Technology (Age of Empires II)

This article is about the technologies in Age of Empires II. For technologies in other games of the series, see Technology.

Listed below are all technologies available for research in Age of Empires II.

Unit and building upgrades are not included.

F = food, W = wood, G = gold, S = stone

Building technologies

Technology	Age	Building	Cost	Effect	Research Time
Town Watch	II	Town Center	75F	Building Line of Sight +4	25s
Town Patrol	III	Town Center	300F 100G	Building Line of Sight +4	40s
Treadmill Crane	III	University	300F 200W	Villagers build 20% faster	50s
Masonry	III	University	150F 175W	Buildings +10% HP and +1/+1 armor	50s
Architecture	IV	University	300F 200W	Buildings +10% HP and +1/+1 armor	70s
Hoardings	IV	Castle	400F 400W	Castle HP +20%	75s
Conscription	IV	Castle	150F 150G	Working rate of Barracks, Archery Ranges, Stables, and Castles +33%	60s

Economy technologies

Technology	Age	Building	Cost	Effect	Research Time
Wheelbarrow	II	Town Center	175F 50W	Villager speed +10%, carrying capacity +25%	75s
Hand Cart	III	Town Center	300F 200W	Villager speed +10%, carrying capacity +50%	55s
Double-Bit Axe	II	Lumber Camp	100F 50W	Villagers chop wood 20% faster	25s
Bow Saw	III	Lumber Camp	150F 100W	Villagers chop wood 20% faster	50s
Two-Man Saw	IV	Lumber Camp	300F 200W	Villagers chop wood 10% faster	100s
Horse Collar	II	Mill	75F 75W	Farms +75 food	20s
Heavy Plow	III	Mill	125F 125W	Farms +125 food, Villagers +1 food carry capacity	40s
Crop Rotation	IV	Mill	250F 250W	Farms +175 food	70s
Gold Mining	II	Mining Camp	100F 75W	Villagers mine gold 15% faster	30s
Gold Shaft Mining	III	Mining Camp	200F 150W	Villagers mine gold 15% faster	75s
Stone Mining	II	Mining Camp	100F 75W	Villagers mine stone 15% faster	30s
Stone Shaft Mining	III	Mining Camp	200F 150W	Villagers mine stone +15% faster	75s
Caravan	III	Market	200F 200G	Trade Carts and Trade Cogs move 50% faster	40s
Coinage	III	Market	200F 100G	Tribute fee 20%	70s
Banking	IV	Market	300F 200G	Tribute fee 0%	70s
Guilds	IV	Market	300F 200G	Trading fee 15%	50s
Gillnets	III	Dock	150F 200W	Fishing Ships work 25% faster	45s

Monastery technologies

Technology	Age	Building	Cost	Effect
Redemption	III	Monastery	475G	Monks can convert most buildings and siege units
Atonement	III	Monastery	325G	Monks can convert other Monks
Herbal Medicine	III	Monastery	350G	Garrisoned units heal 6× faster
Heresy	III	Monastery	1000G	Units converted by enemy Monks die instead of joining them
Sanctity	III	Monastery	120G	Monks +15 HP
Fervor	III	Monastery	140G	Monk speed +15%
Faith	IV	Monastery	750F 1000G	Units are harder for enemy Monks to convert
Illumination	IV	Monastery	120G	Monk rejuvenation speed +50%
Block Printing	IV	Monastery	200G	Monk conversion range +3
Theocracy	IV	Monastery	200G	Only one Monk in a group must rest after a conversion

Military technologies

Infantry

Technology	Age	Building	Cost	Effect
Supplies	II	Barracks	150F 100G	Militia line cost -15 food
Squires	III	Barracks	100F	Infantry speed +10%
Arson	III	Barracks	150F 50G	Infantry +2 attack vs buildings
Forging	II	Blacksmith	150F	Infantry/cavalry attack +1
Iron Casting	III	Blacksmith	220F 120G	Infantry/cavalry attack +1
Blast Furnace	IV	Blacksmith	275F 225G	Infantry/cavalry attack +2
Scale Mail Armor	II	Blacksmith	100F	Infantry armor +1/+1
Chain Mail Armor	III	Blacksmith	200F 100G	Infantry armor +1/+1
Plate Mail Armor	IV	Blacksmith	300F 150G	Infantry armor +1/+2

