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This article is about the unit in Age of Empires II HD: The African Kingdoms. For the unit in Age of Empires III, see Caravel (Age of Empires III).

ā€œPortuguese unique ship that fires bolts that pierce multiple units.ā€
Age of Empires II description

The Caravel is the second unique unit of the Portuguese in Age of Empires II HD: The African Kingdoms. It can be trained at the Dock once the Castle Age is reached. It is a warship that fires bolts like a Scorpion that can damage multiple enemies.

Caravels can be upgraded to Elite Caravels in the Imperial Age.

Tactics[]

Caravels deal damage in a straight line with every hit, allowing them to injure and even kill clusters of units on the shoreline, or sink masses of enemy ships in naval combat.

Stat-wise, Caravels are generally superior to War Galleys in most departments except ship-to-ship damage. They will generally lose to War Galleys in one-on-one combat, and an Elite Caravel will be defeated by a Galleon, but a large fleet of them will defeat an armada of those counterparts due to the nature of their projectiles.

A Caravel is slightly more expensive than a War Galley, but it does not need to be upgraded and is available instantly once the Castle Age is reached. Building both Caravels and War Galleys/Galleons in the late game is a good idea only if the player's economy allows it, but doing so will give the player a very effective anti-ship armada at their disposal, with Elite Caravels acting as the main naval force and Galleons acting as a tank unit. However, this may be unnecessary as the Portuguese Galleons are already some of the best in the game.

Non-Elite Caravels have Line of Sight and pierce armor equal to those of the Galleon and Elite Caravels, which makes them situationally better before their Elite upgrade.

Comparison to the War Galley[]

CaravelIcon-DE Caravel War galley aoe2DE War Galley
Research Costs
and Time
none 230 food, 100 gold
38.5 seconds
Cost 90 wood, 34 gold 90 wood, 24 gold
Hit Points 143 149
Creation Time 36 36
Attack 6 pierce
+6 vs Ship
pass-through attack
7 pierce
+9 vs Ship
Other Attack Bonuses +8 vs Building
+4 vs Ram
+7 vs Building
+4 vs Ram
Armor
Melee/Pierce/Ship
0/8/0 0/6/0
Movement Speed 1.43 1.43
Attack Speed 3 3
Range 6 6
Upgrade Cost
and Time
700 food, 525 gold
46.2 seconds
400 food, 315 wood
50 seconds

Comparison with the Galleon[]

CaravelIcon-DE Elite Caravel Galleon aoe2DE Galleon
Cost 90 wood, 34 gold 90 wood, 24 gold
Hit Points 165 182
Creation Time 36 36
Attack 8 pierce
+7 vs Ship
pass-through attack
8 pierce
+11 vs Ship
Other Attack Bonuses +9 vs Building
+4 vs Ram
+8 vs Building
+4 vs Ram
Armor
Melee/Pierce/Ship
0/8/0 0/8/0
Movement Speed 1.43 1.43
Attack Speed 3 3
Range 7 7

Further statistics[]

As Caravels are unique to the Portuguese, only technologies that are available to them are shown in the following table:

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs. buildings and melee units in the shoreline, Cannon Galleons, units in dense formation, Longboats
Weak vs. Fire Ships, Turtle Ships, Towers, Castles, Mangonels, Bombard Cannons, Thirisadais
Upgrades
Attack FletchingDE Fletching (+1)
BodkinArrowDE Bodkin Arrow (+1)
BracerDE Bracer (+1)
ChemistryDE Chemistry (+1)
Range FletchingDE Fletching (+1)
BodkinArrowDE Bodkin Arrow (+1)
BracerDE Bracer (+1)
Accuracy BallisticsDE Ballistics (hit moving targets)
Armor CareeningDE Careening (+0/+1)
UniqueTechCastle-DE Carrack (+1/+1)
Speed DryDockDE Dry Dock (+15%)
Conversion defense Devotion icon AoE2DE Devotion (+1 min, +1 max)
FaithDE Faith (+4 min, +4 max)
HeresyDE Heresy (die upon getting converted)
Upgrades EliteUniqueUnitDE Elite Caravel

Civilization bonuses[]

Team bonuses[]

Heroes[]

There is one hero in the game with the appearance of a Caravel:

Trivia[]

  • Caravels deal bonus damage against the cheat unit Saboteur because it is in the same unit class as ships.
  • The Caravel is the only unique naval unit that loses against the Galley-line in one-on-one combat.
  • If a Caravel fights against melee units, the bolt will fire backwards, as if it is being deflected by a unit's sword.
    • This is because the projectile spawns outside the collision box of the Caravel, so the direction vector of the projectile is backwards.
  • The Caravel model in the game is actually a mixture of different ships. The sail model is the sail of square-rigged caravel, a type of different ship with a galleon hull, while the hull model in the game is from a carrack.

