Caravel (Age of Empires III)

This article is about the unit in Age of Empires III. For the similar unit in Age of Empires II, see Caravel (Age of Empires II).

Caravel
Information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Ship War ship Fishing boat
Civilization(s)	Europeans (except the Maltese and Ottomans) Indians Ethiopians (with the Portuguese Alliance)
Age	Commerce Age
Training
Trained at	Dock (Europeans and Indians) Port (Ethiopians)
Cost	300 Wood 100 Coin
Train time	40 seconds
Train limit	5 2 (Ethiopians)
Statistics
Hit points	800
Resistance	50% Ranged
Speed	8.5
Line of Sight	26
Garrison	50
Ability	Transport land units Gather from fishes and whales
Special ability	Broadside Attack
Train XP	40
Kill XP	40
Ranged attack
Damage	75 Siege
Area of Effect	1
Range	20
Rate of Fire	2.0
Bonus damage	0.5× vs. Artillery

“	Caravel. Good at exploring, fishing or transport.	”
—In-game description

The Caravel is a military ship in Age of Empires III that can be trained at the Dock once the Commerce Age is reached. It can transport land units and gather from fishes and whales.

Caravels are available to European civilizations (except the Ottomans, who have Galleys instead and Maltese which have Order Galleys), Indians, and Ethiopians (through the Portuguese Alliance Age-up).

Overview

The Caravel is one of the first military ships available in the game other than the Galleon or Fluyt. Although it is one of the weakest warships in the game in terms of survivability, it is fast, versatile, relatively cheap and yet has surprisingly heavy firepower and high DPS for its cost and small size. It costs only 300 wood, 100 coin and can be built in a short amount of time. The Caravel is very useful at exploring uncharted waters because it is not big as other large ships, therefore being more agile and maneuverable. Moreover, it can transport and ferry troops from within across bodies of water, able to carry up to 50 units. It can also be used to clear out weak coastal enemy positions at beaches as well as harassing enemy Fishing Boats. However, it is most effective combined with the heavier Galleons and Frigates to take the heat while the Caravels exploit their high DPS. Moreover, care should be taken when near Outposts and Town Centers that can easily destroy one in just a few shots. The Caravel is also one of the only warships that can harvest from fish and Whales just like Fishing Boats.

Gathering rates

Resource	Source	Gathering rate
		per second	per minute
Food	Fish	0.67	40.2
Coin	Whale	0.5	30

Caravels are one of the easier ships to repair at a Dock due to their low hit points, this means a player can withdraw a damaged vessel and have it back in the fight in a relatively short period of time.

The Spanish may want to use Galleons and Privateers instead, due to the "Spanish Galleons" and "TEAM Inquisition" cards.

Most civilizations can ship Privateers during the Commerce Age. Though they lack a Caravel's speed and ability to gather resources, they are tougher and possess greater Line of Sight than most ships in that Age.

The Admiral of the Ocean Sea is a politician that gives a Caravel to the player when picking him for aging up to the Fortress Age (except for the Ottomans and Maltese, which receive Galleys or Order Galleys, respectively).

Special abilities

• Broadside Attack: Fires a volley of cannon shots at an enemy within attack range, with each shot doing 50×2 siege damage in an Area of Effect of 1 with a ×2.0 multiplier against ships. 60 seconds cooldown.
• Long-range Bombardment Attack (available to Finland after sending the "Gunboats" Home City Card): Fires a single mortar shell to the target from a range of 40, which deals 100 siege damage in an Area of Effect of 4, with a ×6.0 multiplier against buildings, ×0.5 multiplier against artillery, and ×0.2 multiplier against villagers. Can only target buildings. 90 seconds cooldown.

Civilization differences

• Asian civilizations which can ally with the Portuguese at the Consulate will be able to research the Exploration Fleet technology, which ships one Caravel with three Petards.
• The Ethiopians can train up to two Caravels for 400 influence at Docks when Portuguese Alliance is chosen, which automatically receive the Percussion Lock technology in the Industrial Age, and get +30% hit points and attack in the Imperial Age.

