Get Into The Imperial Age on Age of Empires 2

When you play the game Age of Empires, you start out in the Dark Age, and advance to the Feudal Age, and then to the Castle Age. The final step is to get into the Imperial Age, but it can be tricky for the newbies and casual players out there - it is easy to micromanage your military and completely ignore your economy. This article assumes that you are in the Castle Age already.

The Imperial Age requirement for most civilizations is 1000 food, 800 gold, and two Castle Age buildings (or one castle).

Steps

  1. Immediately build a Town Center with at least three lumberjacks. Building another Town Center is an important step towards not only a good economy, but also makes the Imperial Age requirement easier to achieve.
    • During the Castle Age, more Town Centers should be built to further increase villager production.
  2. Research Heavy Plow. This is found at the mill and makes farms last longer. This makes it easier on the lumberjacks, as wood is in great demand in the Castle Age.
    • Additionally, you need to create more farms. More farms should be built around the first Town Center, and farms should be created around the second (and subsequent) Town Center. Farms can also be created around the mill, although this is less safe, as the villagers are more vulnerable to rushers.
    • Also research Bow Saw and Gold Mining.
  3. Allocate villagers to stone. Castles are expensive (650 stone) and it is important that in the Castle Age that you build a castle. A mining camp should be built next to a stone mine and Stone Mining should be researched.
    • This does not mean that you should ignore your other villagers, however. Along with farms being built, villagers should also be allocated to wood and especially gold.
  4. Build the required building(s). If you are not building a castle as the Imperial Age requirement (but perhaps in the future), two good buildings to build are the University and the Siege Workshop (which cost a combined 400 wood, 200 each). Also good are the University and the Monastery (375 wood total).
    • Building more barracks is highly recommended, even if you are not an infantry civilization. Upgrade to Pikemen and Long Swordsmen.
  5. Prepare to defend yourself against rushers. There are two main categories of rushers in the Castle Age: early Castle rushers and late Castle rushers.
    • Early castle rushers typically send knights and a few battering rams early in the castle age (before 22:00). Knights dominate in the Castle Age and there is no other unit that can kill it one on one (assuming default armor and attack, full HP).
      Pikemen, infantry that counter cavalry, are the answer to the knight problem. While pikemen cannot take on knights one on one, they find strength through numbers. Initially, the knights will be winning, but as you continue to create more and more pikemen, they will eventually prevail because of the consequences for the rusher of losing too many knights. Research Squires if you can, as it helps with defending a lot.
    • Long Swordsmen can take down the battering rams, but not the Town Center garrison by themselves due to the ram's virtual immunity to arrows.
      Camels are another unit that counter cavalry but are expensive. They will also lose in a one on one with knights. They generally should be avoided as a defensive unit.
    • The main disadvantage with the knights is of their high cost: 60 food, 75 gold. Prominent is the 75 gold requirement. Losing too many knights would be food and gold wasted that could've gone into researching the Imperial Age.
    • Late castle rushers are much more varied. As it is pretty late into the game where the military starts to dominate, armies can very dramatically. It is important to take advantage of your civilization's strong points, as well as creating more pikemen to fend off the knights. Other units that you could create are long swordsmen, mangonels, crossbowmen, and cavalry archers (created at the Archery Range, not the Stable).
    • Knights of your own should also be created to attack your enemy's lumberjacks, miners, etc. in an effort to slow down their economy.
      Scorpions can be useful support weapons in defending against a late castle rush. As the bolts penetrate multiple layers of units, their damage can be amplified.
  6. Trade resources in the market. Use the market to your advantage - you can brute force the 1000 food or 800 gold requirement.
  7. Once you have the necessary resources, click on the Imperial Age button in your Town Center. The research takes a few minutes.
    • A common goal in researching the Imperial Age that neglects your military (Wonder Race) is 25:00. Consider this an absolute zero - if you develop your military in any way, you will miss this goal. It takes practice to shorten the time you reach Imperial Age. The times can vary from 25:00 to 31:00, and that is what you should be aiming for.

Tips

  • The most important rule for any civilization is to always be creating more villagers! This cannot be emphasized further. Not only will this lead you to the resource requirements faster, creating more villagers allows for a stronger military as well.
  • If you are an inexperienced player, it is recommended that you consider playing as the Byzantines. They are a highly versatile and advanced civilization that has nearly all technologies available for research and nearly all military units available for creation (except, of course, the unique units). However, the more important advantage is that the Byzantines have a lower resource requirement. They require 33% less food and gold to research the Imperial Age (667 food, 533 gold).
    • The lower resource requirement should not be taken for granted, however. Most civilizations will require 1000 food and 800 gold. So any strategies that you develop with the Byzantines may not work or have to be modified in order to advance faster.
  • With more villagers requires more houses. It is vital that you keep up with population growth, especially in the Castle Age as more Town Centers produce villagers and military units are being created. Castles can only alleviate some of the problem with their +20 population, but they are expensive, and thus houses should continue to be built.
    • A good way of building houses is to build them in a wall-like line. The houses should be built a considerable distance from your Town Center. This can potentially slow down rushers, and you won't hesitate in where you put your houses (unlike if you randomly place them).

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