Guide: Royal Artillery School

[Eastern Weasel]

Chapter 2 released. See attachments below.
Merged both chapters into OP

Tbh I somewhat rushed the second chapter. The cause of this is that since last monday I suffer a terrible lack of free time for guide writing. But since I already promised ppl to roll chapter 2 out by weekend, I kinda had to try to keep my word and dont cause a major dissapointment. I proably will occasionally edit and polish second chapter by adding things that I either had to leave out (like history facts) or forgot about, add more pictures etc.
Feel free to comment, and enjoy your reading.

Chapter 1 fix list

Mechstra
Demi-cannons are certainly able to fire canister shots

Thx for noticing.
Sorry for inconvenience, my bad, I seldom use them so I kinda missed that part.
Fixed (fixed version uploaded)

"Thou" has been fixed by a popular demand (html version only)

Power Wizard
Could you maybe repost this in html?

Done


Chapter 2 fix list
Fixed typo with picture number inconvenience. Fixed .doc version uploaded. (the only inconvenience were in pic.numbers below pictures, which are not reffered in general text, so there is no real need for redownloading the guide)

"Thou" has been fixed by a popular demand (html version only)



(NOTE: Before reading the following guide, I would strongly suggest to download the msword formatted version attached below, since personally I think it looks much better in terms of design, which forum form simply cant provide (or maybe I just havent been able to figure it out) )

by Eastern Weasel

Royal

Artillery

School

Chapter 1

Getting familiarized with artillery pieces.

Opening Letter

Greetings and welcome to the Royal Artillery School.
Here you will learn all the basics about artillery pieces that will be under your command as well as proper deploying, defence and advanced manoeuvring in a line of battle. With proper use of artillery you will always be able to hold initiative and force your opponent to fight on your terms. After completing a full RAS education cycle for senior officers you will fully understand a concept of proper use of artillery on the 18th century battlefield and will be able to utilize it effectively to your advantage. Though true experience comes from real battles but a good military education is what gives us the edge to start with.
Now get yourself comfortable and enjoy your studies.
Sincerely yours, Eastern Weasel.

E.W.

Fixed Artillery

Usually it is either outdated or oversized pieces of artillery and hopefully under normal circumstances you won’t be using them. But as no one ever knows in which battle conditions one may end up I will cover these guns in RAS educational program as well.

Sakers
The saker was medium cannon slightly smaller than a culverin developed during the early 16th century and often used by the English. It was named after the Saker falcon, a large hawk native to the middle east.

Sakers were heavily used during the English Civil War, especially during sieges when they were used by both attackers and defenders of fortified towns. They also saw action in the Jacobite risings and were used by the armies of both William III and James II at the Battle of the Boyne.

Henry VIII amassed a large arsenal of sakers in the early 1500s as he expanded the Royal Navy and came into conflict with France. Henry`s foundries use so much bronze that there was a world shortage of tin.

Venetian merchant ships often carried sakers to defend themselves from pirates, and similar cannons were used in Spanish Armada fleet.

In the New World the colonists removed the naval guns from their ships for use in land engagements, often installed in the forts they built to protect their newly founded towns from French, Spanish and hostile Indians.

Demi-Cannons

The Demi-Cannon was a medium sized cannon, similar to but slightly larger than a culverin. The lower tier of 17th Century English warships were usually equipped with demi-cannons, Ships featuring demi-cannons included HMS Sovereign of the Seas, HMS resolution and HMS James, which fought in the Anglo-Dutch naval wars.

64-lbr Great Gun

Unfortunately RAS does not have any detailed information about this type of cannon, except that it being popular among some eastern empires and posses a huge fire power over large distances. Another good thing about this gun is that it able to fire shrapnel shots at a distances of average range of cannonball fire from inferior (though calibre wise only) cannons. On the opposite side, the gun is very slow to reload, difficult and expensive to manufacture and extremely hard to transport and maintain.


Summary
Fixed artillery is something I would not like to see under my command. While 64lber use could be advocated, thankfully to its huge range and especially ability to fire shrapnel shots, other two fixed artillery pieces are not withstanding any criticism. Demi-Cannons and Sakers fixed positioning, while being direct firing artillery and having standard field artillery range, means they can be comparatively easy to outmanoeuvre on the battlefield, and sakers inability to fire canister shot or in fact any other type of ammo than standard cannonball only adds to their uselessness.

