Do explosive shots from cannons destroy buildings faster? Also does it take more ammunition to fire explsive shots?

Reply

Afaik they do the same amount of damage as non exploding shots and use up the same amount of ammo.

Reply

The only real reason for choosing explosive shot vs standard is depth of the enemy line. Standard shot will pierce an enemy formation(though not kill everyone) while the explosive shot will 'splode on impact. In practice, I think that explosive is usually better than standard against infantry.

Reply

Anyone know if the flaming artillery shot has reduced accuracy like flaming arrow does?

Reply

I believe it does.

Reply

Exploding shot is never a better option in my opinion. The balls will take out far more people and when using exploding shot the shots often miss, and don't take anyone out, even if you score a direct hit only a few men in the center die, quite often they actually get up.

Reply

But when exploding shots hit, they might kill quite a few of the soldiers in the unit, and thus make the unit more likely to flee later on.

Reply

I've ran multiple tests with various artillery against some 1,500 infantry on the GrassyPlains. Non-exploding shots ALWAYS kill more troops. They are more much more accurate, kill many troops in a long line. Exploding shots are innacurate, have a small radius, and the troops frequently pop right back up. Hope this helps.

Reply

ditto here. Prior to invention of shrapnel, roundshots are the more accurate shots.

for long range firing, unless enemy are marching in massed, compacted and slow formation, i always leave it on normal which does less damage but hit more often = more casualties. once the enemies are in medium range, i'd try to switch to flaming shots, and turn it back to normal again at close range for fear of hitting too many of my own troops (i routed my army a few times before - thats how bad i am!)

this is applicable to gun-powder and non-gun-powder artillery units.

Reply

I'd say this entirely depends on how skilled the siege weapon is. A 1 silver chevron cannon will do more damage with exploding shots then regular, sometimes causing a unit to rout after 1 volley (i was getting upwards of 50 casualties but in one unit), as apposed to a regular round which would kill approx 5 kills x 3 units (15 casualties).


This isn't to say that this is the fact, but its my personal experience with it, (i don't use cannons much in the field, i'd rather have an extra hvy cavalry)

Reply

I used explosive shots extensively in my recent Americas campaign as New Spain. When taking low level cities (no tall buildings to block my shots) I would lob exploding culverin shells into the city center where the enemy was massed. Accuracy was not an issue since the entire square was packed with units. I got good results and never tried regular shells because thats no fun to watch. It would be a different story however, if regular shells bounced and exploding didn't, like in rtw. But, the projectiles in m2tw don't seem to bounce, they have bounce values in desc_projectiles but i've never noticed them skipping across the ground like in rtw.

Reply

i've seen em bounce, but it seems to do it quite rarely. Usually when i see bounces, its because of firing up an incline, or the shots fall really short (i'm guessing it has to do with the angle of how the ball hits the ground to determine a bounce)

even then its usually just the 1 bounce (oh, they bounce off walls to a degree too, i've even had a catapult round miss a tower, bounce on the 'inside' of a wall, and kill the enemy general before )

Reply

the canonballs do bounce but like whiskey said depending on the angle of the ground when the ball lands they get imbeded in the ground or quite often bounce over the rest of the army.

actaully some of the bouncing seems pretty unrealistic its strange that noone has adjusted these values ina mod yet

in the enemy is deployed on a gradual slope and u are firing up you are morw likely to see the ball bouncing or atleast hitting somewhere further up the slope.

Reply

But will you not now cause collateral damage, rather than massive damage to one unit? I think of it as more preferrably if you kill 30 men in one unit rather than 5 men in 6 units, since the now 45-man unit will have lower morale and can be routed.

Reply

I guess I haven't seen much bouncing because I rarely get to the advanced type artillery before the campaign is over, and even if I do get it I generally don't build much because my empire is so spread out by then I need to move armies around quickly. Funny about the uphill shots though, I remember from Rome preferring to shoot downhill to get good bounces, i guess it depends on the range, when shooting uphill you need to be close so the shots will be rising and following the upward slope of the hill when they hit, and far away when shooting downhill so they will be falling, in order to reduce the angle of impact.

Reply

To be honest, for troops, Mangonels are the way to go as long as you stick them right behind your infantry line and get them to fire perpendicular to it so you get almost 0 collateral.

Reply

Exploding shots in M2TW was really bad, up to a point of useless. In kingdoms they are a lot more accurate and they are situationally useful. However normal shots are still more accurate.

Reply

Exploding shots use up the same amount of ammo as normal shots. They are less accurate, however, and therefore one could say they are less efficient against fortification (since they will hit the fortification less times). However, against infantry exploding shot is much, much more efficient. It still is, however, more accurate.

I believe that if your enemy is far away from your own troops then it would be better to use exploding shot. If you are close up you should use normal shot.

QUESTION: Are exploding cannon shots more efficient than normal shots in scaring Aztecs?

Reply

yes. exploding shots are scary when they hit. the unit depleted by 1-2 flaming shots in a row more or less get confused while it tries to regroup or just routed, run away, then come back for more.

only if they hits. if missed, they then to do nothing.

Reply