Watch Post

The Stone Age watch post is the first purpose-built military installation in human history — a raised platform of lashed timber poles elevated above the surrounding canopy or scrubland to give a lookout an unobstructed line of sight across several hundred meters of otherwise blind terrain. Neolithic settlements in the Balkans, Anatolia, and the British Isles show evidence of exactly these structures at the perimeters of their village compounds. A single watcher with enough warning could alert fighters to mount a defense before raiders reached the gates. In the game the watch post expands your vision radius significantly, revealing terrain and enemy unit positions that would otherwise lie hidden in fog of war. Build one at every approach to your settlement — an ambush you never see coming costs more in lost workers and damaged buildings than many watch posts combined would cost to construct and garrison.