| “ | Stronger than Demolition Ship. Filled with explosives. Self-destructs when used. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II description | ||
The Heavy Demolition Ship is a ship in Age of Empires II that can be trained at the Dock once the Imperial Age is reached. It is packed with explosives that blows up enemy ships, Docks, land units caught in shallows, and anything too close the shore. It has better armor (although still very little) and a much stronger and larger explosion than its predecessor. Since they are suicide units, they may be referred to as the Petards of the sea (even though they were introduced in the game before Petards).
Availability chart[]
| Available | Unavailable |
|---|---|
- x means that the civilizations gets fully upgradeable Heavy Demolition Ships. The technologies being considered here are Dry Dock and Shipwright.
- + means that the civilization gets some civilization or team bonus or a unique technology that benefits the combat strength of the Heavy Demolition Ship.
Tactics[]
The Heavy Demolition Ship has +10 hit points, +30 attack, +60 anti-building damage, +2 pierce armor, +2 ship armor and +0.5 blast radius over its predecessor.
Heavy Demolition Ships are very good against other ships, especially Fire Ships and fully loaded Transports. Heavy Demolition Ships explode when killed, dealing blast damage to any nearby units. However, they do not cause friendly fire damage, so any nearby allied units will not be damaged.
The Heavy Demolition Ship and its predecessor are the fastest military vessels in the game, making them capable of chasing down enemies. It can cause great damage when it hits and will destroy most ships in one shot, but since it is a suicide unit, it is ineffective when used as the basis of a navy. Heavy Demolition Ships are useful against the Galley line if they manage to approach them, excellent against Fire Ships, and devastating against Transport Ships.
Further statistics[]
| Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Transport Ships, Fishing Ships, buildings in the shoreline, melee units in the shallows, Cannon Galleons |
| Weak vs. | Turtle Ships, towers, Castles, ranged units on the shoreline |
| Upgrades | |
| Armor |  Careening (+0/+1) Carrack (+1/+1, Portuguese only)
|
| Speed |  Dry Dock (+15%)
|
| Conversion defense |  Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max) Heresy (die upon getting converted) First Crusade (+4 min, +4 max, Sicilians only)
|
| Creation speed |  Shipwright (+54%)
|
| Train cost | Shipwright (-20%)
|
| Blast radius | Cilician Fleet (+20%, Armenians only)
|
Civilization bonuses[]
Berbers: Heavy Demolition Ships move 10% faster.- Celts: Heavy Demolition Ships can convert herdable animals even if enemy units are next to them.
- Chinese: Technologies that benefit Heavy Demolition Ships are 10%/15% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age. Heavy Demolition Ships have +50% HP.
- Persians: Heavy Demolition Ships are created 20% faster. Careening is researched 15%/20% faster in the Castle/Imperial Age. Dry Dock is researched 20% faster.
- Portuguese: Heavy Demolition Ships have +10% hit points and cost -20% gold.
- Spanish: Researching technologies that benefit Heavy Demolition Ships provides 20 gold each.
- Vikings: Heavy Demolition Ships are 20% cheaper.
Team bonuses[]
- Lithuanians: Researching Heresy, Devotion, and Faith is 20% faster.
- Portuguese: Upgrades that benefit Heavy Demolition Ships are researched 25% faster.
- Teutons: Heavy Demolition Ships are more resistant to conversion.
Changelog[]
The Age of Kings[]
- Heavy Demolition Ships have 60 hit points.
- Shipwright reduces the wood cost by 20%.
The Conquerors[]
- With patch 1.0b, Shipwright also decreases train time by 35% now.
- Heresy introduced.
The Forgotten[]
- Heavy Demolition Ships have 70 HP.
- Hindustanis (Indians at the time) can research Heavy Demolition Ship.
The African Kingdoms[]
- Portuguese: Heavy Demolition Ships cost -15% gold.
Definitive Edition[]
- Portuguese: With update 39284, Heavy Demolition Ships cost -20% gold. With update 42848, technologies are researched 30% faster.
Dynasties of India[]
- With update 61321, siege units and ships are now resistant to armor-ignoring attacks similarly to buildings.
- Hindustanis: Heavy Demolition Ship was removed from their technology tree.
Trivia[]
- Heavy Demolition Ships cause the second greatest amount of base damage in the entire game (140), only Trebuchets have greater damage output (200).
- Berber Heavy Demolition Ships with Dry Dock researched are the second fastest unit (2.024), behind Berber Trade Cogs with Caravan (2.5047), thus they are also the fastest military unit in the game.
- None of the four civilizations introduced in The Last Khans and neither of the two civilizations introduced in Dawn of the Dukes has access to Heavy Demolition Ships. As a result, none of the Eastern European civilizations have access to it.
- After the building style changed to East Asian for the Vietnamese, none of the Southeast Asian civilizations have access to Heavy Demolition Ships either. The South Asian style Heavy Demolition Ship is unique to the Dravidians.
- With the removal of the Heavy Demolition Ship for Hindustanis (former Indians), none of the civilizations introduced in The Forgotten have access to it.
History[]
| “ | Demolition ships eventually were made larger and filled them with explosives of greater power, especially gunpowder. This heavy demolition ship resulted in greater explosions and a greater chance of damaging or destroying one or more enemy ships. It could be devastating against a large target or many enemy ships caught traveling close together. | ” |
Gallery[]
Video[]
