Siege Weapons

[Dead Guy]

Has anyone played around with siege weaponry?

I never bothered to research that line in my current campaign, but I came up against the Tokugawas Mangonel yesterday. Luckily for me it was in a half stack that I attacked, and the Tokugawa decided to hang back in defense on a hill a bit behind the mangonels. I advanced on both flanks in a pincer attack, but when I got hit by that thing the first time, I withdrew my infantry to contemplate the situation.

That thing is pretty damn accurate! I don't want to know what it'll do to closely packed troops. Since I had bow cavalry, I approached the Mangonel with it. It started firing on them, and I tried this dodging manouver I've seen the AI pull off, perhaps unintentionally, against long range arrow fire. And lo and behold, I could quite comfortably dodge incoming mangonel projectiles, and make my way up to the Tokugawa position, at which point they naturally sent a Yari Samurai unit chasing after my bow cavalry. The AI was a bit stupid here and sent one unit at a time after my bow cav into some waiting bow samurai, but that's another story.

Anyway, if you're up against Mangonels and are given the opportunity to freely manouver like this, it's probably possible to exhaust the ammunition of enemy mangonels without taking casualties. Cheesy? Yes.

Do you guys have any experience with or against Mangonels, or whatever comes after that in the art-tree?

[Daevyll]

I use two units of mangonels in my 'slow' army, and love them. Defensively they are great for causing casualties on packed enemy ranks as they approach, and their archers once the melee troops have engaged. Protect them with a Yari unit.
On the attack, their use varies depending on the map since you cannot move them. Various times I've forced the AI to give up a strong defensive position on a hill because it was in range of the mangonels. Other times they are useless when the enemy just sets up outside their range.
But on balance, I'd much rather have the mangonels than another two units of samurai.

[crpcarrot]

i ahvent been able to build any yet but how powerful are they with a few exp?

[Dead Guy]

Sounds good, Daevyll.

Hadn't thought about it, but would they get the bonus accuracy from the paper makers and hunters lodge? Can't recall whether that's archer-specific?

[al Roumi]

Sounds good, Daevyll.

Hadn't thought about it, but would they get the bonus accuracy from the paper makers and hunters lodge? Can't recall whether that's archer-specific?

They do get the bonus -as it would seem do all ranged units. I am recruiting +accuracy firebomb throwers and mangonels :D