The Town Center trains Villagers, provides population room, and acts as the hub of your city. You can only build Town Centers on Settlements and you can only build multiple Town Centers in the Classical Age. The Atlanteans, being the exception to the rule, can build multiple Town Centers in the Archaic Age. There are enough Settlements on most maps for every player to have 3, but the more Settlements you have, the less your enemy can use. If your team claims all the Settlements on a map, you win the game under standard victory conditions.

The rise of agriculture provided a food surplus that had to be collected and stored to be available in winter months and other periods when food was scarce. The need to collect, store, and protect food surpluses gave rise to the first towns as administrative centers. Towns quickly became engaged in many additional activities, including the gathering and storage of other resources, centers of manufacturing, population concentration points, and centers of trade. All villages and towns had an administrative center that was the site of governmental power and leadership. At first this might have been the local leader’s home. The Town Center was often the place where important supplies were stored, especially food surpluses. The destruction of the Town Center usually meant the loss of the town’s governmental infrastructure. If this could not be restored, the town or village ceased to function.