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This article is about the unit in Age of Empires II. For other uses of the term, see Fishing Ship. |
| â | Gathers food from fish and Fish Traps. Builds Fish Traps. | â |
| —In-game description | ||
| â | Gathers food from jumping fish and Fish Traps. Returns fish to the Dock automatically in the same way villagers return food to the Town Center. | â |
| —In-game description | ||
The Fishing Ship is a civilian ship in Age of Empires II that can be trained at the Dock. It is a basic resource gatherer. Unlike its counterpart in Age of Empires, the Fishing Ship cannot be upgraded.
The Fishing Ship can build Fish Traps which are similar to Farms on water. Fish Traps take longer to build, but hold more food. Fishing Ships gather food faster from normal fish than from Fish Traps. Fishing Ships, like Villagers, have a Drop Off command in their command panel, which when pressed tasks the Fishing Ship to deposit its carried resource to the nearest Dock and immediately return to work.
Since update 128442, If Antiquity Mode is selected on random maps, some maps generate Oysters, a gold resource which can be collected by Fishing Ships. Since update 141935, Fishing Ships no longer require Antiquity Mode to be enabled in order to be able to gather from Oysters.
Collection Rate[]
Fishing Ships gather food at a rate of 0.28 food per second from Shore Fish (fish that is adjacent to the shore), 0.49 food per second from deep-sea fish (all other fish) and 0.35 food per second from Fish Traps. They have a base carry capacity of 15 food. Provided that the Fishing Ship is close to a Dock and gathers from deep-sea fish, it will collect food significantly faster than Villagers collecting from Farms, who collect at a rate of 0.32 (taking into account the amount of time Villagers simply walk around the Farms without gathering). It can be noted that this means that Fishing Ships collecting from deep-sea fish collect food almost exactly 50% faster than Villagers collecting from Farms (while also being 50% more expensive than Villagers).
However, unlike Farms, the fishing rate is highly dependent on the distance to the fish from the Dock; Once the deep-sea fish near the shore have been depleted, the traveling time back to the Dock can significantly decrease the effective collection rate. Building Fish Traps can deal with this issue, but they have a slightly lower effective collection rate due to the long construction time of the trap. However, once built, they provide a much greater amount of food (715 for 100 wood) per invested wood compared to a Farm (175-550, depending on upgrades, for 60 wood). In addition, once the Gillnets upgrade has been researched, Fishing Ships collect faster from Fish Traps than Villagers from Farms. The advantage of Fish Traps over Farms is that the former needs no upgrades (Farms need upgrades at the Mill to increase wood-to-food efficiency), while also collecting food much faster. Farms only provide better wood-to-food efficiency with Crop Rotation (Heavy Plow for Sicilians).
Further statistics[]
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
| Armor |  Careening (+0/+1) Carrack (+1/+1, Portuguese only)
|
| Conversion resistance |  Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max) Heresy (die upon getting converted) First Crusade (+4 min, +4 max, Sicilians only)
|
 Movement speed
|
 Dry Dock (+15%)
|
| Resource cost |  Shipwright (-20% wood)
|
| Creation speed | Shipwright (+54%)
|
 Work rate
|
 Gillnets (+20%) Grand Trunk Road (+10% gold, Hindustanis only)
|
Civilization bonuses[]
Bengalis: Fishing Ships regenerate 15 HP per minute.- Berbers: Fishing Ships move 10% faster.
- Burgundians: Gillnets can be researched in the Feudal Age and costs -33% food.
- Burmese: Researching Devotion and Faith is 50% cheaper.
- Celts: Fishing Ships can convert herdable animals even if enemy units are next to them.
- Chinese: Technologies that benefit Fishing Ships are 10%/15% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.
- Dravidians: Fishing Ships + 15 carry capacity.
- Georgians: Fishing Ships receive -20% (-40% instead of -25%) damage on higher elevations.
- Gurjaras: Fishing Ships can be garrisoned in Docks.
- Italians: Fishing Ships cost -15%. Researching Gillnets, Careening, Dry Dock, and Shipwright is 33% cheaper.
- Japanese: Fishing Ships have double HP and +2 pierce armor. Fishing Ships work 5%/10%/15%/20% faster in the Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
- Maya: Fish from all sources lasts 15% longer.
- Persians: Fishing Ships are created 5%/10%/15%/20% faster in the Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age. Careening and Gillnets are researched 15%/20% faster in the Castle/Imperial Age. Researching Dry Dock is 20% faster.
- Portuguese: Fishing Ships have +10% HP.
- Spanish: Researching technologies that benefit Fishing Ships provides 20 gold each.
- Vietnamese: Researching Gillnets is 100% faster and costs no wood.
Team bonuses[]
- Lithuanians: Researching Heresy, Devotion, and Faith is 20% faster.
- Portuguese: Researching technologies that benefit Fishing Ships is 25% faster.
- Teutons: Fishing Ships are more resistant to conversion.
Changelog[]
The Age of Kings[]
- Fishing Ships can construct buildings, if the construction site was initiated by a Villager and lies at a shore.
- Fishing Ships are in the ship armor class.
- Shipwright reduces the wood cost by 20%.
- Fishing Ships have 0.5 collision size.
- Fishing Ships gather from Fish Traps at 12.6 per minute (0.21 per second).
The Conquerors[]
- Fishing Ships can no longer build buildings other than Fish Traps.
- With patch 1.0b, Fishing Ships gather from Fish Traps at 21 per minute (0.35 per second).
- With patch 1.0b, Shipwright also decreases train time by 35% now.
- Heresy introduced.
The Forgotten[]
- Gillnets introduced.
- Italians: Fishing Ships have +2 Line of Sight.
The African Kingdoms[]
- Italians: With patch 4.8, Fishing Ships are now 33% cheaper instead of having an increased LOS.
Rise of the Rajas[]
- With patch 5.8, Fishing Ships are assigned their own new Fishing Ship armor class while the ship armor class was removed. This change basically gives them +2 armor against Fire Galleys only, and is identical to the Ship armor class when facing other units.
- 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.
Definitive Edition[]
- Persians: With the release version, Fishing Ships are created 5% faster in the Dark Age. With update 36906, the creation speed is restored to normal.
Dynasties of India[]
- With update 81058, Fishing Ships have 0.4 collision size.
Victors and Vanquished[]
- The Drop Off command was added to the command panel of Fishing Ships.
Chronicles: Battle for Greece[]
- With update 128442, the Antiquity Mode checkbox is available. If this is enabled, Oysters might spawn on random maps.
- Since update 141935, Fishing Ships no longer require Antiquity Mode to be enabled in order to be able to gather from Oysters.
History[]
| â | The technology of shipbuilding, sailing, and navigation improved substantially during the Middle Ages. One result of these advances was a greater range and efficiency for Fishing Ships. The rich waters off the coasts of Europe, North Africa, and Asia provided a bounty of seafood that could be preserved by drying and salting. Preserved fish, especially cod, became an important trade good in the late Middle Ages. | â |
| —Age of Empires II manual | ||
Gallery[]
