The Caravan is an Ancient-era trade unit in Civilization II, available with the Trade advance. Caravans are used to establish trade routes between cities, providing a persistent Trade bonus to both cities, and a lump-sum payment of Gold and Science to the establishing civilization.
Caravans are succeeded by Freight with the advent of The Corporation.
Strategy[]
Upon construction of a Caravan, the player is prompted to select its commodity from up to four options (three trade goods, or Food supplies). The player can consult the "Supply And Demand" submenu to review potential destinations.
During the early game, caravans provide the most lucrative routes with other civilizations. Later in the game, once the player has built up economic improvements within their own cities, trade routes within the empire become more practical.
Caravans are slow-moving and poor defenders, making them vulnerable to barbarian ambushes when travelling over land. Delivering them via sea transports is often optimal in the early game, before civs have built up their infrastructure.
Trade routes' lump-sum revenues wane with specific advances. Once The Corporation is discovered and Freight become available, it may be beneficial to replace existing Caravans for higher returns.
Wonder rushing[]
Caravans can also be used to hurry production of Wonders: trade units entering a player's own city building a Wonder gain an additional option to convert their entire Shield value to the production box, rather than the 50% provided by manual disbandment. This can be done even by units returning to their home city, and is not dependent on the unit's commodity. Stockpiling caravans ahead of time is a useful means of rushing a Wonder as soon as its prerequisite advance is obtained.
Civilopedia entry[]
Trade has been a major source of income to civilizations throughout history. Journeying to distant lands, caravans exchanged their loads of goods for money or other items of value. In addition, the traders who accompanied the caravans often brought back new knowledge about the advances made by the civilizations with whom they did business. Marco Polo, for example, went with traders to China. He remained there for many years, and brought back much valuable information to the West.
See also[]
- Caravan in other games
Civilization II Units | |
---|---|
Ground |
Alpine Troops • Archers • Armor • Artillery • Cannon • Caravan • Catapult • Cavalry • Chariot • Crusaders • Diplomat • Dragoons • Elephant • Engineers • Explorer • Fanatics • Freight • Horsemen • Howitzer • Knights • Legion • Marines • Mech. Inf. • Musketeers • Paratroopers • Partisans • Phalanx • Pikemen • Riflemen • Settlers • Spy • Warriors |
Sea |
AEGIS Cruiser • Battleship • Caravel • Carrier • Cruiser • Destroyer • Frigate • Galleon • Ironclad • Submarine • Transport • Trireme |
Air |
Bomber • Cruise Msl. • Fighter • Helicopter • Nuclear Msl. • Stlth Bmbr. • Stlth Ftr. |