Used to attack military units, buildings, and walls.
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—Age of Empires description
The Ballista (plural Ballistas or Ballistae) is a siege unit in Age of Empires. It has a strong attack and fires twice as fast as the Stone Thrower and its upgrades, but is very fragile and should be supplemented with non-siege weapons when sent into battle.
The Ballista, like other siege weapons, is built at the Siege Workshop. This ranged weapon can be upgraded into the Helepolis (before Return of Rome, only when Craftsmanship is researched).
While less powerful than the Stone Thrower, it is more effective against units, having a faster projectile and a faster firing rate as well, which makes it a good counter to infantry and Priests.
Ballistae have 3.1 reload time, 7.2 projectile speed, and upgrading Ballistae to Helepolises costs 1,500 food, 1,000 wood. With hotfix 85208, Ballistae have 2.7 reload time, 4.067 projectile speed, and upgrading Ballistae to Helepolises costs 1,200 food, 1,000 wood.
Researching Craftsmanship is no longer required to upgrade Ballistae to Helepolises.
Assyrians: Upgrading Ballistae to Helepolises is 50% cheaper.
The ballista was an early artillery weapon that fired missiles, primarily large bolts or spears. It was used in attacks on cities or fortified positions because it could cause structural damage and casualties from a great distance. When it could be deployed on a battlefield, it was especially useful against dense formations of troops. In this situation, one shot could cause multiple casualties. The ballista was invented in the second half of the first millennium B.C., probably by Greek engineers. It functioned like a large crossbow. Tension was built up in the engine by twisting leather, and then released, propelling the missile down a guided trough and into flight.
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—Age of Empires manual
While the manual history section describes the energy source to be the tension in the twisted leather cords (referring to torsion engines), the in-game Ballista has no such cordage, and instead works on the same principle of a handheld bow, which is tension from the bending of its recurved bow limbs. Real-life ballistae came in various forms, from the one shown in game to massive ones using cordage under tension shooting rock projectiles, utilized by the Romans.
Trivia[]
Despite being a siege unit, it does not deal bonus damage against buildings.
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 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. As such, it cannot attack enemy units unless the area is explored. Even if the area is fully explored, the Ballista cannot attack moving targets unless the line of sight between itself and the target is revealed. However, it may attack already discovered enemy buildings 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.
Gallery[]
The Ballista unit line in Return of Rome, with the Ballista on the left
Available
Unavailable
Alchemy (+1)
Range
Engineering (+2)
Ballistics (hit moving targets)
Conscription (+25%)
Helepolis (+5 attack, +1 range, +45% attack speed)
Romans (+1)
Lac Viet (+2/0)
Macedonians (4x)
Assyrians (+20%)
Assyrians: Upgrading Ballistae to Helipolises is 50% cheaper.*
Archery Range
