| “ | Stronger than Battering Ram. Slow, lumbering siege weapon used to reduce enemy towns to ruins. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II description | ||
The Capped Ram is a non-ranged siege unit in Age of Empires II that can be trained at the Siege Workshop once the Imperial Age is reached. Compared to the Battering Ram, the head of the Ram is now capped with a metal head, thus making it deal 25 more damage against buildings. Another notable feature is that the Capped Ram upgrade allows Rams to deal splash damage to adjacent structures and units. The upgrade is available to all civilizations except Bengalis, Dravidians, Gurjaras, and Hindustanis, which get the Armored Elephant line instead of rams.
Rams are very useful in tearing down enemy Walls and clear makeshift obstructions. Also, Rams perform outstandingly against stationary Trebuchets. A Capped Ram can garrison up to five foot units (infantry, archers, or Villagers), up from four with the standard Battering Ram. Only infantry units improve the speed and attack against buildings.
Tactics[]
Rams do not have any melee armor (in fact melee attackers get an attack bonus of +3), so any unit with a melee attack can destroy a Capped Ram rather quickly. The best ways to destroy them are with Mangonels, Mangudai, cavalry, or infantry. However, due to their high pierce armor and HP, they can withstand most ranged attacks easily. In fact, it is sometimes useful to add a few Capped Rams to an army for the sole purpose of soaking up enemy archer fire to protect the main force.
Capped Rams can cause enormous damage if left ignored. Although they can attack units, the damage they do to non-siege units is negligible. However, they can be used against Trebuchets and other siege units to good effect. The Capped Ram is good against arrow-shooting Towers, buildings, and Castles. In The Age of Kings, it is not recommended to use Capped Rams against Bombard Towers, because Bombard Towers deal melee damage. However, that was changed in patch 1.0b of The Conquerors, and Bombard Towers now deal pierce damage, meaning they do almost no damage to Rams.
Three Capped Rams destroying a Castle.
A Villager repairing a Capped Ram.
Since The Conquerors, infantry and foot archers can load themselves into Capped Rams, giving enemies a nasty surprise should they attempt to destroy it. Infantry also increase the speed and damage out the rams. The presence of units garrisoned inside a Ram is denoted by a flag on top of the Ram (similar to Transport Ships). A Capped Ram may load up to five (four in The Conquerors) units. The relationship shared between foot troops and Rams is mutually beneficial. When they are fully loaded, it is granted a speed greater than that of some foot units. Thus, the Ram may be used as a viable form of rapid transportation for the infantry and foot archers, in addition to providing cover from withering archer fire from Castles and Towers while the Ram closes the gap. Capped Rams can knock holes in Walls and then disgorge infantry directly into the enemy base.
Since The Forgotten, Villagers can also load themselves into Capped Rams enabling them to perform a distraction through deception by loading single Villagers in Rams making them effective dummies that can drive enemy forces away from the player's intended target, and enabling to perform offensive maneuvers. This new ability also enables to the Villagers to make them a better frontal support builders as they can travel inside Rams along with infantry and foot archers, and once they reach the intended place they can start to build frontal military structures.
Like with buildings, if a Ram is converted, units inside the Ram will not be converted. They will just be forced to leave the converted Ram.
Rams also provide protection to allied units behind them from arrow-fire of enemy fortifications (but not from projectiles of enemy units or ships). As long as the projectiles from the enemy defenses hit the collision box of the ram, the ram absorbs all the damage and the units behind remain safe. If a ram and a protected unit are close to the enemy's Castle or tower, the arrows fire from a greater angle, and some of the arrows can still hit the unit behind. Exceptions to this case include Villagers behind the ram. Therefore, a ram attacking a Castle even with Murder Holes can be safely repaired by a Villager for longer service.
This cover from arrow-fire is also provided by Siege Towers, and due to their larger size, Siege Towers can provide better cover to several units behind them, but they have a tendency to move away when under attack as their stance can not be set.
Further statistics[]
| Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Buildings, Trebuchets, Archers |
| Weak vs. | Mangudai, Onagers, melee units especially Magyar Huszars |
| Upgrades | |
| Hit points |  Furor Celtica (+40%, Celts only)
|
| Attack |  Siege Engineers (+20% attack against buildings) Torsion Engines (increases splash damage radius, Ethiopians only)
|
| Armor |  Ironclad (+4/+0, Teutons only)
|
| Speed | Drill (+50%, Mongols only)
|
| Conversion defense |  Faith Heresy
|
| Upgrades |  Siege Ram
|
Civilization bonuses[]
- Aztecs: Capped Rams are created 11% faster.
- Bulgarians: Upgrading to Siege Ram costs -50%.
- Burmese: Researching Faith is 50% cheaper.
- Celts: Capped Rams attack 25% faster. Capped Rams can convert herdables even if enemy units are next to them.
- Cumans: Capped Ram available in the Castle Age.
- Chinese: Technologies that benefit Capped Rams are 20% cheaper.
- Italians: Researching Siege Engineers is 33% cheaper.
- Portuguese: Capped Rams cost -20% gold. Upgrades that benefit Capped Rams are researched 30% faster.
- Slavs: Capped Rams are 15% cheaper.
- Tatars: Capped Rams deal +25% bonus damage from elevations.
Team bonuses[]
- A team containing Celts: Capped Rams are created and upgraded 20% faster.
- A team containing Malians: Researching Siege Engineers is 80% faster.
- A team containing Teutons: Capped Rams are more resistant to conversion.
- A team containing Lithuanians: Researching Heresy and Faith is 20% faster.
Changelog[]
The Age of Kings[]
- No units can be garrisoned inside rams.
- The upgrade to the Siege Ram costs 1,000F/800G.
The Conquerors[]
- Up to four Infantry and foot archers can be garrisoned inside Capped Rams.
- Heresy introduced.
- Celts: Furor Celtica introduced. It gives Capped Rams +50% HP.
- Mongols: Drill introduced.
- With patch 1.0b, the upgrade to the Siege Ram costs 1,000F.
The Forgotten[]
- Villagers can be garrisoned in Rams.
- Garrison capacity of Capped Ram is increased to 5.
- Celts: Furor Celtica gives +40% HP to Capped Rams.
- Teutons: Ironclad introduced.
Definitive Edition[]
- Bulgarians: with update 42848, upgrading to Siege Ram costs -50%.
- Portuguese: with update 42848, technologies are researched 30% faster.
Dynasties of India'[]
- With update 61321, siege units and ships are now resistant to armor-ignoring attacks, similarly to buildings.
- Hindustanis: With update 61321, Capped Rams is removed from their technology tree, and replaced with Armored and Siege Elephants.
Trivia[]
- The Capped Ram is one of only four upgraded forms of military units (the other three being the Man-at-Arms, the Long Swordsman, and the War Galley) to be available to all civilizations which have Battering Rams.
- With -3, the rams have the lowest melee armor of all units.
- In addition to all infantry and foot archer units (and such-classed Hero units), Capped Rams can also be garrisoned with Villagers. Further, they can be garrisoned with unique Scenario Editor units Photon Man and Penguin. They can never be garrisoned with Petards, Saboteurs, Kings or Queens (or similar Hero units), Monks (and other Monk-like units), Merchants, or animal units like Hunting Wolves or Furious the Monkey Boy.
History[]
| “ | Rams were simple and effective weapons for breaking into fortifications. The typical battering ram was a stout log mounted on wheels or suspended from a frame so it could swing forward and backward. Any wall could be knocked down given enough time. Capping the point of a battering ram with iron greatly improved the battering ram. The capped ram did more damage and lasted longer before needing replacement. | ” |
Gallery[]
