Market (Age of Empires)

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

Market
Building information
Introduced in	Age of Empires
Type	Economic
Civilization	All civilizations
Age	Tool Age
Use	Research economic technologies Enable tributing resources Exchange resources Train and do land trade with Trade Carts
Required for	Farm Government Center Temple
Construction
Requires	Granary
Wood	150
Build time	40 seconds
Statistics
Size	3×3 tiles
Hit points	350
Melee armor	0
Pierce armor	0
Line of Sight	5

“	Used to research technologies that improve military units and the effectiveness of villagers. Required to build Farms, Temple et Government Centers.	”
—In-game description in the Definitive Edition

The Market is an economic building in Age of Empires that features the ability to pay tributes to other players, and provides the ability to research many useful upgrades that benefit the economy of a civilization. In Return of Rome it is the land trade building.

The infobox uses the following shorthands for different architecture sets, with "O" standing for the original game, before the Definitive Edition:

• OG - Greek
• OA - East Asian
• OE - Egyptian
• OM - Mesopotamian
• OR - Roman

Gameplay

In all versions of the game, the Market is a research building. Its technologies increase the rate of resource collecting, improve the food quantities of Farms, and lengthen the range of arrows. Wheel is widely considered to be the most useful upgrade, since it makes Villagers move much faster (thereby minimizing the time between resource gathering and returning to the depot), as well as enabling the development of Chariot units, and (in Return of Rome) Trade Carts.

Players can only tribute resources to other players after building a Market. The other player does not need to have a Market, but in Return of Rome, it can't be sent to an enemy when Lock Teams is enabled.

A Market is also required to unlock Farms in the Tool Age, and the Government Center and Temple in the Bronze Age, unless the match starts from the Bronze Age or later.

The Granary is required for its construction, unless the game starts from the Tool Age in Return of Rome, or Bronze Age in earlier versions of Age of Empires.

Trading

In Return of Rome, the Market conducts land trade in the same way that Docks conduct naval trade. After researching Wheel, Trade Carts can be recruited at the Market. Trade Carts travel to another player's Market, and deliver gold when they return to the player's own Market.

The amount of gold increases with the straight-line distance between the target Market and the home Market. This doesn't take into account obstacles to movement, but the furthest Market is usually the more profitable one: if the route is direct, +100% distance yields approximately +225% gold per trip, or +62.5% average gold per minute. Traders automatically return to the furthest accessible Market from the target to maximize the gold yield.

The amount of gold also scales with the map size. So for example, a route of 100 tiles will yield far less gold in a Ludicrous map than a Tiny one, but a route stretching over the entire length of the map will yield the same average gold per minute in both the Ludicrous and Tiny map.

Markets yield more gold per trip than Docks over the same distance, but because Trade Carts are so much slower than the naval units, the average gold per minute is 4% less than the Trade Boat.

The absolute best yield that a Trade Cart can get, with Markets in opposite corners of the map and a direct route between them, is 0.58 average gold per second. This is only slightly better than an unupgraded Villager, so most viable routes will be significantly less lucrative than gold mining.

The target player neither gains nor loses resources, and diplomatic stance has no effect on trading (although enemy military will attack the Cart). Note that unlike previous versions of Age of Empires, trade does not require the player to donate any resources.

Exchanging resources

Another feature added in Return of Rome is Age of Empires II's commodity trading. Resources can be sold or bought in exchange for gold.

Clicking the sell icon exchanges 100 resources for the indicated amount of gold, clicking the buy icon exchanges the indicated number of resources for 100 gold. Trades can be made in batches of five by holding shift while clicking.

The sell and buy prices decrease by 1 and 3 each time 100 of that resource is sold, and increase by 1 and 3 each time 100 of that resource is bought. The minimum price a resource can reach is 10 to sell / 30 to buy; there is no maximum limit.

Technologies

Age	Technology	Cost	Effect
	Woodworking	120 food 75 wood	Woodcutters work 20% faster and carry +2 wood Archers, Scout Ship-line units, and Towers get +1 range and Line of Sight
	Stone Mining	100 food 50 stone	Stone Miners work 30% faster and carry +3 stone Slingers get +1 damage, range and Line of Sight
	Gold Mining	120 food 100 wood	Gold Miners work 30% faster and carry +3 gold
	Domestication	150 food 50 wood	Farms produce +75 food (valid only for newly built Farms)
	Artisanship	170 food 150 wood	Woodcutters work 20% faster and carry +2 wood Archers, Scout Ship-line units, and Towers get +1 range and Line of Sight
	Wheel	175 food 75 wood	Villagers get +0.55 speed Enables Chariots, Chariot Archers, and Trade Carts
	Plow	250 food 75 wood	Farms produce +100 food (valid only for newly built Farms)
	Craftsmanship	240 food 200 wood	Woodcutters work 20% faster and carry +2 wood Archers, Scout Ship-line units, and Towers get +1 range and Line of Sight Enables the Helepolis upgrade
	Siegecraft	190 food 100 stone	Stone Miners work 30% faster and carry +3 stone Slingers get +1 damage, range and Line of Sight Villagers get +10 bonus damage against Towers and Walls Enables the Heavy Catapult upgrade
	Coinage	200 food 100 gold	Gold Miners work 25% faster and carry +3 gold Gold Mines last 25% longer Tributes is free
	Irrigation	300 food 100 wood	Farms produce +125 food (valid only for newly built Farms)

Availability

Technologies not listed in this table are available to all civilizations

Blue: Available

Red: Unavailable

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

Further statistics

Building strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Nothing
Weak vs.	Everything
Improvements
Hit points	Architecture (+20%)
Line of Sight	City Watch (+3) Writing (share exploration with allies)
Build time	Architecture (-33%)

Civilization bonuses

• Babylonians: Market technologies cost -30%.
• Macedonians: Markets are four times more resistant to conversion.
• Romans: Markets cost -10%.

Team bonuses

• Babylonians: Markets are built 10% faster.
• Choson: Markets have +2 Line of Sight.
• Greeks: Markets cost -50%.
• Palmyrans: Markets research 30% faster, and technologies which benefit Markets are researched 30% faster.

Changelog

The Rise of Rome

• Romans: Markets cost -15%.

Definitive Edition

• Babylonians: With update 38862, Market technologies cost -30%.
• Romans: With update 38862, Markets cost -10%.

Return of Rome

• Team bonuses added:
  • Babylonians: Markets are built 10% faster.
  • Palmyrans: Technologies researched at the Market, or benefiting it, are researched 30% faster.
• Markets can train Trade Carts and exchange resources with varying rates as per supply and demand.
• Choson (team bonus): With update 93001, Markets have +2 Line of Sight.

History

“	The specialization made possible by the development of agriculture created the need for a place where craftsmen could meet to barter their wares for those of others and for food. The Market in each town and village was the place where barter and exchange took place. The development of the Market marked the change from the small hunting/ foraging group that shared its harvest to the much more complex economy that rose with the rise of towns and cities. Specialization resulted in efficiencies of scale and greater overall production fairly among the food providers and specialists. The profit motive spurred innovation to increase production. The potter, for example, looked for ways to make more and better pots for the same effort to increase the amount of food that he could obtain by trading pots.	”
—Age of Empires manual

Tech tree

Blue: Units

Red: Buildings

Orange: Buildings which cannot train or research anything

Green: Technologies

		Requires Granary
	➞		➞			➞
			➞			➞
					➞
					➞
			➞			➞
					➞

Gallery

All Markets in the Iron Age

Market in the Tool Age (Definitive Edition)

Markets in the Bronze Age (Definitive Edition)

Markets in the Iron Age (Definitive Edition)

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