Guide to the Cheiroballista
By Squeoo · titans
Squeoo’s Titans-era Cheiroballista study compares its roles, upgrades and interactions with opposing units.
Introduction
Cheiroballistae, by definition, are the Atlantean Counter-Infantry unit, but they are in fact a siege weapon.
Stats
I’ll start by comparing them to spearmen, considering Spearmen and Cheiroballistae are both units meant to counter each other.
Fully Upgraded Cheiroballista (Petrified [Helios], Engineers, Burning Pitch):
102 Hitpoints
36% Hack Armor
50% Pierce Armor
75% Crush Armor
12s Train Time
7 Pierce Damage (x4 arrows)
3.85 Speed
30 Line of Sight
20 Range
+1000% Damage against Buildings.
+110% Damage against Walls.
+100% Damage against Infantry.
+350% Damage against Huskarls.
+300% Damage against Destroyers and Destroyer Heroes.
+200% Damage against Ships
Fully Upgraded Spearmen (Leather Frame Shield [Ptah], Spear on the Horizon, Greatest of Fifty [Horus]):
122 Hitpoints
62% Hack Armor
47% Pierce Armor
99% Crush Armor
5s Train Time
11.9 Hack Damage
5.00 Speed
19 Line of Sight
+110% Damage against Cavalry
Notes about this match-up:
- In equal population amounts, fully upgraded AND basic Cheiroballistae will win both match-ups, when microed and when BOTH sides are non-microed. When expertly microing the Spearmen (making them all fire on a couple and dodge while others rip the unmicroed Cheiros to shreds) the Spearmen will win, but that is beyond the area we are studying right now…
- The Spearman is the hard counter unit for Egyptians to use against Cheiroballistae but Camelry and Mercenary Cavalry work better because of their speed and the fact that Cheiroballistae do not get a bonus against them.
Other Notes about Cheiroballistae
- Cheiroballistae are highly inaccurate – one arrow will almost always hit, but the enemy almost HAS to be moving for 2 arrows to hit them. The inaccurate arrows normally cause “splash damage” so three arrows will hit three different people and the fourth arrow will miss if the enemies are standing in basic formatiion (side by side).
- Cheiroballistae cost 4 population, very pricey.
- Cheiroballistae are still considered siege, so Katapeltes, Raiding Cavalry, Villagers, Prodromos and Spearmen get bonus damage against them.
- Cheiroballistae hit 3/4 arrows 50% of the time, and 4/4 arrows 50% of the time when the targetted enemy unit is standing directly in front of them (e.g. when they are being attacked by melee units).
Other Match-ups
- Cheiroballistae do their intended job well, they beat all infantry in equal pop-wise battles, including Huskarls and Katapeltes.
- Cheiroballistae beat most archers pop-wise, only losing pop-wise to Arcuses, and occasionally Gastraphetes (50% of the time).
- Cheiroballistae, even before getting burning pitch (which gives them +1000% damage to buildings), do quite well vs. buildings despite dealing pierce damage.
- Elephants cannot stand up to massed Cheiroballistae. Pop-wise they can, but when you have enough Cheiroballistae nearly 3/4 arrows from each Cheiroballista hits them every shot (due to the slow speed and large size of Elephants). So with enough Cheiroballistae, Elephants aren’t too rough to deal with – do not expect Cheiroballistae to be able to handle Elephants by themselves though. It is just useful to know that if you are on the offensive side, and he is depending on auto-queued Elephants to take down your units, he will fail at this for a while. Of course, Katapeltes and Fanatics are your best counter to them!
- In theory Villagers are a deadly enemy to Cheiroballistae but fully upgraded Cheiroballistae can deal with villagers without much problem. This is because approximately two arrows hit the villager as it moves towards the Cheiroballista. Then when the Villager reaches the Cheiroballista, the three or so arrows that are now hitting the Villager will take it down before it deals too much damage (beware facing Ra’s Skin of the Rhino Villagers though).
Practical Uses
- Obviously use cheiroballista to counter infantry, I hope that you have grasped that they do their job efficiently.
- If your enemy is atlantean and you are both running turma, make a couple cheiroballistae to both deal damage and absorb the attacks, seeing as they have 50% pierce armor and do quite well vs. archers.
- Vs. Atlantean enemies Cheiroballistae should be massed IMO, especially when combined with fanatics, destroyers, or both, for a very strong army that is tough to beat.
- Vs. Norse making cheiroballistae with Katapelts is a strong combination, as the enemy has to have strong micro in order to counter this. Obviously if they can flank you with a few villagers from the back they can take out your cheiros since the katapelts deal low damage even if they start to catch them, but throwing axeman and raiding cavalry are really necessary, both of which you are countering at every second, please be aware that some expert norse players have found ways to counter this and believe it is really not that strong.
- Another Tactic where cheiroballistae are powerful vs. norse, which this is probably a better tactic, is keeping roughly 3 or 4 in your army alongside massed turma and murmillo, because this leaves a strong meatshield with much ranged backfire, and the splash damage of cheiroballista can simply wipe the enemy forces clean without giving it second thought.
- Vs. Egyptian classical fighter you need to run 1-2 counter rax turma (normally I go 2), 1 counter rax Cheiro, and 1 rax Murmillo, simply because this battle is so insanely tough for you, be sure to get some Prometheans if having gone prometheus, or if gaia, keep either Automatons OR have bite of the shark researched ASAP… I would suggest oceanus as gaia however in case they start bringing in elephants.
- Vs. Greek you really can find little usage for them, because of the massive myth units and the very high life Hippikons, both of which will just tear them apart, no matter what their meat shield… only real way to use them vs. zeus is throw in between buildings is he is doing a hoplite rush (which he might do since infantry are easier to spam vs. atty).
FAQ
I will leave this section open to any questions you may ask, including numbers (exact) from the editor and any fights you want me to retest, basically any questions about cheiroballistae that you think would make the guide look a little better right here.
- Q: I see that cheiroballista have 30 LOS, would they make a good scout?
- A: No, unfortunately they only have a 3.85 movement speed, which is about the same as a destroyer so their line of sight is only a real plus in being able to sight an enemy’s units and arrange your army accordingly to counter them, or running him slightly towards a gold mine to see if it’s occupied. I would definitely not suggest having them stake-out a gold mine, however, since it IS a 4 population unit that single handedly will lose vs anything they throw at it except for infantry…
- Q: Shouldn’t Myth units be able to simply run over cheiroballistae in normal combat?
- A: It all depends on the playing abilities of the atlantean player, as you all know, cheiroballistae cannot be heroized, but they are also ranged and do not intend to have units run straight into them, so if the enemy heroizes some turma, katapelts, or any other unit really (those being the best 2 in normal combat) that they heroize, it becomes simply a battle of micro and unit choices.
- Q: Which makes a better Priest counter, the Arcus or the Cheiroballista?
- A: If your enemy is running 16 Priests or less, the Arcus is by far the better counter. It does slightly more damage than a Cheiroballista, as well having a faster firing speed. If your enemy is running between 17-24 priests, the tests come so very close that there is no one definite winner in effectiveness and if the enemy has more than 25 priests (which is 50 pop or higher devoted to priests) Cheiroballistae rip them to pieces so very fast in comparison to Arcuses. In another test, where there was a Tower spam as well as a bunch of enemy Priests (which is a very probable situation to face if you have a Titan), the Cheiroballistae are the best counter in any population based tests.
Closing
Thank you for reading my guide, it took me roughly a week and a half to complete, but I am pretty sure of the information I have given.
~ Squeoo ~
Source: Squeoo · HeavenGames