Grand Bombard = teh sux

**lobo76** · 01-15-2007, 08:11

Use the Ballistae for anti infantry! damn accurate.

I was attacking a city and had taken down the gate and some walls. The enemy was bunching (6 units) together along a straight street, just within range of my ballistae which was just outside the city. One flaming shot took out 2% of 1000+ troops! that's 20 guys per shot! at least 4/5? of the first 10+ shots landed perfectly.

p.s I expended 2 cannons with half ammunition each (exploding ammo) and landed one shot only....

**leothtang** · 01-15-2007, 14:27

I don't know u guys, but i got real good accuracy grand bombard.
In my spain campaign, i have an army which have 1 GB and 1 trebuchet. Up to the battles i have fighted, 80% of them have the enemy general killed by a GB bomb. My GB is now expierence 6, with the XP gained only from shooting. I guess more XP means more accuracy. Th trebuchet don't have such accuracy except it is very close.
Flaming GB bombs are not as good as not flaming one. That is because tehre is a chance that the rock will hit the ground and rebounce in front of the enermy killing them.

**gardibolt** · 01-16-2007, 17:30

I've been having terrible luck with artillery against units; they can use their entire ammo supply and not take out anything. But I did have fun in Florence with a cannon. I knocked down a wall in front of the street leading to the town square, then wheeled the cannon in, shooting down that street. It's the only time I've ever managed to get any significant casualties with artillery, though the AI's artillery is always spot on.

**Sir_Hawkwood** · 01-16-2007, 23:58

I agree...
I hired a merc GB unit once to take on a full stack Citadel and wished I'd saved the money.

The Culverins I took were far more effective, not only at knocking down the walls, but in dealing with the defenders within.

The trick is to click on the enemy unit when there heading your way, down a street, but still out of your line of sight.
This starts the loading sequence ending in a shot when the enemy is much closer. Combined with archers, the other guy often breaks.

If you dont think you'll get the shot off in time, then double click and run.

Now... I wonder if the Monster Ribault could be used like this, or if its just as worthless as the Moster Bombard?

Many thanks
SJH

**supadodo** · 01-17-2007, 03:16

Though I now mainly use cannons,Grand Bombards actually worked for me once. I was beseiging a fort with a prince inside. I knew the guy would take out lots of my units when I rush inside once my bombards brought the walls down.

The idiot stood just next to the 2nd wall line in a rather weird thin line formation with him at the front. Then wham --We have cut of the serpents head-- message appeared(I'm playing turks) Apparently a stray ball landed a perfect shot on him. Without their general, the bodyguard suffered heavy casualties due to morale loss.What are the chances of that??

**Booga** · 01-17-2007, 04:36

Monster Ribaults are much different then the Monster Bombard - they're more like ribaults on crack. Or multiplied by 6, technically. I don't have a lot of experience with ribaults on the open field, but on bridges and attacking/defending cities, where the enemy get funnelled into a narrow corridor, they're absolutely brutal. They're not artillery so much as a full unit of arqubusiers in a box, and you have the option to fire all 36(!) barrels in rapid sequence. I've had battles where I'd bust a hole in the hall, wheel up the MB's and shred the enemy inside. They're still useful in field battles too, just take into account general artillery weaknesses.

**Ring_Master\** · 01-17-2007, 04:39

Originally Posted by supadodo

The idiot stood just next to the 2nd wall line in a rather weird thin line formation with him at the front. Then wham --We have cut of the serpents head-- message appeared(I'm playing turks) Apparently a stray ball landed a perfect shot on him. Without their general, the bodyguard suffered heavy casualties due to morale loss.What are the chances of that??

Yeah, that's always awesome...I mean, how cool is that when sometimes you haven't even engaged the enemy's main force yet while you've just suddenly killed their general 'cause he got hit by some giant rock from your catapults/trebuchets. It's the climax of the battle!...or not..you decide

**Booga** · 01-17-2007, 04:59

I dunno, I have a bad habit of shooting my own generals. It's been a problem since RTW, although not always a bad thing...I remember trying to re-paganize Western Rome and being held up by a troublesome Christian general in Egypt that I nevertheless needed to hold off the hordes. He ended up getting immolated by friendly onager fire...whoopsie daisy!

**Slug For A Butt** · 01-17-2007, 05:01

Totaly off topic.

Sorry about this Goofball, but I just saw the title and had to ask because I don't understand. Why do people spell "the" as "teh"?, as in the thread title. It's not a spelling mistake, so I'm guessing I've missed something. Is it some kind of L33t talk?

**Ring_Master\** · 01-17-2007, 05:08

Originally Posted by Booga

I dunno, I have a bad habit of shooting my own generals. It's been a problem since RTW, although not always a bad thing...I remember trying to re-paganize Western Rome and being held up by a troublesome Christian general in Egypt that I nevertheless needed to hold off the hordes. He ended up getting immolated by friendly onager fire...whoopsie daisy!

Now THAT'S a rare occurence in my opinion.....having lost your general because of friendly artillery fire.

In my battles, I take care to make sure that this kind of disaster doesn't even become a possibility.

**Booga** · 01-17-2007, 05:30

I had a thing for using mass onagers, for some reason. I found that experienced onagers could sometimes inflict as many casualties as archers, so I used them to compensate for the Roman factions' weakness thereof. I have a feeling I'm rather alone there, though.

Anyway, it wasn't friendly fire so much as "whoops, the firepot just sort of fell out of the basket, directly onto the general's head!" As though it magically lost all momentum and gravity took over. Like I said, few tears were shed - he was a real pain in the posterium, he even had holy relics and everything. He was holding Egypt but making it entirely too restless for comfort.

As for cannon, I just forget to have the artillery/gunners stop firing or just decide to run the risk anyway and the damn fool manages to get himself in the way of a cannonball. Part of a larger trend of being careless with generals, really.

**supadodo** · 01-17-2007, 07:47

I also had an enemy general get killed by rotten beef!! Flies were buzzing over his corpse. And they said eating too much beef kills? This guy ate half a cow at one go??

General: Haha by sunset we shall have this castle.
Soldier: General whats that greenish red thing in the sky?
General: Bah, thats some rotten beef. Don't worry it wont.....
***WHAMMO***
Soldier: Are you alright sir?
**A fat arse lies on the ground with flies buzzing around him**
General: I shouldn't have eaten all that beef in one go.
His heart cracks from all that fat and toxic.