Siege weapon (Age of Empires II)

This article is about the siege weapons in Age of Empires II. For the armor class, see Armor class: Siege weapon. For siege weapons in other games of the series, see Siege unit.

Siege weapons in Age of Empires II are powerful land units that excel at destroying enemy towns and buildings, or killing massed units. They first become available in the Castle Age. Unit upgrades for siege weapons are only available in the Imperial Age.

Siege weapons are built at either the Siege Workshop or the Castle.

General information

Siege weapons are the most varied class of military units in the game. Some attack at close range, like rams, and others at mid-to-long range, like Trebuchets (which are the longest ranged units in the game); some are suicide units, like Petards; and one, the Siege Tower, has no attack at all and is used to ferry infantry units over walls instead.

Siege weapons that are mostly organic (namely the Petard, the Ballista Elephant, and the Flaming Camel) cost food and gold to create, can be garrisoned in Castles (but not in other Siege Weapons), and are healed by Monks. Those that are mechanical, on the other hand, cost wood and gold, and have to be repaired by Villagers in a similar manner to Buildings and Ships. Repairing these siege weapons costs gold. Bombard Cannons and Organ Guns belong to the second category despite having a visible human operator, unlike torsion-based machines.

Generally speaking, siege units are the most expensive units and take longest to train. Bombard Cannons also require Chemistry to be researched before becoming available.

Siege weapons and Monks are the only units than cannot be converted initially. Redemption must be researched in order to convert siege weapons.

Trebuchets, Onagers (since The Forgotten), Siege Onagers, and Ballista Elephants can destroy trees, making them the only units able to do so, besides Villagers. This can be of high strategic importance, especially in maps with dense forests, e. g. Black Forest. In order to do so, these siege weapons have an option to attack ground, that can also be used to damage buildings and units belonging to the player or an ally without having to change the diplomatic stance first.

Categorization

Siege weapons are best divided into two categories: units whose main purpose is to destroy buildings and units that excel against enemy units.

Anti-building

• Rams
• Bombard Cannons
• Petards
• Trebuchets

Anti-unit

• Mangonels
• Scorpions
• Bombard Cannons
• Organ Guns
• Ballista Elephants
• Flaming Camels

Since The African Kingdoms, the Siege Tower cannot attack enemy structures or units and cannot be put in any of the categories above. In The Forgotten, it was able to attack, but its main purpose was still the transport of troops.

The Bombard Cannon can be put in both categories since it can outrange almost all buildings, but also can be effectively used against enemy units.

Although the two categories can still fulfill each other’s role, 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 units they target - excluding, to some extent, other Trebuchets.

List of siege weapons

Marked with yellow background are unique units.

Siege unit	Building	A	HP	At	Ar	PA	Ra	ROF	LOS	Sp	F	W	G	TT	Ci
File:BatteringRamIcon.jpg Battering Ram	Siege W.		175	2	-3	180	0	5	3	0.5	0	160	75	36	31
File:CappedRamIcon.jpg Capped Ram	Siege W.		200	3	-3	190	0	5	3	0.5	0	160	75	36	31
File:SiegeRamIcon.jpg Siege Ram	Siege W.		270	4	-3	195	0	5	3	0.6	0	160	75	36	16
Mangonel	Siege W.		50	40	0	6	7	6	9	0.6	0	160	135	46	31
Onager	Siege W.		60	50	0	7	8	6	10	0.6	0	160	135	46	29
Siege Onager	Siege W.		70	75	0	8	8	6	10	0.6	0	160	135	46	9
Scorpion	Siege W.		40	12	0	7	7	3.6	9	0.65	0	75	75	30	31
Heavy Scorpion	Siege W.		50	16	0	7	7	3.6	9	0.65	0	75	75	30	20
Siege Tower	Siege W.		220	0	-2	100	N/A	N/A	8	0.8	0	200	160	36	31
File:BombardCannonIcon.jpg Bombard Cannon	Siege W.		80	40	2	5	12	6.5	14	0.7	0	225	225	56	19
Petard	Castle		50	25	0	2	0	N/A	4	0.8	65	0	25	25	31
Trebuchet (packed)	Castle		150	0	2	8	N/A	N/A	19	0.8	0	200	200	50	31
Trebuchet (unpacked)	Castle		150	200	1	150	16	10	19	0	0	200	200	50	31
Flamethrower	N/A	N/A	160	4	2	2	5	0.25	7	0.6	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	0
File:OrganGunIcon.jpg Organ Gun	Castle		60	16	2	4	7	3.45	9	0.85	0	80	70	21	1
File:OrganGunIcon.jpg Elite Organ Gun	Castle		70	20	2	6	7	3.45	9	0.85	0	80	70	21	1
Ballista Elephant	Castle														1
Elite Ballista Elephant	Castle														1
Flaming Camel	Castle		55	20	0	0	0	N/A	4	1.3	75	0	30	20	1
Average	N/A	N/A	113	33.5	-0.1	58.3	6.1	5.3	9.2	0.63	4.3	139.7	115.3	37.7	26.2

