Imperial Age (Age of Empires II)

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

Imperial Age
Age
Availability
Introduced in	Age of Empires II
Age number	4
Preceded by	Castle Age
Followed by	Post-Imperial Age (Random map/settings only)
Required buildings	Two of the following: Monastery / Fortified Church University Siege Workshop or one of the following: Castle Krepost (Bulgarians only)
Research
Researched at	Town Center
Food	1,000
Gold	800
Time	190 seconds

The Imperial Age is the fourth and final Age in Age of Empires II. It can be reached by constructing a Castle or any other two Castle Age buildings and then researching the Imperial Age technology at the Town Center. It gives access to gunpowder units (except for the Aztecs, Huns, Inca, Cumans, Maya, and Romans) and heavy siege units.

Additionally, once the Imperial Age is reached, a Wonder can be built by any civilization. When playing a random map, Post-Imperial Age can be chosen as the Starting Age, which is the same as the Imperial Age, but with all technologies (available to each civilization) already researched.

The Imperial Age is preceded by the Castle Age.

Strategy

Advancing to the Imperial Age

As the final Age, the Imperial Age offers a wide selection of improvements, though it features relatively few new unit lines and buildings compared to the previous ages. It comes at a high cost to research, and has a long research time, so it is careless to research without a game plan.

Access to the Trebuchet from the start gives an Imperial Age player an advantage, as Trebuchets are the first unit available that is able to safely besiege enemy Castles. Later, the Bombard Cannon can also do this while being more maneuverable. On water, the Cannon Galleon, Elite Cannon Galleon, and Dromon are available as the first siege ships.

A civilization in the Imperial Age

By this point, long-term gold supplies start to become valuable, and army compositions will finalize. Late-game army compositions typically consist of a combination of a strong gold unit, a trash unit, and an anti-building siege unit. When gold supplies are abundant, Paladins, Heavy Cavalry Archers, Siege Onagers, and Bombard Cannons become the most dominant units available. Bombard Towers also become available during the Imperial Age, possessing the best combination of damage output and cost of any defensive structure.

Control of important resources becomes paramount as the game progresses, with gold access being very important. In the uncommon case where gold supplies runs out for both players and neither has a clear advantage, the game will enter the "trash wars", where trash units become dominant.

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

Available buildings

Civilian buildings

• Wonder - special building that grants victory when constructed and defended for 200 years (the countdown is longer for bigger maps)
• Feitoria - generates resources (Portuguese only)
• Caravanserai - heals and increases speed of nearby Trade Carts (Hindustanis and Persians only)

Defensive structures

• Keep¹ - Tower that attacks enemies on sight
• Bombard Tower¹ - powerful Tower (requires Chemistry)

1. Both the Keep and the Bombard Tower have to be researched at the University.

Available units

Only military units that are unlocked in the Imperial Age are shown.

At the Barracks:

• Two-Handed Swordsman → Champion - heavy infantry units
• Halberdier - anti-cavalry unit
• Elite Eagle Warrior - scouting unit, also good against foot archers, siege weapons and Monks (Aztecs, Inca, and Maya only)
• Elite Huskarl - Anti-archer infantry (Goths only, after researching Anarchy)
• Condottiero - anti-gunpowder unit (Italians and allies only)
• Flemish Militia - Burgundian infantry unique unit (Burgundians only, after researching Flemish Revolution)
• Legionary - Unique upgrade of Long Swordsman (Romans only)

At the Archery Range:

• Arbalester - foot archer unit
• Heavy Cavalry Archer - mounted archer unit
• Elite Elephant Archer - Slow and heavy mounted archer (Bengalis, Dravidians, and Gurjaras only)
• Elite Genitour - mounted Skirmisher (Berbers and allies only)
• Hand Cannoneer - foot gunpowder unit (requires Chemistry)
• Imperial Skirmisher - anti-archer javelineer (Vietnamese and allies only)

At the Stable:

• Heavy Camel Rider → Imperial Camel Rider (Hindustanis only) - anti-cavalry unit
• Cavalier → Paladin/ Savar (Persians only) - heavy cavalry unit
• Hussar / Winged Hussar (Lithuanians and Poles only) - light cavalry scouting unit, also good against siege weapons and Monks
• Elite Battle Elephant - heavy cavalry unit
• Elite Steppe Lancer - light cavalry unit with a long weapon (Cumans, Mongols, and Tatars only)
• Elite Shrivamsha Rider - light cavalry unit which can dodge projectiles (Gurjaras only)
• Elite Tarkan - anti-building cavalry (Huns only, after researching Marauders)

At the Castle:

• Elite unique unit - a special unit only one civilization can train
• / Trebuchet - powerful long-range siege weapon

At the Siege Workshop:

• Capped Ram → Siege Ram - anti-building siege unit with splash damage that is almost immune to missiles
• Siege Elephant - anti-building cavalry & siege unit with high pierce armor (Bengalis, Dravidians, Gurjaras, and Hindustanis only)
• Onager → Siege Onager - ranged siege unit with splash attack
• Heavy Scorpion - ranged siege unit with pass-through attack along a line
• Bombard Cannon → Houfnice (Bohemians only) - siege unit with a long range (requires Chemistry)
• Flaming Camel - fast suicide unit (Tatars only)

