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This article is about the unique technology in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Return of Rome. For other uses, see Ballista. |
Ballistas is a technology in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Return of Rome that is unique to the Romans and available at the Castle once the Castle Age is reached. Once researched, their Scorpion line fires 33% faster and Galley line gets +2 attack.
Strategy[]
Ballistas is a moderately expensive technology. Its effect is 33%, which is stronger than the Celt bonus for their siege (not just Scorpions), which is 25%. However, while the latter boost is free and the Roman boost appears in the form of unique technology, these Roman units already receive several different civilization bonuses to help them further. More specifically, the Roman Scorpions cost -60% (45) gold and have less minimum range (the latter via team bonus); whereas the Galley line has +1/+1 armor. However, complicating things further, the Romans lack Bracer and Dry Dock, so the extra attack is negated in the Imperial Age, but they still have less range and speed.
Taking all of these into consideration, the Roman Galleons function similarly to the Thirisadai (being tanky and slow and having -1 range compared to their counterparts). However, their Scorpions are still the best in the game, as they do not lack any technology, and are buffed in four separate ways.
Team bonuses[]
Portuguese: Researching Ballistas is 25% faster.
Changelog[]
Return of Rome[]
- Upon release, Ballistas gave the Galley line +33% firing rate. With update 87863, it gives them +2 attack.
History[]
Roman ballista in operation during a siege
After the absorption of the Ancient Greek city-states into the Roman Republic in 146 BC, the highly advanced Greek technology began to spread across many areas of Roman influence. This included the great military machine advances the Greeks had made (most notably by Dionysius of Syracuse), as well as all the scientific, mathematical, political, and artistic developments.
The Romans adopted the torsion-powered ballista, which had by now spread to several cities around the Mediterranean, all of which became Roman spoils of war, including one from Pergamon, which was depicted among a pile of trophy weapons in relief on a balustrade. The torsion ballista, developed by Alexander, was a far more complicated weapon than its predecessor and the Romans developed it even further, especially into much smaller versions, that could be easily carried.
