Ballistics is an advance in Call to Power II. It unlocks the Archer.
Gameplay[]
Ballistics introduces the concept of ranged combat to the game. The Archer is the first unit to employ a Ranged Attack. Ballista Towers are fortifications that enable ranged defense of Cities.
Great Library entry[]
Ballistics is the development of mechanical devices that hurl projectiles several times faster than could be attained by throwing. The most famous of these, the bow and arrow, traces back to prehistoric times, where it was a primary weapon of war and the hunt. The earliest bows consisted of a thin length of wood fastened with string or sinew at each end. Later, bows were made of several materials, including wood and horn glued together and reinforced with bands of sinew. The English longbow, made of wood from the yew tree, was famous in battle, helping win battles over the French at Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt during the Hundred Years' War. Other cultures employed the bow in war, hunting and recreational archery, including the Egyptians, Assyrians, Chinese, Goths and Mongols. Accounts of Renaissance-era European travelers indicate that the bow and arrow was the weapon of choice on virtually every continent.
Ballistae were ancient heavy missile launchers used to hurl large bolts, javelins or heavy balls great distances. Smaller ballistae, like those in ballista towers, were essentially large crossbows fastened to a mount. The Roman ballista, by contrast, was an enormous contraption, powered by torsion derived from two thick skeins of twisted cords through which were thrust two separate arms joined at their ends by the cord that propelled the missile. The largest ballistae could hurl 60-pound weights up to 500 yards, and were devastatingly accurate siege weapons. The smaller ballistae were better suited to defense against siege weapons and infantry attacks and were often perched high on the towers of towns and castles to rain a variety of projectiles on charging armies.
The introduction of gunpowder gradually made the bow and ballista obsolete, as Western armies rushed to outfit themselves with the more powerful firearms and cannon. By the late 16th century, firearms had supplanted bows and arrows in all but the Far East, Africa and South America.