At the Dock/Harbor (the latter for the Malay only):

• Galleon - basic war ship
• Fast Fire Ship - war ship with a flamethrower
• Heavy Demolition Ship - self-destructive vessel
• Cannon Galleon → Elite Cannon Galleon - gunpowder ship with a long range (requires Chemistry)
• Elite Longboat - fast war ship that shoots multiple arrows (Vikings only)
• Elite Turtle Ship - heavy armored ship that fires a cannon (Koreans only)
• Elite Caravel - war ship that shoots arrows with splash attack (Portuguese only)
• Thirisadai - heavy warship that fires multiple projectiles (Dravidians only)
• Dromon - anti-building siege warship with long range (Byzantines, Goths, Huns, and Romans only)

At the Krepost (Bulgarians only):

• Elite Konnik - heavy cavalry unit which respawns as infantry unit upon death

At the Donjon (Sicilians only):

• Elite Serjeant - Elite heavy infantry
• Halberdier - anti-cavalry unit

Available technologies

Economic technologies

At the Mill (Folwark for the Poles):

• Crop Rotation - gives Farms extra food

At the Lumber Camp:

• Two-Man Saw - increases wood-chopping speed

At the Market:

• Banking - removes tribute fee (since patch 5.8; moved from Castle Age)
• Guilds - reduces commodity trading fee

At the University:

• Architecture - strengthens buildings

Military technologies

At the Archery Range:

• Parthian Tactics - increases armor and attack against Spearmen of mounted archers

At the Dock/Harbor (the latter for the Malay only):

• Dry Dock - increases ship speed and Transport Ship capacity
• Shipwright - makes ships cheaper and increases their creation speed

At the Castle:

• Unique technology¹ - special technology that only one civilization can research
• Hoardings - increases Castle hit points
• Sappers - increases the attack of Villagers against buildings
• Conscription - increases the working rate of Barracks, Archery Ranges, Stables, Castles, Donjons, and Kreposts
• Spies² - see enemy Line of Sight
• Treason³ - see enemy Kings for a short time

1. Not all unique technologies are military technologies.
2. Spies is not available in Regicide and Deathmatch games.
3. Treason is only available in Regicide games.

At the Blacksmith:

• Ring Archer Armor - increases archer armor
• Bracer - improves missiles
• Blast Furnace - increases infantry and cavalry attack
• Plate Mail Armor - increases infantry armor
• Plate Barding Armor - increases cavalry armor

At the University:

• Chemistry - increases missiles and siege units and allows the creation of gunpowder units
• Siege Engineers - increases siege unit range and attack against buildings
• Arrowslits - increases Tower attack

Religious technologies

At the Monastery (Fortified Church for the Armenians and Georgians):

• Illumination - Monks regain their faith faster after a successful conversion
• Faith (+4 min, +4 max) - increases conversion resistance of all units
• Block Printing increases conversion range
• Theocracy - only one Monk must rest after a successful conversion

Civilization bonuses

• Bengalis: Spawn 2 villagers from every Town Center when they reach the Imperial Age.
• Burgundians: Imperial Age economic technologies are available in the Castle Age.
• Dravidians: Receive 200 wood when they reach the Imperial Age.
• Byzantines: Advancing to the Imperial Age is 33% cheaper (667 food, 533 gold instead of 1,000 food, 800 gold).
• Ethiopians: Receive 100 food, 100 gold when they reach the Imperial Age.
• Italians: Advancing to the Imperial Age is 15% cheaper (850 food, 680 gold instead of 1,000 food, 800 gold).
• Khmer: No buildings are required to advance to the Imperial Age.
• Malay: Advancing to the Imperial Age is 66% faster (114 seconds instead of 190).
• Persians: Town Centers and Docks work 20% faster in the Imperial Age. Advancing to the Imperial Age is 15% faster (165 seconds instead of 190).

History

“	The rise of great kings and their quest for empire brought about the final segment of the Middle Ages that can be called the Imperial Age. The feudal system was being replaced by kings at the head of nations in England, France, Spain, and Scandinavia. Trade was booming and cities were growing in size and power. The Renaissance was underway in Italy and spreading across Europe. Technology and learning surpassed that of the ancient world. Firearms and other innovations brought an end to the military dominance of knights and castles. This end of the Middle Ages can be marked by several important events, including the Turkish capture of Constantinople, the discovery of the New World, trading contact by sea with Asia, and Martin Luther's Reformation.	”
—Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings manual

Trivia

• The design of the shield in the icon is based on a medieval tournament jousting shield, particularly from Germany. The notch at the topleft served as a opening for the lance to hold it steady as the rider used the shield in front of him to protect himself from the opponent's lance.
• The patterns on the shield is a combination of patterns on the shields in the icons of all three previous Ages, with the addition of a golden crown in a royal purple background.

Gallery

The Imperial Age African architecture set

The Imperial Age Central Asian architecture set

The Imperial Age Central European architecture set

The Imperial Age East Asian architecture set

The Imperial Age Eastern European architecture set

The Imperial Age Mediterranean architecture set

The Imperial Age Middle Eastern architecture set

The Imperial Age Native American architecture set

The Imperial Age South Asian architecture set

The Imperial Age Southeast Asian architecture set

The Imperial Age Western European architecture set