War Machine

File:Mini Portrait Ammo cart.png   Ammo cart    Attack    Defense 5    Damage    Health 100    Cost 1000    Shots

Ballista    Attack 10    Defense 10    Damage 2–3    Health 250    Cost 2500    Shots 24

File:Mini Portrait First aid tent.png   First aid tent    Attack    Defense    Damage    Health 75    Cost 750    Shots

Catapult    Attack 10    Defense 10    Damage    Health 1000    Cost N/A    Shots 24

War machine is common term used for when referring either to The Ammo Cart, Ballista, First Aid Tent or Catapult. Basically they are all special combat units which are available in most of the battles. The only exceptions are creature banks and shipwrecks, where none of the war machines are used. Furthermore, Catapults are only used in siege combats. All war machines have a special slot reserved just for that particular war machine.

Typically war machines except the Catapult are bought from Blacksmiths, which sell different war machine depending on the town. Additionally, war machines can be bought from an Adventure Map location called the War Machine Factory, which sell all war machines (except Catapults). Stronghold has the special building Ballista Yard, where a visiting hero can buy a Ballista. All heroes have the Catapult with them, and if one is destroyed in the combat, a new one is automatically added to hero's catapult slot.

All war machines are immobile and unaffected by luck and morale with the exception of the Ballista, which can have a lucky strike. Additionally, war machines do not affect the hero's movement.

Ammo Cart

Ammo cart provides unlimited ammuntion for creatures with ranged attacks.

Ballista

A ballista is a missile weapon that, like ranged units, shoots projectiles toward enemy troops, but is unable to retaliate against attacks. It has a basic damage range (of 2–3) like creatures, but the damage calculation is different. The formula for the calculation of damage is (2–3)*(hero's attack + 1). The Artillery and Archery secondary skills increase this damage. The ballista acts at the end of every combat round, followed only by the first aid tent, and can be controlled when a hero has learned any level of Artillery. Contrary to what its in-game statistics indicate, a ballista has unlimited shots.

Ballistae can be bought from Blacksmiths in Castle, Dungeon and Conflux towns, and from Ballista Yards in Stronghold towns. They can also be purchased from war machine factories on the adventure map. Heroes who specialize in ballistae typically bring one with them when hired.

Heroes with ballista specialty:

• Christian the Knight
• Torosar the Alchemist
• Pyre the Demoniac
• Arlach the Overlord
• Gurnisson the Barbarian
• Gerwulf the Beastmaster

First Aid Tent

First aid tent heals up to 25 points of hit points of the top creature in target allied stack. The amount of health restored is affected by first aid secondary skill, which also gives the player control over the tent rather than being chosen by computer. First aid tents act last at the combat round. Tents can be bought from blacksmiths of rampart, fortress and necropolis towns, or from a war machine factory, an adventure map location. Typically heroes with first aid specialty start with a first aid tent.

Heroes with first aid specialty:

• Rion the Cleric
• Gem the Druid
• Verdish the Witch

Catapult

The Catapult only appears on the battlefield when attacking enemy towns with walls, which requires the town to have a fort, citadel, or castle. Its main use is to attack and destroy the walls in order to enable ground troops to attack the defenders. The Catapult can also attack and destroy the arrow towers of citadels and castles. The ballistics secondary skill enhances the performance of the Catapult. Basic ballistics gives the player control over the Catapult making it possible to aim at particular parts of the siege structures. During a siege, the Catapult shoots after the arrow towers, but before any other troop.

Discussion

The Ballista is a war machine of some limited use, however it requires a high (25+) Attack skill before it starts dealing enough damage to justify its 2500 Gold cost. The Artillery skill can offset this somewhat, but comes with the high opportunity cost of omitting a potentially more useful secondary skill such as Offense or Armorer. The above restrictions generally limit the Ballista to might heroes with high Attack skill. Of the four towns that sell Ballistae, Barbarians from Stronghold are most likely to reach this skill - more defensive heroes such as those from Fortress will not be able to make use of the Ballista as efficiently.

The First Aid tent is nearly useless, even with the (also nearly useless) First Aid skill at its top level. Its main limitation is that it cannot revive creatures that are already downed, so if used on anything less than a level 5 or so creature most of its healing goes to waste (e.g. healing Centaurs with 10 hp each - the Tent can restore a maximum of 9 hp per round, IF a single centaur is hanging on with a single hp left). The only case in which a First Aid Tent is useful is when a player somehow obtains a high-level creature early in the game, such as from a Refugee Camp. Setting a hero up with 1-2 high level creatures and a first-aid tent ensures that the healing is not wasted and allows the player to clear wandering monsters from the map more easily.

The Ammo Cart's unlimited ammunition is usually unnecessary, but is EXTREMELY useful in the few situations when it is needed. Most shooters in the game have enough ammunition to attack 12 times, with many carrying more. The few exceptions are Master Gremlins (8 shots), Medusa Queens (8 shots), and Medusas (only 4 shots!). With good Morale, these creatures run the risk of quickly depleting their ammunition over the course of a battle. This can be the difference between defeat and victory, particularly in a bloody castle siege. If the enemy Catapult can be destroyed and their flying units killed, even a single shooter with an ammunition cart can eventually drive of the enemy if the walls are still intact.

As every hero gets a Catapult free of cost which is only deployed for siege warfare, there is little choice involved in catapult usage other than targeting with the Ballistics skill.