Ballista Issue

[notlob]

I just started going through the whole Heroes 5 series again and have run into an issue in tribes of the east. When I was going through the necromancer campaign, I noticed that I was getting much lower damage from the ballista than what was predicted when you hover over the target. I eventually shrugged it off and just didn't specialize in war machines. It didn't seem as poor after that, but I didn't really have any expectations for it either. Now that I am in the barbarian campaign all of the walkthroughs have the ballista as a key part of them and I am back to seeing this issue again. I don't know if it gets worse once I take the ballista skill, but that's the only time I can see the predicted damage. I even got the triple ballista skill, but every shot comes out less than the minimum.

Is there something that I am missing that explains this or is this a bug? With the ballista being this hamstrung, I don't even see how I can get through this campaign. Any insight or advice would be appreciated.

[ShadowLiberal]

Ballista's damage are effected by 2 stats, Attack and Knowledge.

So say you have 10 attack and 5 knowledge, that adds up to 15.

Damage per point in either of those stats depends on your war machine skill.

-None: 2 to 3 damage
-Basic: 2 to 4 damage
-Advanced: 2 to 5 damage
-Expert: 5 to 5 damage

So with 15 attack & knowledge combined that means you can expect these damage ranges.

-None: 30 to 45 damage
-Basic: 30 to 60 damage
-Advanced: 30 to 75 damage
-Expert: 75 to 75 damage

Also, note that enemy defense DOES effect this damage. You'll probably do more damage on weaker tier units, and less on higher tiers. That's why flaming arrows helps, it cuts the defense stat in half when calculating damage, as well as adding 50 fire damage (which at early levels can be more damage then the normal ballista is doing).

Ballista and triple shot ballista do the exact same amounts of damage, they just attack more times a turn.

[notlob]

Thanks for the reply, but I think I get how the number is calculated...at least roughly. I think that is the number I get when I hover over the stack before the shot, but maybe that number is what is wrong. When the shot is actually taken though, the damage is lower than what the min was displayed as. I do not see this issue with other ranged units...when my centaurs attack, the damage is between the predicted limits.

I have a hero with attack 9 and knowledge 1 and currently has basic war machines, ballista specialty, and triple shot. I would expect something between 20-40 depending on the enemies defense. Now I am just fighting a neutral stack of skirmishers with defense 4. Now the predicted damage before the shot is 84-210. Seems a bit high unless there is something else happening that I don't understand. When I take the shot though I get 44, 34, and 63. This happens very consistently regardless of stack. From the walkthrough for this mission, M2: One Khan, One Clan, the ballista should be dropping stacks left and right. So I am left with either the predicted damage is not being calculated correctly or the actual damage isn't...or there is still something else going on. I have never noticed an issue before in Heroes5 of hammer of fate which is why I am a little suspicious about something being odd with tribes of the east. Is there a file that I can find that might have what the game is actually going?

[wimfrits]

But... isn't 44 + 34 + 63 between 84 and 210

84-210 implies a damage of 28-70 per shot. All shots fall neatly in between.

[ShadowLiberal]

Yes, the predicted damage is the combined damage of all your shots like wimfirts says.

It's the same way for hunters and master hunters, they attack twice, but the predicted damage is for both shots together.

Minotaur Guards may get two attacks, but their predicted damage is for only 1 attack, because unlike archers and ballistas, enemies can and usually do counter attack, which means you probably have less men in the second attack then the first.

[notlob]

Ahhh, thank you! That makes perfect sense! Figured it was something that I was missing.