Ballista (Age of Empires)

This article is about the unit in Age of Empires. For the unit in Age of Mythology, see Ballista (Age of Mythology).

Template:AoEUnitsThe Ballista is a siege unit in Age of Empires. It has a strong attack and fires twice as fast as Stone Throwers and their upgrades, but is very fragile and should be supplemented with non-siege weapons when sent into battle. 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 the Stone Thrower, is more effective against units, having a faster moving shot and a faster firing rate as well, which make them a good counter to infantry and Priests.

Upgrades

Iron Age

• Alchemy increases attack by one point (changed to +2 in The Rise of Rome)
• Ballistics increases accuracy.
• Engineering increases range by 2 points.

Civilization Bonuses

• Hittites: In a scenario or a campaign, the hit points of Ballistas increase from 55 to 110 hit points.
• Macedonians: Ballistas cost 50% less and they are four times harder to convert.

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 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.