fktifzobr
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Ideally, such a war machine should differ from a regular ballista not only in its accompanying units, color, and electrical or fire effects. It would also be good to give it at least a speed of 1.
In theory, artillery should be very effective in ranged combat and fall apart with a single hit in melee combat, and considering that it is a "large creature," the probability of it being disabled will be extremely high. Also, there shouldn't be too many of these units.
To avoid parallels with the ballista war machines, I would suggest designing such a unit as a cannon or mortar with an area-of-effect attack of 3x3, or simply give it a "crossfire attack."
Added 4 minutes later
As I wrote above, such a unit should not be numerous, which means its tier should be at least the fifth, and it should be made to match this level (some kind of hellish machine sweeping everything in its path).
The problem with the ballista is that it cannot move at all; there is no animation. If such an animation were to be added, we would have to abandon the dwarves because I cannot synchronize their movement with the movement of the ballista.
I don't want to make a mortar; it's not in the style of Ashan :D, but we can give one of the upgrades a cannon-flamethrower for melee combat (like Greek fire), and for ranged combat, something else, like a magical stone that shoots darkness or fire