Fixed artillery probably would be the only kind of direct firing artillery I would advice to put somewhere on hill behind your infantry lines,

So unless you besieging something or for some other reasons feel inclined to bring artillery piece on a battlefield I would strongly advice not to use Demi-Cannons and especially Sakers. Better bring more line infantry or cavalry instead.
64lbers on other hand are a matter of taste. Huge range and long ranged shrapnel shots might look appealing, but on other hand the gun is immobile and awkwardly slow to reload. Besides, they are only being available to Marathas and Ottoman Empire nations which somewhat limits their frequency of appearing on the battlefield.

Foot Artillery

In 18th century artillery had a reputation of causing most casualties during wars, and rightfully so. Able to bombard enemy formations at large distance and obliterating assault columns at closer range with canister shots, this should be something your battlefield tactics revolve around.

As the name indicates, these gunners marched alongside their guns, which were, of course, pulled by horses when limbered. Hence they travelled at the infantry’s pace or even slower.

Usually you will be commanding 12lb or
24lb foot artillery. Calibre and thus firepower being the only main difference between them, both guns are deployed and used in a same manner. Both guns are capable to fire canister shots and shrapnel in addition to cannonball shot, what makes them effective at all ranges.


This (along with horse artillery) what wins you the day. Foot artillery can be somewhat vulnerable to enemy horse and even infantry charges and should be adequately protected, but by protection in no way do I mean to keep it behind your infantry lines. Direct fire artillery can and should be deployed in your battle line, not behind it. Only then will it be able to fully utilize its destructive firepower on enemy. I will come back to artillery deployment and proper usage in next chapters, as for now, we shall continue to familiarize ourselves with hardware we will be using.

Horse Artillery

Horse artillery is a type of light, fast moving and fast firing artillery which provide highly mobile fire support to European and American armies (especially to cavalry units) from the 17th century. It consist of light cannons or howitzers attached to light and sturdy carriages called caissons or limbers,with individual crewmen riding either horses or limber into battle.

Usually you will command either 3lb or 6lb horse artillery, though French known to deploy even as large as 18lb cannons as horse artillery. They all same in terms of mobility and tactical deployment, except for firepower growing with a larger calibre and some minor differences in reload speed.
Some commanders underestimate the value of horse artillery because of smaller calibre, calling it popguns etc., also some consider deployment time to be somewhat too long. Both opinions come from ignorance and lack of understanding of horse artillery and tactical mobility concepts. We will research on this later in advanced manoeuvring tactics of RAS educational program. For now lets just move on to what seem to be nr.2 favourite for many generals and brigadiers out there.

Howitzers

A howitzer is a type of artillery piece that is characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small explosive charges to propel at trajectories with a steep angle of descent. In the taxonomies of artillery pieces used by European (and European-style) armies in the 18th century, the howitzer stood between the “gun” (which was characterized by a longer barrel, larger propelling charges, smaller shells, higher velocities and flatter trajectories) and the “mortar” (which has the ability to fire projectiles at even higher angles of ascent and descent).

The first modern howitzers were invented in Sweden towards the end of the 17th century. These were characterized by a shorter trail than other field guns meaning less stability when firing, which reduced the amount of powder that could be used; armies using this had to rely on a greater elevation angle to achieve a given range, which gave steeper angle of descent.
Originally intended for use in siege warfare, they were practically useful for delivering cast-iron shells filled with gunpowder or incendiary materials into the interior of fortifications. In contrast to contemporary mortars, which were fired at a fixed angle and were entirely dependent upon adjustments to the size of propellant charges in order to vary range, howitzers could be fired at a wide variety of angles. Thus, while howitzer gunnery was more complicated than the technique of employing mortars, the howitzer was an inherently more flexible weapon that could fire its projectiles along a wide variety of trajectories.


Howitzers you can expect to be under your command will be coming in two calibres: 12lb and 24lb. Besides calibre difference, 24lb howitzers uses more advanced ammunition types. Their percussion shells explode on impact unlike explosive shells of 12lb mortar that relies on fuse. And quicklime not only burns but also blinds the unfortunate enough to end up howitzer barrage.

Many commanders favour howitzers (and mortars) over field artillery because indirect fire allows them to be placed behind your infantry lines which gives commanders some sense of security for their artillery. While howitzer doubtless would be a good addition to an army, replacing field artillery (i.e. cannons) by howitzers (and mortars for that case) is totally wrong. But unfortunately many commanders often do that, due to their ignorance and lack of understanding how to deploy artillery properly in a line of battle, thus limiting firepower of their armies greatly. RASaims to uproot such ignorance from minds of new generation senior officers by providing a top military tutorage in the use of artillery on a filed of battle.

