Mangonel

Mangonels in most circumstances need to be paired with other units. Being vulnerable to enemy cavalry, they are often accompanied by Pikemen or Monks in early Castle Age siege pushes, as well as archers on open maps against enemy archers. They are also a key defensive unit. Their powerful attack can be devastating to most groups of enemy units, but it is advisable to watch them in battle to prevent friendly fire. Using the attack ground command is useful for Mangonels if the player can predict the movement of enemy troops. Mangonels are often paired with ranged units as they are less likely to get accidentally hit by the Mangonels' attack. Mangonels are also capable of dealing damage to buildings, something that archers usually have trouble with. A popular tactic, especially on the map Arena, is to quickly advance to the Castle Age and pair Mangonels with Monks, as they cover each other's main weaknesses. Mangonels are great against ranged units like Crossbowmen, who can otherwise quickly kill Monks, while Monks can convert Knights (in small enough numbers), who are the bane of Mangonels. This strategy however requires intense micromanagement and is somewhat vulnerable to Light Cavalry and Eagle Warriors, who resist conversion, have an attack bonus against , and can quickly close the gap to the Mangonels. The Eagle Warrior is particularly effective since it also has an attack bonus against Mangonels and is less food intensive. Enemy Monks with Sanctity and Redemption are another threat to Mangonels. Due to a -1 damage penalty, a Mangonel cannot kill a Monk with Sanctity at full hit points in one shot, even if all its secondary projectiles damage it, unless the Mangonel has a high-ground advantage. Mangonels are an excellent way to deal with masses of archers, and serve as an equalizer when the opponent gets ahead in archer wars. One good Mangonel shot can turn the tide of a battle in this case. In comparison, Mangonels struggle against Conquistadors, Janissaries, and Arambais, as their pierce attack is considerably higher than the Mangonel's pierce armor. In these cases, it is advisable to use multiple Mangonels or employ Elite Skirmishers instead. Mangonels outrange Town Centers and do respectable damage to buildings, making them great at pressuring an opponent. In archer wars in high-level games, the primary counter to a Mangonel is another Mangonel, though they can fall to well micromanaged archers, by "splitting" with the flank formation using hotkeys. === Comparison to the Scorpion === Mangonel Advantages * The Mangonel has a much bigger base attack, and its Area of Effect generally allows it to hit more enemies than the Scorpion. * In addition to its superior damage per shot, Mangonels have bigger bonus damage against both buildings and siege. * The fact that Mangonels deal melee damage makes them very effective against all other siege units in the game, including the Scorpion (since siege units have high pierce armor and low melee armor). At the same time, the Scorpion's pierce damage makes it very ineffective at destroying siege units. * The Mangonel has two upgrades, which increase its power much more than the one upgrade available for the Scorpion. The upgrades significantly increase the Mangonel's attack and health, as well as increasing its range by +1. The same does not happen for the Heavy Scorpion, which only gets a slight increase in health and attack from its upgrade. * Scorpions cannot attack ground, making them hard to micromanage against an agile unit. In contrast, a cleverly managed Mangonel may hit fast-moving units. * Mangonels do not have any attack delay; Scorpions have a significant attack delay. * Mangonels have more hit points, especially their upgraded versions. Scorpion Advantages * Scorpions do not damage friendly units, but Mangonels do. ** Mangonels need careful control throughout almost any battle or they are likely to deal heavy damage to the player's troops. In contrast, Scorpions can be effective even with very little micro-management. * Scorpions cost only about half as much as Mangonels (Scorpions cost in total 150 resources, while the Mangonel costs 295, although the latter is less gold-intensive). * Scorpions attack nearly twice as fast as Mangonels. * Scorpions move slightly faster than Mangonels, having 0.65 speed compared to the Mangonel's 0.6. While both are very slow, this makes the Scorpion slightly better at repositioning. * While Scorpions have a shorter range (7) than upgraded Mangonels (8), the Scorpion projectiles continue moving 3 tiles ahead of their maximum range, allowing them to hit units 10 tiles away (11 with Siege Engineers). Combined with the fact that Scorpion shots reach their targets faster than Mangonel shots, this makes the Scorpion shots harder to dodge. This is especially true against ranged units performing hit-and-run tactics, since these units cannot retreat straight backward from the Scorpion shots, but will dodge Mangonel shots by doing this. * The Heavy Scorpion upgrade does not cost gold () and is much cheaper than the combined cost of the Onager () and Siege Onager () upgrades.