Ballista & Iron Gates of a Stone Wall

**iKossu** · May 20, 2012, 08:16 AM

I'm playing RS 2.5 beta as Rome (1-turn) with hard campaign and medium battle difficulty. The date is around 618 A.U.C. I've been busy holding my ground in the north against three hostile, raging barbarian races (Arverni, Gallaeci and Boii). Meanwhile my glorious republican legions have conquered most of North Africa ranging from Tingi to Lepcis Magna, kicking some major Carthage butt in the process. They actually have only one settlement left: Carthago Nova.

I have deliberately avoided triggering the reforms until all of Iberia is under Roman rule. That being said, I decided that the time of Carthage is at an end and attacked their last remaining settlement with a full republican legion (general, 8 cohorts, 4 triarii, 2 velites, 2 archers, 2 cavalry and one ballista) from the west. And to avoid the garrison script, I decided to just bust the gates open with the ballista and raid the place.

But there was a surprise waiting for me: the projectiles of my ballista only killed the towers of the gateway and then just mostly smashed into the already 100% damaged gateway. When it ran out of ammo, I lost the battle and the legion disappeared. So I quit the game, restarted it, reloaded the save, activated the script and attacked it from the north east the next turn. The result: the same thing happened.

My question is: is it a RTW bug or something to do with RS2?

And yes, I am actually aiming at the gates and not the gateway itself.

**dvk901** · May 20, 2012, 09:00 AM

I have to say I have never seen or heard of that happening. Have you tried assaulting the city with a Stone Thrower?

**RafoutRoud** · May 20, 2012, 09:05 AM

What we need is a manual aim ballista, and then the ability to play first person as the centurion of the first cohort / mount and blade style...on the battlements.

Lets get to work lads.

**Patricius** · May 20, 2012, 09:20 AM

You can knock out a gatehouse, without significantly damaging the gate or door, but the gate itself needs to be targeted.

**Julio-Claudian** · May 20, 2012, 09:36 AM

Yes that happens. It seems Ballistae are not able to break down gates most of the time. I'd say never rely solely on them.

**iKossu** · May 20, 2012, 11:00 AM

Originally Posted by dvk901

I have to say I have never seen or heard of that happening. Have you tried assaulting the city with a Stone Thrower?

I am unable to recruit such a device. As far as I know, they can only be built after the Marian Reforms. And like I said, I have so far avoided triggering it on purpose. At the moment the Ballista (not counting an infiltration by a spy) is my only choice for capturing a city without triggering the garrison script.

Originally Posted by Julio-Claudian

Yes that happens. It seems Ballistae are not able to break down gates most of the time. I'd say never rely solely on them.

Well I have killed the gate of many wooden walls with a Ballista several times in this campaign without problems.

Capturing the settlement won't be a problem because my legions have done so in the past.

I was just curious because this was the first time I've encountered this problem. But then again I guess my sampling size is not that great because I usually capture one by starving the defenders or killing them when they try to break out.

**Sar1n** · May 20, 2012, 11:13 AM

If you aim at gatehouse, the ballistae won't hit the gates.

And also, if you DO aim at gates, their hitbox is smaller than actual gates so I've seen bolt pass through the upper part of gate and hitting something behind it.

**Ovidius Empiricus** · May 20, 2012, 11:30 AM

I've had the same issue. It's easy to hit the gate on a wooden wall but the ones on stone walls are a problem for some reason. Anyway, I just aim at a section of the wall itself. Before the reforms, if you want to play it safe, two ballistas can easily take out a stone wall and an adjacent tower or two, maybe just the wall for the epic ones. (I don't remember, just make sure to destroy the wall first.) After the reforms, stone throwers are useful, but they're overkill for most settlements and it seems like they're even less useful against troops than regular ballistas.

**ur-Lord Tedric** · May 20, 2012, 02:51 PM

The siege engines are notoriously inaccurate.....

I do wonder if the ballista can knock a wall down, however - for then you could assault through that - 2 ballista's might be better, before using all it's ammo.

It is for this reason (the greater implied need to assault more), however, that a change has been made and you will be able to recruit the first stone-throwing engine in Roma from the start. I'm not sure if that's in 2.5 (in fact I don't think it is); but wonder if dvk' could make the changed file available?

Most assaults early on are against wooden walls, but there are some (Syracuse, Massalia, Carthago) where there are stone.

**Ovidius Empiricus** · May 20, 2012, 05:17 PM

Originally Posted by ur-Lord Tedric

I do wonder if the ballista can knock a wall down, however - for then you could assault through that - 2 ballista's might be better, before using all it's ammo.

Yes, it can, but maybe not a single ballista for an Epic stone wall. It's been too long since I last tried it. Don't put them on auto-fire and don't bother with fire-arrows. And of course two ballistas are always better than one, for maximum destruction.

... Errr, not like that but more like this:

It is for this reason (the greater implied need to assault more), however, that a change has been made and you will be able to recruit the first stone-throwing engine in Roma from the start. I'm not sure if that's in 2.5 (in fact I don't think it is); but wonder if dvk' could make the changed file available?

That's good to hear. It isn't available for Rome 1-turn in 2.5 until after the reforms.

**dvk901** · May 20, 2012, 07:48 PM

I don't know....I have a bit of a problem with a regular ballista being able to knock down anything but men. Seems unrealistic and they are overpowered. That wasn't 'really' a siege weapon.

**Spike** · May 20, 2012, 07:53 PM

just accept the garrison Script next time and play with trusty ol' ladders

**iKossu** · May 21, 2012, 04:14 AM

Originally Posted by dvk901

I don't know....I have a bit of a problem with a regular ballista being able to knock down anything but men. Seems unrealistic and they are overpowered. That wasn't 'really' a siege weapon.

Agreed. That actually reminded me of a thought that came to me a few days ago. I was watching a Ballista firing at enemy ranks when it occured to me that does unit experience increase firing accuracy? I think it would be awesome, especially for siege units, but then again I'm almost willing to bet one of my kidnies worth that it can't be done without access to the source code.