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Polybolos RomaRoma Fixed Artillery

Polybolos

(Automatic Bolt-Thrower)

There is wicked cunning in a machine that can fire so many bolts so quickly.

The polybolos was a repeating bolt thrower developed from the ballista and scorpion. A chain mechanism drew, loaded and released bolts from a gravity-fed magazine as quickly as a handle could be turned. Supposedly invented by Dionysius of Alexandria, the polybolos was quite a complex machine: as the operator turned a windlass handle, the bow was tensioned as a launching shuttle pulled back, an arrow dropped into place, and finally a catch was released to fire the machine. The process repeated as long as the operator worked. All he needed was a loader to keep the magazine filled. Efficient and deadly, the polybolos had the greatest rate of fire of all ancient war machines.

Polybolos

Unit Name

Polybolos

Main Unit Key

Rom_Polybolos

Land Unit Key

Rom_Polybolos

Naval Unit Key

pel_transport

Soldiers

40

Category

Siege Engine

Class

Fixed Artillery

Custom Battle Cost

1800

Recruitment Cost

1800

Upkeep Cost

360

Missile Damage

28

├ Engine

polybolos

├ Missile Weapon

rome_polybolos

├ Projectile

arrow_polybolos

├ Missile Damage

16

├ Missile Ap Damage

12

└ Base Reload Time

9

Accuracy

5

Range

280

Reload

8

Shots Per Minute

7

Ammunition

30

Melee Attack

28

Weapon Damage

11

├ Melee Weapon

axe4

├ Weapon Damage

11

├ Weapon Deadliness

0

├ Armour Piercing

Yes

├ Bonus vs. Cavalry

0

├ Bonus vs. Elephants

0

└ Bonus vs Infantry

0

Charge Bonus

12

Melee Defence

29

├ Base Defence

13

├ Shield

none

└ Shield Defence

16

Armour

16

├ Armour

arm9

├ Armour Defence

16

└ Shield Armour

0

Health

20

├ Man Entity

medium_heavy

├ Man Health

20

└ Bonus Hit Points

0

Base Morale

50

Abilities

Polybolos
  • Stamina (average)
    Governs how fast the unit tires and restores fatigue, and is dependent on type of unit, weight and approach to combat.
  • Concentrate Fire
    The unit fires its missiles towards a spot causing damage to everyone in the area of effect

Attributes

No Attribute

Strengths & Weaknesses

Transport
  • Very poor hull strength
  • Very slow speed
  • Weak ramming
Polybolos
  • High damage
  • Accurate
  • Average range
  • Very high rate of fire
Requires Buildings
Polybolos Lv. 0 Field Engineer's Workshop
Field Engineer's Workshop
(rom_ROMAN_military_equipment_siege_2)
Level 1
Siege Engineer's Workshop
Siege Engineer's Workshop
(rom_ROMAN_military_equipment_siege_3)
Level 2