Siege unit

Siege Units or Siege Weapons are a class of units that do massive damage to buildings in the Age of Empires series. They are generally created at the Siege Workshop with the exception of Age of Empires III (except for the Iroquois) where players can create them at the Artillery Foundry. Most siege units are man-made machines designed to fulfill different roles in battle but some units, such as an Armored Elephant, have characteristics of two classes. In this particular case, the Armored Elephant is both a cavalry unit and a siege unit. They generally deal high damage and have high hit points but have slow rate of fire, slow speed, high cost, and are vulnerable to fast melee units, especially cavalry. Any siege unit that has an 'attack ground' option can be used to attack friendly civilizations without retaliation. A friendly AI civilization being attacked will send a circle of units around the siege weapon but the units will do nothing.

Age of Empires

Siege weapons in Age of Empires can be categorized in two categories, each with their own distinct purpose. There are siege units that are used to destroy enemy buildings and defensive structures, and siege units that are designed to take down enemy infantry.

Anti-Building

• Stone Throwers
• Catapults
• Heavy Catapults

Anti-Infantry

• Ballistas

• Helepolises

Age of Empires II

Main article: Siege Weapons (Age of Empires II)

Age of Mythology

Main article: Siege Weapons (Age of Mythology)

Age of Empires III

Siege units are specifically differentiated from Artillery units when damage multipliers come into effect. Counter-artillery units such as Culverins and Hand Mortars only receive their attack bonus against artillery units like the Falconet or Mortar but will not deal bonus damage against siege units. Buildings usually have a x0.5 multiplier against siege units, but Minutemen, their equivalents, and Oprichniks have a x2.0 multiplier against them. Siege units are typically units that do not fire large projectiles over very long distances. This makes a majority of siege units fulfilling roles of infantry or cavalry. Siege units include Grenadiers, Mantlets, Flamethrowers, Flail Elephants, and Rams.