Need to rant about artillery...

[supekele]

All hail! The artillery is being operated by the computer! Therefore:

1) It will always hit your General.
2) It will always hit YOUR artillery and destroy it in one shot, or set it on fire immediately.
3) It will always hit your siege equipment and do the same.
4) It will be mysteriously harder to set their equipment on fire than it will be to set yours.
5) Full stacks of Pavise Crossbowmen that aren't labelled "Militia" at the back are classified as professional armies in the eyes of Milan.



AAAAGGGHHH! I've lost another General to mother freaking CATAPULTS! It was funny the first time but now it's just plain retarded. My siege on a HRE fortress would've gone a lot smoother (in fact, I was repelled in the end) if it wasn't for the magic Trebuchet in the back that would mysteriously hit my Bombards.

[jman47]

lol that sucks really bad, maybe u just have crappy luck lol.

what i always hate is when my general dies right off when i charge an enemy, but if the comp general charges my troops, he is always the LAST one to die, as in i have to kill the whole unit just to kill him.

[~Beren~]

1) It will always hit your General.

Not always.
Rarely happens to me.

2) It will always hit YOUR artillery and destroy it in one shot, or set it on fire immediately.

For me, it's the other way around.
Just let your artillery fire at will and let them choose their own targets, which is primarily other artillery units.
I remember I had an enemy with 2 Great bombards which were destroyed in the first 15 minutes of the battle with my simple cannons.

3) It will always hit your siege equipment and do the same.

Well, it should be the enemy's main concern/primary target anyway.

4) It will be mysteriously harder to set their equipment on fire than it will be to set yours.

I guess that's true.

5) Full stacks of Pavise Crossbowmen that aren't labelled "Militia" at the back are classified as professional armies in the eyes of Milan.

I thought they use Genoeses?

Anyway, what mod are you using? (if any at all?)

[Lost Crusader]

What I hate about artillery is that their crew is so hard to kill by cavalry! Sometimes it seems it's easier to kill/rout a unit of fully armored feudal knights than those fellows. I would have thought that they'll run away at first sight of my cavalry charging towards them.

And why on earth did the CA decided to give them so high morale (9)?

[Renco]

What I hate about artillery is that their crew is so hard to kill by cavalry! Sometimes it seems it's easier to kill/rout a unit of fully armored feudal knights than those fellows. I would have thought that they'll run away at first sight of my cavalry charging towards them.

And why on earth did the CA decided to give them so high morale (9)?

I'm sorry, what mod did you say you were playing? Because you can't possibly be talking about vanilla. The crew sucks! Even when the charge is disrupted by the eqipment, the men are slaughtered in a matter of seconds, long before enemy infantry can close the void and help out.

[Lost Crusader]

I'm sorry, what mod did you say you were playing? Because you can't possibly be talking about vanilla. The crew sucks! Even when the charge is disrupted by the eqipment, the men are slaughtered in a matter of seconds, long before enemy infantry can close the void and help out.

yes, I'm talking about vanilla 1.3. You're right about the charge getting disrupted by the equipment, but even when the cavalry gets through and engages the crew, sometime it takes a long time to kill them.

[loquar]

I'm sorry, what mod did you say you were playing? Because you can't possibly be talking about vanilla. The crew sucks! Even when the charge is disrupted by the eqipment, the men are slaughtered in a matter of seconds, long before enemy infantry can close the void and help out.

I get the same, playing vanilla and i find artillery crews very easy to take out with any sort of cav.

@OP This seems opposite to what I experience, I tend to keep my general quite far back anyway when facing artillery but still, when my artillery gets going I very very frequently take out the enemy general with it, with the exception of ballista's I often take out the enemy general alone without hitting any other troops in the unit as he is normally on the end of the unit.

Most satisfying

[Hrimfar]

When you face artillery and place your general in center of your forces - classic RTW position - the first shots fired by AI artillery hits my generals 1/3 of the time. So now i always place my generals in flanking position until I've whiped out the artillery with my cavalry...

