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Unit Information Game Strategies History

The Merchant Fleet is a special unit, which Caravans convert to when crossing water, similar to other land units converting to Transport Ships. It cannot be built manually and, like all naval units, appears only on map types with water.

Like with all land units, Caravans cannot enter water until a nation has built a Dock and researched Commerce Commerce 1 (Barter). Furthermore, Caravans will usually only travel across water if there is a target city on a different landmass - this requires either Commerce Commerce 2 (Coinage) (to establish own cities on other landmasses) or Commerce Commerce 3 (Trade) (allows to establish trade routes to friendly/ally cities) to be researched.

Compared to the regular Caravan, the Merchant Fleet is slightly slower, but has almost twice as many hit points and some basic armor, allowing for some protection from weak raiding attacks. Merchant Fleets are stronger than any of the Transport Ships. In the Industrial Age Industrial Age, Merchant Fleets automatically upgrade to Modern Merchant Fleets, thereby receiving an additional +58 hit points.

Despite the increase in hit points, Merchant Fleets are still very weak to enemy attacks, thus are better off plying routes in safe waters or staying away from the sea altogether.

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