Mortars

Mortars have existed for hundreds of years, first seeing use in siege warfare. However, the early incarnations of these weapons were large and heavy, and could not be easily transported. An early transportable mortar was invented by Baron Menno Van Coehoorn approximately in year 1673.

This is by far and wide is a nr.1 favourite among many fresh or ignorant commanders. Some have been known to be so inclined in mortars that they deployed them in tens on battlefield. Mortar got it popularity because of its huge range, acceptable accuracy and ability to keep it behind infantry lines provided by indirect fire nature of the mortar. While mortars may seem appealing and somewhat easy to control, I have to remind that they are also immobile and can not be used directly in your battle lines when combat is about to get close and personal, thus limiting its uses. In my opinion mortars more for a siege warfare and not a filed battle, lacking flexibility of all other mobile artillery.

Rocket Artillery

The use of rockets as some form of artillery dates back to medieval China where devices such as “fire arrows” were used (albeit mostly as a psychological weapon). The basic idea of “fire arrows” were expanded in such inventions as the Korean Singijeon. The use of medieval rocket artillery was picked up by the invading Mongols and spread to the Ottoman Turks who in turn used them on the European battlefield. Although the technique was therefore known to Europeans from the 17th century their use fell out of favor until the late 18th century, when Indian forces from Mysore led by Tipu Sultan invented iron rockets for use as rocket artillery against British forces in battle, which led to the British development of the Congreve rocket. The British thereafter used rockets in several armed conflicts.



Now, for an old school officer like me, rocket artillery might seem somewhat exotic. It is unmatched in firing range by anything available to nowadays commanders. Firing salvoes of rockets, few of these batteries could be really devastating for enemy, if not for somewhat below average accuracy (though it gets better at lower range), immobility, long reload time and somewhat vulnerability to counter artillery fire. Personally I see it as a good weapon to have in fort when u find yourself under siege. It can outshoot enemy mortars and possibly destroy them, and it can rain fire on approaching enemy infantry being able to fire indirectly over fort walls, otherwise I would prefer to have good old cannons and howitzers under my command for fighting on the field.

Puckle Guns

In 1718, James Puckle (1667-1724) demonstrated his new invention, the Defence Gun (better known as Puckle Gun), a tripod-mounted, single-barrelled flintlock weapon fitted with a multishot revolving cylinder, desighned for a shipboard use to prevent boarding. With a preloaded “cylinder”, which held 11 charges, it could fire 63 shots in 7 minutes at a time when the standard soldier’s musket could at best be loaded and fired 3 times per minute.

Puckle demonstrated two versions of the basic design: one, intended for use against Christian enemies, fired conventional round bullets, while the second variant, designed to be used against the Muslim Turks, fired square bullets, which were considered to be more damaging and would convince the Turks of the “benefits of Christian civilization”

“Bang-bang-bang!!! I love the smell of gunpowder in the morning!”
This is a true technological marvel, jewel on a crown of modern weapon engineering. Being strictly an antipersonnel weapon it will be of little use in sieges, but it really shines in a field battle. Though having rather low range it might be somewhat difficult and situational to use, but when properly manoeuvred and deployed, working closely together with your advancing infantry regiments it will decimate enemy infantry lines. I will cover the use of these fantastic guns in next chapters.

Conclusion

That would be all artillery pieces that may end up under land officer command.
Stronger and weaker sides were described along with some basic advices that already can give you some ideas for a composition and deployment of artillery in your army. Now lets move to the next chapter where we will discuss proper deployment of your artillery on a battlefield and some basic tactics.

Chapter 2

Basic deployment and firing.

Deployment

Foot/Horse artillery deployment.

Positioning your foot/horse artillery far behind your main infantry lines

While it might be tempting to deploy your field artillery on some hilltop behind your main infantry lines and be fouled by a sense of security and ability to fire cannonballs over your troops as they advance – don’t do it! Field artillery has the ability to fire canister shots which should and must be utilized as much as possible during infantry line engagements. This is one of the reasons I tend to favour horse artillery over foot artillery. It can get anywhere fast enough to make a difference. On a side note, there is a shrapnel shot available for foot artillery which has a descent firing range and somewhat similar to canister shot effect, but accuracy is something left to be desired, so canister shot (in my opinion) usually more reliable albeit a bit more tricky to use.

