Best anti-personnel artillery is ?

**Blademun** · 12-29-2006, 09:36

Awesome post.

I will agree that the Ballista is the best artillery for the buck. I still think the very best anti-personell artillery is the serpentine. During extended shootouts, my Serpentines score 100+ kills per unit. Ballistas are great for castle fights tho'. Their dead on accuracy really suprised me. They completely outdid my catapults for kills.

**Shahed** · 12-29-2006, 14:47

Excellent post Forward Observer !

**PureFodder** · 12-29-2006, 15:14

Sally forth with a couple of Mortars against a full stacked army.
Target whichever unit is in the middle of the formation.
sit back and laugh as they massacre them.

**Sir_Hawkwood** · 12-29-2006, 16:16

Defending a siege, I think that mortars are the best.
I've got at least 5 in every border settlement, the rest of the garrison being made up of Bill-scum and Chav*-archers...

Never lost a siege due to the power of the mortar battery.

Outside of that, I tow around Culverins and my old, leveled up ballistas.

I agree with Forward Observer, that when leveled up a ballista is a very dangerous weapon, due to its constant accuracy.

Having said that, I wonder how effective my gunpowder artillery would be right now, had I taken the time to build it up rather than improve my ballistas?

* UK modern slang for Peasants, identified by their large sports logos and cheap chunky jewellery...

**Mandos** · 12-29-2006, 17:32

Mortars. They have the best accuracy of all the AP gunpowder artillery, and do fantastic AoE damage to everything. They can easily hit moving targets at good range. They are useful on any battlefield, although they shine in sieges. They are basically gurenteed to take out a piece of siege equipment in thier first shot, followed by any troops you desire.

**TevashSzat** · 12-29-2006, 17:52

I would say ribaults since shooting them point blank range into infantry is almost instant death for the whole unit. They are even better when defending cities since the ai sends his whole army through the one little gate. All you need is like 5 units of peasants to hold their army and keep it compact. Get 8 or 9 ribaults the fire right into it, 600 to 700 causualties easily since they are so compacted. That is the only reason i am holding Baghdad from the mongols right now.

**Flavius Gonzo** · 12-29-2006, 17:53

My turkish campaign just moved into the brave new gunpowder world last night, and I'm curious about how to use arty gunpowder.

I'm a big fan of open field battles with arty, not just for seiges, so I'm curious how to use it. So far I've gotten a few bombards & cannons into combat, no monster bombards yet. Any thoughts on which is the best for an open field battle? Looking at the descriptions, it seems that cannons might be better for anti-personel than monster bombards, is that right? (Or who knows, maybe distance/splash damage make up for the slower reload?)

Also, I've noticed in some battles where I've had only bombards that the line of sight thing is different/trickier than trebuchets... can bombards not shoot over a line of infantry in front of them, or only if they are propped up on a hill? Is the same true of Cannons & Monster Bombard? If this is the case, Trebs may still be the best anti-personel weapon for the Turks.

Also, without cheating, where can I get merc rocket launchers? And are serpentines not available to the Turks?

**Shahed** · 12-29-2006, 19:10

I would say the best Turkish options for artillery in open battles (is what I meant in the Op):

-Rocket Launchers
-Catapults
-Cannons
-Ballistas

I would use Cannons actually because I just love the range advantage. But from this discussion I'd say Merc Rocket Launchers are the best overall unit. Forward Observer also put forth a compelling Ballista argument which you may want to consider. Thing is I want the loud noises, things blowing up, you know ? Bombards (monsters, little ones and all) seem to have flatter projectile trajectory than their other gunpowder partners, but they do and can shoot in an arc.

Merc Rocket Launchers are available in the steppe, next province north of Yerevan. I would also recommend Panzerphant artillery available in Arabia (Mosul, Baghdad, Jedda). If you REALLY wanna have a laugh type this is console:

create_unit Yerevan "Elephant Rocketeers" 5 9 3 3

Guaranteed to make you crack up when you use those babies in battle !

Serpentines are not available to the Turks, sadly. Those were my favorite in MTW. I really miss them. In one multiplayer battle with a mate, we set up a partial reenactment of a historical Ottoman formation (using serpentines instead of cannon), and it was amazing. Fantastic battle, and the formation actually worked.

Really miss serpentines for the Turks.... but am making do with cannons.

**Sheogorath** · 12-31-2006, 13:20

I once set up a battle between the Timurids and the Spanish.

The Spanish were loaded down with elites, Terico Pikemen, musketeers, conquistadors.
I had nothing but rockets, a general, and a unit of elephants.
Guess who won?

(Also note, I didnt use the elephants :P)

**Musashi** · 12-31-2006, 16:08

If you think that's funny, try giving a musket unit the rocket projectile line from the rocket launcher unit in the EDU, and watch what happens. Even if you reduce their ranged attack to 20 or so they will literally wipe out an entire enemy unit with a single volley at point blank. Well, maybe not wipe out, but kill 100 men and rout the unit, yet.

**Shahed** · 12-31-2006, 20:19

Ouch ! that would be fun to watch.

Hey i was looking through my folders (New Year's cleaning you may call it) and I found this old screenshot.

It's from a multiplayer game in MTW. It was a 3vs3, the 3 of us on my team were split up, cavalry, foot, and missile and artillery. 3 seperate armies acting as one, hence why I only have arty and missile since that was my "regiment".

Check the Serp kills.

If you guys have good kill scores post away ! Would be good to see.

**Musashi** · 12-31-2006, 23:58

It's too bad I didn't screenshot it... But one time I ran a custom battle, with a huge army on both sides, and one unit of serpentine in my castle.

The serpentine only got off one shot, literally, only one of the two cannons fired, and it only went off once... But the enemy army was completely packed into the gateway of my castle, and that one shot put the entire army into rout.

When I checked the unit statistics at the end, it said that serpentine unit had 145 kills.