Berry Bushes or Forage Bushes are an early food source and appear in every game of the series.
Age of Empires
An animation of a Forager harvesting berries
The Berry Bush in Age of Empires provides an early source of food from Stone Age to early Tool Age. Each Bush yields 150 food. The biggest advantage of these Bushes is that unlike animals, which flee whenever a unit approaches them, the Bush is fixed to the ground for the entire game, making resource gathering easier to micromanage, but slightly less efficient.
As the game progresses, Berry Bushes may become rare or even run out. This is where Farms come into the picture as they provide more food than the Bushes itself and can always be replaced whenever a sufficient supply of wood is available.
Age of Empires II
Foragers gathering food from Forage Bushes
Like its predecessor, the Forage Bush in Age of Empires II provides an early source of food. The Forage Bush always occurs in clusters, and there is usually a cluster near every player's starting Town Center.
On most maps, there are several other Forage Bush clusters scattered around the map. Each Bush contains 125 food. It is advisable to gather food from animals first before gathering from Bushes since the working speed of Foragers is slower. However, foraging is still faster than farming.
In The African Kingdoms, the Fruit Bush was introduced. It only differs from the Forage Bush in its appearance.
A cluster of Fruit Bushes
Civilization bonuses
- Aztecs: Foragers carry +5 food.
- Franks: Foragers work 25% faster (in The Forgotten).
- Mayans: Forage Bushes last 15% longer (20% in The Conquerors).
Age of Mythology
The Berry Bushes in Age of Mythology contain 100 food, and like in the other games, clusters of them can sometimes be found close to the Town Center. They are a slow, but safe method of gathering food.
History
| “ | Berry bushes symbolize the gathering nature of pre-agricultural humans and are a staple of Age of Empires games. Berries, like all fruit, evolved as a means for plants to disperse their seeds--in this case through the digestive tracts of animals. | ” |
Age of Empires III
The Age of Empires III Berry Bush holds 1000 food and is harvested by Settlers. The Berry Bush, unlike animals, do not lose food over time due to decay, but they gather slower than animals, so they should be avoided unless the player has no other choice. Berry Bushes usually come in clusters of 2-4, and last a considerable amount of time. They should be used before building Mills, except when using advanced Mills and Land Grab Home City Cards.
History
| “ | There are many varieties of berries native to the Americas. Tart cranberries grow in cranberry bogs, flooded at harvest time to float the ripe berries to the surface where they are skimmed off and dried or put into preserves. Thorny blackberry bushes grow wild in the southern United States. The Guarana berry grows in the northeastern parts of South America and is named after the Guarani tribe. | ” |
Trivia
- The Berries throughout the Age of Empires series appear to be based on either Redcurrants or Raspberries, both which are common throughout the Old World and the Americas. The species of the Fruit Bushes are unknown, although it is plausible they could be Gooseberries.
- Since the presence of berry bushes is something of a running joke in the Age of Empires series, the berry bush description in Age of Empires III reads "It wouldn't be Age of Empires without berries".
- Age of Empires III and Age of Empires Online are the only games in the Age of Empires series to have technologies that increase the rate of Berry gathering rates.
- However Tale of the Dragon added Domestication, which allowed Fu Xi's villagers to gather all food sources faster (including Berries)
- According to the Prototype data entries, Other Food-based plant sources were planned to have been added in Age of Mythology, according to the Multiplayer Alpha language.dll file and WildCrops unitype tag.