Fire ballista

A fire ballista is a siege weapon introduced in Stronghold Crusader, and re-appears in Stronghold 2 , Stronghold Legends and Stronghold Crusader 2.
==Description==
Similar to the tower ballista, its bolt deals tremendous damage, taking out armored troops with only a few hits. Its flaming arrow also causes significant damage to buildings, which can be set on fire when damaged enough. Like other siege engines in Stronghold Crusader, fire ballistae are unaffected by Fear Factor, inflicting the same damage no matter how many of either building types are built.
Fire ballistae track movement, so they are very reliable and fire with a high rate of fire.
In Stronghold 2 and Stronghold Legends, portable fire ballistae do not fire automatically, but have significantly longer range relative to archers and crossbowmen. Their target must be manually assigned, even when set on 'aggressive stance', so they are more useful for offense purposes rather than defense. Tower ballistae retained automatic fire, however.
== Tactics ==
thumb|right|220 pxThe fire ballista rapidly fires flaming bolts, meaning that it can easily set fire to a whole fortress if it sets ablaze to a building inside it. Some players, before lighting up a castle, usually take care of the wells to be sure nothing will put out the fire.
Stone buildings tend to not spread fire, instead wooden buildings light up more easily. When using Balistas to set buildings on fire it is recommended (when possible) for the player to manually take care of the health of the target, as each shot lowers the health of the building so it taking too much damage can result in the building not spreading fire.
Fire ballistae can also be used as an efficient castle defense, when placed near the walls or behind moats to take out any siege machines and advancing armored troops. For this purpose one Fire Ballista can give high milage when keeping swordsmen out.
A large force of fire ballistae can be difficult to beat, the main thing that should be done is keeping out their visual range (hiding behind walls, large rocks) and attacking with fast infantry (macemen or knights are good). The best defense against fire ballistae are towers filled with crossbowmen, catapults, or another fire ballistae (fight fire with fire). Regular Ballistae work great and out-range their fire counterparts and actually beat the fire version one on one (assuming no player intervention).
Most Arabian lords in Stronghold Crusader make use of fire ballistae, as the rest of their troops lack ranged, armor piercing firepower.
==Gallery==
Fireballista.jpg|Moving to site!
Vs200621-001.JPG|Four battle ready Fire Ballisas in Crusader.
Fire ballista SC2.png
SH C Fire ballista.png
File:S2 Fire Ballista.png
== Trivia ==
* Fire ballistae in Stronghold Crusader, unlike most other ranged troops, do not split their fire when when targeting massed troops. Unless directed by the player, all fire ballistae in range will aim at their nearest target.
* In Stronghold Crusader, fire ballistae do not automatically target monks, tunnelers, or lions, and must be manually ordered to do so.
== Navigation ==
de:Feuerballiste
ru:Огненная баллиста
Category:Units
Category:Stronghold Units
Category:Stronghold Crusader Units
Category:Stronghold 2 Units
Category:Stronghold Legends Units
Category:Stronghold Crusader 2 units