Heated Shot (Age of Empires II)

This article is about the technology in Age of Empires II. For the technology in Age of Empires III, see Heated Shot (Age of Empires III).

Heated Shot
Availability
Introduced in	The Age of Kings
Civilization	See description
Age	Castle Age
Research
Researched at	University
Food	350
Gold	100
Research time	30 seconds
Effect
Towers +125%, Castles, Harbors, and Kreposts +4 attack vs ships and fishing ships

Heated Shot is a technology in Age of Empires II that can be researched at the University. Once researched, it gives towers an attack bonus of +125%, and Castles, Harbors, and Kreposts +4 attack against ships, i.e. both the ship and fishing ship armor classes.

Technology availability

Available	Unavailable
Aztecs Bengalis Berbers Britons Bulgarians Burmese Celts Chinese Cumans Dravidians Ethiopians Goths Gurjaras Incas Italians Koreans Khmer Lithuanians Magyars Malay Malians Mayans Persians Portuguese Sicilians Tatars Teutons Turks Vietnamese Vikings	Bohemians Burgundians Byzantines Franks Hindustanis Huns Japanese Mongols Poles Saracens Slavs Spanish

Attack increase against ships

Because Heated Shot is an attack multiplier for towers, but not for Castles and Harbors, the actual increase in attack bonus against ships differs for the affected buildings.

Building	Attack bonus without Heated Shot	Attack bonus with Heated Shot	Increase
Watch Tower	7	16	+9
Guard Tower	9	20	+11
Keep	10	23	+13
Donjon	7	16	+9
Bombard Tower	40	90	+50
Castle	0	4	+4
Krepost	0	4	+4
Harbor	9	13	+4

Note that, before the launch of The African Kingdoms, it was highly dangerous to enter a building's firing range not only for ships, but also for Camel Riders and Mamelukes, as they took bonus damage from anti-ship attacks. Since The African Kingdoms, however, that has been changed as camel-type units were moved out of the ship armor class.

Further note that buildings exclusive to the scenario editor also benefit from this technology, with the Poenari Castle and the Fortress being treated like Castles and Kreposts (i.e. receiving an additional +4 attack bonus) and The Accursed Tower, The Tower of Flies as well as Fortified Towers, Sea Towers and Fire Towers being treated like towers (i.e. receiving an additional +125% attack bonus). For the latter, the effect seems to be slightly stronger (around 260% instead of 225%), likely due to rounding errors stemming from the Fire Tower's unusual attack rate.

Civilizations bonuses

• Chinese: Heated Shot is 15%/20% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.
• Italians: Heated Shot is 33% cheaper.
• Portuguese: Researching Heated Shot is 30% faster.

Team bonuses

• A team containing Malians: Researching Heated Shot is 80% faster.

Changelog

Definitive Edition

• Portuguese: With update 42848, researching Heated Shot is 30% faster.

Lords of the West

• Italians: With update 44725, Heated Shot is 33% cheaper.

Trivia

• Neither of the two civilizations introduced in Dawn of the Dukes have access to Heated Shot.

History

“	Coastal gunners who engaged ships learned to heat their cannonballs in furnaces until they were red hot. If a heated shot lodged in the woodwork of a sailing ship, it could set the ship afire. The wadding in the barrel of the gun had to be sufficiently thick to not burn away before the cannon could be fired. If the shot burned through the wadding too quickly, the gun could go off before being properly aimed. In such a case the gun might explode rather than fire. Heated shot that plunged through decks was especially dangerous. It could lodge deep in the ship where the crew could not reach it with water before fire had taken hold. If fire reached the powder magazine, the ship would explode.	”
—Age of Empires II manual