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This article is about the ship in Age of Empires II. For the ship in Age of Empires, see Trade Boat. For the land trade unit, see Trade Cart. |
| “ | Used to trade with other players by sea. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II description | ||
The Trade Cog is a civilian ship in Age of Empires II that can be trained at the Dock once the Feudal Age is reached.
Overview[]
Trade Cogs are used to trade and generate gold by traveling between two Docks. Trade Cogs do not actually engage in the exchanging of resources between two civilizations. Empty Trade Cogs travel to another player's Dock empty-handed and return with gold. They receive their gold from the Docks of other players and deposit them at the Docks of their owners. The amount of gold gained depends on the distance from one Dock to another. The farther away the Dock is, the more gold the Trade Cogs generate.
Trade Cogs may engage in trade with allied, neutral, and enemy civilizations. However, trading with enemy civilizations is ill-advised unless the enemy has resigned, since the Trade Cogs are likely to be destroyed upon reaching the enemy Dock.
In order to generate at least 1 gold, the two Docks used for trade need to be at least five tiles away. The maximum amount gained per trip is 513, if both Docks are placed in the very edges of a Ludicrous (called LudiKRIS before the Definitive Edition) map.
Trade is an extremely important element in late games due to the limited amount of gold available from mines on most maps. Therefore, trade routes are a primary target for attacks and should be guarded accordingly.
Trade is also possible on the land between Markets with Trade Carts.
Comparison to the Trade Cart[]
The Trade Cog is faster (1.32 to 1) and benefits from Careening, Shipwright, and Dry Dock. However, Docks at the same distance do generate about -25% gold than Markets, so that the gold gathering rate for a single Trade Cart is comparable to that of a single Trade Cog. However, as Trade Cogs are more prone to bump into each other and usually move along the shoreline, they quickly become less efficient than Trade Carts when more of them share a trade route. Because of this, Trade Carts are almost always preferable.
In The African Kingdoms, the amount of gold earned per trip has been increased to offset this, making Trade Cogs more viable. It depends on the map and available water and land trade lines whether they should be preferred to Trade Carts. They are more efficient if single units are considered, but are also more affected by a congested trade route. The fact that they will always return to a particular Dock (closest to 100 tiles distance) means that additional Docks placed for warship production can disrupt a trade route, while there is no such reason to place extra Markets. Also, the Trade Cart is usually safer, as its routes can be accordingly protected by defensive structures or even the player's bases, while the water is more open, making the routes vulnerable to enemy warships.
Antiquity Mode[]
With the release of Chronicles: Battle for Greece, Antiquity mode is added. This mode allows wood trading via Trade Cogs. Options to select ratio of wood and gold is enabled at the Docks. There are three options:
Trade Cogs return 25% wood and 75% gold from trading- Trade Cogs return 50% wood and 50% gold from trading
- Trade Cogs return 75% wood and 25% gold from trading
Antiquity Mode is not available in most multiplayer settings, like Ranked and Quick Play.
Further statistics[]
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
| Armor |  Careening (+1  pierce) Carrack (+1  melee / +1 pierce, 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%) Caravan (+20%)
|
| Resource cost |  Shipwright (-20% wood) Silk Road (-50%, Italians only)
|
| Creation speed | Shipwright (+54%)
|
 Work rate
|
Grand Trunk Road (+10% gold, Hindustanis only)
|
| Civilization bonuses | |
|---|---|
 Hit points
|
 Portuguese (+10%)
|
 Regeneration
|
 Bengalis (15 HP per minute)
|
| Damage resistance |  Georgians (-20% {-40% instead of -25%} on higher elevations)
|
| Movement speed
|
 Berbers (+10%)
|
| Resource cost | Portuguese (-20% gold}
|
| Creation speed |  Persians (+10%/+15%/+20% in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age)
|
| Other |  Romans (+5% repair speed)
|
| Team bonuses | |
|---|---|
| Conversion resistance |  Teutons (+3 min, +1 max)
|
| Other | Bengalis (generate +10% food in addition to gold) Spanish (generate +25% gold)
|
Civilization bonuses[]
- Burgundians: Caravan is available in the Feudal Age and costs -33% food.
- Burmese: Devotion and Faith are 50% cheaper.
- Celts: Trade Cogs can convert herdable animals even if enemy units are next to them.
- Chinese: Technologies that benefit Trade Cogs are 10%/15% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.
- Italians: Careening, Dry Dock, and Shipwright are 33% cheaper.
- Persians: Careening researches 15%/20% faster in the Castle/Imperial Age. Dry Dock researches 20% faster.
- Spanish: Technologies that benefit Trade Cogs provide 20 gold each when researched.
- Vietnamese: Caravan researches 100% faster.
- Wei: Caravan provides one free Villager when researched.
- Wu: Careening and Dry Dock are available one Age earlier, -75% cost and research time.
Team bonuses[]
- Bohemians: Caravan researches 80% faster.
- Lithuanians: Devotion, Faith, and Heresy research 20% faster.
- Portuguese: Technologies that benefit Trade Cogs research 25% faster.
Changelog[]
The Age of Kings[]
- Trade Cogs have a base movement speed of 1.32.
- Shipwright reduces the wood cost by 20%.
- Dry Dock reduces gold per trip for Trade Cogs offsetting the speed advantage. It increases the movement speed of Trade Cogs by 50%.
- Trade Cogs have 0.5 collision size.
The Conquerors[]
- With patch 1.0b, Shipwright also decreases training time by 35%.
- Heresy introduced.
- Caravan introduced.
- Spanish: Trade Cogs generate +33% gold.
The Forgotten[]
- Trade Cogs generate +10% gold.
The African Kingdoms[]
- Trade Cogs generate +30% gold.
- The collision radius of Trade Cogs is reduced, resulting in less blockage on trade routes.
- Portuguese: Trade Cogs cost -15% gold.
- Spanish: With patch 4.8, Trade Cogs generate +25% gold.
Definitive Edition[]
- Dry Dock no longer reduces gold per trip for Trade Cogs.
- Portuguese: With update 39284, Trade Cogs cost -20% gold.
Dynasties of India[]
- With update 81058, Trade Cogs have 0.3 collision size.
Victors and Vanquished[]
- With update 125283, Trade Cog collision size multiplier reduced from 0.5 → 0.25, making bumping while trading less likely.
Chronicles: Battle for Greece[]
- With update 128442, Antiquity Mode is available. If enabled, wood trading is available at Docks.
- With update 141935, Trade Cogs have a base movement speed of 1.65, and Caravan increases the movement speed of Trade Cogs by 20%. Thus, a Trade Cog with Caravan researched has the same movement speed as before the update.
History[]
| “ | The demands of trade along the northern coasts of Europe led to the development of new types of ships with wide beams, deep drafts, square sails, stern rudders, and large cargo space. Ships of this new design were called cogs and they dominated Middle Age sea commerce from the Baltic Sea to the Western Mediterranean. Because these ships could not be drawn up on a beach easily, ports required piers extending out into water sufficiently deep to keep the cogs afloat. The Far Eastern equivalent to the trade cog was the Chinese junk, a much more advanced ship not surpassed in the West for many centuries. | ” |
Trivia[]
- Berber Trade Cogs with Caravan and Dry Dock researched are the fastest unit in the game, moving at the speed of 2.5047 tiles per second.
- Trade Cogs are unaffected by Caravanserai aura.
Gallery[]
Video[]
