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

โ€œ Offers extensive line of sight and detects units stealth or disguises. Can be upgraded with weaponry and fortifications. Attacks while garrisoned. โ€
Age of Empires IV description

The Outpost is a defensive structure in Age of Empires IV. It possesses extensive Line of Sight. The Malian Outpost is called Toll Outpost, which is statistically identical to the generic Outpost, except for the former's Taxation Aura. The Rus have the Wooden Fortress instead of the Outpost.

Unlike the Town Center and the Keep, the Outpost cannot attack by default. Garrisoning Villagers, infantry, or cavalry, or researching emplacements, adds projectiles.

Abilities and influences[]

  • AoE4 NetworkOfCastles Network of Castles (passive, English AoE4 English only): Attack speed of units within a 12.5 tile radius is increased by +20% when enemy units are nearby. This can be upgraded to +40% after researching Network of Citadels.
  • AoE4 YamAura Yam (passive, Mongols AoE4 Mongols only): The movement speed of all cavalry and Traders is increased by 15% while within a 12.5 tile radius. After researching Yam Network (or building the Deer Stones), this bonus is applied to all units except siege units. Researching Improved Yam Network allows Traders to regenerate one hit point every two seconds while in the aura.
  • AoE4 ExtraMaterialsEnhancement Extra Materials (passive, Chinese AoE4 Chinese only, requires unlock): Automatically repair damaged walls and gates within a 4-tile radius. A single section is repaired at a time for 20 hit points per second.
  • AoE4 TaxationAura Taxation Aura (passive, Malians AoE4 Malians only): Passing Traders and Trade Ships within a 10 tile radius are taxed, generating up to 8% of their carried gold immediately as bonus gold (and wood for Trade Ships). Each Trader or Trade Ship can only be taxed 5 times on each trip and the amount of tax collected depends on the distance of the tax collection point from the previous one. Although the tooltip states that Toll Outposts placed within the range of another one do not generate tax, this is not true; they still generate a smaller amount of tax. Although the exact formula is unknown, it appears that to consistently generate the maximum amount of possible tax, the auras of two Toll Outposts should not overlap at all. The time between taxations is irrelevant, and it is possible to still generate the maximum tax from two Toll Outposts in short succession if their auras don't overlap and the trade unit passes through the periphery of their auras one after the other.
Info icon Note: Whether intended or not, the home Market and target Trade Post or Market affect the tax amount from the initial Toll Outpost, so its aura should also not overlap with the Market or Trade Post.

Tactics[]

Vision[]

Players should not forget to use Outposts for vision as well as a static defense, just because they are usually used to fire arrows from. This is especially important in the late game, where the cost of such Outposts are more affordable. Especially for planning flanking attacks on slow moving armies, ideally with Horsemen. This can massively help punish things like the opponent making a push to neutralise a Sacred Site.

Long distance hunting[]

One of the most important uses of Outposts is to allow safe hunting of Deer. This allows a great saving of resources compared to Farms, and Deer have a faster base gather rate. Considering both require a Mill (which can be reused for Farms in the case of hunting Deer), the saving in wood from 5 Farms (the same required Villagers as can garrison in the Outpost) is around 275 wood, including the higher construction time of the Outpost around 255 wood. This is more resources than Wheelbarrow, Horticulture, Survival Techniques, or Double Broadax cost, allowing players to easily get important technologies earlier. Alternatively, military buildings could be built with the saved wood.

Even for the English, Outpost into Deer costs around 67.5 wood less, including construction time. The English gathering from Farms is faster than normal, though English gathering from Deer is also faster than normal, due to their attacks having higher damage, killing the Deer faster.

Players could add more Villagers than 5 to gather the Deer or Boar, as the Outpost provides vision for an early retreat and arrow-fire to deter enemy units.

This tactic also has the major benefit of being able to use the Outpost built for it for other things. It continues to provide vision for early responses to enemy attacks, it can be upgraded with emplacements to improve defence, it can fire garrison arrows upon enemy units, and it can garrison units for their safety, including the farmers which will eventually be around the Mill.

The Mongols and English also get influences on their Outposts, which makes them valuable to keep around. The English get an especially powerful bonus for their military, which is valuable enough to justify their construction even without an economic bonus. Considering English Villagers are generally more powerful in combat, they can also go to the more exposed locations of forward Outposts used for this tactic more easily to gather from them and can occasionally aid in the fight if there. This state of affairs could result in the English player collecting Deer from their opponent's Deer herds instead of their own, especially as the English usually plays pretty aggressive.

