Carabela Élite

Caravels deal damage in a straight line with every hit, allowing them to injure and even kill clusters of units on the shoreline, or sink masses of enemy ships in naval combat. Stat-wise, Caravels are generally superior to War Galleys in most departments except ship-to-ship damage. They will generally lose to War Galleys in one-on-one combat, and an Elite Caravel will be defeated by a Galleon, but a large fleet of them will defeat an armada of those counterparts due to the nature of their projectiles. Fire Ships hard-counter Caravels, as their bonus damage is negated, and their pass-through effect is not nearly as useful once the Fire Ships get in close. Demolition Ships, on the other hand, will struggle against groups of Caravels due to the pass-through damage, letting the Caravels take out multiple Demolition Ships before they can get close. A Caravel is slightly more expensive than a War Galley, but it does not need to be upgraded and is available instantly once the Castle Age is reached. Building both Caravels and War Galleys/Galleons in the late game is a good idea only if the player's economy allows it, but doing so will give the player a very effective anti-ship armada at their disposal, with Elite Caravels acting as the main naval force and Galleons acting as a tank unit. However, this may be unnecessary, as Portuguese Galleons are already some of the best in the game. It is important to micromanage Caravels in fights, as patrolling them into an enemy fleet will squander their pass-through mechanic once both fleets have spread out. Forcing the enemy to chase and thus bunch up will ensure multiple ships are struck simultaneously. On maps that have shallows and river crossings, Caravels are an excellent unit to use against groups of land units, able to function like a durable, highly mobile Scorpion, albeit with less damage per shot. Non-Elite Caravels have Line of Sight and pierce armor equal to those of the Galleon and Elite Caravels, which makes them situationally better before their Elite upgrade.