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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 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 5%/10%/15% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
  • Persians: Researching Town Watch is 10%/15%/20% faster in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
  • Spanish: Receive 20 gold after researching Town Watch.

Team bonuses[]

  • Portuguese: Researching Town Watch is 25% faster.

Changelog[]

The Age of Kings[]

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

The Conquerors[]

Definitive Edition[]

Dynasties of India[]

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.
The Age of Kings manual
Technologies in Age of Empires II
Economic technologies
Villager Wheelbarrow Hand Cart
Food Horse Collar Heavy Plow Crop Rotation
Gillnets
Domestication Pastoralism Transhumance
Wood Double-Bit Axe Bow Saw Two-Man Saw
Gold Gold Mining Gold Shaft Mining
Caravan
Stone Stone Mining Stone Shaft Mining
Civilian ships Dry Dock · Shipwright
Market Coinage Banking
Guilds
Military technologies
General Conscription
Heresy · Devotion Faith
Upgrades
Melee units Forging Iron Casting Blast Furnace
Cavalry Bloodlines · Husbandry
Scale Barding Armor Chain Barding Armor Plate Barding Armor
Infantry Gambesons · Squires · Arson
Scale Mail Armor Chain Mail Armor Plate Mail Armor
Ranged units Ballistics · Chemistry
Fletching Bodkin Arrow Bracer
Archers Padded Archer Armor Leather Archer Armor Ring Archer Armor
Thumb Ring · Parthian Tactics
Siege Siege Engineers
Ship Careening Dry Dock
Shipwright
War Galley
Building Town Watch Town Patrol
Masonry Architecture
Heated Shot · Arrowslits · Murder Holes · Treadmill Crane · Hoardings · Bombard Tower
Herbal Medicine
Monk Redemption · Atonement · Sanctity · Fervor · Illumination · Block Printing · Theocracy
Villager Loom · Sappers
Miscellaneous technologies
Spies · Treason · Unique technologies
Removed/cut generic technologies
Bombard Cannon · Cannon Galleon · Cartography · Hand Cannon · Hunting Dogs · Revetments · Supplies · Tracking