(Please note, that pictures were taken during field exercises, not an actual battle)

Pic.1

On the picture above you can see a common mistake of placing field artillery on a hill top behind your lines. It wont be able to protect your forces from direct cavalry charge nor able to utilise its canister shots on approaching enemy infantry (in this case assuming that we currently view a stationary defensive position). While some might argue that a late era foot artillery gets shrapnel shot, I say that given its somewhat poor accuracy it will be as dangerous to your troops, as to enemy, if not more, especially if enemy commander decide to move his infantry lines close to yours for point blank walleyes, in which case you wont be able to utilise shrapnel shot at all without huge (more like certain) risk to hit and decimate your own men. In addition to that there is a possibility that your lines will be left vulnerable to enemy artillery without your artillery being able to provide counter battery fire by being not in range to fire at enemy artillery or even at enemy infantry ranks if they deployed far enough making you to spend time on otherwise unnecessary manoeuvres while potentially suffering causalities from your opponents artillery.


Positioning your foot/horse artillery directly behind your infantry lines

On a hilly terrain sometimes it might look appealing to deploy your artillery right behind your infantry lines on a hillside, in belief that it will both allow to utilize cannon firepower to a maximum and at the same time have it safe from the reach of enemy cavalry and infantry. While in certain rare cases that provide ideal terrain with comparatively steep hill and a flat ground in front of it, such deployment can be justified, usually its best not to place your field artillery in that manner.

Pic.2

On pictures 2 and 3 you can see, that while your field artillery would be able to fire at a distant targets over your main infantry line, it won’t be able to utilize its canister shot at approached enemies without hitting your own lines with it, because of elevation difference

Pic.3

Above were described 2 most common mistakes, inexperienced commanders tend to do when they find themselves on a battlefield. It comes on an instinct level and it is perfectly understandable, since having artillery behind your lines gives sense of security, while assuming that because of artillery long range it supposed to be used in such manner.
RAS goal is to break such basic instincts and ensure that our officers employ modern and rational tactics of 18th century battlefield.



V-formation

V-formation probably most basic, and yet one of the most effective ways of deploying artillery in your battle lines. It got its name for looking similar to V letter (very shallow thou). If deployed correctly, it will provide your artillery with unobscured field of fire while being comparatively safe in your infantry ranks. Also contrary to opinions of some commanders, properly deployed V-formation does not limit your infantry firepower or makes your line more vulnerable in any section of it. Besides it will allow your artillery to utilise its full potential with the ability to deliver deadly salvo of canister shots at any enemy foolish enough to find itself approaching your lines, thus only increasing your main infantry line firepower.

On picture below you will see a section of infantry line with artillery properly deployed in V-formation

Pic.4

By overlapping firing arcs two regiments on both sides of artillery create a kill zone (firing arcs represented by green and blue lines) which, together with canister shot, will obliterate any enemy foolish enough to walk into it, while not obscuring artillery’s field of fire (red lines). Also note the yellow line representing a firing arc of the regiment on V-formation’s right flank, it removes vulnerability in your line created by having one flank of regiments positioned in V-formation comparatively open to the enemy. Since this is Artillery school, I will not go any further than necessary into explaining infantry formations and tactics, leaving it to Royal Infantry School guide, which will (or will not) be released in some (hopefully not too) distant future.

On the next picture you can see V-formation deployed in improper manner. While it provides relative safety for your artillery against enemy melee charges, it also reduces artillery’s field of fire (red lines) and leaves comparatively vulnerable sections (black area marks section with insufficient fire power) in your infantry line.

Pic.5

Foot/horse artillery also can be deployed in half-V formation (if situation demands), which will be described below in puckle guns section.

Puckle Guns deployment

Many commanders disregard puckle gun for it short range, assuming it to be strictly defensive weapon. This assumption comes from their arrogance and inability to direct their forces effectively in battle. While indeed being great (and easy to use) as defensive weapon, puckle gun remarkable firepower can and must be used offensively. Most of tactics involving puckle guns will be described in 3rd chapter of RAS, for now lets return to basic deployment.




Common deployment mistakes
Part about positioning artillery behind your infantry applies for puckle guns as well, though to a lesser extent. Usually it is easier to find an “ideal hill” ground (described in foot/horse artillery deployment part) for puckle guns, thanks to it comparatively better accuracy and less area of effect of it shots compared to canister shot, which lessens the possibility of hitting your own troops.

