Thoughts on Naval Bombardment

[Vladimir]

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.

Exactly. I'll soon see how effective explosive shells are. One hit near a cannon crew should be enough.

The bombardment should be available when the battle begins. In a field battle waiting two minutes means you get one salvo if the enemy advances quickly. I don’t think I’ve ever managed two strikes. Once the rout begins I won’t risk hitting my own people.

Hitting a fortress during an assault can be useful if you don’t mind not having its attributes on the turn you capture the place. Any damage at all voids its strategic features so I almost always try to take a place intact. I have learned that if you blast open just one gate in an assault, if an enemy attacks before you can affect repairs then ALL of the gates will be open when you defend.

Strategic bombardments are also a way to get ships some experience if there is nothing else for them to do. Get cracking you slovenly landlubbers! Earn your keep!

The starting wait time is another flaw with the S2 battles. I never have a problem with the wait time though. Either I take up a defensive position far enough away that I get them once on the march and once when engaged. Castle damage is a one turn annoyance that's pretty hard to avoid anyway. It's a lot easy to inflict casualties when armies are penned up inside a castle. The whole thing becomes a kill zone. I can't imagine open gates being a problem when guns are so widely available. You may even take fewer casualties as the enemy is trying to enter instead of shooting back.

I wasn't aware that ships could get experience from bombardments. Ship experience seems pretty easy to get anyway.

It's looking like Total War: The Great War, is doable and will be fun.