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This article is about the unit in Age of Empires IV. For the unit in Age of Empires II, see Mangonel (Age of Empires II). |
| “ | Fires multiple projectiles dealing damage in an area. | ” |
| —Age of Empires IV description | ||
The Mangonel is a ranged siege engine in Age of Empires IV that can be trained at the Siege Workshop starting in the Castle Age. It is has a large Area of Effect damage, which is best used against large groups of enemies.
For the Abbasid Dynasty, Ayyubids, and the Mongols, in addition to being trained regularly, it can also be constructed by infantry units in the field. The English can also train them at their Keeps, just like other regular units.
For the Chinese and Zhu Xi's Legacy, the Mangonel is replaced by the Nest of Bees, which fills a similar role.
The Ayyubid Mangonel is named Manjaniq (meaning Mangonel in Arabic).
Ability[]
Ayyubids only: The Manjaniq is equal in all aspects to the Mangonel, other than the ability to use a unique incendiary projectile, as it can toggle between the two different ammunition types. Each toggle has a 6 second cooldown.
- Swap Weapon (Kinetic): Switch to the standard projectile used by all Mangonels. This ammunition scatters its projectiles in a circle of radius 0.5 tiles. Each projectile has a 0.5 tile Area of Effect and no damage reduction across the area.
- Swap Weapon (Incendiary): Switch to incendiary ammunition. This unique ammunition fires 12 projectiles across a much larger scatter radius of 3 tiles, and each projectile has a 1.5 tile Area of Effect with no damage reduction. However, each projectile only does 2 base attack, with +16 vs buildings and ships. It has no attack bonus vs ranged units. Additionally, it deals fire damage instead of siege.
Tactics[]
Due to their Area of Effect damage, Mangonels are useful against large masses of units. Since they deal +10 damage against ranged units (including ranged cavalry like the Camel Archer, Mangudai, and Horse Archer), they can be a great counter to massed ranged units, which can otherwise be very strong even against cavalry. Three to four Mangonels are usually enough to one-shot a group. However, Mangonels only partially track moving targets, with a tracking speed of 0.75 tiles per second. This means that it is possible for small groups of most ranged units to avoid their shots if moving at full speed, especially fast ranged cavalry. In Age of Empires IV, Mangonels cannot cut trees.
Melee cavalry are probably the most effective counter to the Mangonel due to their speed and ability to quickly get within the Mangonel's minimum range without taking damage. Additionally, most melee cavalry have either an attack bonus against siege or deal high base damage. For this reason, combining Mangonels with Spearmen can be a good deterrent to cavalry. In this case, melee infantry units, especially in staggered formation where they are less vulnerable to the Area of Effect damage, can quickly kill Mangonels if they are not protected by any other units. Men-at-arms especially can break through the Mangonel and Spearman combo. In a fix, even groups of Archers can take out Mangonels eventually, but require good micromanagement to avoid being hit or to get within the minimum range. In general, it is never good idea to leave Mangonels exposed without the support of other units.
Manjaniq[]
For the Manjaniq specifically, it may be tempting to switch to the incendiary ammo because of its greater coverage, but the low attack, lack of bonus damage, and excessively large spread can make it worse versus groups of units, even in spread formation. One niche case where it may be more useful is attacking groups of closely-spaced Farms. This is surprisingly important, as a Manjaniq only needs to destroy 8 Farms to destroy as many total resources as its creation cost. This means if a Manjaniq kills a Mill and 8 Farms surrounding it, then immediately gets destroyed by an enemy army, it will be a value trade for the Ayyubid player. The 50 wood cost of the Mill and the approximately 50 wood worth of construction time of the Mill and Farms will mean the Ayyubid player will be up in value by 100 wood, which is 16.67% the cost of the Manjaniq, before accounting for the value from Villager walk time, Villager idle time, and the economy being bottlenecked by a sudden unexpected shortage of a resource.
Further statistics[]
| Strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Ranged infantry |
| Weak vs. | Melee cavalry |
| Conditional matchups | Ranged cavalry, melee infantry |
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
 Hit points
|
 Siege Works (+20%); Improved: (+30%,  Mongols)
|
 Range
|
 Adjustable Crossbars (+1)
|
| Additional projectiles | Adjustable Crossbars (+1)
|
 Attack speed
|
 Siege Crews (+25% while garrisoned,  Ottomans)
|
 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 | Adjustable Crossbars (+75% splash radius) Improved Siege Engineering (Can be built by infantry in the field, Mongols) Siege Crew Training (Setup and teardown speed is instant,  Rus)
|
| Civilization bonuses | |
|---|---|
| Resource cost |  Knights Templar (-25% wood) Knights Templar (-5% gold with Kingdom of France)
|
| Creation speed |  English (+75% from  The White Tower) Knights Templar (+15% with Kingdom of France)
|
| Other |  Abbasid Dynasty and Ayyubids (Can be built by infantry in the field) English (Available at Keeps)
|
Dialogue lines[]
Mangonels use the standard ranged siege engine dialogue lines
- Main article: Siege engine#Dialogue lines
Changelog[]
- Originally, reload time was 8.75 seconds, and area-of-effect shape was 180 degrees. With update 8324, reload time is 6.75 seconds, and area-of-effect shape is 360 degrees.
