Ballista won't bombard city

[lordex]

Hi, this is my first Civ V game. I brought a Ballista to 2 tiles away from the city I'm sieging, but when I press B the bombard overlay showing up does not include the city tile. I can bombard any other one that's 1 or 2 tiles but not the city. Why?

TIA

 

[Beef Hammer]

do hills and forests block siege range like they do ranged units? If so is there one between you and the city?

 

[lordex]

No... that's not it. I just ran into it again, and this time I made sure it was grassland in between. When I hover over the city, I still get the attack analysis, but just can't actually do it.

 

[charon2112]

No... that's not it. I just ran into it again, and this time I made sure it was grassland in between. When I hover over the city, I still get the attack analysis, but just can't actually do it.

are you at war with them?

 

[nokmirt]

No... that's not it. I just ran into it again, and this time I made sure it was grassland in between. When I hover over the city, I still get the attack analysis, but just can't actually do it.

I have not used one is it a UU for Rome? I went from catapult to trebuchet thats why I am wondering.

 

[Tokira]

If I remember correctly, I've been able to use ballistas to attack to cities when playing as Rome.

 

[JohnnyW]

Siege units have limited vision. Was the city in a fog of war?

 

[cf_nz]

Post a screen-shot.

 

[Oerdin]

My guess is he didn't set up the unit. There is a button on the left side (right at the top of the column with the unit commands on it) which tells siege weapons to go in to move mode or bombard mode. You must be in bombard mode to fire.

 

[Babri]

Siege units have limited vision. Was the city in a fog of war?

This.

 

[Tinkers]

I had exactly the same happen in my current game. As Iriquois I couldn't bombard some cities with either Catapult or Trebuchet from more than 1 hex away. Other cities I could bombard fine from 2 hexes so don't think I was doing anything wrong. Will need to check some of the suggestions above.

 

[lordex]

Thanks for chiming in everybody above.

@nokmirt, Ballista is a Roman UU.

I had a legion standing right next to the city, so @charon2112 yes I was at war with them , and @JohnnyW no there wasn't a fog of war unless it means something differently than I thought .

@Oerdin I couldn't swear I had it set up, but when I pressed B I did see the red overlay showing the "bombardable" range, which covers all other tiles 2 hexes away except the city. I would have thought that if I hadn't set it up the entire range would have shown differently?

I'll try and get a screenshot tonight. Again thanks everybody.

 

[builer680]

Thanks for chiming in everybody above.

@nokmirt, Ballista is a Roman UU.

I had a legion standing right next to the city, so @charon2112 yes I was at war with them , and @JohnnyW no there wasn't a fog of war unless it means something differently than I thought .

@Oerdin I couldn't swear I had it set up, but when I pressed B I did see the red overlay showing the "bombardable" range, which covers all other tiles 2 hexes away except the city. I would have thought that if I hadn't set it up the entire range would have shown differently?

I'll try and get a screenshot tonight. Again thanks everybody.

Between your Ballista and the city, is there a Hill, Forest, or Forested Hill? Is your Ballista on any of these?

 

[lordex]

Between your Ballista and the city, is there a Hill, Forest, or Forested Hill? Is your Ballista on any of these?

I'm pretty sure it was grassland in between in at least one of the cases. Not sure what terrain the Ballista was on though.

 

[builer680]

I'm pretty sure it was grassland in between in at least one of the cases. Not sure what terrain the Ballista was on though.

I ask because it's a Line of Sight thing it took me a couple playthroughs to get used to. Some examples:

KEY = Terrain for your ballista -- Intervening terrain -- City

Flat terrain -- Forest -- City = no line of sight, can't shoot.
Flat terrain -- Hill -- City = no line of sight, can't shoot.
Hill -- Forested Hill -- City = no line of sight, can't shoot
Forest -- Hill -- City = no line of sight, can't shoot.
Forest -- Forest -- City = no line of sight, can't shoot.

Hill -- Forest -- City = good line of sight, can shoot.
Hill -- Hill -- City = good line of sight, can shoot
Any terrain -- Flat terrain -- City = good line of sight, can shoot.

Hope this helps. If there is indeed flat terrain between you and the city, double check to be sure your siege is set up. If it still won't fire, it must be a bug.

 

[lordex]

Builder680 and others are right, it seems to have to do with the terrain in between. My confusion earlier came specifically in cases like this:

 A
B C
 D E

where ABCDE are tiles of course. Both B & C must not be anything that impacts the line of sight, for A to be able to bombard D. OTOH, since A and E are directly opposite to each other, as long as C doesn't block the LoS, a Ballista at A would be able to bombard E.

 

[bryanw1995]

yeah, that's quite annoying, it's happened to me a few times as well. I usually just try to set up on a hill or forest 2 tiles away.

 

[builer680]

Builder680 and others are right, it seems to have to do with the terrain in between. My confusion earlier came specifically in cases like this:

 A
B C
 D E

where ABCDE are tiles of course. Both B & C must not be anything that impacts the line of sight, for A to be able to bombard D. OTOH, since A and E are directly opposite to each other, as long as C doesn't block the LoS, a Ballista at A would be able to bombard E.

Your ASCII art is better than mine , but I think you've made an error here.

'A' could bombard 'D'
IF
either 'B' or 'C' isn't blocking your line of sight. Both of these tiles can provide line of sight to 'D' from 'A', so only one of those tiles is necessary to obtain it.

'A' could not bombard 'E'
IF
'C' is blocking the line of sight. This is because 'C' is the only tile that can provide line of sight to 'E' from 'A'.

 

[bryanw1995]

builer you are incorrect. logically it seems that if either b or c is open you can bombard, but when you actually play the game that is not how it works. I guess they wanted indirect fire to be more useful.

 

[builer680]

builer you are incorrect. logically it seems that if either b or c is open you can bombard, but when you actually play the game that is not how it works. I guess they wanted indirect fire to be more useful.

No Bryanw, it is you that is incorrect. I have Fraps on this computer somewhere, so given some time I can prove it.

Edit: Video uploaded, link is below (and later in another post in this thread on the next page).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlsRIfHCFqc