Market
Economic - FeudalBase values, before building technologies. Masonry and then Architecture each give buildings "+10% HP, +1/+1 Armor": late in a game, the real numbers are higher.
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Try it freeDescription
"Enables trading with allies and buying/selling resources. Creates Trade Carts for inter-player trade routes."
Strategic Analysis
Strategic Role
The Market provides economic flexibility through resource trading and generates gold through trade routes in team games.
Key Tactics
Resource Trading
Buy resources you need, sell resources you have excess of. The exchange rate changes with each trade, so avoid mass trading.
Team Trade
In team games, Trade Carts generate unlimited gold by traveling between your Market and an ally's. Longer routes = more gold.
Emergency Stone
Need a quick Castle? Buy stone at the Market. This is expensive but can enable game-winning Castle drops.
Late Game Gold
When gold mines are exhausted, trade becomes your only gold source. Start trading before you run out.
Warning
Trading has a 30% loss rate. Only trade when necessary, and research Guilds to reduce the penalty to 15%.
Stats Analysis
The Market is a durable economic building. Its primary value is providing economic flexibility and team game gold generation.
Hit Points
1800 HP
Fairly durable. Markets can withstand raids better than basic economic buildings.
Trade Rate
30% Loss
You lose 30% when buying/selling. Guilds reduces this to 15%.
Trade Cart Gold
Distance-based
Trade Carts earn gold based on distance traveled. Longer routes are more profitable.
Units Produced
Placement Tip
In team games, place Markets in opposite corners from your trade partner for maximum trade distance. In 1v1, place it safely inside your base.
Timing Tip
Build a Market in Feudal Age for emergency resource trading. In team games, start trade in Castle Age with 10-15 Trade Carts.
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Other Buildings
AoE Coach analysis
Context & meta
The Market is a Feudal Age economic building with 1,800 HP, 1 melee armor, 8 pierce armor, 5 line of sight, 175 wood cost, and 60 seconds of build time. The official help gives it four jobs: buy and sell resources, trade by land, research trade technologies, and send resources to other players. It also states that the default trading fee and tribute tax are 30%. That makes the Market a pressure valve, not free income. It can repair a temporary resource imbalance or open a trade plan, but every transaction and every queue should be judged against the wood invested and the route that keeps the economy connected.
History & balance
The Market marks the transition from a self-contained economy to one that can exchange and coordinate resources. Its official technology list includes Caravan, Guilds, Coinage, and Banking, while the building data gives it Trade Cart production. The same building therefore connects a player to land trade, tribute, and resource conversion. That flexibility is why the Market is easy to overvalue: a 175-wood building can smooth a build, but it cannot create a safe route or remove the 30% default fee by itself. Its history in a game is the history of the economy becoming more flexible—and more exposed to raids.
In pro play
Use the Market to solve a specific bottleneck, then stop treating it as a button that fixes every imbalance. Buying a missing resource can preserve a military or Age timing; selling excess resources can keep the queue alive; Caravan, Guilds, Coinage, and Banking become valuable when the route or tribute plan is real. Place the building where the Trade Cart path is readable and defensible, and remember that the 30% default fee taxes impatience. A good Market click protects a larger plan. A bad one hides a broken gather distribution until the opponent reaches the trade line.
How to counter it
A Market has no combat Weak vs. category; the classic mistake is allowing it to stabilize an opponent while you attack only the army. Neutralize the output and the economy behind it: raid the food, wood, and gold that fund Trade Carts, deny the route, pick off exposed carts, and force the Market queue to sit idle. If the opponent is buying a missing resource, pressure the resource they are avoiding and make each transaction more expensive in attention and time. The building has 1,800 HP, so repeated denial is often better than a blind dive. If you keep losing to an economy you cannot read, AoE Coach reads your match-up and gives you the composition and timing.