Helepolis (Age of Empires)

This article is about the unit in Age of Empires. For the unit in Age of Mythology, see Helepolis (Age of Mythology).

Helepolis
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires
Type	Siege unit
Age	Iron Age
Training
Trained at	Siege Workshop
Wood	100
Gold	80
Training time	40 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	55
Attack	45
Attack bonuses	+5 vs Fire Galley
Rate of Fire	1.85
Range	10
Minimum range	2
Melee armor	0
Pierce armor	0
Speed	0.8
Unit evolution
Upgraded from	Ballista
Upgrade time	150 seconds
Required research	Craftsmanship

The Helepolis is an ultimate siege unit in Age of Empires, the upgrade of the Ballista in the Iron Age.

It is built at the Siege Workshop and requires research of Craftsmanship at the Market beforehand. 1,200 food and 1,000 wood is needed to upgrade the Ballista to a Helepolis.

The Helepolis fires twice as fast as a Ballista and has +1 range. It is strong in groups as it is fairly accurate and deals the highest damage per second in the game. Like its predecessor, the Helepolis does not deal bonus damage against buildings but deals a +5 attack bonus against Fire Galleys.

The main counter to the Helepolis are Catapults that can out-range and eliminate them in a single shot, unless the unit moves clear of the attack. No civilizations have bonuses for this unit, although if playing as the Hittites in the Scenario Editor, the doubled hit points still apply due the unit being classified as a siege weapon.

Civilizations

The Helepolis is an uncommon unit, and it is only available to some civilizations:

Unit availability

Available	Unavailable
Assyrians Carthaginians Choson Greeks Minoans Romans Shang	Babylonians Egyptians Hittites Macedonians Palmyrans Persians Phoenicians Sumerians Yamato

Note: Among the civilizations who have access to the Ballista, only the Macedonians and Palmyrans are unable to upgrade them to the Helepolis.

Upgrades

Iron Age

•  Alchemy increases attack by 2 points.
•  Ballistics increases accuracy
•  Engineering increases range by 2 points

Siege Workshop Tree
Bronze Age Siege Workshop Stone Thrower Iron Age Catapult Ballista Heavy Catapult Helepolis

Changelog

Age of Empires

• Helepolises have 40 attack and cost 1,500 food to upgrade.

Definitive Edition

• With update 38862, Helepolises attack 5% faster.
• With update 46777, Helepolises have 45 attack and cost 1,200 food to upgrade.

Trivia

• If played as the Sumerians in the scenario editor, its fire rate is 50% slower.
• Due to the fast fire rate at a long range, the unit may still fire a bolt or two within a fraction of a second even after the enemy unit is eliminated.
• Typing ICBM allows the player to upgrade its range by 90 points, bumping the total up to 100 range points.
  • Although the firing range will be improved, the line of sight still remains the same. Likewise, it cannot attack any target unless the unit is already discovered within the fog of war. Even if the fog of war is removed by a cheat code, it still cannot attack moving targets unless it is within the line of sight of other allied units. However, it may attack enemy buildings already discovered through the fog of war.
  • Typing this code before finishing researching Engineering will grant the player an additional 2 range points. This will affect both the firing range and the line of sight.
• The name is a misnomer. Helepolis was actually a name for Greek siege towers, not a siege weapon firing bolts or rocks.

History

“	The helepolis (Greek for "city killer") was one of the most advanced weapons of antiquity and a remarkable demonstration of ancient engineering ingenuity. It was in fact an automatic siege weapon that fired ballista bolts. The top loading lagazine of the helepolis was a horizontal funnel in which were laid bundles of bolts. These were fed by gravity into the chamber of the weapon. A clever gearing mechanism automatically recocked the helepolis and fired. Human operators needed only to keep it loaded and aimed, plus providing power by cranking. The original of the machine was abandoned outside the city of Rhodes when a besieging army withdrew. It has been reconstructed on paper from contemporary sketches and descriptions of that only known example.	”
—Age of Empires manual

Gallery

A group of Helepolises

Ballista (above) and Helepolis (below) range compared. Take note that the helepolis has fired two projectiles at a given time fraction.

A Helepolis in the Definitive Edition

Video

HELEPOLIS vs EVERY UNIT - Age of Empires- Definitive Edition