Placing your puckle guns to guard other artillery (unless it is a well thought out ambush) would be just a waste of firepower your army posess. A regiment of horse can do a much better job in defending your artillery pieces that remain behind your main army, while mobility will enable your cavalry to provide tactical support to your army at the same time. I will not go any further than necessary in explaining cavalry manoeuvres and usage in general, leaving it to Royal Cavalry School which (or which not) will be released in some (hopefully not too) distant future.

V and half-V formations
Deploying your puckle guns in a V formation would be the same as with foot/horse artillery. In my opinion V-formation is not most effective way of positioning puckle guns, since it assumes that your artillery piece would be positioned closer to the centre of your main infantry line, limiting puckle guns tactical effectiveness. Actually, if placed closer to centre, your puckle guns get more vulnerable than foot/horse artillery. The reason to this is that foot/horse artillery using canister shot will instantly eliminate lots of enemy infantry in first salvo, shaking their morale greatly and making it easy to rout them (providing enemy not instantly routed after receiving canister shot) with following cavalry charge, allowing your infantry, or at least parts of it, to hold their fire, thus keeping your artillery safe in case if enemy cavalry decides to go for it, expecting that all your soldiers reloading their muskets. In case with puckle guns, they do decimate infantry greatly and reliably, but it is damage-over-time (unlike mass instant-kill canister shot), thus forcing your own infantry to get involved into firefight (unless you willing to take unnecessary casualties), making your puckle guns vulnerable to following charge by enemy cavalry, after your soldiers discharge their muskets on enemy. I will not go any further than necessary in explaining combined arms tactics, leaving it to Royal Military Academy compendium which (or which not) will be released in some (hopefully not too) distant future.

Half-V formation is used on flanks of your main infantry line. It allows to slightly extend your main infantry line in comparison to using V formation (it is especially true if you have a lot of direct firing artillery), and eventually can provide an opportunity to flank and even encircle your opponent’s infantry line. Sacrifice of security for your puckle guns in this case will be minimal if any.

Pic.6

On picture 6 you can see a half-V formation implemented on flank of the main infantry line (blue and green lines indicate firing arcs of infantry regiments respectively). Note that wing in half-V formation is more steep than in standard V formation. When yours and enemy infantry lines engage in a firefight with each other, puckle guns will decimate enemy flank, allowing your infantry to flank and encircle enemy line. Note, that in case of present cavalry threat, infantry regiment that forms wing of half-V formation might be advised to hold their fire, following this it might be considered to use a unit of light infantry (marksmen, riflemen etc) as a fire support to rout or destroy enemy flank faster and sustain less possible casualties with a regiment guarding puckle guns from direct cavalry attack (providing there is a threat).

Early placement
When in pre-battle deployment phase, always try to hide your puckle guns in woods, providing there are any nearby your main infantry line. In early stage of battle puckle guns will be of no use because of their short range, but can be destroyed by a long range enemy artillery if spotted and properly prioritized as a threat. But after artillery barrages and skirmishing start, and infantry lines start advance on each other, there is a good chance that your opponent won’t even notice a small train of puckle guns appearing from the wood and following your infantry, until it’s too late for him.

Howitzers, Mortars and rocket artillery deployment

There is not much special to say in this chapter about deploying your howitzers and mortars and rocket artillery. Being indirect fire artillery, that means you can deploy them behind your infantry lines, a good spot will be between your V formation sections (see picture 7). Picking higher ground, especially for mortars and rocket artillery, is welcome too.
Personally, on the field I would use howitzers rather than mortars or rocket artillery because of howitzers mobility in comparison to two other fixed artillery pieces (in open field mortars and rocket artillery can be simply avoided, also in case of need of relocation by your army be it for any reason). In siege battles however I probably would bring with me one or two mortars, because of extremely high trajectory and very steep angle of their projectile, meaning that u can easily lob mortar shells on wall defenders or over the wall (what howitzers not always manage to do).
Rocket artillery would be a matter of taste, being more of a siege weapon (in my opinion), they provide a higher fire power than mortars but significantly lack accuracy at longer distances.

Pic.7

Other things you should know about artillery deployment

Keeping your artillery ahead
As you might noticed from previous pictures, I always put my guns slightly ahead of infantry regiments on its flanks. It helps to increase cannons field of fire to a point where u can shoot canister shots into enemy that is in melee with your infantry, without much risk of hitting your men.

