Siege Workshop (Age of Empires II)

This article is about the building in Age of Empires II. For the similar building in other games of the series, see Siege Workshop.

Siege Workshop
Building information
Introduced in	Age of Empires II
Type	Military
Civilization	All civilizations
Age	Castle Age
Use	Trains and upgrades siege units
Construction
Requires	Blacksmith
Wood	200
Build time	40 seconds
Statistics
Size	4×4 tiles
Hit points	1,500 1,800 2,100
Garrison	10
Melee armor	1 2 3
Pierce armor	8 9 10
Armor classes	Building Standard building
Line of Sight	6

“	Used to build and upgrade siege weapons.	”
—Age of Empires II description

The Siege Workshop is a military building in Age of Empires II that becomes available once the Castle Age is reached and a Blacksmith is built. It trains and upgrades siege weapons.

Tactics and placement

The Siege Workshop is an essential building for all players as land siege engines (with the exception of Trebuchet and Petard) are created here. Siege Workshop units can rarely act on their own and need protection from other units, so it is advisable to train other units first.

The work rate of the Siege Workshop is slow and cannot be improved, so any player who wants to create Siege Workshop units in any relevant numbers should build multiple of them. It is advisable to build Siege Workshops near an enemy's settlement if playing offensively as this will reduce traveling distance, especially considering all siege weapons move really slowly.

Trainable units

Clicking on the icon links to the corresponding page.

	➞		➞		➞
					➞		➞
				Indian civilizations only	➞	Indian civilizations only
					➞		➞
					➞
					➞
						Requires Chemistry	➞	Bohemians only
						Tatars only		Khitans only

Availability grid

The following table shows the availability of the units for every civilization. The Battering Ram and Armored Elephant lines are mutually exclusive, and all civilizations have access to the Battering Ram or Siege Elephant. Likewise, the Mangonel and Rocket Cart lines are mutually exclusive, and all civilizations have access to the Mangonel or Rocket Cart. Unique units and units that are available to all civilizations are not shown in the table. Battering Rams, Capped Rams, and Mangonels are not shown either. The presence of the Siege Elephant in the Siege Ram column indicates the presence of the Armored Elephant line.

Shu is unique in missing the Scorpion, while Wu is the only civilization missing the Capped Ram upgrade which does not have access to Siege Elephants as a replacement. The Bombard Cannon and Traction Trebuchet are mutually exclusive.

	= Available
	= Unavailable

Civilization						All
Armenians
Aztecs
Bengalis
Berbers
Bohemians
Britons
Bulgarians
Burgundians
Burmese
Byzantines
Celts
Chinese
Cumans
Dravidians						X
Ethiopians						X
Franks
Georgians
Goths
Gurjaras
Hindustanis
Huns
Inca
Italians
Japanese
Jurchens						X
Khitans
Khmer
Koreans
Lithuanians
Magyars
Malay
Malians
Maya
Mongols
Persians
Poles
Portuguese
Romans
Saracens
Sicilians
Slavs
Spanish
Tatars
Teutons
Turks
Vietnamese
Vikings
Shu
Wei
Wu
Civilization						All

Further statistics

Technologies
Hit points	Masonry (+10%) Architecture (+10%)
Armor	Masonry (+1/+1, +3 building armor) Architecture (+1/+1, +3 building armor)
Conversion resistance	Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max) Heresy (die upon getting converted)
Line of Sight	Town Watch (+4) Town Patrol (+4)
Build speed	Treadmill Crane (+20%)

