Best Cannon

[Cleburne]

Ive mostly played as the CSA and ive noticed that investing in the rifled Cannon the 10lb and 20lb Parrots seems a waste of time if your defending now i use the 12lb Napoleans there cheaper and have better defense values than the cannon above.Overall im not quite sure what cannon goes where as there is not enough of the 12lb to go around what other tactics do people use when it comes to Cannon?

[Coregonas]

There are 7 arty types

The "cheap" ones you told about have combat values -> 6/12 & 12/20

Those upgrade around 5% chance every turn to the better ones-> 13/14 & 15/16

these seem not better in defense, but remember they start firing from a longer range, so best results average!

Also, there are the horse arty -> very fast for joining cavalry divisions/raids!

Columbiad -> The more costly & powerful

Siege Arty -> perhaps a little better, but only against cities, as is very costly and have a low Rate of fire

[Cleburne]

Ahh i did not know these upgrade during the game , thx for that info .

[arsan]

Are you sure, Coregonas??
I know 6lb (the ones you usually get inside brigades can be upgraded, but did not knew that 12 pd Napoleons and 10 lb parrots batteries could be upgraded

[lodilefty]

Are you sure, Coregonas??
I know 6lb (the ones you usually get inside brigades can be upgraded, but did not knew that 12 pd Napoleons and 10 lb parrots batteries could be upgraded

per the Database:
6lb can become 10lb
12lb can befome 20lb

Look at 'TechUpg' parameter in any Model [.mdl file] to see what/if upgrades can occur....

[W.Barksdale]

6lb can become 10lb
12lb can befome 20lb

This realism astounds me.

[GlobalExplorer]

I am almost sure I have seen 12lbers turn into a 6lbers a couple of times!

As the CSA I always start building exclusively the 12lber smoothbores, because they are cheap and very strong on the defense, and early on the rebs need as many cannon as they can get. Only when I need to go into the offense, I try to procure some 12 / 20 pdr parrot and mortars.

[Coregonas]

Once you have built all your "cheap" artillery, and turns to the "upgraded" one I believe there are no more cheap artillery free SLOTS...

Not sure, but captured artillery can not be reconstructed until destroyed... So useful to send it to 2nd line garrison purposes (i believe it uses 1 enemy buy-slot)

This means than after buying all cheap artillery, you must buy the Expensive ones to get more single units.

So... You can buy only more cheap artillery by:

a) Waiting some of your units are killed
b) Buying some of the brigades with cheap artillery integrated

[GlobalExplorer]

Thats correct, but I can still build some in Alabama / Louisiana / Texas (I use these slots later because they are far from the front)

[arsan]

per the Database:
6lb can become 10lb
12lb can befome 20lb

Look at 'TechUpg' parameter in any Model [.mdl file] to see what/if upgrades can occur....

And there is no upgrde for the 10 lb parrots??
If they are more expensive than the also good 12 pd, and don´t have a free upgarde then buying as much 12 pd as you can seems the best option

[turska]

About the artillery topic... Are the Gatlings worth buying and if so... Should they be put into division or left as a corps asset?

[Coregonas]

And there is no upgrde for the 10 lb parrots??
If they are more expensive than the also good 12 pd, and don´t have a free upgarde then buying as much 12 pd as you can seems the best option

No upgrade for them.
I agree with this just... some advantage ... 10lb have a longer range (and other better stats) than 12pd.

And... you will eventually buy all 12pd available if you go for them. Also... they will turn into the upgraded cannons also.

I ve read a mod than changes the way upgrading works of artillery. (I believe made by Clovis... not sure).

[stars&bars]

Playing as CSA, and recently having my eyes opend to cannons. I now use the 12pdr cannons as the staple of my artillery. Reason being, is that 9/10 times I am defending, and the defensive benefit of the 12pdr is too good to pass over. Especially at the price compared to the more expensive guns.

[Coregonas]

seems also lots of battles are resolved starting range 4...

longer ranges perhaps are resolved in clear / good weather ?

[Cleburne]

Hmm so good posts here now , Ok im now into my union game and ive bought all the Rodman Cannon in NY i put them into Hamiltons Corps which had 3 Divs , then iwaited to strike , Holmes came with 3 Divs and moved in next to washington , I attacked on full attack .The outcome was i lost 3500 men the CSA 13500 when i looked at the range casulties they had inflected me with 38 and i had done 132 in my Corp i had 7x Rodmans , 4x 20lb Parrots , 6x 12lbs and a couple of 6lbs , the CSA had 7x12lb , 6x 10lb parrots and 4x 6lbs pretty equal numbers in cannon but it was the range that counted for my victory. In all the long range cannon are so important im finding this out now they inflict so many more casualties that as CSA you have got to buy all the long range you can get even if you buy one and scarafice that extra 12pounder imho.

