How to counter ballista elephants?

[Reichskaiser]

How to?

[TPTI]

Bob of Mage a écrit :

Rams aren't meant to fight archers directly. They do ♥♥♥♥ damage unless they target buildings or other siege weapons. They can however allow you to move other units closer to the enemy archers since they have very high armour, and block shoots from hitting anything behind them.

I done this v Britons and honestly I felt like the opponent was 100 ELO below me or I doubt it would work vs mangonels etc

[Boshiken]

Mangudai - with an attack bonus against siege weapons.
Seems the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ Mangudai kill everything.
Also they are fast for Maneuvers and Formations.

[The Icecream Snowman]

Ballista Elephants have lots of armour classes.

Cavalry (0)
War Elephant (0)
Siege weapon (0)
Unique unit (0)
Hussite wagon (20)
Melee armour (0)
Pierce armour (3)

That last one gives them significant vulnerability to mangonels. Saracen Siege Onagers with Counterweights will deal about 140 damage to them. Mamelukes will provide a decent front line against them without getting chewed up by the onagers.

The Korean War Wagon, Siege Onager, Bombared Cannon trio can shred Ballista Elephants. The War Wagons will tank their damage while the siege weapons take them apart. There's really not a lot which will stop this, except running out of gold (and even wood).

Then you've got stuff like walls and towers. Ballista Elephants aren't great against walls, so towers, castles and archers (longbows or Genoese crossbows) can out range them and give them a hard time.

Weirdly, rams can be effective against the siege weapon armour class while tanking the elephants very effectively. Mongolian rams filled with pikes, backed up by Mangudai will make short work of Ballist Elephants without losing too many resources.

[TPTI]

I feel like it's a broken unit. Elephants can get spooked in Total War games. But here they just stand there infinitely while the Khmer farms run. In TG's when I see Khmer Ele's I honestly lose enjoyment of the game.

I was 800 ELO and before the pro YT video, I made a single ballista ele and pushed a crossbow raid away lol.

Onagers counter them, mangonels less so. Still researching onager because enemy forced you to with a unique unit is extremely costly and ultimately less fun than research onager because you want to.

[Peib]

huscarle

[Heimdall313]

The Icecream Snowman a écrit :

The Korean War Wagon, Siege Onager, Bombared Cannon trio can shred Ballista Elephants. The War Wagons will tank their damage while the siege weapons take them apart. There's really not a lot which will stop this, except running out of gold (and even wood).

That is... extravagantly expensive though, and can't be fielded till fairly late in Imperial. The Korean Bulldozer is slower than the Mongolian Killdozer but it is beefier and has cannons as an option against the castle, but the Killdozer has obnoxiously fast Rams following it anyway.

Magyar Huszar (the UU, not the standard Hussar) are zero gold, have pretty good stats all around, and an attack bonus vs Siege so if I had to pick a specific civ to counterplay, its a toss up between Mongols, Magyars, and something with Eagle Warriors. But probably Mongols, for Mangudai and fast Rams with Hussar as cheap meatshields.

[TPTI]

Basically just cross your fingers and hope the enemy team isn't Turks, Teutons, Khmer. Or else you know what's coming.

[76561199200859056]

A lot of SO, Monks and maybe BBCs. Spam Light Cav into them for meat shield.

[Boshiken]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv_I_3LtBEE

[Leafman]

resign