Civilization bonuses

• Aztecs: Siege Workshop units are created 11% faster.
• Bulgarians: Siege Workshop technologies cost -50% food.
• Burmese: Researching Devotion and Faith is 50% cheaper.
• Byzantines: Siege Workshops have +30%/+40% hit points in the Castle/Imperial Age. Town Watch and Town Patrol are free.
• Chinese: Technologies that benefit Siege Workshops are 5%/10%/15% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
• Cumans: Siege Workshop and Battering Ram available in the Feudal Age, Capped Ram available in the Castle Age. Siege Workshops also count towards the buildings requirement for advancing to the Castle Age.
• Georgians: Siege Workshops receive -20% damage (-40% instead of -25%) when fighting from higher elevation.
• Italians: Masonry, Architecture, and Treadmill Crane are 33% cheaper.
• Jurchens: Unit upgrades cost -75% wood and research +100% faster. Researching Masonry, Architecture, and Treadmill Crane costs -75% wood and is 100% faster.
• Khmer: Building a Siege Workshop does not require a Blacksmith.
• Malians: Siege Workshops are 15% cheaper.
• Persians: Researching Town Watch and Town Patrol is 10%/15%/20% faster in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
• Romans: Siege Workshops are built and repaired 5% faster.
• Spanish: Siege Workshops are built 30% faster. Researching technologies that benefit Siege Workshops provides 20 gold each.
• Wu: Siege Workshops provide 65 food when completed.

Team bonuses

• Celts: Siege Workshops work 20% faster.
• Georgians: Repairing Siege Workshops costs 25% fewer resources.
• Lithuanians: Researching Devotion, Faith, and Heresy is 20% faster.
• Malians: Researching Masonry, Architecture, and Treadmill Crane is 80% faster.
• Portuguese: Technologies that benefit Siege Workshops and Siege Workshop technologies are researched 25% faster.
• Slavs: Siege Workshops provide +5 population.
• Teutons: Siege Workshops are more resistant to conversion (+3 min, +1 max cycles).

Changelog

The Age of Kings

• Siege Workshops always have 2,100 hit points.

The Conquerors

• Heresy introduced.

The Forgotten

• Siege Workshop hit points staggered: 1,800/2,100 in the Castle/Imperial Age.

The African Kingdoms

• Siege Tower introduced.

Definitive Edition

• Portuguese: with update 42848, technologies are researched 30% faster as a civilization bonus.

Dawn of the Dukes

• Bohemians: Houfnice introduced as an upgrade for the Bombard Cannon.

Dynasties of India

• Armored Elephant-line introduced. It is a Ram-line replacement for India-based civilizations. The two lines are mutually exclusive, except in Full Tech Tree mode.
• Portuguese: With update 73855, technologies are researched 25% faster as a team bonus.

The Mountain Royals

• With update 99311, Devotion was introduced.

Victors and Vanquished

• With update 107882, the Flaming Camel no longer requires Timurid Siegecraft to be trained at Castles, but now becomes instantly available at the Siege Workshop when reaching the Imperial Age. Flaming Camel train time increased from 20 seconds to 30 seconds.

History

“	The construction of castles and fortified towns created demand for artillery engines that could knock down walls and open the fortification to assault by troops. Without such artillery weapons, the taking of a castle required a long and costly siege that eventually starved the defenders into surrender. The ability to lay siege was constrained by the length of the campaigning season, the cost of providing supplies to a besieging army, the losses from disease in camp, and weather. Battering rams, trebuchets, and other siege engines were used to break into the fortification quickly and decide the issue. Siege engines were built at a siege workshop.	”
—Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings manual

Trivia

• Siege Workshop models in all architecture sets depict a Mangonel frame, except the Central Asian models which depict a Battering Ram/Siege Ram in the Feudal/Castle Age, respectively.
• While the Siege Workshop in the African architecture set also depicts a Catapult, it is specifically a catapult with bow limbs, which is supposed to work due to flexion of the limbs, and not by torsion of cords that the regular Mangonel line seems to possess. This is ironic, as the Ethiopians have a unique technology explicitly named Torsion Engines. The depicted catapult seems to be based on Petraria Arcatinus, which is considered to be a fictitious modern design, and not something which existed or was used historically, with no contemporary depictions of Catapults matching it and its mechanism.

Gallery

All Siege Workshops in The Age of Kings and The Conquerors

All Siege Workshops in the HD Edition expansions

All original Siege Workshops in the Definitive Edition

All expansion Siege Workshops in the Definitive Edition

Unique Cuman Feudal Age Siege Workshop

All units trained at the Siege Workshop

Spritesheet for the Siege Workshop in the HD Edition

Concept art for the Siege Workshop from the The Age of Kings manual