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Cannons and my MOD

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  • #16
    vmax1,

    As a rule of thumb, only 1 shot in 8 actually hits anything when bombarding. Part of the problem is that the buildings have a defensive strength of 8-16 depending on whose mod you look at.

    In my own mind, cannons should be alot stronger and more expensive since in actual battle use, they could rip big holes in whatever you shot at but were vulnerable to counter-attack.

    I have some historical precident for wanting a couple of different cannons in the game. Early siege bombards like the ones at Constantiople in 1492 weight several tons and fired stone balls 3 ft across. They were assembled on site and fired one or two shots a day.

    The seige mortars used by the Europeans at the same time fired smaller iron shot that would still bring down a stone wall, though not as effectively as a trebuchet at punching holes in castle walls.

    Improvements to the casting process and better gunpowder lead to smaller, longer range cannons on ships. The English ships that fought the Spanish Armada were a good example: 2-5 lb shot with about a pound of powder behind it and it could reliably hit a target at about 2-400 yds or so. Land based guns could fire further, but took many times longer to load and aim.

    Fast forward to Naploeon's era in the late 1700's, and he had smooth bore cannons that could send a ball half a mile and have enough force to cut down men in file. Part of Wellington's tactical genius at Waterloo was to put his men on the reverse slope of the low hills and prevented Napoleon's gunners from bouncing their shots through their ranks. I've seen the battlefield and at the ranges they were setup at, it must have been frustrating for the French to see the cannon balls bounce over the heads of the English troops.

    The US Civil War was the last hurrah for the smooth bore cannons. The Ironclads used rifled barrels like the Union's Springfield rifles did. This, combined with better metalurgy in the stock, and the machining of metal, made for a much improved weapon. Toss in High Explosive shells and there you have modern artillery.

    As Player1 has detailed in his patch_suggestion mod thread, cannons in their present form are essentially useless, except in defense or in ridiculously large numbers. I'm working on my own mod and am going to make cannons and catapults able to do some damage to both units and buildings, and add a trebuchet unit.

    Player1, I suggest doubling the attack strength of your support weapons and see if they at least hit once in a while, then do your comparrisons. I'll do my own and we'll compare notes.


    D.
    "Not the cry, but the flight of the wild duck,
    leads the flock to fly and follow"

    - Chinese Proverb

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