Siege Units or Siege Weapons are a class of units that do massive damage to buildings in the Age of Empires series. These units are generally created at the Siege Workshop with the exception of Age of Empires III (except for Iroquois) where players can build it at an 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 case, an Armoured Elephant is both a Cavalry Unit and a Siege Unit. They generally deal high damage and have high hit points but have slow fire rate, slow speed, are expensive, 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 due to a glitch. The friendly 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 are categorized in two categories, each with their own distinct purpose. There are siege units that are used to attack buildings and defensive structures and siege units that are designed to take down infantry.
Anti-Building
Anti-Infantry
Age of Empires II
In Age of Empires II, siege units are usually built at the Siege Workshop. These include Mangonels, Scorpions, Battering Rams, and Bombard Cannons. Other Siege units are Petards and Trebuchets built at the Castle. Cannon Galleons and Demolition Ships are sometimes considered naval siege units. With the exception of rams, all siege weapons possess a mid-to-long range. Siege weapons are best divided into two categories, units that are anti-building which features high siege damage against buildings, and units that specialize in splash damage which are generally used to counter infantry.
Anti-building
- Rams
- Bombard Cannons
- Trebuchets
- Petard
Splash damage
- Scorpions and Heavy Scorpions
- Mangonels and Onagers.
Although the two types of units can still fulfill each other’s roles, they are generally ineffective at doing so. For example, while mangonels are devastating against groups of infantry and can outrange Town Centers, they deal little damage to castles; trebuchets, on the other hand, are excellent against fortifications but almost never hit the units they target - excluding, to some extent, other trebuchets.
Sometimes the two groups can overlap in their purposes. Trebuchets and Siege Onagers are both adept at clearing trees, for example.
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.
Age of Mythology
- Main article: Siege Weapons (Age of Mythology).