Heavy Chariot
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"...but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the lowland, because they had chariots of iron."
— The Bible (Judges 1:19)
In game[edit | edit source]
Heavy Chariot — Vital statistics | ||||||||||
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Slow-moving but powerful melee heavy chariot, able to take out slow-moving targets but must be protected from cavalry and light infantry. | ||||||||||
Prereq: | Build time | HP | LOS | Attack | Attack speed | Movement speed |
Upgrade of | |||
44.4s (666t) |
165 | 11 | 34 | 1.3s (19t) |
30 | ![]() | ||||
Cost | Created from | Armour | Weapon range | Specialty | ||||||
Base | Ramp | Pop | ||||||||
2 | ![]() |
8 | 1–12 |
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Overall strategy[edit | edit source]
In contrast to the Light and Medium Chariots, Heavy Chariots can constitute a "war elephant" unit, their most interesting ability being the ability to run down units owing to their limited ranged attack. These monsters consist of heavy and stocky horses, pulling a heavy chariot with large wheels, outfitted with a heavily armoured driver armed with bow and arrow, thus making them ideal for chasing down and trampling lighter units.
Heavy Chariots however have several disadvantages: while they are highly effective against ALL infantry, they are susceptible to ranged cavalry units, owing to their slower speed. Equally, even though they are quite powerful units, the elite long spear infantrymen used by various factions deal additional damage to them. Heavy Chariots are also useless against buildings, Mantlets and war elephants — their attacks are ineffective in bringing fortifications down, while elephant-type units can 1-hit them, just like long spear units do.
Hence, the best use for the Heavy Chariot is to crush - or at the worst, scatter - light and medium infantrymen, perchance as a supplementary action to defend heavy infantry marching in open terrain where there is plenty of room to manoeuvre these chariot units.
See also[edit | edit source]
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History[edit | edit source]
By the Classical Age, the weaknesses of the chariot as a weapon system were becoming more apparent. It was poorly armoured and worthless against the massed infantry formations of the period. To counter these problems, chariots had to evolve. One method was to increase the size of a chariot as well as provide armoured barding for man and horse alike, resulting in a heavier chariot capable of being used as a shock weapon. Instead, this new and nastier chariot attacked not by driving around an enemy, but by plowing directly into the men themselves.
Although this would mean that chariots now would be harder to move around and slower, this issue could be addressed if more horses were assigned to it. Blades were also installed on the hubs to deter infantry from getting in too close to harm either horse or driver alike; such weapons have been excavated in China while the Greek historian and soldier Xenophon claimed that the practice was first introduced by the Achaemenid Persians to counter the hoplite formations of the Greeks.