Howitzers....

[jojoabc123]

I'm having a tough time here figuring these howitzers out. I'm experiencing terrible accuracy. Most of the time I have to stop my own howitzers from firing due to a large number of shells hitting my own men... I have seen shells literally fall directly on the howitzer itself and my line units only a few feet in front while firing at an enemy that is at the extremity of their range..... I also find it rare for a shell to actually hit an enemy unit even when I employ 4 units of howitzers. They are more of a danger to my own army then the enemies. Is this just me?

[Foreign Fruitcake]

No, howitzers were at best harassing fire in this period. Drop short or short fused issues were common place. I see howitzer rounds hit trees on an outbound trajectory if you don't place them correctly. I think fire at will with howitzers to be fraught with peril.

[jojoabc123]

Hmmm indeed. I have switched back to the cannon for my battles which is effective enough for sure. The howitzers are perilous indeed! I've found myself saying sorry every time a howitzer shot lands smack dab in the middle of one of my units.

[Hannarr]

Howitzers in DM NTW are terrible, they will hit their target maybe 1% of the time, and usually cause more damage to themselves and friendlies than their targets. they really need to be fixed.

[leemyster]

TBH there probally realistic to an extent (though i do believe the splash damage needs to be increased a bit to compensate for the lack of shrapnel effect).

The 20LB unicorns for Russia are fairly respectable if you want some howitzer fun though howitzers arent really worth it with 20 units. With 40 unit armies it might be useful to have some to support as considering the number of units you can have you can easily form a line of infantry across the whole map and have some howitzer to support you behind your lines.

[Hannarr]

No, their accuracy is not realistic. go, get some 7 pound howitzers (i used 4 units) and fire them at a large infantry unit, such as militia or russian infantry. you can sit there for minutes firing at them and hit nowhere near them. the shells have an unrealistic and unusable level of scatter on their projectiles.

[jojoabc123]

I'm definitely feeling there needs to be a re balancing of the realism vs playability. To me, right now, I'm feeling that the howitzers are painfully bad. The scatter and the splash damage I think could use some definite adjusting, however, yes I'm only using 20 unit armies due to performance issues.

[torongill]

Well you could increase the damage or the radius of the damage of the exploding shell. However the most redeeming feature of the howitzers(if you imprement it) is their close-range power. Howitzer, unlike normal cannons, didn't shoot canister balls. Canister balls were fixed at 27-28 per can and the bigger the cannon, the bigger the balls became. At least that was what the Americans did. The French used two kinds of canister, one with small balls for short range and another with bigger for greater range. For example, the 6 pdr used a can of 28 big balls or 63 small ones. The 8 pdr used either 112 small or 42 big ones. Howitzers on the other hand, often shot cans of musket balls, which let them create a cloud of projectiles that could tear the guts out of a battalion. Example - the 12 pdr mountain howitzer in the time of the civil war shot a can full of 142 .69 inch musket balls. What the 20 lb unicorn would be capable of under these circumstances is left to your horrified imagination. I personally used it in a test battle against an attack column and the results made me go "holy that thing's a beast!"

P.S. I have posted the file for a specific user, it's not for general usage. This pack is neither checked, nor supported or endorsed by Darth.

[WarOfAges1776]

What does everyone use when it comes to artillery? I think the guns are the way to go, but howitzers are cool becuase they'll fire OVER my battle line with great firepower at close range. So sometimes I don't know what to pick.

[doop]

aside from enjoying the majestic atmosphere of a cannonball-filled horizon, with all the separated limbs scattering the countryside, my employment of the traditional gun-arty is with the means of using the reasonably reliable accuracy to focus fire on a singular company of infantry, as a way to crush their moral, and that section of the enemy's line. which, of course, my companies will rush to occupy!

victoire!

[torongill]

I use mainly guns, since they have greater range, but howitzers, even with the horrible accuracy, are great for shooting behind obstacles like houses or ridges. Shells exploding hurt morale and once in canister range the howitzer becomes a murderer.