Placement of Cannons

[Mooncabbage]

Quick query, about something that has me totally flumoxed.

Where in your line is the appropriate location for cannons?

You stick them altogether on a flank, and they seem to be a gigantic target for everything.

Stick them behind your lines, before long they're taking potshots into the backs of your own men.

Stick them interspaced between your units, and it's a combination of problem A and problem B.

So simply put, where the hell should I be sticking my cannons?

[Adherbal]

hm their position should depend on the map and the enemy position, and not much else. Place them were they can deal most damage, and deploy the rest of your army accordingly. Just make sure enemy cavalry can't catch them before your own cav can come to protect the guns. Art is most effective when shooting in the flanks of units (where the formation is deep) so moving part of your artillery to the enemy flank can be very usefull. The Nap period isn't about fixed compact armies were everything has it's preset position like the classical "archers in front, infantry in center, cavalry on flanks" medieval/ancient armies. Using art in the frontline can be dangerous, but trying to disable an enemy art battery can be just as dangerous.

[Mooncabbage]

Hmm, that may be my problem. I have absolutely no familiarity with the tactics of the period tbh, working it out as I go along. Links to manuals to this effect would be appreciated.

[Fondor_Yards]

I try to put at least 1 battery in front of my 1st line in the middle, then at least 1 on each flank. Any extra I spilt between those spots.

[Raguel]

Hello
first of all, I just put my guns into one big battery in the middle or somewhere else, depending on the map as Ash already suggested. As far as Nap tactics. I have read only so little about the period focusing mostly on the fun stuff "memoirs", those tactics have almost no representation in NTW2 as the game is way different from what it was in real life. I just make a Grande Battery and blow the enemy to pieces or lose the guns doing that . As to a useful link, here you go, it has all the stuff on nap era you may ever need.

http://napoleonistyka.atspace.com/artillery_tactics.htm

cheers

btw, play with us sometime and you'll learn very quickly, us = LGA

msg me on msn if you want

aenarion_123@hotmail.com

[Mooncabbage]

Thanks but I can't really play online, I share a 512k connection with 3 other people, gaming online makes me cry . Maybe after christmas, since I hope to be out of home by then .

Thanks for the link .

[Raguel]

You're welcome, and sure, we'll be around after christmas as well, LGA forever!

[paradamed]

I place them behind infantry and leave enough space so the cannons won't hit my own troops. Put some cavalry nearby so I won't have any unpleasant surprises.

[Revan The Great]

Personally, i'd place my artillery on a hill hill behind my line, with my battle line deployed in front of the hill. Perhaps you could simply place your batteries on a hill serperate from the main battle altogether with some guards. Perhaps pikemen?

[Mooncabbage]

Pikemen? Lol ><

I have had some luck sticking them on cliffs, with a unit or two of line, and deploying my main line offset a short way back, so that if any bot tries to close with me I'm in the perfect position to fire long raking shots into a flank. When I don't have a cliff or redoubt handy, I tend to stick them just behind me units on a flank, and temporarilly withdraw them when the enemy gets too close, only to wheel them back again for raking shots once they're committed.