Ballista Elephant

Overview

An elephant-mounted bolt thrower that damages units in a line and can clear trees.

Availability and investment

Ballista Elephant becomes available in Castle Age. Its listed production context is Khmer. The listed cost is 100 Food, 80 Gold and the training time is 25 seconds. This tells you when it can first join an army and which resources must be reserved alongside Villager production, upgrades, and other military lines.

Combat profile

The available combat values are included here so the numbers can be read as a profile rather than an isolated list. Hit points and armor describe how long the unit can remain exposed; attack and any bonus damage describe what it threatens; range, reload, accuracy, and movement describe how reliably it can engage or disengage. A value shown for a whole upgrade line applies to the listed stages as recorded, so compare the stage names instead of treating the line as one base unit.

• Ranged attack: 9
• Hit points: 250
• Melee armor: 0
• Pierce armor: 3
• Ranged attack: 9
• Range: 5
• Line of sight: 7
• Reload time: 2.5 seconds
• Movement speed: 0.8
• Accuracy: 100%

Field use

Use its mobility to choose the engagement: pressure exposed economy, reinforce quickly, or withdraw from a prepared counter. Avoid trading its movement advantage for a stationary fight unless the target justifies it.

Armor classes and counters

Armor-class bonuses are separate from base attack and the target’s melee or pierce armor. The class list below shows the unit’s documented combat categories and bonus-damage relationships; use it to judge matchups instead of relying on the unit label alone.

• Armor class: Unique unit
• Armor class: Cavalry
• Armor class: Elephant Units
• Armor class: Siege weapon
• Armor class: Heavy siege
• Ballista Elephant deals +8 bonus damage to units in the Ship class
• Ballista Elephant deals +3 bonus damage to units in the Standard building class
• Ballista Elephant deals +2 bonus damage to units in the All Buildings class
• Ballista Elephant deals +3 bonus damage to units in the Stone Defense class
• Ballista Elephant deals +8 bonus damage to units in the Fishing Ship class

Related unit plan: Ballista Elephant escorted-fire plan

Ballista Elephant: Ballista Elephants are more self-sufficient than Scorpions because they have more durability and no minimum range, but they still benefit from help reaching and holding a firing position Move them with Hussars or another mobile escort that can protect the siege and help it reposition. Use the Ballista Elephants to fire through enemy formations while the escort intercepts units trying to dive the line. Keep the force together during a push Their size and slower movement can make them vulnerable when isolated. Do not leave them without the anti-siege escort or let fast melee units close on the firing line