siege weapon field tactics

[cruix]

Onagers are great for offensive battles. I am under the impression that if you aim them to the enemy flanks, they tend to mass in the centre. THEN you aim at the centre, thus buying time for that cavalry to flank and you main line to approach with those deadly archers. Anyone else tried this?

intersting, must look into this further.

[Gaius Magnus]

I have found Onagers to be highly effective in attacks. They are also effective in defense, but not nearly as effective as attacks. Usually, the enemy rushes in when I am defending, which doesn't leave as much time to hit them with the onagers.

But I will say without a doubt, they are one of the most useful units I use.

Also, it is not a 5% chance that you will kill the enemy general. If you have 2 or 3 Onagers and you target the enemy general unit, you have a VERY good chance of killing him. Hell, you have a very good chance of killing off his entire unit! I have not encountered many problems with the Onagers taking up 2 or 3 unit cards. Sure, I have lost once or twice while using onagers, but generally it is against armies where each unit has much more experience than mine. And I believe they were battles where I was defending, which makes the Onagers less useful (though by no means a complete liability).

I used to use flaming pots when attacking troops, but I have switched back to solid shot. I did this because the shot hops once or twice after it hits and the pots just hit one spot.

I guess I could set up some custom battles and try over and over and over just to see which is more effective against troops, but I am too busy with my Brutii campaign (hard/hard).

[pezhetairoi]

My battles rely on either speed, or staying power, or a combination of both. Onagers fail to fulfill either criterion since they are bloody slow and will crash out the instant they come under counterbattery fire, and are wildly inaccurate. So I don't ever factor them in, except when assaulting. As it is I conquer most of the world before I even build a single catapult range, so onagers to me are dispensable.

[Gaius Magnus]

They are pretty accurate if they have a little experience, especially considering that they are generally being aimed at a large mass of troops. Trained in a province with +3 or more experience bonus, they are quite the handy tool indeed.

I have had one Onager in a single unit destroyed by enemy Onagers. I quickly destroyed the enemy Onagers before they were able to destroy another of mine. :)

3 Onager units with 3 Archer Auxilia can rout an enemy army before they even have a chance to reach your lines. Don't forget to bring along some cavalry to mop up the whole mess at the end.