- Originally, Mangonels dealt 12 damage per projectile and did +24 bonus damage to buildings. With patch 11009, they deal the same bonus damage (+24) to Ships. With Server-Side Patch 12973, they gained a +6 bonus against ranged units. With update 12.0.1974, each projectile deals 10 damage, and the bonus damage against buildings and ships is now +30 and against ranged units is +8. With patch 12.0.2246, the ranged bonus was increased to +10.
- Originally, Mangonels were constructed in the field in 40 seconds. With the Season One Update, constructing them in the field now takes 80 seconds (base).
- Originally, Mangonels had a blast radius of 1.25 tiles. With Server-Side Patch 12973, it was reduced to 0.75 tiles. With Server-Side Patch 14681, it was increased to 0.875 tiles, With update 12.0.1974, the radius was decreased to 0.5 tiles.
- Originally, Mangonels had 240 hit points and 8 ranged armor. With Season Two Update 17718 they have 140 hit points and 20 ranged armor. With patch 9.2.628, they have 30 ranged armor. With update 10.0.576, they have 130 hit points. With update 12.0.1974, the ranged armor was replaced with 80% ranged resistance. With patch 12.0.2246, the ranged resistance was increased to 85%.
- Originally, the Ayyubid Manjaniq incendiary attack dealt +14 against buildings. With an unknown patch, this was increased to +16 to match its bonus against ships.
- Originally, Mangonel projectiles had a maximum range of 9 tiles, a tracking speed of 1.5 tiles per second and a spread of 0.75 tiles. With update 12.0.1974, the range was reduced to 8 tiles, the tracking to 0.75 tiles per second and the spread to 0.5 tiles.
- Originally, Magonels had a 0.5 second aim time and a 2.25 second wind down time. With update 12.0.1974, they have a 0.25 second aim time and a 2.5 second wind down time resulting in the same overall fire rate but more responsive.
Trivia[]
- The unit model represents an Onager, unlike Mangonels in real life, which were actually varieties of the Traction Trebuchet. Whether or not Onagers were actually used in the Middle Ages is a matter of debate, but most current sources seem to think that they were not.[1][2][3]
- In addition to the name, there are several likely fictional aspects of the in-game Mangonel compared to a real-life Onager. Firstly, although the model changed, the unit icon still contains wheels, which in reality would have caused the platform to be smashed by the downward force of the recoil.[2] Secondly, the model uses a spoon, whereas a real Onager would have used a sling, like a Trebuchet.[2]
- The alternate incendiary attack of the Manjaniq was already present in the Mangonels featured in the campaigns.
Campaign version[]
Because the original four campaigns have not been rebalanced since the release of the game, Mangonels have the following differences in those campaigns:
- They cost 250 wood, 500 gold and train in 45 seconds.
- They have 300 hit points, 5 fire armor, 5 ranged armor, and move at 0.88 tiles per second.
- The Mangonels of every civilization can swap between an incendiary and standard attack (just like the current Ayyubid Manjaniq). Both attacks deal 15 (x3) damage with 6.5 tiles of range and an attack time of 8.88 seconds. The standard attack does siege damage with a +30 bonus vs buildings. The incendiary attack does fire damage with a +45 bonus vs buildings. They also have splash and scatter radii of 1.25 tiles, resulting in much greater damage overall.
In the The Sultans Ascend campaign, Mangonels retain their stats from the launch of The Sultans Ascend. That is:
- They deal 12 damage per projectile with +6 against ranged units and +24 against buildings and ships, they have 9 range, and projectils have a wider area of effect and scatter radius.
- They have a faster tracking speed, enabling them to hit most units while moving.
- They have 30 ranged armor instead of 80% ranged resistance.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Purton, P. (2006), The myth of the mangonel: torsion artillery in the Middle Ages, Arms & Armor, Vol. 3, No. 1, 79-90
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Nossov, K (2005). Ancient and medieval siege weapons: a fully illustrated guide to siege weapons and tactics
- ↑ Nicolle, D. (2002). Medieval Siege Weapons (1), Western Europe AD 585-1385
