Mortars and Rockets, or Howitzers and Horse/Foot Arty?

[pevergreen]

Or is it howitzers? The one that makes a big boom.

[Prussian to the Iron]

yeah, i like howitzers now because they tend to hit things smaller than a city on the first try.

[Fisherking]

Howitzers are good at scattering Cavalry but all the Arty takes to much management it gets hard to see what else is going on.

I am usually too busy using my three horse group to take out the enemy guns to watch what mine are doing.

It does get hairy sometimes when the guns target the same unit the horses are going after...

[Skott]

I pretty much just use howitzers only once I tech up to them. Which I do as quickly as I can. I dont bother with anything else mainly after that.

[Servius]

I haven't played since the most recent batch of changes, but last time I did play, I tried artillery (foot and horse), mortars, and howitzers. Howitzers were the only thing that seemed to have any semblance of accuracy. If the unit doesn't get a solid hit on its target after 5 shots, I'm through with it. That's just pathetic and I can't justify wasting a slot when slots are limited to 20. Another unit of Line Infantry or any cavalry unit will get me more kills and grant me more flexibility than any artillery unit.

I've asked many times if it's just me (if I'm just using them the wrong way) or if their accuracy is poorly represented in ETW, or if they were equally as useless in real life as they seem in ETW. The explanation I most often hear is that their accuracy was better historically, and that direct fire weapons had a lower trajectory so round shot would actually kill a few guys.

Howitzers also seem to have the best mix of special ammo types.

[Discoman]

I loved Howitzers when they had 45-50% accuracy. Now you upgrade and the 24lb Howitzer has 40% accuracy. Howitzers's explosive shells are very effective and can take out 20/30 guys per payload.

Mortars I haven't really dabbed in. Maybe I'll try them out when the next patch comes out.

Cannons are okay. Roundshot is accurate, but not that effective as it only takes out 1-5 men per hit(and its usually one ball that hits) Shrapnel shot is useless because it almost always misses its mark.

I used Rockets once. Besides the pretty colors they were ultimately useless and didn't cause anything more than 5 casualties.

[Fisherking]

If you are going for accurate artillery then just leave it out.

The only reason to have it is to keep the enemy from hiding out in buildings. If you don't think that is true then leave it home, but take lots of Grenadiers.

It all has a base of 40% accuracy. The 12 lb howitzer is 45% while the 24 is only 40% so in this case smaller is better.

The 6lb horse is 50% and the 24lb foot is 55%.

Only the French Guards Artillery is better. Both the 18lb horse and 24lb foot have 65% accuracy.

The big heavy 64lb guns only have 35% accuracy. The bottom of the barrel these days are rockets and mortars with only 15% accuracy. They are a supreme waste of time. They are more likely to hit your troops than the enemy.

What you may remember from earlier patches is all changed. I guess they wanted them useless because of Multiplayer complaints. The special ammunition is even less accurate than round shot, (the % is on round shot only) and shrapnel is always too high and badly timed. If you want kills with it then you need to target the ground.

It is too inaccurate and needs too much management. But then again everything in the game is inaccurate. 40% seems to be the base and anything better is wonderful.

If you read the manual you will see mortars are good because of their accuracy! ROFLOL! That was before the multiplayer exploits!

Artillery in single player is not worth the time to use it properly if you are in a big battle. With the accuracy ratings it gives you not time to manage other troops that also need looked after.

Skirmish mode does not work so light troops take time as do light dragoons, and you need to watch your line if the become involved in melee. You just might want to fix bayonets and throw in some Grenadiers.