Artillery still giving me heartburn.

Artillery still fires some sort of barrel clearing round after being told to ceasefire. I hoped this would be corrected with the patch, but it just happened again. I've also not seen any comment on this from CA, so I am going to start making a nuisance of myself about it.

While maybe realistic in terms of artillery operation, this is ridiculous and pointless in terms of gameplay. Ceasefire means, for the love of god, CEASE FIRING! I’m moving my cavalry forward and don’t want ANY rounds going downfield into their backs, or sideways raking my infantry, or backwards into the reserve or my general. PLEASE fix this 'feature'. If this is because the entire battery has to be either loaded or unloaded- so some individual units have to ‘balance’ the battery by discharging- then give us a temporary ‘hold fire’ order as well. At least then we would have a means of moving units safely around the battlefield without fearing a blast of canister from your own artillery. I cringe every time I hit the ceasefire button, never knowing where my maniacal artillery commander might lob a final round. Trecherous bugger. Now where did I put those Tums...

I noticed this last night as well. It seems that there is a delay between the time you order them to Cease Fire and when they actually do it. I started to give the Halt order as well as the Cease Fire order and this seemed to help. I still don't trust my Artillerymen and try to keep my other soldiers well clear of any possible zones of fire. Those guys just get fire-happy once they get started.

Here is a artillery "drill" I do to minimize (not completely eliminate) friendly fire:

Standing fast -
1. Always have roundshot selected.
2. Always limbered.
3. Always have fire at will off (for immovable artillery).

To fire -
1. Unlimber.
2. Click off fire at will.
3. Select ordnance (roundshot should always be selected before you pick your shot type).
4. Select target.

To cease fire -
1. Wait until all artillery have just discharged their latest shot (recommended)
2. Re-select roundshot.
3. Click halt.
4. Wait 1 second.
5. Click limber.

By always having roundshot on whenever you cease fire minimizes your casualties when your artillery starts to turn sideways and shooting down your line (unhappily there is a chance that a roundshot will go EXACTLY down your line and wipe out 20-30+ men; however this is far more preferable to the other types of shot).

The only way to stop the firing sequence animation is to limber. If you did not click "halt", or click limber too fast after "halt", some of your artillery may not limber up. If you did not click "halt" when this happens, be prepared to take a raking volley down your line. Same thing if you limber too slow.