Catapult Ship

Catapult Ship
Unit information
Introduced in	Chronicles
Type	Ship
Civilization	All
Age	Classical Age
Training
Trained at	Shipyard
Wood	140
Gold	140
Training time	42 seconds (Catapult) 36 seconds (Onager)
Statistics
Hit points	140 (Catapult) 150 (Onager)
Melee attack	35 (Catapult) 50 (Onager)
Attack bonus	vs Building:  +15 (Catapult)  +20 (Onager)
Blast radius	1 (Catapult) 1.25 (Onager)
Reload time	7 (Catapult) 6 (Onager)
Range	7 (Catapult) 8 (Onager)
Projectiles	5
Minimum range	3
Melee armor	1 (Catapult) 2 (Onager)
Pierce armor	6 (Catapult) 7 (Onager)
Armor class	Ship:  +9 (Catapult)  +11 (Onager)
Speed	1.15
Line of Sight	9 (Catapult) 10 (Onager)
Upgrades to
Upgrades to	: Onager Ship
Upgrade cost	600 food, 500 gold

“	Long range warship with high damage splash attack, but minimum range.	”
—In-game description

The Catapult Ship is an Classical Age military ship in Chronicles available at the Shipyard. It can be upgraded to the Onager Ship in the Imperial Age.

Availability

Achaemenids	Athenians Spartans

Tactics

The Catapult Ship plays a similar role to the Mangonel on land. It deals splash damage allowing it to hit multiple targets at once, making it most effective against groups of ships in tight formation. Like the Mangonel, it deals friendly fire, so the player must keep that in mind when deploying them alongside Monoremes. As the Lembos has a very short range, it is also at risk of being inadvertently damaged during massed engagements. Compared to archers and most infantry, ships generally have higher hit points, so Catapult Ship attacks are less devastating and will not take out units in one hit they way the attacks of the Mangonel line have the potential to do against weaker targets. Unlike the Onager, the Onager Ship's attacks do not destroy trees.

The Onager Ship upgrade is fairly expansive, though less so than the Onager upgrade for the Mangonel line, costing 600 food, 500 gold. It provides similar benefits as the latter upgrade, with +15 attack, +5 anti-building attack, +16.6% firing rate, +1 range, +1 melee and pierce armor, +0.25 blast radius, +2 ship armor, and +10 hit points, making the Catapult Ship more devastating to large groups of enemy units. It is a worthwhile upgrade when multiple Catapult Ships are deployed, especially after the Monoreme and Lembos lines have also been upgraded to offset the increased risk of friendly fire.

Although superficially similar, it plays a very different role to the Dromon in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, as the latter has a smaller Area of Effect while being much more effective than the Catapult Ship against buildings.

Further statistics

Strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Massed units at long range
Weak vs.	Units at close range

Technologies
Attack	Siege Engineers (+20% against buildings)
Range	Siege Engineers (+1)
Armor	Hypozomata (0/+1)
Conversion resistance	Exorcism (+4 min, +4 max) Hemlock (die upon getting converted)
Movement speed	Drums (+15%)
Resource cost	Shipwright (-20% wood) Naval Policy (-15% gold, Athenians only)
Creation speed	Shipwright (+54%) Conscription (+33%) Naval Policy (+15%, Athenians only) Peloponnesian League (+50%, Spartans only)
Upgrading	Conscription (+33% faster)

Aura enhancements
Regeneration	Polemarch (+20 HP/min, requires Ephorate, Spartans only)
Attack	Strategos (+1, Athenians only)
Armor	Spearman (0/+1, requires Sparabaras, Achaemenids only)
Attack speed	Leviathan (+18%) Polemarch (+15%, Spartans only) Defensive Town Center (+15%, Achaemenids only)
Movement speed	Polemarch (+15%, requires Morai, Spartans only)
Creation speed	Military Town Center (+50%, Achaemenids only)
Upgrading	Military Town Center (+50% speed, Achaemenids only)

Civilization bonuses
Creation speed	Achaemenids (+15%)
Upgrading	Achaemenids (+15% faster)

Team bonuses
Upgrading	Athenians (+50% faster) Portuguese (+25% faster)

Gallery

The Catapult Ship line, with the Onager Ship at the right