Organ guns: any uses aside a potential bridge battle?

Because their short range, and uncontrollable effects, limit them çuite a lot.

I was thinking that, if you built six or eight of them, you might win a bridge battle by simply placing them so that they range into the bridge path, and alternate the shooting so that it becomes a continuous fire. Some units of general spearmen might be useful to contain the initial waves, and then die gloriously in the organ gun´s salvoes, to increase the frag ratio, and maybe some arbalesters (or catapults) to fire at anyone attempting to snipe at your organ guns. This would allow for a very cheap defense force, but otherwise I see no use for them. Even in a typical bottleneck bridge battle (AKA: use a GOOD spear unit to hold a lot of enemies back and then shoot the hell out of them with arbalesters or bowmen) they´d do more harm than good, as they would likely kill off your troops as well as the enemy´s

I've honestly never even gotten an organ gun to fire and I've built them a few times trying to see what they could do. They are severely useless units. :p

In an experiment of mine, in which I tried full fields of artillery of a single type, to test their effectiveness, organ guns did deal severe damage, by chaining the shots, but overall they still got overrun fairly çuickly.

I´m considering possible uses. An obvious one would be small garrisons for castles and fortresses to prevent assaults, as if you retreat to the castle, a garrison of four or five organ guns would last for a long time, and if assaulted, the chained shots would cause severe losses to the enemy.

Besides a castle defense, where two or three OGs will seal off a gate permanently...

When constucting a defense line on a ridge, the area covered by the firing arc of the organ gun will be impassible to the AI. The AI will be reluctant to send anything up within range of the organ gun, and the few times it does send a unit into range, the unit either routs or retreats from climbing the ridge. This simplifies your defense posture quite a bit: no need to put melee and spear defenders in that sector of the ridge.

Haha, OG's are fun for the defensive. Especially in a nice, hilly place like Cordoba or Switzerland. 4 or 5 of them can absolutely cripple an opposing army trying to get up a steep hill. I've seen one blast send a unit of Byzz infantry running as thought the grim reaper itself was after them.

Yeah, but if you're after the fear of them, why not just bring out Arquebusiers? A few of those can send everyone running. (Especially pre-Janissary turks. :juggle2: )

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Originally Posted by Maloncanth

Yeah, but if you're after the fear of them, why not just bring out Arquebusiers? A few of those can send everyone running. (Especially pre-Janissary turks. :juggle2: )

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I've used organ guns where they have appeared as mercenaries, in which case youa re not always going to be able to get arquebusiers instead. OGs are devastating when defending ridges - Golden Horde Heavy Cavalry routed before landing a blow. But given the choice I'd rather have serpentines and the longer range. Even for bridge battles the short range of OGs makes them tricky to use.

I've seen lots of units take a salvo from arquebusiers and keep coming. A blast from an organ gun usually routs the recipient, and at the very least stops its approach.

Serpentines? I never use them. Culverins have longer range and not a significantly lower ammount of ammo. Plus, if you have to assault a castle in order to avoid a possible attempt to lift the siege, they will come in handy, whereas serpentines will not.

I did some experiments a while ago with each artillery type, checking which caused more casualties upon an incoming army of fodder. Culverins worked better overall.

IMO the best use of organ guns, and one I've used quite often with great success, is at the front corners of a "demi-hexagon" defensive position. One thing to watch is the steepness of the slope - if it is TOO steep the OGs won't fire, as they can't target very far below horizontal. A gentle slope is better as it gives a range advantage and still will fire. They can do terrible damage and inflict those morale penalties as well. But then again I do have quite a taste for artillery in defence ~D

As I do. But I like a distance of safety. Hence I favor Culverins, aimed at the bulk of enemy troops, if possible in a path that takes out their general (might cause a rout before they even reach you, if you´re in a mountain) and then bowmen and spearmen at close çuarters

The AI likes to flank, so I put them on the flanks. Usually only one sees action but they always get a couple points of valor.

Organ guns are great when placed between units in defensive line. They will fire direct into attacker unit ranks or flank, causing massive casualties.