I was thinking... are catapults and so on worth it? On one hand, Bombard means your catapult never takes damage during an attack, but has only a slight chance of even damaging anything. Not only that, but if you are invading a city and you have catapults busting it up, you lose all the improvements so it takes much longer to get the city back to working status again. And a catapult needs an escort or it automatically loses every fight. And if your catapult loses, it goes to the ENEMY which is worse then death! So are they worth it? Sorry if i did not list many advantages, if you want to you can. Just vote.
Catapults and Cannons: Are They Worth It?
- Thread starter Joeking
- Start date
But, if you build enough artillery, there will be no enemy units to capture it! 
I don't build catapults and cannons as much as I do artillery (1 range isn't that good -- but 2 really is sweet). If you can bring all units to 1 HP, taking a city is much easier, even with outdated units. In Conquests, artillery targets units over improvements, making it a bit more effective when taking cities - it's not that hard to provide a defensive unit or two to protect some artillery; the benefits of it will overweigh the cost to defend them.
Try reading this artillery article by Moonsinger and see how some people are ridiculously obsessed with artillery!
Welcome to the forums Joeking.
I don't build catapults and cannons as much as I do artillery (1 range isn't that good -- but 2 really is sweet). If you can bring all units to 1 HP, taking a city is much easier, even with outdated units. In Conquests, artillery targets units over improvements, making it a bit more effective when taking cities - it's not that hard to provide a defensive unit or two to protect some artillery; the benefits of it will overweigh the cost to defend them.
Try reading this artillery article by Moonsinger and see how some people are ridiculously obsessed with artillery!
Welcome to the forums Joeking.
Ansar
Détente avec l'été
I usually dont build artillery until the late MA and/or until RP(Replaceable Parts).
DBear
unbeliever
Cats and trebs just aren't effective enough, but artys rule the battlefield.
Lord Emsworth
Emperor
I think they are indispensable in any shape or form. Useful for taking cities and even better suited for an active defense, i.e. bomb, skirmish, pick off.
TimBentley
Deity
Artillery units are useful for improving your kill ratio (although in my current game I'll probably just mass produce mounted warriors instead of catapults).
101rstImperial
Warlord
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2005
- Messages
- 239
I usually - depending on how many cities I have - put one in atleast every city[ cat or treb ] and usually put the latest - usually trebuchet - in my main stack for sacking cities.
azzaman333
meh
Catapults and cannons are pretty bad IMO, but Artillery and Trebs are good. It also depends on the game situation.
Bluemofia
F=ma
Artillery can save your life if you are getting overwhelmed. In my WWII Pacific Sid as China, they thwarted so many Japanese attacks.
Rambuchan
The Funky President
Artillery are the serious warmongers' weapon of choice. You can walk whole armies around the world barely unscathed with the aid of big stacks of artillery. Bombers in the Conquests version do you the same massive favour. Every city will fall in your path.
Make no mistake - artillery, especially in numbers, are well worth it!
Canons and trebs are not worth it IMO, but I always build a few for fun and for upgrading later.
Make no mistake - artillery, especially in numbers, are well worth it!
Canons and trebs are not worth it IMO, but I always build a few for fun and for upgrading later.
Stumpy123
Chieftain
I'd say arties of all kinds are worth it, no matter what you do. In my experience, the RNG never, ever, ever, EVER, lets you just *kill* a unit. Instead, it always seems to scratch off 1-3 hit points of your attacking unit, which is realistic really; you would take losses in real life even if your unit is superior. So arties definately cut down on the chances the RNG has to hurt your units. It doesn't matter if you're laying siege to a city or deflecting a stack of doom, using arties to weaken them down and your other guys to finish them is extremely useful. I've won two Emperor games now with this, so it works quite well .
.boodlefoof
Chieftain
I'm also of the opinion that catapults and cannons aren't really worth it... but artillery is great.
I particularly like to use artillery as a counterattack measure when invading enemy space... for instance, I'll take over a single city on an opponent's continent then pack it with some skirmishers (Cavalry or Tanks) and artillery... when they start moving in, beat them down with the artillery then wipe them out with the skirmishers. They'll really deplete their numbers impaling themselves on the city... then I can easily move on to capture the other cities.
I particularly like to use artillery as a counterattack measure when invading enemy space... for instance, I'll take over a single city on an opponent's continent then pack it with some skirmishers (Cavalry or Tanks) and artillery... when they start moving in, beat them down with the artillery then wipe them out with the skirmishers. They'll really deplete their numbers impaling themselves on the city... then I can easily move on to capture the other cities.
azzaman333
meh
Rambuchan said:
The catapult and the cannon are pretty bad, compared to the cheap yet powerful Trebs, and later Artillery. Radar Artys are even better still. IIRC, trebs are 30 shields, and with every 2 trebs being able to take (on average) 1 hitpoint from double cost muskets, they are a powerful source. I'd be twice as scared of a SOD if it was 40% trebs, 40% maces, 20% pikes than 80% maces 20% pikes.
OG_Pieps
Chieftain
Catapults aren't worth it if you build less then ten, I think. Of course people like Bamspeedy could use them pretty well.
Cannons are usefull. I once got into a war against the whole world and it were my cannons that hurt the enemys during their attacking and before my units attacked from the cities.
Since the modern artillery I would not go to war without it. You have often half of the casualties you'd have without it.
Cannons are usefull. I once got into a war against the whole world and it were my cannons that hurt the enemys during their attacking and before my units attacked from the cities.
Since the modern artillery I would not go to war without it. You have often half of the casualties you'd have without it.
thetrooper
Misanthrope
- Joined
- May 24, 2004
- Messages
- 9,044
Rambuchan said:
Amen!
I wonder what the catapult world record for not hitting a target is. I had 11 unsuccesful bombardments in a row.
Bartleby
Remembers laughter
I love artillery. The only thing I love more than artillery is captured artillery.
How d'ya like them apples, Osman?
I will build trebs and cannon, and save up to upgrade.
How d'ya like them apples, Osman?
I will build trebs and cannon, and save up to upgrade.
Rambuchan
The Funky President
@ Azza: I have never used Radar Artillery. Sounds cliched but the game is always over by then 
@ trooper: I have actually been lucky enough to exploit the Great Wall bug once with a load of cannon. I had 5 trained on a capital with this wonder in. I took down the walls with the first, destroyed the Great Wall with the second, third and fourth took out some improvements and lastly I injured a unit. Now that was lucky! But I don't think I've ever had such an unlucky run with old artillery units. But Privateers? Now that's a whole new world of artillery disappointment.
@ Bart: Captured artillery do please far more than those lazy captured workers.
Another great thing about artillery is you can churn them out of cities without barracks and it doesn't matter at all, owing to them having no Veteran, Elite or Regular status. That's nice too.
@ trooper: I have actually been lucky enough to exploit the Great Wall bug once with a load of cannon. I had 5 trained on a capital with this wonder in. I took down the walls with the first, destroyed the Great Wall with the second, third and fourth took out some improvements and lastly I injured a unit. Now that was lucky! But I don't think I've ever had such an unlucky run with old artillery units. But Privateers? Now that's a whole new world of artillery disappointment.
@ Bart: Captured artillery do please far more than those lazy captured workers.
Another great thing about artillery is you can churn them out of cities without barracks and it doesn't matter at all, owing to them having no Veteran, Elite or Regular status. That's nice too.
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