“ | A siege ship with a slow but powerful catapult attack. Can fire at a location instead of a particular unit. Better against immobile targets. | ” |
—In-game description in the Definitive Edition |
The Catapult Trireme is a large naval unit in Age of Empires which shoots stone projectiles similar to Catapults.
Availability chart[]
Available | Unavailable |
---|---|
- - means that the civilization does not get Alchemy or Engineering, and hence cannot fully upgrade their Catapult Triremes.
- + indicates that the civilization has at least one civilization bonus that benefits the combat strength of their Catapult Triremes.
Gameplay[]
Once the Scout Ship line has been upgraded to its final iteration, the Trireme, the Catapult Trireme technology becomes available at the Dock. Despite the name, it is not an upgrade to the Trireme, but a separate unit.
The Catapult Trireme fires large rocks and boulders toward enemy targets every 5.3 seconds. Like all stone-throwing siege weapons, they deal bonus damage against buildings. After accounting for buildings' 80% resistance to all attacks, the final damage figure is 35 against buildings, and 17 against towers.
It fires far slower than the Trireme, but the high damage per projectile means that they deal similar amounts of raw damage over time. The Catapult Trireme pulls ahead with its special traits: it is far more powerful against buildings, and its projectiles' blast radius can damage multiple units per shot. Additionally, it completely ignores all armor, melee or piercing, making it particularly effective for bombarding land-based elite units if the enemy is unable to dodge the projectiles (this is made easier by researching Ballistics). However, the Catapult Trireme is relatively fragile for a warship, with fewer hit points than a War Galley, so it benefits from being escorted by a screen of more durable Triremes.
Although the Catapult Trireme fundamentally has high range, in practice it rarely has more reach than Guard Towers or Stone Throwers, and sometimes not even Triremes. This is because, being a siege engine, it doesn't benefit from the arrow upgrades of the Market's woodworking technologies, and can only increase its range with Engineering's +2 bonus. All civilizations can upgrade their arrow range by +2, nearly all can extend this to +3 (exceptions being the Macedonians, Palmyrans, Persians and Sumerians), and the Guard Towers of the Choson can reach an incredible 13 range. Meanwhile, Engineering is unavailable to the Choson, Lac Viet, Macedonians, Palmyrans, and Shang; also the Assyrians before the Definitive Edition. This table shows how the range compares, depending on upgrades:
Catapult Trireme | Stone Thrower | Guard Tower | Trireme | |
---|---|---|---|---|
(unupgraded) | 9 | 10 | 8 | 7 |
(with Engineering) | 11 | 12 | ||
(with Artisanship) | 10 | 9 | ||
(with Craftsmanship) | 11 | 10 |
Players without access to Engineering may need to use land siege engines instead to out-range enemy fortifications or military blockades. However, upgrading to the Juggernaut provides an additional unit of reach.
Like Stone Thrower-line units, Catapult Triremes can use the attack ground ability to continually bombard a tile. It is unable to demolish wood lines, which from the Definitive Edition onwards has been an ability reserved solely for the Heavy Catapult. In the original version of the game, however, Juggernauts are able to clear away trees.
Most civilizations with access to the Catapult Trireme are able to further upgrade it to the Juggernaut (the exceptions being the Lac Viet and Macedonians), which brings durability in line with the Trireme, adds an extra tile of range, and a 20% wider blast radius. In versions of the game before Return of Rome, the Juggernaut technology requires Engineering to be researched at the Government Center first.
Further statistics[]
Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
---|---|
Strong vs. | Buildings |
Weak vs. | Ships, Ballistae |
Upgrades | |
Attack | Alchemy (+1) |
Range | Engineering (+2) |
Accuracy | Ballistics (hit moving targets) |
Upgrades | Juggernaut |
Civilization bonuses[]
- Greeks: Catapult Triremes have +20% speed.
- Lac Viet: Catapult Triremes are trained 25% faster.
- Macedonians: Catapult Triremes are four times more resistant to conversion.
- Minoans: Catapult Triremes cost -30%.
- Phoenicians: Catapult Triremes fire 33% faster.
- Yamato: Catapult Triremes have +25% hit points.
Team bonuses[]
- Palmyrans: Upgrading Catapult Triremes to Juggernauts and researching technologies that benefit Catapult Triremes are 30% faster.
Changelog[]
Age of Empires[]
- Catapult Triremes have 120 hit points, cost 135 wood, 75 gold, 5 Rate of Fire, 1.35 speed, and 2.7 projectile speed.
- The Juggernaught upgrade costs 2,000 food, 900 wood and take 180 seconds.
- Catapult Triremes can be upgraded to Juggernauts only if Engineering is researched.
Definitive Edition[]
- Catapult Triremes have 135 hit points, cost 135 wood, 50 gold, 5.3 Rate of Fire, 1.45 speed, and 3.1 projectile speed.
- The Juggernaught upgrade costs 1,300 food, 700 wood and take 200 seconds.
Return of Rome[]
- Team bonuses added, Palmyrans: Technologies benefiting Catapult Triremes researched 30% faster.
- Researching Engineering is no longer required to upgrade Catapult Triremes to Juggernauts.
- Catapult Triremes have 2.573 projectile speed. With hotfix 85208, Catapult Triremes have 3.49 projectile speed.
Trivia[]
- In the 1998 version of Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome, no civilization was able to train both Catapult Triremes and Fire Galleys, even with Full Tech Tree enabled. This was changed in the Definitive Edition, and now the Greeks are able to train both units, as can any civilization in Full Tech Tree games.
- Catapult Triremes are the very first naval siege unit to appear in the Age of Empires series, and are the predecessor of the Cannon Galleon of Age of Empires II and the Monitor of Age of Empires III.
History[]
“ | The ultimate warships of antiquity were advances on the trireme that occurred after the death of Alexander the Great. These ships were first broadened so that multiple rowers could apply power to each oar. Based on limited descriptions and detailed figures from crew and rowers, it is believed that the largest ships of this period may have had catamaran hulls. The broadening of ships and decks added weight and further reduced speed and maneuverability, but increased stability. Decks supported catapult artillery and large marine contingents. Ships engaged each other primarily with missile fire and boarding. | ” |
—Age of Empires manual |
Gallery[]
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Catapult Trireme |
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War Galley |
Units in Age of Empires | |
---|---|
Civilian | Villager · Trade Cart |
Other | Priest · Slinger · Artifact |
Civilian ship | Fishing Boat · Fishing Ship Trade Boat · Merchant Ship Light Transport · Heavy Transport |
Infantry | Clubman · Axeman Short Swordsman · Broad Swordsman · Long Swordsmen · Legionary Hoplite · Phalangite · Centurion |
Archer | Bowman Improved Bowman · Composite Bowman Chariot Archer Horse Archer · Heavy Horse Archer Elephant Archer |
Cavalry | Scout Chariot · Scythe Chariot Cavalry · Heavy Cavalry · Cataphract War Elephant · Armored Elephant Camel Rider |
Siege | Stone Thrower · Catapult · Heavy Catapult Ballista · Helepolis |
War Ship | Scout Ship · War Galley · Trireme Catapult Trireme · Juggernaut Fire Galley |
Scenario Editor-only units | |
Chieftain · Donkey · Explorer · General · High Priest · Horse · Mercenary (removed) · Penguin · Pharaoh · Raft · War Chest |