Ballista in Garrisons

[Piackage]

In the old version, each Tower could hold 4 Ballista and not take up space from your garrison. In this version, it appears that ballista do take up garrison space, even if you have Towers. The description for ballista still reads the same, and describes the added power while deployed on towers, but it no longer appears that they actually are deployed on towers, but rather are just another unit in the garrison. Is this intended, or is a feature that is not yet active in the beta?

For example: I have a Level 7 Fortress with 12 Towers. In the past, I could place 6080 Archers inside and 48 Ballista in the Towers. Now in the new version, I can only place 5840 Archers because the 48 Ballista are taking up space that they never used to.

I'm concerned only a little about the loss of garrison space. That's a minor issue. I'm much more concerned that if the Ballista aren't technically deployed on the Towers, then they may not be receiving their proper bonuses.

[tock.a]

Thats new in v6 IO. Ballista do take space from garison in fort, and built towers actualy fire like they have balistas deployed inside.

[Piackage]

Okay, I like that change.....I think. But that does beg the question: If ballista are built into the towers already, what is the point in building our own? Do they still offer a competitive edge over archers in a garrison? Is their usefullness enhanced in some way in a field battle? In the past, they were always inferior to catapults and trebuchets in a field battle, and inferior to archers in a garrison if towers were full. So what role is left for them exactly? If they towers will come equipped with them already, should the just be removed from the game altogether now?

[tock.a]

But balista is not inferior in any word, just calculate battles with balistas and without them. They do take place in garrison but they are usefull, sumulate battles and you will see.

[tock.a]

If i was asked, my play is only with balistas i dont make any other siege machine. If you know to make your army composition right you will never lose battle.

[Piackage]

Is that a topic you'd like to elaborate on here, or perhaps in a new post? I'd be very interested in learning about that strategy.

[Madzoism]

Play with the battle simulator it will teach you a lot

[Piackage]

Play with the battle simulator it will teach you a lot

Yes, I'm sure it will. But it will be limited to teaching my what does and doesn't work. It can't teach WHY something does or doesn't work. I'd love to have a discussion about the WHY, and learn about the mechanics of the game, so that I can theorize and anticipate what will and won't work, without needed the simulator. The understanding is what I'm after, not just the result.

[GreatGuardian]

Defensive ballistas are definitely inferior in this version, both according to the simulator and in practice. In the prior version, they were useful because they fired directly at siege engines from towers, which makes sense since they deal 100% damage only to siege engines.
In this version, if you simulate a defensive battle with ballistas only you will see that they fire at the whole attacking army, making them practically useless for the purposes of defending the fortress. Someone could roll up with 20,000 cavalry and just a few siege engines and while the cavalry normally doesn't do anything in a siege, they absorb damage from the balistas that should be focused on the siege engines, and you end up getting your fortress destroyed.
Basically, the way the ballistas attack right now from inside a fortress is the same as if trebuchets and catapults were attacking the garrison instead of the fortress walls, which is messed up.