[pepe4158]

Yeah the game seems set up realisticly for a northern victory eventually as you can keep pouring out those rodmans, n 20 pounders, with huge numbers of men from the deep northern huge cities.....overwhelming amounts of men n equiptment is of course what won the war historicly....n kinda funny that two players being equal in abilty that will bear out in this game IMO, to win as the south you have to, 'feltch' a victory of course and trick the AI early with the fact he isnt human and cant see the big picture.

Hey added this too:
Been noticing as I get a bit better, that whichever side you play, building Fortifications in key areas is a must!!!! Well was thinking tho, you need 4 cannons right, so why waste your resources building good ones right?....the cheapies will work just as well right????...and saves you $ n materials right?...just a strategy tip that I hope I am on the right track with so cheapy cannons are good not for their upgrade potential but use them building forts.

[Tordenskjold]

Just a question from a novise, how do you know defence, attack and range of a cannon? Can't say I have found that kind of information anywhere. In the reinforcement panel only a strengt value is visible, for my eyes that is.

[soloswolf]

After selecting a unit containing artillery in the unit box on the bottom of the screen... look to the unit panel on the bottom-right corner, if you click on the Artillery's icon (the small box with the circle inside) it will bring up a window with a larger picture of your cannons, as well as all of their stats. (Note, this can be done for all unit types: leaders, inf, etc)

[Tordenskjold]

After selecting a unit containing artillery in the unit box on the bottom of the screen... look to the unit panel on the bottom-right corner, if you click on the Artillery's icon (the small box with the circle inside) it will bring up a window with a larger picture of your cannons, as well as all of their stats. (Note, this can be done for all unit types: leaders, inf, etc)

Great, I knew that already but did never thoroughly look through this information. Thanks a lot!

[soloswolf]

No problem. Glad to help. A key value is the range, as being the first to fire is always helpful.

[Brochgale]

I have a question on theme of Cannon slots. If you use your 6lbers to build forts - do you get those slots back? I have been thinking about it in my present game - not yet tried it to see!

[soloswolf]

Yes, once 'removed from play', they will re-appear in your reinforcement screen.

The same applies to militia that upgrade to regular infantry.

[Mangudai]

About the artillery topic... Are the Gatlings worth buying and if so... Should they be put into division or left as a corps asset?

I bought quite a few of those during my campaign v1.06. I put a few at the corp level and they seemed to lose cohesion faster than all other units in the stack. I stopped using them almost entirely.

They might be good inside a city to defend against assault.

[Gray_Lensman]

deleted

[Serpent77]

I have a question - is it possible for CSA to build Gatling guns and 3-inch artillery pieces as the game advances? Never seen it for my campaigns (always play '1861 April' scenario ) end pretty early.

[MkollCSA]

i havnt been able to so i want to say no...but i dont claim to know everything so maybe it is possible with the right events perhaps.

[Serpent77]

i havnt been able to so i want to say no...but i dont claim to know everything so maybe it is possible with the right events perhaps.

You see, there is a picture of "Unit_CMN_Arty3Inch" in C:\Program Files\AGEod's American Civil War\ACW\Graphics\Units folder. That gives me an idea of the 3-inch guns presence in the game.

[MkollCSA]

You see, there is a picture of "Unit_CMN_Arty3Inch" in C:\Program Files\AGEod's American Civil War\ACW\Graphics\Units folder. That gives me an idea of the 3-inch guns presence in the game.

okay?

[Jagger]

No upgrade for them.
I agree with this just... some advantage ... 10lb have a longer range (and other better stats) than 12pd.

And... you will eventually buy all 12pd available if you go for them. Also... they will turn into the upgraded cannons also.

I ve read a mod than changes the way upgrading works of artillery. (I believe made by Clovis... not sure).

20 pdrs were rare in both armies during the Civil War. So in the PBEM mod, I have the reb 12pdrs upgrade to 10pdrs. Clovis may have done the same in his mod but I don't know.

[Sgt_of_the_24th_MI]

And there is no upgrde for the 10 lb parrots??
If they are more expensive than the also good 12 pd, and don´t have a free upgarde then buying as much 12 pd as you can seems the best option

Boy, I'm just blabbin' away tonight...10lb Parrots were not improved historically. They were replaced. Their barrels had a tendency to explode. They were replaced with the 3" Ordinance Rifle - also known as the 3" Rodman...a truely awsome rifle design. It happened to fire 10lb ammo - no conversion from Parrots needed. How the game reflects this, I do not yet know. 20lb Parrots were just too heavy to hawl around much and there were 100lb Parrots used in forts and maybe some ships.