siege collateral damage - who gets it and how much?

[clif9710]

How is collateral damage calculated and how is it distributed?

When I attack with one of my favorite units, the Hwacha, if it has low HP remaining then I assume it will do little damage and not survive, but who in the attacking stack takes the collateral damage, the healthiest units?

Are retreat odds for a siege unit figured the same way they are for mounted units like a knight? I've found retreat odds are usually very poor for the Hwacha and figure this is because it only has 4 HP.

 

[bakshi]

I never get collateral damage anymore. Instead I just stick with CR. I don't know about the retreat but knights own cats really hard.

 

[mechaerik]

I don't think he's talking about the promo. I think he's talking about the actual collateral damage done.

As for that, I don't know, but would also like to know.

 

[Bushface]

Collateral damage is done to a limited number of units in the stack being attacked: these units are selected at random. If you attack a big, varied stack and note the strengths of the individual units before and after the attack, you will see that a limited number of units have taken collateral damage and that the choice of those units was random. Do it again and it is quite possible that some units have taken further collateral damage while others remain unscathed.

 

[skyclad]

Question:

is the top defender considered a valid target for collateral? I think not, since they are sometimes left completely undamaged, but then again, maybe he jus got lucky with the RNG if the collateral is random... I think my earlier observation is right, that the top defender could very well be at full health while the rest of the stack had taken max collateral.

 

[Fraxander]

Question:

is the top defender considered a valid target for collateral? I think not, since they are sometimes left completely undamaged, but then again, maybe he jus got lucky with the RNG if the collateral is random... I think my earlier observation is right, that the top defender could very well be at full health while the rest of the stack had taken max collateral.

Example:

A longbowman(top defender in the big stack) with CGIII @ 100% City defense plus wall defense(assuming still at 100% or ##%), the longbowman will not get damaged while his other friends will get it. you need quite a few of siege to bring down that particular LBM.

Correct me if i m wrong.....cheers

 

[skyclad]

Example:

A longbowman(top defender in the big stack) with CGIII @ 100% City defense plus wall defense(assuming still at 100% or ##%), the longbowman will not get damaged while his other friends will get it. you need quite a few of siege to bring down that particular LBM.

Correct me if i m wrong.....cheers

this is my understanding too, thanks. A good point to make then, would be to look closely before you keep suiciding pults, even if they still have low odds... maybe there is only one left undamaged. thanks to first strikes and bonuses.

 

[clif9710]

I've noticed that the top HP unit in a stack can escape CD from one or two attacking siege units but eventually he does take a hit. Realistically, this makes sense since there is no telling what an artillery barrage will hit.

This is a reason to be sure you have 3 or more siege units to throw in if there is a large defending stack. It's also a good reason to examine carefully what CD has done, 'cause if there is only one strong unit left it can be worth the sacrifice of a unit or two to take him down as the rest will fall easily.

 

[TheDS]

Up to 5 units can get collateralled in a stack, and AFAIK you can't collateral the unit you're attacking.

How much collateral gets done, I'm not sure, but there's probably a thread about it in here. There were a LOT of good game mechanics threads back when the game was new, so look it up.

 

[s.bernbaum]

Question:

is the top defender considered a valid target for collateral? I think not, since they are sometimes left completely undamaged, but then again, maybe he jus got lucky with the RNG if the collateral is random... I think my earlier observation is right, that the top defender could very well be at full health while the rest of the stack had taken max collateral.

The top defender is the enemy unit your siege unit is combatting. Collateral damage applies to units on the square OTHER THAN the defending combatant. The defending combatant will be damaged or not according to the rules of combat, not due to collateral damage.

 

[mariogreymist]

Example:

A longbowman(top defender in the big stack) with CGIII @ 100% City defense plus wall defense(assuming still at 100% or ##%), the longbowman will not get damaged while his other friends will get it. you need quite a few of siege to bring down that particular LBM.

Correct me if i m wrong.....cheers

FlankingII knights solve this problem pretty well. Attack with a few of those, then bring in the siege. You losses in terms of will be significantly fewer doing this. Even FlankingII HAs can be used for this purpose. As soon as all those high promoted LBs in the hilled city are bleeding, CRII trebs will do alright against them.

 

[Deckhand]

IIRC, the health of the attacker has no effect on the amount of collateral damage.

Does this mean that a weakened siege weapon has as much chance of surviving an attack [because once below x strength, it will roll die and try to retreat]
(and will do as much collateral damage) as a full strength unit?

Spoiler :

edit: I think I'm wrong here but will leave the question to be answered more authoritatively.