With Civilization 6 having been free on the Epic Games Store recently, a lot of new players have found their way into the game. While most of the game's systems are well explained, there is one thing that troubles a lot of new players until it is properly described, the battering ram.
The battering ram in Civilization 6 helps units break down city walls, but its method of use isn't as straightforward as one would think. The battering ram isn't a unit of its own which can attack walls, nor can troops be set to man the siege weapon, but rather it takes a support role, boosting allies.
If a battering ram is next to a city with walls, then all units attacking that city will do full damage to its walls. In this manner, the battering ram doesn't actually have to even part of the combat, so long as it is adjacent to the city.
It is very important to protect the battering ram, as enemies are very likely to target it if their city is dependant on its walls. Battering rams are relatively easy to destroy if they aren't accompanied by some kind of combat unit. Under normal circumstances, melee units only deal 17% of their actual damage to city walls, but the battering ram enables units to deal full damage instead. This can be incredibly useful on well-fortified cities, especially since the player needs only one battering ram to affect all of the walls of a city no matter how many melee units they have attacking.
This is understandably difficult for new players to figure out, as the game doesn't really describe this very well. Additionally, it is kind of counter-intuitive, as most would expect the battering ram to do the work rather than simply boosting the players' troops. Still, understanding how to use the battering ram is vital to the success of players wanting to take enemy cities, so it is worth learning about.
Although only one battering ram is needed to apply the boost, there is merit in bringing two or more. The benefit will be the same (melee units' damage won't be boosted beyond 100% for having more than one battering ram), but it will be much more difficult for enemies to take out more than one battering ram during a siege.
Civilization 6 is available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
Source: CivFanatics Forum Users