Villager (Age of Empires)

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

Template:AoEUnits Villagers are the backbone unit for every civilization in Age of Empires. Their purpose is to construct buildings and gather up resources for the use of the player to train units, build more and upgrade them as well as advancing Ages to unlock even more buildings, units and upgrades to train, build and upgrade. They can be trained from Town Center. Villagers are bit slower than infantry.

Tasks

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

• Builder - builds buildings
• Farmer - gathers Food from Farm
• Fisherman - gathers Food from fish schools near shore.
• Forager - gathers Food from bushes
• Woodcutter - gathers Wood from trees
• Miner - gathers Gold and Stone from their corresponding mines.
• Hunter - kills and gathers Food from animals
• Repairman - repairs buildings and boats.
• If they are attacking enemies or remain idle, they will remain as "Villagers"

When attacked, hunters and villagers have an increased attack strength if Jihad is researched.

Buildings

Villager can build the following buildings:

Stone Age:

• House, Barracks, Granary, Storage Pit, Dock

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, Fortification

Upgrades

Market provides:

• Woodworking increases the gather rate of wood cutting.
• Artisanship further increases the gather rate of wood cutting. Not available for Persians.
• Craftsmanship further increases the gather rate of wood cutting. Not available for Macedonians, Palmyrans, Persians and Sumerians.
• Stone Mining increases the gather rate of stone mining.
• Siegecraft further increases the gather rate of stone and also enables villagers to attack walls and buildings which they are otherwise unable to. Not available for Carthaginians, Egyptians, Macedonians, Persians, Phoenicians and Shang.
• Gold Mining increases the gather rate of gold mining
• Coinage further increases the gather rate of gold mining. Not available for Egyptians, Palmyrans, Persians, Shang and Sumerians.
• Wheel increases movement speed. Not available for Macedonians and Persians

Government Center provides with:

• Architecture increases the building speed. Not available for Assyrians and Phoenicians.

Temple provides with:

• Jihad increases strength. Not available for Greeks, Hittites, Macedonians, Minoans, Sumerians and Yamato.

Civilization Bonuses

In some civilizations villagers have bonuses for some of their tasks.

• Assyrian and Yamato: Villagers move 30% faster.
• Egyptian: Villagers gather gold 20% more efficiently.
• Sumerian: Villagers have +15 hit points.
• Babylonian: Villagers gather stone 30% more efficiently.
• Persian: Villagers gather food from hunted animals 30% more efficiently.
• Phoenicia: Villagers gather wood 30% more efficiently (this was reduced to 15% after the Age of Empires v1.0c / Rise of Rome v1.0a patch.).
• Shang: Villagers are 30% cheaper (this was reduced to 20% after the Age of Empires v1.0c / Rise of Rome v1.0a patch.).
• Macedonian: Villagers have +2 line of sight and are four more resistant to conversion.
• Palmyran: Villagers costs 50% more food but have +1 armor and work 10% faster.

What certain civilizations cannot build:

• Minoan and Yamato: Villagers cannot build Fortifications, Guard Towers and Ballista Towers.
• Persian: Villagers cannot build Academies and Ballista Towers.
• Carthaginians: Villagers cannot build Fortifications.
• Shang: Villagers cannot build Ballista Towers.
• Roman: Villagers cannot build Guard Towers and Ballista Towers.
• Macedonians: Villagers cannot build Fortifications and Temples.

A villager in-game.

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

Cheats

Putting in the cheat medusa in the chat box turns them into Medusa units that turn in Dark Riders when they are killed by enemy units.

See also

• Villager (Age of Empires II)
• Settler
• Villager (Age of Mythology)

References

Template:Buildings Tree AoE