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Ships, infantry close to shore
Weak vs.	Artillery especially Culverins, defensive structures
Improvements
Gather rate	Long Lines (+30%) Gill Nets (+15%) Huron Fish Wedding (+15%) Fasting (+10%) Aztec Chinampa (+5%) Klamath Work Ethos (+5%) Collective Economy (+50% from whales; Asians only) Excessive Taxation (+50% from whales; Europeans only) Large Scale Farming (+35% from whales; Ethiopians only) Navajo Craftsmanship (+20% from whales) Somali Coinage (+10% from whales)
Hit points	Armor Plating (+50%) Byzantine Legacy (+15%) Tar Kilns (+10%)
Attack	Carronade (+25%) Percussion Lock (+50% Broadside Attack damage) Somali Ajuran Engineers (+20% multiplier vs. Frontier fortification)
Line of Sight	Town Watch (+3)
Cost	Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost) Golden Liberty (-5% coin cost)
Train time	Immigrants (-10%) Strangers' Quarters (-10%; Ethiopians only)
Other	Exploration Fleet (delivers 1 Caravel with 3 Petards in it; Indians and Japanese only) Jagiellonian Legacy (delivers 1 Caravel if The Admiral of the Ocean Sea was chosen, except the Maltese and Ottomans) Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost) Öresund Customs (auto gather 0.2 coin)
Penalties	High Crusade (-5% hit points; Knights of St. John only)

Home City Cards

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Caravel

Some cards are highlighted with:
Green	TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team
Purple	Shipment that can be sent an INFINITE number of times
Red	Shipment that can be sent twice
Blue	Shipment that arrives fast (5 seconds)

Shared

Card	Description	Age
Advanced Dock	Dock damage +100%, heal work rate for ships +85%; war ship train time -33%
Fish Market	Fishing boat gather work rate for fish +25%, for whale +20%
Rendering Plant	Fishing boat gather work rate for fish +30%, for whale +25%
Whale Oil	Fishing boat gather work rate for whale +30%
1 Caravel	Delivers 1 Caravel
2 Caravels	Delivers 2 Caravels
3 Caravels	Delivers 3 Caravels
Improved Warships	War ship hit points and damage +25%
TEAM Improved Warships	War ship hit points and damage +10%
European Cannons	War ship damage +15%, Line of Sight and ranged attack range +2
Admiralty	Dock war ship technology cost and research time -60%

• "Advanced Docks" is available to Europeans and the Indians.
• "Fish Market" is not available to the Japanese and Portuguese.
• "Whale Oil" is available to the Japanese, Portuguese, and Swedes.
• "1 Caravels" and "2 Caravels" are available to Europeans (except the Maltese and Ottomans) and Indians.
• "3 Caravels" is available to the Indians and Portuguese.
• "Improved Warships" is available to Europeans (except the Maltese), Ethiopians, Indians, and Japanese.
• "TEAM Improved Warships" is available to the Chinese and Maltese.
• "European Cannons" is available to Asians and Ethiopians.
• "Admiralty" is available to Europeans, Federal Americans, and Indians.

British

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Whale Oil	Fishing boat gather work rate for whale +15%

Ethiopians

Card	Description	Age
Ignatian Spirituality	Unit (except herded animals) hit points +5%, regeneration rate +1.0 (even in combat)
Feudal Armies	Unit train time -15%; hero respawn time -15%
Advanced Port	Port damage and heal work rate for ships +100%; war ship train time -33%
Roof of Africa	Villager and fishing boat gather work rate for food sources +25%
Fazogli Gold	Villager and fishing boat gather work rate for coin sources +20%; Abun gather work rate for Mountain Monastery +20%; Mountain Monastery auto gather work rate +20%; Hacienda auto gather work rate for coin +20%
Land of the Sea	The Ras increases the attack of war ships he is garrisoned in by +35% (stacks if multiple Rases are garrisoned in one ship)

Europeans

Card	Description	Age
Economic Theory	Villager and fishing boat gather work rate for all resources +10%
Naval Gunners	War ship damage +20%
Gunboats	Grants Imperial Monitors; Caravels get the Long-range bombardment ability
Lantakas	Artillery, building, and ship damage +15%
Rhode Island Militia	Delivers 10 State Militia and 5 Militiamen; Caravels, Galleons/Fluyts, Frigates, and Ironclads get +10% ranged attack damage per garrisoned State Militia and/or Militiaman (up to +60%); fully replaces Crossbowmen/Longbowmen, Pikemen, and Halberdiers with State Militia at Barracks, Forts, and on the map; grants Veteran State Militia; enables Guard State Militia

