Artillery: Difference between revisions

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== Discussion ==
== Discussion ==
Though not the worst skill, Artillery is of limited use. Whereas it may be useful early on in the game, at least on resource-poor maps of impossible difficulty, later on it usually provides considerably less bonus [[damage]] to a hero's army than do [[secondary skill]]s such as [[Offense]] or [[Archery]] (see Figure 1). Moreover, given that a [[ballista]] has only 250 [[health]] and acts last during the combat round, it may be destroyed in battles even before it can inflict any significant damage. Another disadvantage of Artillery is that the ballista is not deployed when attacking [[creature bank]]s or defending against a siege. However, the control that Artillery provides over [[arrow towers]] in sieges can be valuable, also because it enables the defending hero to cast the first or last [[spell]] in each round.
The only redeeming feature of Artillery skill is that while defending a siege, it gives the defending hero control over the [[arrow tower]](s). Sometimes more valuable than the damage of the towers is the chance of defending hero to cast the first spell in each round. Additionally, heroes with Artillery specialty start with a ballista, which can be useful in the combat as the AI sometimes attacks it wasting an otherwise possibly harmful attack on the "free" ballista. However, purchasing a ballista for this purpose is typically purposeless unless the kingdom has plenty of gold to spare.
 
The problem with Artillery skill is the ballista, which is not only ineffective but also expensive, weak and possible risk factor during combat. An example of the ineffectiveness is that even if the hero has Expert Artillery, Expert Archery, Attack skill value of 20 and the target is within range, the ballista only deals approximately 200 damage against a neutral stack of Archangel. Moreover, the ballista has only 250 [[health]] and acts last during the combat round, which means it may be destroyed in battles even before it can inflict any damage at all. Another major disadvantage of ballista is, that in a combat it may provide creatures with [[breath attack]] an opportunity to attack troops behind ballista without fear of [[retaliation]]. Not to mention the fact, that ballista is not deployed when attacking [[creature bank]]s or defending against a siege.


'''Recommended for:''' Heroes in the early game with high attack (especially [[Barbarians]]), since a high attack skill increases the Ballista's damage considerably. Artillery is also a superior skill for secondary heroes whose only purpose is to defend towns, as Artillery gives control of the [[Arrow Tower]]s during a town siege. However, be cautious of using this skill on main heroes if you think that you will be playing a long game, since Artillery quickly becomes weaker the longer the game goes on.  
'''Recommended for:''' Heroes in the early game with high attack (especially [[Barbarians]]), since a high attack skill increases the Ballista's damage considerably. Artillery is also a superior skill for secondary heroes whose only purpose is to defend towns, as Artillery gives control of the [[Arrow Tower]]s during a town siege. However, be cautious of using this skill on main heroes if you think that you will be playing a long game, since Artillery quickly becomes weaker the longer the game goes on.  

Revision as of 13:42, 1 February 2017

Secondary skills
 Air Magic
 Archery
 Armorer
 Artillery
 Ballistics
 Diplomacy
 Eagle Eye
 Earth Magic
 Estates
 Fire Magic
 First Aid
 Intelligence
 Interference Horn of the Abyss
 Leadership
 Learning
 Logistics
 Luck
 Mysticism
 Navigation
 Necromancy
 Offense
 Pathfinding
 Resistance
 Scholar
 Scouting
 Sorcery
 Tactics
 Water Magic
 Wisdom
Artillery
Basic Artillery: gives control of the ballista to the hero, allowing one shot with a 50% chance to inflict double damage.
Advanced Artillery: gives control of the ballista to the hero, allowing two shots with a 75% chance to inflict double damage.
Expert Artillery: gives control of the ballista to the hero, allowing two shots which inflict double damage.

Artillery is a secondary skill that gives the hero manual control over war machine Ballista during combat and control over the arrow towers when defending a town during siege. Basic Artillery provides a 50% chance that ballista inflicts double damage. For Advanced Artillery this is a 75% chance and for Expert Artillery a 100% chance. Advanced and Expert Artillery also enable the ballist to shoot twice in a row, instead of once.

Heroes with Artillery as a starting skill:

Heroes with Ballista as specialty:

  • Interestingly, Torosar has specialty Artillery but does not start by default with Artillery skill.

Discussion

The only redeeming feature of Artillery skill is that while defending a siege, it gives the defending hero control over the arrow tower(s). Sometimes more valuable than the damage of the towers is the chance of defending hero to cast the first spell in each round. Additionally, heroes with Artillery specialty start with a ballista, which can be useful in the combat as the AI sometimes attacks it wasting an otherwise possibly harmful attack on the "free" ballista. However, purchasing a ballista for this purpose is typically purposeless unless the kingdom has plenty of gold to spare.

The problem with Artillery skill is the ballista, which is not only ineffective but also expensive, weak and possible risk factor during combat. An example of the ineffectiveness is that even if the hero has Expert Artillery, Expert Archery, Attack skill value of 20 and the target is within range, the ballista only deals approximately 200 damage against a neutral stack of Archangel. Moreover, the ballista has only 250 health and acts last during the combat round, which means it may be destroyed in battles even before it can inflict any damage at all. Another major disadvantage of ballista is, that in a combat it may provide creatures with breath attack an opportunity to attack troops behind ballista without fear of retaliation. Not to mention the fact, that ballista is not deployed when attacking creature banks or defending against a siege.

Recommended for: Heroes in the early game with high attack (especially Barbarians), since a high attack skill increases the Ballista's damage considerably. Artillery is also a superior skill for secondary heroes whose only purpose is to defend towns, as Artillery gives control of the Arrow Towers during a town siege. However, be cautious of using this skill on main heroes if you think that you will be playing a long game, since Artillery quickly becomes weaker the longer the game goes on.