Thoughts on Naval Bombardment

[andrewt]

If you're trying to cause a lot casualties, you're going to be disappointed. I love the feature, but parrott guns are so much better at causing casualties. Naval bombardment is just icing on the cake.

The best use for them, I've heard, is while engaged in a firefight. The AI spots the flares and is usually able to get some troops out of the way. That's harder to do while they are in the middle of a firefight and your other troops get to inflict more casualties while their positions are messed up.

So far, I haven't used that much line infantry. I usually use it to give my artillery more time to pound the enemy. One time my naval bombardment disoriented the AI and caused it to reposition facing 10:30 instead of 6 o'clock and started marching away from my artillery. This was after they were almost halfway to my position. I was able to use up all my artillery's ammo and another naval bombardment while they marched back towards the end of my artillery's range.