Siege Tower (Age of Empires II)

"Siege weapon used to scale enemy walls; resistant to archer attack."

- Age of Empires II description

The Siege Tower is a siege unit in Age of Empires II HD: The Forgotten. Upon its introduction, it was only available in a few campaign scenarios and the Scenario Editor. Since The African Kingdoms, however, it is trainable at the Siege Workshop. Its purpose is to unload foot soldiers beyond enemy Walls without the need to attack it, enabling the troops to quickly enter an enemy settlement without being noticed.

The Forgotten
The Siege Tower has a high amount of hit points and pierce armor for a siege unit, and is capable of firing of volleys of arrows at nearby enemies for defense. Despite this, however, it is almost useless against fortifications, even losing a one-on-one battle against a Watch Tower, but rather shines as a decent armored troop transport similar to the Battering Ram.

Garrisoning soldiers inside the Siege Tower will increase its speed, but not the amount of arrows it fires.

The African Kingdoms
The African Kingdoms version of the Siege Tower behaves similarly to its prior rendition, though it no longer has an attack and instead gains the ability to unload garrisoned troops on the other side of a Wall. This change helps greatly during a siege when the enemy base is fortified and the player cannot afford to waste time tearing it down, but is absolutely useless if the enemy doesn't use Walls.

The Siege Tower cannot unload if there is not enough room on the other side, or if there are multiple layers of Walls blocking it. As it can no longer attack, the Siege Tower becomes highly vulnerable towards melee attackers and should be escorted until contact with an enemy Wall is made and the troops inside are deployed.

Appearance in Campaigns

 * In An End and a Beginning, the first level of the Sforza campaign, there is a Siege Tower standing around in the camp of Captain Luigeusi.
 * It also appears in the second level O Fortuna in the very end, where Carmagnolas troops destroy the attacking Siege Tower of Malatesta.
 * In Arrival at Bari, the first level of the Bari campaign, there is a Siege Tower being part of the player's troops to be landed at Emperor Louis II's port.

Civilization Bonuses

 * Aztecs: Siege Towers are created 15% faster.
 * Burmese: Researching Faith is 50% cheaper.
 * Celts: Siege Towers fire 20% faster (only in The Forgotten). Siege Towers can convert herdables even if enemy units are next to them.
 * Chinese: Technologies that benefit Siege Towers are 15%/20% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.
 * Portuguese: Siege Towers cost 15% less gold.
 * Slavs: Siege Towers are 15% cheaper.

Team Bonuses

 * A team containing Celts: Siege Towers are created 20% faster.
 * A team containing Malians: Researching Ballistics, Siege Engineers, and Chemistry is 80% faster (these technologies only affect the Siege Tower in The Forgotten).
 * A team containing Teutons: Siege Towers are more resistant to conversion.

The Forgotten

 * Siege Towers cost 300W/160G.
 * Siege Towers have 6 range (minimum range 1), 6 attack (+6 against buildings), a ROF of 4, and an accuracy of 90%. They always shoot volleys of arrows.
 * Siege Towers move at a speed of 0.6.

The African Kingdoms

 * Siege Towers are no longer able to attack, but can drop troops behind enemy Walls instead.
 * Siege Towers receive +5 bonus damage (have -5 armor) from Rams and siege weapons.
 * Siege Towers now move at a speed of 0.8.
 * With patch 4.8, Siege Towers now cost 200W/160G.

Trivia

 * The Siege Tower is the only military unit incapable of attacking any enemy unit or structure (in The African Kingdoms).
 * Despite being introduced in The Forgotten, it is shown with a The Conquerors icon in the Scenario Editor.
 * With Drill researched, Mongol Siege Towers fully loaded with infantry move at the speed of 1.7, making them one of the fastest land units in the game, outsped only by Scout Cavalry with Husbandry researched.
 * The new (African Kingdoms) Siege Towers have become center of a huge debate within the AoEII HD community due to its lack of attack. It has been described as being the "most useless" and "weakest" unit due to its very limited use of tactics, being a 'one trick pony', and high price.

History
The siege tower or belfry was a wheeled wooden structure used to get over the city walls. The outer part of a siege tower was often covered with animal hides to make it fireproof. For further protection against hostile troops, siege tower carried archers who fired from inside and top.