Food

Food is a unique form of resource in Age of Empires Online that can be obtained by using Villager to harvest Berry Bush, Fish, Hunt, Herd, tend Farm, by Fishing using Fishing Boats, or by purchasing it using Gold at the Market. It is the primary resource for hiring most units. It is overall the most varied type of resource, with gathering rates, quantity per site and other factors varying greatly.

Game Info[]

Berry Bushes[]

Berry Bushes can be found all over the map and provide a slow income of food in large amounts for players to gather using Villagers. Almost all maps begin with a few Berry Bushes near the Town Center. However, berry bushes are not recommended to be gathered in the late ages as farms can replace them and berry bushes do not provide unlimited food.

Default gathering rate = 0.9
Upgraded gathering rate = 1.08 [+20%]

Herding[]

Goats and Cows can be found strewn about most maps as neutral creatures and when approached will change ownership and can be ordered and brought back to your Storehouse or Town Center. Villagers pathed on them will butcher them and proceed to gather a limited amount of food from them. Villagers who herd will gather food faster than farming and gathering berries, but is slower than gathering food from animals.

Unique to the Celtic civilization, herding animals may be spawned (up to a maximum of 40) for 15 wood each. These Sacred Deer may be harvested for the same food as any other deer. Note that animals used for their sacrifice mechanic don't leave a corpse to gather food from.

Default gathering rate = 1.0

Hunting[]

Various animals are found throughout the map and can be slain using military units or Villagers, Villagers can then gather limited food from their corpses. Huntable animals include Deer, Gazelle, Lions, Crocodiles, and Elephants. Hunting is the fastest way to gather food by a wide margin, regardless of upgrade status, though animals will try to flee or fight back and are much more scattered across the map than most food sources.

Default gathering rate = 1.3
Upgraded gathering rate = 1.43

Farming[]

Beginning in the Bronze Age, Villagers can construct Farms and then tend them to gather food infinitely. Gathering food from farms can be slow but expensive upgrades can make gathering food faster. Only one villager can work a farm at once, creating a significant upfront wood and build time investment that is generally inefficient as long as other sources are available. Farms are typically placed around a Town Center, minimizing travel time to drop off the gathered food while also making this the safest method of gathering any resource, especially once natural resources typically found close to a Town Center have been depleted.

Default gathering rate = 0.9
Upgraded gathering rate = 0.99 [+10%] / 1.08 [+20%] / 1.17 [+30%]
- Gathering speed depends on Civilization upgrades

Fishing[]

Located in water various Fishing spots can be found, by tasking a Villager to the ones close to shore, or a Fishing Boat to the ones farther out, you can gather a limited amount of food. Shore fish are a decent source for Villagers early on and don't require the investment of building a dock and then Fishing Boats (and their separate upgrades), but with any larger body of water the latter are a worthy investment and preferable even on shore fish.

Default gathering rate (Villagers) = 1.0

Default gathering rate(Fishing Boats) = 1.6
Upgraded gathering rate(Fishing Boats)= 1.92 [+20%] / 2.24 [+40%] / 2.56 [+60%]
- Depends on the Civilizations access to Fishing Boat upgrades

Garden[]

Unique to the Babylonian civilization, these buildings generate between 1 and 2.5 food per second ( Gardener Gerda and Cultivation). A Babylonian player may have 4 in Age 2, 8 in Age 3, and a maximum of 12 in Age 4.