History[]

A caravel is a light sailing ship widely used by the Portuguese during the early modern period for long voyages. Apparently developed by the Portuguese for exploring the coast of Africa, the caravel's chief excellence lay in its capacity for reaching remarkable speed and sailing to windward. Nina and Pinta, two of the three ships used by Christopher Columbus during his historic voyage to the New World in 1492, were caravels.[1]

Changelog[]

AoEIIDE icon Definitive Edition[]

  • With update 39284, Caravels cost +0.4 gold as a combination of their civilization bonus change and their gold cost change.
  • With update 42848, technologies that benefit Caravels are researched 30% faster as a civilization bonus.
  • With an unknown change, the cost of units was rounded off, so Caravels were back to costing 34 gold.
  • CivIcon-Bulgarians Bulgarians: Initially, the Team Bonus gave the Blacksmith a 50% work rate boost. With update 42848, this was changed to a 80% work rate boost.

AoE2Icon-DynastiesIndia Dynasties of India[]

  • With update 61321, Caravels are now resistant to armor-ignoring attacks, similarly to buildings.
  • With update 73855, technologies that benefit Caravels are researched 25% faster as a team bonus.
  • With update 81058, the Elite Caravel upgrade costs 700 food, 525 gold.

Gallery[]

Video[]

References[]

