The point of Ottoman Organ Guns

**Biggreenfellow** · April 10, 2009, 11:08 AM

Like the subject says; what's the point of the special forces ottoman organ gun?? Sure, they look awesome, sound awesome, and shoot an awesome volley... But:

They reload slowly
They can't move
They reload painfully slow
Their accuracy sucks
They reload EPIC slow
They can't do any funky cannister shot/explosive shell shots
THEY RELOAD SO DARNED SLOW

Am I using them wrong? Or do they just suck?

**BigB** · April 10, 2009, 11:32 AM

I would guess they are just another one of those things they threw into the game to make it look cool with more variety but never had the time to make work right.

Kind of like the cannon on forts that dont work right. Pikemen who dont work right even on wall formation. Infantry hiding behind walls who dont work right. I dont seem to ever get the other cannon ammunition types to work right (although some people like them). Lots of stuff in the game like that.

Its tough when you get a game with this level of bugs. You dont know when something is bugged or just working as intended and you are doing it wrong. Are the Organ Guns bugged, or are you using them wrong? If the game didnt have many bugs I would say you were using them wrong. With the game in the state its in .... who knows?

**~~nilats~~** · April 10, 2009, 12:51 PM

They work very well i just hate that they disappear when you zoom out. Its like cannister shot with cannon balls lethal at close range. Do a test and have tham fire on advancing infantry force with other types of art. side by side they usually top the kill sheet

**Mechstra** · April 10, 2009, 01:06 PM

They're very effective indeed. Absolutely destroy charging enemies, and the morale shock tends to rout them soon after half their number are killed by the organ guns.

As nilats says, if only their model wasn't broken.

**TeutonicKnight** · April 10, 2009, 02:12 PM

Organ guns rock. Use a few of those on a hostile town the enemy has taken cover in, and after a few salvos, there's no more town, let alone cover.

They also break morale like nobody's business, and devastate an enemy line.

**~~nilats~~** · April 10, 2009, 02:50 PM

I was forced to mod them out of the game because of the disappearing bit

**Faris ad Din** · April 10, 2009, 11:44 PM

They do rock. They are just available at the beginning to the Ottoman Empire if you have the Special Forces edition - from second level ordnance factory (or even first). They are much better than the other early cannons for sure - basically grapeshot at long range. I don't know what you're talking about - aye, they reload very slow which ticks me, but they do impressive scatter damage on enemy units, and it doesn't matter if they don't fire accurately due to the spread of their fire. They are a denial-of-hiding unit.

Once you get other cannons such as 24-lber cannon or howitzers with explosive or percussion shells, organ guns lose their shine. Use the new cannons instead.

**Biggreenfellow** · April 11, 2009, 03:25 AM

humpf.. I guess I am using them wrong, then... Because when I tested them out in a custom battle, I didn't find them useful, at all! The first volley did no damage at all, because it just plain missed, then the second volley did some damage, but really nothing exciting, and the third did finally did something good, but then the enemy was too close for me to reload again, because of the deuced reload which really, really takes ages.

I really don't see this scatter effect on long range you speak off.. And in close range, I'd rather have a few cannister shots then one organ gun.

Then again, maybe I'm just a n00b ;-)

**fluffstalker** · April 11, 2009, 06:33 AM

Its more of an advantage in the campaign map, as a unique unit, then it is on a custom battle where most artillery except howies and mortars fire a couple of times and then are targeted by the AI. What I find useful is to turn off fire at will and fire at the ground in front of enemy formations, I tend to get more casualties that way.

**Faris ad Din** · April 11, 2009, 03:06 PM

It's just the trick to using artillery in battle. Artillery are big guns, but as a rule, really slow loading guns, the whole lot of them. When going up against foot-and-horse mobile enemies who are just going to close in on you, you won't score quite a lot of casualties (or as many as you could). Now if the enemy is dilly-dallying about in some maneuvers or such, you may get double or triple the "fun" time with your cannons where you can destroy entire units, or two, or three, with an artillery battery. When they're just marching - running, actually, if they feel they're under missile attack - it's not a good artillery day.

I can't give a straightforward answer as to how to bring that about - it really depends on the situation. Try changing around your tactics a little bit to bring about better results, than simply - desperately trying to score as many kill numbers as you can while the enemy runs straight at you. Effectiveness is minimal then.

**toy soldier** · April 11, 2009, 06:06 PM

nvm

**Niccolo Maciavelli** · April 11, 2009, 10:15 PM

I think the ottoman organ guns are worth it just because of how cool they look! who wouldnt want a massive artillery peice firing away (even if it is once every half hour lol)

**Faris ad Din** · April 11, 2009, 11:47 PM

Originally Posted by Niccolo Maciavelli

I think the ottoman organ guns are worth it just because of how cool they look! who wouldnt want a massive artillery peice firing away (even if it is once every half hour lol)

Then you go for their 64-pounder cannons.

Come on... you don't even find those on battleships.

Seriously, for the sake of rebalancing, the organ guns should have a crew of horse to tow them around and make them mobile instead of fixed. That'll make them viable throughout a campaign instead of just the beginning.

**ckangas** · April 12, 2009, 01:40 AM

Originally Posted by Faris ad Din

Then you go for their 64-pounder cannons.

Come on... you don't even find those on battleships.

Seriously, for the sake of rebalancing, the organ guns should have a crew of horse to tow them around and make them mobile instead of fixed. That'll make them viable throughout a campaign instead of just the beginning.

WTB cannister shot for 64 lbs...it even mentions it in the discription...bah!

**Biggreenfellow** · April 12, 2009, 05:40 AM

Originally Posted by Niccolo Maciavelli

I think the ottoman organ guns are worth it just because of how cool they look! who wouldnt want a massive artillery peice firing away (even if it is once every half hour lol)

lol actually, the only reason I recruit them is because it looks awesome having a bunch of them fire simultaneously.

I find their use to be increasing when I use more of them at the same time and hold firing untill they are well within range, lol. Just bombard the whole area, that'll teach them. But without the spam use, I think I need to change my tactics to make them more useful to me.

**Niccolo Maciavelli** · April 12, 2009, 09:08 AM

lol i knew i wasnt the only one

**hitokiri2486** · April 12, 2009, 04:57 PM

Have any of you tried firing an ottoman organ gun point blank into advancing infantry?

Won't be much infantry after that.

**Biggreenfellow** · April 12, 2009, 05:02 PM

Originally Posted by hitokiri2486

Have any of you tried firing an ottoman organ gun point blank into advancing infantry?

Won't be much infantry after that.

I did, actually. Managed to pull of three shots before they came into musket range and killed me..

The first shot scared the surrounding trees poo-less.
The second shot took out 10-ish line infantrymen
The third shot missed, because the enemy somehow manage to use the hill I was standing on as a shield.. They stood at the foot of the hill, and the canon balls just dug themselves into the earth... Like I said; need to change tactics