This article is about the building in Age of Empires. For other uses of the term, see House. |
“ | Support up to 4 villagers, military units, or boats. You must have enough Houses before you can create new units. | ” |
—In-game description in the Definitive Edition |
The House is a civilian building in Age of Empires that provides the player with four additional population, allowing more units to be created. This is lost if the House is destroyed, and building more Houses has no benefit if the population cap has been reached.
Gameplay[]
These structures can be built by Villagers from the start of the game.
Managing population is an important skill in Age of Empires. Failing to build Houses as new units are being created results in the player's population becoming unnecessarily limited, or "housed", resulting in a slower economy or smaller military than better-prepared rivals. However, over-preparing can be problematic too, as building large numbers of Houses before they're needed means that wood is being spent that would have a more meaningful impact elsewhere. Most matches begin with three Villagers and four population, so a House will need to be finished by the time the next Villager is trained.
In the original version of Age of Empires, population is limited to 50, so only a moderate number of Houses are needed (also Town Centers, which are the only other buildings that add population). However, the limit can be stretched much higher through unofficial patches and later versions of the game, so increasingly huge numbers of Houses are needed. In Return of Rome, the number of Houses required can be greatly reduced by researching Urbanization at the Government Center in the Bronze Age, but this technology has no effect on the population bonus from Town Centers.
Houses are the cheapest wood buildings in the game. This means that before the player has access to walls (researched at the Granary in the Tool Age, and requiring stone to build), Houses are the cheapest way to barricade entrances into the player's base. Barricades are essential in Age of Empires, as the Town Center has no attack capability, so Villagers are extremely vulnerable to enemy raids.
Any other building will provide a more durable barricade (aside from Farms, which don't block movement by default in the Definitive Edition and Return of Rome, and are more fragile than Houses in all versions of the game). However, Houses still provide enough protection to survive 38 seconds' battering by a Clubman or Villager, which can be enough to keep the base safe before walls can be raised, or for the player's own soldiers to mobilize.
Upgrades[]
- Architecture increases hit points by 20% and reduces build time by 33%.
- City Watch increases Line of Sight by 3.
- Urbanization increases population space by 4.
Civilization bonuses[]
- Macedonians: Houses are four times more resistant to conversion.
- Romans: Houses cost -10%.
Team bonuses[]
- Babylonians: Houses are built 10% faster.
- Choson: Houses have +2 Line of Sight.
- Lac Viet: Houses are built 50% faster.
- Macedonians: Houses have +50 hit points.
- Palmyrans: Technologies which benefit houses are researched 30% faster.
Changelog[]
Age of Empires[]
- Houses have 3 Line of Sight.
Definitive Edition[]
- Houses have 2 Line of Sight.
Return of Rome[]
- Team bonuses added:
- Babylonians: Houses are built 10% faster.
- Choson: With update 93001, Houses have +2 Line of Sight.
- Lac Viet: Houses are built 50% faster.
- Macedonians: Upon release, Houses have +25 hit points. With update 99311, Houses have +50 hit points.
- Palmyrans: Technologies benefiting Houses are researched 30% faster.
History[]
“ | Shelter increased in importance when humans expanded their range farther away from the equator in the wake of the receding ice sheets and into climates of wide seasonal variation. Growing human populations quickly occupied the few natural shelters available in these areas. The provision of man- made shelter made existence in challenging and variable climates possible. Without houses, year- round populations could not have increased beyond minimums. | ” |
—Age of Empires manual |
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Gallery[]
Icons[]
Buildings in Age of Empires | |
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Civilian buildings | |
General | House · Temple · Government Center · Wonder |
Economic | Town Center · Dock · Storage Pit · Granary · Market · Farm |
Unconstructable | Aqueduct · Army Tent · Barricade · Chain · Colosseum · Granary · Great Pyramid · Hut · Monument · Pyramid · Ruins · Trade Workshop · Yurt |
Military buildings | |
Production | Barracks · Archery Range · Stable · Siege Workshop · Academy |
Tower | Watch Tower · Sentry Tower · Guard Tower · Ballista Tower |
Wall | Small Wall · Medium Wall · Fortified Wall · Small Gate · Medium Gate · Fortified Gate |
Unconstructable | Mirror Tower · Zenobia's Tower |