Units in Age of Empires II
CivilianMaleVillDE Villager Ā· Tradecart aoe2DE Trade Cart Ā· FishingShipDE Fishing Ship Ā· Trade cog aoe2DE Trade Cog Ā· King eu aoe2DE King
ReligiousMonk aoe2DE Monk
InfantryMilitiaDE Militia Ā· Manatarms aoe2DE Man-at-Arms Ā· Longswordsman aoe2DE Long Swordsman Ā· Twohanded aoe2DE Two-Handed Swordsman Ā· Champion aoe2DE Champion
Spearman aoe2DE Spearman Ā· Aoe2-infantry-2-pikeman Pikeman Ā· Halberdier aoe2DE Halberdier
Eaglescout aoe2DE Eagle Scout Ā· Eaglewarrior aoe2DE Eagle Warrior Ā· EliteEaglewarrior aoe2DE Elite Eagle Warrior
ArcherArcher aoe2DE Archer Ā· Crossbowman aoe2DE Crossbowman Ā· Arbalester aoe2DE Arbalester
Skirmisher aoe2DE Skirmisher Ā· Elite skirmisher aoe2DE Elite Skirmisher
Hand cannoneer aoe2DE Hand Cannoneer
Cavalryarcher aoe2DE Cavalry Archer Ā· Heavycavalryarcher aoe2de Heavy Cavalry Archer
Aoe2de DOI elephant archer icon Elephant Archer Ā· ElephantArcherIcon-DE Elite Elephant Archer
CavalryScoutcavalry aoe2DE Scout Cavalry Ā· Lightcavalry aoe2DE Light Cavalry Ā· Hussar aoe2DE Hussar
Knight aoe2DE Knight Ā· Cavalier aoe2DE Cavalier Ā· Paladin aoe2DE Paladin
Camelrider aoe2DE Camel Rider Ā· Aoe2 heavycamelriderDE Heavy Camel Rider
Battle elephant aoe2DE Battle Elephant Ā· Elite battle elephant aoe2DE Elite Battle Elephant
Steppelancericon Steppe Lancer Ā· Elitesteppelancericon Elite Steppe Lancer
Xolotlicon Xolotl Warrior
AoE2DE Armored Elephant icon Armored Elephant Ā· AoE2DE Siege Elephant icon Siege Elephant
SiegeBattering ram aoe2DE Battering Ram Ā· Capped ram aoe2DE Capped Ram Ā· Siege ram aoe2DE Siege Ram
Mangonel aoe2DE Mangonel Ā· Onager aoe2DE Onager Ā· Siege onager aoe2DE Siege Onager
Scorpion aoe2DE Scorpion Ā· Heavyscorpion aoe2DE Heavy Scorpion
Bombard cannon aoe2DE Bombard Cannon
Trebuchet aoe2DE Trebuchet
Petard aoe2DE Petard
Siegetower aoe2DE Siege Tower
War shipTransportship aoe2DE Transport Ship Ā· Galley aoe2DE Galley Ā· War galley aoe2DE War Galley Ā· Galleon aoe2DE Galleon
Fire galley aoe2DE Fire Galley Ā· Fireship aoe2DE Fire Ship Ā· Fastfireship aoe2DE Fast Fire Ship
Demoraft aoe2DE Demolition Raft Ā· Demoship aoe2DE Demolition Ship Ā· Heavydemoship aoe2de Heavy Demolition Ship
Cannon galleon aoe2DE Cannon Galleon Ā· Elite cannon galleon aoe2de Elite Cannon Galleon
AoE2 Dromon Dromon
Unique
ReligiousMissionaryIcon-DE Missionary Ā· AoE2 WarriorPriest Warrior Priest
InfantryBerserkIcon-DE Berserk Ā· Aoe2de Chakram Chakram Thrower Ā· CondottieroIcon-DE Condottiero Ā· Aoe2-icon-flemish-militia Flemish Militia Ā· GbetoIcon-DE Gbeto Ā· Aoe2de Ghulam Ghulam Ā· HuskarlIcon-DE Huskarl Ā· JaguarWarriorIcon-DE Jaguar Warrior Ā· KamayukIcon-DE Kamayuk Ā· Karambitwarrioricon-DE Karambit Warrior Ā· AoE2 DE Legionary new icon Legionary Ā· Aoe2-icon--obuch Obuch Ā· SamuraiIcon-DE Samurai Ā· Aoe2-icon-serjeant Serjeant Ā· Shotelwarrioricon-DE Shotel Warrior Ā· TeutonicKnightIcon-DE Teutonic Knight Ā· ThrowingAxemanIcon-DE Throwing Axeman Ā· Aoe2de Urumi Urumi Swordsman Ā· AoE2 WarriorPriest Warrior Priest Ā· WoadRaiderIcon-DE Woad Raider
ArcherArambaiicon-DE Arambai Ā· CamelArcherIcon-DE Camel Archer Ā· ChukoNuIcon-DE Chu Ko Nu Ā· AoE2 CompositeBowman Composite Bowman Ā· ConquistadorIcon-DE Conquistador Ā· GenitourIcon-DE Genitour Ā· GenoeseCrossbowmanIcon-DE Genoese Crossbowman Ā· Imperialskirmishericon-DE Imperial Skirmisher Ā· JanissaryIcon-DE Janissary Ā· Kipchakicon Kipchak Ā· LongbowmanIcon-DE Longbowman Ā· MangudaiIcon-DE Mangudai Ā· PlumedArcherIcon-DE Plumed Archer Ā· Aoe2de ratha ranged Ranged Ratha Ā· Rattanarchericon-DE Rattan Archer Ā· SlingerIcon-DE Slinger Ā· WarWagonIcon-DE War Wagon
CavalryBallistaelephanticon-DE Ballista Elephant Ā· BoyarIcon-DE Boyar Ā· Aoe2de camel scout Camel Scout Ā· CataphractIcon-DE Cataphract Ā· Aoe2de roman unique centurion icon Centurion Ā· Aoe2-icon-coustillier Coustillier Ā· Flaming camel icon Flaming Camel Ā· ImperialCamelRiderIcon-DE Imperial Camel Rider Ā· Keshikicon Keshik Ā· Konnikicon Konnik Ā· Leitisicon Leitis Ā· MagyarHuszarIcon-DE Magyar Huszar Ā· MamelukeIcon-DE Mameluke Ā· AoE2 Monaspa Monaspa Ā· Aoe2de ratha melee Melee Ratha Ā· AoE2 Savar Savar Ā· Aoe2de shrivamsha rider Shrivamsha Rider Ā· TarkanIcon-DE Tarkan Ā· WarElephantIcon-DE War Elephant Ā· Aoe2-icon-winged-hussar Winged Hussar
SiegeAoe2-icon--houfnice Houfnice Ā· Aoe2-icon-hussite-wagon Hussite Wagon Ā· OrganGunIcon-DE Organ Gun
War shipCaravelIcon-DE Caravel Ā· LongboatIcon-DE Longboat Ā· Aoe2de Thirisadai Thirisadai Ā· TurtleShipIcon-DE Turtle Ship
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