Are artillery still useful for purely non-siege purposes?

A

Athenaeum

Prince
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Mar 20, 2015
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Please keep in mind that this is talking about BNW, not Vanilla.

I haven't played Vanilla in awhile, but if I remember correctly, artillery were a lot stronger in comparison to other units in Vanilla. In fact, I think all siege units were. If I'm not mistaken, siege units in the DLC had their ranged combat reduced, but to compensate they were given higher combat bonuses vs cities (correct me if I'm wrong.)

Anyways, I'm talking about the DLC. Let's say you're using Artillery for purely non-siege purposes, basically as ranged units. You're only attacking units with them. Do you still think that their 3 range and direct fire make them a force to be reckoned with?
 
Athenaeum said:
Please keep in mind that this is talking about BNW, not Vanilla.

I haven't played Vanilla in awhile, but if I remember correctly, artillery were a lot stronger in comparison to other units in Vanilla. In fact, I think all siege units were. If I'm not mistaken, siege units in the DLC had their ranged combat reduced, but to compensate they were given higher combat bonuses vs cities (correct me if I'm wrong.)

Anyways, I'm talking about the DLC. Let's say you're using Artillery for purely non-siege purposes, basically as ranged units. You're only attacking units with them. Do you still think that their 3 range and direct fire make them a force to be reckoned with?
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It depends how soon you get them. If you beeline dynamite and get them when your opponents are still using rifles, they'll be quite effective.
Once those rifles get upgraded though, Artillery falls of dramatically. They're far less effective against Great War Infantry, and once you're dealing with Infantry (one tech later), your Artillery will barely make a dent (maybe 10 damage per shot, but if you factor in fortification and rough terrain it's likely to be closer to 5). That's better than nothing, which is what any other unit 3 tiles away will get you, but it's not enough to get you very far offensively.
 
Amrunril said:
It depends how soon you get them. If you beeline dynamite and get them when your opponents are still using rifles, they'll be quite effective.
Once those rifles get upgraded though, Artillery falls of dramatically. They're far less effective against Great War Infantry, and once you're dealing with Infantry (one tech later), your Artillery will barely make a dent (maybe 10 damage per shot, but if you factor in fortification and rough terrain it's likely to be closer to 5). That's better than nothing, which is what any other unit 3 tiles away will get you, but it's not enough to get you very far offensively.
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This is precisely why I don't get the hate for Gatlings/Machine Guns/Bazooka line. These guys just melt Infantry units, especially if they have moved through the ranks with range/logistics.
 
z284pwr said:
This is precisely why I don't get the hate for Gatlings/Machine Guns/Bazooka line. These guys just melt Infantry units, especially if they have moved through the ranks with range/logistics.
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Can't stand the fact that these units only have 1 range.
 
z284pwr said:
This is precisely why I don't get the hate for Gatlings/Machine Guns/Bazooka line. These guys just melt Infantry units, especially if they have moved through the ranks with range/logistics.
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They can be quite good on defense. When you're attacking though, it's really awkward to have units that can't capture cities or occupy terrain after killing units taking up space on the front line. The range promotion can mitigate this, of course, but it's difficult to get more than a couple units that far (unless you're England).
 
Well, artillery are the only range 3 unit at the point when you get them, so of course they're still useful. In locations 3 tiles away from an enemy unit, you can either have artillery shooting, or nothing at all.
 
Amrunril said:
It depends how soon you get them. If you beeline dynamite and get them when your opponents are still using rifles, they'll be quite effective.
Once those rifles get upgraded though, Artillery falls of dramatically. They're far less effective against Great War Infantry, and once you're dealing with Infantry (one tech later), your Artillery will barely make a dent (maybe 10 damage per shot, but if you factor in fortification and rough terrain it's likely to be closer to 5). That's better than nothing, which is what any other unit 3 tiles away will get you, but it's not enough to get you very far offensively.
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Yep, this.

Also, their use falls off significantly once air units are in the game. Both for offense and defense. They get sniped easily when defending with air, and when attacking the larger range and higher damage on air beats it out. Artillery still decent for breaking down cities, but the gap between artillery and rocket artillery is huge. Realistically if a game lasts long enough to get past artillery, you will be relying far more on highly upgraded bomber stacks.

I still keep them around, because it is additional ranged support on the ground, but they don't wipe the map clean like they do right when you unlock them.
 
Artillery with a couple of well upgraded GWIs in front or any type of infantry at least riflemen can easily rank up to get their logistics promotion which allows then to fire twice after the artillery takes 1 turn to unpack which attacks once. After that, artilleries shoot twice if theyre not moved somewhere else where you initially have to use that one turn to unpack again before being able to shoot twice.
 
Incidentally, focusing a ton on getting Artillery in vast numbers and then going Freedom for Volunteer Army will give you a very nasty "rush" if you feel like using it.
 
Experienced Rocket Artillery is great though. So I always like producing Artillery and getting as much exp on them as possible
 
If you make a beeline for artillery and use your oxford on dynamite you can absolutely wreck the world with them. Especially if you have cannons waiting to upgrade the instant you hit it. In SP and MP artillery are probably the most pivotal unit in the game.

You can easily acquire them when others have no good counters. Great war infantry are a long way off from artillery.
 
Yes, Artillery are extremely useful.

I'd also add that Cannons are also powerful for defensive purposes as long as they are kept in safe tiles such as a city.

The combo of Gatling Guns as screen units in front of cannons is also deadly to the enemy in open field.

In fact along the whole artillery line, only its starting unit (catapults) isn't recommended for anything other than siege of a city with walls and/or on a hill.
 
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