Clustering your artillery
For some reason, some commanders believe that by putting their artillery together they somehow increase their firepower when firing at the same target. This is as arrogant, as laughable. Clustered artillery will be both more vulnerable to enemy counter battery fire and cavalry (or even infantry) attacks. Having 4 cannons or howitzers evenly spreaded in or behind your infantry line will deliver practically same effect as if they were clustered together, when firing at the same target, so there is no reason putting your artillery at additional risk.


Bugs and pathfinding issues
Sometimes when you order your artillery to limber, it may limber and then immediately unlimber itself.
Sometimes after limbering your artillery might start moving without you giving it order to move (often happens after previous bug)
Sometimes your artillery will unlimber without you ordering them so, usually it happens after suffering a previous bug.
Sometimes some of your artillery crew might stuck behind walls, trees etc. making you unable to unlimber your artillery, until all crew members presented.
Sometimes, when some of your artillery crew got stuck somewhere, remaining artillery might start moving in completely random direction. Seems that pathfinding totally screws up when unit gets splitted.
Sometimes your artillery might continue to fire, even if you ordered it to stop and have fire at will disabled.
And most annoying of all (though most rare as well): Sometimes half of your unlimbered artillery will limber (after given order) and other half will stuck, making entire battery being unable to neither move nor fire. Multiple clicking on limber/unlimber and retreat buttons or attempts to “push” artillery crew with other units don’t help.

Not a bug, but more of a lag issue, but sometimes after you gave order to one unit then quickly switched and gave order to another unit, game will consider you still giving orders to your first unit, which sometime can make managing a lot of artillery (and all other units) quite a pain. If I recall correctly, this problem existed since RTW (or maybe even earlier TW titles, haven’t played them online)

All this can really ruin the day, especially for a player who depends on effective use of artillery.

Firing your artillery

General information

Aiming
Always aim your artillery manually (i.e. clicking on empty ground near enemy unit, rather than unit itself), especially when firing canister shot. For some reason, when you order your cannons to fire canister at the enemy, they always choose nearest flank of enemy unit you ordered them to fire at. Even if enemy unit centre directly in front of your artillery battery they will still fire at its flank, effectively making half of shrapnel from canister shot miss enemy ranks.
Indirect fire artillery (i.e. howitzers, mortars and rockets) should be aimed in front of moving enemy, since it takes comparatively long time for projectile to reach its target, and by that time enemy will move away from impact zone, if targeted directly.
The only exception of this rule will be puckle guns.

Quicklime ammunition
Some inexperienced commanders complain that quicklime is useless. This is as usual comes from their arrogance and not attending to RAS.
Quicklime shells leave a cloud of quicklime after impact with their target, which blinds and burns those affected by it. What important to understand, is that cloud of quicklime does not appear immediately after shell impact, but spreads in a couple of seconds. So if shell lands directly onto enemy unit that is moving, then it will have no effect on it. Rather than firing directly at moving enemies, quicklime shells should be targeted ahead of them, then all who will walk through quicklime cloud will suffer casualties.

Cannonballs
Contrary to popular opinion, cannonballs are useful. They work best when employed against deep enemy formations, especially on a flat ground where they can bounce off few times, leaving line of dead enemies behind. Also cannonballs work greatly against cavalry. Sometimes a well placed cannonball salvo can decimate cavalry regiment better than a canister shot at close range (though canister shot use at close ranges still advised).

Angles of fire

By positioning and firing your cannons at a proper angle towards the enemy unit, you can achieve much greater killing effect. Cannonballs were already described above, so I will only remind that they can be great if fired directly into flank of enemy infantry regiment deployed in line.
Canister shot is trickier to use. Because individual cannons in artillery battery unable to spread their fire evenly on enemy unit, firing at the same spot instead, limits it effectiveness against enemy unit deployed in line in front of your cannons. Even when firing at enemy flank, effect while being better would still be limited. One of the best solutions to maximising your canister shot effectiveness would be firing at 35-45 degrees angle toward enemy infantry line. Following pictures will provide clearer explanation.

Pic.8

Cannons fire canister shots at enemy infantry regiment deployed in line directly in front of them. Red circle shows approximate area of effect. Enemy casualty rate is something left to be desired.

Pic.9

Cannons fire canister shots at the flank of enemy infantry regiment deployed in line.
Red circle shows approximate area of effect.
Note, sometimes individual guns may experience firing delays, forcing cannons in battery to fire one by one rather than in unison. This might actually help to improve area of effect (approximate representation by blue circle).

Pic.10

Cannons fire canister shots at enemy infantry regiment deployed in line at approximately 30 degrees angle. Red rectangle shows approximate area of effect. Because of dispersion and diagonal path, more canister shrapnel will hit enemy rather than travelling past them. A rather certain way to maximise casualties done to your enemy.

