The theme of Age of Empires is the rise of the first great civilizations over the 10,000 years that followed the last Ice Age. You are the guiding spirit of a tribe that predates one of the great cultures of antiquity. Your goal is to build your tribe into a mighty civilization that can vie for world (game) dominance (victory). You begin the game in the Stone Age with a small tribe of men on an unexplored map. As you move your tribesmen over the map, you reveal different terrain types and locate sources of food, wood, stone, and gold, which villagers gather by hunting, fishing, foraging, farming, chopping trees, and mining stone and gold. You must gather enough resources and build enough housing to support your growing civilization.