Kaatar: Most do not like arty because it:

1. Delays the actual playing of the game. You have to dodge cannonballs for the first few minutes, until enemy runs out. Put this with the long drawn out Pavise battles and you can understand that most players would rather play more games than be bored by long shoot outs.

2. In late era, Serpintines have the unusual ability to kill your general unit on the first shot. It may be a bug, but it has never been addressed, so banning arty is the easiest thing to do. It is especially easy to kill the general unit once the armies are engaged, which in most cases means a big hit to morale and an easy rout.

3. In 2v2 and up games it is more of a problem than in 1v1. I have seen a player get 16 arty units, with his partners protecting him with their units. Once the enemy engages, then the arty is loosed and all enemy armies run. The morale hit is too great and when combined with the killing of an enemy general, it is way too easy. Allowing arty in new player games is not too bad, but allowing it in games where many veteran players are, it is too easy and ruins the game for many.