Am I the only one who thinks catapults suck?

Wexu · November 1, 2001, 08:13

Yep, that's the question. What are they good at? I've tried to bombard enemy cities with them, but they hardly do any damage at all..

edit: And what's the difference between "bombardment failed" and when nothing happens??

Zylka · November 1, 2001, 08:20

They're pretty fun to use in a defensive manner. If you have a city at the busy fronts of an enemy territory which is constantly attacked, load it up with a good 3 vet catapults. Fire and forget, damage the enemy without risking your own - what's wrong with that? If you're not into that sort of thing, just sit a few cats outside of a jewel of an enemy town which is hard to capture, and rape it with stone artillery! *Drool*

...and they definately did a good thing in lowering the cost and making them less effective in face to face combat. The capturing of catapults makes sense as well.

Wexu · November 1, 2001, 08:23

Thanks, I think I'll move them to defensive positions they might better there.

BTW, do they fire automatically if you have one in town and enemy attacks even if you have like spearman defending? Manual is sooooo crappy..

Stuie · November 1, 2001, 08:32

Quote:

Originally posted by Wexu
And what's the difference between "bombardment failed" and when nothing happens??

If the city has multiple units, the damaged one will not appear on top. Also, it is possible to reduce the population (this would be visible as the number dropped) or destroy city improvements (which would not be visible). Thus, it may look like nothing happens, but other stuff is going on.

I've found that if I have several catapults working together on a city, they are useful for softening the city's defenses. Just know that they are not as powerful as in Civ2, but they are also relatively cheap to build.

Sarxis · November 1, 2001, 08:43

I think I might go change the Catapults stats. Not sure if I should add 1 point to their rate of fire, or just up their attack from 4 points to, like, 5 or 6.

player1 · November 1, 2001, 09:08

Since catapults have fire rating of 1, and cities with barracks heal in 1 turn, one catapult can't do anything to UNITS (I don't know about city walls) in the city. So defensive use is good since enemy units don't heal, and if you wan't to attack cities with them you should have 4 or 5 of them (or maybe less if enemy city doesn't have barracks).

player1 · November 1, 2001, 09:11

Quote:

Originally posted by Wexu
Thanks, I think I'll move them to defensive positions they might better there.

BTW, do they fire automatically if you have one in town and enemy attacks even if you have like spearman defending? Manual is sooooo crappy..

Look README.TXT Manual errata

Wexu · November 1, 2001, 09:22

Quote:

Originally posted by player1

Look README.TXT Manual errata

I read it already, it says:

"Artilley Free Shot: When a land tile with a bombard capable unit in it is attacked, that bombard unit will take one free shot at the attacking unit."

BUT, I was just wondering do they only fire free shot when they are alone and after that captured. Sound stupid.. I guess they always shoot free shot.

Peterk · November 1, 2001, 10:05

Catapults do meaningful damage but to get the most of them you have to mass them up, and I mean really mass them so you get 5-6 shots at least on a city in one turn. Think long medieval siege here - not taking a city in one turn.

While the catapults are bombarding, have your soldiers tearing down improvements outside the city. Eventually you'll start taking out improvements inside the city and then reducing the city itself.

I've had good results with them but it's been extremely slow taking cities and I've found that patience pays off.

As pointed out, they are also extremely useful on defense if someone is trying to set up a siege outside your city.

p.