Wild Boar have a higher base gathering rate than Deer, making them favorable, though they can attack back. This can be countered by using military units, especially the starting Scout, to draw the Boar's aggression before the Villagers kill it, or even using a lot of army units to kill the Boar.

A major benefit of this tactic is that is does not allow the opponent to get value from destroying Farms, especially with siege engines. One major note is on maps with little or no Sheep, it can easily be justified to use the starting Scout to lure in Deer instead of building an Outpost and Mill.

Defense[]

Outposts provide a reasonable value for defense. For example, an Outpost with a Springald Emplacement costs 275 total resources dealing 10.30 damage/second. This is equal to 2.29 Crossbowmen dealing 12.94 damage/second, or 3.44 Veteran Archers dealing 14.80 damage/second.

Outposts have high defensive stats, especially if the Fortify Outpost Emplacement is used. Players could also wall in their Outpost to make it even more durable. They could either only partially wall it in, forcing an awkward, time-consuming detour to attack it, or use a gate if they also want units to be able to garrison in it. This means they can be used to put the opponent in a Catch-22, where their units can either attack the Outpost and make it into a tank for the units, thus letting them attack for free, or attack the units and make the Outpost into a consistent damage dealer. This strategy works best with ranged units micro-ing backwards to be more efficient and extend the fight, tank-y units like Men-at-Arms and Siege Towers, deliberately building many buildings nearby to slow down troops and force battles in choke points, for example, by building many Houses or walls nearby, and running away with units often just to make enemy units waste time chasing them. This is because it drags out the fight for the Outposts to deal more damage.

Outposts get more valuable as the game goes on, as they do not cost population space. They can also help deal with raids, meaning less units need to be sent away from other areas to deal with raiding units.

Offense[]

Outposts can be used offensively as well as defensively. One of the most important offensive uses for Outposts is in tower rushing. This is usually done to deny the opponent's gold. This is an especially common strategy for the Mongols. Outposts can also deny enemy wood lines if they have them in range, which can often end up in the Outpost being relatively safe, as it is shielded by the trees.

Forward Outposts can be built for their influences for the English and the Mongols. This is more common from the English, though the Mongols could do this as well, mainly for the utility of cavalry having an easier time sniping Monks and siege units going in the area later.

Outposts can also be used offensively later in the game to threaten a Sacred Site victory by protecting them or by making a forward position easier to hold. They can also give vision, making it easier to avoid and snipe enemy siege weapons, especially with Springalds.

Outposts can be used to allow allied units to dodge enemy attacks with bonus damage against them by garrisoning inside, then going out when the units are distracted or when reinforcing troops arrive. However, they are generally worse at this than Battering Rams, as they have much less garrison space.

Additionally, the Outposts made for vision can be upgraded with emplacements if their location becomes critical later or just to be annoying by attacking nearby enemy units to distract the opponent.

Toll Outpost[]

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Available technologies[]

Generic emplacements[]

Unique emplacements[]

Unique technologies[]

Further statistics[]

