Holy Onagers!!!

Well jesus! I was playing as the greeks and teh damn brutii send yet another wave of poor buggers to die at my phalanx points, but this time they packed a heat seeking onager! The first 6 volleys was fire balls and ALL SIX HIT!!! Each hit killed 10-15 men! I had an entire HUGE setting phalanx wiped OUT! I was soooo pissed. Thank god they switched to rocks after that but they were still hitting like nepoleon with a cannon! Now, when I used the onagers they would sometimes even land 20 feet in front on top of my own troops! WTF?? I mean I have it set to Very Hard but still, thats just alittlllllee overboard... Sheesh

Yep, that was what I thought too. I've only faced them once. First thing they did was kill two elephants with one shot, LOL. Seemed pretty silly when compared to any other unit I had seen in action, so I used some cav to eliminate the problem, then fought the rest of the army. I haven't tried researching them yet, but my skepticism is high... I intend not to use them.

THe main problem is when I use them I kill more of my own troops then the enemy, yet they have yet to hit there own guys.

I think this is related to the combat bonuses the AI gets on the higher difficulty levels... Whenever I have used ornagers or fought them they tend to be shooting all over the place.

I'm betting the AI gets a real valour bonus on the higher levels (with artillery that probably means an accuracy bonus)

Cities burn so funny when you take several fire onager shots at them

In my finished Scipii campaign I put 2 units of o(w)nagers in every stack I had (so 4 o(w)nagers on the battlemap). They are amazingly powerfull, especially when defending. You have to put them almost in front, just behind your first line of infantry. Then attack the middle unit of an enemy formation. Even if they miss, they probably hit a good chun of other troops. They never hit my own troops (you need to alter to another unit when your target gets too close, or even put them to halt)
In sallying forth it's even better. Put them behind your wall (if you have a stone wall, you need to guess the arc, otherwise they hit your stone wall.. not that badd, but if you position them just right, about 75% of the shots go over) and go shoot. The AI won't attack (probably doesn't even have siege equipment). So you rain hell on them. Once you are out of ammo, go through the gate and mop ub.

They are simply amazing for their cost. And no matter what, you need to kill them as fast as you can if the AI has one. I think he got lucky with his shots. Heck I wiped out a full 300 men army with only o(w)nager flaming rocks once... (the AI was waiting for reinforcements.. unfortunately, the main army was ash when it arrived..)

The napalm is over done for sure.

I do like the way ballistas work. The bolts slam through a formation violently throwing 3 or 4 dead bodies out the back.

My Onagers do not hit Infantry, but they hit the GATES every time as if they were heat-seeking missiles and the door on fire. Nothing against that... :)

But I experienced no great hit percentage on near and standing, immobile units like Principes or Hastatii.

But I must admit, I have not used many OWNAGERS up to now. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nelson

The napalm is over done for sure.

I do like the way ballistas work. The bolts slam through a formation violently throwing 3 or 4 dead bodies out the back.

---

I had a great screenshot of two Iberian cavalry hit at point blank range by some scorpions - looked awesome as the soldiers were thrown back and horses tipped forwards. Of course my screenshots aren't working atm so i lost it :furious3:

That Iberian army was trying to get into the castle and got mulched by 6 onagers I had along. Slow moving infantry moving in column was too tempting a target. Only 4 routing units made it to the gates out of 10. ~D

I had a few backing up my boys and used them to take on a herd of elephants. (Herd of elephants? Of course I've heard of elephants!)

The onagers Kentucky fried a bunch of armoured elephants big time, then when the elephants got close to my front line, the onagers fired low and obliterated my front line in a huge series of fireballs.

Didn't do much for morale, but it sure looked neat.

I haven't used Ornagers yet in my campaign but I am having great fun with Ballistae...

When I assaulted Sparta, the enemy captain was on the walls so I took some pot shots at him. The sappers and siege toweres were moving into place so I figured I might as well use the Ballistae on the enemy. Then suddenly I was treated to the sight of the enemy commander being struck by a Ballista bolt and flying off the wall backwards!! I almost died laughing at the sight! ~D

Oh and did I mention that his unit was Spartan Hoplites! ~;)

Onagers really inacurate at the beginning indeed (talking about campaign) but do get better with experience, something like arty in MTW. I first used one unit during a siege, making them attack the wooden palisade and gates. Pretty soon, the whole city was in flames, buildings crumbling in clouds of dust, while the fence stayed shining brand new. I kept looking in awe the weird trajectories of flamed projectiles, being smart enough to maintain my units at a respectable distance back from those diabolesque machines... Errr... ~:eek: the advisor said I should not destroy the city, so I thought I'll finally get a nice and large courtyard surrounded by a lucky fence AND the meprise of the advisor.
Slowly, the onagers started to hit the gates and busted them.

I kept using the onagers the following battles just because I was always short of units, confronted with larger enemy armies. They did improve. They finally become my favorites when pulverizing in flames one greek enemy general that was leading an army outnumbering me 2:1. :bow: I love them now.