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This article is about the trade unit in Age of Mythology. For the technology in Age of Empires II, see Caravan (Age of Empires II). |
The Caravan is an economic unit in Age of Mythology that is used for trading and can be trained at the Market once the Heroic Age is reached.
Information
Caravans are used to trade between the Market and a selected friendly Town Center.
The Town Center 'gives' gold to the Caravan, which is added to the player's stockpile when the Caravan returns to the Market. The amount of gold generated by a single run of a Caravan is (approximately) directly proportional to the square of euclidean distance between the Market and the Town Center. Therefore, the total gold production of a straight line trade route is directly proportional to its length.
Although it is possible for players to trade with their own Town Centers, trading with that of an ally will provide 50% more gold.
The species of Caravan varies between civilizations. See these individual entries for more details:
Donkey Caravan (Greeks)
Camel Caravan (Egyptians)
Ox Caravan (Norse)- Llama Caravan (Atlanteans)
- Yak Caravan (Chinese)
Upgrades
- Coinage increases the speed of Caravans by 20%.
Trivia
- Yak Caravans are the only Caravan that has a herdable counterpart, which is the Yak.
- Originally, the Egyptian and Norse Caravans had wild huntable counterparts, the camel was a prey unit, whilst the Ox Caravan would get its wild counterpart in The Titans, as the Tundra equivalent of the Aurochs.
- The Atlanteans use of Llamas as caravan units is most likely a reference to popular media to having their empire spread from the Americas to Egypt and Turkey, and being the ancestors to the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas.
- Norse, Greek and Egyptian Caravans originally pushed carts, but this was later changed, making them pack animals.
- The Norse originally used either a Mule, or most likely, a Horse as their original pack animal, before it was changed to a Musk Ox.
History
| “ | Trade was critical for any ancient empire to survive. Certain geographic areas had certain resources in abundance, while others were sorely lacking. The Greek city states exported resources such as silver, obsidian and seashells, and also crafts such as pottery and metal vases. However, they imported other resources such as copper, tin, gold and amber, and other products, such as glass beads and seals. Cities along trade routes, such as Alexandria in Egypt and Byblos in the Middle East, became wealthy and powerful. | ” |