| “ | Anti-building siege warship with long range, but cannot attack enemies at close range | ” |
| —Age of Empires II description | ||
The Elite Cannon Galleon is a ship in Age of Empires II that can be trained at the Dock in the Imperial Age. As an upgrade of the Cannon Galleon, it has an even longer range and more attack, but remains weak against other ships. It excels at destroying immobile targets on land.
Availability chart[]
 Available
|
 Unavailable
|
|---|---|
- x means that the civilizations gets fully upgradeable Elite Cannon Galleons. The technologies being considered here are Dry Dock, Shipwright, and Siege Engineers.
- + means that the civilization gets some civilization or team bonus or a unique technology that benefits the combat strength of the Elite Cannon Galleon.
- ✝ means that the civilization had access to Elite Cannon Galleons in the past, but does not currently.
Tactics[]
Elite Cannon Galleons have an exceptionally long range and deal bonus damage against buildings. They can outrange Castles and Bombard Towers, so they are almost the sea-going equivalent to Bombard Cannons, only being slightly faster. They deal huge damage, but their slow rate of fire and very slow projectile speed makes it weak and ineffective against Galleons and other ships, particularly Fire Ships.
Compared to its predecessor, the Elite Cannon Galleon has +30 hit points, +10 attack, +75 anti-building attack, +2 pierce armor, +2 range, and +0.05 blast radius.
Elite Cannon Galleons should be always deployed with an escort, most likely Fire Ships and Galleons. As they outrange Towers and Castles, Elite Cannon Galleons must almost always be used for dealing with such structures that deal bonus damage against ships.
Generally speaking, Elite Cannon Galleons should only be used to clear the shoreline off enemy buildings, and not be put against enemy ships.
Spanish Elite Cannon Galleons are significantly better than the ones of all other civilizations, because their projectiles are much faster (7 tiles/second instead of 3 tiles/s) and hit moving targets with Ballistics-like behavior (the Ballistics research is not required). They also fire 18% faster since update 42848.
Further statistics[]
| Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Buildings |
| Weak vs. | Ships, Bombard Cannons, Monks |
| Upgrades | |
| Attack |  Siege Engineers (+20% attack against buildings)
|
| Range | Siege Engineers (+1) Artillery (+2, Turks only)
|
| Accuracy | Arquebus (hit moving targets, Portuguese only)
|
| Armor |  Careening (+0/+1) Carrack (+1/+1, Portuguese only)
|
| Speed |  Dry Dock (+15%) Wagenburg Tactics (+15%, Bohemians only)
|
| Conversion defense |  Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max) Heresy (die upon getting converted)
|
| Creation speed |  Shipwright (+54%)
|
| Train cost | Shipwright (-20% wood)
|
Civilization bonuses[]
Berbers: Elite Cannon Galleons move 10% faster.- Burgundians: Elite Cannon Galleons have +25% attack.
- Burmese: Researching Devotion and Faith is 50% cheaper.
- Hindustanis: Elite Cannon Galleons have +1/+1 armor.
- Italians: Elite Cannon Galleons are 20% cheaper. Researching Chemistry, Careening, Dry Dock, and Shipwright is 33% cheaper.
- Koreans: Elite Cannon Galleons cost -20% wood.
- Persians: Elite Cannon Galleons are created 20% faster. Careening is researched 15%/20% faster in the Castle/Imperial Age. Dry Dock is researched 20% faster.
- Portuguese: Elite Cannon Galleons have +10% hit points and cost -20% gold.
- Spanish: Elite Cannon Galleons fire 18% faster, and have Ballistics-like accuracy and faster missiles. Researching technologies that benefit Elite Cannon Galleons provides 20 gold each.
- Tatars: Elite Cannon Galleons deal +20% damage (+50% instead of +25%) from cliffs and elevations.
- Turks: Elite Cannon Galleons have +25% hit points.
- Vikings: Elite Cannon Galleons are 20% cheaper.
Team bonuses[]
- Lithuanians: Researching Heresy, Devotion, and Faith is 20% faster.
- Portuguese: Upgrades that benefit Elite Cannon Galleons are researched 25% faster.
- Turks: Elite Cannon Galleons are created 25% faster.
- Teutons: Elite Cannon Galleons are more resistant to conversion.
Changelog[]
The Age of Kings[]
- Elite Cannon Galleons have an accuracy of 50% and do not benefit from Siege Engineers.
- Turks: Elite Cannon Galleons have 150 HP. Due to a bug, Elite Cannon Galleons do not benefit from the civilization bonus that gives all other gunpowder units +50% hit points.
