| “ | Constructs the Trade Wing. Acts as a home market and grants 4, 5, or 6 Traders upon completion (based on Age). Unlocks:
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| —In-game description | ||
The Trade Wing is an Age-up technology for the Abbasid Dynasty in Age of Empires IV that can be researched at the House of Wisdom. It advances the player to the next Age, except when researched in the Imperial Age, and adds +5,000 hit points to the House of Wisdom. Additionally, it allows the research of new technologies, allows the House of Wisdom to act as a trade site, and spawns Trade Caravans.
Additional technologies[]
| Technology | |||
| Trade Caravans spawned | 4 | 5 | 6 |
Strategy[]
For the Abbasid Dynasty, Ageing up with the Trade Wing and starting a trade route is one of the primary two methods of expanding the player's economy, the other being Ageing up with the Economic Wing and building additional Town Centers to create Villagers. A discounted Abbasid Dynasty Town Center creating discounted but unupgraded Villagers takes at least 3 minutes and 52 seconds to pay off, not counting walking time, which in practice would easily push the payback time over 4 minutes, although the Golden Age gather rate bonus can improve this. By comparison, a Market creating Trade Caravans will take approximately 5 minutes to pay off if the trade route covers an entire map edge, although this does not include the resource gain from the free Traders from the Age-up. While the best-case payback times are overall likely to be greater for the Trade Route, the lower up-front cost of the Market makes trade easier to scale up with multiple Markets, and if left undisturbed, Trade from multiple markets can nearly always outboom a multiple Town Center strategy. However, since efficient trade requires traversing the entire edge of the map, it is inherently harder to defend than having multiple Town Centers that can be used as defensive structures. So while both strategies are viable, which one to ultimately choose depends on the map being played and the opponent's civilization. The following general guidelines can be used when deciding whether or not to trade in the early game.
- It is harder to defend a trade route versus aggressive, cavalry-oriented civilizations such as the Rus and French than against slower infantry-focused civilizations such as the English and Holy Roman Empire or civilizations that often boom with multiple town centers, such as the Chinese. The increased speed of the Trade Caravan over the Trader especially makes their trade routes nearly unraidable by infantry.
- Maps where Trade Posts always spawn on the corners with the map edge (trade route) behind the player, such as Altai, Prairie, or The Pit make trade pay off quicker and easier to defend. In team games, because allied markets can always be built on the corners, the map does not matter as much (although because of the extra 20% return, players should still trade with neutral Trade Posts if they're located on the corners).
Further statistics[]
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Changelog[]
Age of Empires IV[]
- Upon release, it researched in 120 seconds. With patch 11009, it researches in 105 seconds.
- Upon release, it unlocked Spice Roads, Armored Caravans, and Grand Bazaar in the respective Ages. With the Season One Update, it unlocks Grand Bazaar, Armored Caravans, and Spice Roads in the respective Ages.
- Its research only granted technologies.
Anniversary Edition[]
- With update 6.0.878, its research also grants 3 Traders additionally. With patch 6.1.130, its research also grants 3/4/5 Traders in the respective Ages additionally.
The Sultans Ascend[]
- With patch 11.1.1201, it unlocks Armored Caravans, Grand Bazaar, and Spice Roads in the respective Ages.
Knights of Cross and Rose[]
- With update 13.0.4178, Traders were replaced by Trade Caravans.
Dynasties of the East[]
- With update 15.1.6970, its research grants 4/5/6 Trade Caravans additionally.
