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This article documents upcoming content. Article may contain inaccuracies or values that are subject to change as information is updated. Please remove this template when the content has gone live. Adding speculation and leaks is prohibited, hence only information publicly revealed can be added. Related content can be found in the category: Naval rework (Age of Empires II) |
The upcoming naval rework was tested in the Thalassocracy 2 Tournament in December, 2025. The tournament included a preview of upcoming changes to naval combat in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. The rework includes new ships, new technologies, and new gameplay features. It had a tentative update number 158894.
Note: While these features have been tested, they should still be considered a work-in-progress and not the final product.
Design changes[]
- A new ship line has been added, the Hulk, which counters Fire Ships and is countered by the Galley line.
- Ship attributes have been modified across the board, but their relationships and roles are largely similar to before.
- The second page at the Dock has been removed and the locations of many upgrades and ships adjusted.
- New naval technologies have been introduced, and existing naval technologies have been updated.
Units[]
- Ship statistics have been revamped to no longer rely on arcane calculations of different attack and armor bonuses, and have been greatly simplified.
- Ship combat now only uses either pierce damage (Galleys and equivalent unique ships) or melee damage (Fire Ship, Demolition Ship, Hulk, Cannon Galleons), and a single case of attack bonus (long-range warship class).
- Not all statistics changed (like ship hit points) are reflected here, as ship relationships between one another are kept broadly unchanged.
Hulk-line ships
New ship line: Hulk → War Hulk → Carrack[]
- Short-ranged ship, attacks with ropes and hooks to mimic boarding.
- Counters Fire Ships, weak to Galleys.
- Benefits from melee attack upgrades.
- Upgraded alongside Fire Ships and Galleys.
Demolition Ship line[]
- Reduced damage to fit into a more situational role.
- Upgraded from Demolition Raft as a single line.
- No longer available to civilizations with a unique ship (Vikings, Portuguese, Koreans).
Fishing Ship[]
- Can garrison into Docks.
- Queue Fish Traps and Toggle Automatic Fish are set on the Fishing Ships themselves.
- Receives ship armor class.
Galley line[]
- Receives long-range warship armor class.[note 1]
- Gains bonus against long-range warships.
- Loses bonus against all ships.
Fire Galley line[]
- Gains bonus against long-range warships.
- Loses bonus against all ships.
- Damage type changed to melee.
Cannon Galleon (and equivalents)[]
- Receives long-range warship armor class.[note 1]
Wood and gold trade options
Trade Cog[]
- Now can select between 5 different options for gold/wood ratio on the Trade Cog UI, similar to the system used in Chronicles.
- Selection affects all units globally.
- Some Trade Cog information in the game is displayed incorrectly.
Buildings[]
Dock[]
- Docks can now be garrisoned by Fishing Ships (5 garrison space).
- Garrisoned Docks shoot arrows like garrisoned Town Centers.
- 6 range, cannot be increased by range technologies at the Blacksmith.
Technologies[]
- Shipwright
- Moved to the University.
- War Galley → Galleon
- Upgrades names changed to Medium Warships → Heavy Warships.
- Upgrades the Galley, Fire Galley, and Hulk lines together.
- Medium Warships cost changed from 230 food, 100 gold to 150 wood, 100 gold.
- Heavy Warships cost changed from 315 food, 400 wood to 400 wood, 315 gold.
- Upgrades names changed to
New technologies[]
Civilization-specific changes[]
- Vikings
- Gain access to the Fire Galley line.
- Lose access to the Demolition Raft line.
- Ship discount bonus changed from 15/15/20% to 10/15/20%.
- Japanese
- Fishing Ship bonus changed from +100% hit points, +2 pierce armor to +100% hit points.
- Gurjaras
- Fishing Ship can garrison into Docks bonus to Docks can garrison +5 Fishing Ships.
- Italians
- University and Dock technologies discount changed from 33% to 25%.
- Wu
- Careening/Dry Dock cheaper and available one Age earlier changed to Careening/Dry Dock free.
Undocumented but confirmed changes[]
- Note: These changes are not present in the document, but have been showcased by YouTuber Ornlu the Wolf.
- All ships will have animated sails while moving.
- Dock: 3 pierce attack, +2 vs ships, +1 vs camels, each garrisoned Fishing Ship adding 1 projectile, 6 range but range is not increased with Fletching, 1 minimum range, reload time 3 seconds, no projectile fired without garrisoning (hence many mechanics are similar to the Fortified Church), can regarrison Fishing Ships (upto 5), but create garrison space remains at 10 (though UI shows 5)
- Gurjaras: +5 garrison capacity, but additional Fishing Ships do not add more projectiles
- Harbor: Number of secondary projectiles increased from 3 to 4 (innate), attack bonus vs ships decreased from +10 to +6, gain +1 attack bonus vs camels, retain 7 range but range is increased with Fletching, retain 10 garrison capacity and all additional Fishing Ships add projectiles
- Fishing Ship: 50 HP, 1 melee armor, 1 pierce armor, gain Seek Shelter command
- Transport Ship: 70 HP, 0 melee armor, 2 pierce armor
- Fire Galley line: unchanged cost, unchanged range, unchanged attack bonus against buildings
- Fire Galley: 110 HP, 2 melee attack, 1 attack bonus against long range warships, 1 melee armor, 4 pierce armor, 1.43 speed
- Fire Ship: 120 HP, 3 melee attack, 2 melee armor, 4 pierce armor, 1.55 speed
- Fast Fire Ship: 140 HP, 4 melee attack, 3 melee armor, 7 pierce armor, 1.65 speed
- Dragon Ship: 145 HP, 5 melee attack, 3 melee armor, 7 pierce armor
- Galley line: unchanged cost, unchanged attack bonuses against buildings and rams
- Galley: 110 HP, 6 pierce attack, +4 vs long range warships, 0 melee armor, 3 pierce armor, 5 range
- War Galley: 125 HP, 7 pierce attack, 0 melee armor, 4 pierce armor, 6 range
- Demolition Raft line: 70 wood, 80 gold, unchanged attack bonus against buildings, 0 ship armor
- Demolition Raft: 40 HP, 65 melee attack, 0 melee armor, 0 pierce armor, 2.5 blast radius
- Demolition Ship: 50 HP, 80 melee attack, 1 melee armor, 0 pierce armor, 3 blast radius
- Heavy Demolition Ship: 70 HP, 95 melee attack, 2 melee armor, 0 pierce armor, 3.25 blast radius
- Longboat line: 4 projectiles all of which deal same damage
- Longboat: 130 HP, 5 pierce attack, 0 melee armor, 3 pierce armor
- Elite Longboat: 135 HP, 7 pierce attack, 1 melee armor, 6 pierce armor
Availability grid[]
The following table shows the availability of the military ships for every civilization. Unique ships are not shown in the table. The Galley, War Galley, Fire Galley, Fire Ship, Hulk, and War Hulk are available to every civilization, hence omitted from the table.
| = Available | |
| = Unavailable |
Video[]
Preview of the new naval unit (& other changes coming soon!)
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 This was already implemented with update 158041.
