Great Siege Works

* Level 1
* Level 2
* Level 3

"All day the labour went forward, while the men of Minas Tirith looked on, unable to hinder it. And as each length of trench was completed, they could see great wains approaching; and soon yet more companies of the enemy were swiftly setting up, each behind the cover of a trench, great engines for the casting of missiles. There were none upon the City walls large enough to reach so far or to stay the work."
—Return of the King, Siege of Gondor

In the Black Land of Mordor, the Dark Lord Sauron prepared for his impending attack on the land of Gondor by mass producing siege weapons. These crude war machines were put to use during the Siege of Minas Tirith to set the first level of the White City ablaze and to breach the gates of the city.

In Age of the Ring, the Great Siege Works is a unit recruitment building for Mordor and its Adventure: Rhûn subfaction, from which various siege weapons can be constructed. While the building's overall statistics and function are the same between the two, the units recruited for each are completely different.

## Upgrades

**Upgrade Great Siege Works to Level 2 (A)** - Allows recruitment of Catapults. Allows healing of nearby damaged siege machines. +10% faster build speed. Cost: 500

*NOTE: In the Adventure: Rhûn subfaction, this upgrade instead allows for the recruitment of Dragonfire Cannons.*

**Upgrade Great Siege Works to Level 3 (A)** - Allows recruitment of Grond and Great Beasts of Gorgoroth. +25% faster build speed. Increased healing to nearby damaged siege machines. Cost: 1000.

*NOTE: This upgrade does not allow for the recruitment of any new units in the Adventure: Rhûn subfaction.*

## Function

The Great Siege Works can be used to recruit the following units for Mordor:

 Catapult | Siege
 Great Beast of Gorgoroth | Monster
 Grond | Siege

In the Adventure: Rhûn subfaction, the Great Siege Works instead recruits the following units:

 Dragonfire Cannon | Siege

## Strategy

The Great Siege Works is almost vital to securing victory during the mid-late game as it is where Mordor's siege weapons can be recruited; it is too expensive to warrant building early in the game as the player will not be able to afford and spam enough Orc units to effectively overwhelm the enemy. However, it is useful to build a forward Great Siege Works if the enemy has been successfully driven back into their base as this reduces the distance the siege weapons need to travel to begin attacking enemy structures. Great Beasts can fill the role of Mûmakil once the Great Siege Works has been fully levelled. If Mordor constructs the Great Siege Works, they should devote builders to expanding their economy even further so that they can upgrade the Great Siege Works to level 3 and recruit the extremely expensive Grond. Grond is an utterly devastating siege weapon that typically ends games if Mordor is able to gain access to it, although it is an incredibly expensive siege weapon to unlock and also requires Gothmog to have been recruited beforehand.

In the Adventure: Rhûn subfaction, the Great Siege Works instead recruits the Flame-destroyer and Dragonfire Cannon. The Flame-destroyer is a close-range siege weapon that sprays burning liquid flames on nearby enemies and structures, while the Dragonfire Cannon is a long-range siege weapon that fires flames upon a enemy units and structures from a distance. Both of these weapons can be very devastating in different ways, but they are also volatile and will explode if they are killed with fire, damaging all enemy units and structures. Thus, it is important to either keep these siege units away from enemy units with Fire-based upgrades, or separate your army from these siege weapons when they are about to explode so that the blast radius only hits enemies.