Ballista (Age of Empires)


 * For the Age of Mythology variant, see Ballista (Age of Mythology)

The Ballista has a strong attack and fires 2X faster than stone throwers (and their successors), but is very fragile and should be supplemented with non-seige weapons when sent to military combat. The Ballista, like other siege weapons, can be built at the siege workshop. This ranged weapon can be upgraded into the Helepolis during the Iron Age.

The ballista, while less powerful than even the Stone Thrower, is more effective against units, having a faster moving shot, and a faster firing rate as well, which makes them a good counter to Infantry and Priests.

Upgrades

 * Iron Age
 * Alchemy increases attack by one point.
 * Ballistics increases the accuracy.
 * Engineering increases the range by 2 points.

Civilization Bonuses

 * If played as the Hittites in a scenario or a campaign, the hit points increases from 55 to 110 hit points.
 * If played as the Macedonians, the cost per unit is 2X cheaper and 4X resitant to enemy conversion.

Trivia

 * Due to the fast fire rate at a long range, the unit may still fire a bolt or two within a fraction of a second after the enemy unit is eliminated.
 * Typing ICBM allows the player to upgrade the ballista's range by 90 points, bumping the total up to 100 range points.
 * Although the firing range will be improved, the line of sight still remains the same. Likewise, it cannot attack enemy units unless the area is explored. Even if the area is fully explored, the ballista cannot attack moving targets even though it may attack enemy buildings.
 * Typing this code before researching Engineering and then researching the same technology will grant the player an additional 2 range points. This will affect both the firing range and the line of sight.