Technologies

Listed below are all technologies that benefit siege weapons. Marked with yellow background are unique technologies. This list does not contain unit upgrades.

Technology	Researched at	Age	Civilization	Effect
Siege Engineers	University	IV	21	Increases range (except for rams and Petards) by +1 and attack against buildings by +20%
Chemistry	University	IV	All	Increases attack by +1
Heresy	Monastery	III	19	Converted machines die instead of changing color
Faith	Monastery	IV	28	Increases conversion resistance
Conscription	Castle	IV	All	Increases creation speed for Castle units by +33%
File:CastleAgeUnique.png Kasbah	Castle	III	Berbers	Increases creation speed for Castle units by +25%
File:Unique-tech.jpg Warwolf	Castle	IV	Britons	Trebuchets do blast damage and have 100% accuracy against units
File:Unique-tech.jpg Furor Celtica	Castle	IV	Celts	Increases HP of Siege Workshop units by +40%
File:Unique-tech.jpg Rocketry	Castle	IV	Chinese	Increases Scorpion attack by +4
File:Unique-tech.jpg Torsion Engines	Castle	IV	Ethiopians	Increases blast radius of Siege Workshop units
File:Unique-tech.jpg Kataparuto	Castle	IV	Japanese	Trebuchets pack, unpack, and fire faster
File:Unique-tech.jpg Double Crossbow	Castle	IV	Khmer	Scorpions and Ballista Elephants fire an additional projectile
File:Unique-tech.jpg Shinkichon	Castle	IV	Koreans	Mangonel range increased by +1
File:Unique-tech.jpg Drill	Castle	IV	Mongols	Siege Workshop units move +50% faster
File:Unique-tech.jpg Arquebus	Castle	IV	Portuguese	Increases Bombard Cannon accuracy at moving targets
File:Unique-tech.jpg Timurid Siegecraft	Castle	IV	Tatars	Increases the range of Trebuchets by +2 and enables creation of Flaming Camels
File:CastleAgeUnique.png Ironclad	Castle	III	Teutons	Increases melee armor by +4
File:Unique-tech.jpg Artillery	Castle	IV	Turks	Increases the range of Bombard Cannons by +2

Civilizations

The Slavs, Celts, Mongols, and Ethiopians have the best siege weapons due to their civilizations bonuses and unique technologies. The Khmer, Koreans, Tatars, and Teutons have also strong siege weapons, through less prominent than the before-mentioned civilizations.

The Ethiopians are the only civilization to have access to all units from the Siege Workshop.

Civilization bonuses

The following civilizations have bonuses that benefit siege weapons:

• Aztecs: Siege weapons are created 18% faster.
• Burmese: Researching Faith is 50% cheaper.
• Celts: Siege weapons fire 25% faster.
• Chinese: Technologies that benefit siege weapons are 20% cheaper.
• Cumans: Battering Ram available in the Feudal Age, and Capped Ram in the Castle Age.
• Huns: Trebuchets are 30% more accurate.
• Portuguese: Siege units cost 15% less gold.
• Slavs: Siege Workshop units are 15% cheaper.
• Tatars: Siege weapons deal 50% bonus damage from elevations.
• Turks: Chemistry is free.
• Vietnamese: Conscription is free.

Team bonuses

The following civilizations have team bonuses that benefit siege weapons:

• A team containing Berbers: With Kasbah researched, Castle siege weapons are created 25% faster, and Conscription is researched 25% faster.
• A team containing Celts: Siege Workshops work 20% faster.
• A team containing Khmer: Scorpions have +1 range.
• A team containing Koreans: Mangonel minimum range reduced from 3 to 1.
• A team containing Lithuanians: Researching Heresy and Faith is 20% faster.
• A team containing Malians: Researching Siege Engineers and Chemistry is 80% faster.
• A team containing Teutons: Siege Weapons are more resistant to conversion.

Gallery

All siege units trained at the Siege Workshop

All siege units trained at the Castle