Is artillery worth it?

[karamazovmm]

its a simple question folks is artillery worth it in battles now? I noticed that the accuracy is not as god awful as it was in the non warscape games, but I still haven't used those

so what are the goods, the bads and the uglies of artillery in this game

do please tell me of good units as well, thinking of placing 2 in my roster

[johannlo]

I think they're more accurate than previous too so definitely

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[nameless]

its a simple question folks is artillery worth it in battles now? I noticed that the accuracy is not as god awful as it was in the non warscape games, but I still haven't used those

so what are the goods, the bads and the uglies of artillery in this game

do please tell me of good units as well, thinking of placing 2 in my roster

As Sparta I had 4 ballistas in my army. They're pretty good and I use them to focus fire on enemy slingers, cavalry, etc. but playing as Rome I'm thinking of just bringing it down to 2 so I have more cavalry. Also, they're nice in siege battles where you have an attacking army coming from the sea as they're very good in taking out the transports.

[craziii]

I use them to get rid of towers and walls, other wise the arty towers will hurt your troops bad. when you are fighting a combined land and sea battle, try to line up the arties so they will have a shot at ships. I once sunk 5 ships as the ai were trying to land, awesome stuff. arties are superb when taking a minor settlement with no walls. I usually get 400 to 600 kill per unit. they kill elite and non elite alike, elites have it worst, since elite units tend to pack real tight.

without the loose formation, arties are super deadly.

[Vasa]

I use them to get rid of towers and walls, other wise the arty towers will hurt your troops bad. when you are fighting a combined land and sea battle, try to line up the arties so they will have a shot at ships. I once sunk 5 ships as the ai were trying to land, awesome stuff. arties are superb when taking a minor settlement with no walls. I usually get 400 to 600 kill per unit. they kill elite and non elite alike, elites have it worst, since elite units tend to pack real tight.

without the loose formation, arties are super deadly.

They're pretty awesome at defending your shores, but I've never needed them on offense. If you have hoplites or triarii they can usually torch the gate without taking many casualties.

[Langer Kerl]

They're pretty awesome at defending your shores, but I've never needed them on offense. If you have hoplites or triarii they can usually torch the gate without taking many casualties.

Thats unless the enemy has scorpion towers. Early on, I stopped paying much attention to towers because arrow towers were so weak. But then, at one point, three units of my hoplites were easily decimated by more than half of their total number by just one or two bolt shooting towers when they approached the gate.


Regarding the OP: Artillery is extremely effective. You can seemingly stick with regular ballistas, which combine great range with great accuracy and have explosive shots form the get-go. Large ballistas have even more range and power but cannot be moved, so they are a bit risky to use since you can not really react to a changing battlefield situations.

Generally, my ballistas tend to get lots of kills in any kind of battle, tear down walls and towers and are the bane of ships, especially, but not limited to weaker ships like transports. Also, unless its a siege battle, the AI actually tends to react to artillery fire and attack even when on the defensive, so artillery is even more valuable when you like to play defensively and want the enemy to come to you. In a siege, especially a minor city siege you can usually just shell the heck out of your enemy until your ammo is drained, breaking most kinds of resistance without taking a single loss.

Overall I was considering artillery to even be slightly overpowered, especially ballistas. I have not seen any reason to not use them, especially not over other artillery.

[Jackal2233]

The best thing about artillery is that they allow you to attack on the same turn. Which is good for infantry based armies too, because you can storm an enemy settlement and fight in tight spaces which a better environment then open field which is more favorable to cavalry and missile troops. Besides that, they rock and its fun to hear the enemy cry about artillery while you're pounding them with explosive ammo.

[Legio]

I love my artillery! I second nameless' point about using them in siege defenses. They are exceptionally good at taking out enemy troop transports.

[krisslanza]

Siege weapons seem quite good. They're fairly accurate, but they excel when the enemy clumps up. The only issue is when you siege, the buildings and walls will play havoc with your line of sight, so you might need spotter units.

[Killergold88]

In naval battles i use them all the time, even in joint naval battles, but i cant bring myself to recruit onagers over hoplites... just... cant... do... it....