As you can see, having your foot/horse artillery fire at 35-45 degree angle towards the enemy, increases area of effect of your canister shot, thus increasing casualty rate in the enemy line.


I might be confusing angle numbers, correct me if Im wrong by posting in RAS thread and I will update the guide. Anyhow, pictures should be self explainary.

Puckle guns on the other hand work best when firing directly at enemy flank.

Conclusion

This concludes chapter 2 of Royal Artillery School guide. Now you are set up with basics and ready to effectively and properly employ your artillery on the battlefield.
But those of you, who truly wish to start mastering the use of artillery, should continue reading to chapter 3, which will cover advanced techniques of aggressive artillery warfare, tactical ambushes, active defence by artillery during sieges and much more.

[♔GrinningManiac♔]

thouroughly enjoyed the history lesson and breif summaries, though there wasnt much I didnt already know, just needed clarifying.

I await the actual tactics with a watering mouth. I need this, badly.

[Aldgarkalaughskel]

Very nice. +rep Added to the library.

Could you maybe repost this in html?

[Tassen]

Oh, this is nice, very nice. I love the way you have made it too. It looks great!


Very good summary of all the artillery pieces in one place and I greatly enjoyed reading the little 'history lessons' as well. It is fun to know a little background facts about them when I deploy them in battle. Definitely off to a very good start here and I can't wait for chapter 2 and some real tactics on how to use them too .


Thank you for making and sharing the guide with us. Keep up the good work!

[Eusebius86]

Good work EW, plus rep!

[Grislok]

Eastern Weasel cares about us all. Huzzah!

[Mechstra]

Demi-cannons are certainly able to fire canister shots in the campaign, once the technology is researched. Can't speak for sakers.

Reading further, it becomes pretty clear this is a multiplayer-centric guide. Perhaps you should clarify this.

[CynicalTyler]

Looks like a great guide, thanks for posting this. Can't wait for the rest.

Maybe this will be covered in future guides, but I'm wondering if someone can answer:

All the limbering/unlimbering of artillery is painfully time-consuming and error-prone. There's very little more frustrating than limbering an artillery unit, going off to adjust some infantry while it's limbering, then coming back seconds later to find that the artillery unit went right ahead and unlimbered itself and started firing again! And yes I've tried turning off Fire at Will before limbering.

What I'd really like is to be able to issue a move command to unlimbered artillery and have the unit manage its own limbering/moving/unlimbering process. Is there a way to do this, or do I have to wait and pray for a patch? Does anyone have additional tips for making artillery movement less of a pain?

Thanks!

[Eastern Weasel]

Mechstra
Reading further, it becomes pretty clear this is a multiplayer-centric guide. Perhaps you should clarify this.

Well, this guide is aimed to provide information how to use artillery effectively against a thinking opponent, be it AI,other human player or weasel behind a keyboard. So essentially while all advices and tactics could and should be utilized in multiplayer, it does not limit them to MP only. Most of what will be described can be successfully and is fun to use against AI opponent we currently have in game.
Personally I think that AI currently is not much of a challenge (intellegent-wise), so I will not focus on campaigns or "1000-and-1" way to abuse AI in battles.

[Kidneythump]

I hope this isnt to much of topic but you mentioned the french 18-pounder horse artillery, any idea where one could recruit these in the GC? I can only find these in a multiplayer setting

[Eastern Weasel]

I hope this isnt to much of topic but you mentioned the french 18-pounder horse artillery, any idea where one could recruit these in the GC? I can only find these in a multiplayer setting

Higher tier artillery buildings? Otherwise I dont see any reason why they should be unavailible in GC.
Sorry,havent played french GC yet.

[Kidneythump]

Originally Posted by Eastern Weasel

Higher tier artillery buildings? Otherwise I dont see any reason why they should be unavailible in GC.
Sorry,havent played french GC yet.

Naw man no luck, been over the french campaign atleast 3 times now, and it doesnt matter what level my artillery school is or what kind of goverment is in place or what region for that matter, im beginning to think that the artillery piece has been left out which is kind of sad since (as far as i know) it has the best base accuracy of all artillery, usually it beats the next best infantry killer (guard artillery, shrapnell shot) by 20-30 men and dont get me started on the awsome mobility of that piece!

