Battering Ram

"And thou hast destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them."
	—The Bible, Psalm 108

In game

Battering Ram — Vital statistics
Battering Ram	Heavy siege weapon specialised in destroying Towers and Forts, impervious to missiles but vulnerable to firearms and melee attacks. Strong versus archers and buildings Weak versus siege weapons, elephants and melee units.
Prereq:	Build time	HP	LOS	Attack	Attack speed	Movement speed	Upgrades to
Level 3: Heraldry and Code of Honour Military	12.5s (188t)	162	1	24	3.3s (40t)	18
Cost			Created from	Armour	Weapon range	Specialty
Base	Ramp	Pop
: 200; : 200	: 7; : 7	2		5	1–1	Highly resistant to most missile attacks. Immense attack bonus versus buildings. Defensive penalty versus war elephants and other siege weapons.

Overall strategy

The first of all siege machines available from the Siege Workshop, the Battering Ram is the very first and foremost siege weapon that you may construct, and is also the cheapest. The Battering Ram's ability to eat arrow fire makes it a vital weapon that can be used against buildings, although the speed at which it it moves means that you can't always build these units in large numbers. Nor should you, given that they are easily destroyed by cavalry units and are totally worthless if used against ships, other siege weapons and gunpowder units and can attack only at melee range. Worse, Battering Rams have no LOS whatsoever so you need to be careful when using them — enemy spies and agents will have a field day against them!

Nevertheless, compared to other siege weapons, the battering ram has a rather high amount of hitpoints and armour, so they are useful for breaking down enemy Forts at the start of a game. Battering Rams are also relatively cheap and easy to build, making them ideal if you need to level enemy installations on the double but aren't sufficient rich nor advanced to get out Mangonels and Trebuchets. As mentioned earlier on, Battering Rams are tough if facing only buildings, and so can be used to draw enemy fire while letting your troops ravage a city if need be since they can't really be taken out that quickly with arrow fire. Over time, Battering Rams will be phased out and replaced with the slower and costlier but far more destructive Bombard.

Unit summary

• Knock, Knock! — The Battering Ram's ability to resist arrow fire and its relatively cheap cost makes it useful in situations where the destruction of an enemy city or building must be done quickly but time, resources and technology are limited.
• Blind Fury — Like all siege weapons, Battering Rams are very vulnerable to enemy units, especially moreso since they can't attack units and have no LOS and so must be protected.
• Biting the Bolt For You — The Battering Ram's ability to resist arrow fire can also be used as a means of hindering enemy attacks by archer units, although the cost required to build one means that this use is not highly recommended.

See also

• Siege Tower
• Scorpio
• Ballista

Notes

This unit can have two different appearances, namely:

• Infernal euro cameo.jpg

  European Volley Gun

• Hwacha cameo.jpg

  Eastern "Bees' Nest" rocket launcher

In New World Empires: Alexander, this unit is present as the Krion.

History

The simplest of all implements of destruction, the battering ram is a large wooden pole used to destroy enemy fortifications, particularly gates and wooden walls by having it hoisted by a body of men and hitting a gate or a part of a wall repeatedly. Sometimes, the ram would also have a special-purpose carriage for it which could allow it to work more effectively and protect the operators as well. Battering rams have continued to remain indispensable even to this very day; any object which is long and sturdy enough can be used to ram down doors and walls with sufficient force.