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

Ships are the only units in Age of Empires II 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, Coastal, or Baltic.
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General information[edit | edit source]

Ships in mid-battle.
All ships move quite fast, possess high pierce armor, and high HP. 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 Monks. All ships have an attack bonus against buildings, which makes them good raiding units to clear shorelines, but defensive structures deal bonus damage against ships as well, so they should only be attacked if they can be outranged.
All ships are trained at the Dock and cost wood and gold. The two Dark Age ships, the Fishing Ship and the Transport Ship, only cost wood.
List of ships[edit | edit source]
Marked with yellow background are unique units.
Ship | A | HP | At | Ar | PA | Ra | ROF | LOS | Sp | W | G | TT | Ci |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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60 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | N/A | 5 | 1.26 | 75 | 0 | 40 | 35 | |
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100 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 0 | N/A | 5 | 1.45 | 125 | 0 | 46 | 35 | |
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80 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | N/A | 6 | 1.32 | 100 | 50 | 36 | 35 | |
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120 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 3.05 | 7 | 1.43 | 90 | 30 | 60 | 35 | |
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135 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 3.05 | 8 | 1.43 | 90 | 30 | 36 | 35 | |
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165 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 3.05 | 9 | 1.43 | 90 | 30 | 36 | 33 | |
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100 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2.49 | 0.25 | 5 | 1.3 | 75 | 45 | 60 | 34 | |
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120 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 2.49 | 0.25 | 5 | 1.35 | 75 | 45 | 60 | 34 | |
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140 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 2.49 | 0.25 | 5 | 1.43 | 75 | 45 | 60 | 23 | |
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45 | 90 | 0 | 2 | 0 | N/A | 6 | 1.5 | 70 | 50 | 45 | 34 | |
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60 | 110 | 0 | 3 | 0 | N/A | 6 | 1.6 | 70 | 50 | 45 | 34 | |
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70 | 140 | 0 | 5 | 0 | N/A | 6 | 1.6 | 70 | 50 | 45 | 24 | |
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120 | 35 | 0 | 6 | 13 | 10 | 15 | 1.1 | 200 | 150 | 46 | 30 | |
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150 | 45 | 0 | 8 | 15 | 10 | 17 | 1.1 | 200 | 150 | 46 | 17 | |
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N/A | 70 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 3.05 | 8 | 1.5 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 0 |
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N/A | 150 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 0.25 | 6 | 1.4 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 0 |
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N/A | 75 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1.21 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 0 |
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130 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 3.05 | 8 | 1.54 | 100 | 50 | 25 | 1 | |
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160 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 3.05 | 9 | 1.54 | 100 | 50 | 25 | 1 | |
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200 | 50 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6.04 | 8 | 0.9 | 180 | 180 | 50 | 1 | |
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300 | 50 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6.04 | 8 | 0.9 | 180 | 180 | 50 | 1 | |
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130 | 6 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 3.05 | 9 | 1.43 | 90 | 40 | 45 | 1 | |
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150 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 3.05 | 9 | 1.43 | 90 | 40 | 45 | 1 | |
Average | N/A | 126.5 | 28.8 | 0.9 | 6.1 | 4.6 | 3.87 | 7.8 | 1.35 | 107.3 | 63.3 | 45.1 | 27.6 |
Technologies[edit | edit source]
Listed below are all technologies that benefit ships. Marked with yellow background are unique technologies. This list does not contain unit upgrades.
Technology | Researched at | Age | Civilization | Effect |
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Dock | III | All | Increases pierce armor by +1 and Transport Ship capacity by +5 |
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Dock | III | All | Fishing Ships gather food +25% faster |
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Dock | IV | 28 | Increases speed by +15% and Transport Ship capacity by +10 |
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Dock | IV | 18 | Lowers wood cost by -20% and increases creation speed by +35% |
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Blacksmith | II | All | Increases range and attack of Galleys, Longboats, and Caravels by +1 |
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Blacksmith | III | All | Increases range and attack of Galleys, Longboats, and Caravels by +1 |
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Blacksmith | IV | 25 | Increases range and attack of Galleys, Longboats, and Caravels by +1 |
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University | III | All | Improves accuracy at moving targets |
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University | IV | All | Increases attack of Galleys, Longboats, and Caravels by +1 |
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Monastery | III | 19 | Converted units die instead of changing color |
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Monastery | IV | 28 | Increases conversion resistance |
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Castle | III | Byzantines | Increases range of Fire Ships by +1 |
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Castle | III | Indians | Makes Trade Cogs +10% more efficient |
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Castle | IV | Italians | Halves train cost of Trade Cogs |
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Castle | III | Koreans | Increases speed of Turtle Ships by +15% |
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Castle | III | Portuguese | Increases armor by +1/+1 |
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Castle | IV | Portuguese | Improves accuracy of Cannon Galleons at moving targets |
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Castle | IV | Turks | Increases range of Cannon Galleons by +2 |
Civilizations[edit | edit source]
The best naval civilizations are probably the Berbers, Byzantines, Italians, Koreans, Malay, Portuguese, Saracens, Spanish, and Vikings. The Chinese, Japanese and Persians have also strong naval bonuses, but less stronger than the before-mentioned civilizations.
The Byzantines and Spanish are the only civilizations to have access to all naval units and technologies.
Civilization bonuses[edit | edit source]
The following civilizations have bonuses that specifically benefit naval units:
- Berbers: Ships move +10% faster.
- Byzantines: Fire Ships attack 20% faster.
- Chinese: Demolition Ships have +50% HP, technologies that benefit ships are 15%/20% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.
- Italians: Dock technologies are 50% cheaper. Fishing Ships are 15% cheaper.
- Japanese: Fishing Ships have double HP, +2 pierce armor, and work +5%/+10%/+15%/+20% faster in the Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
- Persians: Docks have double HP and work +10%/+15%/+20% faster in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
- Portuguese: Ships have +10% HP.
- Saracens: Transport Ships have double HP and +5 transport capacity. Galleys attack +20% faster.
- Spanish: Cannon Galleons benefit from Ballistics.
- Vikings: Warships are 15%/15%/20% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
Team bonuses[edit | edit source]
The following civilizations have bonuses that specifically benefit naval units:
- Japanese: Galleys have +50% LOS.
- Malay: Docks have +100% LOS.
- Spanish: Trade Cogs generate +25% more gold.
- Vikings: Docks are 15% cheaper.
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- Before the Definitive Edition, the Cannon Galleon and the Elite Cannon Galleon were the only two non-unique ships that shared sprites.
- Ships (except Fishing Ships) are one of the few units with varying models that show their origin. Every architecture style has a corresponding sail for their ships (see gallery):
- African ships: Reed lug rig with solar disk and crescent
- American: Crab claw sail with double-headed serpent
- Central Asian: Lateen rig with Wind Horse
- Central European: Square rig with Arrow Cross
- Longboats use banded square sails
- East Asian: Junk rig with Vermilion Bird
- Turtle Ships don't have sails, but they have flags with the same symbol
- Eastern European: Square rig with Cross of Lorraine
- Mediterranean: Square rig with Maltese Cross
- Transport Ships use Lateen rig
- Fire Ships, Fast Fire Ships, and Heavy Demolition Ships combine Lateen and Square rigs
- Caravels use Lateen rig with the Order of Christ cross
- Middle Eastern and South Asian: Lateen rig with crossed scimitars
- Southeast Asian: Junk rig with elephant head
- Western European: Square rig with lion rampant