Ballistics of the Bear

[Smokey_MkII]

Been playing as Russia and I've had plenty of opportunity to try out the experimental howitzer and the 10lb unicorn. I have a question or two regarding the Howie.

Recently kicked the French out of Paris using the reverse slope defense, unicorns firing from behind the ridge - I bet Wellesley would've approved. I found it most effective, but it made me question the usefulness of the howitzer. You see generally, I find my unicorns rack up more kills and therefore on the surface at least appear to be more effective than the howitzers... So what am I missing? I also think maybe the unicorns are more accurate...?

What are the principal advantages of a) carcass shot and b) quicklime?

[StrawberryDUTCH]

Carcass and quicklime serve basically the same purpose, quicklime just doing it better. That purpose being to target moving units. The shell splits open and spills it's load in a straight line, which can erase a file even if it misses the target directly. Explosives will blow a bigger hole, but are more likely to hit nothing. With carcass/quicklime, even though you kill fewer, you're basically guaranteed a few kills on every volley. Less of an all-or-nothing thing.

[Dreamw4lk3r]

Carcass & quicklime have a bigger impact on morale - or at least that's the impression i have -

[Smokey_MkII]

I suspected they might.

[The Hedge Knight]

Aim quicklime slightly infront of moving infantry, it takes a second or two to spread out so they take maximum casualties if they have to walk through it.

[Dreamw4lk3r]

@Josst when i click on the units, my mortar shells already explode just before the line so the quicklime & carcass burns right on top of them (it spills out as you say) so I don't see the need to click before them, because like that i'd have to keep micro on them to get the same effect...

When they're at a run or it's cav ... well that's a different matter

[Blackstar]

carcass is a massive killer for cav . not sure about quicklime problably the same

[Dreamw4lk3r]

carcass & quicklime are both killers vs anything they hit but to hit running cav or inf, it's better to aim your mortars manually, that's all

[Blackstar]

so would you guys say that quicklime is a better option that carcass?

[Dreamw4lk3r]

haven't noticed very different results myself when it comes to carcass vs quicklime, but I think if I have to choose quicklime because I have the impression it has a slightly bigger spread + it's later in tech tree so it SHOULD have advantages right? :p

They beat eplosive shells from normal howies in any case.
oh, btw, question: has anyone used howitzer cannister shot? Is it more powerful than the normal cannon cannister shot or just the same?

[Blackstar]

tbh dream iv never had the ai get close enough to them to use canister there running like hell well before. Hmm do a test in in the sinlge player battles thats an easy way to compare i guess

[VINDIC]

maybe...for me the quicklime is a better option