Age of Empires Series Wiki

Feel free to comment on a page! To do this, simply scroll to the bottom at type into the box.

READ MORE

Age of Empires Series Wiki
Age of Empires Series Wiki
This article is about the structure in Age of Empires. For objects in Age of Mythology, see Embellishment object.

Ancient structures built by now-lost cultures. Ruins can be a victory condition or increase your score.
—In-game description in the Definitive Edition

Ruins are megalithic structures in Age of Empires that can only be acquired when they appear within the Line of Sight of a unit. Starting as Gaia grey, the Ruins receive the color of the owning player.

Overview[]

All ruins have been captured. Hold them until the timer counts down to zero to win!
—Message sent to all players when all Ruins are captured by one team

A random map may contain five Ruins or none. Once all of the Ruins are acquired by a certain team or player, the countdown to victory starts with 200 in-game years in Return of Rome (16 minutes 40 seconds real time at the normal 1.7× game speed), or 2,000 in-game years before Return of Rome (five minutes in the real world at standard game speed). If an opposing team or civilization does not acquire a Ruins within the time frame, the player or team with all Ruins wins the game. Control of Ruins counts toward the player's score.

Changelog[]

Age of Empires[]

  • Ruins victory countdown lasts five minutes at standard game speed.

Return of Rome[]

  • Ruins victory countdown lasts 16 minutes 34 seconds at normal 1.7× game speed.

History[]

Ruins are ancient structures resembling Stonehenge that were built by now-lost cultures and bring prestige to the civilization that controls them. Ruins cannot be moved.
Age of Empires manual

Trivia[]

  • In the Scenario Editor of Return of Rome, they are listed in the Units tab rather than the Building tab. Internally, the object is classified as an Artifact.
  • They have a similar appearance to Stonehenge.
  • Although the in-game stats reveal the hit points to be 1, they are actually indestructible.
  • Any unit that approaches unclaimed Ruins automatically convert it to the player's color once it appears in the unit's Line of Sight. Consequently, units do not have to be right next to the Ruins in order to claim them.
  • If a player maintains the ownership of Ruins, other players have to approach it in close range regardless of the Line of Sight in order for the Ruins to change their ownership.
  • A variant of the Ruins, hidden in the Scenario Editor, exists in the original game. It resembles the Egyptian Bronze Age Temple and is identical to the regular Ruins in all but appearance. Due to a missing asset, it is invisible when controlled by Gaia.

Gallery[]

See also[]

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
Gameplay elements in the Age of Empires series
Genie Engine-exclusive
Frame delay · Full Tech Tree · Team bonus
Age of EmpiresRuins · Discovery
Age of Empires IIProjectile duplication
Bang Engine-exclusive
Autoqueue · Multiplier
Age of MythologyGod (Major · Minor) · God power · Settlement (Settlement Victory) · Weight class
Age of Empires IIIAge-up methods (Politician/Tribal Council/Wonder/Federal State/Alliance· Banner army · Consulate · Damage Cap · Home City · Home City Card · Inspiring Flag · Minor civilization · Promotion · Revolution · Target Lock · Trade Monopoly · Trade Route · Treasure
Age of Empires IV-exclusive
GenericInfluence · Landmark · Point of Interest · Sacred Site · Variant civilization
Civilization-uniqueBounty · Dynasty · Golden Age · Imperial Council (Vizier Point) · Commanderie
If a gameplay element has different pages across games, like civilization, the individual pages are linked in brackets.