Artillery Ridiculously Accurate

[VaeVictis]

The first time I fielded a unit of ballistas I was practically rolling on the floor laughing as I sniped every unit of infantry until they were shattered and routing from the field.

As amusing as it may be, I can only imagine how unstoppable a large number of these would be against a large force of troops.

Not exactly on my high priority list of things to get tweaked but wanted to see who else noticed it.

[DanMLee88]

They are accurate enough, but it's more of a case where ammunition is so devastating and units are so tightly packed.

It would be nice if they were a little less accurate, has more ammunition, and a little more expensive with the upkeep. As it stands now, I configure my legions so that they would always include 4 ballistas or heavy onagers and 4 praetorian cavalry along with 1 eagle cohort and 10 armored legion cohorts.

Unless they go into parthia, in which case archers and HA take priority.

[Korburss]

Not overly so. Even with full tech upgrade and max ranked ballista, if you watch them you'll see whole volleys from four or five miss every troop in a plaza and even miss at walls from time to time. They only seem overpowered due to the fact the AI will stand there and take it.

[johannlo]

They only seem overpowered due to the fact the AI will stand there and take it.

THIS

I wager that if you advanced aggressively and spread out a bit, your loss from incoming arty will be less (in terms of points/gold) than the cost of the arty itself

Half of the value of arty is psychological - it forces you to move and into rash decisions / suboptimal formations

[DanMLee88]

THIS

I wager that if you advanced aggressively and spread out a bit, your loss from incoming arty will be less (in terms of points/gold) than the cost of the arty itself

Half of the value of arty is psychological - it forces you to move and into rash decisions / suboptimal formations

Yes you are correct - the AI tendency to sit there and take the fire especially during siege instead of moving around and trying to disperse your fire is a big factor. I stand corrected on the effectiveness of the arty - it's not overpowered at all unless due to immobile AI units.

Problem is the AI, not the artillery. They seem impressive, but if you try to advance your lines as quickly as you can, you will not lose at most more than a unit before the melee even if there are 4 of them firing at you - mostly they overshoot or undershoot your units. 1 unit lost vs 4 arty before melee - that's pretty balanced.

Primary purpose of the artillery is in the siege - wall breaking and destroying entrenched defenses. That, and softening morale before your lines engage.

Once again, AI is the problem, not the artillery.

[adognow]

IMO the balllista only seems powerful because they send infantry flying everywhere.

But the net number of kills per hit on infantry units only results in at most 10 dead men, usually I see 4 or 5 dead per hit (out of 120 men in a cohort), but 20 men are sent flying everywhere, but they just get back up.

[Grazgul]

Artillery is very accurate, but it doesn't do a lot of damage when compared to a volley of arrows (of roughly the same price)

Artillery has a big advantage in morale and confusion, try hitting lines of phalanx as you charge :p It's big weakness is ammunition, if you're not manually using it effectively then you end up falling behind.

[craziii]

less accurate would reduce them to useless status again.

units just need loose formation and all would be well.

in mp, arties will get a max of 3 shots off before units close in. not op at all. in fact, pretty useless in mp.

[Faith]

post medieval2, ranged precision is unbelievable.
missiles used to have an area of effect. now, missiles are hit or miss.

[SinerAthin]

If you'd look closer, ALL missile units are much more accurate, be it slingers, archers, javelins & artillery.

Artillery has to be this fast & accurate in order to be viable in a battle, due to infantry movement speed and how quick the battles are.

[wulfgar610]

Ancient artillery was quite accurate, but I doubt it had anything more than half the range that is shown in game. It's game downside is the ammo runs out quick.

[Jackal2233]

When facing artillery I normally hide behind a hill, wait for the enemy to advance (and they leave their artillery behind struggling to catch up) then... CAVALRY... CHARGE!!!!

Hell I HATE artillery, it's not a way I'd like my men to die. Though I LOVE it on my side!

[Agent Provocateur]

Funny his this thread appeared just above one asking if artillery was worth it....

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,

[krazysigmarite]

The automatic bonus of having explosive ammunition is pretty ridiculous in accuracy, considering you are firing at such closely packed troops.