Howitzers vs Cannons

[Zaydin]

I'm just wondering what everyone else prefers. In my view, howitzers seem better suited for anti-personnel uses, due to explosive/concussive shot, and caracas/quicklime shells, and cannons better suited for attacking walls, and short range anti-infantry because of canister shot and shrapnel shot.

[Tim1988]

Both have their advantages and I always make sure i have atleast one of each in all my armies (although howitzers are useless until you've researched carcass shot or explosive shells.
The howitzers do all the killing at long range, then the cannons fire cannister at them when they get closer to finally rout them.
Its hard to tell which does the most kills as for some reason, howitzer's quicklime kills aren't recorded.

[Zaydin]

Oh, that reminds me. When it comes to howitzer shells, which is the better shot to use? Explosive/Concussive shot, or caracass/quicklime? And I can assume at short range, for cannons, canister shot is superior to shrapnel shot.

[MortenJessen]

Hi there.
At short range cannister shots are the big winner of battles. But you need to manually assign targets, since the AI cares little for your own men.
Y.S.
M. Jessen

[♔Drewoid13♔]

hey zaydin,

I tend to use explosive. its a bit more random than quicklime in its hit/miss ration, but its very satisfying to see a shell explode right in the middle of your enemy's line.

my recommendation is to use cannon and howitzers in your army. Only for canister (protect your front line), and one for harassing the enemy as they advance (howitzer)

[Tim1988]

Quicklime/carcass is more accurate, but explosive/percussion does more damage (atleast thats my experience). I personally prefer quicklime and carcass shot, but just play around for a bit and see which works best for you.

[SMIDSY]

Quicklime/carcass is more accurate, but explosive/percussion does more damage (atleast thats my experience). I personally prefer quicklime and carcass shot, but just play around for a bit and see which works best for you.

Quicklime/carcass seems to be better against lines of infantry, but when it comes to cavalry, explosive shot is much more destructive against cavalry in my experience. Also, once your cannons get shrapnel shot, they can rack up just as many kills as your howitzers against infantry if you get a good crossfire.

[Lumina]

Quicklime/carcass seems to be better against lines of infantry, but when it comes to cavalry, explosive shot is much more destructive against cavalry in my experience. Also, once your cannons get shrapnel shot, they can rack up just as many kills as your howitzers against infantry if you get a good crossfire.

Nein!! Sie Mighty Howitzer and Percussion Shells, once aided me at Wiping out an Entire Elite Line Infantry Regiment all hands in a single barrage with all cannon! QuickLime can never achieve such random brilliance!

PS I just stated Explosve/Percussion shells weakenst at the last line. =P

[♔Darmoth♔]

I personally prefer howitzers, because I love blowing the enemy up... hehe explosive and percussion rounds are so satisfying. Still I can't deny the usefulness of canister shot, it'll break the enemy's bodies, and morale, pretty darn effectively.

[Zaydin]

Mkay, thanks for the advice. I'll have to try it out. Now if I could just get my cavalry to lure the enemy into range of my guns without ending up in a melee.

[Zaydin]

All things considered, it's hard to tell if a caracass/quicklime shot was close enough to do damage. One would think a ball of fire coming across a line of infantry would kill more than two or three of them. Tried mixing my howitzers. One set firing explosive shells, the other caracass, since my tech hasn't hit the improved versions yet. Had a hard time seeing which was doing more damage. I know once they got into range of canister shot, my cannons shredded them.

[joedreck]

The positive thing of the howitzers is, that I can position them behind my army and they can fire. Cannons needs a hill or must stand in the front or flanks and that makes them vulnerable, but they are a little more dangerous then howitzers.
If I should chose between a howitzer with experience (3 or more) and a cannon without, I would alway take the howitzer.

[morteduzionism]

Isn't the range for howitzers really small?

I only got a chance to play with them during the Road to Independence (defense of Bunker Hill) and recall the range being no more than a cannon using canister shot.

Furthermore, I read through the Royal Artillery School guide and the stats on those pieces were nothing like mine. My demi-cannon only has a firepower stat of 33 while 12lb foot has 28. Is this a glitch or something?

So what is it that I'm missing?

[♔Darmoth♔]

I'm not sure about the firepower... however I can answer you about the howitzers. Their range is 350, while a cannon's is 400, a cannon set to canister shot has a range of, well either 125 or 150, can't recall exactly right now.

[Lumina]

Isn't the range for howitzers really small?

I only got a chance to play with them during the Road to Independence (defense of Bunker Hill) and recall the range being no more than a cannon using canister shot.

Furthermore, I read through the Royal Artillery School guide and the stats on those pieces were nothing like mine. My demi-cannon only has a firepower stat of 33 while 12lb foot has 28. Is this a glitch or something?

So what is it that I'm missing?

Sie Howitzer once had the same mighty range as the cannon. Of greedy they deprived us Howitzer lovers of a long range luxary, now howitzers have 50 less range than Cannon's longest range munition but the same range as say shrapnel shells from cannons. All Howitzer Munitions can fire at 350 range, Cannons it's Solid Shot 400, Shrapnel 350, Canister 140? 125? I forgot on Canister! lol

Demi is a powerful gun on the game, it's also not mobile, meaning it is inferior to the 12lb Foot Cannons. Its a good gun to start out or use defensively, and it's cheaper than Foot Artillery, it's worth keeping around in the game for a very long time if none mobile armies, ie captial defenses, eta eta.

[Zaydin]

Also, on the subject of artillery, or fixed artillery at least; are rocket troops worth it? I've deployed them before and have had a hard time telling if they were getting kills.

[Geleco]

Also, on the subject of artillery, or fixed artillery at least; are rocket troops worth it? I've deployed them before and have had a hard time telling if they were getting kills.

They aren't worth spending money on 2 per army, I'd say. They do damage, but it's generally no more than cannons, even though those big fireballs look appealing. I wouldn't waste any money on them, personally.

[Zaydin]

They aren't worth spending money on 2 per army, I'd say. They do damage, but it's generally no more than cannons, even though those big fireballs look appealing. I wouldn't waste any money on them, personally.

It wouldn't surprise me if they had more effect on morale than actual damage to the units hit by them.

[Lumina]

It wouldn't surprise me if they had more effect on morale than actual damage to the units hit by them.

They do give morale shock effect but there are plenty of units in the game which are resistent to that shock, including most line infantry regiments. Over all the morter is more effective and still cheaper, and like all artillery they effector morale pretty good, for a fixed 700 range artillery unit. Rockets are just pretty.

[Zaydin]

They do give morale shock effect but there are plenty of units in the game which are resistent to that shock, including most line infantry regiments. Over all the morter is more effective and still cheaper, and like all artillery they effector morale pretty good, for a fixed 700 range artillery unit. Rockets are just pretty.

Eh, for me, I generally use Mortars in defense, particularly when it's a siege battle. Since they have good range, and you can just set them up in the fort to rain shells down on the attackers. Speaking of artillery, for whatever reason, all my artillery batteries have only 3 cannons in them, and I have unit size set to large. Is four guns only on ultra setting, or am I having some kind of glitch?