Stone Thrower

Stone Thrower
Unit information
Type	Siege unit
Civilization	All civilizations
Age	Bronze Age
Training
Trained at	Siege Workshop
Wood	180
Gold	80
Statistics
Hit points	75
Attack	50
Rate of Fire	5.375
Range	10
Melee armor	0
Pierce armor	0
Speed	0.8
Unit evolution
Upgrades to	Catapult
Upgrade cost	300 food, 250 wood

The Stone Thrower is the first siege unit available in Age of Empires. It is the only siege unit that can be built at the Siege Workshop during the Bronze Age. They are the very first siege unit to appear in Age of Empires series and are the predecesor of the Mangonel in Age of Empires II.

As a heavy stone throwing siege weapon, Stone Throwers deal 28 bonus damage against buildings (38). However, against towers, Stone Throwers deals only 10 bonus damage (20) after accounting for building armor.

From the Iron Age, it can be upgraded into the Catapult, then the Heavy Catapult.

Upgrades

Iron Age

•  Upgrade to Catapult
•  Alchemy increases attack by 1 point
•  Ballistics increases the accuracy
•  Engineering increases the range by 2 points

Siege Workshop Tree
Bronze Age Siege Workshop Stone Thrower Iron Age Catapult Ballista Heavy Catapult Helepolis

Civilization bonuses

• Hittites: Stone Throwers have 50% more hit points
• Sumerians: Stone Thrower rate of fire is doubled (same rate of fire as a Ballista)
• Macedonians: Stone Throwers cost 50% less and are four times more resistant to enemy conversion

History

The stone thrower was an artillery weapon based on the principle of the lever. The stone thrower fired a heavy missile, usually a large stone or stone wrapped in burning oily rags. The missile was placed in a large basket at the end of the throwing arm. Tension was built up on the other end of the arm while the throwing basket was held taut against a fulcrum. When released, the throwing arm swung up and forward until checked, throwing the missile. Stone throwers were used primarily against fixed positions, especially cities and fortifications. Stones were used to knock down walls to open the way for an infantry assault. Fireballs set wood rubble on fire, burning out the defenders. Small stone throwers were also used on the battlefield to disrupt massed enemy formations, although the enemy rarely offered easy targets within range. The stone thrower was invented around 400 BC by Greeks seeking to capture an island fortress off the coast of Sicily.

Gallery

A group of Stone Throwers

A Stone Thrower in the Definitive Edition