Missile / siege

Technology	Age	Building	Cost	Effect	Research Time
Thumb Ring	III	Archery Range	300F 250W	Archers and Cavalry Archers fire faster and with 100% accuracy	45s
Parthian Tactics	IV	Archery Range	200F 250G	Cavalry Archers +1/+2 armor and increased attack vs Pikemen	65s
Fletching	II	Blacksmith	100F 50G	Archers, Cavalry Archers, Galleys, Castles, and Towers +1 range and attack. Town Centers +1 attack and Line of Sight.	30s
Bodkin Arrow	III	Blacksmith	200F 100G	Archers, Cavalry Archers, Galleys, Castles, and Towers +1 range and attack. Town Centers +1 attack and Line of Sight.	35s
Bracer	IV	Blacksmith	300F 200G	Archers, Cavalry Archers, Galleys, Castles, and Towers +1 range and attack. Town Centers +1 attack and Line of Sight.	40s
Padded Archer Armor	II	Blacksmith	100F	Archer and Cavalry Archer armor +1/+1	40s
Leather Archer Armor	III	Blacksmith	150F 150G	Archer and Cavalry Archer armor +1/+1	55s
Ring Archer Armor	IV	Blacksmith	250F 250G	Archer and Cavalry Archer armor +1/+2	70s
Ballistics	III	University	300W 175G	Archers, Cavalry Archers, Galleys, Castles, and Towers fire more accurately at moving targets	60s
Heated Shot	III	University	350F 100G	Towers +125% and Castles +25% attack against ships	30s
Murder Holes	III	University	200F 100S	Eliminates minimum range of all buildings	60s
Arrowslits	IV	University	250F 250W	Watch Towers/Guard Towers/Keeps +1/+2/+3 attack	25s
Chemistry	IV	University	300F 200G	Missile units (including siege) +1 attack Prerequisite for non-unique gunpowder units	100s
Siege Engineers	IV	University	500F 600W	Siege weapons +1 range (except Rams) and +20% attack vs buildings (Petards +40%)	45s

Cavalry

Technology	Age	Building	Cost	Effect	Research Time
Bloodlines	II	Stable	150F 100G	Mounted units +20 HP	50s
Husbandry	III	Stable	250F	Mounted units speed +10%	40s
Forging	II	Blacksmith	150F	Infantry/cavalry attack +1	50s
Iron Casting	III	Blacksmith	220F 120G	Infantry/cavalry attack +1	75s
Blast Furnace	IV	Blacksmith	275F 225G	Infantry/cavalry attack +2	100s
Scale Barding Armor	II	Blacksmith	150F	Cavalry armor +1/+1	45s
Chain Barding Armor	III	Blacksmith	250F 150G	Cavalry armor +1/+1	60s
Plate Barding Armor	IV	Blacksmith	350F 200G	Cavalry armor +1/+2	75s

Ship technologies

Technology	Age	Building	Cost	Effect
Careening	III	Dock	250F 150G	Ship armor +1, Transport Ship capacity +5
Dry Dock	IV	Dock	600F 400G	Ship speed +15%, Transport Ship capacity +10
Shipwright	IV	Dock	1000F 300G	Ships wood cost -20% and creation speed -35%

Unique technologies

Main article: Unique technology

While all other technologies are available to multiple different or even all civilizations, unique technologies are only available to one single civilization. They were introduced in The Conquerors, where every civilization got one (two for the Goths) unique technology that was available for research at the Castle in the Imperial Age. The Forgotten gave every civilization a second unique technology so that every civilization now has one in the Castle Age and one in the Imperial Age.

Miscellaneous technologies

Technology	Age	Building	Cost	Effect
Loom	I	Town Center	50G	Villager HP +15, armor +1/+2
Feudal Age	I	Town Center	500F	Advance to Feudal Age
Castle Age	II	Town Center	800F 200G	Advance to Castle Age
Imperial Age	III	Town Center	1000F 800G	Advance to Imperial Age
Treason	IV	Castle	400G	See enemy Kings for a short time (Regicide only)
Sappers	IV	Castle	400F 200G	Villagers +15 attack vs buildings
Spies	IV	Castle	200G per enemy Villager max. 30,000G	See enemy Line of Sight

Availability grid

The following tables show the availability of the technologies for every civilization. Technologies that are available to all civilizations are not shown in the table. The last two columns indicate the total available research count.

= Available

= Unavailable

Economic, building, and Monastery technologies

Civilization																				C	T
Aztecs																				14	25
Berbers																				15	32
Britons																				13	28
Bulgarians																				11	25
Burmese																				16	29
Byzantines																				15	28
Celts																				11	23
Chinese																				13	30
Cumans																				12	25
Ethiopians																				14	29
Franks																				14	25
Goths																				12	24
Huns																				10	23
Incas																				15	28
Indians																				14	29
Italians																				17	33
Japanese																				13	29
Khmer																				13	28
Koreans																				13	27
Lithuanians																				18	32
Magyars																				13	29
Malay																				13	27
Malians																				17	30
Mayans																				16	27
Mongols																				9	23
Persians																				13	28
Portuguese																				16	31
Saracens																				15	31
Slavs																				14	27
Spanish																				16	32
Tatars																				10	26
Teutons																				16	29
Turks																				14	32
Vietnamese																				13	28
Vikings																				12	26
Civilization																				C	T

Military and ship technologies

Civilization																					C	T
Aztecs																					11	25
Berbers																					17	32
Britons																					15	28
Bulgarians																					14	25
Burmese																					13	29
Byzantines																					13	28
Celts																					12	23
Chinese																					17	30
Cumans																					13	25
Ethiopians																					15	29
Franks																					11	25
Goths																					12	24
Huns																					13	23
Incas																					13	28
Indians																					15	29
Italians																					16	33
Japanese																					16	29
Khmer																					15	28
Koreans																					14	27
Lithuanians																					14	32
Magyars																					16	29
Malay																					14	27
Malians																					13	30
Mayans																					11	27
Mongols																					14	23
Persians																					15	28
Portuguese																					15	31
Saracens																					16	31
Slavs																					13	27
Spanish																					16	32
Tatars																					16	26
Teutons																					13	29
Turks																					18	32
Vietnamese																					15	28
Vikings																					14	26
Civilization																					C	T