Market (Age of Empires III)

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

Market
Building information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Building Economic
Civilization	All (except Africans)
Age	Exploration Age
Use	Buy/sell resources Researches economic technologies
Construction
Wood	100
Max. builders	8
Build time	15 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	2,000
Line of Sight	12
XP build bounty	20
XP bounty	40

“	Provides early economic improvements and exchanges one resource for another.	”
—In-game description

The Market is an economic building in Age of Empires III. It provides early economic technologies and allows the player to trade coin for food or wood, or vice-versa.

The African civilizations do not normally have access to the Market, instead having the Livestock Market, which combines the functions of a Market and a Livestock Pen. The Ethiopians can get one Indian Market Builder (and retrain it from the Town Center if it or the Market are destroyed) by choosing the Indian Alliance to Age up. However, only hunting and mining improvements, as well as Eastern Medicine, can be researched at the Indian Market. Nevertheless, it can provide a valuable bonus to natural resource gathering and improve villager survivability.

Overview

It functions most like its Age of Empires counterpart, which also provided upgrades. Unlike in Age of Empires II or Age of Mythology, the Market can no longer be used to facilitate trading to gain gold with other players. However, unlike all previous games, the Market is no longer required to give tribute.

European civilizations serve as the baseline setup for technology researched at this building, with one technology per resource for each age, as well as two Villager combat upgrades. Major Native civilizations do not research that many technologies here, but their technologies at the Farm and Estate apply to all sources of that resource instead of just gathering from the respective building. Asian civilizations split the effect of the resource technologies in half, between a resource-specific technology and an all-resources technology, but additively the result is the same increase in resource collection per age.

Technologies

Age	Technology	Cost	Effect	Civ.
	Hunting Dogs	50 wood 50 coin	Villagers gather from huntable animals 10% faster	EU NA AM
	Hunting Eagles	25 wood 25 coin	Villagers gather from huntable animals 5% faster
	Hanami Parties		Villagers gather from Berry Bushes and Cherry Orchards 5% faster
	Gang Saw	100 food	Villagers gather from trees and Mango Groves 10% faster	EU AM
	Lumber Ceremony	100 food 150 coin	Villagers gather from trees and Mango Groves 20% faster	NA
	Water Wheel	50 food	Villagers gather from trees and Mango Groves 5% faster	AS
	Placer Mines	75 food 75 wood	Villagers gather from mines 10% faster	EU AM
	Fur Dressing	75 food 125 wood	Villagers gather from Tribal Marketplaces 10% faster
	Blanket Filters	40 food 40 wood	Villagers gather from mines 5% faster	AS
	Civil Servants	50 food 50 wood 50 coin	Villagers gather from natural resources 5% faster	AS
	Blunderbuss	110 food	Villagers get +3 attack, +4 range, and +4 LOS	EU
	Great Coat	75 food	Villagers get +35% hit points
	Spirit Medicine	150 food	Villagers get +35% hit points, +3 attack, +4 range, and +4 LOS	NA
	Eastern Medicine			AS
	New Year Festival	500 food 500 wood 500 coin	Gives 2,000 XP
	Inti Festival	1,000 coin	Gives one Home City shipment
	Frontiersmen	115 food	Villagers get +35% hit points, +6 range, and +6 LOS	AM
	Steel Traps	125 wood 125 coin	Villagers gather from huntable animals 20% faster; Requires Hunting Dogs	EU AM
	Professional Hunters	65 wood 65 coin	Villagers gather from huntable animals 10% faster; Requires Hunting Eagles
	Yozakura Lanterns		Villagers gather from Berry Bushes and Cherry Orchards 10% faster; Requires Hanami Parties
	Log Flume	150 food 250 coin	Villagers gather from trees and Mango Groves 20% faster; Requires Gang Saw	EU AM
	Forest People Ceremony	150 food 235 coin	Villagers gather from trees and Mango Groves 20% faster; Requires Lumber Ceremony	NA
	Regenerative Forestry	75 food 75 coin	Villagers gather from trees and Mango Groves 10% faster; Requires Water Wheel	AS
	Amalgamation	200 food 200 wood	Villagers gather from mines 20% faster; Requires Placer Mines	EU AM
	Flume and Ditching	100 food 100 wood	Villagers gather from mines 10% faster; Requires Blanket Filters	AS
	Imperial Bureaucracy	150 food 150 wood 150 coin	Villagers gather from natural resources 10% faster; Requires Civil Servants	AS
	Circular Saw	240 food 480 coin	Villagers gather trees and Mango Groves 30% faster; Requires Log Flume	EU AM
	Forest Spirit Ceremony	250 food 400 coin	Villagers gather trees and Mango Groves 20% faster; Requires Forest People Ceremony	NA
	Timber Trade	240 food 480 coin	Villagers gather trees and Mango Groves 30% faster; Requires Regenerative Forestry (except for the Indians)	AS
	Deforestation	1,000 food 1,000 coin	Villagers gather trees and Mango Groves 50% faster; Requires Forest Spirit Ceremony	NA
	Tropical Timber Trade		Villagers gather trees and Mango Groves 50% faster; Requires Timber Trade	AS

Water Wheel and Regenerative Forestry are granted to the Indians from the start.