The Conquerors[]
- With patch 1.0b, Shipwright also decreases train time by 35%.
- Elite Cannon Galleons gain +40 attack vs siege weapons, and +15 attack vs infantry, archers and cavalry each.
- Heresy introduced.
- Spanish: Elite Cannon Galleon's projectiles are affected by the technology Ballistics and are 4× faster.
- Turks: Artillery introduced. Elite Cannon Galleons benefit from the civilization bonus and have +25% HP (the bonus was reduced).
- Koreans: Cannot build Elite Cannon Galleons.
The Forgotten[]
- Italians: Elite Cannon Galleons are 15% cheaper.
- Mongols: Elite Cannon Galleon removed from the technology tree.
- Spanish:
- Elite Cannon Galleons fire with Ballistics-like accuracy without need for the technology itself (previously they did need the technology)
- Elite Cannon Galleons projectile speed buff decreased (4x → ~3.6x).
The African Kingdoms[]
- Italians: With patch 4.8, Elite Cannon Galleons are 20% cheaper.
- Portuguese: Elite Cannon Galleons cost -15% gold.
Definitive Edition[]
- Portuguese:
- With update 39284, Elite Cannon Galleons cost -20% gold.
- With update 42848, technologies are researched 30% faster.
Lords of the West[]
- Koreans: With update 44725, Elite Cannon Galleon added to the technology tree.
Dawn of the Dukes[]
- With update 54480, Elite Cannon Galleons' projectile speed is increased (1.95 → 3).
Dynasties of India[]
- With update 61321, Elite Cannon Galleons are resistant to armor-ignoring attacks similarly to buildings.
- With update 81058:
Return of Rome[]
- Elite Cannon Galleons benefit from Siege Engineers.
- Byzantines: Elite Cannon Galleon removed from the technology tree.
History[]
| “ | Primitive cannon were first mounted on ships in the fourteenth century. These were mounted in the stern or bow for firing forward or aft. Small weapons were mounted on the rails for use against enemy crews in close action. The first ship built specifically for carrying cannon appeared in 1406. Effectively mounting a large number of cannons on a ship took many years to work out. It required new designs to compensate for the enormous weight of the guns high on the ship's sides. Tackle had to be designed to allow the guns to be fired and reloaded safely. Safe procedures were also needed for storing and accessing powder. Useful cannon galleons did not appear until late in the Middle Ages. | ” |
Trivia[]
- If an Elite Cannon Galleon is created in the Scenario Editor for a player that is not in the Post-Imperial Age, it will be able to do actions like follow or protect other units, which it can't do when created during a game.
- The Elite Cannon Galleon is the naval unit with the longest base range (15), and has the second longest base range of all units, just behind the Trebuchet. The Turkish Elite Cannon Galleon gets a +2 range bonus from their unique technology, making it the unit with the second longest range, tied at 17 with any regular Trebuchet with Siege Engineers researched, a value that is only beaten by the Tatar Trebuchet with Timurid Siegecraft researched (19 range).
- Before the Definitive Edition, Cannon Galleons and Elite Cannon Galleons shared the same icon and model. They were the only non-unique units to do so. However, in the Definitive Edition, Elite Cannon Galleons have a new unique model and icon.
- Said shared model (retained by the unupgraded Cannon Galleon in the Definitive Edition) is armed with a Late Medieval Bombard Cannon that is lashed to the ship, implying that it was put on a ship not designed to carry cannons (as referenced in the History section). In contrast, the Elite Cannon Galleon is armed with a more advanced bronze Culverin from the 16th century, with trunnions, and the ship's bow has a figurehead.
- The in-game description of the Elite Cannon Galleon upgrade mentions that it has an extra +100 anti-building bonus over the Cannon Galleon. In reality, it only has an extra +75 anti-building bonus.
- Before the introduction of the Burgundians, none of the Western European civilizations have access to it in the Definitive Edition .
Gallery[]
A group of Elite Cannon Galleons
Cannon Galleon and Elite Cannon Galleon (right)
All Elite Cannon Galleons in The Age of Kings and The Conquerors
All Elite Cannon Galleons introduced in the HD Edition expansions
Original render
Elite Cannon Galleons can destroy enemy fortifications from a safe distance.
Elite Cannon Galleons in the Definitive Edition
Video[]
ELITE CANNON GALLEON vs EVERY BATTLE SHIP (Total Resources) - AoE II- DE
