Age of Empires IV: How Many Villagers Should You Make?
Image Credit: Xbox Game Studios, Age of Empires IV (AoE 4)
One of the most common beginner questions in Age of Empires IV is:
”How many villagers should I have?"
The answer is simple: Never stop making villagers. At least, not until you’re at 200 pop and actively deciding whether it’s worth deleting 20 lumberjacks to fit in another trebuchet.
Here’s a full AoE 4 guide on villager counts, timing benchmarks, and how to scale into late game without falling behind.
Read More: AoE 4 Best Units
Why Make Villagers Nonstop?
Villagers cost 50 food and will return that cost in just over a minute through gathering. If you keep production constant, you’ll out-resource your opponent every time—unless they’re doing the same, in which case welcome to the arms race.
1 Town Center – Villager Benchmarks
Assuming no lost villagers and constant production:
Start: 6 villagers
5 minutes: 21 villagers
10 minutes: 36 villagers
20 minutes: 66 villagers
30 minutes: 96 villagers
If you’re significantly below these numbers, it likely means you’ve paused production—or lost some vils without replacing them.
2 Town Centers – Power Spike
Let’s say you build a 2nd TC at the 10-minute mark:
10 minutes: 36 villagers (from one TC)
15 minutes: 66 villagers
20 minutes: 96 villagers
30 minutes: 156 villagers
Two TCs produce 6 villagers per minute, which lets you explode economically. This is how players hit pop cap fast and fund massive armies.
When Do You Stop Making Villagers?
Usually around 110–130 villagers, depending on playstyle:
110 villagers gives you a strong economy while still leaving room for a full military.
After that, some players delete villagers to make space for more army (especially if they have strong trade or relic income).
Others keep villagers around longer to support infrastructure—building keeps, walls, siege, etc.
If you’ve got 130 villagers and your army is still missing, it might be time to trim.
Villager Efficiency Tips
Keep rallying to active resources—don’t forget idle vils during attacks.
Adjust resource allocation constantly (especially when switching unit types).
Trade-heavy or fishing maps often allow you to use fewer villagers overall.
In late game, use excess villagers for stone walls, keeps, proxy buildings, or suicidal drop keeps if you’re feeling dramatic.
Final Blurb
The real answer to “How many villagers?” is: As many as you can make—until you can’t.
Don’t stop early. Don’t float your TC. And don’t be the player with 60 villagers at the 20-minute mark unless you like losing.
And remember: if your opponent has a bigger army and more villagers… you’ve got bigger problems than villager count.
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