[HolyCrusade]

It's completely the other around for me. Though I am playing Stainless Steel 5.0, here is how it goes for me:

For funsies, I give each side about 15 cannons and just let them fire at each other. I don't interfere at all, and just watch. On VH AI, I usually end up killing 70% of them and destroying 1/2 of their cannons, while I probably only loose 30% of men and a few cannons.

[Erwin Rommel]

HERES the thing!!!!! i charged my gen to some culverin and guess what!!!!
with all their unarmored stuff and dagger they FOUGHT back!!!! and whats funny ...........what crew member KICKED I saY AGAIN KICKED THE HORSE OF MY GEN.............AND WHALLAH HE DIED!!!

[Nebuchadnezzar]

The game has a artillery vs generals accuracy bonus - but I think it could be the same for player & AI

...and yes, artillery units have exceptional morale.

Anyone that hasn't noticed these oddities isn't playing vanilla!

It's also probable that the AI does get some artillery accuracy bonuses depending on the difficulty level.

Not sure about seige equipment burning but it wouldn't surprise me to discover its also a AI bonus or possibly (but less likely) difficulty based. Its easier to hide these AI bonuses then it is to include a base-level semi-competent AI.

[Renco]

...and yes, artillery units have exceptional morale.

Anyone that hasn't noticed these oddities isn't playing vanilla!

I have never encountered any resistance from the crew of something. Doesn't matter how high your morale is, you will still be owned by a superior force. For me they always rout in seconds after a charge from a general, even one reduced to a walk.

...Not sure about seige equipment burning but it wouldn't surprise me to discover its also a AI bonus or possibly (but less likely) difficulty based. Its easier to hide these AI bonuses then it is to include a base-level semi-competent AI.

I agree here, it's almost like the AI has doused their rams in some liquid or something, some anti flamatory liquid. If only we had access to an abundant anti flamatory liquid at no cost. Alas, we humans must get by on tactics alone... :b

[Imperator Sulla]

I agree here, it's almost like the AI has doused their rams in some liquid or something, some anti flamatory liquid. If only we had access to an abundant anti flamatory liquid at no cost. Alas, we humans must get by on tactics alone... :b

What about the occasional nuclear tower arrow, when just one single arrow volley from a tower sets your siege tower or ram ablaze.

[Metellus]

Personally I always put my general unit on a flank and well to the rear when facing multiple artillery. And I set his formation to "spread out", this helps a lot.

[vonKrysiak]

To be honest it never really happened to me s oyou must be really unlucky. The only time it happeend to me was when I was a HUGE battle and sent my general for a mop up operation of killing archers and running over fleeign enemies. I ordered my KING to charge two ballistas - they had a chance to fire one and only one salve guess who they killed? ;-)
I was fuming but then I think it adds a little to the game.
As far as full stack of genoese crossbowman, well unfortunately Italian states used loads of militia and lets be honest thats the best kind ever - not bad in close combat and deadly crossbowman as well.
If you want to get rid of that you will have to start playing mods (my recommendation eiher Dus Lo Vult or Lands to Conquer) both change the armies AI recruits...

[trollhammer]

I must have the same luck. My artillery couldn't hit the side of a barn if they were inside it. Ok, maybe the serpentines can, but the rest misses everything except walls.

I can target the central most unit of a full stack spread over the field of battle and every shot will fall ridiculously short/long or land in a foot wide gap between units. The computer's artillery on the other hand gets perfect shots all the time (probably not, but it seems like it), a flaming round that buzzes over the heads of one unit setting a path on fire and then crashes into the centre of a unit behind it.

That being said, in the final battle of my HRE campaign, the very last round of ammo from my artillery killed the pope. A nice fitting end to almost a months playing.

[vonKrysiak]

anyways All of the stats are in descr_projectiles file - you can modify the damage and accuracy of all projectiles, as well as unit size and number of siege engines per unit.
I have noticed that experience helps with accuracy, my ballistas with silver chevrons dont seem to have any problems slaughtering enemy knights and generals!

[Drag529]

my adivce is to keep moving and not to stay still...lol ive never had any major losses due to the fact of artillery...except when i am fighting the enemy infatry....but i sovled that probelm by chargeing them with cavarly