This article is about the building in Age of Empires. For similar buildings in other games, see Market. |
“ | 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.
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 | 120 food 100 wood |
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
Granary |
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Gallery[]
Buildings in Age of Empires | |
---|---|
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 |