[rrgg]

Artillery is ridiculously effective, ballistas often get over 160 kills in a single battle (they feel like the cannons from previous titles, but instead of firing upon thin lines of musketmen you're rolling bolders through 8 rank phalanxes). Scorpions are less effective but still pretty good.

The only issue with artillery for me is that it requires a bit more babysitting. The missiles they fire are really hard to see so I never know if my artillery is targeting that nice, juicy phalanx over there or some tiny group of routing skirmishers.

[ExtremeBoyheat]

Ballistas to clear armies, scorpions to snipe enemy ballistas.

[Mbern45]

I find artillery to be extremely effective in battle. they are almost as accurate as the cannons in fall of the samurai and can do a lot of damage to the enemy's elite infantry so they are softened up for combat. I have won some tight battles because the damage on the enemy infantry allowed my inferior infantry to route them once they engaged in combat.

[craziii]

the main purpose of arties in my army stacks are to get rid of the scorpion/arty towers that will wreck your troops if not destroy. you have not tried an assault of a lvl 4, max out province capital if you don't know what I am talking about. those towers hurt so bad

[karamazovmm]

oooohhhhh Im so going to use them now!

I tried to see the effectiveness of artie in a custom battle, just to see it not fire one single shot before the enemy arrived, and yes it was on foot.

what do you guys think of this roster?

1 mounted general

6 legionaires

4 velites

3 cavalry

2 ballista

1 praetorian

1 first cohort

2 veteran legionaires


I take its a balanced build and cost effective

I play on medium sizes and my troops that see actual combat are raking between 150-300 kills, given that I only fight when Im outnumbered

[#TheTBNR™]

oooohhhhh Im so going to use them now!

I tried to see the effectiveness of artie in a custom battle, just to see it not fire one single shot before the enemy arrived, and yes it was on foot.

what do you guys think of this roster?


1 mounted general

6 legionaires

4 velites

3 cavalry

2 ballista

1 praetorian

1 first cohort

2 veteran legionaires


I take its a balanced build and cost effective

I play on medium sizes and my troops that see actual combat are raking between 150-300 kills, given that I only fight when Im outnumbered

I definitely will have at least 4 cav units, and less infantry. Just my opinion!

[rrgg]

I definitely will have at least 4 cav units, and less infantry. Just my opinion!

less. . . infantry. . . ?

[Korburss]

oooohhhhh Im so going to use them now!

I tried to see the effectiveness of artie in a custom battle, just to see it not fire one single shot before the enemy arrived, and yes it was on foot.

what do you guys think of this roster?

1 mounted general

6 legionaires

4 velites

3 cavalry

2 ballista

1 praetorian

1 first cohort

2 veteran legionaires


I take its a balanced build and cost effective

I play on medium sizes and my troops that see actual combat are raking between 150-300 kills, given that I only fight when Im outnumbered

I'd recommend going down to three velites or outright removing them, they are useful but plenty of situations will not require them and they are a outright liability if you don't have cavalry superiority. At least three balista, with four or five you can outright capture cities and sink navies with them alone. Drop down to six infantry and going up to five cavalry, it isn't noticeable at first but roman cavalry isn't a match for the later era cavalry, a heroic rider or other units will crush even fully upgraded and experienced Praetorian cavalry 1v1.

Really the "best" setup depends on who you're fighting. Lots of infantry and siege will crush barbarians but lack of cavalry will destroy you against Parthia and such factions. I've outright reformed my entire military four times as the factions I've fought changed. Currently, fighting Armenia at endgame and Five infantry, five siege, and ten cavalry is my standard.

Rome really isn't a match in ranged warfare, so cavalry over ranged tends to hold true. Infantry will normally be superior, so you can have a lower number of it. Siege is pretty much the same for all factions and three plus tends to hold true, as its enough to do away with scorpion towers and walls if nothing else.

[Coleus]

Invaluable in taking out enemy transports. If you're sieging and the enemy tries to land reinforcements on the beaches, you can be outflanked without them.

Watching boat loads of slingers drowning is surprisingly good fun!

[karamazovmm]

I have 4 cav units, 3+ general