Catapult record kills

[Ars Moriendi]

When outgunned by enemy archers, one lucky artillery crew can save the day.
On the bridge north of Antioch, two stacks of mongols try to displace my army. Almost everybody on the other side has a bow that shoots farther and harder than my own, relatively inept, highland archers, so they proceed raining death at leisure towards my army. What saved me ? One catapult crew, leftover from the siege of Antioch. They killed an impressive 715 mongols. I'm sure I've never seen such a high score with any other unit ; never mind catapults, which make poor anti-personnel weapons...

Screenshot :

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

If you have seen similar "m-m-m-monster kill !" situations, feel free to post some, I'm curious how far Lady Luck can bend the outcome of a battle...

[Askthepizzaguy]

If you're interested in artillery kills, check out my battle replays thread and read about my "death to stampy" series of replays.

Of course, those were mostly all-artillery battles, and may not be what you are looking for, but artillery does come in handy during bridge battles and seiges where the enemy is forced into crowded, cramped, poorly-maneuverable situations.


I'll post a link.
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=89637

[RemusAvenged]

I think catapults get a bum rap and it seems like most people stop using them once they get trebuchets.

I keep one handy pretty much all the time and they average out to be one of the best killing units, almost always better then any other artillery.

Sure dead cows look cool, but no one throws flaming rocks better.

[Zarky]

get into same situation with couple fast cannons... <3
Only good thing with Mongol armies is that if you aim in the middle of moving army, you just can´t miss.

[joe4iz]

I think catapults get a bum rap and it seems like most people stop using them once they get trebuchets.

I keep one handy pretty much all the time and they average out to be one of the best killing units, almost always better then any other artillery.

Sure dead cows look cool, but no one throws flaming rocks better.

I guess the same can be said for ballistas. I use them in city garrisons a lot and place spear units in schitom? (sp) formation. Placing the ballista parrellel to the line and allow them to barbecue units that come through the gate.

[Shahed]

WOW ! Excellent kills !

[RemusAvenged]

Ha, Joe4iz,

I try that tactic all the time and your right that Ballista's get knocked a lot too. I never used to use them until I read a few posts about how to use them for max advantage. That Sieging Schiltrom Artillery Shield tactic works well with Ribaults too, but the Ballista has a faster firing rate and less chance of shooting your men.

[Ars Moriendi]

If you're interested in artillery kills, check out my battle replays thread and read about my "death to stampy" series of replays.

Fun stuff, those replays, especially when played back at high speed Quite sadistic though, using massed artillery fire at close range against closely packed, frightened, sensitive pachyderms ...

What was really amusing was the following scene (from DTS 5 I think) :

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

EDIT : however funny, killcounts aren't that high in those battles. I think I'll try one against peasants...

[TinCow]

I think catapults get a bum rap and it seems like most people stop using them once they get trebuchets.

I agree. I have found that catapults are the best anti-personnel artillery in the game, even better than Monster Ribaults and the like.

[alpaca]

I remember a similarly interesting incident with a Timurid rocket launcher that shot their own units to shambles because it didn't stop firing when they stormed the bridge. It must have killed about 150-200 of their units in one barrage because they were all close-packed on the bridge and the rocket launcher was shooting straight towards my own units on the other side.

On topic though: I think that in normal situations ballistae are better than catapults because they're extremely accurate, have an almost flat trajectory and can still kill up to 20 or so units in one shot in such situations as bridge battles. On top of that, they're more mobile.
In effect, I usually use them to pummel bodyguards, elephants and other high-hp or high-defense units.

[Philbert]

I find it hard to train up my catapults and ballistae. Usually the enemies run towards me when I fire at them, or they fire back with their own artillery so I have to run towards them. I only have 1 pair of ballistae with 2 chevrons, from a battle where I had the enemy, all infantry, surreounded so they didn't dare move and I could shoot them to pieces.

[Ramses II CP]

Put them in crusade stacks to get the autoexperience for success.

[TinCow]

The key to catapults is manual targeting. Always aim for the front unit in the center of the line. That way even if you overshoot or hit left or right, you will still cause casualties. If the center flips or becomes depleted, switch your target to the unit that is front and center to the next 'juicy' area. Only use flaming shots when the enemy force is very large (you can miss the target unit by a mile and still hit men) or you have high experience for accuracy. I can easily get 70-100 kills with a 0 experience catapult without any problems by micromanaging them.

[Empirate]

In my experience, Serpentines top of the list of anti-personnel artillery. With Ribaulds I can never seem to get off more than one barrage, same goes for Rocket Launchers, and both are highly inaccurate. Trebuchets suck hard in field battles, I only keep them for sieges before gunpowder is available. They look cool, though, and dead cows are a lot of fun. Catapults are OK, but quite inaccurate, too, while Ballistae hit very well but only cause a few casualties. Almost all gunpowder artillery seems to suck where anti-personnel capacity is concerned, but Serpentines have never let me down. On large unit size, I consistently manage to kill a three-digit number of enemies with each of my Serpentine crews, almost regardless of terrain. Their range is excellent, and their accuracy is superhuman.
In a recent Hungarian campaign, I even built an army around gunpowder use: Three Serpentines, two Mercenary Rocket Launchers, four Arquebusiers, four Halberdier Militia, three Royal Banderium, three Hungarian Nobles, a General. Usually I only needed the cav for cleaning up. Most enemy armies would break and flee on impact at the latest. When you time your shots with the Rocket Launchers well so they go off the moment the enemy is VERY close, they'll not be able to sustain the damage. I had enemy armies break and run that were still more than three quarters intact! The Serpentines consistently racked up the most kills of all units.

[Philbert]

I had a lot of fun yesterday night: I was badly outnumbered by the milanese who brought something like 8 pavise crossbowmen and 8 militia spearmen units.
However, there was one of those fortresses in the woods on an elevation. I placed my 2 catapult units, my 1 ballista and my 3 half depleted archer units on the elevation, and my 4 spearmen and dismounted knights down below in front.

Mayhem followed. My archers were reduced to less than 10 men each and so were the artillery crews, but as my spear- and swordsmen were hidden in the woods, they survived intact.
The catapults just kept on logging firy balls into the mass of crossbowmen and spearmen and the ballista had a great time too.

When the catapults were out of ammo, the enemy was down 70% and when I moved my intact line of spearmen forward, they mass routed immediately.

Cats and ballista are now double silver chevron and there is a nice picture of crossed swords on the campaign map.

[phonicsmonkey]

ok so maybe a little off topic but I have new respect for the culverin since I just killed 500 natives with one firing explosive shots into a town square...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[andrewt]

I got 415 once playing on the default unit sizes. Those culverins can definitely rack up kills on the Americas campaign.

[Roy1991]

ok so maybe a little off topic but I have new respect for the culverin since I just killed 500 natives with one firing explosive shots into a town square...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

During my Americas campaign a unit of Culverins killed about 360 natives with just 2 shots (1 from each cannon) Forgot to take a screenshot though

I was besieging one of their towns which was garrisoned by a full stack, and they sallied. I ordered my culverin to shoot at the gate (which was already open, because the enemies were come trough it). Both cannonballs hit the ground about 5 metres in front of the gate, and crashed right through the hundreds of natives trying to get trough the gate

Didn't get a chance to reload and fire again, because by then their archers were already firing at my artillery crew.