Caravan
Market - CastleEvolution
Caravan
Castle
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"+20% Speed for Trade Units"
Coach's Tip
Caravan increases Trade Unit speed by 20%, significantly boosting your gold income from trade routes. Essential for team games with long trade routes.
Strategic Analysis
Strategic Identity
Caravan increases Trade Unit speed by 20%, significantly boosting your gold income from trade routes. Essential for team games with long trade routes.
When to Research
High Priority
Research Caravan as soon as you have the resources and are using economy units.
Combat Impact
+20% Speed for Trade Units
Civilization Access
* 53 civilizations have access to this technology.
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Other Technologies to Explore
AoE Coach analysis
Context & meta
Caravan is a Castle Age Market technology that improves Trade Units. The upgrades record gives 200 food, 200 gold, and 40 seconds of research, with Trade Cart listed as the affected unit. The official help gives the operative effect: Trade Units move +20% faster. That speed changes the round trip of a trade route, so the return is measured in completed journeys and safer travel rather than in direct attack power. Caravan has no combat counter and does not strengthen Villagers, Farms, or ordinary Market sales. It is a map-and-route technology whose value rises when the trade line is long, active, and protected.
History & balance
Caravan belongs to the Castle Age transition from a local economy to an economy that travels across the map. The official wording refers to Trade Units, so the technology is about the movement of Trade Carts and the time between two deliveries. Its 200-food/200-gold cost is deliberately meaningful: the player is exchanging present military resources for a larger future trade stream. That identity separates Caravan from Coinage and Banking, which reduce tribute costs, and from Guilds, which changes Market trading fees. In a team game, Caravan is the technology that turns a protected route into a repeatable economic infrastructure instead of a one-time bonus.
In pro play
Research Caravan when Trade Carts are already moving or when the team is about to open a safe route, not while the Market is only an emergency resource button. The 40-second research can be hidden inside a Castle Age transition, but 200 food and 200 gold should not starve the army that must protect the trade. Place the route so the faster Trade Units benefit from distance without crossing the enemy army, then add walls, buildings, or a defensive escort. The official +20% speed matters more as the route gets longer and the number of carts rises. Recheck the route after raids: speed cannot rescue a trade line that is no longer safe.
How to counter it
Caravan has no combat counter. The classic mistake is researching it before a protected Trade Cart route exists, or waiting until losses erase the team economy. The official help says Trade Units move +20% faster. Deny that value by scouting the route, raiding carts, relocating the Market, or pressuring the economy that funds trade. For your own timing, research it when saved travel time produces more completed trips than 200 food, 200 gold, and 40 seconds spent elsewhere. If you keep missing trade timings without knowing what to research or when, AoE Coach reads your match-up and gives you the resource plan and timing.