Villager (Age of Empires)

This article is about the unit in Age of Empires. For villager units in other games of the series, see Villager.

Villager
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires
Type	Civilian
Civilization	All civilizations
Age	Stone Age
Training
Trained at	Town Center
Food	50
Training time	20 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	25
Attack	3
Rate of Fire	1.5
Range	0
Melee armor	0
Pierce armor	0
Speed	1.1
Line of Sight	4

The Villager is an economic unit in Age of Empires that can be trained at the Town Center. Villagers are the backbone of every civilization, performing key tasks such as building construction and resource gathering.

As indispensable as Villagers are, their fighting skills are negligible. However, they can become slightly more useful in combat once Siegecraft is researched. With it, they can be used to attack walls and towers, as they will deal +2 bonus damage to them.

Tasks

Villagers can be assigned with different tasks which also changes their name to the corresponding job they are doing.

• Builder - builds buildings
• Hunter - kills and gathers food from animals
• Farmer - gathers food from Farm
• Fisherman - gathers food from fish near the shore
• Forager - gathers food from Berry Bushes
• Woodcutter - gathers wood from trees
• Miner - gathers gold and stone from their corresponding mines
• Repairman - repairs buildings and boats
• Villager - attacks enemies; also the default term

When attacked, Hunters and Villagers have an increased attack strength if Zealotry is researched. But as a consequence, their gathering capacity is decreased by 8 (6 for food gatherers).

Buildings

Villager can build the following buildings:

Stone Age

• House, Barracks, Granary, Storage Pit, Dock, Town Center (if the player does not have one).

Tool Age

• Archery Range, Stable, Farm, Watch Tower, Small Wall, Market.

Bronze Age

• Government Center, Temple, additional Town Centers, Siege Workshop, Academy, Sentry Tower, Medium Wall.

Iron Age

• Wonder, Guard Tower, Ballista Tower, Fortified Wall.

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	As meat shield
Weak vs.	All
Upgrades
Work rate	For wood:  Woodworking (+20%)  Artisanship (+20%)  Craftsmanship (+20%) For gold:  Gold Mining (+30%)  Coinage (+25%) For stone:  Stone Mining (+30%)  Siegecraft (+30%) Construction speed:  Architecture (+50%)
Carry capacity	For food:  Zealotry (-6) For wood:  Woodworking (+2)  Artisanship (+2)  Craftsmanship (+2)  Zealotry (-8) For gold:  Gold Mining (+3)  Coinage (+25%)  Zealotry (-8) For stone:  Stone Mining (+3)  Siegecraft (+3)  Zealotry (-8)
Hit points	Zealotry (+40)
Attack	Siegecraft (bonus damage against walls and towers)  Zealotry (+7)
Speed	Tool Age (+10%)  Wheel (+50%)  Zealotry (+10%)

Civilization bonuses

• Assyrians: Villagers have +10% speed.
• Babylonians: Stone miners work rate +20% and carry +2 stone.
• Egyptians: Gold miners work rate +20% and carry +2 gold.
• Greeks: Villagers are created 10% faster from the Tool Age onward.
• Macedonians: Villagers have +2 Line of Sight and are four times more resistant to conversion.
• Palmyrans: Villagers cost +50% but have +1/+1 armor and work rate +25%.
• Persians: Hunters work rate +30% and carry +3 food.
• Phoenicians: Woodcutters work rate +15% and carry +2 wood.
• Shang: Villagers cost -20%.
• Sumerians: Villagers have +15 hit points.
• Yamato: Villagers have +10% speed.

Cheats

Entering the cheat code medusa in the chat box turns Villagers into Medusas that turn into Dark Riders when they are killed by enemy units.

Changelog

Definitive Edition

• Hunters work 5% faster than before (previously they were as slow as Foragers).
• Gold and stone miners work 15% faster (to compensate bug fixes to technologies).
• Zealotry (formerly named Jihad): Villager carry capacity penalty more consistent for different villager types; villager speed bonus to +10%.
• Siegecraft: Villager bonus attack vs walls and towers slightly reduced.
• Wheel researched slower (+15 seconds).
• Assyrian and Yamato Villagers now move 10% faster (down from 18%).
• Palmyran Villagers work 25% faster for all tasks (previously 20% for some tasks, 0% for others).
• With update 38862, Villagers move 10% faster in the Tool Age. The Wheel technology now grants a +50% speed boost (instead of +60%) to maintain the same maximum speed (the bonuses are additive and not multiplicative).

Trivia

• Their weapon (when fighting enemy units) looks like a bone from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age (before the Definitive Edition). When the Iron Age (Bronze Age since the Definitive Edition) is researched, this is replaced by a weapon that looks like a fork, whose animation speed seems faster (despite the attacking speed being the same).
  • Their animation in the Iron Age is later used for the Spearman and Pikeman in Age of Empires II.

History

“	Most people of ancient times lived out their lives working to make a living, primarily as hunters, gatherers, and fishermen originally, and later as farmers and herders. The agricultural revolution that began around 8000 BC freed more and more people from the daily pursuit of sustenance as food production became more dependable and efficient. New specialists included potters, metalworkers, builders, scribes, leather workers, woodworkers, traders, and professional soldiers. By the end of the ancient period, food production employed less than half the population within civilized culture.	”
—The Age of Empires manual

Gallery

Villagers in-game

A Villager in the Definitive Edition

A Villager carrying meat from a dead Gazelle in the Definitive Edition

Villagers farming, note the straw hats. Also featured is a Tool Age Town Center.

Repairman repairing a damaged Trireme

A Villager in the Iron Age attacking an enemy Storage Pit. Notice that he is using a trident.

References

Buildings Tree
First Town Center Barracks Storage Pit House Dock Granary Stable Archery Range Small Wall Market Watch Tower Farm Academy Siege Workshop Medium Wall Government Center Temple Sentry Tower More Town Centers Wonder Fortified Wall Guard Tower Ballista Tower