Artillary

[jacko_uk]

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-lost.gif Other than in a siege is there much use for this artillary in general battle, if so,when? Is it worth the cost of building?

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cheers.gif jacko_uk

[Nelson]

Late era culverins can be useful in a battle and the organ gun is good in a stationary defensive fight. Other than that, the engines are for siege work and not good for much else. Nor should they be.

[Knight_Yellow]

Quote[/b] (jacko_uk @ Feb. 17 2004,14:13)]http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-lost.gif Other than in a siege is there much use for this artillary in general battle, if so,when? Is it worth the cost of building?

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cheers.gif jacko_uk
in the last 3 battles where ive seen the computer use artillery not in a siege its managed to land on my generals head every game.


Loosing a 11 valour highlander unit with full command and dread to a bloody catapult wich then routs the rest of you once excellent high valour force is enough to make you sick.

3 times in less than 10 turns.

[R'as al Ghul]

Quote[/b] ]11 valour highlander unit
That's amazing. How do you get them? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif

[maestro]

As Knight_Yellow has pointed out, seige equipment can be devastating for taking out high valour or high command troops. Just like archers, which used poorly are pretty useless, seige equipment can appear to be of little use in poen warfare. But used properly they can be a great addition to any army. Setting 4 catapults to fire on the enemy general's squad of royal knights is great because a large lump of rock doesn't care who it hits - it kills them outight anyway They may not be the most accurate weapons in the game but given that they can fire on an approaching army many times before they reach you gives you a great opportunity to inflict heavy damage on their top troops early.

Just don't use them for attack unless it's a seige - the enemy will simply move out of their line of fire.

Al'

[Knight_Yellow]

Quote[/b] (R'as al Ghul @ Feb. 17 2004,15:57)]
Quote[/b] ]11 valour highlander unit
That's amazing. How do you get them? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif
Invade portugal with highlanders and set tax to High.

after about 20 rebelions you units should be great valour and your commander will have great defending skills.

*remember to merge units together so say if you have 25 highlanders at valour 5 and 35 at valour 6 merging them will get you 1 unit of 60 at valour 6*

[R'as al Ghul]

Quote[/b] ]after about 20 rebelions http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif
Alright, I'll try this tonight.
Cheers

[hoom]

Artillery is mostly useless in numbers below 4.
With 8+ you can do some quite wholesome damage.
However, a lot or most of the time you'd be better off with some more arbalesters, cavalry or infantry.

[Nelson]

If I happen to have engines in an army I will use them however I can. They might get lucky, especially on defense. I do not routinely carry a group of them in every army. Archers can kill generals more effectively than catapults. When attacking I order the crews to leave the field when the enemy is out of range which is most of the time, culverins being the exception. Sometimes you can try to forward deploy the artillery at the edge of the circle but that is risky if the AI counter attacks before your army can come up to defend them.

Engines can make a huge difference in castle defense. 3 or 4 catapults are great for wrecking opposing artillery because even when your castle has ballista and catapult towers you can’t direct the fire. Prevent a breach in the walls and you can make the gates very expensive to pass.

My artillery is usually grouped into one or more large trains thet are positioned to support whatever offensives I'm undertaking at the time. They get attached to armies only for siege work.

[jacko_uk]

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif Thank you all gentlepeople the advice is well taken.

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif Jacko_uk

[Court Jester]

I never use artillery, except for sieges, but I did recently discover one great exception: river crossings. Take 6 to 8 catapults and place them close to the river bank. Also bring an army of 16+ troop units; when you set up the battle, retain the cavalry in reserve and bring your infantry and a couple of arb/x-bow units onto the initial field with your cats.

I found that the cats do an amazing job of ripping the enemy lines apart. For some reason the AI almost never backs out of range far enough, so you can destroy their toughest units with the cats before you send anyone across. If you deploy the arbs along the river bank, you will provide a distraction to any enemy missile units that approach to target your cats.

Your cats will run out of ammo before the timeclock is halfway through. Withdraw them, and they will be replaced by your cavalry reinforcements. Once they're on the field, unleash your standard assault; it will be fairly easy going.

In fact it generally works so well that I'm beginning to consider it too cheesy.

However a few times, the enemy has counterattacked immediately (and once, won), probably because my troop numbers on the field were so low due to the small cat crew size. The French got their royal knights across the bridge before my own troops had time to get down the hill to defend the bridge; the Frenchies proceeded to slaughter the cats and it went downhill from there. A very entertaining battle.


http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-jester.gif

[kawligia]

You know what works even better than seige equipment on castle assults?

Suicide mercenaries http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/idea.gif

[Seven.the.Hun]

i think if u decide to use a siege thing in a nonsiege battle, u might get a kinda slight moral plus as opposed to a minus, and of course, something might just happen to land in the middle of an elite unit and crush a few, or even better, like on top of one of those general heads,
a bit more useful to do if in a bridge battle...anyway, in general, perhaps its luck, taking more than 1 into a non seige is not wise though as it just removes space for other troops, and charging those siege dudes doesnt ever really help...
of course i am guessing that cannon stuff does better at freaking people out, so landing a few of those shots in a normal battle might work, i've done it here and there

[Seven.the.Hun]

and yes...kawligia...of course, let those mercs get the boiling oil or olive oil or whatever poured on their heads, i always get mercs killed at a fast rate, but to get things done quick and cheap... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif