Gatlings?

[turska]

I was just wondering if they are worth building as a USA?

[Coregonas]

These weapons are nearly the more powerful in all the game in defensive role, high rate of fire, and tremendous firepower. Just a problem they are short ranged (3) as other artillery gets 5 + range.

They count as artillery. So count as part of 4 frontage.

[pepe4158]

wish they could move but I quess would be highly historicly inacurate

[W.Barksdale]

wish they could move but I quess would be highly historicly inacurate

They can move. The only one that is fixed is the one created in DC.

[pepe4158]

ahhh thks...yeah i never build them....since the one i get is fixed I just fiqured they all were...I just keep pumping out the rodmans n parrots anyway as he north :-p

[pepe4158]

Um Im sure someone can correct me if i am wrong....but these werent used anywhere cuz the technology still wasnt perfected....or am i wrong?
Spencer rifles however were n did effect a couple of battles at least latter in the last years or so of the war.

[W.Barksdale]

I think Ben Butler really liked them and I'm sure he used some. I can't remember where I read it, however.

[pepe4158]

Hmm yeah did some searches n cant quite find it.....as I remembered he occupied New Orleans a while (n checking was right)
Yeah the game list his trait as hated occupier lol'...n his nickname from the people of N.O. was the, 'beast'
Hmmm something about he commanded the battle of Drewy's bluff....doubt he used em there...if so they all miss-fired when he needed them

[Jabberwock]

He used them at City Point, downriver from Drewry's.

He was also known as "Spoons" for his habit of confiscating personal property.

In the game, gatlings take up artillery slots in your divisions. It is better to buy weapons with range, which will almost certainly be more effective.

[pepe4158]

He-he saw this too:

Excluding "Dixie, " the most popular song in the South and with the Confederate army was "The Bonnie Blue Flag." The words tell the story of secession and reveal the "temperament of the states at war" and invite other states to join in. The tune is an old Hibernian melody.

Brander Matthews tells us when General Butler was in command of New Orleans, he "made it very profitable by fining every man, woman or child who sang, whistled or played it on any instrument $25.00, besides arresting the publisher, destroying the sheet music and fining him $500

Yeah wonder how they worked for him there, cuz the technology then was too, 'new' and they had a real bad habit of jamming...any gun that jams in a fight is bad news and gets you killed.

[MarkCSA]

Off the top off my head (read this on Wikipedia somewhere), some Union General knew of the guns, but while the Army was still debating wether to buy them, growing impatient, he sent a few of his guys go out and buy a few anyway.

They proved so devastating against Confederate lines that they were soon approved all over the army.

And now for the question that we all are asking ourselves: how do i get them as the CSA? (apart from capture, which I did once).

[Jabberwock]

Off the top off my head (read this on Wikipedia somewhere), some Union General knew of the guns, but while the Army was still debating wether to buy them, growing impatient, he sent a few of his guys go out and buy a few anyway.

That would be Butler.

When Cameron requested 1500 troops from Massachusetts, Butler suggested to him that he should ask for a brigade. Meanwhile he took out a bank loan, putting up his textile mill as collateral. Massachusetts didn't have the money to ship the brigade to Washington, so Butler loaned them that money, provided they made him the brigadier general. As brigadier, he requested winter uniforms (even though it was spring). None were available, so he wrote a letter to the governor informing him of a certain textile mill that could provide them. The next year he received a 45% dividend ... little things like paying back the loan and buying gatlings were no problem.

He may not have been a military genius, but he was a genuis.

As for the gatlings, the initial models didn't actually do too well. They proved most effective when mounted on gunboats and used as a supplement to cannister for clearing riverbanks. They could provide suppressive fire while the big guns were reloading.

[pepe4158]

Hmmm saw this:

The closest weapon before the automatic machine gun to ever match its rate of fire and capabilities was the gatling gun (the gatling gun). Created around 1862, this multi-barreled gun was operated with the use of a crank, that is each barrel shot only with the complete turn of its handle (the gatling gun). While not the first gun to utilize the idea of a multi-barreled gun, it was certainly the most advanced, using paper cartridges and capable of firing between 350 and 600 rounds per minute (Encarta). But the gun was still inferior to the machine gun in some key aspects. An obvious decrease in the rate of fire due to the manual turning mechanism was one such drawback. Misalignment of the barrels and the chamber was the primary problem that caused jamming and inaccurate shooting (gatling gun civil). Also, another drawback was vertical reloading of ammunition by gravity. This meant that in order to keep the gun firing, a soldier had to rise up and set the ammunition into firing position manually, a very tough task while taking on enemy fire (the gatling gun). Fortunately, the gun was not put to its full potential by military generals for its radical look and various flaws and thus saw little action in the war (gatling gun civil).

Oh yeah the, 'very devestating. comment was a press release by Mr Gatling himself (other observers had a dif opinion), so kinda hard to beileve that 1....like Ageod forums here saying their games are the greatest, an obvious conflict of interest, and had I been a union general I would think they are a bad idea.....any gun that jams gets you killed quick!

As far as them approved latter, better changes were made AFTER the war to improve the alignment factor and reduce jamming.

[cobraII]

Well while the Gatling guns probably didnt have the greatest accuracy it still has a pretty good chance to hit a army marching straight at your lines plus it probably make the enemy troops lose moral and want to run away if they marched into machine gun type fire

[Banks6060]

Gatling guns are great for garrisoning key depots. But that's all I ever use them for as the USA. As soon as you get a level 5 or above trench goin'...with a moderate sized regular brigade and a gatling battery. I've found a division to even be hard pressed to take the position.