Current State of trebuchet is just a trash.
Not most of people go trebuchets now because of it’s extremely high wood cost which is more expensive then a bombard.
And second reason is the projectiles do no damage to units even it hit units directly. I think the reason is maybe the probability for unit being hit exists. And this impacts the usability of English unique upgrade : the Shattering Projectiles.
I suggest that trebuchet better get wood cost reduced and make projectiles hit unit probability to 100%.
i disagree with making trebuchets guaranteed hits on non stationary targets, trebuchets should excell at destroying buildings.
However it doesn’t really do that right now, first of all it has a very low rate of fire with only 4.8 shots/min /12.5 seconds between shots) on top of having low mobility.
The only redeeming quality it brings is its insane range of 16 tiles.
Still there is almost no reason to use them as they’re way too expensive for their damage output compared to other options.
When comparing it to bombards it flat out loses in any category as bombards have guaranteed hits on mobile targets, deal more damage, have more than 2x the fire rate, are less expensive when it comes to wood, are more resilient, are much faster…
Making trebuchets viable options would require a nerf to bombards along with buffs for the trebuchet because in the current state of the meta there simply is no reason to ever waste resources on trebuchets.
Idk maybe make trebuchet cost 400 wood instead of 500. But I think this is one of the only siege units in the game that is actually balanced. Bombards are simply way too strong and too tanky right now.
Why waste resources on a treb when u can go imp and get a bombard.
Castle in your way? No problem! Bombards have crazy HP and a castle can’t even kill one! Just send 3 bombards and the castle will be dead in 3 hits! (This is sarcasm, I HATE how squishy castles and walls are to bombards, and their health is obviously ridiculous.)
But trebs feel okay, just too expensive for the age you get them in and not effective at all.
I do feel like the English special upgrade for trebs is basically worthless, but as OP stated even with the shrapnel upgrade or whatever it’s called trebs still do very little damage to infantry.
Idk if you’ve ever heard of Cannister shot (A cannon shot for anti-infantry, with the same shrapnel ideal) but I feel this is what the treb upgrade should do, like a half strength mangonel shot or something. Not enough to kill anything and too slow to reload and kill anything but still enough to make you move.
I totally agree with that, AOE never be a life simulator but a bombard which destroy a wall in 10sec is pretty ridiculous versus the treb who do no damage cause of their dps. They should guard the fire rate but improve the dmg by x3 or x4 and they will be very scary. Maybe put a bonus vs wooden structure will help. And keep the damage range from bombards but double the fire rate will help too to reduce artillery supremacy.
I’d say that they need to tune down certain siege weapons to make Trebuchet more viable and worth taking, but also in the late game it makes more sense to take bombards instead of Trebuchets because those are more modern and just better for a reason.
But I still think a good balance has to be made between all of the siege units, to make them more viable and let’s not forget the siege towers. I think I’ve never seen anyone use them apart from the AI spamming these units even though they don’t know how to use them properly. Either make them more viable or remove them altogether from the game.
The trebuchet is completely fine as it is.
It outranges every defence but has the disadvantage of firing slowly.
You can’t just get a few and snipe a keep. You have to protect them so the defending player has a chance to react by sending his troops. You can use them to force the enemy out of their walls.
Bombards are just to good. You can kill a keep without much risk, plus they can even fight of enemy siege units like springlads.
Trebs are only in the game for familiarity and history, I suppose. Nobody would use something so objectively inferior to the bombard or the other inventions of the dawning gunpowder age if given the choice.
Even without turbo Diesel engines like in this game, bombards were that much faster in every respect to building a treb on the spot.
Nonetheless, I do see strong players use them on live stream when they can’t get bombards, and it is so sad every time because it so seldom works.
And in addition to all i said, it’s very ridiculous when your opponent repair your target.
another feature which could change the gameplay is to put aoe splash damage on treb projectile, inflamed rock or another pestilence aoe (throwing plague cadavers were common in these time so why not ?)