 |
This article is about the unit in Age of Empires II. For the unit in Age of Mythology, see Siege Tower (Age of Mythology). |
| “ | Siege weapon used to scale enemy walls; resistant to archer attack. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II description | ||
The Siege Tower is a siege unit in Age of Empires II HD: The Forgotten. Upon its introduction, it was only available in a few campaign scenarios and the Scenario Editor. Since The African Kingdoms, however, it is trainable at the Siege Workshop. Its purpose is to unload foot soldiers beyond enemy walls without the need to attack it, enabling the troops to quickly enter an enemy settlement without being noticed.
Tactics
The Forgotten
The Siege Tower has a high amount of hit points and pierce armor for a siege unit, and is capable of firing volleys of arrows at nearby enemies for defense. Despite this, however, it is almost useless against fortifications, even losing a one-on-one battle against a Watch Tower, but rather shines as a decent armored troop transport similar to the Battering Ram.
Garrisoning soldiers inside the Siege Tower will increase its speed, but not the amount of arrows it fires.
The African Kingdoms
The The African Kingdoms version of the Siege Tower behaves similarly to its prior rendition, though it no longer has an attack and instead gains the ability to unload garrisoned troops on the other side of a wall. This change helps greatly during a siege when the enemy base is fortified and the player cannot afford to waste time tearing it down or does not want to raise attention.
A fully garrisoned Siege Tower also has a speed of 1.3, which is as fast as an Elite Eagle Warrior without Squires. This makes it an effective armored land transport, which can move vulnerable units such as Gbetos or Shotel Warriors through enemy pierce attacks with relative safety. Its speed also aids the transport of slow, kitable infantry, such as Teutonic Knights. The Mongols may utilize Drill to make their Siege Tower the fastest possible land unit. Should they garrison 10 units within, and have researched Drill, their Siege Towers will race even a Hussar with Husbandry.
The Siege Tower cannot unload if there is not enough room on the other side, or if there are multiple layers of walls blocking it. As it can no longer attack, the Siege Tower becomes highly vulnerable towards melee attackers and should be escorted until contact with an enemy wall is made and the troops inside are deployed.
Another factor that makes Siege Towers difficult to use is the way unit pathing works in Age of Empires II. Oftentimes, the Siege Towers will not move in ways the player intends, especially when trying to position the Siege Tower next to a wall.
Siege Towers can help to defend walls against sieges, when paired with infantry, such as the Elite Eagle Warrior. Should enemy units block a player's Gate, a group of 10 Eagles may vault their own wall (where deployment space exists), ambushing and dismantling siege weapons such as rams. Alternatively, Halberdiers can be deployed against cavalry assaults, and Condottiero can likewise counter Bombard Cannons.
Appearance in campaigns
- In An End and a Beginning, the first level of the Sforza campaign, there is a Siege Tower standing around in the camp of Captain Luigeusi.
- It also appears in the second level O Fortuna in the very end, where Carmagnolas troops destroy the attacking Siege Tower of Malatesta.
- In Arrival at Bari, the first level of the Bari campaign, there is a Siege Tower being part of the player's troops to be landed at Emperor Louis II's port.
Further statistics
| Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Nothing |
| Weak vs. | Melee units, especially Magyar Huszars and Eagle Warriors |
| Upgrades | |
| Hit points |  Furor Celtica (+40%, Celts only)
|
| Attack |  Chemistry (+1, only in The Forgotten)
|
| Range |  Siege Engineers (+1, only in The Forgotten)
|
| Accuracy |  Ballistics (hit moving targets, only in The Forgotten)
|
| Armor |  Ironclad (+4/+0, Teutons only)
|
| Speed | Drill (+50%, Mongols only)
|
| Conversion defense |  Faith Heresy
|
Civilization bonuses
- Aztecs: Siege Towers are created 15% faster.
- Burmese: Researching Faith is 50% cheaper.
- Celts: Siege Towers fire 20% faster (only in The Forgotten). Siege Towers can convert herdables even if enemy units are next to them.
- Chinese: Technologies that benefit Siege Towers are 15%/20% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.
- Portuguese: Siege Towers cost 15% less gold.
- Slavs: Siege Towers are 15% cheaper.
Team bonuses
- A team containing Celts: Siege Towers are created 20% faster.
- A team containing Malians: Researching Ballistics, Siege Engineers, and Chemistry is 80% faster (these technologies only affect the Siege Tower in The Forgotten).
- A team containing Teutons: Siege Towers are more resistant to conversion.
Changelog
The Forgotten
- Siege Towers cost 300W/160G.
- Siege Towers have 6 range (minimum range 1), 6 attack (+6 against buildings), a ROF of 4, and an accuracy of 90%. They always shoot volleys of arrows.
- Siege Towers move at a speed of 0.6.
The African Kingdoms
- Siege Towers are no longer able to attack, but can drop troops behind enemy Walls instead.
- Siege Towers receive +5 bonus damage (have -5 armor) from Rams and siege weapons.
- Siege Towers now move at a speed of 0.8.
- With patch 4.8, Siege Towers now cost 200W/160G.
Trivia
- The Siege Tower is the only military unit incapable of attacking any enemy unit or structure (since The African Kingdoms).
- Despite being introduced in The Forgotten, it is shown with a The Conquerors icon in the Scenario Editor.
- With Drill researched, Mongol Siege Towers fully loaded with infantry move at the speed of 1.7, making them one of the fastest land units in the game, outsped only by Scout Cavalry with Husbandry researched.
- The new (The African Kingdoms) Siege Towers have become center of a huge debate within the AoEII HD community due to its lack of attack. It has been described as being the "most useless" and "weakest" unit due to its very limited use of tactics, being a 'one trick pony', and high price.
- There is a debate of using Capped Rams to make Teutonic Knights walk faster, but a fully garrisoned Ram speed is 0.75, and Teutonic Knights move at a speed of 0.7. But with Squires (+10% speed) it becomes 0.77, so garrisoning Teutonic Knights in Capped Ram does not make them faster. But if Siege Towers are used (with a base speed of 0.8 and 10 garrison capacity), the Siege Tower can reach a speed of 1.3, which is a significant improvement.
History
The siege tower or belfry was a wheeled wooden structure used to get over the city walls. The outer part of a siege tower was often covered with animal hides to make it fireproof. For further protection against hostile troops, siege tower carried archers who fired from inside and top.[1]
Gallery
