Editing War Machine (section)

== Ballista vs. Cannon ==
Here a table showing the average damage of a Ballista and Cannon with and without Artillery skill. Note that the Cannon has 20 Attack and 8 shots while the Ballista has only 10 Attack but 24 shots:
{| class="wikitable" style="vertical-align:bottom;"
|- style="font-weight:bold; text-align:center;"
! rowspan="4" style="font-weight:normal;" | Hero   Attack
! colspan="8" | Average damage
|- style="font-weight:bold; text-align:center;"
| colspan="4" style="background-color:#FCE4D6;" | Ballista (10 Attack)
| colspan="4" style="background-color:#D9E1F2;" | Cannon (20 Attack!)
|- style="text-align:center;"
| rowspan="2" style="background-color:#FCE4D6;" | Base
| colspan="3" style="background-color:#FCE4D6;" | Artillery
| rowspan="2" style="background-color:#D9E1F2;" | Base
| colspan="3" style="background-color:#D9E1F2;" | Artillery
|-
| style="background-color:#FCE4D6;" | Basic
| style="background-color:#FCE4D6;" | Advanced
| style="background-color:#FCE4D6;" | Expert
| style="background-color:#D9E1F2;" | Basic
| style="background-color:#D9E1F2;" | Advanced
| style="background-color:#D9E1F2;" | Expert
|-
| 0
| 2.5
| 3.75
| 8.75
| 10
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | 5.5
| 11
| 16.5
|-
| 1
| 5
| 7.5
| 17.5
| 20
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | 11
| 22
| 33
|-
| 2
| 7.5
| 11.25
| 26.25
| 30
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | 16.5
| 33
| 49.5
|-
| 3
| 10
| 15
| 35
| 40
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | 22
| 44
| 66
|-
| 4
| 12.5
| 18.75
| 43.75
| 50
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | 27.5
| 55
| 82.5
|-
| 5
| 15
| 22.5
| 52.5
| 60
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | 33
| 66
| 99
|-
| 10
| 27.5
| 41.25
| 96.25
| 110
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | 60.5
| 121
| 181.5
|-
| 15
| 40
| 60
| 140
| 160
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | 88
| 176
| 264
|-
| 20
| 52.5
| 78.75
| 183.75
| 210
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | 115.5
| 231
| 346.5
|-
| 25
| 65
| 97.5
| 227.5
| 260
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | 143
| 286
| 429
|-
| 30
| 77.5
| 116.25
| 271.25
| 310
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | 170.5
| 341
| 511.5
|-
| 35
| 90
| 135
| 315
| 360
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | 198
| 396
| 594
|-
| 40
| 102.5
| 153.75
| 358.75
| 410
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | 225.5
| 451
| 676.5
|-
| 50
| 127.5
| 191.25
| 446.25
| 510
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | 280.5
| 561
| 841.5
|-
| 60
| 152.5
| 228.75
| 533.75
| 610
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | 335.5
| 671
| 1006.5
|-
| 70
| 177.5
| 266.25
| 621.25
| 710
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | 390.5
| 781
| 1171.5
|-
| 80
| 202.5
| 303.75
| 708.75
| 810
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | 445.5
| 891
| 1336.5
|-
| 90
| 227.5
| 341.25
| 796.25
| 910
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | 500.5
| 1001
| 1501.5
|-
| 99
| 250
| 375
| 875
| 1000
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | 550
| 1100
| 1650
|}

{{user commentary|
In general, the importance of War Machines is decreasing throughout the game, as you have big army and powerful damage spells.

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. Note that if you don't have [[Artillery]] skill, Ballista can spoil the battle if you want to [[blind]] the only remaining enemy stack and [[Resurrection|resurrect]]/[[Animate Dead|animate]] your whole army. It will shoot and unblind the enemy.

The First Aid tent is most often useless, even with the (also nearly useless) [[First Aid]] skill at its top level. Its main limitation is that it cannot resurrect killed creatures, so it's useless for low-level creatures. The only case in which a First Aid Tent is useful is when a player obtains a high-level creature early in the game. 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. You may start with a hero with First Aid tent, even if your blacksmith doesn't produce it, and rush through the map using 1-2 sixth level creatures.

The Ammo Cart's unlimited ammunition is usually unnecessary besides a very long battle, 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 Gremlin]]s and [[Medusa Queen]]s (8 shots), and Medusas, [[Pirate]]s, and Corsairs (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. 
}}{{end of user commentary}}

[[Category: Combat]]
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