| “ | A renewable source of food. Similar to a Farm, but in water. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II description | ||
The Fish Trap is an economic building in Age of Empires II that becomes available once the Feudal Age is reached. It provides 715 food. Only Fishing Ships can lay the foundation for a new Fish Trap, but can be constructed by both the Fishing Ship and Villager. However, only the Fishing Ship can collect food from Fish Traps.
Tactics and placement[]
Fish Traps may only be gathered by one Fishing Ship at a time. Fish Traps are very weak and do not hinder movements of friendly or enemy ships. An enemy Fishing Ship can take over a Fish Trap and begin harvesting it simply by right clicking it.
Unlike Farms, Fish Traps could not be reseeded at the Dock. This was changed in the Definitive Edition, where they can be reseeded and/or toggled for automatic reseed.
Fish Traps should always be placed right next to Docks in order to keep the moving distances of the Fishing Ships as short as possible, preferably zero. That maximizes their productivity. Fishing Ships always position themselves on the left side of a Fish Trap, therefore it is slightly more efficient to build Fish Traps on the right side of the Dock to minimize the moving time for the Fishing Ships.
Fish Traps and Farms are about equally productive, but Fish Traps are more cost efficient. Despite this, the Fish Trap is one of the least used of all buildings and structures. It is only used in certain situations when the player runs out of space on their island, there is no more fish around, and they need to gather food for survival in late Imperial Age. Also, Fish Trap working Fishing Ships are much harder to protect than Farmers, since they cannot be walled or flee in a Town Center for shelter. Therefore, they are sunk rather easily. Also before the Definitive Edition, they could not be queued up to be automatically reseeded, unlike Farms, which means they required more micromanagement in the late game. In the Definitive Edition, an option exists to automatically rebuild Fish Traps indefinitely.
However, two civilizations appreciate Fish Traps:
Japanese Fishing Ships have an increased work rate, which makes gathering from Fish Traps much faster than from Farms for the Japanese.- Malay Fish Traps only cost 67 wood (just 7 more than a Farm) and provide 3x food, making them approximately 4.5 times as cost effective than a generic Fish Trap.
Comparison to Farms[]
Farmers gather relatively faster from Farms than Fishing Ships gather from Fish Traps; however, up until the late Imperial Age, they are less effective cost-wise (also considering that Fishing Ships themselves cost wood). The actual gathering speed between them may vary due to traffic between gatherers and actual Farm/Fish Trap placement.
| Building | Overall food provided | Food generated per wood |
|---|---|---|
| Farm | 175 | 2.92 |
| Farm + Horse Collar | 250 | 4.17 |
| Farm + Heavy Plow | 375 | 6.25 |
| Farm + Crop Rotation | 550 | 9.17 |
| Fish Trap | 715 | 7.15 |
Further statistics[]
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
| Build speed |  Gillnets (+20%, Fishing Ships only) Treadmill Crane (+20%, Villagers only)
|
| Civilization bonuses | |
|---|---|
 Hit points
|
 Byzantines (+20%/+30%/+40% HP in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age)
|
| Resource cost |  Malay (-33%)
|
| Build speed |  Japanese (+10%/+15%/+20% in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age, Fishing Ships only) Romans (+5%, Villagers only) Spanish (+30%, Villagers only)
|
| Other | Malay (+200% food) Maya (food lasts 15% longer) Romans (+5% repair speed, Villagers only)
|
| Team bonuses | |
|---|---|
| Other |  Georgians (repairing costs -25%)
|
Civilization bonuses[]
- Burgundians: Gillnets is available in the Feudal Age and costs -33% food.
- Chinese: Gillnets is 10%/15% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.
- Italians: Gillnets and Treadmill Crane are 33% cheaper.
- Jurchens: Treadmill Crane costs -75% wood and researches 100% faster.
- Japanese: Fishing Ships gather from Fish Traps 10%/15%/20% faster in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
- Persians: Gillnets researches 15%/20% faster in the Castle Age/Imperial Age.
- Spanish: Receive 20 gold after researching Gillnets.
- Vietnamese: Gillnets costs no wood and researches 100% faster.
- Wei: Receive one free Villager after researching Gillnets.
Team bonuses[]
- Portuguese: Gillnets and Treadmill Crane research 25% faster.
Changelog[]
The Age of Kings[]
- Fish Traps take 15 seconds to build.
- Fish Traps do not receive anti-building damage.
- Fishing Ships gather from Fish Traps at 12.6 per minute (0.21 per second).
The Conquerors[]
- Fish Traps take 53 seconds to build.
- With patch 1.0b, Fishing Ships gather from Fish Traps at 21 per minute (0.35 per second).
- Maya: Fish Traps are unaffected by the civilization bonus of longer-lasting resources.
The Forgotten[]
- Gillnets introduced.
- Fish Traps take 40 seconds to build.
The African Kingdoms[]
- Malians: Initially, Fish Traps are 15% cheaper. With patch 4.8, the wood bonus no longer applies to Fish Traps.
Rise of the Rajas[]
- Malay: Fish Traps cost the same as everyone else's, but provide unlimited food.
The Last Khans[]
- Fish Traps can now be queued and have the automatic rebuild option at the Dock.
Lords of the West[]
- Malay: With update 47820, Fish Traps provide 3 times food.
Dynasties of India[]
- Maya: Fish Traps are now properly affected by the civilization bonus of longer-lasting resources.
Return of Rome[]
- With update 87863, Fish Traps receive anti-building damage (10 class 11 armor and 0 class 21 armor).
History[]
| “ | Dried and salted fish were valuable commodities in the Middle Ages because they were a source of protein that could be transported and store. Cod caught off Iceland and Norway was an especially valuable resource. Fishing technology improvements included the fish trap that allowed the netting of fish migrating up rivers and in coastal areas. | ” |
Trivia[]
- If a Malay player starts fishing from a Fish Trap that was initially built by another civilization, it will still provide three times more food (2145 food). If a non-Malay player fishes from a Fish Trap that was built by the Malay, the Fish Trap will only provide 715 food.
- A slight quirk can be exploited by converting a non-Malay Fish Trap to a Malay one before converting it back, which will cause the food provided to be reset to 715, even if the food provided prior to it being converted by a Malay Fishing Ship was below 715.
Gallery[]
