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This article is about the unit in Age of Empires. For other uses, see Fishing Boat.

Provides food by gathering fish and depositing them at the Dock. The cargo capacity of a Fishing Boat is greater than the carrying capacity of a villager.
—In-game description in the Definitive Edition

The Fishing Boat is an economic unit in Age of Empires that gathers food from fishing spots. It has no offensive capability, can be built from the Stone Age as soon as the game begins, and like all boats, it is twice as resistant to conversions as regular units.

It can be upgraded at the Dock in the Bronze Age.

Strategy[]

During the Stone and Tool Ages, when the player has a single Town Center to produce Villagers (and must pause even this while advancing to the next age), Docks provide the only opportunity to increase the production of new civilian units. An efficient early economy can comprise Villagers chopping wood to train more ships, and Fishing Boats gathering food to train more Villagers. Note, however, that ships gather fish far slower than Villagers do: an average 0.4 food per second compared to 0.6 for shore-fishing Villagers.

Fishing vessels in Age of Empires are only used for gathering natural sources of fish, and as these are a finite resource, the boats will have to make increasingly lengthy trips to find fish, and will eventually run out altogether. While sources of fish are still close to the shore, it may be more economical to build additional Docks to reduce the boats' travel time, but when the fishing starts reaching out into deeper water, it will yield more average food-per-minute to upgrade to the faster-moving Fishing Ships. Note also that as the vessels stray further looking for fish, they are more likely to be preyed on by enemy combat units.

When no sources of fish remain in the same body of water as the fishing fleet, the ships no longer have any use and can be thrown away: either on scouting missions, or to draw enemy fire away from warships, or simply deleted to make population room for other units.

Further statistics[]

Fishing Boats can be upgraded to a Fishing Ship upon reaching the Bronze Age which are faster, more durable, and can carry more food.

Civilization bonuses[]

  • Greeks AoE Greeks: Fishing Boats have +20% speed.
  • Macedonians AoE Macedonians: Fishing Boats have +2 Line of Sight and are four times more resistant to conversion.
  • Minoans AoE Minoans: Fishing Boats cost -15%/-20%/-25%/-30% in the Stone/Tool/Bronze/Iron Age.
  • Yamato AoE Yamato: Fishing Boats have +10%/+15%/+20%/+25% hit points in the Stone/Tool/Bronze/Iron Age and work 20% faster.

Team bonuses[]

  • Palmyrans AoE Palmyrans: Upgrading Fishing Boats to Fishing Ships and researching technologies that benefit Fishing Boats is 30% faster.

Changelog[]

ReturnRome-AoEIcon Age of Empires[]

  • Fishing Boats take 30 seconds to upgrade.
  • Minoans AoE Minoans: Fishing Boats cost -30%.
  • Yamato AoE Yamato: Fishing Boats have +33% hit points.

Age of Empires Definitive Edition icon Definitive Edition[]

  • Fishing Boats take 51 seconds to upgrade to Fishing Ships.
  • Yamato AoE Yamato: Upon release, Fishing Boats have +25% hit points. With update 38862, they have +20% hit points.

AoE2Icon-ReturnRome Return of Rome[]

  • Yamato AoE Yamato: Fishing Boats work 20% faster.
  • Palmyrans AoE Palmyrans (team bonus): Technologies benefiting Fishing Boats are researched 30% faster.
  • Minoans AoE Minoans: With update 99311, Fishing Boats cost -15%/-20%/-25%/-30% in the Stone/Tool/Bronze/Iron Age.
  • Yamato: With update 99311, Fishing Boats have +10%/+15%/+20%/+25% hit points in the Stone/Tool/Bronze/Iron Age.

History[]

The Fishing Boat represents a small, primitive vessel for use by one or a few fishermen. The first boats were probably dugout canoes, made from a single large log. These were excavated by fire and adze. Despite the passage of time and great technological advances in all areas, there are more log-hull boats in use today than of any other single type.
—The Age of Empires manual

Gallery[]

Tech tree[]

Dock
Stone Age Icon (DE)
Tool Age Icon (DE)
Bronze Age Icon (DE)
Iron Age Icon (DE)
Fishing Boat
Fishing Ship
Aoede light transport available
Aoede heavy transport available
Scout Ship
War Galley
Trireme
Aoede trade boat available
Merchant Ship
Aoede catapult trireme available
Requires
Catapult Trireme technology Catapult Trireme
Juggernaut
Fire Galley
Requires
AoE War Galley upgrade War Galley


Units in Age of Empires
CivilianReturnofrome female villager icon Villager · Returnofrome trade cart icon Trade Cart
OtherAoE2 DE priest icon Priest · Slinger-0 Slinger · Returnofrome artifact icon Artifact
Civilian ship1 Fishing Boat Fishing Boat · 2 Fishing Ship Fishing Ship
3 Trade Boat Trade Boat · 4 Merchant Ship Merchant Ship
InfantryClubman Clubman · AxemanAoEDE Axeman
Short Swordsman Short Swordsman · Broad Swordsman Broad Swordsman · AoE nuRoR Long Swordsman icon Long Swordsmen · Returnofrome legionary icon Legionary
HopliteDE Hoplite · AoE nuRoR Phalangite icon Phalangite · Returnofrome centurion icon Centurion
ArcherBowman aoe1de Bowman
Improved Bowman22 Improved Bowman · Composite Bowman Composite Bowman
Chariot Archer111 Chariot Archer
Horse Archer Horse Archer · Returnofrome heavy horse archer icon Heavy Horse Archer
EAICON DE Elephant Archer
CavalryScout-0 Scout
ChariotDE Chariot · ScytheDE Scythe Chariot
Cavalry111 Cavalry · Returnofrome heavy cavalry icon Heavy Cavalry · Returnofrome cataphract icon Cataphract
War ElephantDE War Elephant · Returnofrome armored elephant icon Armored Elephant
Camel RiderDE Camel Rider
SiegeStone ThrowerDE Stone Thrower · CatapultDE Catapult · Returnofrome heavy catapult icon Heavy Catapult
BallistaDE Ballista · Returnofrome helepolis icon Helepolis
War Ship7 Scout Ship Scout Ship · 8 War Galley War Galley · 9 Trireme Trireme
Catapult Trireme Catapult Trireme · Returnofrome juggernaut icon Juggernaut
10 Fire Galley Fire Galley
5 Light Transport Light Transport · 6 Heavy Transport Heavy Transport
Scenario Editor-only units
Short Swordsman Chieftain · Donkey caravan aoe2DE Donkey · Clubman Explorer · Returnofrome heavy cavalry icon General · AoE2 DE priest icon High Priest · Returnofrome horse icon Horse · HeavyCavalryDE Mercenary (removed) · Penguin aoe2DE Penguin · AoE2 DE priest icon Pharaoh · 5 Light Transport Raft · Returnofrome artifact icon War Chest
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