[guerra]

Originally Posted by Kidneythump

Naw man no luck, been over the french campaign atleast 3 times now, and it doesnt matter what level my artillery school is or what kind of goverment is in place or what region for that matter, im beginning to think that the artillery piece has been left out which is kind of sad since (as far as i know) it has the best base accuracy of all artillery, usually it beats the next best infantry killer (guard artillery, shrapnell shot) by 20-30 men and dont get me started on the awsome mobility of that piece!

I believe they require a higher barracks too, because they don't have regular troops, they have royal guard on the cannons.

[J. Fishman]

Originally Posted by Eastern Weasel

64-lbr Great Gun

Unfortunately RAS does not have any detailed information about this type of cannon, except that it being popular among some eastern empires and posses a huge fire power over large distances. Another good thing about this gun is that it able to fire shrapnel shots at a distances of average range of cannonball fire from inferior (thou calibre wise only) cannons. On the opposite side, the gun is very slow to reload, difficult and expensive to manufacture and extremely hard to transport and maintain.

Note that despite the liecake perpetuated by the in-game blurb, the 64-pounder cannot, in fact, fire canister, only round and shrap. As for difficulties in transporting and maintenance, there are no additional difficulties in transporting or maintaining these weapons, and like the rest of your army, can be transported in a single sloop. Reload speeds also do not appear to suffer significantly.

[Northern Weasel]

Excellent post my Weasel brother

[coman]

Originally Posted by J. Fishman

Note that despite the liecake perpetuated by the in-game blurb, the 64-pounder cannot, in fact, fire canister, only round and shrap. As for difficulties in transporting and maintenance, there are no additional difficulties in transporting or maintaining these weapons, and like the rest of your army, can be transported in a single sloop. Reload speeds also do not appear to suffer significantly.

I've pretty much deduced that there is a single reload timer value, probably 50 seconds. From what I can see, a straight fire at will without firing patterns is 50 seconds minus the reload skill. This holds true across all infantry and artillery units.

Once you get into fire by rank, it appears to be 50 seconds per rank minus HALF the reload skill. However, the suppressive nature of the rank volley is much more effective than even experienced untrained volleys.

I suspect this beast will have to be modified. If we can find that adjustment. I'd like to see them spend the 25 minutes (it's an exaggeration folks) it would take to properly charge this behemoth.

[Björneborgs regemente]

Originally Posted by coman

I've pretty much deduced that there is a single reload timer value, probably 50 seconds. From what I can see, a straight fire at will without firing patterns is 50 seconds minus the reload skill. This holds true across all infantry and artillery units.

Once you get into fire by rank, it appears to be 50 seconds per rank minus HALF the reload skill. However, the suppressive nature of the rank volley is much more effective than even experienced untrained volleys.

I suspect this beast will have to be modified. If we can find that adjustment. I'd like to see them spend the 25 minutes (it's an exaggeration folks) it would take to properly charge this behemoth.

I can work on this tonight.

[vindex246]

So that means I can copy and paste from Wikipedia too and earn rep?

If you doubt me, look it up ... word for word.

Having said that, the idea of a continuing post that gives advice on how to deploy artillery effectively would be MOST welcome.

[Eastern Weasel]

Originally Posted by Northern Weasel

Excellent post my Weasel brother

Woot?

there are no additional difficulties in transporting or maintaining these weapons

Im perfectly aware that there is no difference in terms of "transporting and maintaining" but since I havent found any info about those guns, I had to write something that falls in line with the guide,so I wrote some things dictated by common sense and general weapon knowledge. If you played game for some time, you should perfectly understand that.

So that means I can copy and paste from Wikipedia too and earn rep?

If you bothered to download .doc version of the guide, youd see in disclaimer that I clearly stated that I used information from open sources. Considering history, you will be quoting some1 anyway, be it wiki or history channel or a dusty book from a shelf. I just dont see a point in wasting time and rephrasing something just to give it as your own.
So c`mon now, dont get jelous about some1 getting rep. Maybe writing something of your own would earn you some rep too if you so inclined about it.
Trust me, it aint that easy as you would like to think.
Well, ofc. its much easyer to troll in threads.
Besides, its not like that I doing it for rep or anything.

[Kidneythump]

Originally Posted by guerra

I believe they require a higher barracks too, because they don't have regular troops, they have royal guard on the cannons.

Nope tested that to, all of my buildings are completely upgraded and no 18-pounder in sight, although i´ve only tested this in Constitutional monarchy and republic, the game crashes so often now that i cant get that damn revolution to happen again (every time i reload the "rebellion timer" restarts)