University (Age of Empires II)

This article is about the building in Age of Empires II. For the building in other games, see University.

University
Building information
Introduced in	Age of Empires II
Type	Research
Civilization	All civilizations
Age	Castle Age
Use	Improve buildings and ranged units
Construction
Wood	200
Build time	60 seconds
Statistics
Size	4×4 tiles
Hit points	2,100
Melee armor	2 3
Pierce armor	9 10
Armor classes	Building Standard building
Line of Sight	6

“	Used to research technologies to improve units and buildings.	”
—Age of Empires II description

The University is a research building in Age of Empires II that becomes available once the Castle Age is reached. The University provides technologies to improve buildings (and defense overall) and missile firing units. To research many of these technologies is critical to develop a powerful civilization and obtain victory when game lasts for over late Castle or Imperial Age.

Tactics and placement

As a building incapable of attacking or producing units, the placement of a University must not be given much thought. All it needs to do is provide researches and optimally stand until it is done doing so. After being researched, upgrades are available even if the player loses all Universities. Once all necessary technologies have been researched, the University is a completely useless building and can freely be deleted (unless it is walling out an area of importance in which case it should be replaced).

As the University provides essential technologies for defensive structures and missile firing units, it should be built as soon as enough wood is available, especially when a turtling strategy is chosen or the player goes heavy on ranged units. Ballistics (Castle Age) and Chemistry (Imperial Age) are the most important technologies here available for all civilizations and as such, their research should be prioritized. Murder Holes is also critical for defense and is available to all, though Teutons receive it for free when they reach Castle Age.

Since most University technologies are very situational, players (including the AI ones) hardly ever build more than one per game.

Technologies

Clicking on the icon links to the corresponding page.

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Availability grid

The following table shows the availability of the technologies for every civilization. Technologies that are available to all civilizations (Ballistics, Murder Holes, and Chemistry) are not shown in the table, since they are available to every civilization.

	= Available
	= Unavailable
	= Researched for free or fully covered by a civilization bonus if unavailable

Civilization											Total
Armenians											4
Aztecs											6
Bengalis											9
Berbers											7
Bohemians											9
Britons											9
Bulgarians											6
Burgundians											8
Burmese											8
Byzantines											6
Celts											8
Chinese											8
Cumans											2
Dravidians											7
Ethiopians											7
Franks											6
Georgians											8
Goths											3
Gurjaras											7
Hindustanis											4
Huns											1
Incas											8
Italians											9
Japanese											7
Khmer											7
Koreans											10
Lithuanians											8
Magyars											5
Malay											7
Malians											7
Mayans											7
Mongols											4
Persians											4
Poles											8
Portuguese											9
Romans											6
Saracens											7
Sicilians											4
Slavs											4
Spanish											7
Tatars											7
Teutons											8
Turks											9
Vietnamese											8
Vikings											8
Civilization											Total

Further statistics

Hit points	Masonry (+10%) Architecture (+10%)
Armor	Masonry (+1/+1, +3 building armor) Architecture (+1/+1, +3 building armor)
Conversion resistance	Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max) Heresy (die upon getting converted)
Line of Sight	Town Watch (+4) Town Patrol (+4)
Construction speed	Treadmill Crane (+20%)

Civilization bonuses

• Bohemians: Universities cost -100 wood. Chemistry is available in the Castle Age.
• Burmese: Faith is 50% cheaper.
• Byzantines: Universities have +30%/+40% hit points in the Castle/Imperial Age. Town Watch and Town Patrol are free.
• Chinese: Technologies that benefit Universities are 5%/10%/15% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
• Georgians: Universities receive -20% damage (-40% instead of -25%) when fighting from higher elevation.
• Italians: University technologies are 33% cheaper.
• Koreans: Guard Tower upgrade, Keep upgrade and Bombard Tower technology are free.
• Malians: Universities are 15% cheaper.
• Persians: Researching Town Watch and Town Patrol is 10%/15%/20% faster in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
• Romans: Universities are built and repaired 5% faster.
• Spanish: Universities are built 30% faster. Researching technologies that benefit Universities provides 20 gold each.

Team bonuses

• Georgians: Repairing Universities costs 25% fewer resources.
• Lithuanians: Researching Devotion, Faith, and Heresy is 20% faster.
• Malians: Universities work 80% faster.
• Portuguese: Technologies that benefit Universities and University technologies are researched 25% faster.

Changelog

The Conquerors

• Heresy introduced.

The African Kingdoms

• Arrowslits introduced. Initially, it is available in the Castle Age. With patch 4.8, it moved to the Imperial Age.

Definitive Edition

• Portuguese: With update 42848, technologies that benefit Universities are researched 30% faster.

The Mountain Royals

• With update 99311, Devotion was introduced.

History

“

During the bleakest days of the Dark Ages, learning was all but extinguished in much of Europe. A scattering of priests and monks in isolated monasteries carried forward the ability to read and write and kept books alive by copying old manuscripts. Charlemagne attempted to reverse this trend by creating a school to train men who could help him control his empire, but this experiment largely disappeared under a new wave of barbarian invasions from the north and east. The first centers of higher learning were associated with great cathedral towns such as Cambridge, Oxford, Padua, and Paris. Future priests and church leaders received training in Latin, the Bible, Christian philosophy, and other Christian writings. Medicine, science, and mathematics did not enter the curricula until much later. Graduates of these first universities led the Church and provided a pool of educated men who served generations of European kings as advisors and administrators.

”

Trivia

• Only the Koreans have all University technologies.
• The Native American University is loosely based on the El Caracol observatory.
• The African University is loosely based on the University of Sankore.
• The Central Asian University resembles the Ulugh Beg Madrasa in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
• The Koreans are the only civilization that have access to all University technologies. In addition, the tower-improving technologies are free.
• The Huns have the fewest researchable technologies, with only Masonry (aside from the technologies that are available to all civilizations: Chemistry, Ballistics, and Murder Holes).

Gallery

All Castle Age Universities in The Age of Kings and The Conquerors

All Castle Age Universities introduced in the HD Edition expansions

All Imperial Age Universities in The Age of Kings and The Conquerors

All Imperial Age Universities introduced in the HD Edition's expansions

Expansion Castle Age Universities in the Definitive Edition

Expansion Imperial Age Universities in the Definitive Edition

Analyzing and Ranking the University Techs (AoE2)