- This article deals specifically with Ranged Boulder Attacks. For an overview of how Ranged Attacks work in general, see Ranged Attack.
A Ranged Boulder Attack is one of three kinds of Ranged Attacks available in Master of Magic. When a unit is capable of making a Ranged Boulder Attack, its details panel will show the strength of the attack as a series of Rocks. The same icon is used on this wiki to represent Ranged Boulder Attacks and/or their strength.
Ranged Boulder Attacks are often very strong in numerical terms, capable of piercing through heavy armor very easily. Furthermore, many units possessing this type of attack also possess the Wall Crusher ability which allows them to tear down enemy City Walls during siege combat. Ranged Boulder Attacks do suffer from To Hit penalties based on the distance to the target: the further away the target, the higher the penalty. Thus they are significantly less useful at long range. However, for some units the maximum size of the penalty is limited, making them almost as useful at long range as they are up-close.
Finally, Ranged Boulder Attacks do not trigger any of the target's immunities. Thus, no target is really safe from Ranged Boulder Attacks, and only extremely-heavy armor has any chance of averting their damage.
Like all other Ranged Attacks, Ranged Boulder Attacks may only be used a limited number of times per battle. This number is displayed in the unit's details panel.
Ranged Boulder Attacks are somewhat uncommon. All Catapults and Warships, which are available to several races, possess a strong Ranged Boulder Attack. 2 unique racial units also possess this ability, as well as 3 different Fantastic Creatures. There are no Heroes who possess a Ranged Boulder Attack.
Ranged Boulder Attack Properties[]
A Ranged Boulder Attack is one of three different types of Ranged Attack in Master of Magic, with the other two being Ranged Missile Attacks and Ranged Magical Attacks. There are several important differences between each of these attack types. The advantages and disadvantages of Ranged Boulder Attacks are explained below - for an overall comparison, see Ranged Attack.
No Immunities[]
A Ranged Boulder Attack will never trigger any of its target's immunities. Magic Immunity, Missile Immunity and Weapon Immunity are useless against this attack. This gives Ranged Boulder Attacks an important advantage when fighting an army possessing such units.
Furthermore, due to the relative strength of most Ranged Boulder Attacks, which for some units exceeds 10, very few units will have sufficient armor to block all of the Damage the attack delivers. Only well-armored Heroes, powerful Fantastic Creatures, and units with several Unit Enchantments increasing their Defense score have any chance of avoiding this damage entirely.
Thus, when it is important to inflict heavy damage on well-defended targets, Ranged Boulder Attackers are a good bet.
Distance Penalties[]
On the other hand, Ranged Boulder Attacks suffer from an important disadvantage that seriously affects the way they are used in combat, especially when compared to the simpler (and sometimes deadlier) Ranged Magical Attacks: they suffer To Hit penalties based on distance to the target.
The penalty equals -10% To Hit for every 3 tiles of distance between the shooter and the target. Therefore, the shooter suffers -10% at a distance of 3 tiles, and -20% at a distance of 6 tiles. The game's original manual indicates that -20% is the largest penalty possible, but the Strategy Guide implies that the bonus could be even higher (i.e. -30% at 9 tiles, and so on).
At a distance of 1 or 2 tiles from the target (i.e. either adjacent to the shooter or one empty tile apart), the shooter suffers no To Hit penalty at all.
As a result of this penalty, Ranged Boulder Attackers will sometimes want to close the distance with their target before spending any of their ammunition. This is particularly important when the target is in fact heavily-armored, requiring the shot to inflict more hits to increase the chances of getting through that armor. Against softer units, a Ranged Boulder Attacker may nonetheless prefer to quickly expend its ammunition despite the long range.
The same principle is also important to remember when fighting against enemy Ranged Boulder Attackers: if you wish to minimize damage, keep your units as far away from the enemy Boulder troops until they've depleted all of their ammunition. After that you can close the distance more safely.
Supporting Abilities[]
Many Ranged Boulder Attackers possess important Unit Abilities that are specifically tailored to improve the usefulness of their attack.
First and foremost, more than half of these units possess the Wall Crusher ability, which enables them to take out enemy City Walls at a distance. The chance of bringing down a wall with a Ranged Attack is set at 25% per shot (regardless of the actual strength of the attack). This is the main reason to create Catapults and bring them along when expecting siege combat.
Secondly, several Ranged Boulder Attackers possess the Long Range ability. This puts a hard limit on the distance penalties the unit can suffer when attacking distant targets. The limit is exactly -10% To Hit, which means that a target at 3 tiles is as hard to hit as a target way across on the other side of the battlefield. Thus, units with this ability will often unleash their Ranged Boulder Attacks early in the battle, and do not need to risk approaching the enemy in order to get a good damage output.
Units with Ranged Boulder Attacks[]
The game contains exactly 7 units that possess a Ranged Boulder Attack, though several of these are widely available to most empires. These 7 units are the only units that possess such an attack: no unit may acquire a Ranged Boulder Attack under any circumstance if it does not have one by default.
Normal Units[]
4 of the Ranged Boulder Attack units in the game are Normal Units from various Races. Among these, 2 are standardized units - the Catapult and Warship - which are available to a number of Races. The other two are unique racial units: the Air Ship and Steam Cannon. All 4 are Single-Figure units, but possess a strong attack to compensate.
