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This article is about the unit in Age of Empires IV. For the unit in Age of Empires II, see Bombard Cannon. |
| “ | Intimidating siege gun excellent against buildings or any stubborn targets. | ” |
| —Age of Empires IV description | ||
The Bombard is a ranged anti-building gunpowder siege engine in Age of Empires IV. It can be trained at the Siege Workshop starting in the Imperial Age. Its high bonus damage against buildings makes it adept at taking down fortifications.
It is available to all civilizations except for the French and Jeanne d'Arc, who have the Cannon instead, the Ottomans, who have the Great Bombard instead, and the Abbasid Dynasty, Ayyubids, Holy Roman Empire, and Order of the Dragon, who have the Culverin.
Civilizations[]
| Available | Unavailable |
|---|---|
Tactics[]
The Bombard is the primary anti-building siege unit in the Imperial Age. With a DPS over 2.5x greater than a Trebuchet, not even Keeps and landmarks can withstand Bombard barrages for very long. This increased damage comes at the cost of significantly decreased range, which can make them more vulnerable to defending units and structures. The Berkshire Palace, Red Palace, and Great Wall Gatehouse have enough range to quickly take out attacking Bombards, and even standard Cannon Emplacements have only slightly less range, and can do significant damage if the Bombard accidentally comes too close.
Although its primary use is against buildings, the Bombard can also be useful against certain high-hit-point, expensive targets due to its high attack. Other siege engines make good targets for Bombards, especially if it prevents them from taking out the player's own siege weapons. Elephant units are also vulnerable due to their low speed and range. Bombards perform poorly against most other units due to their slow fire rate, lack of Area of Effect damage, and relatively low DPS. The exception to this is Zhu Xi's Legacy Bombards after researching Cloud of Terror. This makes most melee units effective against Bombards, especially cavalry, as with most siege engines. Bombards should therefore always be supplemented with other units that can defend them versus whatever unit composition the enemy has.
Further statistics[]
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
 Hit points
|
 Siege Works (+20%); Improved: (+30%,  Mongols)
|
| Attack |  Chemistry (+25% bonus damage) Fine Tuned Guns (+20% and +50 bonus against Infantry,  Rus) Cloud of Terror (Attack gains Area of Effect,  Zhu Xi's Legacy)
|
 Attack speed
|
 Reload Drills (+25%,  Chinese)
|
 Movement speed
|
 Greased Axles (+15%); Improved: (+20% Mongols)
|
| Creation speed |  Military Academy (+33%); Improved: (+53%, Mongols) Efficient Production (+100%, requires Scholar garrisoned in the Siege Workshop,  Delhi Sultanate)
|
| Ability |  Siege Carpentry (Grants Structural Reinforcements ability,  Ayyubids)
|
| Other |  Siege Crew Training (Setup and teardown speed is instant, Rus)
|
| Aura and ability enhancements | |
|---|---|
| Hit points
|
 Atabeg Supervision (+20%, Ayyubids)
|
 Regeneration
|
 Divine Vitality (2 hp/s out of combat, Zhu Xi's Legacy)
|
| Attack |  Buddhist Conversion (+20% for 20 seconds,  Japanese) Kurultai Aura (+20%, Mongols) Siege Festival (+50% for 90 seconds,  Malians) Saint's Blessing (+2, or +3 with Fervor, Rus)
|
 Range
|
 Divine Defense (+1 tile, Zhu Xi's Legacy)
|
| Armor |  Structural Reinforcements (+20 melee, +10 fire armor for 10 seconds, Ayyubids) Defense Arrow (+2 melee and ranged for 5/10/12 seconds, depending on Whistling Arrows, Mongols) Saint's Blessing (+1 melee and ranged armor, Rus)
|
| Attack speed
|
 Network of Castles (+20%, or +30% with Network of Citadels,  English)
|
| Line of Sight |  Set up Camp (+30%, English)
|
| Movement speed
|
 Naval Deployment (+50% speed for 12 seconds after unloading from a Transport Ship,  Byzantines) Nehan Conversion (+25% for 20 seconds, Japanese) Maneuver Arrow (+33% for 5/10/12 seconds, depending on Whistling Arrows, Mongols)
|
| Resource cost |  Golden Age Tier 4 (-20%, Ayyubids) High Armory Bonus (-20%, Rus)
|
| Creation speed |  Golden Age Tier 3 (+20%,  Abbasid Dynasty and Ayyubids)  Conscriptio Influence (+20% per Cistern water level, Byzantines) Supervision (+150% for Chinese; +150% for Zhu Xi's Legacy or +300% with Regional Inspection) Yorishiro Bonus (+150%, Japanese) Military Festival (+100% for 90 seconds, Malians)
|
| Civilization bonuses | |
|---|---|
| Hit points
|
Chinese (+15% in  Ming Dynasty) Chinese (+50% from Astronomical Clocktower)
|
| Resource cost | Zhu Xi's Legacy (-10% in  Yuan Dynasty)
|
| Creation speed | English (+75% from  The White Tower)
|
| Other | English (Available at Keeps)
|
Dialogue lines[]
Bombards use the standard ranged siege engine dialogue lines
- Main article: Siege engine#Dialogue lines
Changelog[]
- Originally, Bombards had 480 hit points (720 for Clocktower) With patch 11009, this was reduced to 400. (600 for Clocktower) Season Two Update 17718 further reduced their hit points to 240 (360 for Clocktower). With update 12.0.1974, they have 210 hit points.
- Originally, Bombards had 0.88 tiles/second move speed. With patch 11009, this was reduced to 0.62. With patch 7.1.113, this was increased to 0.75
- Originally, Bombards dealt +340 bonus damage to Buildings only. With Patch 11009, this bonus damage was also applied to ships. With season Two Update 17718, this bonus was increased to +410. With update 12.0.1974, they gain +50 bonus damage against infantry. With patch 12.1.2454, their bonus against buildings was decreased to +375 and they gain +50 bonus damage against elephants.
- Originally, Bombards dealt 170 damage and had 12 ranged armor. With Season Two Update 17718, they deal 100 damage and have 30 ranged armor. With patch 9.2.628, they have 35 ranged armor. With update 10.0.576 they have 40 ranged armor. With update 12.0.1974, they deal 50 damage and their ranged armor is replaced by 85% ranged resistance.
- Originally, Pyrotechnics gave Bombards +20% range. With Season Two Update 17718, it no longer affects Bombards.
- Originally, Bombards cost 400 wood, 600 gold. With update 6.0.878, they cost 300 wood, 600 gold. With patch 8.2.218, the cost was further reduced to 350 wood, 500 gold.
- With update 12.0.1974, the Abbasid Dynasty, Ayyubids, Holy Roman Empire and Order of the Dragon lost access to the Bombard, replaced by the Culverin, which was reworked to be a Bombard replacement.
Campaign version[]
Because the campaigns do not get rebalanced with each update, Bombards maintain the same stats in each campaign that they had upon the campaign's release. Therefore, in the original four campaigns:
- They deal 200 siege damage with +400 attack bonus vs buildings, have a range of 8.5 tiles, and attack every 7.38 seconds
- They have 600 hit points, no armor, and move at 1.58 tiles per second
- They cost 500 wood, 600 gold and require Chemistry to be researched before they can be created
In the The Sultans Ascend campaign:
- They have 240 hit points and have 40 ranged armor instead of 85% ranged resistance
- They deal 100 damage, with no bonus against infantry.
Gallery[]
