Siege weapons are useless

**kashik** · November 22, 2006, 12:40 PM

I've found that siege weapons are Useless on a moving enemy. I understand this when the enemy is marching, it's perfect. But it is useless when they even change their formation. or take a single step. It seems like the artillery fires to where it believes the enemy will be rather than where they are. In one battle I was pounding the enemy with mortars, then they began to move every few seconds. However they weren't moving more than a step. Just shuffling sort of, causing my mortars to be absolute crap and unable to hit ANY of the large army they were targeting.

I'd be nice to have this fixed, just let the artillery fire at the location the user last clicked on and disregard enemy movement. Unless, is there a way to target the ground? If so that would solve the problem and just be my bad for not knowing how to do that.

**killmore** · November 22, 2006, 12:48 PM

I have seen catapults landing their rocks in the middle of my non-moving troops without any effect. It happened multiple times. But most of the times they are effective against standing troops - I have not tried against moving troops yet

**Theoden** · November 22, 2006, 12:55 PM

Funny but i just managed to take out the enemy general with the first shot of my cannons. Anyway i would like to see an attack ground feature which would make artillary vs troops more usefull.

**kashik** · November 22, 2006, 12:59 PM

I agree, siege weapons like mortars are absolutely brilliant on standing troops. With the passive AI it is fun to destroy the enemy when they are sieging my settlement, but cannot yet attack the walls.

**Soulghast** · November 22, 2006, 12:58 PM

Mortars are not ideal for hitting troops, they are used to hit fortifications. Try some culverins.

**God-Emperor of Mankind** · November 22, 2006, 01:07 PM

Well seige equipment are just what they are called, for seiges.
I'm not surprised that mortars are worthless against infantry or armies in general, they aren't meant for that.

**Tovi** · November 22, 2006, 01:46 PM

Ballistas rocks against soldiers. I think they can make more casualities than a unit of arbalesters.

**Wurfspiess** · November 22, 2006, 01:53 PM

Originally Posted by Tovi

Ballistas rocks against soldiers. I think they can make more casualities than a unit of arbalesters.

Thats true ballistas are very strong against incoming troops
Arbalesters are in the game ? didnt seen any
to the op
Siege weapons are not useless, their name could give you a clue what they are good for........for sieges

**kashik** · November 22, 2006, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by Wurfspiess

Thats true ballistas are very strong against incoming troops
Arbalesters are in the game ? didnt seen any
to the op
Siege weapons are not useless, their name could give you a clue what they are good for........for sieges

Well i find mortars to be very effective against troops. One of their purposes is to take out troops on the other side of walls

They are extremely good at this, unless the enemy starts doing actions like I wrote out above.

Basically, It'd be nice to have an Attack Ground action.

**Mr_Cyberpunk** · November 22, 2006, 03:06 PM

Strange cause I always bring plenty of catapults to the field. If they're stupid enough to keep their units really close I can kill most of their army. One thing, DONT USE TREBS, they are really crap all round, I find they miss everything including walls during sieges. Catapults are really nice in field battles, I haven't really played with gunpowder yet though.

You shouldn't set catapults to EAW mode because they'll miss 90% of the time, instead click on the unit that's somewhere in the center and you'll hit more often. Don't use them if your enemy is hiding behind a hill, cause you'll miss no matter what. If they are on a flat or are on a hill waiting for you to attack (at the front) you'll be able to hit a lot.

Once you've killed half their army and run out of ammo, bring out the archers. Then end it with Cavalry - There will be NO escape! This method usually has me loose like 10-100 units max. (they get very close to my units, but cause my archers are constantly pelting them they usually all die before they can get near.)

ALSO, Use Flame ammo, don't use the normal rocks cause you'll kill no one. Using the flame kills on average 10 units per hit. (depending on where it hits, thought I've seen it take out 50 earlier today

That was bloody awesome, took out their general too)

**SigniferOne** · November 22, 2006, 01:51 PM

I think that's the whole point (counter to games like Age of Empires). Only a very few siege weapons have any use against soldiers, such as ballista and the organ guns.

**ProudNerd** · November 22, 2006, 02:28 PM

Originally Posted by kashik

I've found that siege weapons are Useless on a moving enemy. I understand this when the enemy is marching, it's perfect. But it is useless when they even change their formation. or take a single step. It seems like the artillery fires to where it believes the enemy will be rather than where they are. In one battle I was pounding the enemy with mortars, then they began to move every few seconds. However they weren't moving more than a step. Just shuffling sort of, causing my mortars to be absolute crap and unable to hit ANY of the large army they were targeting.

I'd be nice to have this fixed, just let the artillery fire at the location the user last clicked on and disregard enemy movement. Unless, is there a way to target the ground? If so that would solve the problem and just be my bad for not knowing how to do that.

siege weapons a rent for use agasint troops. hence they arent all that effective. they are still fun to use tho. Nailing a unit with a flaming riock is just so satafyign to watch.