 |
This article is about the building in Age of Empires II. For the building in other games of the series, see Dock. |
| “ | Used to build and upgrade ships, deposit food from Fishing Ships, and trade with other players by sea. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II description | ||
The Dock is an economic and military building in Age of Empires II. It builds and improves ships, can be used as a trading point when trading with Trade Cogs and as a drop site for fishermen and Oyster gatherers.
Tactics and placement[]
Several units can be created or upgraded only in the second page of the Dock, which is accessed by the red arrow in the build panel of the Dock. The Dock is the only building in the game with two pages.
Docks serve for both economy and naval warfare as they produce all kinds of vessels while also being a drop site for the Fishing Ships, Fishermen and Trade Cogs. They are the only building that can produce resource-gathering units besides the Town Center, which is important early in the Dark and Feudal Ages where the player can only have one Town Center and Villager production is bottlenecked.
As fishermen collecting from Shore Fish are one of the fastest sources of food, it is very beneficial to build a Dock right next to Shore Fish. If Antiquity mode is enabled, Oysters can spawn on the shore, which can be gathered by Villagers or Fishing Ships and dropped off at the Docks. This makes it especially important to place Docks near Oysters.
When playing on maps like Archipelago and Islands it is absolutely necessary to build Docks and give them an extensive use since most of the action will occur on the seas. It is recommended to build at least one (preferably two) Docks in the Dark Age already in order to boost the economy with the production of Fishing Ships.
On maps like Coastal, Baltic, and Continental with important water bodies but where the settlements aren't separated by water, the use of Docks can make a huge difference in many situations while still be important for boosting economy early in the game, but are not always necessary. On these maps the naval units are mostly used to support the land army and for dealing with enemy buildings near the shoreline.
On maps like Rivers, Highland, or others that feature rivers and/or lakes, Docks become part of the defensive structures as the rivers and lakes represent a barrier for land troops, and in this case using the naval units becomes more helpful to aid fortifications near the shoreline and the shallows which in this kind of maps are the only narrow points usable for land troops in order to cross rivers.
Often it is useful to place towers and Castles near the Docks as these buildings will effectively protect the Docks from enemy ships. Placing the Docks near Shore Fish or Box Turtles is beneficial, since after building is finished, the builder can collect food from the shore fish immediately. It is also recommended to place the Dock in bays or gulfs, as this makes it more difficult for enemy ships to reach the Dock.
Docks may only be built in shallow water or on shallows, next to the coast.
Trade[]
When establishing a water trade route, Trade Cogs will leave for any Dock (ally, neutral, or enemy) and will return with gold. They will always travel to a particular Dock (closest to 100 tiles distance), friend or foe alike. The amount of gold they return depends on the length of the trade route. In team games on maps like Archipelago or Islands the naval trade routes are vital. So it is important to know which Docks are better defended from enemy ships in order to protect the Trade Cogs and establish secure and continuous trade routes.
Antiquity Mode[]
With the release of Chronicles: Battle for Greece, Antiquity Mode is added as a lobby setting. This mode allows wood trading via Trade Cogs. An option to select the ratio of wood and gold is also enabled. There are three options:
Trade Cogs return 25% wood, 75% gold from trading- Trade Cogs return 50% wood, 50% gold from trading
- Trade Cogs return 75% wood, 25% gold from trading
Trainable units and technologies[]
- Rusty red: Generic buildings
- Aqua blue: Generic units
- Forest green: Technologies
- Deep violet: Unique units
- Deep cornflower blue: Regional units
- Reddish-orange: Regional buildings
- Crimson pink: Unique buildings
Clicking on the icon links to the corresponding page.
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||
 |
 |
 |
||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||
 |
 |
 |
 | |||||
 |
 Requires  War Galley |
 |
  Chineseonly | |||||
 |
 Requires War Galley |
 |
 | |||||
  Vikings only |
 |
|||||||
  Koreans only |
 |
|||||||
  Portugueseonly |
 |
|||||||
  Dravidiansonly |
||||||||
 Requires  Chemistry |
 |
Availability grid[]
The following table shows the availability of the units and technologies for every civilization. Unique units and units and technologies that are available to all civilizations are not shown in the table.
| = Available | |
| = Unavailable |
Taking into account that the Dromon, Lou Chuan and (Elite) Cannon Galleon are mutually exclusive, the Berbers, Byzantines, Chinese, Dravidians, and Spanish have a complete Dock. Of these, only the Berbers have access to Siege Engineers, meaning they are the only civilization that can fully upgrade every ship.
