Ballistae - do you use them?

[Strengelicher]

I seem to have a problem with ballistae. In vanilla I sometimes used them, but in SS 6.4 I don't. Anybody use them effectively and care to recommend? If so, screenshots would be welcome.

[KingFoey]

I never use them. Makes your army too slow on the map.

[ruthless knight]

i never use them, they seem to kill none in the battlefield, also they make your army slow on campaign map. better to get a catapult or trebuchet. on the other hand, if you have loads of luck, you can use them to snipe generals

[Chazz1225]

they're good in the early campaign, great for laying waste to militia units, makes winning soooooo much easier. After the 1200's however they lose their effectiveness

[Duck of Death]

Maybe I was lucky, but I played as the Romans and put 2 mangonels, 2 ballistae and 2 catapults in each legion (at first just for rpg reasons). I found that targeting genrals/cavalry with the ballistae and targeting infantry with catapults (in the middle of the enemy army), and firing mangonels at the front of the enemy army... I got pretty good results.

Often, doing this, the enemy would be broken up and out of formation by the time they reached my lines... at which point my Spathatoi and scoutatoi would mop the floor with them

[ksenagos]

Ballistas and cannons are great as defensive weapon in sieges.Right after your gate put some men a few meters away put some balistas on either side and watch the fun begin.Works better with javelineers instead of balistas but the general idea is the same.Devastating ap missiles on a small area with high density of men

[Vissewalde rex de Gerzika]

Ballistas and cannons are great as defensive weapon in sieges.Right after your gate put some men a few meters away put some balistas on either side and watch the fun begin.Works better with javelineers instead of balistas but the general idea is the same.Devastating ap missiles on a small area with high density of men

If you dont mind friendly fire it should work, if you have throwaway units like the byzantine cheap spearmen that are poor at holding the gates(because they have no schiltron formation). Just train 4 units of the peasant javeliners and you can kill a good amount of men before they get trough your spearmen,

[DeliCiousTZM]

Mangonels are not joke. ballistae are tho.

[Vissewalde rex de Gerzika]

Mangonels are not joke. ballistae are tho.

Magonels are good in siege defense, they can put siege towers in flames from 1 shot, which means less messy fighting on the walls.

[nomercysniper]

I never use ballista's, but seem to get shredded by islamic city trained armies. ( I had such high hopes for that general )

[philipjd]

I use them in the early stages as a defensive weapon in sieges - I sortie with them and kill some of the opposing heavy enemy units - usually they don;t interfere and you can exhaust your ammo on them. Then either attack if your other units are strong enough or retreat back behind your walls, usually get a 'succesful sortie' messgae, then rinse/repeat until the attackers siege assault or you find a way to break the siege.

Agree with other posters, they usually add little to field combats to be worth the slower campaign map speed.

[Rushwithoutmercy]

The nerf to Ballistae and catapults was pretty bad, making them nearly useless.

[Ichon]

Ballista range could be much higher and a slight increase in accuracy and I think that would be good enough. Mostly the range is issue as they should outrange anything prior to cannon.

[spH3RiCal]

Balistas are the best weapon vs elephants. You can also use them to block the gates from the inside at a siege battle.