Ships (Age of Empires)

This article is about the ships in Age of Empires. For ships in other games of the series, see Ship.

Ships are the only units in Age of Empires that can move across water. They can also pass shallow water, but can never move on land. As water is a natural and impenetrable barrier for all units but ships, they are of crucial importance on maps with a lot of water, e.g. Islands or Coastal.

General information

All ships move quite fast and possess high hit points. Hence, almost all military ships are quite capable of battling land units on the shoreline for they can hit-and-run melee units and kill ranged units with their ranged attack and good resistance against arrow fire. They fare worse against siege weapons and Priests.

All ships are trained at the Dock and most ships only cost wood, with the exception of the Fire Galley and the Catapult Trireme line, that also cost gold.

List of ships

Ship	A	HP	At	Ar	PA	Ra	ROF	LOS	Sp	W	G	TT	Ci
Fishing Boat		45	0	0	0	0	N/A	6	1.4	50	0	40	16
Fishing Ship		75	0	0	0	0	N/A	6	2.0	50	0	40	16
Trade Boat		120	0	0	0	0	N/A	4	2.0	100	0	50	16
Merchant Ship		200	0	0	0	0	N/A	4	2.5	100	0	50	16
Light Transport		150	0	0	0	0	N/A	4	1.4	150	0	75	16
Heavy Transport		200	0	0	0	0	N/A	5	1.75	150	0	75	16
Scout Ship		120	5	0	0	5	1.5	7	1.75	135	0	70	16
War Galley		160	8	0	0	6	1.7	9	1.75	135	0	70	16
Trireme		200	12	0	0	7	1.89	10	1.75	135	0	70	13
Fire Galley		200	24	0	0	1	1.0	8	2.0	115	40	60	8
Catapult Trireme		135	35	0	0	9	5.3	12	1.45	135	50	90	8
Juggernaught		200	35	0	0	10	5.3	13	1.45	135	50	90	7

Technologies

Listed below are all technologies that benefit ships. This list does not contain unit upgrades.

Technology	Researched at	Age	Civilizations	Effect
Woodworking	Market		All	Increases range of Scout Ship line by +1
Artisanship	Market		All	Increases range of Scout Ship line by +1
Craftsmanship	Market		12	Increases range of Scout Ship line by +1
Alchemy	Government Center		13	Increases attack of ranged ships by +1 and of Fire Galleys by +6
Ballistics	Government Center		15	Increases accuracy
Engineering	Government Center		12	Increases range of Catapult Trireme line by +2; enables the Juggernaught upgrade

Civilization bonuses

The following civilizations have bonuses that benefit naval units:

• Carthaginians: Fire Galleys have +25% attack; transport ships move 25% faster.
• Greeks: Ships move 20% faster.
• Hittites: Scout Ships and War Galleys have +2 range in the Tool Age and +3 range in the Bronze/Iron Age.
• Macedonians: Ships are four times more resistant to conversion.
• Minoans: Ships are 30% cheaper.
• Palmyrans: Trade ships return twice the gold.
• Persians: Triremes have -25% reload time.
• Phoenicians: Catapult Trireme and Juggernaught have -24% reload time.
• Yamato: Ships have +20% HP.