Ballista's: Are They Good For Taking Down Walls?

I've only made just one unit of Ballista's, ever, but when I used them against some infantry, they didnt kill crap, but when I used them to fire on a city gate, two rounds hit and it was open!!!!! ~:eek:

So I turned on the fire, and fired it into the city, what do you know, before my army is even in the city, 1/8 of the buildings are burning out of control, the gate is open, and parts of the walls are horribly damaged from missed rounds.

So I was wondering if anyone her knew, are Ballistas good for taking down big stone walls? And are they good for taking down elephants? Thanks!

They are only good fr creating fear and destroying wooden walls. Trying to take down stone walls with them is like giving a fly a mini fly-swatter and tying to stop a human hitting it.

Allllrightyyyy thennnn. I'll use the Onagars for the main walls and the Ballistas vs. the plasaides ~:)

Heehee, the good thing about onagers against stone walls is that if one of the rocks goes slightly too high, it will hit anyone standing on top, and take out a couple of soldiers. Then they end up falling to their miserable deaths.

Ballistas arent as bad as you'd think against stone walls. I wouldn't count on them to take down many walls themselves, but a unit of them can take out a few archer towers. Combine a unit of Ballistas with sap points and you''ll take the city in no time!

I NEVER attack citys so i wouldn't know...

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Originally Posted by aw89

I NEVER attack citys so i wouldn't know...

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Same here. Biggest pain in the arse, IMHO

Wait, ballistas can take down stone wall towers? The description says something like "no damage vs buildings" so I thought that meant stone towers as well?

I once used a bllista against stone walls and it worked really well,taking it down in 2 shots. I turned it on fire and aimed it at the gate, destroying it in 3 shots and frying a unit of spearmen behind the gate. :eeeek: ~:eek:
And in a custom battle I got a ballista and fired a flaming bolt at a group of 'phants killing one and setting the rest running amok

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Originally Posted by HicRic

Wait, ballistas can take down stone wall towers? The description says something like "no damage vs buildings" so I thought that meant stone towers as well?

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Repeating Ballistas cannot damage buildings. The normal ones can.

Cheers, guys. I've ignored ballistas up to this point. I'll give them a go now, they sound very interesting.

Well, even though you now get two ballistas per unit (to 1 in MTW), they're still virtually worthless on the battlefield - which is a shame, as they were used as a battlefield weapon by the romans (so they must have been of some use in real life) - unlike onagers, which shouldn't be on the battlefield, and do silly amounts of damage.

Anyone discovered any use for Scorpions by the way? My only (brief) play with them made me believe they were just a more expensive waste of space than ballistas....

I've taken out a section of epic stone walls with 18 ballistae, just to see it I could. Not the most efficient way, but it works. The fun is when there is a unit above that section you're hitting. Every so often a ballista misses and knocks 3 or 3 guys clear off of the wall.

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Originally Posted by KyodaiSteeleye

Well, even though you now get two ballistas per unit (to 1 in MTW), they're still virtually worthless on the battlefield - which is a shame, as they were used as a battlefield weapon by the romans (so they must have been of some use in real life) - unlike onagers, which shouldn't be on the battlefield, and do silly amounts of damage.

Anyone discovered any use for Scorpions by the way? My only (brief) play with them made me believe they were just a more expensive waste of space than ballistas....

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Actually the romans used scorpions as anti-personnel weapons.