The Age of Empires 2 barracks are the main way to build your armies for war, but you will need enough space and supplies to do so. Once you start gathering resources and working your economy with workers, your next priority should be to start building your military forces with barracks. Building them will allow you to train infantry units you can command to attack enemies or defend territory. However, Age of Empires 2 is pretty complex with lots of menus, submenus, and UI elements, so knowing exactly what to do can be a bit of a challenge. With that in mind, here are the details on how to build barracks in Age of Empires 2.
How to open a building barracks in Age of Empires 2
What you need to build barracks in Age of Empires 2 to select a villager and select the barracks from the Villager’s Military page of the Command menu. You will also need 175 wood and 3×3 fields to place your barracks and start building your army.
- Choose a villager: Do this by manually finding and selecting a villager, or by scrolling through your villagers with the D-Pad.
- Open the Military page of the Villager Command menu and select Barracks: Hold RT to open the radial villager Command menu, then press Y to switch from the Economy page to the Military page. Use the left stick to highlight Barracks and press A to begin placing.
- Place and build your barracks: You can now wander around your area to find a place for your Barracks. Press A to place the barracks and construction will be done automatically. If you want to speed up the construction of your barracks, you can assign more villagers to the job.
Use these Age of Empires 2 cheats in your next battle to get some really weird units for your army
Once your Age of Empires 2 barracks are built, you can now use them to train infantry units and support your army. You’ll have to spend food and gold to both train and upgrade your soldiers, and upgrades will cost much more than training. Train units by selecting your Barracks, holding RT to open the Command menu, and then selecting the unit type you want to train.
Starting in the Dark Ages, you’ll only have access to humble Militia warriors, but once you reach the Feudal Age and beyond, you’ll be able to upgrade to Men of Arms and other special units. Since your primary forces are infantry units in Age of Empires 2, it is important to have a large number of barracks and the resources to support them so that you can have a large army. Barracks are also required for Archery Ranges and Stables, so you’ll need them to recruit other armed units.
If you’re checking out Age of Empires 2 on Game Pass, why not have a look at these? Games like Age of Empires to see what else might scratch that strategy itch.