Technologies
Hpicon aoe2de Hit points AoE4 CourtArchitects Court Architects (+30%)
AoE4 ReinforcedDefenses Reinforced Defenses (+25%, HRE AoE4 Holy Roman Empire and Order of the Dragon AoE4 Order of the Dragon)
AoE4 LookoutTowers Pax Mongolica (+300, Mongols AoE4 Mongols)
Attack AoE4 SteeledArrow Steeled Arrow (+1)
AoE4 BalancedProjectiles Balanced Projectiles (+1)
AoE4 PlatecutterPoint Platecutter Point (+1)
AoE4 ExtensiveFortifications Extensive Fortifications (Garrison arrows +1, +2 vs heavy, Ottomans AoE4 Ottomans)
Armor AoE4 SlowBurningDefenses Slow-Burning Defenses (+10 fire armor, Delhi Sultanate AoE4 Delhi Sultanate)
AoE4 SlateAndStoneConstruction Slate and Stone Construction (+5 fire armor, HRE AoE4 Holy Roman Empire and Order of the Dragon AoE4 Order of the Dragon)
AoE4 LookoutTowers Pax Mongolica (+3 fire armor, Mongols AoE4 Mongols)
Line of Sight AoE4 GionFestival Gion Festival (+2 tiles, Japanese AoE4 Japanese)
Resource cost AoE4 ExtensiveFortifications Extensive Fortifications (-20%, Ottomans AoE4 Ottomans)
Ability AoE4 ExtraMaterials Extra Materials (unlocks the Extra Materials enhancement, Chinese AoE4 Chinese)
AoE4 NetworkOfCitadels Network of Citadels (increases Network of Castles bonus to +40%, English AoE4 English)
AoE4 YamNetwork Yam Network (Yam Aura now affects all non-siege units, Mongols AoE4 Mongols)
Emplacements
Hpicon aoe2de Hit points AoE4 FortifyOutpost Fortify Outpost (+1,000, all except the Mongols AoE4 Mongols)
Rangeicon aoe2de Range AoE4 Arrowslits Arrowslits (+1)
Additional projectiles One of:
Armor AoE4 FortifyOutpost Fortify Outpost (+5 fire armor, all except the Mongols AoE4 Mongols)
Aura and ability enhancements
AoE2DE icon HP Regen Regeneration AoE4 EmergencyRepairs Emergency Repairs (150 HP/s for 20 seconds, HRE AoE4 Holy Roman Empire and Order of the Dragon AoE4 Order of the Dragon)
Rangeicon aoe2de Range AoE4 DivineDefense Divine Defense (+1 tile, Zhu Xis Legacy AoE4 Zhu Xi's Legacy)
Armor AoE4 InfluenceBuff House of Wisdom Influence (+5 fire armor, Abbasid Dynasty AoE4 Abbasid Dynasty and Ayyubids AoE4 Ayyubids)
Damage resistance AoE4 InfluenceBuff Elzbach Palace Influence (-33%, HRE AoE4 Holy Roman Empire and Order of the Dragon AoE4 Order of the Dragon)
AoE4 InfluenceBuff AoE4 Praesidium Praesidium Influence (-5% per Cistern water level, Byzantines AoE4 Byzantines)
AoE4 Supervise Supervision (+35%, requires Military Affairs Bureau Zhu Xis Legacy AoE4 Zhu Xi's Legacy)
Research speed AoE4 InfluenceBuff AoE4 Dialecticus Dialecticus Influence (+30% per Cistern water level, Byzantines AoE4 Byzantines)
AoE2DE icon Workrate Work rate AoE4 Supervise Supervision (+150% for Chinese AoE4 Chinese; +150% for Zhu Xis Legacy AoE4 Zhu Xi's Legacy or +300% with Regional Inspection
Ability AoE4 InfluenceBuff Town Center Influence (grants Emergency Repairs, HRE AoE4 Holy Roman Empire and Order of the Dragon AoE4 Order of the Dragon)
AoE4 SaharanTradeNetwork Saharan Trade Network (generate an additional 50% of the taxed gold as food)
Civilization bonuses
Attack HRE AoE4 Holy Roman Empire and Order of the Dragon AoE4 Order of the Dragon (+25% with garrisoned Relic)
Rangeicon aoe2de Range HRE AoE4 Holy Roman Empire and Order of the Dragon AoE4 Order of the Dragon (+20% with garrisoned Relic)
Armor HRE AoE4 Holy Roman Empire and Order of the Dragon AoE4 Order of the Dragon (+25% with garrisoned Relic)
Line of Sight HRE AoE4 Holy Roman Empire and Order of the Dragon AoE4 Order of the Dragon (+20%, additional +20% with garrisoned Relic)
Build speed Chinese AoE4 Chinese and Zhu Xis Legacy AoE4 Zhu Xi's Legacy (+50%)

Changelog[]

  • Originally, Outposts had 1,000 hit points, took 45 seconds to build, and had a garrison attack rate of 1.12. With patch 20249, they have 750 hit points, take 60 seconds to build, and have a garrison attack rate of 1.88.
  • Originally, Outpost arrows dealt +25 damage vs Ships. With update 24916, this was reduced do +10.
  • Chinese AoE4 Chinese:
    • With patch 20249, Outposts took 45 seconds to be built. With Server-Side Patch 5.1.148.1, this was corrected to 40 seconds to properly reflect their 50% build speed increase.
  • English AoE4 English:
    • With Season Four update 6.0.878, the Network of Castles attack speed bonus provided by Outposts was reduced from 20% to 15%.
  • HRE AoE4 Holy Roman Empire and Order of the Dragon AoE4 Order of the Dragon:
    • Originally, Holy Roman Empire and Order of the Dragon Outposts had 25% extra Line of Sight. With patch 11.1.1201, this was reduced to 20%.
  • Malians AoE4 Malians:
    • Originally, the Toll Outpost collected 10% gold of trade income. With an unknown patch,[When?] it was reduced to 8%.
    • Originally, the had a cooldown of 7.5 seconds and generated the maximum amount of tax every time. With an unknown patch,[When?] the functionality was switched to its current form.
    • With update 12.0.1974, Toll Outposts can research Javelin Emplacements instead of Arrowslits after the Saharan Trade Network is built.
  • Mongols AoE4 Mongols:
    • Originally, Mongol Outposts cost 70 wood. With patch 10257, they cost 100 wood.
    • Originally, the Mongol Yam aura was maintained for 20 seconds after leaving the Outpost aura radius. With patch 11963, it was reduced to 10 seconds. With patch 14681, it was removed entirely.
    • With patch 8.2.218, the Mongols received the Pax Mongolica upgrade, which is essentially a significantly weaker Fortify Outpost emplacement that applies to all Outposts at once in the Imperial Age.
  • Zhu Xis Legacy AoE4 Zhu Xi's Legacy:

