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This article is about the building in Chronicles. For the similar building in other games, see Town Center. |
The Town Center is a key economic building in Chronicles that becomes freely available for construction once the Classical Age is reached, before which it is limited to one. It trains and improves Villagers, advances through Ages, and serves as a drop off point for all resources. Each Town Center also provides five population.
In regular random map games, every player starts the game with a Town Center. Until the Classical Age is reached, no more Town Centers can be built unless the only Town Center is destroyed, in which case the player may build one new Town Center. If the player has no starting Town Center (e.g. on Nomad), one Town Center can be built (and rebuilt if destroyed) before the Classical Age.
Up to 15 Villagers can garrison in Town Centers for shelter from attacks. By doing so, they can drop off the resources they are holding and give the Town Center an attack (arrow fire). This way, players can survive and fend off early attacks. Archers can also garrison in Town Centers to give it an attack. Any non-mounted unit can heal its hit points if garrisoned. This is especially useful before the Classical Age, when there are no Temples and Priestesses. Town Centers also have a Town Bell function that causes all Villagers within 23 tiles to garrison in the nearest shelter.
Town Centers cannot be converted.
Tactics and placement[]
The Town Center is the most frequently used building in the game, and it starts as the nucleus of every player's settlement and the only way to produce Villagers that will become the backbone of every player's empire. The Town Center is also a strong defensive building and through garrisoning, it also serves as a way to protect a player from some enemy attacks. Losing Town Centers hinder the economy of the player, even in the late-game, so they are often the target of attacks.
Unlike all other buildings that can fire arrows, Town Centers can fire at units right next to them without the need to research Murder Holes. However, they do not receive extra range from the Blacksmith ranged attack upgrades, so they are unable to retaliate against units with moderate range.
Once the Classical Age is reached, building more Town Centers is critical. These allow the player to increase Villager production and accelerate their entire economy. With the 200 stone from the default starting resources and no expenditure of Stone up to that point, two extra Town Centers can be built before having to mine more. Villagers building the Town Center drop off any resource they are holding once it is built. Town Centers should be built close to freely available resources to allow Villagers to be quickly garrisoned. Preferable locations would be near gold or stone, because these resources are scarce and Miners are often target of harassment attacks.
Town Centers have to be built on 4x4 tile terrain which has the same height. It is the only regular building in the game which requires flat terrain for construction. Town Centers have a lot of building armor, but it is not impossible to destroy one with a large mass of strong units such as Lancers. Town Centers benefit a lot from Academy technologies, especially Treadmill Crane, as well as the increased damage per arrow from the Fletching line of upgrades at the Blacksmith.
There is a game mode called Sudden Death in which the players are limited to their starting Town Center. If the player loses it they are automatically defeated, so when playing Sudden Death, players must defend their Town Center at all cost.
Repairing[]
Repairing a Town Center does not cost any stone, but twice the wood building a new one requires. Repairing an almost destroyed Town Center costs 550 wood compared to 275 wood, 100 stone for building a new one. That is very different from usual repairing cost, which is simply half the building cost.
Trainable units and technologies[]
Clicking on the icon links to the corresponding page.
- Blue: Units
- Green: Technologies
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Civilization-specific mechanics[]
Civic Age onwards, the Achaemenids can choose to upgrade their Town Centers individually, improving them and/or granting specific buffs in a radius. Each Town Center can be upgraded permanently by one of three upgrades:
Economic Town Center: Nearby Villagers gather 15% faster.- Military Town Center: Nearby military production buildings work 50% faster.
- Defensive Town Center: Increases the Town Center's durability and firepower while enhancing the attack speed of nearby units by 15%.
The Athenians can choose one policy out of three at any Town Center which provides an additional bonus to the player. Players start with the Economic Policy by default, and can switch their policies at a starting cost of 50 gold, with the next change costing 100 gold, and then capping at 150 gold for all further changes.
- Economic Policy: Villagers work 7% faster.
- Military Policy: Melee units train faster and generate 3 gold per kill.
- Naval Policy: Foot archers (except Gastraphetoroi) and warships train 15% faster and cost -15% gold.
The Spartans spawn one Polemarch each in the Civic and Classical Ages. If any are lost, their replacements can be trained at the Town Center. Furthermore, the Town Center houses the specific technologies which benefit the Polemarch:
Further statistics[]
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
 Hit points
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 Masonry (+10%) Architecture (+10%) Defensive Town Center (+50%, Achaemenids only)
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| Attack |  Fletching (+1) Bodkin Arrow (+1) Bracer (+1) Flaming Arrows (+1) Defensive Town Center (+5, Achaemenids only)
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 Range
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Defensive Town Center (+1, Achaemenids only)
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| Accuracy |  Target Practice (hit moving targets)
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| Additional projectiles | Defensive Town Center (+3 always, another +2 max, Achaemenids only)
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| Armor | Masonry (+1/+1, +3 building armor) Architecture (+1/+1, +3 building armor) Defensive Town Center (+2/+2, Achaemenids only)
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| Line of Sight | Fletching (+1) Bodkin Arrow (+1) Bracer (+1) Town Watch (+4) Town Patrol (+4)
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| Build speed |  Treadmill Crane (+20%)
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| Healing |  Herbal Medicine (garrisoned units heal 500% faster)
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Architecture[]
Archaic Age[]
The Town Center in the Archaic Age appears to be the repurposed ruins of a generic bronze age style building.
Greek[]
The Greek Town Center in the Civic Age is a simple and rustic ancient Greek oikos type building with wooden pillars and two hanging oil lamps.
The Greek Town Center in the Classical Age is a more urban and public type of classical building with Ionic columns, frieze and richly decorated and painted tympanum.
The Greek Town Center in the Imperial Age is a tholos structure with imbrex and tegula-type roof tiles. There are small statues used as antefixes and acroteria with anthemion motifs in between. The tholos is decorated with triglyphs and a mosaic floor. The two archways have decorated tympanum pediments, central anthemion acroteria and the same statues from the tholos are used as corner acroteria.
Persian[]
The Persian Town Center in the Civic Age appears to be a simple Mesopotamian mudbrick structure.
The Persian Town Center in the Classical Age is made of typical Mesopotamian glazed blue bricks with step-tapered merlons and decorative flowers from the Ishtar Gate.
The Persian Town Center in the Imperial Age is an Achaemenid hall with columns as seen in Persepolis combined with Babylonian elements from the Ishtar Gate or Nebuchadnezzar’s Palace in Babylon such as glazed blue bricks, step-tapered merlons decorated with flowers, aurochs and lion reliefs, stylized trees and palmettes from the side panel and the yellow/black/white borders on some of the archway pillars.
Gallery[]
Achaemenids' upgrades[]
| Buildings in Chronicles | |
|---|---|
| Civilian buildings | |
| Economic |  Town Center ·  Port ·  Fish Trap ·  Mill ·  Farm ·  Market ·  Lumber Camp ·  Mining Camp |
| Research |  Blacksmith ·  Academy |
| Miscellaneous |  House ·  Temple ·  Wonder |
| Military buildings | |
| Production |  Barracks ·  Archery Range ·  Stable ·  Siege Workshop ·  Shipyard ·  Fort |
| Tower | Town Center ·  Outpost ·  Watch Tower ·  Guard Tower ·  Bastion · Fort |
| Wall |  Palisade Wall ·  Palisade Gate ·  Stone Wall ·  Gate ·  Fortified Wall · Fortified Gate |
| Unconstructable | |
 |  Greek Army Tent · Greek Commander Tent · Oracle's Temple ·  Sapper Tunnel |