Helepolis (Age of Empires)


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

The Helepolis is an ultimate Siege Unit in Age of Empires. The Helepolis is an upgrade of the Ballista and is built at the Siege Workshop. It fires 2 times faster than a Ballista and has +1 range, but the overall stats remain the same. It is strong in groups as it is fairly accurate and has the highest damage per second in the game. Their main weakness is Catapults, as they are out-ranged and can be eliminated by a single shot. To build this unit in the siege workshop, Craftsmanship must be researched in the market during the Iron Age. Once craftsmanship is researched, a cost of and  is needed to upgrade the ballista to a Helepolis. Currently, the only civilizations that have bonuses for this unit are the Macedonians and the Hittites if played in the scenario editor.

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 unit is 4 times resistant to enemy conversion. However, since the Macedonians do not have the ability to create a helepolis, the cheaper cost per unit civilization bonus does not apply.

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 even after the enemy unit is eliminated.
 * Typing ICBM allows the player to upgrade its 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, it cannot attack moving targets unless the line of sight is revealed. However, it may attack enemy buildings already discovered through the fog of war without the need of additional line of sight.
 * Typing this code before finishing researching Engineering will grant the player an additional 2 range points. This will affect both the firing range and the line of sight.