Trebuchet

No medieval siege machine commanded more terror or engineering genius than the counterweight trebuchet. Unlike torsion catapults, it used a falling counterbalance — sometimes exceeding ten tonnes — to whip a throwing arm through a precise arc, hurling stones of over a hundred kilograms with enough force to shatter the thickest castle masonry. Edward I deployed his 'War Wolf' at Stirling Castle in 1304; the garrison asked to surrender before it was even fired — Edward refused, wanting to see it work. Saladin's engineers used trebuchets against Crusader fortresses with equal effect. In the game it is the premier siege weapon of the medieval era, devastating against fortifications, but slow to deploy and quickly destroyed without infantry protection.