Stone

Stone is one of the four primary resources that players must collect in Age of Empires, Age of Empires II, and Age of Empires IV. Stone is mainly used to build static defenses like towers and walls, but it is also used for some technologies, as well as Wonders. To obtain stone, the player must send Villagers to collect them from the Stone Mine.

Stone was also going to be a resource in Age of Mythology, but was cut before release. Instead, favor takes the role of the fourth resource in that game (buildings that traditionally cost stone cost gold instead).

Age of Empires

In Age of Empires, stone is required to build defensive structures (such as Ballista Towers), to research defensive technologies (as well as Siegecraft), to construct Wonders, and also to train the Slinger, the only unit to cost stone in the entire series (10 stone).

The Babylonians are the only civilization to receive a stone-related bonus, in the form of 20% faster stone mining and +2 carry.

The following structures cost stone:

• Small Wall → Medium Wall → Fortified Wall
• Watch Tower → Sentry Tower → Guard Tower → Ballista Tower
• Wonder

The following technologies benefit stone mining:

• Stone Mining (+30% gather rate and +3 carry capacity)
• Siegecraft (+30% gather rate and +3 carry capacity)

Age of Empires II

Similarly to Age of Empires, stone in Age of Empires II is important to maintain defenses. These might block the enemy or prevent them from attacking in a certain area. Stone structures often force the enemy to bring siege weapons and invest themselves into an attack that breaks through these strong defenses. Without stone defenses, an army can quickly invade a town and overrun it. Stone becomes especially important in the Castle Age, where 650 stone are used to construct the Age's Castle.

The following defensive structures cost stone, notably all towers. Towers can be improved with Murder Holes, which is the only common technology in the game that costs stone.

• Outpost: 5 stone
• Watch Tower → Guard Tower → Keep: 125 stone
• Bombard Tower: 125 stone
• Stone Wall → Fortified Wall: 5 stone each tile
• Gate: 30 stone
• Castle: 650 stone
• Town Center: 100 stone
• Wonder: 1000 stone
• Feitoria ( Portuguese only): 300 stone
• Krepost ( Bulgarians only): 350 stone
• Donjon ( Sicilians only): 175 stone
• Caravanserai ( Hindustanis and Persians only): 50 stone

The following defensive technologies cost stone. All of them except for Murder Holes are unique technologies.

• Murder Holes: 100 stone
• Great Wall ( Chinese): 200 stone
• Boiling Oil ( Persians, pre-Definitive Edition only): 100 stone
• Crenellations ( Teutons): 400 stone
• Artillery ( Turks, before update 50292): 450 stone

The following technologies benefit stone mining:

• Stone Mining (+15% mining speed) - Stone Shaft Mining (+15% mining speed)
• Wheelbarrow (+25% carry capacity) - Hand Cart (+50% carry capacity)

The following civilizations have stone-related bonuses:

• Armenians: Stone Mining technology is 40% more effective.
• Aztecs: Villagers carry +3 stone.
• Burgundians: Technologies that benefit Villager stone gathering speed and carry capacity are available one Age earlier, and cost -33% food.
• Bohemians: Stone Mining and Stone Shaft Mining are free.
• Chinese: Technologies that benefit stone gathering speed and carry capacity are 5%/10%/15% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
• Franks: Castles are 15%/25% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.
• Georgians: Fortified Churches provide Villagers in a 10 tile radius with +10% stone gathering speed.
• Incas: Buildings cost -15% stone.
• Koreans: Stone Miners work 20% faster.
• Mayans: Natural resources (including Stone Mines) last 15% longer.
• Persians: Researching Wheelbarrow and Hand Cart is 5%/10%/15%/20% faster in the Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
• Poles: Stone Miners generate 1 gold per 3 stone mined.
• Romans: Villagers gather stone 5% faster.
• Sicilians: Start with +100 stone.
• Vietnamese: Technologies that benefit Villager stone gathering speed and carry capacity cost no wood.
• Vikings: Wheelbarrow and Hand Cart are free.

The following civilizations have stone-related Team bonuses:

• Portuguese: Technologies that benefit stone gathering are researched 25% faster.

Methods to obtain stone

Mining

The only natural source of stone are Stone Mines, which can be mined for stone. They are comparatively rare on most maps and are usually found in groups of 2-5. Each Mine yields 300 stone in Age of Empires, 350 stone in Age of Empires II and 1,500 stone or 3,000 stone in Age of Empires IV.

Markets

In Age of Empires II and Age of Empires IV, stone can be purchased for gold at the Market.

Tribute

Players may tribute stone to each other.

Feitoria

In Age of Empires II, the Portuguese can build the Feitoria, which generates 0.3 stone per second.

Passive Methods (Age of Empires IV)

The French players can obtain stone with the Guild Hall landmark if they set it to stone, the Malians can toggle the passive generation of the Mansa Quarry to stone (75 stone/min), and Relics can generate stone after Tithe Barns is researched (30 stone/min).

Mongols (Age of Empires IV)

The Mongols cannot mine stone nor receive it as a tribute. Stone is mainly gathered by building an Ovoo on a stone outcropping. This building gathers stone automatically, but is limited to 1 per player. The Mongols can't build stone defenses, but use stone to research improved versions of the normal technologies and produce two military units at once (paying for the second one with stone) when the buildings are in the Ovoo influence range. They also gather stone trough Traders after Stone Commerce is researched, by setting buildings on fire when Stone Bounty is completed and with the The White Stupa landmark.

Cheats to obtain stone

• Age of Empires: Quarry 1,000 stone
• Age of Empires II:
  • Rock on - 10,000 stone (1,000 before the HD Edition)
  • ninjaconnor or ninjalui or rowshep - 100,000 stone (along with 100,000 food, 100,000 wood, and 100,000 gold)
• 'Age of Empires IV: take it for granite 100,000 stone

Trivia

• The reason why stone was removed from Age of Mythology was given on an AoMH forums thread, answering to why stone was removed:

“	It isn't just having to manage your villagers collecting 5 resources, it's also having to remember that some units, buildings or techs cost Food and Wood, others cost Food and Gold, others cost Food and Favor, others cost Gold and Stone...it just got to be too much to remember, like having a telephone number that was 26 digits long. We didn't remove Stone because it was realistic to do so. We wanted to remove a resource, and Stone made the most sense because there is almost always plenty to go around. Believe me, you're going to have enough to do in AOM without worrying about "stone mines".	”
—Greg Street