• "Economic Theory" is not available to the British, Dutch, Spanish, and Swedes.
• "Naval Gunners" is available for the British, French, Italians, Russians, and Swedes.
• "Gunboats" is available to the Russians and Swedes upon revolting to Finland.
• "Lantakas" is available to the Dutch and Portuguese upon revolting to Indonesia.
• "Rhode Island Militia" is available to the British, Dutch, French, Italians, and Swedes upon revolting to the United States.

Germans

Card	Description	Age
Offshore Support	War ship damage +15%, Line of Sight and ranged attack range +2, +2 Uhlans

Indians

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics	Unit hit points and damage +5%
Foreign Trading Companies	Adds 0.75 to export trickle rate; banner army export cost -15%; Indian unit cost +2.5% (Hindu Villager, Fishing Boat, and Sacred Cow cost +5% instead), +1 Hindu Villager
Bombay Marine	Ship train time -30%, train bounty +30%; +1 Hindu Villager

Japanese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Sengoku	Unit upgrades cost -20%
TEAM Chonindo	Villager and fishing boat gather work rate for all resources (except hunts) +8%; Abun gather work rate for Mountain Monastery +8%; Hacienda auto gather work rate +8%
Fish Market	Fishing boat gather work rate for fish +25%, for whale +20%
Peacetime Fishing	War ship gather work rate for fish and whale +125%

Maltese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Knights of the Round Table	Delivers 1 Hospitaller for each Town Center and Command Post present on the map; unit hit points +2%

Mexicans

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Mariachi	For the next 30 seconds, military building training and research work rate +400%, unit speed +10%
TEAM Rendering Plant	Fishing boat gather work rate for fish and whale +10%

Portuguese

Card	Description	Age
Navigation School	War ship cost and train time -20%
TEAM Fish Market	Fishing boat gather work rate for fish and whale +10%
Carracks	Caravel hit points +15%
Naval Infantry	Enables Caravels to train Crossbowmen, Ordinance Riflemen (if available), Pikemen, and Halberdiers; Monitors and Ironclads to train Musketeers, Cassadores, and Grenadiers (if available); Frigates to train all Barracks units; Battleships to train all Barracks units and Grenadiers; Caravels, Frigates, Monitors, Ironclads, and Battleships now tagged as recruiting ships

Russians

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Cold Water Port	War ship cost -15%

Spanish

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Spanish Inquisition	Delivers 1 Inquisitor; military and economic unit Line of Sight +10
Armada	War ship hit points +20%, Line of Sight +2; enables Caravels to train Barracks units; Frigates to train Stable and Artillery Foundry units; Monitors to train Mortars; Battleships to train Barracks, Stable, and Artillery Foundry units

Trivia

• The Caravel uses a low-pitch version of the voice clips of the Musketeer (depending on their language).
• The model for the Caravel is actually based on a carrack. The real caravel doesn't have a forecastle, and the caravel's sails are triangular lateen sails.
• The Spanish Caravel may have the random names of Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, making reference to the Christopher Columbus's ships of his first voyage to the Americas.

History

“

Caravels were developed by Portuguese shipwrights in the fourteenth century, and were initially used to explore the coast of Africa. They had two masts with square sails and one forward triangular, or lateen, sail. They were relatively small ships and wide for their length, giving them a shallow draft and the ability to sail safely in shallow waters. These two factors made them extremely popular with explorers until the Spanish Galleon took over about 200 years later. Approximate weight: 80 tons. Length: 50 feet.

”

Gallery

A stationary Caravel

A Caravel in a heated debate over the salvage rights on a nearby wreck

A Caravel in motion

A stationary Caravel in the Definitive Edition

A painting of a square-rigged caravel

Caravel image from the Compendium section

See also

• Galley – Ottoman counterpart
• War Junk – Chinese counterpart
• Fune – Japanese counterpart
• Sloop – Federal American counterpart
• Battle Canoe – African counterpart
• Order Galley – Maltese counterpart