Quote Originally Posted by Sheogorath View Post
I find that cannon shot of any sort is massively effective when it actually hits anything. The problem is that only roughly %10 of shots are effective.

Round shot seems to have the lowest accuracy, combined with their tendency to bounce over peoples heads (although it's not quite as bad as in previous TW titles, where shots tended to fly off into space).

I find that canister shot is one of the more effective sorts, as it tends to miss the least. The problem is my cannoneers always seem to be shooting at the edges of the enemy formation. I guess it's not polite to shoot at officers.
I find that with round shot, it's usually better to aim at the ground in front of them rather than the unit you want to go "sblurtch", esp. if said unit is moving. That way, "hits" will rebound into the target, overshoots will hopefully plow right into them, and shots falling short... still miss, OK. Still, 33% more efficient :).

With that said, they are still the most useless payload, by far. The only exception would be town and siege battles, where one can use them to feel the profound joy of blowing a wall from under the enemy's feet or making their hidey-hole collapse on top of 'em.

The problem I have with canister (well, with arty in general but canister makes it all the more apparent) is that arty pieces will not budge at all, ever. If you order them to fire at something on their left, the individual pieces pivot, but not the unit as a whole if you follow my meaning. So, when you try and target units going round your flanks (as you're wont to do), the front of cannon A ends up right on the ass of cannon B. And if you're shooting canister, there goes 2/3 of your battery, wee !

Most annoying, esp. considering that wasn't a problem in earlier games IIRC. The only ways to prevent it are either deploying more smartererly (something I'm unable to, for obvious reasons :) ), or doing the whole limber, pivot, unlimber dance, by which time the flankers are somewhere else anyway.