding at the bottom of the wall may have remained visible to archers in the tower. The tower itself was an independent bastion that could serve as the defensive position of last resort if the wall was carried. The Guard Tower was a superior fortification, well- designed for holding out against attack and for bringing weapons to bear on an attacker.	”
—Age of Empires manual

Gallery

Guard Tower (left) and Ballista Tower (right). Notice that their appearance are the same; however, the former fires arrows, while the latter fires Ballista bolts.

All Guard Towers in the Definitive Edition

Add a photo to this gallery

Buildings Tree
First Town Center Barracks Storage Pit House Dock Granary Stable Archery Range Small Wall Market Watch Tower Farm Academy Siege Workshop Medium Wall Government Center Temple Sentry Tower More Town Centers Wonder Fortification Guard Tower Ballista Tower