The first game I ever played near this era was L'Emperor from Koei on the original Nintendo. It was through that game that I learned about Napoleon, and how he was apparently a badass artillery man from Corsica.
Now, having studied war in college, I have a general idea of how artillery is used in the common era, primarily for disrupting masses of ground forces, though it's usually by lobbing shells with howitzers or mortars of various designs/types.
However, in ETW, we have several direct-fire cannons. I'm curious about what they were useful for. I know ETW's implimentation of artillery may not be ideal, but I can't figure out the utility of direct-fire artillery. Cannons make sense in naval warfare, since you have big objects moving relatively slowly in horizontal directions and you can sink them by putting holes in them. But what use are 3 cannons vs. a unit of 120 line infantry?
I know that with certain tech upgrades you can basically turn them into shotguns, but that's only useful at short range, and since most cannon are immobile, those short-range shotguns are basically defensive weapons that can only deny the enemy the ground immediately in front of the cannons.
I understand how they could be useful in sieges of forts, like the catapults and such of earlier TW games, but I don't understand what role they play in open field battles.
Perhaps a finer point would be helpful.
1) What kinds of artillery did Napoleon use when he was still a simple artillery officer? Were they direct fire like cannons or lobbers like mortars and howitzers?
2) How did Napoleon employ his artillery to such great affect that people remember him ability to wield them so well?
3) Are there significant differences in the way CA has implemented artillery that prevents the game's version of artillery from being as useful as historical artillery?
4) Besides the current mortar/howitzer spam/abuse I've heard about in MP games, are any of the in-game versions of artillery worth more to have in a stack than 120 line infantry, or a unit of heavy cavalry, etc.?
5) If #4 = Yes, which types of artillery are useful, and how should they be used to get the most utility out of them?
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