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The Obelisk is an Egyptian Archaic Age building that provides substantial Line of Sight.
Gameplay
Slender towers, they are fragile but cheap, and provide forewarning of an attack to the player that built them. They are not built by Laborers, but rather by Priests, and Fishing Ships can build them on the coast. They are important for the Egyptians since they lack dedicated scout units. Priests usually take up the scouting role, but are slow with little line of sight. Their ability to build Obelisks makes up for this.
Obelisks are cheap to build, but are largely obsolete by the Classical Age, as they can be easily destroyed by enemy units at that point.
History
"The obelisk, or "tejen" in Egyptian, was synonymous with protection. The four-sided stone column was thought to draw evil up from the ground and disperse it up into the sky. At the top of the obelisk was the pyramidon, a small pyramid that symbolized the sun. Obelisks are often inscribed with hieroglyphics. The word is Greek in origin and refers to a roasting spit."
In-game compendium
Trivia
- The Obelisk was originally a shared civilization building called the "Sentry Tower" and used the Sentry Tower models and textures. It functioned identically to the Outpost from Age of Empires II, albeit it could research Signal Fires and Carrier Pigeons. In the Editor, the Egyptian Obelisk is still referred to as an Outpost.
- The Watch Tower line was also a completely separate line and used the "Building Watch Tower icon", which was later used for its upgrade technology when the Watch and Sentry Tower Lines were merged.
- The Sentry Tower and Watch Tower lines were merged (as mentioned above), and the Sentry Tower idea became the Obelisk.
- There are technically two variants of the Obelisk: the Egyptian Scout Tower, and the embellishment statues, which itself has three different variations (limestone and gold, granite, and sandstone). The assets for these obelisks were always intended to be decorative buildings, unlike the buildable Obelisk.
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