Campaign version[]

Because the original four campaigns have not been rebalanced since the release of the game, Outposts have the following main differences in those campaigns

Gallery[]

Civilization differences[]

When Outposts are upgraded with Fortify Outpost, or Pax Mongolica for the Mongols, their design changes. The following images show the regular Outpost at the top-left, and the upgraded variant at the bottom-right.

Buildings in Age of Empires IV
Common/Generic
Economic AoE4 Farm Farm ยท AoE4 House House ยท AoE4 LumberCamp Lumber Camp ยท AoE4 Market Market ยท AoE4 Mill Mill ยท AoE4 MiningCamp Mining Camp ยท AoE4 TownCenter Town Center ยท AoE4 TradePost/AoE4 CoastalTradePost Trade Post
Military AoE4 ArcheryRange Archery Range ยท AoE4 Barracks Barracks ยท AoE4 Dock Dock ยท AoE4 SiegeWorkshop Siege Workshop ยท AoE4 Stable Stable
Technology AoE4 Blacksmith Blacksmith ยท AoE4 University University/Madrasa
Defense AoE4 Keep Keep ยท AoE4 Outpost Outpost (AoE4 TollOutpost Toll Outpost) ยท AoE4 PalisadeGate Palisade Gate ยท AoE4 PalisadeWall Palisade Wall ยท AoE4 StoneWall Stone Wall ยท AoE4 StoneWallGate Stone Wall Gate ยท AoE4 StoneWallTower Stone Wall Tower
Religious AoE4 Monastery Monastery ยท AoE4 Mosque Mosque ยท AoE4 Monastery Prayer Tent
Victory Wonder ยท Sacred Site
Unique
Byzantines AoE4 Byzantines AoE4 Aqueduct Aqueduct ยท AoE4 Cistern Cistern ยท AoE4 MercenaryHouse Mercenary House ยท AoE4 OliveGrove Olive Grove
Chinese AoE4 Chinese
Zhu Xis Legacy AoE4 Zhu Xi's Legacy
AoE4 Village Village ยท AoE4 Granary Granary ยท AoE4 Pagoda Pagoda
English AoE4 English AoE4 SetupCamp Campfire
Japanese AoE4 Japanese AoE4 BuddhistTemple Buddhist Temple ยท AoE4 Keep Castle ยท AoE4 Farmhouse Farmhouse ยท AoE4 Forge Forge ยท AoE4 ShintoShrine Shinto Shrine
Malians AoE4 Malians AoE4 CattleRanch Cattle Ranch ยท AoE4 PitMine Pit Mine
Mongols AoE4 Mongols AoE4 Ger Ger ยท AoE4 Ovoo Ovoo ยท AoE4 Pasture Pasture
Ottomans AoE4 Ottomans AoE4 MilitarySchool Military School
Rus AoE4 Rus AoE4 HuntingCabin Hunting Cabin ยท AoE4 WoodenFortress Wooden Fortress ยท AoE4 PalisadeGate Fortified Palisade Gate ยท AoE4 PalisadeWall Fortified Palisade Wall
Landmarks
Abbasid Dynasty AoE4 Abbasid Dynasty
Ayyubids AoE4 Ayyubids
AoE4 HouseOfWisdom House of Wisdom
Byzantines AoE4 Byzantines AoE4 GrandWinery Grand Winery ยท AoE4 ImperialHippodrome Imperial Hippodrome ยท AoE4 GoldenHornTower Golden Horn Tower ยท AoE4 CisternoftheFirstHill Cistern of the First Hill ยท AoE4 ForeignEngineeringCompany Foreign Engineering Company ยท AoE4 PalatineSchool Palatine School
Chinese AoE4 Chinese AoE4 ImperialAcademy Imperial Academy ยท AoE4 BarbicanOfTheSun Barbican of the Sun ยท AoE4 AstronomicalClocktower Astronomical Clocktower ยท AoE4 ImperialPalace Imperial Palace ยท AoE4 GreatWallGatehouse Great Wall Gatehouse ยท AoE4 SpiritWay Spirit Way
