Capturing.....?

[PBI]

I quite like that idea; artillery being very expensive to manufacture, but able to be captured rather than destroyed. My understanding is that one of the measures of success in battles at the time was how many guns were taken from the enemy.

[Martok]

Do you think there will be any other 'capturing' opportunities? I am thinking specifically about the artillery pieces as I believe during this period they were prized second only to capturing enemy standards. If you take the enemy guns can you use them yourself?

Also would there be a way that if you take the enemy standard this becomes an achievement for that particular regiment, or commander? Instant promotion if it's being led by a captain?

Both excellent ideas, pdoyle007 (capturing enemy artillery and enemy standards). Would love to see something like this in Empire.

By the way, a belated welcome to the Org!

I quite like that idea; artillery being very expensive to manufacture, but able to be captured rather than destroyed. My understanding is that one of the measures of success in battles at the time was how many guns were taken from the enemy.

That's also my understanding, although again my knowledge of the period is somewhat limited. At the very least, I know that capturing enemy artillery pieces was important during both the American Revolution and American Civil War, so I would guess that the same likely applied to other major battles/wars as well.

[Mailman653]

Unless I'm mistakend, one of those preview threads stated something about if you capture a ship that is more advanced than the tech you have, you automatically aquire that ships tech. But I could be wrong.

[TheDruid]

would be very nice. abitilty to capture weapons or Technology from enemies.
Tech tree would be nice too. research etc.
otherwise this would seem difficult for capturing tech.

[Sheogorath]

Capturing artillery was (in terms of morale and honor) only a little less important than taking a standard or eagle. And it had the practical bonus that you got cannons out of it.
The French and Russians in particular were somewhat fanatical about their artillery. The Russians actually took it to the point of folly sometimes, with gun crews either retreating to the rear as soon as their guns came under any sort of threat, or staying in one spot and defending their pieces to the death.
Either way, the Ruskies rarely lost a cannon. Not so sure about the French, but considering Napoleon was an artillery officer before his 'promotion' its understandable that he put emphasis on the artillery branch.

In terms of rewards, I believe that it was the usual practice for the monarch/state leader/whatever to gift the regiment with some sort of standard, flag, regimental title, or distinction on their uniform, as well as a small promotion for the officer responsible. Making a captain a general would be unlikely, I think, unless it was a rather great achievement. I imagine what soldiers valued most would be a pay increase

[Elmar Bijlsma]

While capturing a cannon was pretty prestigious, the captured gun itself wasn't all that important to have. Their chief purpose seems to typically have been to be parked outside the regimental barracks and officers club. Or in case of Russians guns captured at Sevastapol by the British, used as a source of bronze for the Victoria Cross.

The uses of a captured cannon were rather limited. First, gun crews don't grow on trees. Infantry and cavalry were pretty easy to recruit and train, but skilled artillery crews required extensive training.
Secondly, obtaining sufficient ammunition was a problem. The bulk of ammo was kept some distance to the rear of the cannon and was in a horse drawn caisson that could be hauled off at the first sign of trouble. And there was virtually no ammunition commonality. A six pounder gun from one country would be unlikely to fire the six pounder shot from another country, because weights weren't the same. Even if one managed to obtain sufficient ammunition for captured gun, the different shot weights would be a strain on logistics.

So, aside from guns being turned upon their previous owners during the battle the use of captured guns was relatively rare. Pretty much reserved for those armies that were desperate for extra ranged firepower.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

Still I like the idea that the unit capturing artillery or enemy standard would receive some kind of bonuses. Perhaps some morale bonus? Or promotion if it would be Captain led Army.