Further statistics[]
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
 Hit points
|
 Masonry (+10%) Architecture (+10%)
|
| Armor | Masonry (+1/+1, +3 building armor) Architecture (+1/+1, +3 building armor)
|
| Conversion resistance |  Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max) Heresy (die upon getting converted)
|
| Line of Sight |  Town Watch (+4) Town Patrol (+4)
|
| Creation speed |  Shipwright (+54%)
|
| Build speed |  Treadmill Crane (+20%)
|
| Civilization bonuses | |
|---|---|
| Hit points
|
 Byzantines (+10%/+20%/+30%/+40% in Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age) Persians (+100%)
|
| Damage resistance |  Georgians (-20% {-40% instead of -25%} when on higher elevation)
|
| Resource cost |  Malians (-15%)
|
| Creation speed |  Aztecs (+11%, military units only)
|
| Build speed |  Romans (+5%) Spanish (+30%)
|
 Work rate
|
Persians (+5%/+10%/+15%/+20% in Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age)
|
| Other |  Gurjaras (can garrison Fishing Ships) Romans (+5% repair speed)
|
| Team bonuses | |
|---|---|
| Conversion resistance |  Teutons (+3 min, +1 max cycles)
|
| Line of Sight |  Malay (+6)
|
| Resource cost | Vikings (-15%)
|
| Other | Dravidians (+5 population) Georgians (repairing costs -25%)
|
Civilization bonuses[]
- Burgundians: Gillnets is available in the Feudal Age and costs -33% food.
- Burmese: Researching Devotion and Faith is 50% cheaper.
- Byzantines: Town Watch and Town Patrol are free.
- Chinese: Dock technologies and technologies that benefit Docks are 5%/10%/15% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
- Italians: Dock technologies, Masonry, Architecture, and Treadmill Crane are 33% cheaper. Fishing Ships cost -15% wood. Cannon Galleons are 20% cheaper.
- Jurchens: Researching Masonry, Architecture, and Treadmill Crane costs -75% wood and is 100% faster.
- Persians: Town Watch and Town Patrol are researched 10%/15%/20% faster in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
- Portuguese: All ships cost -20% gold.
- Spanish: Researching Dock technologies and technologies that benefit Docks provides 20 gold each.
- Turks: Researching Elite Cannon Galleon is 50% cheaper.
- Vietnamese: Researching Gillnets is 100% faster and costs no wood.
- Vikings: Warships are 15%/15%/20% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
- Wu: Careening and Dry Dock are available one Age earlier; -75% cost and research time. Docks provide 65 food when completed.
Team bonuses[]
- Lithuanians: Researching Devotion, Faith, and Heresy is 20% faster.
- Malians: Researching Masonry, Architecture, and Treadmill Crane is 80% faster.
- Portuguese: Dock technologies and technologies that benefit Docks are researched 25% faster.
Changelog[]
The Age of Kings[]
- Vikings: Warships are 20% cheaper. Team bonus: Docks are 25% cheaper.
The Conquerors[]
- Heresy introduced.
The Forgotten[]
- Trade Cogs generate +10% gold.
- Gillnets introduced.
- Italians: Cannon Galleons are 15% cheaper.
- Vikings: Warships are now 10%/15%/20% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age. Team bonus: Docks are now 15% cheaper.
The African Kingdoms[]
- Trade Cogs generate +30% gold.
- Fire Galley introduced.
- Demolition Raft introduced.
- Italians: With patch 4.8, Fishing Ships and Cannon Galleons are now 33% and 20% cheaper, respectively.
Rise of the Rajas[]
- Italians: With patch 5.5, Fishing Ships are now 20% cheaper.
- Italians: With patch 5.8, Fishing Ships are now 15% cheaper.
- Malay: Initially, Fishing Ships are 33% cheaper. With patch 5.3, that bonus is removed.
- Vikings: Warships are now 15%/15%/20% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
Definitive Edition[]
- Fish Traps can be queued.
- Docks now have the automatic reseed button for Fish Traps.
- Persians: Docks work 5% faster in the Dark Age. With update 36906, workrate in the Dark Age is restored to normal.
- With update 36906, Docks become dropsites for Fishermen.
The Mountain Royals[]
- Persians: Docks work 5% faster in the Dark Age again.
- With update 99311, Devotion was introduced.
Chronicles: Battle for Greece[]
- Antiquity Mode checkbox: If this is enabled, wood trading is available at Docks.
History[]
| “ | The emergence of deep-draft merchant ships led to the construction of docks where these ships could tie up and unload. Ships of this new design could not be dragged ashore easily for unloading. Associated with docks were the shipyards where ships were built. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings manual | ||
Trivia[]
- Internally, the Dock has an unused resource referred to as "Trade Goods" that is set to 600. This has no gameplay implication, and is likely a leftover from development before the Trade Workshop was scrapped.
- Visually, the Central European and Western European Docks have identical layouts, essentially being palette swaps of each other, while the Mediterranean and South Asian Docks have very similar layouts.
- In the original game, the Dock was one of only two buildings, along with the Market, which could be selected and its information box viewed by the player, even when no longer in the player's Line of Sight. This was in order to provide information about its trade value.
Gallery[]
