Town Watch (Age of Empires II)

This article is about the technology in Age of Empires II. For the technology in Age of Empires III, see Town Watch (Age of Empires III).

Town Watch
Availability
Introduced in	The Age of Kings
Civilization	All civilizations
Age	Feudal Age
Research
Researched at	Town Center
Required for	Town Patrol
Food	75
Research time	25 seconds
Effect
Building LOS +4

Town Watch is a defensive technology in Age of Empires II available at the Town Center upon reaching Feudal Age. Once researched, it increases the Line of Sight for all buildings (except walls, Gates, Farms, and Fish Traps) by +4.

Town Patrol is the further upgrade of this technology.

Strategy

While this technology is rarely regarded as essential, especially before accumulating the food required to advance to the Castle Age, it is worth noting that a 4 tile increase can be very significant for some buildings. It triples the sight range of a House (200% increase). It also nearly doubles that of production and technology buildings such as a forward Archery Range. This can allow these structures to detect units which might have otherwise escaped and slipped past them, particularly as Houses are often placed at the outskirts of a settlement like cheap "walls".

Due to their already high Line of Sight, defensive structures such as the Outpost only gain 50% more radius, although this can still be useful.

Civilizations bonuses

• Byzantines: Town Watch is free.
• Chinese: Town Watch is 10%/15%/20% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
• Persians: Researching Town Watch is 10%/15%/20% faster in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
• Portuguese: Researching Town Watch is 30% faster.

Changelog

The Age of Kings

• Byzantines: Must research Town Watch like all other civilizations.

The Conquerors

• Byzantines: With patch 1.0b, Town Watch is free.

Definitive Edition

• Portuguese: With update 42848, all technologies are researched 30% faster.

History

“

Each town and community was responsible for its own defense for much of the Middle Ages, relying on the local lord and his retinue of soldiers for protection. The danger from bandits, raiders, or unfriendly neighbors was real. Communities developed a town watch that scouted the nearby countryside regularly. The town watch reported danger to give the community time to prepare what defense it could.

”