View Full Version : artillery
mystic brew
10-21-2003, 02:25
I've never really had a chance to play into the gunpowder era. Any tips?
I've played a couple of custom battles, and so far it seems the only artillery worth having in the field is Serpentines. Smaller and less powerful than cannons, but they always seem to have more kills.
Anyone any tips on their use?
Earl of Sweden
10-21-2003, 02:52
This has for sure been posted before and there are more experienced players than myself that can answer this better but if you want my opinion Cannons are just good in two scenarios:
1. Sieges
2. If you are on the defence in a bridge battle
If anyone else have found a good use of cannons please share.
On MP. Lots of demiculevrins http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/pat.gif
Charge into a line of organ guns and watch what happens http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
The Wizard
10-21-2003, 09:51
Quote[/b] (mystic brew @ Oct. 20 2003,20:25)]I've never really had a chance to play into the gunpowder era. Any tips?
I've played a couple of custom battles, and so far it seems the only artillery worth having in the field is Serpentines. Smaller and less powerful than cannons, but they always seem to have more kills.
Anyone any tips on their use?
The organ gun is better than the serpentine at killing troops. It massacres them even It kills many of them, lowers their morale, everything Serpentines are less prone to explode and cheaper though... but both of them suck in assaults.
Who would even think of using them for something like that?
de la Valette
10-21-2003, 10:33
Quote[/b] (oaty @ Oct. 21 2003,01:22)]Charge into a line of organ guns and watch what happens http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
There are few things better in a bridge battle than an organ gun especially against the Horde http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
I was talking about assaults http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/pat.gif
de la Valette
10-21-2003, 13:38
Quote[/b] (pr Fire @ Oct. 21 2003,04:38)]I was talking about assaults http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/pat.gif
I don't know some people swear by them for forcing the defenders to attack you.
NewJeffCT
10-21-2003, 15:59
Well, I have tried using demi-culverins & culverins in assaults - sometimes to good effect, most times not. (I assume you are not talking about assaulting a castle - as once in Late I used 15 culverins and 1 unit of Swiss Armored Pikeman as my initial 16 unit force to assault a Byzantine fortress as the HRE - and the culverins just demolished the place, and when they were out of ammo, I sent them off the board and my gothic knights & SAPs had free rein and just mopped up the remaining Byz forces)
First off, siege cannons cannot turn, so if you set them up just slightly off, they are of little use in a regular attack. So, I prefer culverins, demi culverins, serpentines & demi cannons. Where cannon may excel, besides bridge battles, is in an attack is when the enemy is massed on a hilltop. They tend to be close together and cannon usually are not very accurate, so the mass grouping on a hilltop is an advantage to the attacker (rather than spread out across a plain)
The Wizard
10-21-2003, 16:04
Culverins are good siege weapons. However, serpentines suck against walls. I wonder why? I certainly don't see a larger ball coming out of the culverin at a higher speed...
HopAlongBunny
10-22-2003, 07:11
Has anyone modded any horse-artillery? Especially Organ guns http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
de la Valette
10-22-2003, 10:41
Quote[/b] (HopAlongBunny @ Oct. 22 2003,01:11)]Has anyone modded any horse-artillery? Especially Organ guns http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Is that possible?
The cannon in the Napoleonic mod have horses pulling them so they can move about http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Brutal DLX
10-22-2003, 11:43
Well, there is field and siege artillery. As such they should be used accordingly. Serpentines are field artillery and hence have not much effect during a castle assault.
Artillery is usefull for long static battles, or for massed defenders as already mentioned. Also the terrain must be taken into consideration. It's not much use deploying your pieces on woody/mountainous maps. That's when you should take gunpowder infantry, if you can't live without them http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif.
Culverins are best all around from what I've seen.
Haven't tried any Cannons though...
Demi-Culverins have a lighter shot & I think shorter range.
Serpentines have much lighter shot but are slightly more accurate so arguably more useful in field battles, though I have found there to be little practical difference, since Serpentines still miss most of the time anyway & its only by massed artillery barrages that you can expect to get decent kills.
Culverins do loads of damage on castle assaults.
My last campaign, I wound up doing quite a few field battles with just 15 Culverins & my general, always nearly obliterating the enemy (those Culverins got some pretty high valour by the end http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif )
The best thing about gunpowder artillery is that they can shoot a long way across the map http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
Though, its often still best to keep the artillery up closish to the castle to minimise the inaccuracy.
Shorter range = same inaccuracy as % of distance traveled, but minimises it in absolute terms.
NateEngle
10-24-2003, 21:35
I've actually gotten some decent value from culverins in field battles when on the offense. If you can place a gun on high ground that covers most of the enemy's ground then you may be able to get them to retreat off the map without a fight, and it may also be possible to use this method to force them off a good defensive position to one more favorable to your own attack. Demi-culverins don't have enough range to be that useful for this purpose, but if you place it on high ground in the middle of the map 480m covers practically the whole field.
The Wizard
10-25-2003, 21:54
Quote[/b] (monkian @ Oct. 22 2003,05:06)]The cannon in the Napoleonic mod have horses pulling them so they can move about http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
That's just plain abuse. O_O;
Have anybody modded cannons to have exploding shots? Like a naphta... Oh that would be evil with a horsedrawn cannon... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Quote[/b] (Kraxis @ Oct. 26 2003,00:20)]Have anybody modded cannons to have exploding shots? Like a naphta... Oh that would be evil with a horsedrawn cannon... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
"Dead people everywhere" whispers as he focuses on the target http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/pat.gif
pyhhricvictory
10-26-2003, 02:55
I did, I was playing around with a unit from Nap Mod and gave it a bigger blast radius (the howitzer already has a small radius) it was unfair, a unit of Hussars turned to cat food. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif I am trying to get a good approximation of canister shot for defense.
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