Civilization differences

• The Ethiopians can build one Market (named Indian Market) by allying with the Indians to advance into the Fortress Age or higher, which ships a Indian Market Rickshaw. This Market has Hunting Eagles, Professional Hunters, Blanket Filters, Flume and Ditching, and Eastern Medicine available for cost in influence (see their pages civilization differences' for the exact values).

Further statistics

Building strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Nothing
Weak vs.	Everything
Improvements
Hit points	Flying Buttress (+20%)
Sight	Gas Lighting (+4, European civilizations only)
Construction cost	Cree Textile Craftsmanship (-10%) Tupi Forest Burning (-20% wood)
Other	Cherokee Basket Weaving (technologies except New Year Festival, Deforestation, and Tropical Timber Trade cost no wood)
Penalties	Code Napoleon (+25% cost, French only) Customized Merc Weapons (+30% cost, John Black's Mercenaries only)

Home City Cards

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Market

Some cards are highlighted with:
Green	TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team

All

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Improved Buildings	Buildings get +40% hit points		10
Advanced Market	Market buy rate -20%, sell rate +20%		1

• "Improved Buildings" is available at a level 1 Home City for the Sioux.
• The Indians have "TEAM Improved Buildings" instead of "Improved Buildings".
• "Advanced Market" is available to European and Native American civilizations.

Chinese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Confucius' Gift	Technology research time -99%; Home City shipments arrive 33% faster		40
Commodities Market	Market buy rate -30%, sell rate +5%; Ships 1 Market Rickshaw		1

Dutch

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Cheap Market Improvements	Hunting Dogs, Hunting Eagles, Village Dogs, Hanami Parties, Gang Saw, Lumber Ceremony, Water Wheel, Hardened Iron Axes, Placer Mines, Blanket Filters, Civil Servants, Blunderbuss, Great Coat, Spirit Medicine, Eastern Medicine, Royal Hunters, and Tribal Societies are free		1

Indians

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Improved Buildings	Buildings get +25% hit points		10
Mughal Architecture	Buildings except wonders cost -20% wood and build time -50% +1 Villager		40
Bazaar	Market buy rate -25%, sell rate +10%; Ships 1 Market Rickshaw +1 Hindu Villager		1

Japanese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Kwankoba Bazaar	Market buy rate -15%, sell rate +20%; Ships 1 Market Rickshaw		1

United States

Card	Description	Age
Hamiltonian Economics	Hunting Dogs, Gang Saw, Placer Mines, Blunderbuss, Great Coat, Steel Traps, Log Flume, and Amalgamation are free; Market buy factor -10%

Trivia

• According to an unused texture in the game files (trade_buy_fame.ddt), it would be possible to exchange coin for experience in the Market (since the experience resource was originally called fame). It may have cost 1,000 coin for 500 experience according to one of the strings.
• The Northern European Market in the Industrial/Imperial Age has a sign labeled "Stuarts Market". Given that this architecture set is used by John Black's Mercenaries Houses, this may be a reference to his business-inclined uncle, Stuart Black.
• There are unused files for the Market portrait in The WarChiefs (probably intended to be used by Native American civilizations), and in The Asian Dynasties for the Chinese and Indian Markets. The Market portrait used by Asian civilizations in The Asian Dynasties would have been unique to the Japanese, as it is called japanese_market_icon_portrait.ddt in the game files. Despite being updated for the Definitive Edition, the portrait for the Chinese Market remains unused.
  • While unavailable to the Indians themselves, the Indian Market portrait is used for the Market that the Ethiopians can build by allying with them.

History

“

A market provides a location to bring together buyers and sellers to trade. Ideally, prices are set by supply and demand. Markets were composed of stalls where vendors would sell their wares. Often people wouldn't pay with money, but would barter by offering a service in return for whatever they needed. As cities grew larger, stores replaced the open marketplaces, and money became a more common form of currency.

”

Gallery

Icon of the Market in Age of Empires III

An in-game European Market in the Exploration Age

An in-game Western European Market in the Commerce/Fortress Age

Unused Market portrait in The WarChiefs

Unused Chinese Market portrait in The Asian Dynasties

Unused Indian Market portrait in The Asian Dynasties

Indian Market portrait in the Definitive Edition

An in-game Haudenosaunee Market in the Industrial/Imperial Age in the Definitive Edition

An in-game Aztec Market in the Industrial/Imperial Age in the Definitive Edition

An in-game Chinese/Japanese Market in the Exploration Age in the Definitive Edition

An in-game Chinese Market in the Commerce/Fortress Age in the Definitive Edition

An in-game Japanese Market in the Commerce/Fortress Age in the Definitive Edition

See also

• Livestock Market – African analogue