How Will Artillery Work?

Gunpowder artillery in M2TW are pretty much a waste of money IMO. They are incredibly inaccurate, and if you plant them behind your front lines then they will more often than not kill far more of your own troops than the enemies.

I really hope this problem will be sorted for ETW. Artillery would function much better if they were considerably more accurate (say just a little less than M2TW ballistas), but had a smaller area attack.

Also CA please cap the number of artillery the AI puts in its armies, its so simple to sort and I just can't take fighting any more enemy stacks of 3/4 artillery (usually trebuchets and catapults).

Since these are one of the main players in combat of the ETW period, they really cannot afford to be as hopeless as in M2TW.

If you read through, you would know this is all being sorted as E:TW is a new engine. All this will be null and void as the new engine gives a new AI.

Gunpowder accuracy has improved by this point, it will be represented in game.

For one thing we will have a greater selection of ammunition, apparently. Also if the game bears any relation to reality there will be horse artillery. Artillery should certainly be devastating- ..

"...after 5 or 6 shots from each gun the batteries were advanced alternately to about 200m...So precarious did this advance appear indeed, that Napoleon is reputed to have thought Senarmont was deserting. It was a novel demonstration of the fact that artillery could make a charge on its own ... and Senarmont was deaf to all attempts to call him back. When they were 200 m from the enemy line the French fired about 20 times... Senarmont's next step as to prolonge both batteries forward until they joined together at about 60 m from the enemy. A rapid fire with canister was then sufficient to break the infantry in front of them, and hence to silence the supporting artillery ... After this the way was clear for a French infantry attack ... Senarmont accompanied this for most of the way, and also poured fire into the flank of units which were retreating across his front..."

I can almost listen to the boom of great heavy cannons........ :beam:

But, its got to be better. Considering that they have even payed attention to the fact that cannons can jam and explode. I'm sure the whole artillery thing would be done impressively. Because after all, the guns were the one thing common both on the sea and on land, and ETW features both.

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Originally Posted by Caledonian Rhyfelwyr

and if you plant them behind your front lines then they will more often than not kill far more of your own troops than the enemies.

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That is reality.......cannons, unless placed on a higher ground or at proper distance behind the troops would certainly have cut through their own men. The howitzers were the only artillery piece that could actually fireover the men.

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Originally Posted by pevergreen

If you read through, you would know this is all being sorted as E:TW is a new engine. All this will be null and void as the new engine gives a new AI.

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It has nothing to do with AI. It has everything to do with the ballistic model for projectiles. I've seen nothing posted by CA about the ballistic model, and I doubt they will post anything because ever since RTW it's secret information. Of course, keeping how it works secret also allows problems with how it's implemented to be covered up.

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Originally Posted by pevergreen

Gunpowder accuracy has improved by this point, it will be represented in game.

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You have no basis for this optimistic outlook. They got it wrong in M2TW, so why on earth will they get it right in ETW?

Because they have no choice. They just have to do it. A game in the said era, without proper functioning artillery is no game at all.

If ETW comes out with screwed up Artillery ballistics Napoleon's going to turn in his grave. I mean seriously this is the birth of modern artillery. More people in battle were killed by artillery than musket fire. As already mentioned artillery in MTW2 was only ever useful for sieges and General seeking projectiles. Now however the guns should be battle winners. Massed batteries to decimate ranks, horse cavalry to break up squares and canister to mow down column. I also won't be happy to see the same basic lobbing trajectories used in MTW2. Round shot on a flat trajectory wants to skip across flat hard ground but dig in to softer terrain. Canister and grape wants to flay out like buck shot whilst chain should take out rigging but bounce off hulls. I'd also like to hot shot fired from coastal forts but I reckon thats looking unlikely.

My expectations may be high but I do believe that the ballistics are going to get a make over. I can't see them using much of Ausie Creative Assemblies code as interfacing this with a new AI would cause the programmers too many headaches. Also if they have had one fella spend an entire year writing sub routines to make water look realistic I'm sure they could find the time to knock out a better ballistics program.

Oh Yeah, yarhoo, triple figure post count

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Originally Posted by pevergreen

If you read through, you would know this is all being sorted as E:TW is a new engine. All this will be null and void as the new engine gives a new AI.

Gunpowder accuracy has improved by this point, it will be represented in game.

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I've read everything released by CA so far and I'm aware its a new engine, I'm just hoping they implement artillery ballistics differently than they did in M2TW.

As for the numbers of artillery, IIRC I read somewhere they were in a ratio of around 1 artillery for every 1,000 men. While I'm sure they will not be represented in such a ratio in game since it would be impossible without five-figure armies, artillery will need to be accuracte to be effective.

And who knows, perhaps with the new engine and all we might just get to have five figure armies! ~:)

Things in M2TW were in the RTW engine still. New engine, loss of old problems.