Delhi Sultanate AoE4 Delhi Sultanate AoE4 DomeOfTheFaith Dome of the Faith ยท AoE4 TowerOfVictory Tower of Victory ยท AoE4 CompoundOfTheDefender Compound of the Defender ยท AoE4 HouseOfLearning House of Learning ยท AoE4 HisarAcademy Hisar Academy ยท AoE4 PalaceOfTheSultan Palace of the Sultan
English AoE4 English AoE4 AbbeyOfKings Abbey of Kings ยท AoE4 CouncilHall Council Hall ยท AoE4 KingsPalace King's Palace ยท AoE4 TheWhiteTower The White Tower ยท AoE4 BerkshirePalace Berkshire Palace ยท AoE4 WynguardPalace Wynguard Palace
French AoE4 French
Jeanne d Arc AoE4 Jeanne d'Arc
AoE4 ChamberOfCommerce Chamber of Commerce ยท AoE4 SchoolOfCavalry School of Cavalry ยท AoE4 GuildHall Guild Hall ยท AoE4 RoyalInstitute Royal Institute ยท AoE4 CollegeOfArtillery College of Artillery ยท AoE4 RedPalace Red Palace
HRE AoE4 Holy Roman Empire
Order of the Dragon AoE4 Order of the Dragon
AoE4 AachenChapel Aachen Chapel ยท AoE4 MeinwerkPalace Meinwerk Palace ยท AoE4 BurgravePalace Burgrave Palace ยท AoE4 RegnitzCathedral Regnitz Cathedral ยท AoE4 ElzbachPalace Elzbach Palace ยท AoE4 PalaceOfSwabia Palace of Swabia
Japanese AoE4 Japanese AoE4 KokaTownship Koka Township ยท AoE4 KuraStorehouse Kura Storehouse ยท AoE4 FloatingGate Floating Gate ยท AoE4 TempleofEquality Temple of Equality ยท AoE4 CastleoftheCrow Castle of the Crow ยท AoE4 TanegashimaGunsmith Tanegashima Gunsmith
Malians AoE4 Malians AoE4 SaharanTradeNetwork Saharan Trade Network ยท AoE4 MansaQuarry Mansa Quarry ยท AoE4 GrandFulaniCorral Grand Fulani Corral ยท AoE4 FarimbaGarrison Farimba Garrison ยท AoE4 FortOfTheHuntress Fort of the Huntress ยท AoE4 GriotBara Griot Bara
Mongols AoE4 Mongols AoE4 DeerStones Deer Stones ยท AoE4 TheSilverTree The Silver Tree ยท AoE4 Kurultai Kurultai ยท AoE4 SteppeRedoubt Steppe Redoubt ยท AoE4 KhaganatePalace Khaganate Palace ยท AoE4 TheWhiteStupa The White Stupa
Ottomans AoE4 Ottomans AoE4 TwinMinaretMedrese Twin Minaret Medrese ยท AoE4 SultanhaniTradeNetwork Sultanhani Trade Network ยท AoE4 InstanbulImperialPalace Istanbul Imperial Palace ยท AoE4 MehmedImperialArmory Mehmed Imperial Armory ยท AoE4 IstanbulObservatory Istanbul Observatory ยท AoE4 SeaGateCastle Sea Gate Castle
Rus AoE4 Rus AoE4 Kremlin Kremlin ยท AoE4 TheGoldenGate The Golden Gate ยท AoE4 AbbeyOfTheTrinity Abbey of the Trinity ยท AoE4 HighTradeHouse High Trade House ยท AoE4 HighArmory High Armory ยท AoE4 SpasskayaTower Spasskaya Tower
Zhu Xis Legacy AoE4 Zhu Xi's Legacy AoE4 MeditationGardens Meditation Gardens ยท AoE4 JiangnanTower Jiangnan Tower ยท AoE4 MountLuAcademy Mount Lu Academy ยท AoE4 ShaolinMonastery Shaolin Monastery ยท AoE4 ZhuXisLibrary Zhu Xi's Library ยท AoE4 TempleoftheSun Temple of the Sun
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