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The Ballista is a defense engine.

Description[]

The ballista is a tower-mounted defense engine that hurls giant arrows at its target from long range. It can be placed in a tower with stable foundation and it is operated by engineers. Ballistae are slow to wind up and fire, but deliver great impact damage on units their bolts hit. They can also hit buildings. The ballista is destroyed when its host tower collapses.

Information[]

Ballista

A ballista deployed on the field

Ballistae were originally field artillery that were used against small groups of infantry and mechanical devices. The ballista works similar to a catapult, but instead of a pressable holder, it features a string mechanism resembling a giant crossbow. The string can be pulled backwards to fasten in a very taut way to store enough kinetic energy that when released, its projectile can fly with great speed.

Ballistae most often used javelins and stakes scaled to the device's size as ammunition. While heavy to move around and its deployment could take significant time, it made up for the fact that one well-placed shot could cause significant damage to enemy ranks. Ballistae were best used in dispatching advancing formations and damaging siege engines.

In medieval times, the ballista remained an excellent siege weapon, as well as a defense utility for its original purpose: dismantling personnel and mechanical equipment alike.

The tower ballista is highly useful for removing stationary targets from long range, with very low fire rate. Its giant bolt deals very high damage to siege engines and it also has potential to kill all but the sturdiest units in one shot. Buildings take one regular arrow's worth of damage upon successful hit.

Ballistae can be mounted on top of square towers and round towers only. There must be enough space the top of a tower (troops must be moved if it is not the case), after which two engineers must be assigned to the ballista to operate automatically.

Ballistae can be instructed to attack a specified area or target. They do not track their target (unlike the fire ballista) and only re-acquire them after their bolt is shot. The ballista also cannot hit targets in towers or turrets at any elevation, firing at them as if they were standing on a wall, resulting in hits constantly bouncing off the side. Some units standing on top of the keep are also impossible to hit, depending on position. Against targets on top of walls or elevated ground however, height differences affect accuracy like normal.

The ballista fires fiery arrows at enemies and buildings from very long range. Arrows from the ballista cause great impact damage to most units and siege engines. They are also capable of setting buildings on fire on low health (but incapable of setting pitch on fire).

Tower ballistae can only be built on larger stone towers - bastions and larger - that do not have hoarding on top. This machine is operated by two engineers, who wind up the string, insert the bolt, then fire. The crew automatically comes upon placement.

Ballistae see an extended usage against lined-up and densely packed units, as their arrows knock back units in the same way as catapulted rocks do. They can knock units into a river or trees, killing units instantly and they are also useful at removing a knight's mount.

Ballistae are quite unreliable to an extent, as they can sometimes lose track on units that get out of range. Retargetting them manually can solve the problem.

The ballista is an expensive defense turret that can be built over walls and gates. It automatically acquires targets and does not need crew to operate. Its giant bolts deal high damage to siege engines, but barely any to buildings and units. The ballista has very high range however, only outmatched by the trebuchet.

Up to five ballista turrets can be installed at any time. It can also be repaired with the repair tool.

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