Ballistas - useless?

[Zorn]

I see two problems with ballistas.
The first is, that they have allways two ballistas in a unit. That is fine at small unit size, but if you play at huge, all units are 4 times as big, but there are still only two ballistas. You can easily figure that the inflicted casualities are neglectible.
This problem can be solved by modding (I suggest 8 ballistas at huge size).
The other problem is their very low trajectory. If you place them behind your lines like archers, they will start killing your own men very soon.
If you place them in front of your lines like slingers, they will die very soon because they lack the manouveraybility to retreat behind your lines.
I tried to make a mix of both. I put my ballistas in front, and my infantery so close behind, that only the machines itself were in front of my lines, the crew was "in" my infantery. The result was terrible, though.
At the moment, you really cannot employ ballistas in an open field battle.
Wich is kinda sad, because they really rock against hard targets like charriots or heavy cav.
They have one use, however. If you have modded them to 8 ballistas per unit, they can bring down stone walls really really fast.

[Oaty]

They are great against pacyderms. And when they target chariots they aim for the general

Also ballistas can rip open 3 holes for you in wooden walls, they're only downfall is that they move slower than your army.

[Chelifer]

This problem can be solved by modding (I suggest 8 ballistas at huge size).

How do you mod the number? I could not find it in export_descr_unit.txt

[Zorn]

I used GodsPetMonkeys Caligula to do it.

[Darius]

The ONLY time I have ever found them able to make a decent impact on any battle is when you're facing a hoplite/phalangite heavy army and they have to march down streets in large numbers. When that happens, they basically tear holes through everything. Otherwise, you're lucky to get a few shots off before the battle starts, and that's only if you're on defense. Try using them on offense and you will get to enjoy spending half your battle time rolling the oversized crossbows to meet the enemy.

[Khorak]

Can any of the siege weapons fit on any of the walls? I mean, the Epic walls are certainly big enough....

[Chelifer]

Probably the epic stairs are not wide enough :)

[Sam Adams]

the only time I use artillery from the field is when fighting enemy horse archers, chariots, or elephants. Basically the things that can only be effectively killed at range.

usually your own archers are more effective though, except against elephants.