Traction Trebuchet (Age of Empires II)

This article is about the unit in Age of Empires II. For the unit in Age of Empires IV, see Traction Trebuchet (Age of Empires IV).

Traction Trebuchet
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - The Three Kingdoms
Type	Siege weapon
Civilization	Shu Wei Wu
Age	Imperial Age
Training
Trained at	Siege Workshop
Wood	175
Gold	210
Training time	70 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	115
Melee attack	50
Attack bonus	+175 vs Building
Reload time	9
Attack delay	0.67
Range	14
Minimum range	4
Accuracy	30%
Melee armor	1
Pierce armor	8
Armor class	Siege weapon Ram
Speed	0.6
Line of Sight	18
Ability	Can attack ground Can destroy trees
Collision size	0.5

“	Powerful anti-building Siege Weapon with long range, but cannot attack enemies at close range. Strong vs. buildings. Can attack ground and destroy trees.	”
—In-game description

The Traction Trebuchet is a regional siege weapon for the Three Kingdoms civilizations (Shu, Wei, and Wu) in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - The Three Kingdoms. It can be built at the Siege Workshop once the Imperial Age is reached. It replaces the Trebuchet and Bombard Cannon for these civilizations.

Tactics

As the Three Kingdom civilizations cannot access Trebuchets and Bombard Cannons, they have only Traction Trebuchets as long range anti-building siege weapons. They do not need to pack or unpack, unlike Trebuchets and like Bombard Cannons, but they also do not deal Area of Effect damage. Like the Bombard Cannon, they automatically attack enemy units in range, and have a higher preference for units over buildings.

As siege weapons, they are unaffected by the hero unit auras. Unlike regular Trebuchets, Monks can convert Traction Trebuchets from a distance.

Unit comparison

	/ Trebuchet	Traction Trebuchet
Cost	200 wood, 200 gold	175 wood, 210 gold
Time	50	70
Hit points	150	115
Base attack	200 pierce	50 melee
Attack bonus	+250 vs building	+175 vs building
Reload time	10	9
Armor	1/150	1/8
Speed	0.8	0.6
Range	16/4	14/4
Other properties	Needs to pack up to move, unpack to attack	Can be converted at distance

Similarities with other siege weapons

Traction Trebuchets are superficially similar to Bombard Cannons and Mangonels, but they are not meant to used against units. Nonetheless, there are similarities:

• Melee attack instead of pierce
• Low pierce armor
• No need to pack and unpack to move
• Can be converted at distance

Further statistics

Strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Buildings, archer units
Weak vs.	Melee units (especially Magyar Huszars and Elite Eagle Warriors), rams, Bombard Cannons, Mangudai, Onagers

Technologies
Attack	Siege Engineers (+20% bonus against buildings) Chemistry (+1)
Range	Siege Engineers (+1)
Additional projectiles	Sitting Tiger (two projectiles each dealing 10 melee and 40 anti-building attack, Wu)
Conversion resistance	Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max) Heresy (die upon getting converted)

Civilization bonuses
Movement speed	Shu (+15%)
Resource cost	Wei (-25%)

Trivia

• The Lou Chuan features a Traction Trebuchet on its prow that it uses to attack buildings and siege weapons.

Gallery

Views of the Traction Trebuchet

Promotional image

A Traction Trebuchet in the campaign artwork

Traction Trebuchet in the Thoros campaign artwork

In the Genghis Khan campaign artwork

The official main menu wallpaper mod released with The Three Kingdoms, featuring a Fire Archer, a Tiger Cavalry, a War Chariot, and a Traction Trebuchet

A real-life traction trebuchet, also called a Mangonel (the in-game unit is incorrectly named)

A schematic of a hybrid Counterweight-Traction Trebuchet, with treadmills to prime the counterweight, and ropes for traction to provide extra momentum

An illustration of a Chinese traction trebuchet from the Wujing Zongyao, an 11th-century Chinese military manual

Videos

Introducing- Traction Trebuchets! Three Kingdoms Testing - AoE2- DE

Traction, Mounted, vs regular Trebuchets