All 4 units also have plenty of ammunition for their Ranged Boulder Attacks, capable of firing at least 10 shots per battle - much more than most Ranged Magical Attackers and slightly more than most Ranged Missile Attackers. The Warship is unique in this regard, since it has no real limit on the number of times it can fire - making it extremely powerful in the hands of a capable player.
Normal Units equipped with Mithril Weapons or Adamantium Weapons receive a bonus of +1 or +2 (respectively) to their Ranged Boulder Attack. Those weapons as well as Magical Weapons will also give a +10% To Hit bonus to Boulder Attacks.
Normal Units acquire Experience over time, which slowly increases the strength of their Ranged Boulder Attack. Some can become surprisingly powerful by the time they reach Level 4 ("Elite") or higher. The table below lists a unit's strength when it is still at its lowest Experience Level with no bonuses whatsoever.
Icon | Unit Name | Default Attack Strength | Ammunition | Supporting Abilities |
---|---|---|---|---|
Air Ship | 10 | 10 | Wall Crusher | |
Catapult | 10 | 10 | Wall Crusher, Long Range | |
Steam Cannon | 12 | 10 | ||
Warship | 10 | 99 | Long Range |
Fantastic Units[]
3 Fantastic Units may make Ranged Boulder Attacks. All 3 have the Wall Crusher ability.
Fantastic Units with a Ranged Boulder Attack are very limited in terms of ammunition, capable of performing only 2 of these attacks during each battle. Fortunately, all 3 are very powerful Melee Attackers as well, and can switch to a Melee Attack once their shots are depleted. All 3 of these units are also fast enough to enable them to close the distance with the enemy while firing, thus potentially negating the distance penalty and inflicting more Damage on their opponents, before rushing in for Melee.
Icon | Unit Name | Realm | Attack Strength | Ammunition | Supporting Abilities |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stone Giant | Nature | 15 | 2 | +20%, Wall Crusher. | |
Colossus | Nature | 20 | 2 | +30%, Wall Crusher. | |
Fire Giant | Chaos | 10 | 2 | +10%, Wall Crusher. |
Spells and Abilities affecting Ranged Boulder Attacks[]
Icon | Name | Description |
Attack Strength | ||
Adamantium Weapon | +2 (requires Alchemists' Guild and a nearby Adamantium Ore) | |
Mithril Weapon | +1 (requires Alchemists' Guild and a nearby Mithril Ore) | |
Lionheart | +3 | |
Black Channels | +1 (normal units become Undead) | |
Black Prayer | -1 for all enemy units | |
Mind Storm | -5 if unit hasn't Illusions Immunity or Magic Immunity | |
Shatter | Attack is reduced to 1 if normal unit fails to resist | |
Chaos Surge | +2 for all units associated with Chaos (Chaos Channeled units) | |
Chaos Node Aura | +2 for all units associated with Chaos (Fire Giant, Chaos Channeled units) | |
Nature Node Aura | +2 for all units associated with Nature (Stone Giant, Colossus) | |
Darkness | +1 for all units associated with Death (Undead units); Cloud of Shadow and Eternal Night have same effect | |
True Light | -1 for all units associated with Death (Undead units); Heavenly Light has same effect | |
Leadership | +1 for all accompanying normal units if hero reaches 6th Level +2 if hero has Super Leadership and reaches 8th Level | |
To Hit Modifiers | ||
Magical Weapon | +10% (requires Alchemy or Alchemists' Guild); same goes for and | |
Holy Weapon | +10% (cumulative with Magical Weapon) | |
Long Range | limits range penalty to -10% (otherwise penalty is -20% if target is 6 to 8 tiles away and -30% if target is 9 to 11 tiles away) | |
Lucky | +10% (also: +10% To Block) | |
(High) Prayer | +10% for all allied units (also: +10% To Block) | |
Vertigo | -20% if unit fails to resist | |
Warp Reality | -20% for all units not associated with Chaos (Chaos Channeled units) | |
Non-listed Defense | ||
Weapon Immunity | Defense is increased to 10, but only if attacked by a normal unit (not a hero AND in v1.31 not a generic unit like Catapult or Warship), that hasn't , , , Holy Weapon, Eldritch Weapon or Flame Blade | |
Large Shield | +2 | |
Other | ||
Invisibility | unit can't be attacked unless opponent has Illusion Immunity | |
Invulnerability | absorbs the first 2 damage coming from each enemy figure; unit gets Weapon Immunity | |
Blur | roughly 10 % of all enemy attacks will miss (regardless of hit roll) | |
Haste | Boulder attack is executed twice (also consumes double ammunition), Movement is doubled | |
Immolation | every enemy figure is hit by a 4 Fire Damage attack (To Hit modifiers have no effect) |
Note: There are some abilities and spells that only affect Ranged Missile Attacks and not Ranged Boulder Attacks, namely: Flame Blade, Metal Fires, Weakness, Guardian Wind, Missile Immunity, Warp Wood, Eldritch Weapon. Catapults and Warships will also ignore Weapon Immunity.