How to Delete Buildings in Age of Empires

Last Updated: October 1, 2020

Age of Empires, a Windows game, is not just all about building; sometimes you have to tear stuff down even before your enemies come to tear it down for you. There are a variety of reasons why you might want to do this, but chief among them is space. After a building has served its purpose (especially research buildings like Arsenals and Universities), you will find yourself needing the space they have taken up for constructing other things, like military training buildings and walls, that are more useful at that stage of the game.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Deleting Buildings in Age of Empires 3 and Age of Empires 3: The WarChiefs

1
Start the game. This can be done either by double-clicking the AoE3: The Warchiefs shortcut icon on the desktop, if it’s there, or by following this Start Menu sequence: Start button >> All Programs >> Microsoft Games >> Age of Empires III - The Warchiefs.
- For AoE3, the sequence is: Start button >> All Programs >> Microsoft Games >> Age of Empires III.
2
Open the Main Menu. Press the Spacebar repeatedly to skip through the pre-game cinematics and display the Main Menu.

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3
Enter into the game world. You can do this by loading a previously saved game by clicking “Single Player,” then “Saved Game,” and then double-clicking the game from the saved games list.
- If you want to start a totally new game, click “Skirmish,” select your preferred Home City from the list, and then click “Play.”
4
Select a building you want to delete. You can achieve this by left-clicking building you want to delete. You can select more than one building by holding the Ctrl key, and left-clicking each building you want to delete.
- You can also select a building by pressing its hotkey. Different buildings have different hotkeys that can be used to select them, e.g., “T” for Town Center and “Control+B” for Barracks.
5
Delete the building. Once you’ve selected the building, hit Delete on your keyboard. A Yes-No confirmation dialog box will pop up. Click “Yes” to confirm.
- You can also delete a building by clicking the delete icon in the building's info panel on the bottom right corner of the screen (the delete icon is a small square icon with a skull on it) after you’ve selected the building. Click “Yes” in the confirmation pop-up to remove the building.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Delete Buildings in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings

1
Start the game. This can be done either by double-clicking the AoE2: Age of Kings shortcut icon on the desktop, if it’s there, or by following this Start Menu sequence: Start button >> All Programs >> Microsoft Games >> Age of Empires II - Age of Kings. #Open the Main Menu. Press Enter repeatedly to skip through the pre-game cinematics and display the Main Menu.
2
Enter into the game world. Load a previously saved game by clicking “Single Player,” “Saved Game,” and then double-clicking on the game from the saved games list.
- You can also start an entirely new game by clicking “Random Map.” Select your preferred Civilization from the list, and then click “Play.”
3
Select the building to delete. Do this by left-clicking the building you want to remove. Alternatively, you can press the building’s hotkey. Different buildings have different hotkeys that can be used to select them, e.g., T for Town Center and Control+B for Barracks.
4
Delete the building. Just hit Delete on your keyboard. Note that in AoE2, no confirmation dialog box will appear, so make sure you really want to delete that particular building, because once you press Delete, it’s gone.
- In AoE2, you cannot delete multiple buildings at the same time, and neither can you use the mouse as there is no delete icon you can click in the game.