Siege: rams and catapults

Rams break walls, catapults smash buildings and construction sites. How to use siege weapons well – and how to hold out against them.

You build siege weapons in the Catapult workshop: Battering rams and Catapults. They are the slowest units in the game, but without them no wall falls – and you cannot conquer a castle while its wall is still standing (Conquest).

The wall comes first

If the target castle has a Wall, the battle begins at the wall: rams and catapults pound it together while the ranged fighters on both sides trade volleys. As the battle goes on, the rams stay at the wall and knock it down level by level. Whatever is destroyed there is missing for the defender in every following attack.

Catapults against buildings

During the main battle your catapults fire at a randomly chosen building each round. In the attack form you can set target buildings – the higher your Military training grounds, the more targets you may pick. Your catapults then only fire at those buildings. They also damage free construction sites, which the owner has to repair before they can be used again (Construction sites).

The Hiding place, Treasury and Throne are never hit.
Buildings the defender protects in his battle settings take no catapult damage (Battle settings).
On a continent struck by an apocalypse, catapults may not march – neither in nor out (Dragon might: spells with scales).

Harder sieges, tougher defences

Weapon research for rams and catapults (Weapon research) and engineering technique (Special research) make your sieges hit harder. In the Athanor, Wallbreaker increases damage to walls and buildings; its counterpart, Foundation Lore, makes the defender's buildings and wall more resistant (Quintessence).