The Battering Ram is an Ancient Era support unit in Civilization VI. Its purpose is to breach City defenses.
As of the Summer 2017 Update, the Battering Ram became ineffective against cities with Urban Defenses and could upgrade to a Medic.
- Attributes:
- When this unit is adjacent to a District with Defenses, all melee units attacking it do full damage to the District walls.
The Ram only functions for melee and anti-cavalry class units. Also, the Ram becomes ineffective against Medieval and later Walls, and it upgrades to Siege Tower.
Strategy
A siege in ancient times was really a grueling experience. Melee units do significantly reduced damage versus city fortifications, which could make even taking down Ancient Walls difficult. The Battering Ram solves this problem, allowing melee units to do full damage to Walls! Note that you will still need to beat the Walls before attacking the city proper for real.
The Battering Ram becomes obsolete (cannot be produced anymore) after developing Civil Engineering; it also becomes useless when the target civilization has itself developed Urban Defenses. It can be upgraded then to a Medic and salvage at least some of its usefulness.
After the June 2019 Update the Battering Ram becomes useless against anything but Ancient Walls! This plays much better into the historical accuracy of the unit, and adds a new layer of sophistication to early-to-middle game tactics.
Civilopedia entry
As the walls protecting towns got higher and thicker, so too did the gates. Eventually, it wasn’t enough to have a bunch of expendables hammering away at the gate carrying a thick pole. In its simplest form, a battering ram is a heavy log suspended from a framework that can be swung against walls and gates, eventually – theoretically – knocking them down. Over time, the ends were capped with metal, wheels were added for mobility, and coverings protected the users from boiling oil, rocks, arrows and other discomforts. So useful were battering rams that, if they couldn’t be constructed from materials nearby, ancient armies would drag them along on campaigns. Pliny the Elder even described their use in mining for breaking down hard rock (although a bunch of slaves with picks was a lot cheaper). Battering rams were used right through the Middle Ages, until the advent of gunpowder brought cannons into the art of war.
Bugs
- While in an escort of 3 units the battering ram can be attacked directly through planes.
- A Battering ram, whilst in escort, can attack a city and suffer damage for it.
