God's Own Sling is a hero Trebuchet found in the The Lion and the Demon scenario, the Definitive Edition version of the Cyprus scenario on standard difficulty, the Mangudai Madness and The Siege event scenarios, and also in the Scenario Editor in Age of Empires II. It is based on "God's Stone Thrower", a counterweight trebuchet used in the 1189-1191 Siege of Acre during the Third Crusade.
God's Own Sling has some peculiarities compared to other Trebuchets. Even unpacked, its armor remains 2/8, unlike regular Trebuchets, which have 1/150 in the unpacked form. Unpacked, the unit has 300 hit points; packed, the hit points drop to 150 (the actual number is halved, so if e.g. a God's Own Sling with 233 HP packs itself, it has 116 HP in the packed form), and all hero qualities are lost. The packed form has Armor class: Siege weapon, whereas the unpacked form has the Hero unit armor class.
As siege units, both versions can be repaired by Villagers. The unpacked form has only 8 pierce armor, and does not have Armor class: Ram.
Packed God's Own Sling has some statistics different from unpacked form that do not actually matter:
- Attack of 1 melee
- Rate of Fire of 1
- Minimum Range of 0
Campaign appearances[]
Saladin[]
- The Lion and the Demon: God's Own Sling and Bad Neighbor are utilized by English troops under Richard the Lionheart.
Historical Battles[]
- Cyprus: On lower difficulties, God's Own Sling is utilized by the English troops following Richard the Lionheart.
Event Scenarios[]
- Mangudai Madness: The final enemy wave also contains a God's Own Sling in every attack group.
- The Siege: There is a God's Own Sling protecting Hagia Sophia.
Victors and Vanquished[]
- Fetih: There is a God's Own Sling protecting Hagia Sophia.
Changelog[]
The Conquerors[]
- As the packed version is not considered a hero unit, it is not affected by the new bonuses to heroes (immunity to conversions and hit point regeneration). Previously, while not a hero, there was no gameplay implication to this oversight.
Definitive Edition[]
- In a patch[When?], the packed form was made a hero unit, granting it immunity to conversions and hit point regeneration. However, it did not gain the Hero unit armor class.
Trivia[]
- Though used by English King Richard the Lionheart in the Saladin campaign and Cyprus, its basis was owned by King Philip II Augustus of France in reality.
- During the siege, a priest took a special liking to God's Stone Thrower and remained by its side, blessing it with holy water and encouraging people to find new projectiles and help repairing it when needed.
- The range of 20 (shared with its companion Bad Neighbor, and the Warwolf Trebuchet) is unparalleled in the game.
- The unit costs 250 wood, 125 gold in unpacked form and 200 wood, 200 gold in packed form. As such, when packing/unpacking, the score can change in isolation. It is better to repair it in the unpacked form, and destroy it in the packed form.
