
Unless allied players have set up trade, gold will inevitably run out before food or wood. This makes scouting gold deposits early in the game important so they can be easily found later on.

Gold is scarce and it is a common competitive tactic to raid the enemy Mining Camps to disrupt the opponent's gold mining and prevent them from making gold-heavy units. Since the gold will inevitably run out before food, wood, and even stone, civilizations with bonuses that benefit units that require gold must try to end the game early since in the late game the only way to obtain gold is by trading and this implies resource interchange. Gold is the most valuable resource in the game since most of the heavy military units require it with the following exceptions: Axeman, Scythe Chariot, Chariot Archer, Bowman, Scout, Trireme and Slinger. The only way to effectively obtain gold is by mining it, as merchant ships will only exchange some amount of one resource for gold.

Relics can be picked up by Monks and put into a player's Monastery, where they will slowly generate gold. The Saracens have a reduction of the trading fee to 5% as one of their civilization bonuses. For many civilizations, the 30% fee can be reduced to 15% by researching Guilds. However, this includes a 30% fee and each time a resource is sold, the price of that resource will be lowered for all players. The Market allows the player to sell food, wood, or stone for gold. The Spanish team bonus increases the amount of gold returned by trade units by 33% (Now 25%), and also in The Forgotten, the Hindustanis' unique technology, Grand Trunk Road, allows Trade Carts to produce 10% more gold. Unlike in Age of Empires, trade does not require resources to be spent aside from the initial cost of the Trade Cart or Trade Cog. The farther the distance between the two docks, the more gold is generated. Trade Cogs travel between docks to generate gold. The farther the distance between the two markets, the more gold is generated. Trade Carts travel between markets to generate gold.
