Thoughts on Naval Bombardment

[Voigtkampf]

The best use for them, I've heard, is while engaged in a firefight. The AI spots the flares and is usually able to get some troops out of the way. That's harder to do while they are in the middle of a firefight and your other troops get to inflict more casualties while their positions are messed up.

I approve of this. But I find the AI's behaviour in the light of naval bombardment truly ridiculous.

I designate the target area and order the strike. There comes a flare flying, probably thrown by some joker hiding in the bushes. In the middle of the enemy formation, which is standing still. Time 'till impact - 15 seconds. I countdown silently, yet the AI does nothing. Only several seconds before the impact, their jedi senses awaken and they scatter away, suddenly making room for the shells to fall! Only reason I ever hit anything is the fact that the ship's cannons are not precise.

This "evasive maneuvers that start 4-5 seconds before impact and vacate the entire targeting area" have happened to me every time I used naval bombardment...

[Peasant Phill]

I approve of this. But I find the AI's behaviour in the light of naval bombardment truly ridiculous.

I designate the target area and order the strike. There comes a flare flying, probably thrown by some joker hiding in the bushes. In the middle of the enemy formation, which is standing still. Time 'till impact - 15 seconds. I countdown silently, yet the AI does nothing. Only several seconds before the impact, their jedi senses awaken and they scatter away, suddenly making room for the shells to fall! Only reason I ever hit anything is the fact that the ship's cannons are not precise.

This "evasive maneuvers that start 4-5 seconds before impact and vacate the entire targeting area" have happened to me every time I used naval bombardment...

I don't seem to have a problem hitting the enemy. In the beginning I used the naval strike when they were stationarry but not in combat. And as you say, the units got mostly out of the targetted area before the shells hit. Now I call in a strike when everybody is engaged. I look for a cluster of wavering troops (and hopefully not to much of my troops) and call in the bombardement. Because the units are engaged, they shouldn't run out of the way. If you pick the righttargets, you can get a nice rout out of it.

[Jungle Rhino]

I'm not sure exactly how effective shore bombardments were during the Boshin war - apparently the 110pdrs on HMS warrior had an effective range of 4.5km. But these were cutting edge rifled breach loaders - I think the earlier ships and all corvettes in FoTS would be smooth bore guns of much smaller calibre with an effective range of only a couple of km. Although that effective range may be referring to engaging ship sized targets - trying to hit an army probably required less precision...

Whatever the case naval bombardments are still incredibly fun and I love it :D

[Vladimir]

With only a small fleet of two corvettes and a frigate, bombardments cause enough casualties to turn the balance of forces. Selecting area fire ensures you get some decent hits even with the silly moving about. Naval gunfire covers the entire battlemap and makes the enemy vulnerable everywhere. I imagine it's great counter-battery fire. It's really handy in a siege. There is also the chance of the magic catapult effect from MTW taking out the general. Still need to develop a military port but I've had good success capturing other ships.

Bringing artillery with the army isn't really the point. Your army is a lot faster and more maneuverable if you leave the cannons where they belong: On the boats.

Oh, and i found out that you can call in allied strikes as well, even at night.

[quadalpha]

Re: counter battery fire. Bombardments aren't much good, really. Artillery units can operate all their pieces even with half the men gone, so you'd need a direct hit on the guns.