Demi-Culverins

[Gaius Julius]

Playing my first campaign, Biz., early.
Finally got to build demi-culverins.
I was battling a rebel army (Biz.), and I had 3 of them grouped together.
Man, it's great how they turn, and fire in unison.
They may not be always accurate; but when they hit, they're deadly.
Smashed a unit of Billmen, no problem. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[PSYCHO]

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif yup.. great fun. I've had a battery of up to 6 in an army. You pound the the enemy from afar then just withdraw them to bring on some fresh troops.

Cheers

[bosdur]

Yes, theyre great, I would argue that serpentines are much better though, more ammo and faster reloading time. Less damaging effect but route units with the same efficiency as demis

[Efrem Da King]

I like it when they kill generals http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif .

[andrewt]

For some reason, I'm very lucky with catapults. Took out an enemy king once with the first shot in a river battle. It was so amusing.

[Cooperman]

I just love the way the cannon balls bounce along the ground

doesn't take much to amuse me I guess http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wacko.gif

[Efrem Da King]

There is nothing like seeing a cannon ball land in the middle of a unit of highlanders http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif .And then seeing 12 bodies flying in the air away from the cannon ball.

[Xicote]

Ballistas: Does anyone use these? I got lucky once and killed 5 people with them. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wacko.gif Although they can be good when defending maps with rivers.

[Efrem Da King]

I have never used them but I plan to has any one got a tip. (ballistas)

[Xicote]

As I said, they are good at defending rivers. They "might" kill a few guys while crossing the river. Only from my experience though. It helps if they have 1+ valor aswell. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

[Basileus]

Bloody culverins, lost my king last night by a hit from one and the boy was only 22 of age and no heir yet... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/dizzy.gif

so i have to agree heh they are lovely

[bosdur]

Quote[/b] (Xicote @ Jan. 19 2003,19:53)]Ballistas: Does anyone use these? I got lucky once and killed 5 people with them. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wacko.gif Although they can be good when defending maps with rivers.
Ballistas suck, due to the fact that they can only kill one person at one shot. Never build any of these waste of money and time.

[Efrem Da King]

k I'll take your word for it http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif .

[Lord Of Storms]

I like to try and target any Royal knight units first, and in a river battle it is like shooting fish in a barrel http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Beelzebub]

the biggest prob with balista is they disappear when they hit the ground. it's somewhat rare to actually land a boulder or cannonball on your target, most kills come from when it starts bouncing low and slow behind the targer (and hopefully another formation of units). If balista bolts hit the ground and started sliding or became a bouncing and wildly spinning log, they might get a decent amount of kills.

[Cazbol]

I think the ballistas are only meant to deal with fort stockades and gates. They can do that with ease. They're pretty obsolete against keeps but can do the job in sufficient numbers. They should be replaced by catapults as soon as possible. It's not without reason that they aren't part of the SDI program.

For anything else than sieges they're little more than a nuisance.... for both sides.

[Leet Eriksson]

demi-culverins?nah,they ain't as good as demo-cannons.the demi-cannons while more expensive provide more firepower(good against citadels).

[Beelzebub]

Why would anyone knock down gates with balista, just send a cheap unit of spearmean or militia to do the job. I use siege siege engines to knock down walls and form alternate entrances to the castles, and balista suck vs. real walls.

[The Marcher Lord]

Great King killers I love to line a few of em up on the enemy kings unit if I can spot him quick enough at the start of the battle. I 've had a lucky kill many times that way.

[Red Harvest]

The great thing about the demi-culverins is that it doesn't take long to increase their valour. I've got a few units that I've used a long time and they've gone up about 3 valour. I recently took one of them into battle against a low valor king (with lots of royal knights around him, ugghh). The very first shot killed him, and his whole army fled "en masse" before I could hit anyone else. That time I had targeted his unit, but usually I target a forward central unit to produce more bowling strikes.

On a historic note, battlefield cannon up to the start of the US Civil War were used more to bowl men over than anything else. Grapeshot and the like was used at close range. Explosive rounds were still fairly primitive. The bowling reduced cannon effectiveness when the ground was soft (muddy) as the rounds would often dig in rather than skip along as intended. Around the time of the Civil War, rifled cannon and better fuses made explosive rounds much more deadly.

One thing missing in the game's version is that reading historical accounts of Civil War era cannon, men could often see the solid shot coming and would part ranks or duck to avoid being struck. Solid shot was therefore generally not that effective against battle lines except to disrupt and demoralize. I really like the demi-culverin, but suspect they are a bit too effective since even high valour units never "part" or flatten out as a round goes buy. Of course, it would be difficult to duck effectively wearing 60 lbs of armor or on a horse...

Love the sound of rounds flying by the "camera" when I zoom forward a bit and cross their trajectory. Nice effect.