16MAR2026 - Siege Engine Speed Increases

The DEVS are pleased to announce the final, long-awaited movement speed updates to siege engines. This update is the final of 3 separate updates that were made, first to unmounted units and later to mounted units.

The purpose of the movement speed updates has been to “speed up” the otherwise slow pace of troop movements in Illyriad, recognizing that in our now-16-year history, speed increases in units are sometimes warranted. The purpose of this final update is to balance the speed of siege engines relative to the previous updates, taking into account some of the race-based rationales that we used previously. 

Movement Speed Increases: A Recap

In our previous updates, most non-siege units got roughly a 10–20% movement increase overall.

Unmounted Unit Speed Increases (by Race)

Highlights

• Elves got the largest unmounted speed buffs (~25%)
  
  

• Orcs got the smallest (~11%)
  
  

• This aligns with the ethos of our recent design concept: faster travel for slower-building races.

Mounted Unit Speed Increases (by Race)

Highlights

• Elf cavalry gained the largest buff (~40%)
  
  

• Human cavalry also increased strongly (~30%)
  
  

• Orc cavalry barely changed (~14%)

Balancing the Siege Engines

We didn’t want to simply match the overall increases for mounted and unmounted units, but rather offer some speed increases that would outpace the troop increases. As a result, we’ve implemented a ~33–50% movement speed increase for siege engines across most races, exceeding the average of the mounted and unmounted units. Furthermore, we balanced the siege unit speed increases by race to counterbalance the biases in the mounted and unmounted units.

New Siege Speed Adjustments

Catapults

Rationales

• Dwarves have always been the siege specialists (they have the highest base to hit multiplier), and we want to reinforce that – especially since their unmounted and mounted units received the second-lowest speed increases (+16.9% and +27.3%, respectively)

• Elves benefitted tremendously from the movement speed updates, with their T1 Sentinel bow units being faster than some other races’ cavalry units. Unmounted and mounted units increased +25% and +40%, respectively. Therefore, we determined that their catapults should receive no speed updates. Elves’ siege equipment has the lowest base-to-hit multipliers, so they are seldom used in war. 

• Humans’ unmounted units received a +20% speed increase, and these are the units that would normally accompany and reinforce a siege. We’ve given them a commensurate speed update.

• Orcs had the slowest speed updates for both unmounted and mounted (11.1% and 13.9%, respectively). We did this because the orc race has 3 viable military units (wolfrider, fang infantry, and kobold cohort spears), with the fangs and kobolds being among the best reinforcing units in the game and the wolfrider being a completely legitimate attacking cav unit. To counterbalance the lack of speed updates with mounted and unmounted units, we wanted to give their catapults a nice boost percentage-wise (33%), but keep them in line with humans and behind the dwarves in total catapult speed.

Rams (wall breakers)

• We’ve given Elven Siege Hooks unchanged, and given human rams a moderate increase.

• Dwarves and orcs will receive new speeds commensurate with their catapult speeds.

The new movement speeds for siege engines have already gone into effect: a refresh of the game in your browser should show them as present on your screens. Enjoy!