Mastering the Fish Trap Boom in Age of Empires

Fishing is one of the fastest ways to gather food in Age of Empires. Whenever there’s water on the map, you should consider a fish boom to strengthen your economy in the long run.

If you’ve ever built fishing ships only to delete them once the fish were gone—stop doing that! Instead, start using fish traps. In this guide, I’ll show you how to make fish trapping even easier than farming, so you can maximize efficiency with minimal effort.

Why Fish Traps Are So Powerful

Fish traps provide a huge amount of food. If placed right next to a dock, fishing ships won’t have to move, allowing them to collect food 100% of the time.

When you have a safe body of water, prioritize fish traps over farms. This is why you’ll want multiple docks to optimize space. At the end of this guide, I’ll share a powerful secret trick to make fish booming even easier—but first, let’s go over some key principles for an efficient fish trap strategy.

Rules for an Effective Fish Trap Boom

✔ Maximize dock placement – Ensure your docks have as many open water tiles around them as possible to allow more space for fish traps.

✔ Prioritize production wisely – If there’s still fish in the water, keep producing fishing ships. If the fish are gone, prioritize fish traps instead.

✔ Get the Gillnets upgrade ASAP – Research Gillnets in the Castle Age to boost fishing ship efficiency.

✔ Balance economy correctly – 9 fish traps with Gillnets can sustain villager production across 3 town centers for a while, so don’t overinvest in fish traps before adding more TCs.

✔ Keep fishing ships stationed on traps – This ensures they remain efficient (see “How to Execute In-Game” for details).

✔ More TCs = More wood = More fish traps – As you expand, focus on wood production to maintain a steady supply of fish traps.

✔ Spam docks after TCs – Build multiple docks, spacing them at least 2 tiles apart to leave room for fish traps.

✔ Use sand tiles near docks – Fish traps can be placed on the white sand near docks, sometimes allowing you to completely surround a dock with traps.

✔ Start near the shore – This makes it easier to maneuver fishing ships when adding more traps later.

How to Execute This Strategy In-Game

Now that you know the rules, let’s make the execution as quick and efficient as possible.

Step 1: Improve Dock Visibility

To accurately place fish traps, I recommend downloading a flat dock mod. This will allow you to see behind the dock, making trap placement much easier. You can find these mods in the in-game Mod Center by searching for “dock” and selecting one you like.

Step 2: Precise Fish Trap Placement

To place a fish trap on a specific tile:

1️⃣ Click the desired tile.
2️⃣ Hold Shift and build the trap using your hotkey.

This ensures your fishing ship will stand on the trap right next to the dock.

Fixing Fishing Ship Behavior

If your fishing ship is dropping off food instead of moving to the trap, you have two options:
🔹 Press Alt before moving it.
🔹 Manually drop off the food and then move the ship.

Secret Trick: The Ultimate Fish Boom Hack

Since you’re busy multitasking in-game, here’s a super easy way to automate fish boom setup:

1️⃣ Produce fishing ships at the same dock.
2️⃣ Occasionally select a group of fishing ships and right-click a dock.
3️⃣ The ships will automatically position themselves around the dock in available spaces, ready for traps.

To make this even faster, use the “Go to Idle Villager” hotkey to quickly select each fishing ship and place traps efficiently.

Taking It to the Next Level: The Pro Trick

Most players (even pros!) don’t know this next-level trick, but I discovered it through countless chaotic fish boom games.

Here’s how to completely automate fishing ship positioning:

1️⃣ Select all your docks and right-click one of them—this sets a rally point at that dock.
2️⃣ All newly produced fishing ships will automatically gather around that dock, perfectly positioned for fish traps.
3️⃣ The only downside? The dock you set as the rally point will garrison its own ships. To fix this, simply set its rally point to another dock.
4️⃣ Now, every new fishing ship will automatically be in position, ready for a fish trap—without you having to move them manually.

For maximum efficiency, use the “Go to Idle Villager” hotkey and place traps as soon as the ships appear.

Since mechanics can be tricky to grasp in a written guide, I highly recommend watching this short video to see the strategy in action. Once you master this method, fish booming will be easier, faster, and stronger than ever!

Final Thoughts

Fish trapping is an underrated but incredibly powerful economic strategy. With the right dock placement, efficient ship management, and automated positioning, you can out-boom your opponents with ease.

Now go out there and dominate the water like never before!